Once upon a time, atop a ruined tower in the city of Vale a young girl's story was about to end. A hero cruelly cut down by a villain. It was a sad tale. One you've likely heard before which doesn't surprise me in the least. After all, this story has already been told, it's outcome preordained, yet fate is not unchanging. Like a river it can be shifted. Like a thread it can be cut. So ask yourself, dear friend...

"Do you believe in destiny?"

It was a question full of spite. The smirk left the other woman's face.

"Yes."

A simple answer.

So this was her fate.

She was disappointed in herself. So much for being the Invincible Girl.

Cinder Fall raised her arms. A bow of black glass appeared in her hands, the string already drawn back. The arrow meant to kill her appeared a moment later.

Pyrrha was never one to hate, but she hoped with all her heart that the monster before her would meet justice someday.

The fingers holding the string released.

The arrow flew. Death on swift wings.

But it never came.

The moment stretched.

It never came.

The arrow hung in the air frozen. Cinder Fall stood unmoving. Even the flames around them stood silent and still.

The world had stopped.

Was this death?

She tried to move and failed. Even her eyes couldn't shift.

She stared at her killer unable to do anything else.

"Pretty isn't she?" A man's deep voice cut through the frozen world. Had she been able to she would of screamed in surprise.

Foot steps echoed across the destroyed tower and her hope soared. Had a hunter with a powerful semblance come to help?!

Her savior strode past her and into her view. A light blue long coat with white highlights. Black boots with silver filigree. Black hair cut at shoulder length and slicked back.

Stylish. Coco would like him.

She didn't recognize him, but she didn't care if he could help then...

"Beautiful even." He spoke softly as if to himself. "Wickedness often comes in surprising packages." He turned to face her and if her heart was still beating in her chest it surely stopped.

Yellow eyes like a cats rimmed by red sclera stared down at her. They were not human eyes, nor the eyes of a Faunus.

"Of course you know that already, don't you, Miss Nikos?"

Her mind screamed in almost feral terror.

Not a savior. Not a friend.

Instinct honed by combat and training told her to flee, but she couldn't. She was trapped.

With a monster.

He sat down on thin air the blue coat parting to reveal a white undershirt and a pair of dark dress pants.

"Calm yourself, my dear, I mean you no harm."

Lies.

He meant harm to everything that lived. To all things of all places.

The world would burn at his touch.

He smiled and her stomach turned. She realized why with sudden clarity. He was perfect looking. Not handsome or attractive, but flawless.

Unnatural.

"Quite the opposite in fact. I'm here to save you!" He waved an arm nonchalantly, the motion somehow almost ethereal. "Well, I'm here to make you an offer that may or may not involve saving your life at any rate."

"So here's the deal, Miss Nikos. You are about to die. You know this, I know this," He vaguely gestured at Cinder Fall, "she knows this. In the next breath your life will end."

She stared at him defiantly. Did he expect her to be afraid?

All hunters are prepared to sacrifice their lives.

"Of course, of course." He spoke soothingly and her mind began screaming again as she realized he could hear her thoughts. "I am merely insuring you know the... depth of the situation."

He leaned forward, still seated on thin air, and balanced his elbows on his knees to strike a considering pose.

"Is this the death you want? Is this how you dreamed your life to end? Here? As a failure unable to protect your friends? Unable to protect dear Jaune?"

Her mind froze.

I...

He leaned back and held up a hand in a staling gesture. "Know that this is your doom. Your destiny. Here you will die as decreed by those who spin the strands of fate. Know also that in this one moment I can defy this fate."

That... You can..?

"You have questions. Ask them. I will answer in nothing, but the truth." He placed his hand over his heart. "Of that I swear." Something changed with those words. Nothing visible to her eyes, but it was as if he had some how shackled himself.

Ask? Ask what? Something simple.

Who are you?

"A bland question. Call me Anduriel if you seek to name me."

She hesitated.

Had to know.

Will it hurt?

"For a brief moment." He turned and reached out to gently touch the shaft meant to end her. "This arrow is infused with a great deal of power and will pierce your heart. Death will come almost instantly." He faced her once again. "Say what you will about Miss Fall, but she isn't cruel needlessly, if only because it isn't efficient."

Confidence surged through her. Relief as well, but she hesitated to ask more. He seemed to sense her indecision.

"Peace of mind comes at no cost, Pyrrha. I offer it freely if fate is what you choose." He smiled again and this time it didn't bother her nearly as much.

What will happen to me?

"Ah, that I cannot answer. It is beyond even my sight what happens to the departed. Forgive my lack of knowledge, but if you choose to journey beyond you do so not knowing what, if anything, you will find."

The unknown doesn't scare me.

"Few things do."

She paused again to collect her thoughts. Finally another question, one she felt she should of asked first, came to her.

Jaune. Will he be alright?

"He will survive this battle unharmed."

The short answer aroused her suspicion.

There's more. What aren't you telling me?

He frowned slightly and clasped his hands together in his lap.

"My dear, you mean a great deal to him. Your death will devastate him. He will blame himself. He will seek answers." He indicated Cinder. "He will seek justice. If he ever succeeds is beyond my sight. Yet this day he will survive and many days to come."

And my friends?

"They too will survive. Your death will impact your team badly, they will go with Jaune to find answers for this nightmare. Team RWBY will also suffer, both from your death and from the battle. They will, however, live through this day. Young Rose will cry for you for many, many nights."

Her heart ached, but at least they would survive.

Then her mind turned to ice as the full implications of his words hit her.

You said they would suffer from the battle. Suffer how?

"Yang Xiao Long, in her rage, will lose an arm to a young man driven by an emotion even greater then wrath: hatred." Her mind began racing, but staled when he held up a hand. "Know that there is nothing you can do here to change that, no deal I am willing to consider will save her limb. It is not for her I am here and you cannot speak on her behalf."

Anger began to bloom in her thoughts and he smiled somewhat as if amused by her outrage.

"Always others first, Pyrrha?"

Always.

"A phoenix rises from it's own ashes, Miss Nikos. Miss Xiao Long will survive. A man known as James Ironwood will provide her a state of the art prosthetic for no charge. Given time she will recover and be stronger for it."

He leaned back in his invisible seat, crossing his legs.

He looked ridiculous. Like he was somehow balancing on one foot while in a crouch. He smirked again, likely finding her thought amusing, before becoming serious.

"Blake Belladonna will be forced to confront her past. She will leave this city and return home in hopes of finding both herself and answers. She will blame herself for Yang's injury, but beyond that will escape mostly unharmed."

"Weiss Schnee will also escape this fight mostly unscathed. Yet her father will use the disaster to... reclaim her." His lips twisted into a grimace of distaste. "He will try to break her. He will fail and she will find her own freedom."

A sense of relief was building within her. They survived. Ren and Nora. Jaune. Team RWBY.

They would survive this fight.

"It is Miss Rose who will suffer the most."

The feeling shattered like glass.

The memory of a shy young face smiling up at her on their first day at Beacon flashed through her mind.

What do you mean? What happens to her?!

"You cannot see her, but she is behind you right now."

Her thoughts stopped.

Wha... what?!

"She will witness your death. It will plague her and she will never truly forgive herself for failing to save you."

That isn't-! This isn't her fault! This... this is my choice! My mistake! She isn't-!

"Were the positions reversed, Pyrrha, would you forgive yourself?"

No... but... it... it isn't...

"Fair? Life seldom is, my dear. If it was we wouldn't be here, would we?"

She wanted to cry.

"Grief often blinds us to the truth, Miss Nikos. She will blame herself even if all the blame belongs to Miss Fall."

Her eyes refocused on Cinder. Surely Ruby would try to fight her. And the dragon was still there! Panic began to fill her. She couldn't win!

Anduriel followed her thoughts and glanced over his shoulder at the other woman.

Do they fight?

"No" He shook his head as he looked back at her. "The shock and pain of witnessing your death will unleash a dormant power within Ruby. A power that will badly cripple Miss Fall and seal the dragon. It will drain her, leaving her comatose for a time, but she will recover."

He stood and stepped out of her view. She imagined him standing before the frozen Ruby Rose. Somehow she knew he was frowning. Unsatisfied with something.

"She will go with your team to find answers. In the aftermath of this battle these villains will triumph suffering only the most minor of set backs."

But... but you said Ruby will cripple her!

He appeared suddenly behind Cinder a hand resting on her shoulder.

"She will, yet Miss Fall here is inconsequential. She is simply a single cog in a larger machine. Her purpose is to steal away the power of the Fall Maiden, denying that strength to the defenders of humanity. With your death she will succeed and, crippled or not, humanity as a whole will be weakened."

The realization hit her like a ursa claw to the gut.

I... was a fool... coming for her is exactly what she wanted...

"Indeed, you played right into her hands. Had you run, you would of denied her at least some of the power she seeks."

He appeared right next to her without a sound.

"You still can correct that mistake, Pyrrha Nikos." He breathed in her ear before reappearing between her and the arrow.

I...

"After your death." He continued as if nothing had happened. "Beacon will be lost. Ruby's power will seal the dragon, but it will continue to call Grimm to this place. A tide of darkness to wash away all memory of light."

So many thoughts raced through her mind.

Vale! What about the city?

"The city will be secured though at great cost. The military and hunters will drive out the White Fang and fight back the Grimm, but with the dragon frozen atop Beacon they will never stop coming. How long they can hold against such an onslaught I do not know, but at the very least they will carry the day."

Too many thoughts, too many fears. She couldn't...

They all stopped as a phantom image of Ruby's horrified face surfaced in her mind.

At the idea of a someone telling Jaune that Pyrrha Nikos was dead.

The thought of her friends grieving for her.

Of the woman before her escaping to hurt even more people.

Was it selfish that she hadn't the strength to bear the thought of that?

Can you stop it?

He froze, his yellow and red cat eyes focusing on her completely.

"If that is the bargain you wish to make. Yes, it is within my power to stop Cinder Fall."

At what price? What do you want?

"My dear, I want the simplest thing of all." He spoke quietly then he was directly in front of her and all she could see were those terrible eyes. " Daughter of Dust, Maiden of Fall, Chosen Guardian of Remnant in return for my aid I ask only this one boon: Allow me to be part of your world. Grant me entrance and I shall shatter the shackles destiny has bound you with."

I...I don't...

He took a step back and took a deep breath. "For this boon I would pay you almost any price, you have but to ask."

Her mind flooded with requests. She could at least see if he was willing to do what she asked.

Protect my friends.

"Agreed."

Stop Cinder Fall.

"Agreed."

Destroy the dragon.

"Agreed."

Save my life.

"Agreed."

And help me stop her masters.

Here he hesitated and that confused her.

"You ask much." He whispered. "If it was another... yet here and now, with you, it is a price I can pay."

He straighten and nodded. "Agreed. Is that all? Think hard on this, for I will not offer again."

There was nothing more to ask.

Yes.

"So be it. Pyrrha Nikos, this I so swear: I will save you from this fate, I will guarantee your comrades survive this day, I will stop the current machinations Cinder Fall, I will destroy the Grimm Dragon, and I will aid you until such a time as you choose to release me or your quest against the Darkness that plaques this world is over."

As he spoke thin lines of red light appeared between them. With each promise a new glowing strand materialized linking them together.

"In return I ask entrance to your world, granted fairly and without rescission. Should I break my vows so too shall I depart this world once more."

With those words a single string of pale gold light joined the rest.

"Do we have an accord?"

The moment passed.

The dragon snarled. Fire crackled.

The noises of crumbling and stressed architecture surrounded them.

The sound of Ruby's boots hitting concrete behind her reached her ears.

The arrow flew.

Her lips parted to speak, but she had already given her answer...

A/N

This is mostly just a test of concept and to get the idea out of my head where it had been bouncing around for months.

Edit: And away we go folks. Let's see were this rabbit hole of madness leads!