Chapter One - Prologue
(21 Days after the Fall of Beacon)
Outskirts of Patch
20:30
Ruby spun Crescent Rose a couple of times, sticking the blade into the ground and aimed down the sight at a Beowolf a couple of hundred meters away. She closed one eye, looked down the scope and adjusted the angle of the scythe, turning it slightly in the ground. After final adjustments, she pulled the trigger, the dust round soaring across the sky and blew straight through the Grimm's skull, the Beowolf promptly fell to the ground and started dissipating. Ruby pulled away from the scope with a smirk.
"Still got it." She muttered to herself proudly, leaning back up and pulling the scythe out of the ground. Behind her, a crow 'cawwed' to catch her attention, Ruby turning around to see a dozen angry Beowolves growling at her for killing a member of their pack. Ruby sighed, cocking the rifle and aimed it behind her. She fired and flew forward, yelling as she reached the first Beowolf and promptly sliced it in half from the waist, the two halves falling to the ground. The rest roared in anger and charged. Ruby spun the scythe and buried it in the ground, firing six shots that pierced the skulls of six Beowolves, and pulled it out and leapt backwards when one swung it's claw at her. She spun around and decapitated the Grimm, fired the rifle behind her and dismembered another Beowolf, and separated another from head to toe. The final two charged and leapt at her, Ruby used her semblance to quickly move out of the way as the two Grimm collided, butting heads and disorienting them. SHe charged forward and quickly decapitated one, leapt up into the air and buried the scythe into the final one.
Ruby folded Crescent Rose into the compact form, attaching it to her lower back and pulled out her scroll, realising it was quite late. She turned around to the crow that 'helped' her and saluted it, and headed back home.
Xiao Long-Rose Residence
21:00
Ruby entered her house on Patch, rubbing her booted feet on the floor to remove any mud, and walked into her and Yang's bedroom, relaxing. She had been outside for several hours training with Crescent Rose, finding and killing any stray Grimm on the island. She glanced at the door when she heard knocking. "Come in!" Ruby yelled, and her father entered. "Hey Dad."
"Hey Ruby." Taiyang answered, walking in. "I got you a drink of water, I figured you'd be pretty exhausted after that training all morning." Ruby quickly grabbed it and gulped it all in a few seconds, sighing when she finished.
"Thank you! I was just about to get one myself." Ruby told her father, who chuckled a little. "So...has Yang done anything while I've been gone?"
"Unfortunately not. She's still just in bed, I think she watched while you left to make sure you were okay." Taiyang assured.
"And Epsilon?" Ruby asked hopefully.
"Still deactivated. You can see for yourself, but I'm no engineer when it comes to androids. We'll just have to wait." Taiyang told his daughter.
"It's been weeks though." Ruby muttered.
"What he's done, even if he wasn't aware of it, and had no control, can have a heavy toll on anyone, or anything for that matter." Taiyang explained. "I'll be in the other room if you need me."
"Thanks Dad." Ruby told him as he left. She sighed and got up, walking out of her and Yang's room to the guest room. She stood at the doorway for a moment, looking at her pale and weak sister, and her 'brother' sitting at the foot of Yang's bed, eyes closed and slightly bent over. "Yang?" Ruby called to her sister, who didn't acknowledge her. "I'm just going to check on Epsilon, okay?"
"Why?" Yang asked, still looking out the window.
"B-because he's not woken up yet." Ruby told Yang.
"I heard Dad, he's asleep because he doesn't want to wake up yet." Yang told Ruby, turning to her. "Neither of us know what he really did that night, but it must have been bad."
"I-I just want to make sure." Ruby said, entering the room.
"Be careful." Yang told Ruby, watching her as Ruby approached him. Ruby shook his shoulder lightly.
"Epsilon? Can you hear me?" Ruby asked, shaking his arm a little more. "Epsilon, please wake up." Nothing happened.
"Epsilon, wake up." Yang ordered, knowing she was in charge of Epsilon, and having a little slither of hope he would awaken. "Epsilon, wake up!" Wake up!"
"Yang, it's not going to work." Ruby said sadly, knowing that further attempts wouldn't work. "It was worth a try."
"Hmm." Yang murmured, looking out the window again. Ruby got up and left, standing a the doorway and turned to Yang.
"I love you, Yang." Ruby said again, doing again after every time she left. As with every other time, Yang didn't please respond. With a sad sigh, Ruby exited and entered her own room.
"...Please, Epsilon. We miss you. I miss you." Yang whispered, looking at him, but to no avail. She sighed sadly and looked out the window again.
...
...
...
Epsilon's hand twitched.
23:59
"HELLO RUBY ROSE. IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU."...
...
"HELLO YANG XIAO LONG. MY NAME IS EPSILON."...
...
"I'M... LEADING THE MISSION? THAT'S PRETTY COOL."...
...
"...I TRUST YOU THE MOST..."...
...
"I HAD A NIGHTMARE."...
...
"IF ONLY I WAS HUMAN."...
...
"I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN LET YOU GET HIM."...
...
"YOU... CONSIDER ME A FRIEND?"...
...
"PENNY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I PROMISE ONE DAY I'LL REPAY YOU FOR THIS."...
...
"I... I feel alive."...
...
"Maybe I can be a little brother."...
...
"I'm Epsilon Xiao Long, Yang's brother and the first official-unofficial-official member of Team RWBY."...
...
"It's just a nightmare..."...
...
"No, it's not a dream, its a prophesy."...
...
"I can't cry, Yang."...
...
"Penny, you're my best friend."...
...
"Better luck next time."...
...
"312, that's my count."...
...
"About to be 314."...
...
"No!" Epsilon shot up, breathing heavily, even though he didn't need to breath, fear plaguing his mind. After several moments of recomposing himself, Epsilon slowly looked around the room that he didn't recognise. The walls were bare wood brown, with a door to the far left. To the left of the wall he was leaning against, he saw the window and the darkness outside. Clearly it was late. What caught his attention was his sister, lying asleep and snoring lightly, apparently not awoken by his previous outburst.
When Epsilon moved to get off the bed, he froze. Penny. He remembered. The only other AI in existence, besides himself and his brother, was destroyed. She meant the world to Epsilon, she meant more to him than his creator or his master. And she was dead. By Pyrrha's hand. Maybe it was an accident, but there was no way Pyrrha could have known Penny was an android too, could she? That is the last thing he remembered, reaching the Amity Colosseum and holding Penny's dismembered and deactivated body, overwhelmed by negative emotions, but unable to let loose a tear. He shook his head, pushing those thoughts back. He needed to know what happened after Penny died.
Epsilon slowly and carefully leapt off the edge of the bed and walked over to Yang, a small smile on his face, happy to see her again after so long. But when he got a closer look, his smile disappeared and instead turned into a horrified expression. He had no idea what happened to Yang or the rest of anyone at Beacon the night it fell, so to see Yang, his strong and powerful sister, with a missing right arm and a pained expression as she slept scared Epsilon more than anything he had seen before. Carefully, he reached down and moved a bit of hair covering her face, and saw how bad she looked. Not physically damaged, but mentally damage that he could see in her face. Clearly she had taken a huge blow on the night Beacon fell, and Epsilon couldn't even imagine what it was.
He turned away, covering his mouth as he trembled in fear. It was like he was in a nightmare, the person he cared most about broken and beaten to this, and the rest? He had no idea. They could be dead. He quickly shook his head. He couldn't think like that, he had to have hope that Ruby, Weiss, Blake, JNPR, SSSN, Ozpin and the rest were all alive and well. Epsilon sighed, walking over and leaning his forehead on the door frame.
What the hell happened at Beacon?
"Epsilon..." He turned to Yang, who was whimpering slightly in her sleep, whispering his name. "Epsilon...help..."
"Shh." Epsilon whispered, holding onto her head lightly, stroking the hair. "It's okay, I'm back. Yang, I'm going to fix this, I promise." As if she had heard him, Yang calmed down and stayed in a more peaceful state. Epsilon removed his hand from her head and opened her bedroom door, sparing one last glance, and exited. He reached the front door and walked outside, closing the door behind him and looked up at the cracked moon.
All he could think about is what he didn't know. What happened to Yang? What happened to Beacon? Did Vale survive? What happened to his brother? What happened to Ruby? Weiss? Blake? JNPR? SSSN? Ozpin?
Cinder?
He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes. He's been deactivated for several weeks, thinking about his very brief life and how it's changed so drastically in a matter of months. Now, he had to figure out what happened, who did it, and why they did it.
It was time to Hunt the Truth.
End of Chapter One
So, the start of my new story, a different story to my previous ones. But firstly, some things to take into account.
1) This story is a sequel, specifically to "Almost One of a Kind", and also "A Special Semblance". However, I will try to make this as easy as possible to read without reading them, but I recommend you do.
2) This story will cover the events of RWBY Volume 1, 2, 3 and the trailers, with Epsilon returning to significant locations to try and figure out what has happened.
3) The story is OC centred, but Yang and Ruby will still be important to the plot. Taiyang will appear more too, and maybe Qrow, but not the rest of RWBY or any others.
That about covers it, if you liked what you read, leave a review and make sure to follow and favourite, and keep an eye out for the next chapter!