Warnings: Some Language, Violence, Canon Breaking/ AU

Rage at the heavens all you want.

For all the tears that stream like fire down your cheeks,

All the screams that tear your throat raw,

Once hope falters and becomes ash in your mouth,

You will try in vain to inspire hope to everyone else.

You'll give all your hope away.

None will remain for you.

The Witch and The Saint

Ruby

Each step Ruby took as she ascended the ruined clock tower felt heavier. The atmosphere held a sense of foreboding, as if something wanted her to stop. The young leader of Team RWBY pressed on, ignoring the unsaid warning. Pyrrha needs me! We have to save her! Ruby's cloak billowed in the air behind her as she sped up. Her eyes stung for a reason she did not know.

In the distance, she heard a familiar voice cry out in pain.

"No!" Shouting as loud as she could, Ruby darted further up the tower.

Once she reached the top, she froze in her tracks. A few feet away she watched Cinder step away from a kneeling Pyrrha. Ruby drowned out everything else and willed herself to move. She heard Pyrrha mention something about destiny. Cinder replied with a smug look, one that Ruby wanted desperately to wipe off with a sweep of her scythe. Move, legs! Move! Ruby dragged her foot forward, feeling some sort of force pushing her back. Why?! Why can't I do anything?! I didn't come all the way here to watch someone I care for die!

Tears clouded Ruby's vision as she sped forward. The wind whipped around her ears and her cloak fluttered around her frame. The young teen blindly reached out for where she believed Pyrrha to be and held the older girl close. The sound of someone stumbling caught the red-cloaked teen's attention. She looked up to see Cinder glaring down at her while she regained her footing. The woman adjusted her grip on her bow and nocked another arrow.

Teary but determined pools of silver clashed with smouldering amber eyes. "You again?"

"Leave my friend alone!" Ruby warned with a sob.

"Do you think you can change destiny so easily, child?" Cinder hissed as she approached the kneeling girl. "You can't even scratch the surface of what's truly going on here!"

Ruby tightened her grip on Pyrrha, who had fallen unconscious. "I don't care!" At least, not at the moment...

Cinder stopped her advance to curiously peer down at the red-cloaked girl. "Oh?"

"I just..." A choked sob left Ruby's lips. "LEAVE PYRRHA ALONE! I won't stand idly by on the sidelines and watch you kill my friend like this, not when I have the power to stop it!"

"She is destined-"

"You can take your 'destiny' and shove it where the sun doesn't shine!" Ruby's eyes glinted as tears streaked down her cheeks.

Sneering, the woman in red raised her bow and arrow. The arrow's tip pointed toward the center of Ruby's forehead. Meanwhile, the young teen gently set her friend down and wiped away her tears. New ones still flowed from her eyes to replace those that disappeared. She quickly stood up, unfolded her scythe, and met Cinder's gaze. The woman repositioned her aim and released the nocked arrow.Twang! A brief moment of shock appeared in Ruby's eyes before she replaced it with sheer determination. Whoosh!

"Get back here!" Cinder growled out through clenched teeth; her displeasure evident in her eyes and tone.

Reappearing in a haze of rose petals, Ruby struck out at the woman with her scythe. The woman easily dodged the attack and summoned her glass swords into her hands. She fell into a fighting stance as her hands took on a harsh, orange glow. Ruby landed on her feet and turned to face the woman once more. The teen slammed her scythe into the floor and aimed the barrel of her gun at the witch. Above the two fighters, the dragon Grimm roared into the heavens.

Sun

Pacing around the stone path, the monkey Faunus spared a glance at the four teens resting nearby. Blake kept her hand tightly wrapped around Yang's. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she continued to murmur apologies to the unconscious blonde. Yang will pull through... I hope Blake won't do anything drastic or stupid. Sun turned his gaze towards Beacon's broken clock tower. Her teammates are idiotic enough already. He tightened his grip on his staff and struck down an incoming Beowolf.

"This is insane..." He wiped a bead of sweat off of his forehead. "We're going to lose ground if we stay here any longer!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Sun noticed Ren struggle to stand. "We are not leaving without the others!"

"Do you want to die here?" The blond snapped back, smacking another Beowolf behind him in the face. "It's always extremes with you guys, isn't it? Either you fight and die or run and live."

"The other students made their choice and we made ours." Nora chimed in, her voice uncharacteristically somber. "Funny how the other 'huntsmen-and-huntresses-in-training' fled from the very creatures we've trained ourselves to fight."

Sun scoffed, transformed his staff into his gun-chucks, turned his back to the others, and shot down the rest of the Beowolf pack. "There wouldn't have been a damn point! There were too many to-"

"They still should've tried!" Nora shouted back as one of her grenades collided with a faraway Ursa. "We all knew the dangers of becoming huntsmen and huntresses. At least...at least more people could've been saved if everyone tried fighting back instead of running absolutely scared shitless!"

Forcing his mouth into a thin line, the monkey Faunus continued to fight off approaching Grimm. Pa-BOOM! Pa-BOOM! His eyes kept flicking over to the pink explosions that occurred in the distance as he struck down Grimm after Grimm. Pa-pa-taa-taa! Pa-pa-taa-taa! Off to Sun's left, a Creep went down thanks to Ren's supporting fire. They're down, but they're never out of the game, huh? Striking down another Grimm, the monkey Faunus turned to look at the four teens once again.

He watched as some Atlesian soldiers delicately picked Yang and Blake off of the ground. They placed the two girls on stretchers and hurried onto a nearby transport. Other soldiers approached the two teens from Team JNPR. Nora struggled out of the men's grasp, while Ren weakly pushed away their persistent offers of help. Finally tired of their stubbornness, the soldiers grabbed onto the teens and guided them onto a transport.

"Hey, you!" A soldier called out to Sun. "Everyone needs to get on the transports!"

Sparing a look back up at the tower, the monkey Faunus furrowed his brow. You guys better come back... The Atlesian yelled for him to pick up his pace. We can't wait forever. His eyes caught sight of a lone crow flying overhead. For whatever reason, the sight helped Sun's nerves calm down. Turning away from the tower, the blond rushed into a transport. Before the doors closed, he continued to gaze at the ruined clock tower.

Get out of there soon. We're all waiting for you.

Ruby

Panting from all the effort to keep up with the woman, Ruby fell onto one knee. Ahead of her, Cinder summoned her bow into her hands and nocked yet another arrow. Is this it? Time seemed to slow down around the young teen. The silver-eyed girl stared up at the blackened skies. Yang, Blake, Weiss... Ren and Nora... Jaune... Dad and Uncle Qrow... Pyrrha... Her eyes trailed over to Pyrrha. At the sight of her friend lying unconscious on the floor, Ruby felt her blood boil once more. Yang, Blake, Ren, and Nora are hurt because of Cinder's plans... Jaune is who-knows-where! My partner is fighting alone at the bottom of this tower! And Pyrrha...!

Twang! Silver eyes snapped towards the incoming glass arrow. Whoosh! As she disappeared in a swirl of rose petals, Ruby felt invigorated once more. We're not done here until I say so. Forget Cinder's ideas about 'destiny.' I'll rewrite Pyrrha's and everyone else's destiny; I don't care what it'll cost me! White hot tears streaked down Ruby's face. Each tear felt like fire on her skin; a fire borne of her passion. No one else will get hurt so long as I stand! Everywhere Ruby looked became bathed in a brilliant white light. Twang!

The glass arrow grazed Ruby's shoulder, but she paid it no mind. Her focus remained solely on Cinder's eyes as she rushed forward with a cry. Pain burst into her head as she spun around on her heel. Clang! Clink-clink! Clang! Clang! Schlick. Once she slowed down in her attack, Ruby gazed at Cinder once again. Fear, anger, and shock appeared in the witch's gaze. Her lips parted for an unvoiced question as she stumbled away from the young teen. A dark shade of red appeared on the woman's torso. Whoosh! In a flash, Ruby appeared right in front of the witch and smacked her in the side with the blunt end of her scythe.

Again, the dragon Grimm roared above them. It sounded like a scream of pain the second time around. The dragon perched itself on the side of the ruined tower; it snarled in Ruby's direction. Ruby snapped her attention at the dragon and glared. It lowered its jaw and thrust its head forward. FWOOM. One of the dragon's teeth came to a stop merely a millimeter away from Ruby's face. The red-cloaked girl rubbed her temple with her right hand as she looked over at Cinder once again.

Yet again, the woman prepared an arrow and aimed at the girl. Hasn't she figured out that I'll only dodge it? The fiery tears streaming down Ruby's face suddenly stopped burning. Everything returned to their normal colors. Thhiiss-pk! A cracked, soft red glow emitted from Ruby's body. Oh no... Shocked silver eyes clashed with angered amber pools for one last time. Twang! Schlick! Pain erupted somewhere in Ruby's torso and in her head as she stumbled backwards. Her eyes focused over onto Pyrrha's prone form yet again. Ruby collapsed onto her back; the pain in her torso and her head spread throughout her entire frame. Soon, her vision swam out of focus and into darkness.

I never got to say goodbye.

I really wish we could've seen what Ruby did after her eyes took on that white wing glow. I wish a lot of things happened differently. I hoped that Pyrrha would've survived the end, that the students of Beacon would kick themselves in the rear and remember the fact that they've trained to fight Grimm; that they'd fight back like the huntsmen-and-huntresses they want to be. Granted, that would've taken more time to animate with background characters fighting creatures of Grimm, but still. Did all that training really amount to nothing but their metaphorical tails behind their legs? (Unless they're Faunus, of course).

I'm not angry, I'm just...numb, I suppose. Anyway I wonder what Volume 4 will bring and what or who it will take away. We've got "Team RJNR" heading to Haven with Qrow watching over them. (Personally, I'd like to call them LAVR; makes me think lavender and follows the color rule more, in my opinion). Back to my theory rant, it really felt like they took cues from The Oz books. The wizard disappears and the scarecrow takes his place...for the time being.

tl;dr: Vol. 3 Ep. 12 was...something and it got me thinking about what happened and what might happen.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the 'endings' of this AU idea. A Victory Rose ending and an Arkos ending (that many wished for so badly, including myself)? Is that alright? I mean, that's what I planned on doing. They'll be in separate timelines, of course.