Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.
Responsibility
- Jaune's My God, What Have I Done? reaction to realizing that he nearly Force choked Cardin to death. He's unable to speak and sheds Tears of Remorse from his eyes as he struggles to even stand up.
- Ren's reaction to watching Jaune nearly die in his arms from his wounds. He's desperately begging Jaune not to die while starting to form tears in his eyes.
- Jaune discovering that he accidentally used the Jedi mind trick to make Weiss fall in love with him. He's spent so much time trying to woo the girl he likes into going out with him. Then, just as he's almost given up, she finally agrees to go out with them. They go to the Beacon Dance and have the night of their lives. Then it all comes crashing down as Jaune discovers that her feelings for him were never real.
- After realizing what he's done, Jaune is absolutely horrified at himself and runs from the ballroom in tears. When Pyrrha tries comforting him, he cries about how it's all his fault and calls himself a monster for what he's done to Weiss.
- The scene where Jaune goes to Team RWBY's dorm and confesses the truth to Weiss. Weiss understandably freaks out when she's told that her newfound feelings of affection towards Jaune were the result of mind control. She reacts by slapping Jaune across the face before suddenly stumbling back and yelling at him to get away from her. Even worse, Jaune can see that Weiss's primary reaction isn't anger, but fear.
- The way Weiss initially acts towards Jaune when he enters her dorm only twists the proverbial knife even further. She doesn't realize her feelings of attraction towards Jaune were forced and her first reaction to seeing Jaune is to innocently ask why he ran off last night when they were having so much fun.
- For Weiss, the idea of having no control over her decisions is her worst fear. Even while growing up under the thumb of her Control Freak of a father, the one thing that her father never controlled was her emotions and thoughts. Jaune unknowingly took that away from her. Even though she understands it was an accident and that Jaune's regret is genuine, she can't find it in herself to forgive him for this very reason.
- While both Weiss and Ruby understand that what Jaune did was a total accident, Blake is not willing to believe him. Hearing what happened to Weiss turns out to be a Trauma Button for her as she can't help but be reminded of the emotional abuse that Adam put her through. Part of her even wrongly suspects that Jaune is trying to gaslight them.
- The last thing that Weiss says to Jaune as he tries apologizing to her is to tearfully choke out "Just… just stay away from me" before just walking out of the room.
- While speaking to his team in the hospital, Jaune reveals that he blames himself for not being strong enough to protect his team and believes that it's his fault that his friends nearly got killed.
- When JNPR goes to hang out with RWBY, there's still some tension between them as a result of Jaune's actions during the Beacon Dance. While Ruby and Yang try to be friendly towards Jaune, Weiss has completely shunned him and refuses to even acknowledge him. Even Blake clearly doesn't want to be near him and only stays because Pyrrha bought her some tuna-filled wok.
- Jaune lashing out and taking out his anger on Glynda, a woman who has looked out for him and took the time out of her day to mentor him. When she notices how Jaune has become more aggressive and confrontational since the Breach, she summons Jaune to her office and offers him the chance to come clean about his powers. She spends the scene trying to get through to Jaune, almost pleading with him, because she's worried about him. However, Jaune just uses the opportunity to launch into a Rage Against the Mentor tirade and rants about how he's more powerful than her and declares that he no longer needs her.
- Glynda's reaction is also saddening. There's a brief moment where her stoic facade cracks and she visibly recoils from Jaune's harsh words. After Jaune leaves her office, she actually feels a little bit of self-loathing, indicating that Jaune's words actually got to her on an emotional level.
- When Darth Traya explains to Nihilus that his transformation was a result of the Force, Nihilus loses it and briefly starts to Rage Against the Heavens. From his perspective, he devoted his entire life as a Jedi to carry out the will of the Force. He's lost loved ones, experienced the horrors of war, and nearly destroyed himself, all in the Force's name. Then instead of being rewarded, he's transformed into some kind of monster and has to feed off his fellow soldiers just to stay alive. Putting all this into consideration, it's easy to see how Traya was able to convince him to join the Sith.
- The scene where Pyrrha comforts Jaune and the small part of him that isn't corrupted by the Dark Side starts to leak out. The sorrow and regret that Jaune feels, along with his line "I'm just... tired, Pyr", indicates that deep down, he recognizes that Nihilus has corrupted him but he can't find it in himself to reject the Dark Side.
- After Pyrrha leaves to talk to Ozpin, Jaune wanders the fairgrounds as his hunger goes out of control. After his attempts to meditate fail to alleviate his hunger pangs, Jaune gives up on resisting Nihilus' influence entirely, feeling as though it's hopeless to even try.He focused inward and attempted to meditate, but it was to no avail. Even within the sanctity of his inner mind, the hunger was overwhelming, overpowering. Amongst such a terrifying, omnipresent force, what hope could Jaune have to try and fight against it? What was the point of even trying?
- This is shortly after promising to Pyrrha that he would become stronger and beat Nihilus, implying that Jaune was lying to her and only said that to make her stop prying into his secrets.
- Jaune's horrified reaction when he realizes that he attacked Pyrrha in his blind rage.Jaune: (sputtering) I... I didn't mean to. I'm... I'm sorry. Oh dust I'm sorry.
- When he tries to get closer to Pyrrha to apologize, she flinches away. Jaune's obsession with the Dark Side has finally cost him the one person who truly loved and understood him.
- As Jaune falls further and further into madness, he whimpers about how he just wants the voices in his head to stop.
- The mental breakdown Jaune has when he's cornered by the airdocks. All of his friends clearly just want to help him and figure out what's wrong with him, but all Jaune sees are enemies thanks to Nihilus whispering in his head. Jaune eventually pulls out Nihilus's mask and screams about how "they" all just want to steal his power from him, while everyone around him just stares in confusion.
- Jaune's last words before he puts on Nihilus's mask is "I just... I just wanted to be a hero". It's tearjerking to hear that Jaune ultimately just wanted to help people and instead was warped by the Dark Side into a sociopathic monster who's alienated all his friends.
- Essentially, Nihilus has won. He's turned Jaune to the Dark Side and isolated him from all his friends, giving him the window to take control of his body and subsume whatever is left of his original personality.
- The narration explicitly states how Jaune is "gone", indicating that Jaune truly died the moment he put on the mask. All that remains is Nihilus.
- Nariel's death. The worst part is that her loved ones never learn what happened to her. As far as anyone knows, she flew off into hyperspace and just disappeared.
- All of team ABRN's deaths.
- After Nihilus kills all his teammates, Bolin just loses it and charges at Nihilus while screaming in anger.
- Nihilus destroying Crescent Rose as Ruby is Forced to Watch. Nihilus telekinetically disarms Ruby of her scythe then crushes it into a ball of scrap. Then, to top it off, Nihilus uses the remains of Crescent Rose to splatter Bolin's head. Ruby had to watch her most cherished possession get destroyed and then used to murder one of her fellow students.
- Neo breaking down into silent tears upon seeing the airship Roman was on explode after Nihilus forces it to crash into Beacon. The only reason Neo continues to follow Cinder's team is because "she now had nowhere else to go".
- Ruby and Pyrrha contacting Ren on their scrolls and learning he's safe, only for him to then turn his scroll's camera to reveal unconscious form of Nora, who had used her body to shield Ren from the explosion.
- When Ozpin asks Ruby and Pyrrha what's going on, both pause as they finally have time to rationalize what they saw happen to Jaune. Despite having the most knowledge about what's been happening to Jaune, Pyrrha is speechless. Having spent the story Locked Out of the Loop, Ruby tries to explain what she believes she saw happen while starting break down a little.Ruby: It was… Jaune. He put on some kind of, Grimm mask. And it turned him into a monster, some kind of humanoid Grimm! [raises voice] Gods, he was killing so many…
- Seeing how Neo is trying to deal with Roman's death. As Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury are figuring out their next moves, Neo is slumped on her knees, staring blankly into the ground as tears continue to fall from her eyes.
- As Pyrrha's soul merges with Amber's, she starts screaming in pain. Ozpin, knowing what it's like to merge with another person, reacts with fear and regret as all he can do is stammer out an apology for the pain he is putting her through.
- Everything about Qrow's death. It turns out that waitress who Qrow sacrificed himself to protect at the end of "Nihilus" died anyway after the explosion from the airship's crash broke her neck. Meanwhile, Qrow himself is impaled by a large piece of debris when Ironwood finally finds him. Just before he passes on, Qrow hands Ironwood his weapon Harbinger and asks him to give it to Ruby.
- At first, Ironwood is desperately hopeful, trying to convince Qrow (and likely himself) that the possibility exists for Qrow to survive. As he goes on about how lucky Huntsmen have survived worse wounds, it finally dawns on him why there's no saving Qrow. Qrow's own Semblance causes bad luck, so even if he got Qrow to the hospital in time, his bad luck guarantees that he won't survive.
- Qrow's reaction to Ironwood remembering his bad luck implies that he already knew he was going to die regardless of what anyone did.
- Then there's the fact that Qrow dies without ever having the chance to say goodbye to any of his loved ones. Now Ruby and Yang have to deal with the death of another family member after already having lost their mother.
- Seconds after Qrow's death, Ironwood is contacted on the radio by the team of medics he had called in to help Qrow.Atlesian EMT: General, this is Yellow Team we're almost at your location.
Ironwood: Belay that. It's too late. Return to your previous objective.
EMT: (beat) Understood sir. We're sorry.
Ironwood: [whispers] So am I. - At the end of the chapter, Penny stares silently at Qrow's corpse before wiping away tears from her eyes.
- Amber breaking it to Pyrrha that, even though she thinks Jaune can be saved, the only way to stop Nihilus from destroying Vale may be to kill him.
- The scene where Ruby learns about Qrow's death.
- As Ironwood updates Ozpin on the situation in Vale, Ruby interrupts their conversation to ask the general a question:Ruby: General… why do you have my Uncle's sword?
- Ironwood can't even bring himself to directly convey the bad news through words. He just hands Harbinger over to her and tells her that it was her uncle's "last wish" for her to have it.
- Despite managing to hold it together for most of the battle, the news of her uncle's death finally causes Ruby to break down as all the trauma she's experienced over the last few chapter comes crashing down on her head. After slowly taking Harbinger from Ironwood's hands, Ruby falls to her knees and starts crying Broken Tears as she holds the only thing she has left of her uncle in her shaking hands.
- As Ironwood updates Ozpin on the situation in Vale, Ruby interrupts their conversation to ask the general a question:
- Seeing Ruby, previously an All-Loving Hero, beg Ozpin for the chance to kill Nihilus and avenge her uncle's death.
- Pyrrha parting ways with Ren. Ren knows that he's only be a hindrance for the Final Battle and chooses to leave with the rest of Beacon's students. He briefly leaves Nora's side to exchanges one last hug with Pyrrha and the two promise that they will see each other again. Before he leaves, Ren warns Pyrrha that she may have to kill Jaune as he is unsure if it is possible to save him after everything he's done under Nihilus's control.
- Weiss having her eyes cut out by Adam. She's left screaming in pain as she covers her face with her hands while Tears of Blood start dripping from where her eyes used to be.
- Penny and Ironwood's deaths at the hands of Nihilus.
- Even worse, Nihilus!Jaune kills Penny by telekinetically crumbling her body into a ball of scrap. This happens in full view of Ruby, who basically has to watch a reenactment of Crescent Rose's destruction, only this time it's with one of her closest friends instead of her most cherished possession.
- The destruction of Beacon Academy. Unlike in canon, where the school remained largely intact if not occupied by the Grimm, here the school is completely gone with a pile of rubble being the only thing left after Ozpin releases his cane's energy.
- Pyrrha's death. The last thing she does before she dies is gently cup Nihilus!Jaune's face and whisper "I'm sorry", apologizing to Jaune for failing to save him from Nihilus.
- What makes this even more tragic is that she passes away before she can see Ruby use her Silver Eyes to free Jaune from Nihilus' control, meaning she dies believing that all her efforts were for naught and that Nihilus won.
- Jaune's Heroic Suicide at the end. After the light from Ruby's silver eyes allows Jaune to retake control of his body, he wakes up to see Beacon Academy destroyed and Pyrrha's corpse right next to him. His final act in life was to tell Ruby how sorry he was before stabbing himself with Crocea Mors, killing himself and depriving Nihilus of a host body.
- After seeing news of Ozpin covering up the Fall of Beacon and lying to the press by blaming the White Fang for the attack, Blake snuck out of the hospital and ran without so much as a goodby to her teammates. Glynda suspects that Ozpin's decision to use the White Fang as a scapegoat caused Blake to lose her faith in Vale, if not humanity as a whole.
- While voicing her suspicions about why Blake went on the run, Glynda gives Ozpin a glare, making it clear that she considers him partly responsible for this.
- Consider this from Blake's perspective: her previous interactions with Ozpin led her to believe that he was amongst the humans who treated Faunus as equals. Yet, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack—one that she knows was orchestrated by humans using the White Fang as pawns—Ozpin seemingly ignores the true perpetrators (Cinder and Roman) and instead spins a narrative where the White Fang were solely responsible. To her, it probably made it seem as though Ozpin only pretended to believe in equal rights for Faunus and is willing to throw a group of Faunus under the bus the moment it suits his needs.
- Ruby is arguably worse off at the end of this fic than she was post-Volume 3 in canon. In addition to losing her school, having her team dissolved, and watching Penny and Pyrrha die; Ruby also loses her uncle Qrow, Jaune, and her own scythe. Plus, she also has to deal with the baggage that comes with being the new Fall Maiden and never being able to live a normal life due to constantly being hunted by Salem's forces. Glynda also believes that Ruby may have PTSD, but is actively repressing it to put up the face of a stoic team leader.
- It's mentioned by Glynda that Nora and Ren were hit particularly hard by the deaths of their two teammates. Apparently the duo are showing signs of depression and antisocial behavior, implying that they are dealing with severe trauma. One of their teachers noticed that the two are increasingly withdrawn and only participating in the reconstruction of Vale because they have nowhere else to go.
- Apparently, Nora in particular is showing signs of being hit hard, leaving no room for debate that the cutie has officially been broken.
- Think about it from their perspective: before their first year at Beacon has ended, Nora and Ren have lost both the beloved teammates that they made at the school, leaving them with only each-other, after being parentless orphans who had only each-other since childhood. To them, it must seem like the universe doesn't want them getting close to anyone else and has punished them for doing so.
