Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any characters depicted.
This is a slight AU story. Events will not fully match up with canon.
Cover Art: Official commissioned art for this story done by the amazing Noxypep
"I think I finally understand why you drank so much Qrow."
James Ironwood sat at his desk within his personal quarters. Looking around the room, he was reminded once again of the simplicity of it all. A simple room of medium size. A single bed with pale white sheets resting directly across from his desk. It almost seemed to blend in with the dull grey concrete floor and walls. A small nightstand sat next to the bed holding nothing but a single digital alarm clock with bright red lights, letting him know that it was already late into the day. Next to the night stand was a large room lamp that acted as one of two light sources. The other was the single desk lamp right next him.
His eyes began to wander the barren walls. The lack of windows reminding him that his current residence was underground. Even after two years it made him feel like a coward to live here. He knew it was his only choice, and over time it had grown on him, yet that feeling of shame never did leave him. That old military pride still shone through at times.
He let out a sigh as he swirled the glass of brown liquid around in his hand. A dull clanging reverberated around the room as one of his metal fingers tapped it. His other hand reached up and scratched at the rough salt and pepper facial hair that covered his face.
Looking at his desk, his eyes rested upon the stack of mission reports, personnel complaints, and requisition request piled high on top of it all needing him to look through, and either sign off, on, or reject.
He was no stranger to paperwork, having been the leading general of one of the most advanced and powerful armies in all of Remnant's history, and the headmaster of a hunter academy at the same time the paperwork never seemed to end. he still hated having to do it. A mindless task that involved more skimming reports than fully reading them unless they were of dire importance. Sadly for him though, they rarely were.
Putting the glass to his lips, he downed the remaining contents. The liquid caused a satisfying burn as it passed down his throat.
Setting the glass on the table he reached down and grabbed a larger bottle, ready to pour himself another glass. A frown took to his face as he held the bottle up and noticed that there was a saddening lack of whiskey in the bottle. "Fucking perfect." Looking next to his desk he tossed the bottle into the trash, not really caring as he heard the sound of the bottle shattering as it landed.
Looking back to his desk he opened one of the lower drawers that was on the left side. He took out another bottle of whiskey while making a mental note to himself that he would need to restock on his stash soon.
Closing the drawer he opened up the bottle he poured the contents into the glass sitting on his desk. Setting the bottle down next to the large stack of files James picked up the glass in one hand taking a small sip as he grabbed the first report with his other hand.
Resistance scouting report #1: Area-Vale
James continued to drink his whiskey as his eyes skimmed the report. Noting that nothing had changed in the area. No grimm spotted anywhere within the kingdom, and Cinder's "New Order," as the women called it, still ran the show with an iron fist.
Taking a chug from his drink as he set down the report to the side, as to not mix it with the others he had yet to go through. Picking up the next one he noticed that this report had a giant coffee stain on it, probably a result of the clutz who brought it to him.
Resistance scouting Report #2: Area-Vacuo
More of the same as in Vale, no grimm activity anywhere. More reports of people who verbally opposed Cinder and her new government disappearing everyday. He felt the beginnings of a headache settle in as the Reports for Mistral and Atlas held nothing but the same information as the other two kingdoms.
Moving around the files on his desk he located the one he was actually interested in, know that at least some new information would be contained in it. Taking another sip of his drink he grabbed the report and began reading through it, paying closer attention to the report than he had the previous ones. The feeling of cold metal ran against his face as he scratched his beard.
Resistance scouting report #2: Area-Faunus lands outside of the kingdoms
He quickly looked over the contents of the file. "Initial findings show that even after five years the ruler of the Faunus lands "Adam Taurus" is still not accepting humans into his territory unless they granted permission by "Cinder Fall". Any humans caught outside of the kingdoms is taken into captivity and thrown into gruesome torture camps where they are either killed or put to work, so far we have uncovered no less than 10 different camps with at least one hundred captives each..."
"Well great. They found another 3 camps. God this just keeps getting better!" He said to himself. Throwing the folder down in frustration, papers scattering as the folder crashed into the larger pile of paperwork.
Once again raising his drink to his lips, he noticed that he was out of whiskey. Huffing in annoyance and reaching down, he grabbed the bottle of brown liquid that currently laid on the floor and poured himself another glass. Inwardly chastising himself for having another glass of alcohol.
"Yep, I truly do see why you drank so damn much." He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes in an attempt to alleviate his headache. The cool metal of his robotic hand doing a small job in helping the pain, as he went to put the bottle back down he knocked over the single picture that decorated his desk.
It fell to the floor with a clatter as the glass surrounding the photo broke, scattering across the floor of the room as the picture fell onto the floor when the frame split.
His eyes opened as he looked at the photo that laid among the shards of glass on the ground. Slowly he reached down to pick it up, and he brought it closer to his face so he could examine it.
A frown took his face as he studied the picture. It was a simple picture, one of himself standing with Ozpin, the former leader of Beacon academy. Next to them were their respective assistants. Standing besides Ozpin was Glynda Goodwitch, they were both smiling brightly at the camera. Ozpin held his signature cane and a mug of coffee, standing in the same casual confident manner he always had. Glynda had her hands held behind her back with her riding crop in hand.
Ironwood was also smiling straight at the camera, hands behind his back in a proper military at-ease position. Behind him stood his highest ranking specialist, Winter Schnee. Her stance an exact copy of his own, but her face was twisted into an angry scowl as she was looking away from the camera at the remaining person in the picture.
Qrow stood just behind Glynda. James could understand what Winter was throwing the tall man the glare for. Qrow was not even looking at the camera, he was far too busy tilting his head back and chugging what remained of his flask. The sight probably pissed Winter off to no end.
He smiled a little at the memory of that. It was hard to believe that picture was taken at the Vytal Festival tournament over ten years ago. It was almost harder to believe that out of everyone in that picture, he was the only one left alive. That fact was one of the many things that he wished he could go back and change. A small smile came to his face as he took one final look at the picture before setting it against lamp that rested in the corner of his desk.
"You guys were lucky. You don't have to be here to see just how fucked up the world has become." With a sigh he took another swing of his whiskey. Faintly becoming aware of the buzz he was feeling.
"How did it come to this?"
That question was on his mind at least once a day for the last five years. It seemed like not that long ago he was leading the Atlas military, and it's academy. He had everything he worked so hard to gain through his years as a huntsmen, he was in the best position to use his skills to help people.
Then one day it all suddenly came to an end. It was a day that he truly wish could be changed, he would give anything for at least one more opportunity. The day Vale, and Atlas had come under attack from Vacuo, and Mistral without warning. He still wasn't sure exactly how Cinder was able to pull off taking over two kingdoms without being noticed. She had used the political unrest within the two kingdoms to silently take power within them, right under his and Ozpin's noses.
He had never thought something like that was in the realm of possibility. Now that he looked back on it that is probably why Cinder's attack had been so successful. Without a plan, and being caught unaware, they had been completely overwhelmed by the Maiden powered women and her combined forces of Vacuo, and Mistral hunters. Add on to that all the white fang that helped in the invasions, and there was no chance for them.
After the attack he had done his best to gather what remaining forces they had in hopes of fighting back. Sadly there was only a few thousand people left with him, most being regular soldiers, though a few were trained and skilled hunters. He did what he could by forming them into a resistance. A group that he hoped would be able to work quietly out of the public eye to topple Cinder and her "New Order."
Yet as time dragged on it had only gotten worse for them. Years worth of intel leaks and traitors led to many missions that ended in the deaths or capturing of his troops. It had severely crippled what little resistance there was before, and constantly forced them to move their base of operations, never seeming to be able to stay in place for more than year or two. Cinder always seems to be one step ahead of them. Hopefully they would be able to change all that soon.
Taking a final sip from his whiskey he set the cup back down on the cluttered desk in front of him, and let a pained groan escape his lips. He hated to admit it, but the resistance wasn't going to be around for much longer. It was only a matter of time before Cinder found out where they were, and came for them. He knew that she would personally make sure they were gone this time.
Even if they had not had any success in stopping Cinder's take over, they did make her life a living hell. Everything from sabotaging key locations and industry within the kingdoms to assassinating certain people Cinder put into power, the Resistance had been a thorn in her side for too long. He knew she would take pleasure in helping make sure every last one of them was dead, and they couldn't stop her. Not like this. They had made too many mistakes, and there was only one way to fix that.
Looking back at the picture, James let out a hardly laugh that filled the small room as he reached down to grab the whiskey bottle yet again. "Looks like we're gonna need a miracle to come out of this on top. What do you say guys? You want to throw one our way?" He asked the picture jokingly. Leaning back into his chair, he kicked his feet up onto the table, piles of folders and loose papers getting buried under his boots, and closed his eyes and just sat there for a minute. Ironwood tried to think of anything besides his current situation.
As he was about to pour himself more liquor, a knock on his door interrupted him.
"What is it?" His voice boomed as soon as the knocking stopped. It was probably just more paperwork he would have to go through.
His door opened to reveal a young soldier, probably no more than twenty five, standing in the doorway. The young man had an air of nervousness around him as James could clearly see the boy shaking slightly, as well as the sweat that lined the younger man's face even from where he was seated. Seeing as how this was the first time James had ever seen this man, he could only assume the kid was nervous about having to meet him.
"General, sir, you have a call from R&D sir. They request your immediate presence..sir." His nervous stutter over the young soldier clicked his heels together and his arm shot up to his face, hand extended straight out touching the tip of his eyebrow in a standard military salute.
James almost laughed inwardly. Even five years after they stopped being an official military his troop still insisted on calling him general, and would offer standard military greetings to him. No matter how much he asked them to stop.
Setting the bottle back down. James took a second to think before he responded. The last thing he wanted to do right now as go talk to the heads at R&D. They never had anything new for him, and it was just another waste of his time, as well as another headache to deal with. "I am in the middle of going through these very important files right now." Lifting his feet up to gesture at the pile before setting them back down. "Tell R&D I will get to them as soon as I can." He waved the soldier off, as he finished he started going back to pouring his drink.
"Sir they wanted me to tell you that they are finished with 'it' sir, and they wanted to have a meeting with you immediately."
James's hand stopped immediately as he heard what the young soldier said. Looking at the picture on his desk once again, but now with wide eyes - a smile slowly forming on his face. "I guess sometimes asking for a miracle really can help."
"Very well, I guess i'll be on my way." Getting up he grabbed the coat, and weapon that were sitting behind him as he began walking toward the door. As he neared the door the soldier quickly hopped out of his way, never once breaking the salute offered at his entrance. James stopped in front of the door and began to put on his coat.
"At ease soldier. What is your name?" He looked at the soldier in question as he briefly. returned the young man's salute. "Um well my name is Cyan sir." Came his reply as his stance in front of James relaxed.
"Well Cyan you are dismissed, return to your quarters, and take the rest of the day off. You have earned it." The smile that made it's way to the troops face was something he rarely saw on anyone's faces these days.
"Thank you sir, I shall." With a final salute Cyan walked out of the room and ran off down the hall.
James let out a sigh as he saw the young man disappear around a corner. A smile graced his face as he pulled the door to him quarters shut and began to walk in the direction of the communications room of their little base. "Let's see what they have for me."
Well that is the prologue for my story. I have been planning this story out for awhile, and I hope that you will all enjoy the journey like I will.
Ill do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as I can. Being on spring break I have a surprisingly large amount of free time.
In the mean time leave a review and let me know what you think. I love hearing feedback from you guys, good or bad.
Till next time. :)