Weiss Schnee (RWBY)/Synopsis

==Childhood==
Weiss was born to Jacques and Willow Schnee, the heads of the Schnee Dust Company in the Kingdom of Atlas, and was their second child after their eldest, Winter Schnee. She would later receive a younger brother, Whitley Schnee. Weiss recalled her upbringing as difficult, as her father was often distant, her mother was an alcoholic, her elder sister was often gone due to enlisting in the Atlas military, and her brother often resented her due to her being next in line to inherit the company. Additionally, because her family had once employed Faunus slave labor, it and their family were often targeted by radical Faunus groups such as the White Fang, who constantly treated her family and even killed members of the company. Because of this, Weiss grew up resenting Faunus. Despite this, Weiss was provided with various comforts and opportunities, and later took up singing and playing piano, though she never seemed to gain the approval of her father.
On Weiss' tenth birthday, Jacques missed the party and was confronted about it by Willow. Weiss witnessed her father admit he only married her for wealth and status, leading to the two becoming distant with each other and putting strain on their children's lives. Weiss eventually opted to become a Huntress to escape her family life, but uphold its legacy in a positive way.
Weiss trained into her teenage years, partially aided by Winter. She discovered her Semblance, Glyphs, which was a power passed down through generations of Schnee, which allow Weiss to create glyphs with a variety of effects, such as elemental attributes, summoning avatars of slain foes, and moving objects. Weiss trained with Winter, adamant that she would continue her learning in the Kingdom of Vale, far away from her family.
Jacques desired for Weiss to stay in Atlas, and so had her train, under the supervision of his Secretary, for Weiss to prove herself able to fend for herself. Weiss is challenged to fight an Arma Gigas, a giant suit of armor possessed by an amalgamation of possession-type Creatures of Grimm. Weiss fights the giant armor and, despite winning, is permanently scarred across her left eye. This proves her worthiness, and she is permitted to attend Beacon Academy in Vale to become a Huntress.
==First Semester at Beacon==
As Weiss moves in to Beacon, she meets and has an altercation with Ruby Rose, and immediately takes a disliking to her. The two squabble until the next day, where Weiss attempts to get on good terms with Pyrrha Nikos, who she desires to partner with because of her popularity and combat prowess. Jaune Arc attempts to flirt with Weiss, and she rejects him.
The new students prepare for initiation, which will involve them being sent into the Emerald Forest to retrieve artifacts at a hidden temple. They are also informed that the first individual they make eye contact with will become their teammate for the rest of their time at the Academy. After landing, Weiss meets Ruby, and is angered that she is now partnered with her. Weiss sees Ruby as beneath her because of her young age and lack of maturity, though Ruby tries to argue her merit. Ruby attempts to impress Weiss by fighting off a pack of Beowolf Grimm, but her technique only infuriates Weiss further. Together, the two hitch a ride on a giant Nevermore Grimm, which they drop off of and into the temple where the other students are. After being attacked and almost killed by a Death Stalker Grimm, Weiss saves Ruby, apparently ready to try and ease tensions. They, along with new partners Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna, as well as Jaune, Pyrrha, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie, obtain their relics, with Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all choosing the same White Knight chess piece relics.
The students flee from the incoming Grimm, but are forced to fight them off. Ruby leads Weiss and her group in an attack on the Nevermore, with Weiss using her Glyphs to launch Ruby at the monster to defeat it.
Following the initiation, Professor Ozpin sorts the students into teams based on the relic they chose. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are formed into Team RWBY, with Ruby named the leader, much to Weiss' surprise.
Not long after, Team RWBY witnesses a fight in the school's cafeteria between Jaune and a bully named Cardin Winchester. When Ruby steps in to help, Cardin antagonizes her. Professor Goodwitch steps in and suggests resolving the matter with a sparring match. After some support from her teammates, Ruby is able to easily overpower Cardin.
Weiss attempts to settle into her new role, but finds it difficult with Ruby's attempts at leading. In class, she is frustrated and distracted by Ruby's appointment as leader and lackadaisical nature, leading to her attempting to show off by fighting a Boarbatusk Grimm for the class. She is angered by Ruby's attempts at advice and encouragement, leading to her berating Ruby. She defeats the Grimm, but scolds Ruby and admits her frustration at her being named leader. She storms off and meets with Professor Peter Port, who calls her out on her selfish attitude and encourages her to show her teammates how good she can be. Weiss takes the advice to heart, and later that night gets Ruby a coffee and promises to be better.
Weiss continues to excel in her classes, later attending a field trip to the Forever Fall forest, where she witnesses Jaune fight off an Ursa Grimm with a bit of help from Pyrrha.
To prepare for the upcoming Vytal Festival and Tournament that will take plae in Vale, Team RWBY goes to the city's docks to survey the incoming students. There they meet a charming stowaway named Sun Wukong, who Weiss instantly takes a disliking to because of him being a Fuanus. As Ruby and her team go through Vale, Ruby meets Penny Polendina, who instantly befriends her. Later, it is revealed that Blake is a Faunus and former member of the White Fang. Blake flees from her team in embarrassment, and Weiss and the others go looking for her. They meet with Penny and are drawn to a commotion, which turns out to be Blake and Sun battling Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. After the criminals are chased off, Weiss confronts Blake, telling her not to keep secrets, but that she is accepting of Blake as a Faunus, and still sees her as an ally.
==Second Semester at Beacon==
At the start of the second semester, Weiss and Team RWBY get involved in a food fight against Team JNPR, and during the struggle are introduced to Sun's friend Neptune Vasilias, who Weiss immediately takes a liking to.
Later, Weiss calls out Blake for being stressed out, and Blake reveals that she is still worried over Roman Torchwick aiding the White Fang. Weiss and the others elect to look into the criminal activity outside of school hours, unaware that the ringleaders of the operation, Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai have infiltrated the school disguised as students.
During their investigations, Weiss teams with Ruby despite attempting to team up with Neptune. She goes to the Cross Continental Transmit tower to look into the Schnee Dust Company, contacting a attendant who gives her the information she needs. As she is leaving, Weiss receives a distress call from Blake. She and Sun found Torchwick, who was now attacking with a giant mech suit. Weiss goes and aids her team in fighting the mech, which is destroyed by Yang, but Torchwick escapes with help from his sidekick Neopolitan.
Weiss later helps Yang decorate for the upcoming Beacon dance. She turns down a date proposition from Jaune, with her instead asking Neptune, but he declines. At the dance, Weiss is despondent from the rejection, only for Neptune to approach her and admit her initially declined because he does not know how to dance, but Jaune encouraged him to accept. Weiss agrees that she has been harsh on Jaune.
Later, Ruby receives a package from her father, containingher dog Zwei. Weiss is taken with the dog, finding him adorable.
The teams are then given Search and Destroy missions where they will be shadowed by a Huntsman or Huntress. Ozpin grants Team RWBY a higher-level mission, where they are shadowed by Bartholomew Oobleck to the abandoned settlement of Mountain Glenn to exterminate Grimm. When they arrive, it is revealed that Ruby smuggled Zwei along, though Oobleck is excited that a dog is joining them.
Throughout the day, Oobleck guides the girls in battling the Grimm infesting the city, and interviews each one. When he asks Weiss why she decided to become a Huntress, she claims it is to uphold her family's legacy, but later ponders her answer that night. As Ruby takes watch, she, Yang, and Blake sleep.
That night, Ruby is captured by the White Fang, who are operating below the city. Zwei leads Weiss and the others to her location, and they rescue her. They chase the criminals to a train and board it. They discover bombs on the train and deduce that the White Fang are going to breach Vale's perimeter and allow Grimm into the city. On the train, Weiss is confronted by the White Fang Lieutenant, who bests her in combat. Before he can kill her, Blake rescues her. The group fails to stop the train, and Weiss encases them all in ice before they crash.
Weiss recovers, and immediately begins fighting the Grimm spilling into Vale. With help from allies, the breach is secured. Weiss and her team return to Beacon, but resolve to continue investigating the criminals.
==RWBY: Grimm Eclipse==
Following their mission to Mountain Glenn, Oobleck leads the team on several more missions, where they discover the cause of Mountian Glenn's fall, attributed to a company called Merlot Industries, where their leader, Doctor Merlot, was performing experiments of Grimm. The team returns to Mountain Glenn, only to find it booby-trapped by Merlot.
The team goes to the Forever Fall forest to continue investigating Merlot, whre they find and infiltrate a ship , but get trapped and transported to Merlot's private island. Merlot sics androids and mutated Grimm on them, but are able to make their way to the laboratory. After fighting and defeating a mutant Death Stalker, Merlot detonates the lab and escapes. Team RWBy escapes, and are brought back to Vale by Ozpin.
==Vytal Festival Tournament==
The Vytal Festival Tournament goes underway at Amity Coliseum, where the various academies compete in combat matches. Team RWBY fights Team ABRN from Haven Academy and win, going out to eat afterwards to celebrate. They elect Weiss and Yang to represent the team in the upcoming doubles match. However, Weiss learns that her finances have been cut off. She later watches matches between other teams, like Team JNPR and Team SSSN. Weiss is thrilled when she finds out Winter has arrived at Beacon, and rushes to greet her. Afterwards, Winter gets into a brawl with Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow Branwen, with Weiss cheering on Winter before Glynda Goodwitch puts a stop to it.
Weiss later joins Winter for lunch, where the two discuss their independence from their father, and Weiss receives advice about Summoning with her Glyphs.
Weiss and Yang move on to the doubles match against Flynt Coal and Neon Katt from Team FNKI. Though Weiss is injured, she and Yang manage to win, and Yang is elected to fight in the singles match.
Yang is pitted against Mercury Black, unaware he is one of the criminals opressing Vale. She wins their brawl, but due to a hallucination caused by Emerald Sustrai's Semblance, mistakenly believes Mercury attacks her. She punches in self-defense, appearing to the audience to attack her downed opponent without provocation. Yang is arrested but later let go, though Team RWBY is disqualified from the tournament. When Yang explains what happened, Weiss is quick to believe her.
Blake and Weiss go to the fairgrounds to get drinks together, but the city is attacked by Cinder Fall and the White Fang, who begin unleashing Grimm into the city, hacking communications to declare war on the Kingdom.
==Battle of Beacon==
Blake and Weiss head back to Beacon to defend it, fighting off hacked Atlas robots, White Fang, and Grimm. As Blake goes to help Yang, Weiss teams with Team CFVY to fight a rogue Atlesian Paladin, summoning part of the Arma Gigas to aid her in defeating it.
Weiss regroups with her fleeing and injured allies, including Yang, whose arm has been severed by Adam Taurus of the White Fang. When she learns that Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing, she and Ruby head off to search for them. Jaune calls Ruby, asking her to save Pyrrha, who has begun battling Cinder on top of Beacon's tower. Weiss assists Ruby in reaching the top, but Ruby arrives just in time to see Cinder shoot Pyrrha through the heart with an arrow, then burn her to embers. Enraged, Ruby cries out as her Silver Eyes glow and release a power that engulfs Cinder and the Grimm Wyvern attacking the tower.
After the Fall of Beacon, her father arrives to bring her back to Atlas, believing that Vale is too dangerous. He personally escorts her back to Atlas on an airship.
==Back at Schnee Manor==
Several months after the fall of Beacon, Weiss first seen at the Schnee family home in Atlas, looking out of her bedroom window. Some time later, she is summoned by her father, who asks her to sing at a charity fundraiser to help those affected by the Fall of Beacon. Weiss reluctantly agrees, knowing her father sees her as little more than a tool.
At the event, Weiss sings and receives applause from the audience. At the cocktail event shortly afterward, Weiss becomes infurated at the pretentious and insensitive guests mocking Vale and making light of the tragedy. In a fit of emotion, she accidentally summons a Boarbatusk avatar, but it is defeated by General James Ironwood.
Jacques confronts Weiss about her behavior, and when she calls him out for marrying into wealth and being uncaring, he slaps her and revokes her position as heiress to the company. Weiss resolves to leave Atlas and head to Mistral to help in any way she can. She trains in her room until she is able to summon a full Arma Gigas, albeit smaller, and with the help of her faithful butler Klein Sieben, she escapes through a secret passageway. After escaping the manor grounds, Weiss locates and bribes a pilot to let her stow away on his airship to Mistral.
==Journey to Mistral==
Towards the end of her flight, Weiss' airship is attacked by Lancer Grimm, who kill the pilot and cause the ship to crash. Weiss survives, but is found by Raven Branwen and her tribe of bandits, who kidnap her. Weiss awakens in their camp in a cage, learning that the plan to traffic her back to Atlas for ransom. However, a few days later, the tribe is attacked by Yang, and Weiss frees herself. The two embrace as Raven, Yang's mother, backs down, inviting the two to her tent. There, she explains her strenuous history with Ozpin, and offers them either to stay with her and her tribe or use her portaling Semblance to Qrow. Weiss and Yang opt for the latter, and are portaled to Haven Academy in Mistral, where Qrow, Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren are, as well as a boy named Oscar Pine, who is the current vessel for Ozpin's soul. Weiss hugs her allies as they are reunited.
==The Battle of Haven==
During a dinner, Ruby explains to Weiss and Yang all they have learned from Qrow: the history of Remnant, and how two gods created the world. They left behind artifacts of power, and an ancient evil named Salem, who was behind Cinder and the fall of Beacon, is seeking them out. He also explains the existence of four Maidens with powers of nature, whose power is passed down to women in every generation, who are the ones able to open the vaults that contain the artifacts.
The next day, Ruby, Weiss and Yang discuss Blake and the events that have transpired. Weiss consoles Yang aboutt her feelings towards Balke, and then is summoned by Leonardo Lionheart to a raiding party to find the Spring Maiden.
However, upon arriving at Haven the group is attacked by Raven Branwen, who has allied with a vengeful Cinder Fall. Weiss is attacked by Raven's henchwoman Vernal, who quickly overpowers her. Cinder, attempting to hurt Jaune more after learning his grif at losing Pyrrha, throws a spear through Weiss, nearly killing her. Jaune rushes to her aid and uses his Semblance to enhance her Aura, speeding up her healing, but rendering her unable to join back into the fight for a long while. She eventually recovers and joins back in, using a Lancer Summon to fight. She is enthused when Blake arrives, leading a new Faunus revolution group to contrast the terrorist White Fang. The attack and attempted bombing of Haven is thwarted, and the villains escape with a terrifying illusion of Salem. Raven is revealed to be the Spring Maiden, and turns on Cinder when Cinder kills Vernal. Cinder is apparently killed, and Raven apologetically flees, leaving the Relic of Knowledge with Yang. Lionheart is killed by Salem through a Grimm. As the villains retreat, Team RWBY is reunited.
==Journey to Atlas==
Two weeks later, Team RWBY and their allies set off for the Kingdom of Atlas, hoping to find the next Relic. The board the Argus Limited train, but is is attacked by Grimm drawn to the Relic. Team RWBY fight back the Grimm, but the train derails and they are separated from Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, and an old woman named Maria Calavera are lost in the wilderness.
Having lost trust in Ozpin for witholding the secrets of the Relic, Ruby uses the Relic to summon the entity Jinn, who offers answers to questions. Ruby inquires what Ozpin is hiding, and Jinn reveals that Ozpin, formerly Ozma, was Salem's lover in a time long past. He eventually died, but Salem challenged the gods for his return and was punished with a curse of immortality. Salem turned evil and the gods resurrected Ozma to defeat her, but he instead married her and had a family, until he realized the extent of her evil. In their battle, he and their four daughters were killed, with Ozma forced to live on forever through other bodies until his work was complete. However, he has yet to find a way to destroy Salem, and instead dedicated himself to protecting the Relics she sought to use to end the world. With everyone turned against him, Ozpin retreats into Oscar's mind, and the group sets off to walk to civilization.
Along the way, they come across the abandoned Brunswick Farms, where they find corpses. Unbeknownst to them, the underground is plagued by Grimm called Apathy, which cause those around them to lose the will to go on or even sleep or eat. Under the effects, Weiss loses her will to go on, wanting to abandon the Relic when Ruby accidentally drops it down a well. When she and her allies go to retrieve it, they find the Apathy. Ruby manages to drive back the Grimm with her Silver Eyes, giving Weiss the resolve to push back the Grimm and allow everyone to escape.
The group makes their way to Argus, an Atlas settlement outside of the Kingdom. They reunite with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, and stay with Jaune's local sister and her wife and son. The group attempt to get into Atlas, but are stopped by Special Operative Caroline Cordovin because Ironwood has shut down the borders. Ruby informs Jaune, Nora, and Ren of the situation with Ozpin, and later speaks with Maria about Silver Eyes. Jaune formulates a plan to steal an airship, and they enact the plan. However, things go wrong when Cordovin attacks in a giant mechanical Colossus, and Blake and Yang are attacked by Adam Taurus. Ruby and Weiss fight to Colossus and cripple it, and Yang and Blake kill Adam, but a Leviathan Grimm is approaching and the main defense, the Colossus, is unusable.
Despite setbacks, Ruby is able to confront the Leviathan and use her Silver Eyes to stun it. Cordovin defeats the Grimm and, as an apology and thanks, Cordovin allows Weiss and her group to pass into Atlas. They fly to the city, only to be cornered by the Atlas military.
==Return to Atlas==
Weiss and her group aandon the ship and enter Atlas' sister city of Mantle, where they meet Penny Polendina, rebuilt by her creator Pietro Polendina. Ruby and Penny reunite and battle Grimm, but are arrested by Ace Operatives and taken to Ironwood.
Upon being brought to Ironwood, he recognizes the group and frees them, thanking them for their service. Ironwood reveals that his is intending to repurpose Amity Colosseum into a communications tower, but is being hindered by the actions of the vigilantes Robyn Hill and the Happy Huntresses.
Later, Ruby and her group are given a mission to secure the launch site for the new communications tower, fighting off Grimm to do so. As thanks for their hard work and dedication, Ironwood awards Ruby and her peers with licenses, making them professional Huntsmen and Huntresses. Ruby and her group team up with the Ace Operatives to take care of jobs throughout Atlas and Mantle.
While in Atlas, Weiss reunites with Winter, who shows her Fria, the elderly Winter Maiden, who is being kept in hospice care until she passes and passes her power to her. Weiss questions the ethics, and wonders if Ironwood is keeping secrets.
==RWBY: Arrowfell==
Weiss and her team are sent to investigate Grimm activity on the top of a mountain, and come across a mysterious orb that sems o attract Grimm. Upon destroying it, they take it back to Pietro to repair and study. While they wait, they go to the nearby Essen Town to help its local Huntsman, Russet Ka, deal with a Grimm infestation. The team clears Essen Cave out from Grimm, while helping Russet and the locals out with various things such as retrieving left behind valuables, providing tools, or forging new armor. While at the remains of a town called Crossed, the team happen upon Penny, who is investigating a series of magnetic gates she has found around the area. When they return to Pietro, he has repaired the orb and reveals it to be a sort of container. Russet then directs Team RWBY to Essen Outpost to deal with the Grimm there. Team RWBY fights off a Megoliath, but the killing blow is dealt by a mysterious group of mercenaries called Team BRIR. The group them meet Bram Thornmane, who shoos away Team BRIR. He explains that he once trained to be an Ace Operative under Ironwood, but now guarded Essen's territories. He inquires about the orb, and takes it from the team to dispose of it.
Team RWBY report to the Lieutenant Olive Harper, a friend and partner of Bram. Clover Ebi tasks Team RWBY with helping the Ace Operatives in their missions for the day, including retrieving lost and rare items. While in Atlas, they begin being attacked by thugs and mercenaries in the streets wielding military technology, who the Ace-Ops believe are working for the criminal underground. Tasked by Harriet Bree with investigating an old Dust mine, the team find weapon tech that suggests that the criminals have been developing and distributing weapons from the location. After succeeding in aiding all of the Ace-Ops, Lieutenant Harper discusses the influx of military technology in the hands of criminals, and traces their distribution to a crime lord named Amoncio Glass. Team RWBY track down Glass in downtown Atlas and try to interrogate him, but he attacks with a mech suit. Upon defeating him, Glass reveals that the orb that Team RWBY found is a container that attracts Grimm, and that he is just a distributor that knows very little about the technology he is brokering.
Team RWBY reports to General Ironwood, along with Harper and Thornmane, who determine that the way the orbs attract Grimm must be the work of Hanlon Fifestone, a Union Leader for Mantle. His Semblance allows him to extract raw emotion from victims, and Ironwood figures that he has been putting the emotion into orbs as to lure Grimm to Amity Tower. The Team make their way to Mantle to look for him, fighting off Grimm and mercenaries on their way. They eventually happen upon Qrow, who set up surveillance drones to find Fifestone. Team RWBY goes to the caverns around Mantle to retrieve them, all while helping get items for the locals and returning Winter's sword to her, which Qrow stole as a joke. After retrieving the drones, they examine the footage and find that Fifestone is hiding out in a warehouse in Mantle's industrial district. They go to find him extracting the raw fear from a Faunus worker and putting it into an orb. They battle and defeat Fifestone, who reveals that he is using the machinery to attract Grimm and strike against Atlas. As he is arrested, he activates all the orbs he set up across Atlas and Mantle territories.
As Grimm begin to swarm the cities, Team RWBY go out to destroy the orbs, finding them in Dormir Village and across Atlas and Mantle. After destroying them, the Grimm vacate. Harper reveals that they have tracked the true mastermind behind the operation to a base in the east, and she sends them on a train to the wilderness. However, once on the train, Team RWBY is attacked by Atlas soldiers. As they fight their way through, they realize that Harper sent them out into the middle of nowhere to be ambushed and have the train derail. After realizing they were set up, the team survive the train's derailment and begin making their way back to Atlas on foot. On their way, they come across Team BRIR, who accuse them of stealing technology from the abandoned Atlesian military base Fort Arrowfell, who they are the guardians of. They reveal that Thornmane and Harper told them of Team RWBY's theft and deception, informing Team RWBY that Branmane and Harper are the ones behind the stolen technology and Grimm attacks, as well as them being in a romantic relationship. Team RWBY fight off Team BRIR, forcing the latter to retreat.
The team makes it back to Atlas, where they and Ironwood figure out that Thornmane and Harper stole technology from Fort Arrowfell to strike at Atlas. Aided by Glass and Fifestone, they distributed the weaponry and technology for their own personal gain. Team RWBY make their way to Fort Arrowfell, but find it sealed. Only Team BRIR have the necessary access cards. Penny also arrives, revealing that the magnetic gateways she was investigating were for secret paths for Team BRIR to travel unseen. Team RWBY go across Atlas and Mantle with Penny's help to open the gates and find each member of Team BRIR, who realize they were tricked by Thornmane and willingly give over their keycards. After making peace with Team BRIR and acquiring all keycards, Team RWBY make their way back to Arrowfell and enter, fighting off Arrowfell drones, corrupt Atlas soldiers, and mercenaries as they make their way deeper into the fort to stop Harper and Thornmane from unleashing Arrowfell's weaponry and the Grimm-attracting orbs on Atlas and Mantle.
Halfway through the fort, they come across a heartbroken Harper, who tells them that she was betrayed. She laments the fact that she gave up everything regarding her career and morals because she believed Thornmane loved her and that they were taking down the corrupt Ironwood from the inside, only for him to toss her away once she had outlived her usefulness. In her remorse, Harper directs them deeper into Arrowfell. The team fight through more enemies before making it to Thornmane. He reveals that his attack is not to destroy Amity Tower as suspected, but rather to spread chaos and have Ironwood take the blame. He reveals that he trained as an Ace Operative, only to be rejected from the team and position due to his character and unhelpful Semblance. He swore revenge, and this attack on Mantle and Atlas would allow him to get revenge on Ironwood, with the general taking the blame and Thornmane's status being able to be reinstated. Team RWBY fight Bram, and he attempts to unleash orbs to attract Grimm and kill them. They destroy the orbs, and after a lengthy fight, defeat Thornmane and have him arrested.
Thornmane is brought before Ironwood, who he chastises for being a monster before being taken away. Ironwood thanks Team RWBY for their work, and the team celebrates their victory.
==Tension in Atlas==
After weeks of missions, Weiss gets a night off and opts to go see a movie with Jaune and Oscar. However, an election party for Robyn Hill, who is running for a seat on the Atlas Council, is attacked by Tyrian Callows, assisted by Salem's assistant Arthur Watts and Jacques Schnee, and many are killed. Using doctored footage, Watts and Tyrian frame Penny for the attack, raising tensions between Hill and the Atlas military. Jacques wins the election, and invites Ironwood to a party at Schnee Manor to defend his new position.
Ironwood brings Ruby and her allies with him to Schnee Manor, where he meets with Jacques to discuss his recent election victory. Weiss investigates and discovers her father was involved in rigging the election, but Watts uses Jacques' credentials to hack into Mantle's heating grind and shut it off, leaving the populace to freeze as a Grimm invasion moves in. Jacques is arrested by Weiss and taken away, and Weiss goes down to Mantle to fight an incoming Grimm invasion alongside Nora, Marrow Amin, and the Happy Huntresses.
Ironwood and Hill make a temporary alliance to reveal Salem's existence to the world and bring the people together under a common enemy. However, Ironwood finds out that Cinder has infiltrated his office and recalls Ruby and her group to him. He is angered that they kept secrets from him, but is interrupted by a Seer Grimm projecting Salem's image. Salem reveals she and an army of Grimm are personally coming to attack Atlas, and when Ruby defies her, Salem reveals that she knew Ruby's mother Summer, and proved her claims of hopes false, resulting in Ruby breaking down in tears.
Ironwood reveals that he intends to use the Relic of Creation, housed in the academy, to raise Atlas high enough so it will be safe from attack, and leave Mantle to deal with the fallout, hoping to sacrifice the city so the whole world may continue on. Ruby and her group refuse the plan, and are declared enemies by Ironwood. The Ace Operatives attempt to arrest them, but they defeat them and escape.
Weiss goes to aid Winter and Penny, who are fighting Cinder to protect Fria. Fria, however, passes away, passing the power onto Penny. Cinder flees when she sees Ruby. Weiss, Ruby, and Penny escape in an airship as Salem arrives.
==The Battle of Atlas==
After regrouping, the heroes spilt up to defend Mantle and try and launch the communications tower. Weiss joins Nora, Ruby, Blake, Penny, and May Marigold as they sneak into the Atlas Command Center and begin launching the communications tower. Penny tries to stay behind and finish the launch, but they are attacked by the Ace Operatives. Weiss and her group struggle, but eventually force the Ace Operatives to retreat.
With Nora injured, Weiss takes her team and May to the Schnee Manor to hide and rest. There, Ruby's message to the world about Salem, the Relics, and the Maidens is broadcast to the world. Weiss is surprised to see Klien arrive to help Nora, called in by Whitley, and the two begin to make amends. However, the manor is attacked by the Hound, a giant intelligent Grimm in service to Salem. The Hound attempts to apprehend Penny, and Ruby fights it off with her Silver Eyes, revealing a Silver-Eyed man within the beast. The Hound is killed by Willow and Whitley.
The battle between Atlas soldiers and Grimm wages on, with Yang's team having helped with evacuations until they were forced to rescue Oscar from Salem's clutches. Teaming up with the recently reformed Hazel Rainart and Emerald Sustari, Yang's group fights back Salem, and Hazel gives his life to allow them to escape with Oscar and Emerald. Yang's group meets back up with Ruby's at Schnee Manor, and while Weiss is at first hesitant to trust Emerald, Oscar vouches for her.
However, Ironwood gives Penny an ultimatum: come open the vault so that Atlas can be saved, or he will personally destroy Mantle. Penny has been hacked by Watts to comply, but Weiss and her friends restrain her. After denying Penny's request to kill her and transfer the powers of the Winter Maiden to Ruby, the group decides to secure the Relic of Creation to create a way for Atlas and Mantle to evacuate and Penny to be saved.
With their allies distracting Ironwood and the Ace Operatives, Weiss, Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Penny sneak to the vault. Ruby obtains the Relic and summons the spirit Ambrosius, who she requests make Penny human. He complies and makes a new, human body for Penny as her old robotic, hacked body is left to die. They then request him to create a pocket dimension that the citizens of Atlas and Mantle can travel through to safety to the Kingdom of Vacuo. He complies, but warns them not to fall off the pathways and into the void below.
As the citizens evacuate through portals, Ruby and her group are attacked by Cinder and a vengeful Neopolitan. Neo attacks Yang and knocks her into the void, seemingly to her death. Ruby battles Neo as Penny and Weiss fight Cinder, and when Penny loses, she has Jaune kill her so her power can transfer to Winter in Vacuo. Weiss is left alone to fight Cinder, who overpowers her. She attempts to get the Relic of Creation, but Cinder creates an explosion that knocks Weiss into the void below. Cinder steals the two Relics and returns them to Salem. Although all the citizens make it Vacuo, Atlas falls and both it and Mantle are destroyed, with Ironwood and Watts killed in the process.
==Ever After==
Weiss wakes up in an unknown location full of strange flora and fauna, alongside Blake. The two travel looking for the others and Blake's weapon, finding the latter on a mass of barbed vines. Upon grabbing it, the vines entagle Weiss and Blake, and a tribe of talking mice take them prisoner, mistaking them for predators. Before they can be sacrificed, Ruby arrives, having befriended one of the mice whom she calls "Little". Little explains everything to the tribe, who let them go.
As she, Blake, and Ruby travel, they find Yang, her mechanical arm having been stolen by a raccoon creature and being menaced by a strange creature. The team fight off the creature, but Weiss reveals to Ruby that Penny sacrificed herself, making Ruby pass out from grief. When she wakes, the team comes to realize the world they are in bears a near identical resemblance to one they read about as children. They conclude that they are in the Ever After, a mystical location told about in the fairy tale The Girl Who Fell Through the World, and decide to follow to steps the story's protagonist, Alyx, made.
Little guides them to a town, where the raccoon, the Jinxy Peddler, is trying to sell off various items, one being Yang's stolen arm disguised as something else. Ruby is drawn to a green doll, and when the spell disguising the items is broken, she realizes it is one of Penny's swords. Yang steals her arm back, resulting in them being chased by soldiers. Ruby offers the sword to their Prince in exchange for his good graces, and the soldiers accept and bring the team to the Red Prince, a spoiled, arrogant monarch and son of the late Red King from the story. Team RWBY requests his help, and when he refuses, Ruby offers to play a game with him. If she wins, he will help them. The Red Prince agrees, setting Ruby up with a chess-like combat game with living pieces. When Ruby points out she is three pieces short, the Prince shrinks Weiss, Blake, and Yang to serve as pieces. The game begins unfairly, but Ruby manages to instruct her team to battle, with Weiss helping fight the Red Prince's pieces. The Prince, upset, questions why they want to reach the Tree. Ruby explains who they are and that they are trying to get home, but when she reveals that she, Weiss, and Yang are human, the Red Prince becomes enraged, and all the soldiers and pieces, including her own, turn on her and her team. Weiss fights them back, using a Nevermore summon to shoot feather projectiles all over the board. They manage to defeat the pieces, but the Prince refuses to let them go until a mystical cat called the Curious Cat intervenes, talking the Prince down just long enough to lead Ruby, now carrying Little and her shrunken teammates, through the castle labyrinth and away from guards to the exit. Wanting to follow the story again, Weiss and the others decide they must follow the Cat to get to the Tree.
Ruby, carrying Little and her teammates, follows the Curious Cat, bartering with it that she will answer its questions if it leads them to the Tree. The Curious Cat agrees, and bombards Team RWBY with questions about Remnant before leading them to a forest-like area called the Garden. When the Cat brings up how Salem sounds unstoppable, Ruby feels overwhelmed and freezes in place, which causes her to lose track of the elusive Cat. They then come across the Herbalist, a giant bug-like creature who offers to help them, specifically to help Weiss, Blake, and Yang grow back to normal size. Ruby reluctantly enters his home, where he questions them. However, he grows frustrated when they cannot define the roles they play, and uses smoke from a magic hookah pipe to make them all hallucinate visions of their past selves who encourage them to change or give up. Weiss is told by her hallucination that, with her family and Atlas gone, she has no reason to try and uphold the Schnee name anymore, and that she could go on and be a nobody with no responsibilities. Weiss defies this, claiming it is more important than ever that she uphold her family name, both to make up for the crimes of the past and to ensure the legacy from then on would be a good one. The Curious Cat returns and blows away the smoke, convincing the Herbalist to leave them be. The Herbalist is sucked into a hole in the ground, vanishing.
As the Cat leads Team RWBY along, he explains that, in the Ever After, its inhabitants do not die, but rather ascend and are born anew to become the person they wanted to be, or to fit the role they are destined to be. He explains that this happened with the Red King, who was broken after losing his games to Alyx, and was reborn as the Red Prince, who was crueler but better fit the role of someone who plays games to win.
The group arrives to a market, where the Cat tells them they must obtain ingredients for a potion that will grow Yang, Weiss, and Blake to normal size. Yang, Weiss, and Blake go with the Cat as Ruby and Little venture for the final ingredient. When they return they find Ruby seemingly talking to no one, unaware she had just encountered a mysterious blacksmith. They find the last ingredient, but the market is attacked by the Jabberwalker, which the Cat explains will end the process of ascending of whoever it eats. Weiss, Blake, and Yang eat the potion to grow to normal size, then help fight the Jabberwalker with the aid of the mysterious Rusted Knight. They defeat it, only to find it was an illusion created by Neopolitan, and more Jabberwalkers arrive. Team RWBY flee with the Rusted Knight as the Curious Cat and other Ever After inhabitants fend off the Jabberwalkers. The Rusted Knight leads them to safety, only to reveal himself to be Jaune, though much older.
As Jaune takes the group to his village, he reveals that he fell into the Ever After, but found a magic clock that sent him back in time by a great many years. He waited for Team RWBY to arrive, only for Alyx and her brother Lewis to arrive first. He also tells them that Salem got the two relics. The Curious Cat returns, angering Jaune as a "punderstorm" brews, which creates a physical manifestation of phrases and mental states. When the Curious Cat says that they "are at a crossroads", which creates literal crossroads to navigate. Ruby, Weiss, Little, Jaune, and the Cat navigate the crossroads as Jaune continues his story. Realizing he was the Rusted Knight of the story, Jaune tried to follow it by teaming up with the Curious Cat to lead Alyx and Lewis to the Tree. However, Alyx was far crueler than the story indicated, and after meeting the Herbalist, she turned against Jaune, poisoning him and letting the Curious Cat lead her and her brother to the Tree. There, where Ever Afterians go to "ascend", Alyx returned to Remnant by sacrificing her brother to the Tree. The Cat claims that Alyx betrayed him too, and that only Ever Afterians are reborn while others are returned to Remnant. A divide forms and the Cat leaves. The storm dissipates, the group is reunited with Yang and Blake (who have confessed their love for one another) and Jaune leads them to his village.
The following morning, Jaune introduces and explains the village he resides in: the village is made of paper, full of individuals made of paper called "Paper Pleasers". He explains that they are kind and hospitable, though careless, resulting in him having to save them every single day. Jaune tries to plan with Team RWBY, requesting that they stay and protect the Paper Pleasers while he charts more of the Ever After and tries to find a safe exit. Team RWBY are concerned Jaune has lost some of his sanity in isolation. A Paper Pleaser overhears their conversation and explains to them that the Tree is not dangerous, but a place Ever Afterians want to go after they have fulfilled their purpose, ready to be born anew. However, Jaune is convinced the Tree is dangerous after what happened with Alyx and Lewis, and refuses to let the Paper Pleasers ascend like they want to. Jaune and Team RWBY argue about what is best until Neo and her Jabberwalkers attack. Weiss summons the Arma Gigas and fights. When she sees Ruby barely fighting back and pinned down by a Jabberwalker, she rushes to her aid and saves her. Neo and the Jabberwalkers disappear, but in the time they were fighting, the Paper Pleasers manage to topple a dam and flood the town, allowing all of them to ascend, mortifying Jaune. Weiss, Blake, and Yang attempt to comfort him and want Ruby to do the same, but Ruby finally has had enough. She gets angry at her friends for never thinking about her needs, and how they are so preoccupied with their goals or each other that they never consider how she is feeling. Weiss is saddened and taken aback by Ruby's sudden hostility. Jaune argues with her, blaming her for Neo's attack and them falling into Ever After. He apologizes, still distraught over the ways he has failed. Blake attempts to cheer everyone up, but Ruby tells her off, to the shock of everyone. She grabs Crescent Rose and runs away, with Little still with her.
Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune search for Ruby, realizing that they were not attentive enough to her needs. They finally find her trapped and tortured in one of Neopolitan's illusions. Neo holds them off as Ruby, having witnessed Little killed by Neo and the Curious Cat revealed to be a traitor, is broken in spirit and drinks a tea made of the Tree's leaves, ending her existence and taking her to the Tree to Ascend. Weiss watches with horror as Ruby is swallowed up by the ground and the Cat possesses Neo. The Cat makes for the Tree, and Weiss and her allies follow. They try to get to the Tree, but the flooded village blocks their path. They are greeted by Genial Gems, who are the Paper Pleasers Ascended into new forms. Jaune feels bad that he prevented the Paper Pleasers from moving on out of his desire to save people, and Weiss comforts and hugs him. They are suddenly all teleported to the Tree, realizing that acceptance was the path to reach it. They come across Ruby as a wooden statue on the tree, and realize that her fate lies in her own decisions.
However, they come across a magical door back to Remnant, and the Cat, still possessing Neo, trying and failing to get through. He finds he cannot, since Neo has no attachments in Remnant anymore. He reveals that he attempted the same with Alyx, allowing Lewis to go back while he tried to possess her, but she did not comply and the at murdered her instead. He sees Ruby and decides to make her his vessel again, but Weiss and her allies step in his path and defend her. In the battle, Weiss conjures a wall of flame, but Cat/Neo doges and the fire hits Jaune. Jaune recovers, and realizes that they can use the burning leaves of the Tree like the Herbalist used to create smoke. Neopolitan inhales the smoke, and her visions and feelings are so strong they drive the Cat out. Ruby, meanwhile, chooses to remain herself and emerges, joining her team to defeat the Cat, with Neo striking a killing blow with her Jabberwalkers. Weiss reunites with Ruby, Neo opts to stay behind and Ascend, and Weiss joins her allies as they travel through the door.
There they meet the Blacksmith, the one responsible for Ascension. The Blacksmith explains that the Gods of Light and Darkness were born in the Ever After, made to fulfill the roles of creation and destruction. Over time, they began to create their own creatures, including the Cat to fill the role of helping others Ascend, and the Jabberwalker for destroying what was deemed necessary to destroy. When they were ready, they traveled beyond the Ever After and created Remnant. Whenever their creations came to the Ever After, they had a profound effect, such as with Alyx and Lewis and now with Team RWBY and Jaune. The Blacksmith goes on to say that while some were hurt and driven to evil like the Cat, others were shown kindness and made better like Little/Somewhat. She says that Alyx desired to right the wrongs of her past, and using magic, restores Jaune to his younger age. She then opens the door back to Remnant, and Weiss and her allies walk through into Vacuo.
Category:Synopsis