ARC 1 - OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
Several months after the Fall of Beacon, Team RWBY is still split up. While they are separated, four individuals who all know each other, but with very different backgrounds, join them on their journeys. One is a legendary hunter. One is a bodyguard. One is searching for his friend. One is trying to help his family heal. All four of them have one ultimate goal: save the world.
CHAPTER ONE - PROLOGUE
David slowly walked through the vast, empty forest, the harsh wind blowing against him, causing his tattered black cloak to bellow in the wind. The forces of nature tried to push the hunter back, to stop him from reaching his goal, but this wasn't the first time nature tried to stop him, and he beat it once.
He could beat it again.
David wore a black long sleeve shirt, the top two buttons undone to reveal his grey undershirt, along with navy blue jeans with a black and red belt and black boots. Attached to the back of his belt was a small piece of grey and black metal, folded into a compact form. Around his neck was a tattered black cloak, which despite it's damaged appearance, was still only new to this world. His hands were asymmetrical. His left, pale white flesh covered in small scratches from his previous battles for freedom. His right, pure black metal, a reminder of how a single person can cause such horror and pain to so many.
He still had nightmares about him.
David continued walking, the wind gradually calming and eventually coming to a mere breeze, his tattered black cloak hitting the back of his boots, barely touching the ground. The overhead moon, severely cracked, provided his only light source in the otherwise completely black forest. The sound of his own footsteps was the only thing he could hear. The twigs and branches and leaves from the towering trees crunched under his step, the soft mud leaving prints of his journey behind him, for only the brave or suicidal to follow.
David was not unknown to people.
Civilians saw him as a hero, the hunter who played a major role in the Breach of Vale, risking his life to save innocents and fellow hunters and huntresses from the horde of Grimm. The White Fang saw him as a monster, "The Bringer of Mors", ruthlessly murdering any person, White Fang or not, who got in his way. His friends saw him as David, the hunter who saved the world from a spreading infection and a doomsday device. But everybody saw him as a man in a moral grey area, not sure which side of the spectrum he was leaning towards.
David saw himself as a man, who had a mission to complete.
He reached the edge of the forest, and found himself at the edge of a vast cliff, hundreds, maybe thousands, of feet high. A large rock poked out of the side, and David found his vantage point. He walked over to the very edge of the rock, took down his hood, looking down at the village in the very far distance, the smoke and flames visible from miles away. He could hear the people screaming in fear and pain, the few surviving citizens of the village running for their lives from aged, experienced and intelligent Beowolves, their bodies larger and more monstrous, their glowing red eyes leaving an aftereffect in their movement.
He didn't have time for this.
David pulled his hood back up, turning around and walking away from the people he knew couldn't survive on their own. Living outside the kingdoms was a risk on it's own, but after what happened at Vale, with the Vytal Tournament, and with Beacon, nobody was sure who could be safe anymore. It became survival of the fittest, in both body and mind. Those who could fight Grimm with their weapons or their hands, and those who could keep their fear, their anger, their envy, all of their negative emotions in check. As David stated walking back into the forest, his scroll beeped. He pulled it out of his back pocket and opened it, picking up a signal. He saw who was on the other end of the signal.
She was here.
David looked overhead at the Nevermore's approaching the burning village, sensing the negativity from the village. David pocketed his scroll and grabbed his weapon from the back of his belt, which quickly expanded into a large mechanical scythe, not too different from his fathers and his cousins. It was a HCLMG (High Calibre Light Machine Gun), coloured primarily black with metallic grey detail. It's name was Storm Qrow. David held the scythe in his hands and sprinted along the rock, and leapt off the cliff.
David disappeared, leaving nothing but a trail of crow feathers.
David teleported and landed on the top of one of the Nevermore's flying towards the village, fast approaching. He crawled up the Grimm's back and looked over it's left shoulder, and waited. The village quickly became clearer, brighter, and hotter. It was time. David wrapped the scythe around the Nevermore's neck, and in one swift swing, decapitated the Grimm, which started falling to the ground, a trail of black smoke in it's wake. David leapt off the headless body, held out his right hand and grabbed onto the side of the clock tower, his hand burying into the rock as it slowed his decent. He kicked off the wall and landed on the floor, tucking and rolling, and landing on his feet. He pulled back his hood, showing his messy light brown hair, blue-ish green eyes, his small scar underneath his right eye, and his slight stubble. He focused on all his negativity, and all the surrounding Beowolves stopped chasing civilians and focused solely on him. The Beowolves started surrounding him, ensuring that he would have no escape.
David looked at each one of them, figuring out which one would make the first move.
One of them roared and charged at him, but instead only got a face-full of crow feathers, confusing the Grimm. David reappeared outside the circle and jammed Storm Qrow into the ground, pulling the trigger. In a matter of seconds, the first Grimm was ripped apart by the machine gun fire, attracting the attention of the remaining dozen or so. They roared and charged. David turned the scythe and fired at another. And another. And another. They reached him and one swung at David, which he avoided, causing the Grimm to collapse behind him. Another charged, David got on and leant on the scythe, and kicked a lever at the base of the scythe, kicking the machine gun to life, ripping apart the Beowolf. The scythe recoiled and tore through the ground, flying back and impaling the Beowolf behind David with the spiked end of the handle of the scythe.
David leapt off Storm Qrow, yanking it out of the wounded Grimm, and swung it around, decapitating it. The remaining Beowolves fled, smart enough to know it was suicidal to fight the hunter. A chunk of one of the houses flew at David, who reacted and ducked out of the way, and spotted a Beowolf on one of the nearby roofs, both it's hands filled with debris from the house it was standing on. It threw two more pieces, the first one was destroyed when David swung his scythe, slicing the debris in half, and the second was punched by his metal hand, turning the debris into dust. David threw his scythe, which pierced the Beowolves chest and caused it to fall forward, falling on the ground and turning to smoke. David grabbed Storm Qrow, standing in the middle of the village centre, looking around.
Where was she?
A large boulder suddenly crashed right next to him, covering the surrounding area in dust. David narrowed his eyes, but couldn't see more than a few inches in any direction. He was blind to his surroundings.
TWAP!
A large fist slammed directly into David's chest, knocking him across the village centre and crushing the door of the clock tower, his scythe landing down the steps. David got to his feet, clenching and unclenching his metal hand, and looked down at his advisory. A large, gorilla shaped Grimm, which he knew was a Beringel, a massive gladiator of a Grimm, nearly impossible to defeat due to it's overwhelming strength and durability. David saw it's burnt left, it's face and it's shoulder, knowing it had faced hunters before, and lived.
Not this time.
David fired the machine gun at the Beringel, causing minimal damage, except pushing it back a little. It roared in anger and charged at him, taking a swipe. David teleported behind it and yelled as he swung his scythe, burying itself in it's side, piercing the skin and bone. It roared in in pain and anger, turning and swiping again, but missed. It lunged a fist and hit David in the chest, launching him to a rooftop across the village centre. David landed, folded his scythe into it's compact gun form and fired at the Beringel, and leapt to another rooftop. The Beringel ran alongside David, who fired the reminder of the clip at it. David quickly reloaded, and looked up to see the Beringel throw a Beowolf directly at David, which snarled and growled in blood lust.
David unfolded Storm Qrow and swung, dismembering the Grimm through it's stomach. The Beringel launched up into the air, and slammed it's fist down at David, but his a pile of crow feathers. David reappeared on the opposite corner of the building, raising the scythe and firing at the Grimm. It charged, and he leapt over it, firing down and keeping himself up with the recoil. He landed and spun, swinging and slicing the Beringel's back half a dozen times. It roared and slammed it's fists down, destroying the majority of the rooftop, David narrowly standing on the edge. The Beringel swung at David, three times, who deflected the attacks with his scythe, but got a punch to the face, knocking him down into the pitch black room. The Beringel roared in victory, claiming the life of another hunters, and crashed down in the centre of the village center, slamming it's fists into it's chest with a monstrous roar. It stopped.
A single crow feather flew in front of it.
David quickly descended from the sky, firing Storm Qrow behind himself to increase his velocity. A pair of Nevermore's approached, screeching as they readied to attack. David teleported onto one of their wings and sliced it clean off, and teleported again, slicing it through the waist. He kicked off the second Nevermore's body, fast approaching the ground. The Beringel roared and leapt up, reaching out to grab and kill the hunter once and for all. David fired his scythe behind him, emptying the clip, and brought his scythe down in a massive swing, tearing clean through the Beringel from head to toe. He spun one last time and landed on the ground, his scythe held in attack position. David looked around, and there were no Grimm around him. He sighed and slammed his scythe into the ground, pulling out his scroll and opening it.
On the screen were four hunters and huntresses he hadn't seen for many months. The ones he was looking for.
*Ruby! We saw smoke!*
Jaune Arc. The laughable excuse for a hunter when he first entered Beacon, now a slowly, but steadily, hunter increasing in strength and smarts. David may not have held much respect for him before, but the fact that he had survived this long, how he has grown as a hunter, he respected that.
*Heading your way.*
Lie Ren. The quiet half to the Ren-Valkyrie duo, a man who was nearly silent, but equally as deadly. David knew little about Ren, despite being one of the first people he had talked to, but from what he did know, he was glad he was still alive and breathing.
*Don't you start without us!*
Nora Valkyrie. The loud half of the Ren-Valkyrie duo, a woman with a bubbly and happy attitude, even in the most grim of situations. A petite girl with a giant hammer was something to be feared by the Grimm. David was initially annoyed by her outspoken and carefree attitude, but in this time, it's what they all needed.
*You better hurry.*
Ruby Rose. The child prodigy. The silver eyed warrior. His cousin. The girl he had been looking for. David still might see her as the 15 year old girl who managed to impress Ozpin enough to get into Beacon early, but he still always saw a true huntress and a real leader. David fought hell to find her, and now he finally has.
"Don't worry." David muttered to himself, closing his scroll and pocketing it. David loaded a new clip into Storm Qrow and yanked it out of the ground.
"I am."
David sprinted through the village, towards the approaching Grimm, to continue his mission.
Vanessa stood with her back to Weiss, looking at the shattered moon shining through the window.
Alex stood behind Blake, who was looking out at the sun on the horizon, who turned and looked at him with her amber eyes.
Epsilon stood besides Yang, putting a hand on her shoulder as she sat on the tree stump outside their house.
I've fought hordes of hundreds of Grimm and stood victorious. I've defeated a lethal virus that would have ended humanity. I've fought a Demi-God and made him powerless. I've lost things that nobody can understand. I'm a father. I'm the son of Qrow Branwen. I'm the cousin of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. I'm David Branwen, and I'm the man who's going to save the world.
Right, if your reading this, and your recognise it, it is because this is a re-uploaded of the trailer that I made a few weeks ago, which I changed into the prologue, as this is now canon.
If you don't recognise this, this story picks up after the events of RWBY Volume 3, but I have stories set during that time. However, this story will not require you to read them, so I'll try to make it as easy as possible to read.
In terms of story, it will follow the events of RWBY Volume 4 and beyond, using most of the dialogue from the show, with alterations. The four OC's in this chapter are the protagonists, but David is the main one. The four know each other quite well, and there are reasons why they are where they are, which will be explained later in the story. There will be more OC's, but will not get as much attention.
Between RWBY seasons, I will make story lines that will serve as context for the missing time. I have a couple in mind for the future, but they will overall not effect the main story, as these plot lines will have a beginning, middle and end, to continue with the next RWBY Volume.
Now, with all that, the story will continue with the 1st chapter of RWBY Volume 4, and will update a day or two after it is released for first members.
Keep an eye out for the next chapter, and remember to follow, favourite and leave a review, and thank you for reading After the Fall.