Welcome all to my version of a post RWBY: Volume 3 Story! This will attempt to remain OC free for as long as possible. My goal with this is to give my ideas of what Volume 4 and beyond could be/have been like. It is intended to be as close to what the actual future of the show could be told through the hands of a person who is a sucker for romance and very dark, painful situations. I'll admit, it will probably be a bit more Romance based than the actual show, but hey, I'm a sucker for that stuff. The ships I have lined up are Renora and Bumblebee. I honestly have no idea what will happen with Ruby, Jaune, or anyone else at this point, but I am guessing other ships will happen at some point.
It will still mostly focus on the story and what Team RNJR, the rest of Team RWBY, Cinder, Mercury, Emerald, Adam, Salem are up to. Of course, the Beacon teachers, Qrow, and others like Teams SSSN and CFVY will be included. I will say this right now- Pyrrha is NOT coming back to life in this story, though she may make appearances in other ways. Penny is also not coming back. This story WILL get dark, romancy, and fluffy as well. Of course all comments, criticisms, questions, etc are all welcome! Enough yammering. Enjoy!
Chapter 1:
The leaves of Forever Fall were covered with snow. Their crunch was completely muffled by the thick layer of powdery white cloud that sat like a soft, comforting blanket that the world so desperately needed. The air was cold, however and the four young huntsmen and huntresses in training were beginning to feel the ill effects of the weather as they trudged through the seemingly endless forest. They had barely spoken for the past few days. It seemed better that way. It had been only a couple of weeks since they began their perilous quest from Patch to Haven.
The wounds that their hearts and minds had suffered were still quite fresh. The months that had passed had only allowed them to fester and become gangrenous, feasting on their souls. None of them felt like themselves anymore, but that was probably because none of them were quite the same people they had been before the Battle of Beacon had occurred. Most would not have been able to bear the burdens that were forced upon them and indeed many of their closest friends and teammates did not. Some had fled in fear, others chose passivity, and still others had become bitter and depressed.
These four, however, had chosen to take action. They knew no other way. They were all well aware that wallowing in their sorrows would only cause them more harm and it would certainly solve none of the deadly threats that were beginning to cover Remnant. It would not bring justice to those who deserved it. Only action would.
The initial journey across Patch was quite easy, but the trip to Vale in Taiyang's old boat had been perilous and the walk through the forest had only gotten colder and more depressing as it went on. It did not help that they had already gone through more of their food supply than they should have and they were annoyed that their unsolicited help was doing nothing to actually assist them.
"He's still there, isn't he?" Asked Jaune Arc bitterly. The tall, blonde haired boy was leading the group at this point due to his superior combination of height and strength compared to the rest of the group. The strain of trudging through 4 feet of snow for mile after mile was beginning to show and Jaune feared he would have to return point duty to Ren or Nora again shortly. As he looked back, however, he noticed that neither of them appeared to be up to the task at this point. Nora, however, did at least have the strength to answer her teammate.
"Yeah, he's there." She replied, looking over her left shoulder. He's not very stealthy, is he?" The short, but horrendously powerful red head was struggling through the snow, despite her strength. The cold was beginning to get to her more than any of the others. Her sleeveless dress and relatively short skirt were far too cold for this sort of weather, especially while exerting herself so much.
"Changing into a human to take a drink was not smart if he was attempting to go unnoticed" added Lie Ren categorically. The slim, black haired boy was stumbling forward as steadily as his poor endurance would allow. He had actually been at the back of the group for a fair portion of their journey, though he had taken point duty at times in an attempt to prevent their youngest member from having to endure that strain.
Ruby Rose took another glance back at her uncle's bird form before looking forward again. This journey had been most difficult on her so far. At 5ft2, she was nearly as short as Nora, but had almost none of the pink-clad girl's strength. She also was more upset than anyone else about the fact that her drunk of an uncle had been following them all on the journey that he had tipped them off about, been clumsy enough to reveal himself, and then not bothered to help them through any of their perils. They had already been forced to beat off several Grimm attacks.
At the front, Jaune took a more positive approach to their stalker situation.
"I think he's more tired than drunk." He replied while pushing through the thick, cold powder. "I've seen him a few times at night. He never sleeps. I think he's trying to make sure Grimm or anything else don't try to ambush us at night."
"A fat lot of good that's doing us." Snorted Ruby angrily. Jaune decided not to answer her. He did not like the fact that the person who had proposed this perilous journey had been so discouraged so quickly. He hoped it was mostly due to her anger at her uncle, rather than at the difficulty they were facing, though he suspected that it was a combination of both.
Personally, he did not mind being followed by a master huntsman, even an inebriated one. As the least skilled fighter of the group, it felt nice to have such a capable warrior close by, even if he was doing nothing to help speed up the actual hike itself. He was hoping that Ruby's positivity would soon return, but that did not seem likely. Even Nora was decidedly reserved. While the group had successfully avoided Vale, they had not been able to miss the sight of the enormous frozen dragon on top of Beacon Tower. This, along with the massive snow storm that immediately followed had placed a thick, cold cloak of discouragement and negativity over them that had not lifted since it had started. The only bright spot was the fact that they had not had to fight off very many Grimm and that nobody other than Qrow appeared to be after them.
"It's getting late. We should probably make camp" suggested Ren, the most exhausted of the four.
"Good idea. This looks like a good spot." Said Jaune, pointing to a nice little clearing just a few feet away. He was more than happy to rest after leading the group through the snow for so long. "Ruby, could we get some wood for a fire?"
"Yeah, yeah" replied Ruby in an annoyed, tired voice. She walked over to the closest tree and cut clean through several of the branches with Crescent Rose. Jaune and Nora followed her over and brought the branches back to where they had chosen to sit while Ren started the fire with some small twigs and matches. They all sat down close to the fire and did not speak for quite some time, there were no words of thanks or encouragement to be shared.
Of course, their less-than-chipper moods were due to far more than the actual challenge of the trip they were making, which was daunting enough. It was perhaps most difficult for Ruby. Jaune still spent many nights crying over Pyrrha's death, but he was remorseful over the life and relationship that could have been rather than a deep, long-lasting bond that had already existed. At least he had something specifically driving him: revenge. The ones responsible for Pyrrha's death were going to pay for what they did and he was going to make sure of it.
It was different for Ruby. Jaune had something to fight for and most of his team with him. The hooded girl appreciated her friends' commitment to come with her- it was all she had right now, but this was not her true team. As horrible as it made her feel, Ruby often stayed awake at night thinking about how the remainder of team JNPR had it easier because their missing teammate had gone out fighting. She had given her life to protect her team and everyone in Remnant.
Her team? They had chosen not to come on this journey. They had all abandoned her, even her sister. Weiss was taken home to Atlas by her father, but she could have fought back. If she really cared about her partner and her team she would have at least put up some effort to assist them rather than run home to safety back in the giant mansion she probably lived in. By all accounts, however, she had gone willingly. So much for becoming something other than a selfish, spoiled brat.
Blake was even worse. She specifically chose to run away, leaving her teammates to suffer, leaving Yang to suffer the wounds that she had a hand in causing. Ruby probably would not have blamed her if she had stayed. She knew deep down that it was not her fault that Yang had lost her arm, but the fact that it was destroyed at least partly because of Blake who then left right after it happened without even apologizing or doing anything to comfort her former partner? That betrayal was too much for Ruby to be able to forgive at that moment.
Yang was an interesting case. Ruby had a much more difficult time blaming her sister for her decision not to come on the journey. She had been left by her partner with a missing limb and no easy way to get a mechanical replacement any time soon. Even so, she had never been so cold and distant with her younger sister before. 2 months passed with barely an interaction. No matter how sad she was, Yang was not the type of person to give up on life in such a way, Ruby thought sadly. Even in her broken state, the real Yang would be there to support her sister no matter what, especially when she needed it most…
Despite all of these depressing thoughts constantly swarming through her head, Ruby knew that she could not dwell on what was wrong with her life as she sat next to the fire attempting to stay warm against the biting evening air. She was at least grateful for the friends that had come with her on such a dangerous journey. All four of their group had been walking for hours and sitting, even in cold snow with a barely flickering campfire was a welcome respite despite the fact that it could attract unwanted people or Grimm.
They were using this time to try to formulate a route that they would take once they made their way out of Forever Fall. Their scrolls had been guiding them through the massive forest to the one road that lead in the direction that they wanted to go in. Of course, there were several problems that presented themselves with undeniable force. First off, their scrolls would only stay charged for so long. Even if they had endless energy, most of the land outside of Vale was still uncharted, especially on their scroll technology so they would have been of no help at that point anyway.
They sat discouraged in silence, racking their brains for even the smallest of solutions to their long list of problems. The march through the forest was supposed to be easy, and yet they were struggling to even successfully accomplish that. They still had to make it across the rest of the continent filled with Grimm, cross a massive sea which they had no idea how to get across, travel over another continent to a foreign kingdom attempting to discover information about an enemy they knew was far more powerful than they were.
After half an hour of silent thought, Nora finally had the courage to speak up.
"I don't think we'll be able to figure out a plan. We may just have to wing it."
"If only we had a map or something" Replied Ruby forlornly.
"Idiot!" Exclaimed Jaune angrily."We do have one! I left Oobleck's stupid history book in my bag and it's still there. I'll bet there's tons of maps and information about where we're going!" He scrambled over and to his bag and wrenched it open aggressively, pulling out a book which appeared to be untouched. Ren, who was rather interested in maps and history, took it and began skimming it in earnest. The other three quickly crowded around him, hoping he would find something useful.
Indeed he did. After skipping to the latter part of the book, he found several detailed maps of Remnant, including exactly what they were looking for- a map of the area to the north and east of Vale. Best of all, the map was part of a chapter on recent history and was dated to just two years previously. Jaune, Nora, and Ruby began to cheer loudly. Even Ren smiled, but he quickly cautioned them.
"Calm down, everyone. I still have to look this over and analyze any text that describes the area." The others sighed with annoyance, but after a short wait, he finished with a smile on his face.
"I think I can still learn more from this, but there is a road that appears to be safe to use. It has historically been free of Grimm attacks and takes us to the best port town that we could hope for. The only issue is that it is slightly out of the way to the north and we will have to use the dangerous main road for a while to arrive there safely."
"Sounds good to me!" Replied Nora excitedly. "Where's the fun without a little danger?" Her spirit had returned slightly, as had everyone else's. With even a vague outline of a plan in hand, they were able to sleep soundly that night, despite the extreme cold. The journey was beginning to look up for them, if only slightly. They were reaching the end of Forever Fall which means they would soon be clear of Vale, they had a plan in mind, and a first destination to aim for. It was time for their journey to truly begin.