History Fanfic / Reignfall

-->''May Marigold had seen the worst of what Remnant had to offer. Corruption and militarism ran rampant, led by James Ironwood, and apparently enabled by none other than Headmaster Ozpin, who was much more than the world knew. She had stood up for what was right, she'd left Atlas behind, and was found by none other than Salem. And thanks to the enlightenment she had offered, May knew what she had to do in order to set the world right. And it all started with Beacon. ''

* TitledAfterTheSong: Chapter 13 is titled "Achilles, Come Down", from the song of the same name by Gang of Youths, a song about Achilles being talked down from suicide. [[spoiler:The chapter features Pyrrha, who's MythicalMotifs is Achilles, going to fight May, a suicidal course of action. The song also applies to May who, while not suicidal, is comitting the worst mistake of her life]].

* AuthorFilibuster: Robyn's views on violent revolution in chapter 15 quite clearly give across Asheskies' own. Robyn and Joanna note that it's easy to fall into the idea that the only way to truly deal with deeply flawed institutions is to burn it all down to the ground, but that the problem is twofold: One, truly making progress is rarely straightforward and often times involves needing to make compromises in order to ensure any degree of meaningful progress is made, even if it means that it can't fit everyone who's hurting. The second and more prominent issue that when revolution turns into outright war, it's oftentimes the most vulnerable (the minorities marginalized, in this case the poor, the Faunus, the people of Mantle, etc.) who are most likely to be harmed, because the state has a powerful army that would not hesitate to exterminate them without a second thought, and progress would be set back completely, if not wiped out completely.

* AuthorFilibuster: Robyn's views on violent revolution in chapter 15 quite clearly give across Asheskies' own.
* AwesomeButImpractical: During a sparring match with a petra gigas, May uses her [[spoiler:doppler powers to turn the grimm goop on the ground into a massive claw to kill it with. As Salem points out, while this is very impressive, it would've been more practical to simply take control of the geist itself, since the arm trick takes a lot of energy and requires a supply of raw grimm]].

** Once May [[spoiler:reveals herself to the world, a ''lot'' of characters are faced with this realization. Those of her old team that didn't know, even Cinder, are surprised but realize that it makes sense in hindsight.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:May and Pyrrha being soul bonded]] is foreshadowed heavily, starting from the first fight between May and Qrow; When May overtaxes her maiden powers, she sees flashes of green light, just like [[spoiler:the lighting in Amber's vault]]. During the fight on top of Beacon tower, May gets pain in her heel, [[spoiler:where Pyrrha just took an arrow]]. When Pyrrha receives a [[spoiler:gift from Ironwood, her immediate reaction is anger and resentment]]. Finally, May and Pyrrha's [[spoilre:auras both seem to decrease randomly, almost like if they had been in a fight, which is handily explained when it turns out that their auras are linked]].

* MeaningfulEcho: When she wakes up after [[spoiler:the fall of beacon, May says "Fuck you, Nikos. I should’ve had it all, and you should’ve never been part of this", echoing two sepparate lines from Cinder in the show; ""You're just not worthy of such power. But I am..." and "And you... should never have been born"]].

* NightmareSequence: May suffers one in chapter 16, which combines all of her traumas into one. She's in Marigold Manor, without a weapon or aura. The lighting is like it was in Cerberus, and she's being chased by a grimm that sounds like a mix of a normal grimm and a chainsaw (Juni Syntrichia's weapon) and can burrow underground to get closer to her (Juni's semblance). When it finally comes face to face with her, it looks like an unnaturally thin and lanky human with her own face with red eyes and bloody fangs. [[spoiler:Just like the Doppler]].

* OldFriendNewGender: Downplayed since May was out when they last met, but Roman fails to recognize her when they meet again four years later, since she has fully transitioned since then. He only recalls who she is when Neo reminds him.

* FunWithAcronyms: As per tradition. May's fake team when infiltrating beacon is DENM (Denim, May's fake name is Daisy Shepherd). May and Emerald also mention the previous winners of the Vytal tournament, teams VLHL ([[Myth/NorseMythology Valhalla]]) and SPHR (Sapphire).

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The night before [[spoiler:the Fall of Beacon and during the Fall itself, May several times push her maiden powers far beyond what they would usually be capable of, though each time she experiences pain and nausea. The long-term consequences of this are yet to become clear]].