The Headmaster's Errand Boy (Yang x Cat Faunus Male Reader)

Ch 40: Dark Mirror

Y/N's Pov

I saw things in a timeline where we had beaten Salem by bringing back the gods. This time, however, I wasn't just a passive observer. I saw it from the perspective of myself in this timeline.

The gods broke out into an argument over what would happen to us. The god of light took away team RWBY's free will, forcing them to side with him. I had no choice but to side with the god of darkness and the monsters I had fought my whole life. I was killed by team RWBY during our retreat to Grimm territory, and had to be pulled away from them as I was dying. 

My face was gashed and badly scarred. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the destroyed halls of Beacon, but everything was wrong. It was floating in some kind of void. As I walked through, I saw flashbacks of my younger self being trained by Ozpin in those halls. I pushed on, eventually seeing what looked like Adam and Michael standing in the fractured courtyard.

Adam: "Well, hello brother. I wondered when you would join us here."

Y/N: "What?"

Adam: "You're dead. Just like us." 

They both attacked. I was far too weak to beat one of them, let alone both. They both stabbed me, and disappeared. I felt a horrible pain in my entire body and felt like my aura was detaching from my body. I screamed, and felt it come apart. It took the same shape as me, moving on its own.

Doppelganger: "Look at you. You have failed. They have all turned their back on you, and now you have nothing!" It picked me up by open wound in my chest and lifted me into the air. I pushed it away with a sudden surge of power, and began fighting it. Eventually I came out on top. I stood over it. "No matter how much you fight, you will never be free!" 

I stabbed it, and it disintegrated and flowed back into me. I felt it all return, stronger than ever. I then went to the landing area where bullheads dropped students off. I saw more flashes of memories, like Yang pestering me at the beginning of the year. I put it all out of my mind and went to what appeared to be a massive portal in the center. 

Just before I could go through, I saw Grimm come out of the ground and charge at me. I drove my sword into the ground, knocking all of them off their feet. I felt the same separation as before, but without the pain. I stepped to the right, while my aura stepped to the left and formed into my shape. I sheathed my sword and it did the same. I made quick work of the Grimm and left.

I woke up and the god of darkness told me that he had successfully brought me back to life and made me the most powerful human to ever exist by granting me the ability to split my aura from my body and by removing all of the existing limits on my semblance. He had also made my sword run on magic, meaning I no longer had to reload it. 

He had used me as a template to make the Grimm more intelligent and more like us, but they were still getting used to it.

Some time later, we began our attack on Beacon, where the god of light had gathered the best of humanity to defend him. He had taken control of every person on Remnant except for me. Our plan was simple. The god of darkness would battle his brother in the sky, while I would lead the Grimm on the ground. We came at them with no warning or hesitation.

I tore through the enemy lines easily. Team JNPR tried to stop me, but I made quick work of them. Then Oscar came at me, but with one swing I shattered Ozpin's cane, knocking him out in the process. I turned and saw team RWBY. I looked up and saw a brilliant spectacle of the two gods fighting. 

The sky was covered by Grimm and ships to the point that the sun itself was blocked out, but they clearly shone through it all. I attacked team RWBY, and this time they were no match for me. After I defeated them, the god of darkness fell to the ground, barely beaten by his brother. I ran over to him. This was my chance. I stabbed him. He didn't even fight.

God of Darkness: "I see now. Humanity will never be the perfect species we were hoping to create, the Grimm will." He grabbed my hand "I will never be angry at this turn of events. I have left a worthy successor. You will lead them to a new dawn." 

I pulled away. He breathed his last, and the Grimm around us walked towards me. A massive one roared, and then bowed to me. The others followed. I looked up and saw the god of light.

Y/N: "You're next." The Grimm parted and went to hold back the humans. I charged at the god of light and after an intense battle, I had defeated him. Apparently his fight against his brother had left him severely weakened. I killed him as well, now the only one standing. I turned and saw all of the people I once called friends looking at me. They weren't grateful, they were angry. I walked away, and the Grimm followed me. "Goodbye."

The Grimm adapted to their new intelligence, and decided to follow me. I was the only one who they still had, and I knew our common enemies better than anyone.

Over the next few years, we continued to fight. All of humanity had united under one banner to challenge me, and we were locked in a bitter battle. Eventually team RWBY gained the power of all 4 maidens and destroyed the Grimm forever. I was alone, against the world. I fought alone for another year, but it was hopeless. 

Eventually I realized that the only way to save this was to undo it. I took the relic of knowledge, and as they were closing in, I asked it how to stop this from happening. Jinn told me that I could use the relic itself to send a message back in time to warn our past selves, but it would come at a cost. 

It would require the lamp to absorb my soul itself for the energy to do it. It was a price I was more than willing to pay. Team RWBY came in, only to find the lamp on the ground and my lifeless body next to it. After that, the past version of me received the message. 

The reason we had brought the gods back in this timeline was because we had asked the lamp how to beat Salem, while in the current timeline we had asked how do it without bringing the gods back. I couldn't feel it, but I apparently shed a few tears in the hospital bed I was comatose on. 

The pain I felt during the nightmare was all too real. I was just glad that it was never going to happen. I had felt what it was like to be alone against my entire species. In the dark timeline, I had died alone and disgraced, seen as a mistake even by the people who had cared about me. Nothing I could imagine had the potential to rival that, let alone surpass it. On top of that, I had failed to lead the Grimm as they grew. They surpassed humans, only to be killed by their predecessors. 

This alternate version of me was a failure in every way, the only thing he did right being his sacrifice to undo all the pain he'd experienced.