Ash Snow
A young man walks down the street. His short, messy white hair is matched by his silver eyes. He wears a dark brown, knee length coat with leather on the sides of the sleeves and shoulders and blue on the insides and lining the cuffs of the sleeves over his off white turtleneck. He also wears black pants along with white sneakers with black soles. On his back was a black scabbard holding a black longsword with no crossguard. He stared upwards at the sky, crimson from the sunset. The young man continued walking, hands in his pockets, head angled slightly downwards. He removes his left hand from his pocket, taking out his scroll.
Displayed on the screen are the live footage from multiple camera's across the city of Vale. One of them is marked with an alert. The young man taps it, causing his scroll to display the footage as a hologram. He watches as Roman Torchwick and four of his henchmen head down an alley from the shadows. The young man's eyes narrow and he turns around, breaking into a sprint as he pulls up a scarf mask which was hidden in his turtleneck.
The young man finds Roman outside a shop his henchmen engaging a young girl with a scythe. The young man draws his longsword, revealing the edgeless blade with blue lining embedded into the blade near the tip and the top of the grip. The blue on the blade begin to glow and a blade's edges are formed from hard light. The young man leaps into the air, the soles of his shoes lighting up purple, signaling the use of gravity Dust. The young man then lunges at Roman, swing his blade at his back. Caught off guard, Roman is sent lurching forward. He stumbles to his feet as the young man charges in. The young man reaches into his coat and pulls out some small rounded device, he then throws it at Roman. Part of the device lights up purple before exploding and creating a purple dome. Within the dome, there is no gravity and the sudden change causes Roman to stumble. The young man runs into the circle, his shoes and even parts of his coat lighting up purple, the gravity Dust negating the effects for him. He slashes Roman, who manages to block with his cane, but the zero gravity sends him backwards until he exits the dome. Now effected by gravity, Roman falls to the ground. Roman dusts himself off as he gets up. He looks up to see the young girl, having finished with his goons, join the young man in approaching him.
"Well, Red and Blue, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," Roman says as he hears sirens in the distance, "and as much as I'd love to stick around..."
He raises his cane and a crosshairs flips up from the end.
"...I'm afraid this is where we part ways." Roman fires a flare at the two.
The young girl fires at the ground and leaps over the exploding flare as the young man rolls to the side. When they stop and turn back to Roman, he's gone, and is climbing up a ladder on a nearby building.
"You okay if I go after him?" The young girl asks the shop keeper as the young man begins to give chase.
As Roman makes it to the roof, the young man and girl land behind him.
"Hey!" The young girl shouts.
"Persistent..." Roman comments as he stops at the end of the building.
A Bullhead rises up and opens the hatch to allow Roman inside as his pursuers prepare to engage.
"End of the line." Roman declares as he turns around with a fire Dust crystal in his hand.
He throws it out at their feet and fires at them, the exploding flare triggering the fire Dust. Roman laughs as he gets on the Bullhead, stopping as he spots something. A huntress is now in front of the two, casting a purple circle of protection over them with her riding crop. As they look on, the huntress pusses up her glasses and waves her weapon, summoning several streaks of Aura at the airship. The huntress's Aura become visible around her body for a moment and she aims another blast above the Bullhead, resulting in a dark storm-cloud right over the airship. With a flick of her riding crop, large jagged hail starts falling that pummels the Bullhead.
A woman, dressed in red with glowing orange lining, from inside the Bullhead, firing a burst of flames at the huntress. The huntress blocks it, but the flame splatters behind her and glows as the woman raises her hand. The huntress uses one hand to perform a backwards handspring out of the way of the resulting explosion, which destroys part of the roof, and then she uses her Semblance to gather the shards and create a large arrow, which she throws at the craft. The woman shatters the arrow with several blasts, but it reforms. The Bullhead rotates, the arrow only grazing it as a result. The wreckage of the arrow separates and reshapes into more arrows that encircle the airship, but the woman releases a pulse of Aura that destroy the shards.
The young girl, finally taking action, reverts her scythe into its rifle form to fire at the woman. The young man reaches into his coat and draws a small silver pistol, doing the same. The woman blocks each shot and creates several blazing circles around her opponents. The huntress telekinetically pushes the young pair and rolls herself out of the explosion's radius; looking up to see the hatch close and the craft fly away.
"You're a Huntress!" The young girl states, "Can I have your autograph?!"
The young man scoffs as he lowers his mask and begins walking away.
"And where do you think you're going, Mister Snow?" The huntress asks.
Snow turns back to the huntress with an annoyed look on his face.
Snow sits in the waiting room of a police station. The young girl leaves seemingly excited before Snow is called in by the huntress.
"What do you want, Ozpin?" Snow demands as he spots a man sitting at a table.
"I come so far and I don't even get a formal greeting, Mister Snow." Ozpin comments.
"I recall dropping out." Snow replies as he sits down.
"I recall asking you to keep an open mind." Ozpin says, "We've been over this countless of times."
"You still expect me to go back to Beacon?" Snow asks, "But I officially dropped out."
"That may be true." Ozpin states, "And while you won't be able to pick up where you should be as a second year student, you will be able to restart your four years."
"You've gone through a lot of effort to get me back into your school." Snow observes, "Why?"
"You were one of the best talents Beacon has, to let you throw away your life due to one tragedy is a waste." Ozpin answers.
"You sure it's not about my eyes?" Snow asks, "Or my heritage?"
"You were doing quite a lot of winning back at Beacon." Ozpin states, ignoring the question.
"So?" Snow asks.
"So you don't learn anything when you win, Ash Snow." Ozpin explains, "Losing your entire team was hard, wasn't it?l
"Yeah." Ash answers, "It felt like they were a part of me."
"Well, you can let that one loss define you from now on," Ozpin states, "or you can learn from it."
Ash walks down the street he was when this night began. He approaches a wall and taps a button on his scroll. The wall separates and reveals a passageway. Ash enters a seemingly empty white room. Ash taps his scroll again and the wall closes, sealing the room. With a third tap, some of the floor panels lower and two racks rise. On the left are various weapons and on the right are other equipment. Ash removes his sheathed sword and puts it on the left rack. He then takes off his coat, revealing a harness where his pistol is holstered and the extra magazines and Dust grenades are stored. He places the pistol on the left, removes all the other equipment from the holster and puts them on the right. He also removes the harness and places it on the right rack.
Ash taps his scroll, dismissing the racks and calling a desk with a chair and computer at it. He sits down and connects his scroll to the computer before setting it down on the desk. A blue hologram of a woman is projected by Ash's scroll. Her hair is long and straight and she is dressed in a v-neck sweater, tight pants, and knee high boots.
"Good afternoon, Ash Snow." The A.I. speaks.
"Hello, Kismet." Ash responds.
"Would you like me to call General Ironwood for your report?" Kismet asks.
"Not yet." Ash answers, "Call Cora for me."
"Mister Snow, Miss Nilla has declined your past 92 calls." Kismet states, "Are you sure-?"
"Just do it." Ash interrupts.
Kismet's avatar disappears and the call is made. After a few seconds, the call is declined. Ash sighs.
"Call the general." He orders.
Within a few seconds, a hologram appears with General Ironwood's face in view.
"Ash Snow, what do you have to report?" He asks.
"I had an encounter with Roman Torchwick, I will include the details in my official report, that's not why I called." Ash begins, "During the encounter, Roman received backup from a woman. Her Aura was strange, it was similar to Ivory Tanner's Aura."
"You could have included that in your official report." Ironwood states.
"There's more." Ash continues, "Professor Ozpin has offered me another spot at Beacon. Since I seem to be the only one who can sense these anomalies in Aura, I believe we should take advantage of this offer to explain my continued operation in Vale."
Ironwood stops to think.
"Very well." Ironwood says, "I'll have Kismet send you orders in the morning."
Ironwood hangs up and Kismet's avatar reappears.
"Mister Snow, including you, Providence currently has four Gravity Meisters assigned to operate in Vale." Kismet states, "You are scheduled to be reassigned to Atlas. If you remain, there will only be one Gravity Meister in Atlas and Mistral."
"Who else is in Vale?" Ash asks.
"Cora Nilla, Carl Dodger, and Indigo Umbra." Kismet lists.
"Then send Cora back to Atlas, since she's so intent on avoiding me." Ash says.
"Miss Nilla is currently active on a joint operation with Miss Umbra in the outskirts of the kingdom." Kismet states.
"And Carl?" Ash asks.
"Mister Dodger is en route to Vale to be your replacement." Kismet explains, "Since you will now be active on a mission, he will have to serve as the unoccupied agent in Vale."
"And the reason why we're leaving only one Gravity Meister in Mistral?" Ash asks.
"Vale has recently become a hotspot for activity that warrants Providence's intervention." Kismet begins, "Keeping an unoccupied agent in Vale gives us a greater tactical advantage than stationing a backup agent in Atlas or Mistral. If you are to remain in Vale, it would be better for you to deny Professor Ozpin's request. Becoming a student at Beacon would leave you occupied during school hours and require us to have another agent open in case you are required during those hours. To have that available agent, two of the other kingdoms would be understaffed."
"Providence has field agents that aren't Gravity Meisters, just use them." Ash comments as he gets up from the chair and prepares for bed.
Ash stands outside the airbus, waiting to board. He is currently talking on his scroll.
"You know, I don't appreciate you leaving me in Atlas be myself." A woman says.
"You'll be fine, Laura." Ash responds, "Atlas has the least activity."
"Which is why you were supposed to be here." Laura states, "I was supposed to go to Mistral. Until we have a replacement for Vermilio Dye, we can barely afford three Gravity Meisters in one kingdom, let alone four. That's half of our current forces occupied because you wanted to go back to school."
"It's a disguise and a training opportunity." Ash justifies, "I could use the experience."
"Maybe if you were Catalina, that excuse would be justifiable." Laura declares, "But you're specialized in CQC not Grimm hunting."
"I do have silver eyes too, you know?" Ash comments.
"So are you planning on having 3 specializations?" Laura retorts, "Might as well take all of them while you're at it. Become all of Providence and handle the world's problems by yourself."
"Laura, it's not that big of a deal." Ash declares, "Beacon is a hotspot for Huntsmen and Huntsmen in training. You taught me to inspire loyalty in a few capable locals, even if they ultimately prove expendable. Beacon has way more than a few capable locals."
"Ash..." Laura calls, "You're playing a dangerous game."
"The airbus is here." Ash states, "I'll be in touch."
He hangs up without another word before stepping aboard.
Ash leans against the window of the airbus, with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed. His peace and quiet is disrupted by shouting.
"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" Ash opens his eyes, "This is the best day ever!"
He watches as a rather bodacious blonde girl crushes a the young girl from before in a hug.
He sees the young girl say something, but can't hear it.
"But I'm so proud of you!" The blonde states after releasing her sister.
Ash closes his eyes, hoping that would be the end of the conversation, at least from what was audible to him. Ash wasn't surprised to be wrong.
"It was incredible!" He hears the blonde praise, "Everyone at Beacon is going to think you're the bee's knees."
Ash closes his eyes as tries to drown himself into his subconscious for the remainder of the flight, but fails.
"I don't want to be the 'bee's knees', okay?!" He hears the young girl complain, "I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."
"What's with you?" The blonde asks, "Aren't you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited..." Ash couldn't hear the rest as the young girl lowered her voice.
The girls' and Ash' attention is drawn to the Vale News Network being playing nearby.
"The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities." Cyril reports, "If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."
"Thank you, Cyril." Lisa says, "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted..."
The news feed is cut off as a hologram of the huntress from last night replaces it.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!" Professor Goodwitch says, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
Ash groans as the students cheer when they see Beacon. He gets a moment of peace before...
"Oh, Yang, gross!" The red head exclaims, "You have puke on your shoe!"
Ash growls as the two freak out.
RWBY: Alternative has returned. It will still follow the standard RWBY story, though at a slower pace, until the end of Volume 5. The new lore for this story I have created based on common theories and other ideas for RWBY along with my own personal ideas. While I will always write in 3rd person, as it is my preferred style, the characters each chapter focuses on will shift over time. Ash may be a main character, but RWBY: Alternative is not just his story. Minor spoilers from the original follow this point.
If you read the original you'd notice that Ash's hairstyle and clothing have changed. He is no longer wearing his Providence uniform, which has also gotten a minor redesign that we'll see in Volume 2. He also uses a different fighting style. Something I always intended for Providence but implemented poorly with Ash was their arsenal. As you can see, they use many gadgets and tech beyond their custom scrolls, earpieces, and armor. Kismet now has an avatar and will be more active than before.
Ash has also not gone AWOL and is still an active member of Providence, though he is doing his own thing despite it being a tactically poor decision.
