AN: Hello! My name is Kohakuu. I've been a fan of RWBY ever since the first trailer came out, but it hasn't been until recently that I decided to try my own hand at writing some fanfiction for it. I've read a lot of stories on this site across a wide range of fandoms, but writing my own fanfiction has been something that hasn't really caught on my interest for very long. I've had a few stories I've written that I've had momentary interest in, but I hope that by starting a story with a subject that I've been interested in for a long time, that I'll be more motivated to continue writing it. I'm also doing this in order to practice my writing skills, which have been languishing for a while.
This story began in my subconsciousness as a oneshot based on the fabulous picture by Dishwasher1910, titled RWBY: Wrath. If you haven't seen it, look it up on Deviantart, it's seriously amazing. As I tried to figure out how this picture would come to be, a whole story began to come together, and so I decided to try a hand at writing it.
In any case, I hope you enjoy! If you do, send me a review! If you don't review anyways and let me know why!
Prologue: Sacrifice
Since time immemorial, the tradition of telling stories in order to pass along knowledge and wisdom has persisted. Over time, the most memorable and important stories morph into legends, and continue to be told again and again. Tales of heros and triumph, tragedies of loss and pain, sagas that bolster the spirit and fables that warn against folly. And while some legends eventually fall into obscurity, their lessons fading with the sands of time, there are some that continue to outlast the test of time.
Legends that survive being told for countless generations take on a life of their own. They continue to be reverently recounted around campfires, in children's bedrooms, and countless other audiences worldwide. The best of these legends pull at the heart and appeal to the mind, imparting important lessons and altering the lives of those who hear them. Many of these legends are so well known that merely mentioning their title can evoke their emotions and lessons.
But there are some legends, no less important, that are not as well known. Those that are only told by certain people to a select few others, and can carry vital information to those who are chosen to hear them. Unfortunately, when those legends become so selectively told, eventually there comes a time when a single, unfortunate death erases them from human history. When the sole, final bearer of the knowledge does not have the chance to pass it on to another.
Luckily, once in awhile there comes a person who shies away from tradition, and takes a more pragmatic approach. And with the simple act of putting the words she was told onto paper before her death, Summer Rose changed the world.
The city of Vale was burning.
The joyous atmosphere of the past few days of the Vytal tournament had broken. The attack on Beacon was being broadcast around the world, and chaos reigned as hunters and huntresses fought bravely to turn the tide. Equally fervent were the forces of the White Fang, backed up by the tides of Grimm both shuttled into Vale and attracted there by all of the negativity in the air. And finally, the forces of Atlas had been brought low, their technology hacked and re-purposed to her own designs. It was glorious, watching what could easily be construed as a multi-force battle being waged between different fronts, when in actuality the three aggressors were all working together to bring down one of the greatest kingdoms Remnant had ever known.
Cinder smirked from her position on the rooftop. Her scroll out and in hand, she broadcast the carnage for the world to see. No doubt to the world, it seemed as though Atlas had declared war upon Vale, and the White Fang and Grimm had capitalized on the chaos to launch their own attacks. The fallout from this moment would be felt for years, if not decades to come, and Cinder couldn't help but feel pleased that her plans had succeeded. Her plans, while hindered somewhat by several unforeseen bouts of interference, had proceeded and developed into the chaos now enveloping the school, the city of Vale, and no doubt, all of Remnant.
Salem would be pleased.
Still, there was unfinished business. There were still three items on her agenda that needed to be completed, and with all the chaos around her, two of them would be more than easy enough to pull off without any more interference from those thorns in her side. After all, one of the biggest thorns was busy off with her team, no doubt trying their best to stem the never-ending tides of enhanced Grimm that Salem had sent with her specifically to keep them busy. Cinder had protested at first to having someone else share in the glory of the moment, but she was pragmatic enough to know that no amount of normal Grimm would be enough to stop the Grimmsbane for long. Cinder required those enhanced Grimm to keep her out of the way long enough to acquire that which she had come for.
Stowing the scroll in her pocket, Cinder descended from the roof of the building with catlike grace. The dark leather outfit was sleek and blended her with the shadows cast by the fires around her. Dust was woven into the garments, an art that Dr. Watts was very familiar with. He has pushed her for Dust infusions, but Cinder had refused. There was no telling how having Dust injected into her would react once she had the Fall Maiden's powers, and she didn't want to risk spontaneous combustion on the eve of her greatest triumph, no matter how Dr. Watts pestered her and extolled the various powers he could grant her. No, Dust woven clothing was enough for her, and with her powers, altering it's appearance was easy enough as well.
The front gate of Beacon was relatively unguarded. The hunstmen and huntresses had long cleared out the first wave of Grimm from the school grounds, and had been focusing on pushing the Grimm back out of Vale proper. At least, that had been the case until Salem's scourge had burst its way out of the mountain and begun raining despair upon the combatants as Grimm spawned from the pools it dropped from it's draconic body. Now, Beacon was once again filled with Grimm, and there was no one left to combat them. Even the professors and students of Beacon were now in Vale proper, and with the skies filled with Grimm there was no chance that any of them would get back to Beacon anytime soon.
The speck of the Fall Maiden's powers she had stolen pushed her forwards, leading her towards the bearer of the rest of the power. It still stung, being interrupted after barely starting the process when she and her cohorts had ambushed the Fall Maiden, but their reports of who the Fall Maiden was meeting had been wrong. They had planned for Qrow Branwen, and planned to distract him from his mission for long enough for the ambush to be pulled off without a hitch.
Unfortunately, Specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlas military was not susceptible to the same vices as Qrow Branwen, and had immediately understood that the V.I.P. she was meeting to escort to safety had been waylaid. It had created quite a scene in the village, seeing a white-haired woman launch herself into the air upon stacks of shining-white glyphs, before an enormous, white nevermore materialized and bore the woman away.
It had been a tough battle, bringing down the Fall Maiden. The Maiden's powers, untrained as they were, were nothing short of explosive. It had been awe-inspiring, knowing that they were fighting a literal force of nature. But Cinder hadn't been cowed. No, there was nothing but ambition burning inside her. Soon, that power would be hers. And with her two pawns, Cinder had brought the Fall Maiden down, and had prepared to take that power for herself.
Cinder's parasitic grimm, gifted by Salem specifically for this purpose, had barely latched onto the Fall Maiden and begun the process when the Schnee Specialist fall from the sky like a meteor. She had come sword first, impeccably aimed to sever the inky-black strands stretching from Cinder's hand to the Fall Maiden's face. And without a moment wasted, Specialist Schnee summoned a veritable storm of miniature, white nevermores that drove the three of them back.
It had burned, being forced to retreat. There was a sense of wrongness within her, having only a small fraction of the Fall Maiden's powers, a feeling of incompleteness that writhed in her gut. But once the Fall Maiden had stood under her own power, the flames around her eyes reigniting, Cinder had understood that this was not a battle that could be won. Between the Fall Maiden's sheer power, and Specialist Schnee's versatility and tactical prowess, there was no way the three of them would be able to continue. Not to mention it was fruitless to try, seeing as the parasite grimm had fully merged with her as soon as the connection with the Fall Maiden had been severed.
Still, she had not returned to Salem with head hung. Cinder's plans were nothing but immaculate, with contingency upon contingency in order to account for any and all variables that may occur. Her mind, forged from the fires of battle and tempered by her own ambition, was sharper than glass, stronger than steel, and there was no outcome she could not plan for. Salem had cautioned her that having two grimm fused with her would be more dangerous, but Cinder couldn't be sure that killing the Fall Maiden would reward her with the rest of the powers she deserved, seeing how little she had stolen. Another gift from Salem, the white glove that housed the parasite grimm she needed to finish the job, was tucked in a pouch at her waist. When the time came, she would once again bring the Fall Maiden to her knees, and this time, there would be no one to interrupt her.
As she entered the front door of Beacon, a flicker of power ran down her, transforming her black catsuit into her red dress. Her bow-swords materialized on her back, and as she drew it, several needle-sharp arrows of glass grew and rested in her palm. There were only two people whom she knew would not leave Beacon when the battles began: Professor Ozpin and the Fall Maiden herself. After seeing the Fall Maiden's powers for herself, Cinder knew that she could triumph and take the power for herself, so long as Ozpin didn't interfere, which was why she had arranged for a distraction for Salem's greatest adversary. Even now, he was likely embroiled in the chaos, trying like a good little chessmaster to try and figure out a way to save as many people as he could.
Try as he might, there was nothing he could do to make a meaningful impact. And soon, Cinder would have the Fall Maiden's powers, Salem would be in possession of the artifact, and Vale would cease to exist as a major player in the political sphere of Remnant, nothing more than a failed, broken state.
Cinder entered the elevator, pressing the button for the top floor. Ozpin's office. The safest place in all of Vale. Of course, that moniker no longer applied. If not for the hacking of Beacon's security network, Cinder wouldn't have been able to access his office without permission. And with Professor Ozpin embroiled in fruitless combat in the vault defending the artifact, the Fall Maiden was alone in Ozpin's office, weakened and ripe for the picking if her reports were correct.
As the elevator ascended, Cinder performed a few quick Aura-cycling exercises, readying her powers for combat. Flaring her Aura and cycling it through the Dust woven into her dress, she attuned herself to her powers, like stretching a muscle before a workout. The Fall Maiden may have been weakened slightly by the loss of some of her power, but Cinder wasn't about to take the woman lightly. Unlike last time, she would be prepared for combat, just as Cinder was.
The moment arrived, and Cinder quashed any hint of anticipation in her gut as the elevator slowed to a stop. She took a deep breath, and waited.
*Ding*
Fire burst into the elevator as the doors began to slide open, instinctively blocked and redirected as Cinder tore control of the flames from the Fall Maiden waiting in front of Ozpin's desk, the flames around her eyes burning bright. The dark-haired young woman stood tall, a hand outstretched towards her, the thick column of fire erupting from it bathing the office in a baleful, ruddy glow, flickering shadows all around them. The staff in her other hand was pointed at her as well, the red crystal glowing and adding power to the attack. It was an impressive first attack, Cinder mused, using both hands, and a generous amount of red Dust power, to pull the fire from the air and contain it in a ball between her hands.
The Fall Maiden cut off the attack upon noticing it failing to take effect. Without a word, the young woman spun her staff, summoning a gale that ripped through the room like a tornado, pushing Cinder to the back of the elevator and keeping her from releasing the compressed flames back towards her. Aborting her plans to use her own flames against her, Cinder pushed her way out of the elevator through the gale force winds, and aimed the inferno at the ceiling of the elevator and released. The flames seared through the elevator's cables, sending it plummeting down to the bottom floor in a freefall as the doors closed behind her.
The gale died as the Fall Maiden reassessed the situation, spinning the staff in front of her once more. Cinder smirked. The young woman's plan had obviously been to keep her from entering the office at all using overwhelming power, and it had failed. She could see the desperation in the Fall Maiden's amber eyes, even as she tried to present a strong face towards her attacker.
Fire met fire as both women launched attacks at each other. The Fall Maiden's powers were evenly matched by Cinder's Dust-enhanced ones. Even as the Fall Maiden continued to throw bolts of fire towards her, Cinder countered with her own, as well as laying several traps along the ground. The Fall Maiden was forced to leap backwards to avoid the explosions, utilizing her powers to float into the air and thereby avoid the trap Cinder had laid behind her as well. A strong gust of wind from behind her sent the Fall Maiden streaking towards her like a rocket, the staff in her hand poised like a javelin, aimed to strike through Cinder's heart.
Drawing her bow, Cinder split it into its dual-swords, catching the head of the staff with one sword and redirecting it to the side, and slicing at the Fall Maiden's unprotected side as she flew past. THe Fall Maiden wasn't without her ticks, however, revealing she was only holding the staff with one hand, the other hidden behind her and charged with lightning. Has her sword been made of steel, the act of the Fall Maiden grabbing the blade would have electrocuted her. As it was, however, the sword was made of Cinder's glass. The electricity super-heated the glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces in the split second that the Fall Maiden touched it.
As the Fall Maiden passed, Cinder took control of the superheated shards of glass still in the air, redirecting them towards the Fall Maiden. Small as they were, however, they were immediately tossed aside as the Fall Maiden summoned the wind propelling her to surround her in a bubble of gale force winds. Cinder drew the shards back to herself, reforming the sword and putting it back into it's bow form as she formed a handful of sliver-thin arrows, knocking and aiming them within a fraction of a second. The Fall Maiden's winds intensified, even as she gathered lightning in her palms once more.
Cinder released the flurry of arrows, even as the Fall Maiden aimed the lighting in her hands towards her. Electricity forked from her hands through the winds, lancing out and arcing through the arrows as they flew, superheating and shattering them as well. Continuing to form more arrows, Cinder continued to fire, multitasking as she drew the shards that resulted out of the Fall Maiden's sight.
Finally, the Fall Maiden faltered, and a single, needle-sharp arrow pierced through her defences, striking her in the shoulder. A pained gasp tore out of the young-woman's mouth, and for a moment, the winds surrounding her died down as she fell to the floor, the flames around her eyes guttering out.
Capitalizing on the moment, Cinder directed the veritable hailstorm of glass shards she had been hiding near the ceiling down towards the Fall Maiden. Simultaneously, she surrounded the ground around the Fall Maiden with multiple rings of traps, with erupted in a cacophony of screeches as they got ready to explode. The Fall Maiden, her attention on the traps below her, never noticed the shards of glass descending towards her.
Thousands of tiny glass shards, unimpeded by the wind, attacked the Fall Maiden like a swarm of insects, each not doing much damage alone, but put together, they rapidly ate away at the Aura still defending the Fall Maiden. Gathering her power, the Fall Maiden tried to push them all back with a massive burst of wind, but in her attempt, had forgotten about the ring of explosive traps around her. Cinder caught the Fall Maiden's wide, desperate eyes the split second before the explosives went off.
Cinder smiled cruelly as she set them off.
Checkmate.
The rings of explosions went off with a deafening roar, momentarily obscuring the Fall Maiden from her gaze. The force of the simultaneous explosions blew out the glass from the windows surrounding them, the metal gearworks above coming loose and grinding to a halt. The ceiling above her groaned as the metalwork structure's foundations were weakened by the blast.
Cinder smirked. As soon as she had the Fall Maiden's powers, it would be child's play to finish the job, bringing down Vale's communications tower and rendering Remnant's CCT network inoperable. It would be the death knell of co-operation between the kingdoms, for without communication there would be no way for Atlas to explain their systems were hacked, and now way for whatever leadership of Vale remained to request assistance.
A soft groan brought Ciner forwards, and as the smoke cleared, she could see the Fall Maiden laid out on the floor. Her clothes were singed from the flames of the blasts, and thin rivulets of blood streamed from various points where shards of glass had found their mark as her aura fell. Cinder sauntered forwards, lightly kicking the broken staff beside the Fall Maiden away as she reached into the pouch on her hip.
She kneeled next to the young woman, drawing the white glove with Salem's symbol on it onto her left hand. Cinder lifted the Fall Maiden's head from the ground, positioning her gloved hand over her. The Fall Maiden's eyes opened just in time to see the parasitic Grimm surge towards her, latching onto her face and beginning to draw the power out of her. A pained moan escaped her lips as the power began to transfer, and Cinder smiled as she felt the power well up inside her.
Finally, she felt complete.
The Fall Maiden breathed her last as the power transfer completed, and Cinder released her hold on the deceased woman's head, letting it thump against the floor. TUrning, she looked around the destroyed office, smirking cruelly as she drew the power within her to the surface. The two parts of the Fall Maiden's power within her merged, and she felt the flames burning around her eyes as she summoned the flames to her hands without needing any Dust.
Chuckling to herself, she aimed a hand at one of the metallic supports, and a torrent of flame erupted from her palm and ate through the metal. The ceiling above her groaned again, the metal gearworks shuddering as they strained to remain upright.
It wouldn't be enough to just make the top of the tower collapse. This had to be a statement, the crowning achievement of her ambitions that would be seen for miles, and signify the collapse of Beacon as a whole. A herald to the age of darkness that this action would bring about. A simple tower collapse, while disheartening, wouldn't be awe-inspiring enough to be seared into the consciousness of the public for generations to come.
It had to be more.
Gathering the Fall Maiden's powers, Cinder hovered into the air, positioned perfectly centered in the office. Perfectly centered below the massive, now broken gearworks, and the Communications Relay of Vale.
Power surged within her as she gathered it above her head, aimed at the ceiling. She let it build, a roaring inferno held back by nothing by her will, as the air around her whipped up into a gale and cycled upwards around the massive fireball, fueling it hotter and brighter. FInally, adding lightning to it in insane amounts, Cinder smiled.
"Goodbye, Beacon." Cinder unleashed the fireball, and watched.
The fireball rocketed into the ceiling, exploding with the force of a hundred thousand dust crystals. The winds Cinder controlled forced all of the fireballs power upwards, and the fire and electricity mix utterly decimated everything above her. Cinder watched as the explosion continued to grow up into the night sky, its brightness dwarfing the light from the shattered moon, turning into a miniature sun.
The sounds of combat from the city, sirens and screams fell silent as everyone, human, faunus and grimm alike, turned to see the massive explosion. Cinder waited, the anticipation building as the explosion continued to grow, dominating the sky.
Then, finally, the first screams of despair began to echo. Where before they had been disjointed, uttered by individuals in their separate moments of pain and sadness, now they were unified. Despair at seeing the biggest symbol of hope they had finally and utterly destroyed.
It. Was. Glorious.
Cinder closed her eyes, allowing the screams to echo inside her head as the explosion above her finally began to die away, but she knew that the image of it would be seared into the hearts and minds of all who saw it. No doubt there were some who took pictures of it, and soon they would circulate, at least among the local communities since the CCT was now inoperable, and every time someone would look at the pictures, they would once again sink into the depths of depression.
And with the abundance of negative emotions that would echo through time for years to come, so would a renewed assault by the forces of Grimm.
Salem would be very pleased.
Still, there was more work to be done. The relic Salem coveted needed to be secured. Ozpin no doubt would either soon defeat her little distraction or already had, and now it would be up to her to take it from him. Cinder turned, stepping over the Fall Maiden's body as she headed back towards the elevator shaft.
"Cinder."
All of her blood ran cold.
She knew that voice.
It haunted her in her nightmares.
It was impossible that she could be here. She was supposed to be in Vale, like all the others fighting against the Grimm.
Cinder turned, and her worst fears were confirmed.
The Grimmsbane stood before her. Vengance incarnate had come for her. The one person Salem herself had told her to avoid fighting at all costs, due to the Grimm housing the Fall Maiden's powers that now were fused to her very essence.
Against the Grimmsbane, she was as weak as the weakest of Creeps. And both of them knew it.
To anyone else, the Grimmsbane wasn't much to look at. A young girl, brunette with red highlights, dressed in a black and red corset and skirt. The red hooded cape that billowed ominously behind her only lent her the image of death incarnate when pared with the massive scythe over her shoulder.
But worst of all were the eyes. Shining, silver eyes, hard as steel and focused on her. Cinder was frozen by that stare. It was one thing when they weren't looking at you, but another thing entirely to see them pointed your way, knowing that any second the Grimmsbane could unleash the power lurking behind them and erase her from existence.
Cinder remained frozen as those eyes looked around the destroyed office. She knew that any movement on her part would bring attention back to her, and she was more than happy to let the Grimmsbane become distracted as she tried desperately to come up with some sort of plan. Some way to escape that which stood before her-
Cinder's eyes widened as she realized what the Grimmsbane was looking for a moment too late. Those silver eyes fell on the former Fall Maiden, and Cinder watched as they changed. The emotions within them cycled quickly, from shock, to sadness, and then to anger.
Anger that, after a few moments, was directed back to her.
"Why? Why did you kill Amber?" The quiet question came, even as the Grimmsbane unshouldered her massive scythe, planting it's butt into the floor. Cinder's mouth was dry, the grip on her swords aching, sweat dripping from her brow.
"It was my destiny." She croaked through dried lips. The Grimmsbane cocked her head, regarding her curiously, like a cat watching a mouse. Cinder's legs trembled.
"Destiny. I see." The Grimmsbane took a deep breath, closing those damnable eyes for a second. Cinder almost relaxed.
When they opened, terror gripped her. Silver light spilled out of them, wafting gently to the sides and forming delicate, silvery wings, even as silver tears began to streak down her cheeks. An unnatural wind billowed around her, lifting her from the ground and sending her cape out to cover the sky behind her. The scythe in her hands began to glow as well, becoming coated in silver light, elongating and enlarging the blade beyond any reasonable size of weapon.
Her thoughts fled her as wrath incarnate hovered before her, an avenging angel sent from heaven to smite the wicked.
"Cinder Fall. For crimes too numerous to count against humanity, I, Atlas Specialist Ruby Rose, Beacon Huntress student, and last bearer of the power of Grimmsbane, sentence you to death."
With nothing more than putting ink to paper, Summer Rose changed her daughter's life forever. And by changing the life of Ruby Rose, so too did the fate of all of Remnant. How? Well, perhaps we should start from the beginning, many years before the fall of Beacon...
AN: So, that was a thing. I decided to start with one of the better moments of the series, mostly because I think that showing where we're headed with the story would be more interesting than starting all the way at the beginning. I may end up jumping around in the timeline a bit like this, but at the moment, I just don't know!
Anyways, as I said before, if you liked it or not, please review! Constructive criticism is always welcome. See you in the next chapter!