Ahh Arc is a huntsman. Interesting.

Well then… that was a thing. Wish the White got more of an explicit comeuppance given, well, everything, but I suppose a proper dismantling of the Collegiums would have been a massive and unnecessary extension of the story. I’m glad that Ruby’s upbringing prevented some of the more frustrating traits of her canon character from developing while still maintaining her identity to the point where I was actually glad for a non-Jaune protagonist.
The setting was a wonderful departure from the repetitive setting of Beacon (and occasionally wider Remnant), with the worldbuilding and systems being quite intriguing and possibly even deserving of an original story unrelated to RWBY.

Unfortunately, I think this is also probably one of the more disorganized and “loose” stories Couer has written. I won’t dive into too much detail, as Sir Bruno has already covered most of them down below (11/07/22 for specific dates), but a lot of plot threads felt incomplete or lacking, characters felt vastly under or overdeveloped, and plot holes/inconsistencies cropped up frequently enough to the point that I started noticing them even though I rarely examine the details like that.

While I feel this story had some of the most potential of any of the stories Couer had written thus far, I feel like the execution and direction started slipping once Ruby was forced into the White. Maybe it was a result of weak initial planning, maybe certain concepts that were cut or added later were poor decisions, or maybe even just Coeur had so much going on that something had to give. Given that he writes like five different stories at any one time that are updated weekly (and some of the wild ass author’s notes), I’m inclined to believe the latter.

Ultimately, I definitely was more invested than I thought I would be (mostly owing to how despicable the White Arcana are) and I enjoyed exploring such a different setting and arrangement of characters. Alas, even after the ending I am still left with more questions than answers.

Cheers!

This is just a random note, and I might PM about it later, but wasn’t Maria already mentioned as a character when Ruby was trying to get into the Archives? I distinctly remember Ruby interacting with a “cantankerous old woman” named Maria who sent her down to meet with Port. Is that just coincidence, or was there some intentional overlap there?

It’s definitely my personal biases showing, but the White Arcana are scum. All of the other antagonistic organizations you’ve written have their own sticking points, and most of the significant ones are if not sympathetic at least understandable, but man the White Arcana are the perfect mix of everything I despise in this world with all of their “redeeming” qualities just making it worse. Above all, I hate how realistic their motivations are, because of course they would do all this. I’ve never been more excited to binge a stoty to completion, because all I want is for the White to get their comeuppance.

If they don’t, or even worse if they get some form of redemption I’m going to scream and rage, but at least it’ll go to show how invested I am in this story. Can’t always get the ending you want, but at least the passion this story has invoked has been something unique.

I’ll see you soon.

I don’t usually before the end of the story, but since I’ve gotten through some of this story before, some of the hints just seem so obvious to connect even with the memories and details being vague. I suppose that’s on me for not trying to read deep into the subtext of other stories, but meh that’s not what I read for.

Can’t help but think that a lot of us look like idiots to Coeur for not noticing all these hints, but I guess most people tend to just take fanfiction at face value. Anyways, back to the story!

Fantastic story, one of the best fanworks I've had the pleasure of reading.

Apologies for nitpicking, but chapter 36 was never fixed where Ozpin says he wasn't part of the Black Arcana.

At first 'Not This Time Fate' was my favorite of your stories but this one definitely takes the top spot. This read like a novel and I loved every second of it. Thank you for creating such an amazing story! I'm definitely gonna reread this one sometime in the future.

The Infinite IKEA, RWBY edition

"This is going to be a massacre"
"On Jaune's side?"
Yes, actually.

"Is Jaune sleeping there?"
"Something like that"
That line hits way different when you're reading this the second time.

Amazing story!

That was one sided battle

Nice to see the friends reunited

this will be my second time reading this you have managed to make cinder one of my most loved characters despite hating her in the original show. I think this will continue to be one of my favorite stories on this site.

That Arcana is stupid and needs to be stopped