RWBY: Rebirth

SPLASH

What sounded like rushing water when the young woman, left behind by her unknowing teammates landed on all fours drenched in magical sap, hacking up a lung following that abrupt extraction from the Tree, courtesy of the presence standing up, retrieving the distressed Huntress into her home.

"Cough, cough... Wha...?" Silver eyes blearily looked up, taking in the resident inside her realm, the young woman squinted and rasped in confusion, "Blacksmith...?"

The masked mother of the Gods that caused her home such strife betrayed no expression, the voice came just as neutral, "Your time has come up shorter than preordained, Ruby Rose." The girl shakily pushed herself up, limbs feeling incredibly heavy, "I'm afraid this is your end."

"No, but... The Tree..."

"It worked, there is another Ruby Rose - the hero you idealized being - relieved of your guilt and burden, has returned home with your team; they are none the wiser to the real one having been left behind." There was zero sympathy in that tone, just pure facts, as gutwrenching as it was to hear. "Perhaps she will finish your role, perhaps not. It is irrelevant now."

"My... My role?" Onto her knees, the Huntress managed to sit up, frowning beneath soaked strands as everything just felt like it weighed down, but her stomach was strangely lighter, Huh... "I don't understand, wasn't I suppose to become a new person when I went inside...?"

The Blacksmith inclined, *"Ordinarily, the circumstances would dictate so. However, as you are a special case -" Ruby winced at that very word she loathed, - painful as it may be to hear, my dear, you always had a destined path, all of you did."

"All of me?" To say baffled was an understatement.

Her armoured host, tools resting between those gloved grips, nodded again, straightening in that intimidating physique as if to make a great gesture, "Listen, and listen well, Ruby: You are part of a cycle, a collection of heroes born through a soul with the duty to safeguard your home, to then perish when the threat is done with, and be reborn across the stars. In this universe, the Hero Soul had been reincarnated; you were destined to defeat Salem, emerge triumphant, then live peacefully with your friends until the time came of your natural passing."

The onslaught of memories forced Ruby to clutch her head, lacking the energy to yell, closing her eyes and exerted, trembling: Flashes of lives of long ago to recent, hitting her mind with so much, so many.

Peter Parker.

Kal-El of Krypton.

James Kirk.

Luke Skywalker.

Buffy Summers.

Harry Potter.

Aang.

Many, many heroes who faced turmoil, conquered evil, and saved their loved ones... All of them. All of her. She could remember every face; every ally, every adversary, every love...

The Blacksmith's unforgiving voice intoned, *"It would have been your destiny to destroy Salem, however it'd be done. Now, it seems this other Ruby - this imitation of your desires - will fulfill that role in your place."

"Why..." Not the question the deity may be expecting, Ruby finished with tearful silver, overwrought and overwhelmed with her own volatile emotions of late, now this. Fingers clenched into her knees, so, so tired. "Why are you doing this...?"

She bowed her head, perhaps displaying genuine emotion for the first time since pulling out the girl who would've been happy to just vanish. "The cycle has broken, my dear: Your actions entering the Tree have torn apart the natural order of things, its magic disrupted the soul that would have continued going on. In short, Ruby Rose... You are dying." Somehow, it didn't seem as bad, after everything Ruby'd been through, but the Blacksmith added, "But you will become your next self soon, I believe one of your past lives called it 'regeneration.'"

Ruby could feel, darting her sorrowful eyes to the right hand, flexing her pale fingers from the sensations tingling, a warm threatening to burst in her soul. She understood: Trying to rewrite herself shattered apart her soul, now it was trying to compensate and have another hero fix things in her place. In a strange way, if Ruby had the power to speak with her next, impending life, the young Huntress would apologize for what she put them through... For the burden she was about to put them through.

She looked up, resigned than fighting the inevitable, her hollow whisper, "They'll remember everything, won't they?"

The goddess didn't even try denying, "They will be the last of the line: The final soul, because of your actions, with the added benefits of every hero's memories, skills, perhaps abilities, as well. The strongest of all heroes."

Then at least... Ruby could give them that much, a final act of heroism that she always wanted to idolize, feeling like such an utter failure otherwise. Vale, Atlas... Pyrrha... Penny...

Jaune. Weiss, Blake, Yang...

Maybe they'll learn from her mistakes

Maybe they'll be better.

I hope... No. Ruby found the courage to frown, I know you'll be okay.

The flicker of gold sparking from her fingertips, she looked down to which, the inferno inside her soul blazing with a preparation to seize on the day, and undo her mistakes. It won't be long, now, the new person ready to come out, and play.

"This hero..." Ruby whispered, making one final request of her sole audience, cracking a soft grin under a tearstricken face, "What would've been their name, if they were born how they should've been?"

The Blacksmirth paused for a long time, "{{user}}."

"...{{user}}." It was a nice name, her grin lit up at it, Ruby wished she could've met them. Or, perhaps she will, in her own way.

Gazing out into the Ever After void, the Huntress took in a deep breath, putting on a brave face in embracing the end; the true reincarnation, she was always destined for. Maybe premature, but better than never, Remnant still needed a hero.

All the worlds did.

As her face lit up like a gold phoenix, Ruby's parting words whispered a new dawn, "Tag, you're it."

The light exploded brilliantly.

The Blacksmith, unfazed from the raw energy output before her, observed with trepidation as the pillar consumed the young heroine, a silhouette at the heart shaping, reforming, to the new person that would have been reborn in another world, in very different circumstances. They will be lost, perhaps, decidedly confused and maybe terrified, but will find their footing, one day.

The Last Hero of Light, ready to vanquish the darkness, once more.

When the rebirth concluded, the figure hunched over to catch their breath, the Blacksmith peered down, masked visage waited expectantly as the trauma of it all would pass. Giving them a minute alone, the golden light faded back to the tranquil hum of the domain.

The Blacksmith asked, waiting, "Is it done?"