I think it would be more interesting and allow character growth and development if it went this way...and show Yang isn't brain dead.
1st We have it where Ruby is respectful, feeling bad her gaslighting Penny has pushed into someone trying to take away her autonomy with a computer virus that has over ridden her protect software. So when Penny asks foe Ruby to kill her, Ruby hesitates, trying to think of another way but sees Jaune is straining the longer things are delayed to allow Penny to have semblance of herself. With tears in her eyes, Ruby agrees. She leaves the others to hold Penny in place. Yang offers to do it, not wanting her little sister to live with that memory. Ruby flatly and quietly says "I'm fine." and slices Penny with Crescent Rose. "Thank you. Goodbye, friend" are Penny's last words as Ruby kills her with tears falling and eyes held shut. Ruby glows for a moment as the Maiden power has gone into her.
Yang hugs Ruby close, rubbing her back and softly telling her thing's'll be okay. Ruby gunt yells, pulling away and rejects this before saying "I'm fine. I need to be alone". Yang tries to follow but Wiess stops her, explaining that the death of someone close is very hard and to give Ruby space right now, Yang reluctantly agrees.
2nd A couple days pass and the cities are both in chaos from the unending Grimm, lack of power and supplies dwindling due to the need out pacing supply. They're having a meeting with a young female servant with green eyes bringing in refreshments for the group. Wiess thanks her and dismisses her. She leaves, staying close by the door, hidden to look like the wall as this is Neo. They talk and Ozpin in his young man body (after unleashing a concentration of magic to buy themselves time he regenerated a new body). He tells them about the staff and how it should have a use or two left, warning that what it creates can only be destroyed by the Sword of Destruction. He reminds them they would need the Winter Maiden. Ruby stays quiet as Oz looks to her, her head down and shoulders slumped.182Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjdyRsRwT4q
"Where could we send people to be taken care of and safe until the cities are made secured again?" Ruby quietly asks. Blake mentions Haven but reminds Ruby about Atlas types towards Faunus. "We can send those in Mantle there." Ruby says with agitation. Wiess chimes up, "We could send the Atlas people to Vale. They should be fine for awhile." Ruby nods and Oz pipes up with "I'll call Glenda and let her know. I'll also contact your parents, Ms. Belledonna, if you'd like about their incoming refugees." Blake declines and says she will call them. Ozpin doesn't argue this.
"Then let's head to vault and see what can be done." Yang states and the meeting dismisses with Neo taking her leave.
3rd Neo has used the last wish, by using text-to-speech on her scroll to see Roman's life before and after her joining and sees how he died. Her grudges towards Ruby and Cinder remain but she got to see how he grew up, had a rough family life in regards to money and a mother who drank too much. When she returns the lamp to Cinder, the lamp doesn't work. Neo turns into Ruby as she saw her (this explains how she knows about the outfit change better as I don't remember her seeing Ruby's outfit change in Vol 7 or 8) and moves her thumb across her throat before turning back. Cinder agrees that Neo can have the killing blow. Neo uses her scroll to speed up the process and explain the girls are going to the vault as the guys are to explain to the people what's going to happen. Neo has her own plan though to try and kill Cinder while Cinder is busy with the girls. She also intentionally leaves out any hint that one of the girls has Maiden powers.
4th Ironwood is in a distraught mood. Since the girls arrived he's: lost his right hand Winter, Mr. Schnee was arrested on embezzlement, Wiess with the others have been lying to him, his last good arm got mangled from Watts trap, and Cinder has had her icon appear in his systems which messed with the power supplies, allowing Salam inside and right on their front doorstep. Then he finds out Oz has been lying and holding secrets, leading to him in the confusion of emotions to shoot the man he once trusted, hoping he would return and come clean about everything. This hasn't happened yet. He learns as well after Penny got the Maiden powers, Winter died protecting Wiess during the night in their family home by a large shifting Grimm that appeared to have immunity to Ruby's eyes, as it had brought friends. To top it off, learning Ruby had been lying the whole time at least since they arrived and the others went along with her.
Crying, he has no idea what to do next. There's so much pressure. His people are dying. Grimm won't stop coming. His soldiers are running low on moral. His machines are running low on power and ammunition. He can't get in contact with Penny so has no idea where she is or how she is. The materials needed for the Arena keep being stolen. His lead scientist isn't picking up. He can't locate the former Silver Eyed Maiden to help fight, or if she'd even still be able to in her old age. The Ace Ops are so tied up in helping defeat Grimm that they can't do much for him but could he trust them? Would they lie to him about things like Ruby and the others? Like Qrow? Like Ozpin?
It's in this depression he starts to snap, tears in his eyes. It's too much. He picks up the communication device and starts ordering a few of the Ace Ops back to base, telling them he has a mission for them. If he can't stop Salam because of her immortality, and she's only after the staff, then he'll just destroy everything so she won't be able to get the staff. It's desperate but he feels trapped in a corner and feels he can't trust anyone with how many lies have been fed to him by those he thought he could trust with straight faces.
5th The girls get to the vault with Ruby having shut down emotionally, suppressing it instead of dealing with her emotions because there isn't time. Yang's worried and keeps trying to comfort her but is brushed off by her little sister. Wiess isn't sure what to do, pushing down her own emotions over her sister's death, father's arrest, and her mother possibly being dead from alcohol poisoning. She didn't want to think of her little brother, not how she rejected him and ignored the signs he was suffering like her before she met Blake, Yang and Ruby, and then was disowned.
Ruby touches and opens the vault, they go inside and Yang takes the staff. He comes out but is more calm and serious, a contrast to Jinn's light and fun tone. Yang asks how many more creations can he make. He tells her he can make two more requests before mortals need to wait one hundred years as his powers work like Jinn's. You get 3 requests before he rests. Wiess and Blake explain the idea for wanting doorways opened and marked where they go, for people to get to somewhere safe.
Ambros gives a concerned look, rubbing the back of his neck when asked by Ruby what's wrong. He sighs and takes a breath. "I can but I can't just link spaces without having a gap in space and time for it to happen...and I'm not supposed to do that. The Brother's forebayed it." Wiess asks with a nice "Please" with her sentence cut off by Ruby snapping, "Just do it." It goes quiet as eyes are on Ruby. "We don't have time and I want to close this vault when we're done." Ruby adds.
Ambros thinks before quietly agreeing to do this and informs them "Once I make the portals with the space and time gap...I'll force it closed as I go to rest when I sense no more mortal life in the two settlements... Also...don't you or anyone fall into the void...not unless you're ready to face yourself for judgement." Wiess asks what he means but Ruby says it doesn't matter and tells him to make sure only human and Faunus can enter the portals. He takes a breath and vanishes as the staff glows brightly, forming the portals with railed paths to a railed center disk with the labeled doorways.
6th During this, Ironwood has followed the girls and draws his gun. He feels the need to end them himself so he can apologize, unaware that the bomb idea is being stopped by Qrow, Rin and Nora. (The bomb goes off in the water as the distraught and confused Ace Ops members are temporarily restrained and calmed down) Before he can get into the vault, Cinder attacks and his rage takes over as she taunts him.
Hearing fighting after the portals are made, Blake looks out and says they need to go because Cinder is here. Ruby moves to see but Yang stops her, saying how Cinder can't learn Ruby's a maiden. Ruby trembles but goes through their portal door with Yang handing the staff that collapsed down to Wiess. "Might as well take it. We can't let her see Ruby close the vault." Yang softly points out and Wiess agrees, putting the staff into an empty dust pouch.
The fighting ends with Cinder killing Ironwood, who went down with tears of rage and hatred in his eyes. Cinder calls to Neo and they head up and into the portal.
7th Jaune has been working with Oz and the others once they returned to direct people and help others through. The girls start helping but ready to fight when a blast of fire strikes at Ruby but is blocked by Yang.
The fight starts with Jaune and the others with the Ace Ops working to get people to the doorways to escape. Cinder starts attacking innocent people, spacing out the girls in her countering and dodging their attacks. This causes some people to fall over the edge. Neo during this is keeping low, shifting her form every so often as she moves about the people. The fight wanes on with the girls getting tired, especially Wiess from using summons and glyphs to keep her team and friends from falling as Jaune joined in to help, as is Cinder it seems. Ruby tries to use her eyes but she grows frustrated they won't work. As Cinder mocks Ruby for not being able to preform, Neo stabs Cinder in the back. Neo jumps off Cinder who hits her but it shatters as she appears to have safely landed.
Cinder summons forth a storm clouds and starts throwing down at her enemies flames shaped like leaves. As they draw close, it looks like her guard is down and this is when she summons the fire tornado, throwing them all back and her leaves have been weakening the rails. By this point all the remaining innocent people have gone through. Yang yells for the others to go through and they'll be through last.
When Wiess hit the floor, Cinder spied the staff's crystal peak out of the pouch and landed. She shot her Grimm arm out and Wiess throws up ice from one of her dust bottles she breaks in a quick effort to stop Cinder, getting to her feet and summoning a flying Grimm which Blake jumps onto for height as Yang gets in close. Wiess uses her Glyphs to speed up Ruby and shoots sharp earth shards with each swing of her rapier at Cinder. It's all Cinder can do to keep up flames to reduce Yang's strikes she moves away from before taking flight and dealing with Blake. Ruby flies up with her speed.
Cinder creates another flaming tornado to crowd control and snarls. She darkens the flames, extinguishing them to smoke. This causes the fight to cease as coughing is happening and trouble seeing. Cinder speeds her way over to Wiess and grabs the pouch, ripping it off with her grim arm and laughs. Neo attacks, seemingly from different directions to grab the staff but is thrown out of the fading smoke over the edge, told to go join her boss. Ruby seeing this, not wanting to see more death, speeds over and grabs Neo, and brings her back onto the center platform.
Yang having also recovered shoots herself forward, hair alight as she slams her fist into Cinder. Cinder throws up a solid wall of flames which shatters and she expels a fire circle from herself. This is enough of a surprise that the tired Yang flies back, screams for Ruby as Ruby screams for Yang. Blake tries to catch Yang on the back of the Grimm but as she does, the summon flickers as above them, snow and ice are swirling and Ruby is screaming in pain, anger, and fear.
Wiess has gotten hit and keeps being hit by Ruby losing control of her Maiden powers. Ruby's holding her head as tears stream down her face with her eyes flickering their silvery white color mixed with blue from the magic flowing. Cinder shouts that power is hers. Wiess grunts and uses a Gravity glyph to pull Cinder back only to have it be shattered by a burst of Cinder's flames and she too is thrown over but is caught by Jaune by the wrist as he leans over where the railing is broken.
Cinder being so close, grabs Ruby with the Grimm arm and Ruby struggles. Cinder screams in pain as her hand begins to smoke from Ruby's eyes. Neo shields herself, backing away in fear. Cinder is thrown back by Ruby blasting her with an ice spike that is melted down enough to not impale Cinder by the Fall Maiden's flames. She hits the bars, almost falling over but sees Jaune starting to pull Wiess up after he got his grip. Shooting out flames, Jaune is shoved over with a tired Wiess and she shoots her arm at Ruby's chest.
Neo runs and grabs Ruby, throwing her to and over the railing while an image of her and Ruby vanish into shattered glass. Cinder screams in anger as Neo falls with a passing out Ruby following after.
8th The platform and ramps start to fall away, starting with the center disk. Cinder takes flight and leaves, managing to exit the gap and vault before it fully seals up. Landing, she looks at Ironwood's body then to the staff in her hand. She's pleased and walks out, her mood souring again as her thoughts remind her she lost the Winter Maiden power.
Inside the staff, Ambros reaches out mentally to the spirit in the crown, begging Cyan to go to the Brother's world and get the ones with weapons back safely, to help guide them through their selves. Cyan replied in the telepathic link, questioning why he should do it. Ambros begged him. Cyan sighs and agrees, stating he's not doing anything as the human who wears him is scared to touch him. The blue crystal in the crown shimmers and Cyan comes floating down through darkness and lands gently on a branch of a mighty, dream like tree with many human sized pods.
The cat Cyan looked to the tree and walked around, hopping about. "Hello to you as well. How have you been? ...That's great to hear. Yes, I'm doing fine with helping my mortal make choices. Oh? No, no, no need to wake them up. Let them rest. But if you could, hold off on making your judgement and testing the mortals. I need to mark a few that I'll be evaluating personally." He chuckled. "Thanks so much". He hopped around looking at the transparent pods and placed his paw on the different pods that contained Yang, Blake, Wiess, Jaune, Neo, and Ruby.
The cat winces and eyes Ruby. "Oh, you're going to be something to handle. For now, enjoy your dream. I'll start from easiest to hardest." Cyan then jumps away to start evaluating.
9th We then enter Volume 9 where the episodes will explore each individual character's inner selves, their hearts, minds, and what they're keeping locked down to function if there is anything.
Right now the order I'm thinking: Blake, Jaune, Neo, Yang, Wiess, and Ruby.
For their dreams, here's my idea at this moment:
Blake: At home having a wonderful time, there's humans around and it's peaceful. Adam's there with his mask off, apologizing for being consumed by hate. Sun is also there and Blake is blushing.
Jaune: With his team and back with Nekos. They are all together and are training after having protected some innocent people from a Grimm attack to keep their skills sharp. A couple of his sisters and his father with his grandfather are there, saying how glad they are to see he's grown.
Neo: Being with Roman again, hanging out, robbing stores and living the free high life as they were before. She also sees Cinder begging for help but Neo doesn't give it to her.
Yang: At home with her father and Ruby. Things are peaceful and her taking out her bike, tuning it up and driving around to feel the wind in her hair again, her normal arm is back.
Wiess: At Beacon, hanging out with her team in their dorm with the self made bunk beds. She's looking at a game Ruby is playing on her scroll that's a combat game against Yang as Blake watches Yang's screen.
Ruby: At home with Tai and her sister and her mother is also there. She's overjoyed and hugs her, telling her how she has so much to tell her, how she (Ruby) has been working so hard to be exactly like the stories that were read to and by her.
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