A Very Sad Prologue

Long ago, there was a war. A war between the four kingdoms and a nation that's known as Anatolia. This was home to a group of humans who rebelled against the law of the four kingdoms by making the ultimate weapon. A non-dust powered weapon known as the Armored Core.

This weapon was designed to dominate the battlefield and use different types of fuel source other than Dust. However, this made them more expensive to be built and upkeep.

But by the time of the creation of the fourth generation Armored Core, two of Anatolia's companies found something. It was a man-made energy source known as Kojima, a highly radioactive particle that could be used for both as a fuel source and weapon technology.

This outraged Atlas, forcing them to conduct raids on Anatolian controlled companies and research bases across Remnant. They, however, didn't step foot in Anatolia, afraid of war being sparked between the two. This didn't stop Anatolia from being upset towards Atlas from raiding their complexes.

But what set the small country off, was Atlas's raid on Anatolia's embassy building in Mantle. They took everyone in the building as prisoners, saying that they were involved with multiple White Fang attacks. However, Anatolia thought otherwise, saying that it was Atlas's attempted to find the schematics of the Armored Core. They also said to get their hands on Kojima Technology, but Atlas said false otherwise.

This sent rage through the people of Anatolia and many groups decide to take action. They were the large companies of Rosenthal, Omer Science Technology, Rayleonard, BFF, Akvavit, and GA. These companies sent their best pilots and soldiers to areas of Remnant with a dense amount of Atlas soldiers.

This sent Atlas crashing down into nothing more than ruins, but this didn't stop the companies. They then attacked Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo, making them nothing but ashes.

However, in ashes and ruins, the kingdoms fought back with their own weapon. Hunters and huntress.

With both numbers and their semblances, the hunters were equal to the 40 Lynxs, or the pilots of the ACs. This was sent into a long and bloody war between the two factions, lasting for almost ten years. It was until the four kingdoms emerge victorious when Atlas dropped a powerful Dust bomb across Anatolia.

Both the particles of Kojima and Dust formed a highly radioactive material that turned Anatolia into a barren wasteland. Very few things survived the massive explosion, one being Gryphon, the Independent City. However, the capital known as the Peace City was nothing more than a desert now.

Everything of Anatolia's was gone... Except for a handful of ACs and NORMALs. However, they didn't haven any pilots, government, or even companies left to rebuild. Only remnants of the old companies.

"Don't you dare step out of this house!" Taiyang, an ex-huntsman and veteran of the Lynx War yelled. The huntsman was currently yelling at a black haired teenager.

The teenager, around seventeen years of age, was currently walking out of the front door of the house. In his hands was red duffle bag that was slung over his right shoulder.

"Slate Rose! Are you even listening to me?!" Taiyang yelled as he followed his son outside. Slate then stopped walking before turning around to face his father.

"What does it look like?!" Slate snapped back at his father. "Why do you even care what happens to me? I'm a lost cause. I can never be a hunter because of my defect! Atlas won't take me into the military! Hell, I can't even keep a job!"

"That doesn't mean you join a goddamn mercenary group! Especially one that was part of the war!"

"What, the same war that wasn't Atlas's fault? That one, dear father?" Slate asked as the two stared daggers at each other.

"Not what I meant, Sla-" Taiyang was then cut off by his son.

"Just shut up. Just shut the fuck up!" Slate began to yell again. "You always said to make something out of ourselves! But when one of us wants to become something much more, you shoot it down! For once, I'm choosing what I want to do with my life! And I decided to be a goddamn, fucking mercenary!"

"Is that what you want to do then?" Taiyang asked his son, a bit calmer than before. "Waste your entire life as a mercenary?"

"Yes." Was the only thing Slate said, before turning his back to his father once more. He then took a few more steps forward, before hearing someone else's voice call out towards him.

"Slate!" A small girl called out, as she burst into a fury pedals, as she made her way towards Slate.

It was Slate's youngest sister, Ruby Rose. She used her semblance to grab hold of Slate's leg and began to cry into it.

"Please don't go!" The young girl began to cry into her brother's right leg. "Please! Please! Please, don't leave me like mom did to us!"

'Son of a bi-' Slate began to complain in his head, before moving Ruby away from his leg. When the girl moved away from his leg safety, he kneeled right in front of her.

"Ruby, I'm not leaving permanently. I'm going to come back soon." Slate said to his younger sister.

"Your lying, Slate!" She cried some more. "And you promise to never lie to me!" Slate couldn't handle it anymore and wrapped his arms around Ruby.

"Ruby, I'm not lying." Slate lied through his teeth, holding her tight in his arms. "But I'm going to be gone for a long time, but I promise that I will come back. Maybe before you know it too. Okay?"

"No!" Ruby shouted, gripping her brother's neck tighter some more. "I want you to stay here with me, Yang, and dad!"

"Ruby, that's not going to happen." Slate said, with disappointment in his voice. He then moved her to make eye contact with him. "How about this? I will come back to see you when you graduate Beacon. How about that? Do we have a deal?"

"Do you really think I can make it to Beacon?" Ruby asked, with a sniff at the end of her question. "You think I can be a huntress like mom?"

"Ruby, of course, you can. You have everything that mom used to have." Slate said as he started to see much of his mother in Ruby. "Trust me, Rubes. You will be the best huntress ever." Slate then grabbed hold of her head and kissed her on the forehead. "Take care of Zwei for me."

Slate then stood up and walked off towards town.

After that day, Slate's once family never saw him again. He left the island and travelled to Gryphon. Once he arrived, he was branded a traitor by the four kingdoms. This was common punishment done to those who decide to live in Anatolia rather than the four kingdoms.

From there, Slate changed everything about him. First was his name, now going by the name of Slyce. It was then his style, changing his hair color from black to a snowy white colored.

Once he changed his entire life, Slate or now Slyce went out and looked for work. This, however, didn't take long for the young adult for the work came to him.

They went by the name of Anatolian Free Army, or AFA, a group of rebels, ex-soldiers, and mercenaries who fight for Anatolia's freedom against both the Grimm and the four kingdoms.

They offered him a job, which he accepted. They then gave him a fourth generation Armored Core that was called Slayer.

That was over ten years ago when Ruby was around six years of age. Now, both Yang and Taiyang thought he was dead. However, Ruby was the only one to believe that he was still alive and that one day will come home.

And maybe... Just maybe, she could have her mother's only son back home with her.

So, there you go. A sad starting to a probably a sad story. I hope you guys will follow or favourite this story and/or myself as well. If you would like to suggest ideas of any kind, please leave it in the review section or PM me.

Other than that, I have a good day and/or night.

This NEXTWarrior signing off.