"I didn’t lose my way, I found it. You will be taking lives in the name of saving them. I will do what I have to. You want a coup against the SDC? I can give it to you. I can give you a coup ten times better than anything with a thousand fighters. I can give you a coup without blood. A coup without death. Trust me when I say that the White Fang has the potential to come out of this the victor. Stand at my side, and I will hand you what you want. Stick to those ‘ideals’ you’re up to your neck in? You’ll drown in them."
Destiny is not set in stone. There are those who are able to change their destinies and their worlds, but those who decide to change their destiny must be as brilliant as they are ruthless.— Adam Taurus
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Destinies of Remnant
- "The Wolves and the Soulless": Roman Torchwick, surviving his canonical death, remains as skillfully charming as ever. Released from prison to serve James Ironwood's ends, Roman recruits Team RWBY and Sun to his cause, rescuing Weiss from her home and tracking Blake to Menagerie along the way. Coming up with the plan to secure Sienna Khan's aid against Adam Taurus, Roman keeps up a charade of helping Sienna throughout the subsequent battle and helps ensure Adam's defeat. Following the battle, Roman detonates a bomb in the headquarters, killing both Sienna and Adam as well as wiping out the White Fang in one fell swoop, giving Ironwood the reason he needs to conquer Menagerie while Roman himself retires to a quiet life in Mantle.
- "Be Glad You Existed": Cinder Fall, though on the side of the heroes, remains no less ruthless than always. After learning of Arthur Watts' plan to invade Beacon with the White Fang, Cinder spends weeks studying Ruby Rose's methods and skills, eventually intervening to invite her to Beacon herself. After gathering both Team RWBY and her own team, Cinder orchestrates the plan to take the CCT back from Watts, further ingratiating herself to Ruby while pretending to be her friend. After they encounter Watts himself, she takes Ruby hostage, engaging in a Battle of Wits with her enemy that she ultimately wins when she reveals that not only did his ally already cave, but she had already rooted out his spies within Beacon Academy, leaving his plan a complete failure before she kills him herself.
- "This World Will Have No Peace": Adam Taurus, while no less vengeful than in canon, funnels that nature into a dangerous level of ambition. Seeking to strike straight at the top of humanity, Adam targets Jacques Schnee himself, intending to steal everything the man built. Through a series of Engineered Heroics and framing others for his crimes, Adam ingratiates himself to the man, all the while plotting with Sienna Khan behind his back. After orchestrating a riot that kills multiple innocents and framing Weiss for an assassination attempt on him, Adam successfully convinces Jacques to give him control of the company, saving Atlas when Jacques then tries to destroy it out of spite. Though originally intending to tear society down out of vengeance, Adam decides to give hope a chance once he gains his power, yet remains vigilant for the day the world proves undeserving.
Paths of Remnant
- "Born Indicted": Sienna Khan, surviving her canon death, learns that her life is short and she must make the most of what time she has to correct his path. To this end, she hatches one final scheme, beginning by decapitating Adam Taurus and presenting the head at a rally. Using her charisma and strength to lure Blake into a meeting and convince her to attend that rally, Sienna then forces a sit-down with several prominent figures, including General Ironwood and Jacques Schnee, in order to demand equality. However, after a bomb kills everyone present, Blake discovers that Sienna was actually gathering targets in one space to kill all of them at once, not only making herself into a martyr but also uniting humanity and Faunus for the first time. Her plan succeeds, beginning to mend the rift between humans and Faunus even at the cost of her own life.
The Black Knight
- Hazel Rainart, seeking to repent for his actions under Salem's orders, engineers the downfall of all of his allies. Using his status as the group's muscle to mask his devious scheming, Hazel manipulates Cinder into pitting Watts and Tyrian against each other, predicting their mutual paranoia will drive them to attack each other. When this happens, Tyrian is killed; when Cinder then moves to finish Watts off, Hazel ambushes her with cameras a Grimm to record her in the act, leading to her death at the hands of Salem's Grimm. Knowing that Salem will eventually catch him yet working to buy the heroes as much time as possible, Hazel's plan leads to Salem's forces being crippled for years, with himself planning to recruit a new batch of better people for her council.
"Even Brilliant Lights" and Fallen Petals
- Ruby Rose takes to Roman's teachings and proves she will be a worthy successor. Entering Beacon and weakening her team's abilities from day one, Ruby comes up with the plan to peacefully blackmail Ozpin, using a meeting with him to stealthily bug his office. When she comes into conflict with her team, Ruby uses her analytical abilities to take down all three at once, including tricking Yang into attacking Blake, before giving Roman an all-out fight. When she successfully kills him, Ruby utilizes his plan to leave the country, yet correctly predicts that Cinder will attempt to kill her for leaving; to circumvent this, she tricks two travellers into taking her place, faking her death and successfully fleeing to Mistral. After arriving in Mistral, Ruby tricks Adam Taurus into leading her to Sienna Khan and forces an alliance with her, then begins working to consolidate Mistral's criminal underworld under her banner to create a new force in Ozpin and Salem's Forever War. Though she's wounded by Cinder, Ruby coordinates the gang war from behind the scenes and ends the story having taken over Mistral, killing all of her enemies and uniting the various criminal gangs, the White Fang, and even Hazel Rainart to her cause.
- Roman Torchwick remains as dastardly brilliant as ever. After taking Ruby in, Roman begins teaching her the art of criminality, gradually molding her into a successor for his chaotic cause while granting him a mole within Beacon. After approving of Ruby's peaceful strategy to blackmail Ozpin, he uses his analytical mind to disarm Adam Taurus, taking the opportunity to bug his sword. When Ruby tries to bring him into the side of good, he rejects her offer and gives her a brutal and pragmatic fight, beginning by pretending to have assassinated Ozpin in order to provoke her to go all out. When she wins the fight, Roman reveals the facade and keeps his deal to give her Neopolitan as a partner, dying confident that Ruby will carry on his legacy. His legacy lives on in Ruby and Neo, who proceed to take over Mistral in his name.
- Neopolitan begins as Roman's right-hand woman and continues working for Ruby after his death. Becoming her most trusted advisor before her planned takeover of Mistral, Neo's creative use of her Semblance and incredible combat ability are crucial to Ruby's success. First tricking Adam Taurus into leading them to the White Fang's hideout, then saving Ruby's life when she's tricked into meeting with Cinder, Neo later tracks down Yang Xiao Long upon her arrival and fights her way through Junior's gang to bring her a letter. When Yang tries to flee, Neo ruthlessly tracks her through the city, even briefly putting civilians in danger to put her in a vulnerable position, and wins a three-way fight between herself, Yang, and Adam to reclaim Yang for Ruby. As part of Ruby's endgame, Neo uses an illusion of Ruby to lure Cinder to Haven Academy and fights her to the death, winning the battle by using gravity Dust in her weapon to implode the Academy and reuniting with Roman in the afterlife.
- Sienna Khan is the leader of the White Fang and, after forming an alliance with Ruby, seeks to secure her control over the organization from the Albain brothers and Adam. After covering up the violent results of Adam's latest mission and disguising it as a Dust accident, Sienna learns from an informant that Adam is plotting against her. To begin removing her enemies, Sienna first sends the Albains to track down Blake Belladonna to remove them as threats, then recruits several of Adam's supposed loyalists for her own ends. During the final battle between Ruby and Cinder, Sienna preempts Adam's betrayal with her own, forcing him into a complete and ultimately fatal retreat. After surviving the battle by using the environment to her advantage, Sienna leads the cleanup efforts, then joins Ruby's alliance to control Mistral and create a better world.
