Patriot-112: And here we are with a new chapter to this fic. Sorry it took so long my friends.

I know many of you are getting tired of my obsession of trying to get this fic right, starting over from scratch and all that, especially with V7 now come and gone, with another long wait for V8. But please know, that despite what the future would entail for, not just RWBY, but for Rooster Teeth as a whole, due to the continuous controversies surrounding certain...incidents, I don't want to talk about or remember. My love for the series will never die. From this day, till my last day.

Now, enough of that rambling, let's get going!

Chapter 4:

Origins

Ozpin's brows furrowed as he looked at the holographic image in front of him, as he held the scroll in his hand.

"So...," he started off, "...who or what should we call you?"

"My designation is A.I. Model # 1436-7921, Advisor." The A.I. said, which caused Qrow and the students to give him awkward expressions "...Or you could call me by my codename: Sprite. I was programmed by Miss Ruby Rose to act in an assisting and advisory role for my partner during the course of her mission,"

Everyone who was listening to what Sprite said all blinked at that. Especially the parts about being an A.I. developed by Ruby of all people, which confused them all, even Ruby herself.

After a moment of silence Pyrrha was the first to speak up. Curious, for who created the A.I. and why for this girl and the 'mission' Sprite was talking about.

"What...what mission is that?" she asked, making everyone turn to her, while the said A.I. sighed.

"The only person who can tell you that...is Miss Rose herself," Sprite answered, before he suddenly winked out, causing everyone to blink in confusion for a moment, before suddenly, the hologram came back on. This time though, it showed a face that shocked everyone, even Qrow, Ruby and Yang, as they saw the image of what looked like an older looking Ruby Rose.

"M...Mom?" Ruby said in shock.

"Not...exactly," Sprite said, before the woman began to speak, though her voice was slightly raspy.

"If this message is playing, then either the worst has happened, or, you had found Dorée," she said, "If it's the latter, then things have gotten more complicated for not just you, but for her as well,"

The woman stopped to take a breath before continuing.

"I guess the best place for me to start, is to explain who Dorée really is. Well..." she stopped hesitantly for a moment. "...she is... a clone. But she's not like any ordinary clone, but is instead a binary clone of both Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos."

Everyone blinked in shock as they looked at the holographic image, as the woman sighed. "Yes, I know… it's… a long and confusing story." She continued, "It's… best to start at the beginning I suppose… during the Vytal Festival… a collection of people led by a woman named Cinder Fall, enact an attack on Vale and Beacon, with help from the radical faction of the White Fang led by Adam Taurus."

The moment his name was mentioned, Blake froze up as her eyes widened.

"It… was a chaotic mess to say the least," the woman said, her expression solemn. "White Fang dropping Grimm across the city, then the hacked Atlesian Knights fucking everything up even more… then that Grimm Dragon, or Wyvern or whatever the hell they call it came in and brought more Grimm in."

Qrow and Ozpin both recoiled at that, a Wyvern was among one of the oldest, and most dangerous of all Grimm.

"You're all probably wondering how this all came about, and how they did it so easily," she said, and smiled sadly, "Well, let's just say Cinder used a clever combination of deceit and manipulation...first beginning with infiltrating the Beacon CCT tower and planting the virus that hacked the robots,, then framing my sister Yang for misconduct during the Tournament Singles Matches."

Yang's eyes widened at that, before they turned red in anger.

"What!?" she growled as her hands clenched into fists.

"If Yang is watching this, chill out - haven't even gotten to the worst part." The woman stated, causing Yang to blink in surprise.

"Anyways… with all of that happening, and in the middle of fighting all the Knights, Paladins, Grimm and White Fang, Pyrrha and Jaune… they followed Ozpin and went down into a basement section of the Academy." She continued, as Ozpin's eyes widened slightly. "To keep a long story short, the Four Maidens exist, and one of them was being cared for by Ozpin after her initial encounter with Cinder - who stole a portion of her powers. Ozpin was trying to transfer the rest of the Fall Maiden's power to Pyrrha to keep it from Cinder's grasp… a lot of good that did since she followed them down, killed Amber, and took the power for herself."

Everyone turned toward Ozpin, who for the first time in their lives, had a look of total horror on his face.

"After that, he ordered Pyrrha and Jaune to run in order to get help, while he dealt with Cinder...However, with the acquisition of the rest of the Fall powers, the bitch was just too strong. This was confirmed when both Jaune and Pyrrha saw her ascending to the top of Beacon Tower..." they watched as her face turned solemn, "...and Pyrrha... knowing that she wasn't going to win, but still willing to try, sent Jaune away in a rocket locker, and went up to face her...alone,"

Jaune felt his spine chill at that, while Pyrrha was in no better shape.

"I was with Weiss looking for them, when Jaune called us on his scroll and told us what happened...he begged us...begged me to save Pyrrha," she said, as a tear fell from her eye, "I...I ran as fast I could...Weiss helping along the way...but, I was just five seconds too late,"

Her head bowed down, her grip on her cloak tightening. "T-the… the last thing I saw… was Pyrrha… with an arrow through her chest and… t-that… bitch… burning her body to ashes…" her breath choked up, as she sobbed a bit. "I… I'm so sorry…"

Pyrrha was dead silent, eyes wide as her hand flew up to her chest, as if feeling the arrow in her already - swallowing a lump in her throat. Her team wasn't fairing much better, as their eyes were all wide. Even Team RWBY was affected, especially Ruby herself, as she would no doubt witness it.

The older Ruby on the screen took a deep, calming breath. "After… after that… we… knew Cinder came from Haven… I wanted to go with my team but… Weiss went back to Atlas, Blake… she ran, but we later found out she went back home to be with her family, and Yang…"

She let out another sigh "Yang… didn't want to come with me…" Ruby said, "She… was still recovering from when… Adam cut off her left arm during the Fall."

The first three of Team RWBY, all either gasped or covered their mouths in shock before turning to the said Brawler, who looked paler than usual as she gripped her arm, while looking on the verge of hyperventilating.

"But, I was not alone in wanting to get answers and getting justice for Pyrrha..." Ruby said as she smiled fondly, "And to said person, if you're watching this, you're lucky to have such people as your teammates, friends...and family. They all truly love you, even Jaune...even though he didn't see that you loved him until it was too late...By what I meant by that, before you sent him away, you actually gave him a kiss. On the lips. Valean style,"

Jaune actually gasped as he looked at his partner - who also looked equally shocked with a gaping mouth, and a bit of red on her face.

"Just saying… it sure as hell took you long enough," Ruby sighed, shaking her head. "But… as you can see, the world simply went to hell that day… the CCT system went down, making communication between Kingdoms infinitely harder. After the fall, we tried to keep things together… we had some victories, like saving Haven, but… it started going downhill soon after... we lost a lot of friends, family…" Ruby seemed to take a deep breath at that, before shaking her head.

"We… were fighting a woman named Salem," Future-Ruby continued, as Ozpin bit his lip as she continued "She used to be human… but she became immortal because of the Gods of Light and Darkness cursing her, and later became infused with Grimm ichor, a black ooze that created them in the first place… she had the goal of uniting the world under her rule, as a new God for the world… but that evolved into something else when she learned of the Relics - the four relics that helped create humanity. She wanted to gather them so that she could summon the gods back to Remnant, and believed with them she might be able to kill them for giving her the curse in the first place."

Ruby shook her head "Well… she certainly did try…" She sighed, "With the Relics, she fought them… but in truth she was just doing what the God of Darkness, Zekrem, wanted… she weakened the God of Light… and he killed him before doing the same to Salem after her curse was removed. And then… he wiped out nearly all life on Remnant… again."

Everyone recoiled at that info, while Ozpin's eyes shut tight again in agony, seeing that not only did he fail to stop the one he once loved, but he failed his homeworld...again.

"Only me…..along with Ren and Nora survived" Ruby continued, "We'd… all would've been killed if it wasn't for Oscar… a boy we met at Haven, and the energy of the four relics that shielded us from his attack. From then it was just us… and a world full of Grimm… We… traveled on our own, looking for someone, anyone who survived…"

The Rose Reaper sighed, "But...after traveling to every empty estate, village, town and city...we began to realize that Zekrem's power had killed all of humanity except us. And if that wasn't bad enough, he had the Grimm constantly on the hunt for any survivors in order to wipe us all out,"

All teams grew horrified at that.

"But then...we ran into him," The older Rose continued, making everyone blink, "I don't have much time to explain it. So, I programmed Sprite, Dorée's A.I. partner to fill in the blanks on who he is. But, all I can say is that he's the reason why Dorée even exists...Jaune, Pyrrha, please. For the love of the Gods' please listen to me very carefully: No matter what, please look after her. Despite her being born a clone, she was and by all rights is your daughter. She has been through a lot...most of it traumatic. Something me and the others could've prevented but..."

They saw Ruby's demeanor change in front of them, as she grimaced. Tears glistening in her eyes.

"...I...I can't say anymore," she said, "...I leave the rest to Sprite now. But before I go, Professor Ozpin..."

Said man blinked at the Rose Reaper's mentioning of him, before she continued.

"I understand why you kept so many secrets from us...and your inner circle, out of fear that everyone would lose hope and betray you." she said, making the reincarnating wizard's eyes widen, "But please, trust in me, trust Team RWBY, JNPR, and the other student teams. Also, trust in Dorée. And know that there are alternate ways of defeating your enemy rather than just killing them,"

The students, and Qrow, all blinked as they looked at the professor who had an astonished look on his face, before they turned back to the recording as Ruby finished.

"Goodbye everyone...," She said before giving another sad smile, "...and I wish you all the best of luck. This is Ruby Rose, signing off,"

With that, the image of the older Ruby vanished, and Sprite took her place once again. Everyone didn't make a sound, as they processed the information in their heads, with Jaune and Pyrrha doing most of it. The two partners then looked toward the girl on the bed, before looking at each other.

As if in silent agreement, they proceeded to walk to the sides of the bed before kneeling down and both of them, though with some hesitation, each gently grabbed a hand of the unconscious girl...their child. Questions of what she went through burning through their minds

"I… I don't get it," Pyrrha rubbed her forehead in though, while she still kept holding Dorée's hand, "Ruby… If she, Ren and Nora were there for her… why does she act this way? Why does she act as if we'd kill her?"

Sprite sighed "...it's mostly because of the man who helped create her in the first place…" He shook his head. "Dr. Merlot."

"Merlot?" Weiss asked, looking surprised, "As in Doctor Winston Merlot? The CEO of Merlot Industries that went under after their HQ was destroyed in the Mountain Glenn incident?"

"Yes… he survived both the disaster, as well as a mission you conducted against him a few months from now, which you discovered that it was because of his experiments with Grimm that caused it." Sprite informed, "After his island base was destroyed, he fled, and lived in an underground facility he built before the war, and went into cryo sleep during the course of it as his own fallout shelter. Miss Rose and her team came to him, after locating his facility and he came out of his cold sleep hibernation capsule… and made an offer. With his knowledge and resources, they believed they could ensure humanity's survival to a sense… he had cloning vats, and the plan was, originally, to simply… recreate humanity from underground." He glanced at Doree's unconscious form. "Doree… She was the first. Created from the DNA of Pyrrha and Jaune… they saw it as the only way to keep a bit of them alive in a way…"

Both partners looked at their teammates and the little Rose, touched that they were loved very much by these three.

"Doree grew up… and they tried their best to raise her like one of their own…" Sprite mused, smiling. "I remember when I was first commissioned during her early days with Ruby, Ren and Nora… even though the surface was a Grimm-infested hellhole, those years in the bunkers were among the most peaceful and… fairly stress-free they've ever had…"

"...what changed?" Ren questioned.

Sprite shook his head "When she turned seven, Her… abilities began to manifest…" he said, "And becoming the first person outside the Schnee Family to inherit the semblances of both Pyrrha and Jaune… a human with two semblances wasn't something Merlot would just ignore… he petitioned to them to train her to become a soldier, he wanted to create an army of people like Doree to reclaim the surface world, to create a 'better' humanity…" He shook his head. "They wanted to say no, but… if they did, Merlot might've kicked them all out, and kept Doree to himself… so they had to play along."

"Upon turning eight, Doree was… subjected to an endless cycle of training." The A.I continued, "Her happy life ended as her playtime was replaced with regimented training, strength tests, surgical injections to make her faster, stronger… Merlot didn't just want a soldier, he wanted a killing machine. And to make it work… he subjected her to subliminal messages to turn her into just that - make her feel alone in the world, make her feel as if she weren't really loved…"

"Miss Rose and the others did their best, helping train and raise her when they could," Sprite said, "Trying to make her feel loved… it worked, somewhat… she believed Ruby, Ren and Nora loved her, but… "

"She didn't... believe we'd love her…?" Jaune questioned, as Pyrrha was horrified at the mental images of the extreme training and operations that Doree endured. She didn't know if she would survive something like that.

"Merlot was… strict with her mental conditioning," Sprite growled, "They'd try, but… it felt like every milestone we'd reach with her, was just as easily erased by Merlot after one of his 'private' sessions with her… eventually they had enough. They rebelled against Merlot, fighting his android guards, it felt like it was all going to work… until the subterranean Grimm finally found us…"

"It… all happened so fast," Sprite shook his head, "They flooded the base… Ruby and the others tried to protect the other clones created, to save mankind but… the last we saw of them was Ruby sealing the doors behind Doree, with a horde of Grimm behind her."

"From there… well, you can guess the rest." Sprite finished, "Doree killed Merlot in a rage… and then afterward, the three Goddess Sisters appeared before us - I will tell you more about them later - and made their offer… and we weren't in the position to really refuse it."

Everyone looked back toward the girl, as both student teams could only give concerned looks, the strongest coming from Team JNPR and Ruby.

"So...aside from being mentally brainwashed that her own parents would hate her, anything else we should be aware of?" Qrow asked, not wanting any surprises. Sprite sighed sadly before speaking.

"Well, there is the side-effect from the cloning process which involves memory flashes," he said, and everyone looked to him.

"M...Memory flashes?" Pyrrha said in worry.

Sprite nodded at that, "Yeah...of course, they only happen when she's asleep. They first started when she was eight years old, but at that time, they didn't bother her as much. In fact, they helped her in her training, learning techniques from the both of you, and how to use her semblances better...in a way, you two trained her as much as your teammates and Ruby," he said making the two smile a bit at that, happy that they at least contributed to Dorée's life, despite the tragedy behind it. But what Sprite said next will dampen that mood, "But...as she got older the flashes began to get more...dark."

Everyone didn't like the sound of that.

"D-Dark...?" Ruby stuttered.

Sprite nodded at that. "Yeah...and thanks to me being an A.I., I can still remember the screams the night she experienced the one memory that scarred her the most. It would take two hours, for Ruby, Ren, and Nora to calm her down."

Then, as if on cue, a single whimper was heard causing everyone to look at Doree who began twitching in her sleep, a pained filled grimace on her face.

"N...ngh...No...no...don't...go...," she managed to gasp out.

Both partners watched her, as her broken sentences soon began to be more understandable.

"No...stop...please!" She whimpered, "Don't do it! No!"

"Oh dammit! She's at the Fall, again!" Sprite said worriedly, as both Jaune and Pyrrha, immediately began to try to calm her down.

"The 'Fall'?" Ruby said, before remembering what her future counterpart said, "When you say that...you mean...?"

"Yes, the Fall of Beacon," Sprite clarified, "Or in Dorée's case...the day her life ended before it ever truly began,"

Everyone continued to look on, as the armored clad girl now began to thrash in her sleep.

"No! M-Mother!" she whimpered out, catching Pyrrha off guard, before she decided on another tactic in calming her down.

Placing a hand on her head, she began whispering in Dorée's ear. "Shhh, hey, hey, shh, it's okay, it's okay. Listen to my voice," she whispered, and the thrashing managed to somewhat subside, "It's okay...I'm here, I'm right here,"

She squeezed the girls hand to reassure her, which seemed to calm her down. Her whimpers still remained as Pyrrha continued to whisper to her.

Sprite gave out his own version of a sigh in relief.

"...Thank you," Sprite said, "I guess a mother's touch was needed for this. Not even Miss Rose, Miss Valkyrie, or Mister Ren's semblance could calm her down."

With said Lotus Ninja, Ren was shocked that someone was able to resist his semblance. Even Nora was surprised as her best friend had used it on her when she was being too hyper.

With Ruby, her concern for her future honorary niece was growing.

"Do...do these happen often?" she asked.

"Once every three days at least. Of course, Merlot attempted to capitalize on these in a way to enforce his brainwashing, only for it to almost backfire in his face, when Dorée almost developed a split personality disorder...that was not pretty." the A.I. shuddered at the memory of that, a sentiment the students, Headmaster, and Field Agent shared.

"Damn...that's just scary as hell," Qrow stated, as he took a swig from his flask. "Reliving the memories of your dead parents and almost being driven insane? I'm surprised she didn't kill herself."

"Almost, Branwen...," Sprite stressed, "Almost,"

Everyone was silent as they took in the info, before remembering something that Sprite said before.

"And these Goddess Sisters?" Weiss asked, "Are they...?"

"Related to the Brother Gods of Light and Darkness? Yes" Sprite answered, "Though unlike their...idiot siblings, the Three sisters were more forgiving. In fact, it was the Sisters who led Ruby, Ren, and Nora to Merlot in the first place. Of course, even for Gods, they didn't expect what Merlot did to happen. And them sending us back in time was a desperate measure... But, that's all I can say for now, the battery on Dorée's Scroll is about to reach the red, and it needs to be recharged. I will tell you more after that,"

The gathering was disappointed that they wouldn't get any more information, but accepted that.

"Okay, but when you're all charged up, we expect some more answers," Jaune spoke up, as he looked at his unconscious future daughter's face.

"No problem," The A.I. acknowledged before he suddenly winked out, and the scroll shut off.

"Well...," Qrow sighed, as he massaged his tired eyes, "...This day just a whole lot more...interesting,"

As the gathered group of people gave their own agreements, they didn't notice the slight twitch of the unconscious Dorée's closed eyes.

Meanwhile

"I assume you managed to get me what I asked for?"

Merlot looked at the screen, as he spoke to dark silhouetted person, whom when they spoke, the voice was masked by different voices speaking at the same time, with a slight static.

"Of course I did," the person spoke, "It was a tad difficult trying to convince the rest of these arguing idiots to get the right paperwork for your pardon."

"And my authorization into Beacon?" The old scientist pressed.

"That was a little tricky, since Ozpin managed to convince us that you're only allowed to examine her, and will be observed by Miss Goodwitch at all times while you're there. Albeit he doesn't know it's you, so..."

Merlot sighed, before chuckling, "Same paranoid fool. I wonder how'll he react once he sees me," he snarked.

"Please Doctor...don't try to start a confrontation," the voice said, exasperatedly, "I know you and him have history, but right now, your primary concern is finding a way to deal with that girl,"

Merlot looked at the screen, as his red cyborg eye glowed.

"Remember our deal Councilman," he said, "I want her alive, undamaged, and under my custody by the end of the Beacon School year...or I'll let the world know about the dealings you had with not only me, but your Underworld friends as well. You know the saying, if I go down, you go down with me,"

The person on the screen was silent for a moment, and Merlot could only guess that he was glaring at him, but this didn't bother him much. He was insulted much worse.

"Don't tempt me, Doctor. Or I will find a way to have you silenced...permanently," they said, as Merlot gave a grunt.

"Noted..." with that he pressed the off button, and the screen winked off. He then took a deep breath before exhaling.

"Politics...whoever thought of the concept should be fed to a King Taijitu." he said before he stood up from the chair. "Can't deal with it now, unfortunately. For now...,"

He then proceeded to walk out of the room, "...It's time for the world to be reintroduced to Doctor Winston Merlot."

Patriot-112: And finally! I'm so sorry this took so long to get here, but work, family, other fanfic works, and other things of life threw a bag of monkey wrenches my way. I hope you enjoyed, and you might have some questions concerning this. Rest assured they will be answered in time.

Sadly no after A/N scene for this chapter I'm afraid. Until next time my friends and don't forget to leave a review.