Note: This fanfiction is rated "Z" for zerg! Expect lots of bloodshed, acidic bile, spewed slime, and the general gore and grossness that our swarming friends are famous for! Also, this story takes place after Season 3 of RWBY and after the campaign in HoTS, so expect major spoilers! Now, on to the story!

Starcraft is the rightful property of Blizzard Entertainment, and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. The concept of the Successor, however, belongs to me.

Chapter 1: Arrival

Outskirts of the Koprulu Sector, zerg Leviathan

Despite the number of individual personalities currently traveling on the spacefaring Zerg Leviathan numbering in the single digits, the air was thick with tension aboard the organic ship. Zerglings paced and snapped at each other, Roaches hunkered down in an attempt to disguise themselves against the cavernous innards, Hydralisks clacked their scythe-like claws against one another, and even the mighty Ultralisks shifted from foot to foot, looking nervously from side to side. They could sense the stress coming from their Queen, and they did not like it.

Mere days ago, Sarah Kerrigan, also known as the Queen of Blades, had launched a massive invasion of the Dominion world of Korhal, culminating in thousands of zerg breaking into the planet's imperial palace and Kerrigan personally slaying the tyrannical ruler of the Dominion of Man, Arcturus Mengsk. Almost immediately after doing so, Kerrigan had ordered a planetwide evacuation of any and all zerg forces on Korhal, as well as from every zerg-occupied planet in the entire sector, preparing to go on the hunt for a foe the Swarm could not hope to beat: the god-like being Amon, the creature responsible for creating the Swarm in the first place. Such a proposition would have no doubt caused mutiny among a crew of Terrans or perhaps even Protoss, but the mindless hordes of the Swarm followed their Queen's command without question-millions of zerg were even now leaving their hives en masse, ready to die to enact their ruler's will. But it was clear that something still wasn't right.

The atmosphere inside the shopping mall-sized mouth of the Leviathan was no different from that of the rest of the living ship. Izsha hung from the roof of the chamber next to the infested Terran Stukov, both beings wondering to themselves why they had been summoned, and Dehaka and Zagara were giving each other death glares, ready to tear each other apart at a moment's notice. Kerrigan had summoned all of them to brief them about something-what it was, she did not say. Now, the gathered zerg waited impatiently for their leader to arrive and break the news to them.

"I do not suppose that you know why we have been summoned, Stukov?" Zagara grumbled, never taking her eyes off of the Primal Zerg packleader.

"You know as much about this as I do, Broodmother," the infested Terran replied, the talons erupting from his shoulder flexing and unflexing anxiously. "I was given the psionic signal to await further instruction here from Kerrigan herself. There was nothing to discern what she could have meant by that."

"I know not. Just know that Queen summoned me. Not expecting you, Broodmother." Dehaka growled, scratching at the fleshy ground with his hind foot like a bull preparing to charge.

"And what's that supposed to mean, brute?!" Zagara cried, her mandibles twitching. "I am our Queen's second-in-command; of course I would be summoned to this meeting! It would be in your best interests to remember that I am your superior, Dehaka!"

"I answer to Kerrigan, not you." The Primal Zerg snarled, his enormous right arm curling into a fist and smacking into his tiny left palm, ready to start pounding the crap out of his rival.

Suddenly, as if merely saying her name had summoned her, Sarah Kerrigan, ruler of the zerg Swarm, strode into the maw at that very moment. All of the zerg present in the chamber immediately quieted, eyes focused on their queen as she walked into the middle of the semi-circle that her council of… advisors, for lack of a better term, had formed as they were waiting before speaking, her voice echoing with psionic power.

"You all know of our next move from here." This was not meant as a question, but as a statement. Kerrigan knew full well that attempting to defeat an entity such as Amon was a nearly impossible task, even for the might of the zerg Swarm. But even if they did nothing, the xel'naga would still come for them-with the death of his puppet Narud, Amon knew where they were. It was either stand and fight or lie down and die.

Stukov was the first to speak up. "Indeed, Kerrigan. But you have not explained the reason as to why you have summoned us here now. We will all follow you into battle against Amon. You had no need to tell us again."

The Queen of Blades smiled mirthlessly. "I am fully aware, Stukov. What I have summoned you all here for is to inform you of something else-a plan to ensure the continuation of the Swarm." Seeing that she now had her audience's undivided attention, she continued.

"As you know, our chances of standing against Amon, let alone putting him down for good, are slim. Even if we do manage to kill him, the Swarm will most likely die with him. However," she motioned with her left hand, prompting another zerg to enter the chamber, "Abathur has created something to make sure that the zerg do not die with us."

Kerrigan's council was unanimously surprised by the Evolution Master's presence here, outside of the Evolution Chamber-aside from Izsha, none but Kerrigan even knew whether or not he could leave the place. Yet here he was, inching along with surprising speed on a slug-like lower body and clutching an oblong object about the size of a Space Marine's rifle in his spidery hands. Said object was covered in translucent chitin, with a faint orange glow emanating from it and a small creature similar in appearance to a larva suspended in the middle.

Zagara was less than impressed. "... A larva? My Queen, I'm afraid that I do not understand."

"Not exactly, Zagara, but the principle is similar." Kerrigan replied, taking the cocoon-like object from Abathur and holding it in such a way as to let the rest of her advisors see. "This is an entirely new strain of zerg, one that utilizes genetic material from everything from Drones to Infestors to even Cerebrates. I've had Abathur working on this since I emerged from the spawning pool on Zerus."

Abathur then spoke up-if he could show emotions, he would be practically glowing with pride over his work. "Organism to be placed in drop pod, launched into space towards inhabited world. Lands on surface of world, hatches. Seeks out native with strong psionic energy, infests in same way Overmind infested old Queen of Blades. Organism then mutates into typical Drone, serves infested native to build new zerg hive."

"So it's a way to quickly create hives on new worlds? Don't normal drop pods do that just as well?" Zagara inquired.

"There's more to the process than that." Kerrigan continued. "Whatever being this infects will retain its personality and free will, similarly to what happened to me on Zerus. It will rule its hive cluster however it sees fit, totally free of my control; essentially, it becomes the leader of an entirely new Swarm."

"You didn't create a weapon…" Stukov muttered, the gears in his head turning.

"I created a successor." She finished. "If the Swarm falls to Amon, this," she gestured towards the cocoon, "will ensure that it does not disappear entirely. To ensure that the infested organism runs its new hive properly, this creature's mind is shared with several other unique zerg essences to serve as advisors-everything from directing evolutions to informing the new leader about the Swarm's purpose."

"But where to send this… 'successor' to?" Izsha piped up. "The Dominion worlds may no longer be under the command of Mengsk, but a new zerg hive will not be welcomed there, especially one that does not answer to your call. Protoss genetics are incompatible with that of zerg; their homeworlds are out of the question as well."

"We aren't sending it to a Dominion or a protoss world, Izsha." Kerrigan replied. "We're going to send it off while in warp space, in order to ensure that Amon won't be able to know where it went if he manages to take control of the Swarm again."

This elicited cries of surprise from her council; Izsha's tendrils hung limp and stiff as boards, Dehaka bellowed and Zagara cried out in shock, and Stukov's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Kerrigan, this is… a dangerous gamble, to put it lightly." Stukov sputtered. "Sending this tiny organism, this 'backup plan' for the entire Swarm, randomly into space without any idea of what direction it will go or where it will end up? Are you sure that this is wise?"

"We are preparing to go to war against a god, Stukov. Any chance we have to ensure survival, no matter how small, is a chance that I'm willing to take." The Queen replied, anger creeping into her voice-a clear warning to the former Terran that her mind was made up. "Abathur! Prepare the drop pod. It's time to send this off."

The Evolution Master nodded, turning around and slithering back into the depths of the Leviathan. Kerrigan turned back to the rest of her council.

"That is all. You are dismissed. Prepare your forces to face Amon-we have a long way to go until we reach him."

Immediately, the assembled zerg disbanded; Izsha drew herself back up into the ceiling, Dehaka lumbered off to wherever it was he lurked on the ship, and Zagara skittered off to continue arming her Queen's forces for war. Only Stukov remained, his glowing eyes regarding Kerrigan closely.

"Are you certain that this is the right choice, Kerrigan? You and I both know that the chances of that creature successfully finding a planet with a native species to infest are extraordinarily low."

"As I have said, those are chances that I'm willing to take, Stukov. The Swarm was created, above all, to survive. I will not let a chance to keep the zerg alive go by and do nothing about it." Kerrigan replied, a ghost of a smile passing across her face momentarily. "Besides, I've never been the type to play it safe."

Stukov chuckled at that. "Fair enough. The path you have chosen is proof enough. I can only hope that this 'backup' will find a strong host."

Kerrigan went silent, psionically viewing Abathur place the tiny zerg into a small drop pod. "I can only hope so, Stukov. I can only hope."

Several minutes later, the enormous Leviathan jetted forwards with tremendous speed, seemingly disappearing into a flash of blue light as it entered warp space. Cruising through the ether of the alternate dimension at unimaginable speeds, a comparatively tiny fleck soon detached from the rest of the colossal organism, gone almost immediately in a flash of light. Now back in the depths of space, the organism inside the small drop pod reached out psionically, searching for signs of life, quickly locating a planet close by. There was clearly life here, as well as a variety of unique essence. Furthermore, psionic activity clearly showed that the native species was capable of being assimilated into the Swarm. Quickly, the zerg creature attempted to reach out to the rest of the Swarm in order to discern its proximity to the nearest hive world and affirm its location of a planet home to a suitable host species.

It found nothing.

Seemingly surprised by this, the pod edged itself into orbit around the planet's sun, trying to reach the rest of its kind a second time, then a third, a fourth. Each time was the same: not even a single meager larva could be contacted. Its occupant's query answered, the pod continued on its way. There was no Swarm left, but then again, its entire existence was to continue the zerg's legacy should the rest fall. Its mission was all the more important now. It would not fail.

Speeding towards the planet it had detected, the only zerg left in the universe did not pay any mind to the strange, seemingly shattered moon of said planet. Unusual celestial bodies could wait later; it had a host to infest. The skin of the drop pod glowed red with heat as the creature entered the planet's atmosphere. A small forested island soon loomed large in its psionic vision, and the last hope of the Swarm braced itself as the pod slammed into the snowy ground, leveling most of the trees around it. Crawling out of the tattered remains of its vehicle with several dozen caterpillar-like legs, the wormlike zerg reared up like a little cobra and moved its insect-like head from side to side, mentally feeling around for the psionic signals given off by the minds of sapient creatures. It immediately detected thousands of psionic signatures, surprisingly similar to Terran ones, clustered in groups around the coast the island-presumably in towns and cities. The creature ignored these; a population center carried a very high risk of being spotted. It could not afford to take that risk; not with the future of the entire zerg species resting on whatever functioned as shoulders on its armless body. Turning its small head inland, the creature sent out its psionic senses again. This time, it picked up far fewer signals, but nothing too useful yet-

Suddenly, the larva-like creature's psionic senses were overwhelmed by a nearby psionic signature-rather more specifically, the sheer power coming off of it. Whatever this entity was, it was very, very strong-strong enough to rival a Terran ghost in sheer psionic might. Even more fortunately, the signature was quite a distance off from any others of its kind and was quite close to where the Swarm's last hope had landed.

The last of the zerg immediately slithered off through the snowfall towards the signature, its dozens of legs carrying it over any obstacles in its way. It had found the perfect host. It was time to fulfill its purpose.

Alright, it's time to get this show on the road! This story was mainly inspired by the fact that I was disappointed that there were so few good stories on this site about the Swarm, so after a hell of a lot of procrastinating, I decided to make one myself! Hopefully I can live up to the 'good' part of that, heh heh!

I've almost finished the next chapter, but if you have a particular idea or a direction you want me to go for this story, say so in a review! I would really appreciate it! This is GlarnBoudin, signing out!