UPDATE: IT WORKED! Here is what I had to do to eventually get this going
1. Took the advice of @yanyan and used a separate drive to install to. One that was not the same as my Windows install.
2. I used Fedora Media Writer to write the .iso. Prior to this I had used Rufus and then balenaEtcher
3. I use the same thumb drive for almost every install and file transfer I do. I reformat afterwards, and its a solid thumb drive, but still. Maybe it was just over this shit. Its a 64gb SanDisk in case anyone was wondering. Still, it may have been cooked because this time, I used a brand new thumb drive with no mileage on it. This suggestion was also from @yanyan
Not sure which of these, if nay is what finally did it, but I now have my dual boot set and I'm ready to start playing with Bazzite!