Timeline: Begins at the divergence from the RWBY cannon. The death of one man can change the course of history. This is just the setup of the conflict; there will be nothing but action come next chapter.
"War does not determine who is right - only who is left"- Bertrand Russell
Day 0: Bismarck and Amelia Schnee are assassinated in their Summer home; daughters Winter and Weiss are spared for unknown reasons.
Day 2: Winter is declared the rightful heir to the Schnee Dust Company (SDC) despite her earlier renunciation of said inheritance and joining of the military. Behind closed doors deals are made between the extended Schnee line and the Atlas military; they give up Winter without incident and they get Weiss.
Day 7: The White Fang fracture into two groups; Adam Tartarus leads the original organization while Blake Belladonna becomes the de-facto leader of the splinter cell who call themselves the FBT or 'Faunus for a Better Tomorrow'. In a public display of goodwill Blake releases all she knows of the White Fang's crimes and privately makes alliances with the SDC and Atlesian military. In exchange for protection of their peaceful protests Blake will give up all strategic and tactical knowledge of the White Fang.
Day 9: FBT activists protest faunus rights worldwide; Atlesian mechanized infantry guard every group.
Day 14: Winter, in conjunction with FBT leaders, begins the reworking of the SDC's racist policies and works towards internal equality. She also pulls financial support from anti-faunus lobbyists in government worldwide. Weiss protests much to the elder sister's dismay; the younger Schnee is dismissed and begins her grooming for the military.
Day 32: Blake silently steps down from FBT leadership and vanishes into the night.
Day 50: Raven finds and rescues Summer Rose from her long term hunting assignment; Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose begin their huntress training under the supervision of two of Remnant's best at Beacon. Beacon accepts transfer students ahead of schedule and increases faunus attendance. The Huntsmen community grows in both comradery and strength.
Year One: Internal equality within the SDC is achieved with all racist elements removed. Atlesian society begins to become the ideal to strive for in terms of a fair and equal society. The earnings gap between humans and faunus continues to plummet and an economic boom worldwide in response to faunus actively participating in the economy further drives down prejudice. Weiss is placed under General Ironwood for mentorship and Winter further consolidates her position in family and Atlesian politics.
Beacon and her sister school Signal begin forming the Huntsmen Coalition in secret; Mistral hunter schools join immediately while the Atlas and Vacuo schools do not respond. Cinder Fall infiltrates the Vacuo Huntsmen academies with sleeper agents and fails to do so in Atlas.
Year Two: The SDC has grown exponentially under Winter's leadership and is now, without question, one of the most powerful institutions on the planet rivaling even the Kingdom's themselves in power. Weiss has flourished under Ironwood's mentorship and proves to be made for military life. The family bond between the SDC and Atlesian military leadership does not go left unnoticed; the council in Atlas try's and fails to remove Weiss from the military hierarchy. The combined political clout of Ironwood and Winter is already too much; Atlas is now silently run by the whims of the SDC and military.
Cinder's sleeper agents rapidly climb the Vacuo ranks due to their superior training and prior knowledge; relations between Atlas and the Huntsmen Coalition (HC) break down once Ironwood discovers the covert attempts by Ozpin to undermine Atlesian authority. Vale quietly begins to tighten their leash on Ozpin in order to preserve both face and favor with Atlas. The HC, in response, refuses to accept Grimm elimination missions. Vacuo isolates itself further from international politics when it's huntsmen schools refuse to take a side, commenting only that they would continue doing their allotted amount of missions, no more no less.
Atlas offers both full traditional military support and Huntsmen to fill the gap left by the HC refusal to work. Working in tandem with Ironwood and Weiss, Winter pledges full SDC support to the Atlesian military and financial aid to those unable to afford hiring protection then subsequently embargo all organizations affiliated with the Huntsmen Coalition.
Summer and Raven quietly enroll their daughters' into the Atlas' School for Huntsmen. When asked their comments were only "We support the killing of Grimm. That's it."; the Arc family pledges its allegiance to Ozpin, saying that Huntsmen will only be able to do their jobs so long as they stand as one. National origin and bureaucracy should play second wheel to the hunting of Grimm; the Heroes' of Vale give a rousing public speech and doused any flame of discontent at the international pressure. Vale gives full reign to Ozpin and Mistral holds its ground with Vale's full backing; the Huntsmen Coalition releases its ban on hunting in Vale and Mistral territory. Jaune Arc, an untrained and mostly inept boy with a tremendous amount of potential is teamed up with Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren with the Mistral champion being declared leader; JNPR is thus formed.
Year Three: The Rose and Xiao Long family are torn apart as international politics heats up; Qrow insists that Ozpin only has humanity's best interest at heart, and that siding with anyone, especially Atlas, is playing into enemy hands. Summer, in a moment of weakness, is almost swayed by his vehemence when Raven intercedes; to this day no one knows what is said, but Summer and Qrow speak little afterwards. Taiyang Long stays neutral in the affair, but moves to Atlas with his wife and two children; Summer becomes a tenured teacher at Atlas Academy. It is rumored Taiyang and Raven's marriage is one of convenience and not love.
Team JNPR makes its first debut and shocks the world with its power; with Nikos in charge Jaune becomes a powerhouse of unrefined aura and becomes the unit's shield while the rest all focus on tearing their opponents to shreds. The Arc's semblance is revealed to be the ability to chain his aura to others and use it to protect them from attacks; he is the ultimate shield. On international television JNPR take down three Deathstalkers and two Nevermore with ease; the show of power is left unanswered by Atlas outside of a higher concentration of Airships being deployed worldwide to combat Grimm in the wake of the Huntsmen Coalition abandoning its duty.
Vale, Mistral, and the HC secretly begin integrating the Huntsmen into standard military. As expected, Huntsmen become the military leadership due to their superior combat ability and leadership training. JNPR is slotted to be given an entire regiment to command.
Vacuo becomes increasingly silent and self-reliant. SDC influence is non-existent and immigration has trickled to a halt. In an effort to regain what was lost in Vacuo the SDC and Atlas accelerate the 'Sapling' project; by the end of the year reclamation actions against the Grimm have begun. Rumors of a multi-billion lein project known as 'Penny' surface for a time but go eerily silent in under a month. The rumor is forgotten in two.
Year Four: Team RWBY is formed in response to Team JNPR stealing the hearts and wallets of countless civilians; the protégée Ruby Rose is declared leader over the already experienced and arguably more skilled Weiss Schnee. Officially, the reason is due to Weiss already serving in the standard military hierarchy and allowing her to command traditional and huntsmen forces is simply a line Atlas military is not willing to cross. Unofficially, it was determined that while Weiss' disciplined focus and no nonsense attitude is perfect for leading standard military is would not keep the different personalities of RWBY solidified and cement bonds of comradery.
Blake Belladonna's sudden debut in Atlas causes more than a few faunus in Mistral and Vale to rethink their loyalties with many outright defecting en-mass. To make matters worse for the HC, Team CFVY is unleashed upon the stage of PR with very real disdain for using their ability to protect the innocent as a political battering ram. Everyone knows that while Atlas has covered extraordinarily well for the sudden absence of Huntsmen there has been an increase in civilian casualties. At every turn the Schnee controlled media do their best to ensure Ozpin is blamed for this needless loss of life.
Vacuo has become a black hole. None leave and those that escaped before it going dark describe it as an autocratic dystopia with unimaginable technology; any agent from either faction that goes in never comes out.
At the end of the year team RWBY is revealed. Experts on both sides begin sizing up the iconic teams to see who would win in an all-out battle. Opinion is split with neither team have any clear advantage.
Diplomatic and military tensions continue to rise as incidents of civilian massacre take place across the three Kingdoms. Each side blames the other and no clear ties are found; the remnants of the White Fang have all but vanished into the night.
Year Five-Present Day: Terror attacks continue to increase, fanning the embers of war into a raging fire destined to turn the world to ash. Ozpin and Ironwood organize a conference to be overseen by Winter and Weiss on neutral territory; the Vytal Tournament. Vacuo, as expected, does not intend to show for the affair and any attempts to contact its leaders are without success. The tournament is still scheduled.
Atlas' recolonization efforts are beginning to pay off; previously unknown or unreachable dust deposits are being unearthed along with other essential natural resources. Re-population programs move from their testing phases and faunus flock to the new frontier in an effort to build something Remnant hasn't seen in centuries; a Faunus centric civilization and culture. As a result, the Huntsmen Coalition continues to lose favor despite their own clearing efforts in Vale; from some reason the Grimm by Vale and Mistral are much more organized than previously thought and reclamation is slow at best. Faunus flock to Atlas and further weaken the already considerably weaker Vale-Mistral alliance block.
Months pass and international tension is at an all-time high once the Vytal Tournament commences. Support for one side or another is reflected in the seating and an event intended to unite is used to further divide humanity down political lines.
The meeting time for Ironwood and Ozpin comes and passes without so much as a sound from the elusive headmaster. Without warning an explosion shakes the floating arena to its core and the advanced dust control mechanisms keeping the stadium in the sky are incinerated in the blink of an eye. Three of Atlas' most critical leadership and well over one-hundred thousand civilians are sent plummeting towards Remnant's surface. Efforts from teams RWBY and JNPR save Winter, Ironwood, and 57,257 of the civilians; everyone else aboard the station dies.
Evidence of Beacon involvement arrives shortly after to Ironwood's desk; despite Ruby Rose attempting to soothe the tempers of Weiss and Ironwood the three man ruling class of Atlas decides that a declaration of war is the only viable retaliation to such a brazen and horrific attack.
When Ozpin is finally found, beaten and bruised but still fighting Grimm in the Emerald forest, it is far too late to call foul play. The Atlesian Navy is en-route to Mistral's capital city Acropolis and it has the full support of the Atlas Huntsmen schools; prominent figure Summer Rose calls for a 'disciplinary strike' against her former mentor despite her previous stance of neutrality. When pressed on the reason for her attitude change Summer remarked 'Some crimes go beyond the need for restraint and understanding. This heinous act is one of them.'
When the Airship feet arrives at Acropolis it finds a fortress with Ozpin leading a smaller but far from insignificant fleet. Ironwood demands Mistral abandon its ally Atlas and instead help in putting down the mad man Ozpin has become; any attempts to calm the General ends in failure with not even his former wife Glynda Goodwitch being able to soothe his fury.
An ultimatum is issued by the Atlesian government; Mistral and Vale have two days to hand over Ozpin or war will be declared for harboring an international criminal and terrorist.
Present Day
Fifteen Minutes and twenty-five seconds before Operation 'Just Reparations' commences
Team RWBY
"You're positive you can lead this mission?"
Weiss' crisp, cool voice pierced the silence of RWBY's quarters.
"Because if you can't, you only have five more minutes to speak up."
The previous heiress assumed her classic defensive position; arms crossed and weight leaning primarily on a single leg with a skeptical eyebrow raised. Ruby, the team's leader, sat on her bed with her head in her hands. While Weiss would admit Ruby now looked and acted the part of a leader, her outlook on life was still far too childish.
Blake shifted uncomfortably in the corner while glowing sapphire eyes watched the exchange closely; Ruby was old enough to defend her own ideals, but Yang would not hesitate to bring a verbal beat down on the Schnee if needed.
Inside her own head Ruby fought with her own convictions and of those whom she admired; from Weiss to her own mother everyone was supporting this war whole-heartedly. The huntress herself didn't think it was just; to punish an entire nation due to poor leadership? The concept seemed inherently unfair.
Yet her role-models succumbed to the all-encompassing war fever. Weiss and Blake were the first to voice their opinion on Atlas' actions followed swiftly by Raven and from there the floodgates opened; Velvet, Summer, Winter, Coco, Fox and eventually even her own sister, Yang, told her that this was the only way.
Ironwood was demanding she use skills she learned her whole life developing to protect people instead be used to kill them all for politics and differing ideals; why did none see the Grimm as the all-encompassing threat they were? Why did no one look to Vacuo who is silent as a graveyard?
Why was Atlas threatening to kill its only remaining human allies?
None of it made any sense; even with Ozpins alleged actions wouldn't declaring open war only increase the death count dramatically? Was diplomacy truly that far gone? Could they not all just live in peace?
"Three minutes."
Ruby looked out from her bangs and ran a hand through her mid-back length hair; before her stood her team, her best friends, her family. They were going to be dropped into a warzone and willingly fight, kill even, in order to do what they thought was right.
What kind of person would she be if she abandoned them now?
An image of Yang coming home without an arm flashed through her mind.
I can't abandon them now. Not after everything we've been through.
Ruby stood to her full height of 5' 11", easily overshadowing Weiss, and brought Crescent Rose up to her shoulder. Silver met Ice Blue, and Weiss slowly eased down from her confrontational stance. Staring into those iconic orbs of silver told the Schnee everything she needed to know; Ruby was ready.
The team of huntresses filed out after that, ready to do what was needed of them to win this war, no matter the cost.
On January 15 of the year 1987 of the Remnant calendar at 23:50 hours, an audio broadcast was sent to the entirety of the Atlesian military.
"Men and women of Atlas, the time of operation 'Just Reparations' is almost upon us, and now more than ever we must stand together and fight for what is right. To those who doubt the sincerity of our cause, think of those who have lost their children to Beacon's terror attacks. Think of the widow, the broken and crippled father; think of those who lay comatose in hospital beds due to these acts of absolute barbarism! No, this cause is just, it is those who harbor terrorists who are in the wrong."
The speaker paused momentarily.
"The coming days, weeks, and months will be trying; this fight will not be easily won, and victory is far from ensure, but if we stand united, not as humans or faunus, not as huntsmen and soldiers, but instead as a single people we will overcome this hardship."
Another timed, purposeful break.
"Now, men and women of Atlas, man your battle stations and steel your wills, for the battle ahead will be neither short or sweet. May Gods bless you all."
On January 16 at 00:01 hours, the first Atlesian shell of what would later be known as the Atlas-Mistral Punitive War was fired upon Acropolis. It was subsequently followed by the roaring thunder of hundreds of guns opening up and the overwhelming sound of aircraft soaring through the sky towards their drop zones.
Thus, war came to Remnant, all due to the death of a single man.
In the vacuum of space, light-years and light-years away, another war among the stars continues to rage. The fifth year of The Great War passes on Remnant with a bang.
AN: Reviews, especially critical ones, are welcome and appreciated. Telling me what you like doesn't hurt either. c;
Till next time.