Prologue
It's been a long time hasn't it? Sincerest apologies from us because life is very full and we try to carve out what we can. Anyway, please, enjoy the story and review.
The long history of this world has been marred with terrible destruction. This planet was once a vibrant, bustling world, full of life and beauty at every turn. We thought it would last forever. Humanity had no enemy, as we had conquered nature and her forces, and annihilated the creatures of Grimm. Now that we know better, we often claim our ancestors as foolish.
Who though, could predict the Scorching? The entire world heaved mightily upon itself, crumbling our beautiful cities to dust, burying our settlements, and replacing our utopia with hell. The aptly named Remnant, our home, became just a remnant of the former glory it once bred.
The Scorching burned away over half of the planet's livable surface and turned the rest into arid wasteland that reeked with polluted waters, leaving only one quarter of the previous population still alive.
The death toll would have been higher had it not been for the lucky three percent of the population who adapted. These men and women had some genetic code, or maybe just the good fortune, that forced them to mutate and survive. We now recognize these people as Faunus. They possess the greatest traits of two different species, human and animal. Designed for survival, the Faunus possess great ability.
In the midst of turmoil and chaos, one blessing did appear from the apparent end of the world: Dust, the substance that would rebuild humanity. As the survivors scrapped and clawed their way to survival, Dust gave them hope. It gave them a fighting chance. The opportunity to live another day, and make every day better while doing it.
Because of the Dust Revolution, new settlements thrived, population began to grow, and eventually complete societies were formed. Three factions formed that dominate society. First is the Order, a militarized society ruled by the Eternal Triumvirate. Holed up in their mountain fortress capital of Karak, they boast of the strongest standing army of the three factions.
The Remnant are the largest populace wise and the only vestiges of Government left. They are ruled through a Senate and Prime Minister sharing power, both of whom are located within their capital, The Falls, a remarkable floating city at the base of a waterfall.
The third faction that rose to prominence is the Nomads. Renowned merchants residing in the more habitable desert areas thanks to their moving capital, Khazayin, they are the richest faction on Remnant and are willing to allow anyone into their ranks who can turn a profit, be it Faunus or human.
Of course, smaller tribes do exist, and have lasted for generations. Most of them however, answer to laws of one of the three larger societies. One notable exception, the Anochi, are respected for their culture of survival, and are left well alone. While they would be most formidable as opponents, they are not forced to submit because will never reach great enough numbers to be a threat. Their nigh impossible initiation tests and survival conditions see to that.
Today's world continues on as it has for the past three centuries. The three factions live in peace with each other for the moment. The new generation lives as did the old. But what once was can't last as is, and will not forever be.
Chapter 1: As the Crow Flies
Despite being only thirty-seven years old, Qrow Branwen was an old man. In his line of work, you didn't tend to live very long. Heck, in any line of work you didn't tend to live very long. Most people didn't live long on this planet period. And when you work in the shadows like Qrow, living conditions aren't great. He didn't get any of the glory that the prime minister, Ozpin did. He didn't get any of the good stuff. What he got is being stuck in a run-down, piss-hole of a bar located in a remote outer village of Order territory. They didn't even serve good whiskey, but he drank it all the same.
"Oi, barkeep, hit me."
As the bartender poured him another shot, Qrow assessed the tavern from under his red cloak. Wasn't a particularly impressive place, but it was a common meeting ground for him and his contact.
After a few minutes, a man dressed much too nicely for this sort of establishment claimed the seat next to Qrow.
Qrow gave him a baleful look, "Ya wouldn't happen to have a lien on ya? Not sure I could pay for my next order."
The man gave Qrow a curt nod before replying, "Of course friend, the bill's on me."
A ghost of a smile graced Qrow's weathered face at the old code phrase. "I gotta say, you do really need to dress more appropriately for our little outings, John. One of these days someone is gonna recognize you. Betcha the Order doesn't like the great Mr. Arc fraternizing with the unknown."
John chuckled quietly before responding, "And you need to pick a more high class establishment to drink at. I swear to you that there is better booze than here."
Both men shared a quiet laugh.
"Bartender, another round," announced John.
With their drinks in hand, the two men made their way out to John's car, and said owner quickly opened the passenger side and gave Qrow a folder that formerly rested on the seat.
"What's this?"
"A special file I put together on our newest Council member. You remember Councilman Jakobs? Well this is his son, Markus. I know Ozpin just wanted a report on relations, but I felt like you should know about Markus. Even though he has the least power being the people's representative, he is still doing great things. He could be the key to finally easing tensions."
Qrow looked at his old friend gratefully, "Thank you John. I know a lot of people don't think our two factions can achieve harmony, but I'm grateful that you do."
John smiled back, "Anytime, you dusty, old crow," John glanced up and annoyance flashed across his face, "We've got unwelcome company Qrow. I'm going to take my leave. Don't make too much of a scene please."
"I promise not to blow the place up. I've grown quite fond of this little shack."
John grinned and drove away, while Qrow turned to face three clearly inebriated men. The leader held some sort of improvised shiv. Not that it mattered really.
Qrow held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Hello gentlemen, what seems to be the problem?"
The leader spoke up, "Well you see now, prrrret'ty boi, me and my freds here need som dreenk money, and it *hic* looks like ur buying!" The leader laughed after this like he'd just told off a two year old child, and his cronies laughed, egging him on.
Normally Qrow would just offer to buy everyone a round of drinks, and diffuse the situation. Heck, he might even share a bottle or two with these guys if the timing was right. Unfortunately for the men in front of him, the timing was not right, and he had a job to do.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chat boys, but I've really gotta get going. I hope you understand."
The leader didn't like that, so he drunkenly staggered towards Qrow. He pointed the shiv towards him. "Now you lithen here, you ain't leafen until I get my Money!"
When the leader reached Qrow, he swung the shiv straight into Qrow's gut. Unfortunately for the poor drunk bastard, his make shift weapon, composing of a sharpened piece of metal tied to a short stick, broke in half when it made contact with the chest plate hidden under Qrow's cloak.
After that it was too late for his drunken mind to process Qrow's fist knocking him out cold onto the bare ground.
Qrow's red eyes gave off a sharp glint as he cracked his knuckles, "Who's next?"
The two lackeys in the back looked at each other before drunkenly trying to "avenge" their fallen friend.
"Two at a time? This is almost too easy." Qrow thought to himself as he took the two men on. The one on the right reached him a little faster, and threw a wild uppercut. Qrow easily side-stepped, and stomped his knee inwards. While the man screamed in agony, Qrow turned his attention to the other man. The buffoon threw a short series of punches that Qrow deflected, before hitting him with a vicious hook to the temple, staggering him.
The first lackey, now with a broken knee, tried to stand and swing at Qrow, who redirected his fist to the side and slugged him I the jaw, before grabbing his spinning body and chucking him into his friend.
Now that the two men were generally incapacitated, Qrow hopped on his bike and keyed the ignition. As he drove away into the morning sun, he couldn't help but think, "I am such a badass!"
"So beating the living hell out of three poor drunkards qualifies you as a badass?"
Qrow rubbed the back of his head as he sighed in defeat. He respected the Prime Minister, but damn did he ever take the coolness out of things.
"Well, when you put it that way… no. But hey, it was one of the better bar fights I've been in on. This is a story I can actually share with Yang and Ruby."
The Prime Minister just gave an exasperated chuckle and took a sip of his coffee. "Fair enough. Do you at least have the report? I'm sure it must have been hard with it cramping your coolness."
Qrow pulled the folder out of the pack he kept on the back of his belt, and proceeded to slap it down coolly. "Right here Ozzie. Can I go ahead and have an advancement on my salary? I spent a lot of effort on this."
Ozpin just quirked an eyebrow at him.
Qrow raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright. I wanna do something special for Yang and Ruby since I'm gone all the time. They don't really someone to look up to around very much. Heck Ruby has practically grown up alone, besides Yang. I just want to show them I'm still here."
Ozpin finally cracked a smile and handed him a yellowed envelope. "Here. I already had it prepared. I look forward to the day those two join the Guardians. They're beacons of hope in this dreadful world."
"Thanks Oz. I can always count on you." With that, Qrow turned to leave and gave Ozpin a playful salute.
He stepped out of the city capital building into the heart of the Falls. Despite living here, the place still took his breath away. It was truly a marvel, seeing as the waterfall they lived under helped filter the water, giving people the only clean source of it for miles. Qrow had suggested many times that Ozpin make financial use of it, but Ozpin never did. Although Qrow had his reservations about the man's overly altruistic nature, he nonetheless was grateful for it. It was good for Ruby to grow up admiring a man with the same ideals she had, especially since Qrow himself was hardly present, and not always the representation of pure humanity.
He walked through the alleyways and main streets of the floating city, admiring how the scrap could be so beautiful. The city was built from materials gathered from the ruined city of Vale, on the mainland to the south. It was truly a marvel that it all worked together. Maybe he was just being objective. The people are what truly made the place marvelous.
The Remnant had the largest population of the three factions, and therefore the largest cultural diversity. However, despite having so many people, the different cultures blended near seamlessly, allowing for a broadened sense of camaraderie. When people could come together and survive and live despite differences, it made everything that much better. Besides, it was pretty sweet having a variety of bars to choose from.
Sifting through the crowd, Qrow left the market district to enter the residential areas. Him and his nieces' house was admittedly one of the better ones, a personal favor from Ozpin himself. It provided plenty of space for him, Ruby, and Yang to live together comfortably.
He stepped up to the door, but before he could even think about unlocking it, the door bust open and Qrow as tackled by a streak of red.
"OhmygoshUncleQrowyou'rebackI'msohappydoyouhaveanystoriesdidyougetmeanythingtellmetellmetellme!"
Qrow cracked a smile at the rambunctious ball of energy sitting on top him squealing like a little girl. He had forgotten how excitable she was. He mussed her hair affectionately before speaking, "Hey Rubes, glad to see you. Tell you what, you go inside and get your sister up. I've got a surprise for the two of you, and on the way I'll tell you about it."
Ruby shot up like a cannon and gave her uncle a salute that would make an army general proud. "Sir yes sir!" And in a flash she was gone.
Qrow shook his head a laughed a little bit. "I'm never gonna get used to that am I?" he mused quietly to himself.
He stepped into his house and took it in. It had been about a week this time, but it still looked the same as it did years ago. Yang's dirty clothes lay scattered about the living area, while the fridge lay near empty and the table covered in dirty dishes. Of course, his personal stash lay untouched, considering how the radio on the kitchen counter was collecting dust. He always said it never worked, but the truth was he kept his favorite brands in the inner workings. Speaking of which, he needed a new flask. He hadn't noticed at the time, but the idiot with a shiv had stabbed a hole in his old one.
He heard moaning from upstairs, along with Ruby's pouting. "Yaaaaang! Get up! Uncle Qrow's home and he's got something for us! Yaaaaaaang!"
"Just five more minutes Rubes, and I promise I'll clean the sofa…"
Qrow lost interest at that point and went over to the radio, swiftly nabbing his new flask. He took a quick swig and relished the fiery brew.
"Uncle Qrow! You promised you'd stop!"
Qrow stopped dead in his tracks, eyes wide in fear. "Shit, shitshitshitshit!" He tucked the flask into his pack, but wasn't quick enough to save the remainder of his stash as Ruby emptied out the radio and threw the rest out the kitchen window.
A piece of his soul went out that window with them.
"Now that that's settled, let's hear about your surprise Qrow!"
Qrow gave her a once over before he chuckled mournfully. She was wearing a black tank top with a long sleeve red undershirt; she had on black shorts with red stripes down the side that went to her mid-shin, before capping off her appearance with red-trimmed black shoes. "Let's wait for your sister, my little rose. I'm sure she'll like what I have to offer just as much as you."
A yawn from the stairs alerted Qrow to his older niece's awakening. "I'm up Ruby, I'm up, what did you want…" she trailed off as she noticed Qrow for the first time, before her eyes widened in recognition. In the next two seconds, he was tackled by a much heavier and stronger streak of yellow.
He groaned as she sat on top of him. "Damn it I'm gonna break a rib one of these days…"
Yang beamed as she hugged him and got up off of him. "Ahh, quit your whining Uncle Qrow. You know you love it. So, what's this surprise you were talking about?"
Qrow groaned as he got himself off the floor before replying, "Patience, Yang, patience. It's key to being a successful Guardian."
"But Qroooooow! I've been trying…"
Ruby interrupted Yang with a snort, "The only time you're ever patient is when deciding whether to wake up or not."
"No little sister, that's called procrastination," Yang replied cheekily.
Qrow smiled at the two before him. "C'mon you too, we need to get going if you want to get your surprise in time. I wouldn't want you to miss it." Qrow headed towards the door and left, leaving Yang and Ruby dumbfounded.
"Did he just…"
"I think he did Rubes."
"Well come on then slowpoke! We gotta catch him!" Ruby proceeded to grab her red cloak, which resembled Qrow's, and bolted out the door, leaving Yang standing in her pj's.
"Wait Ruby! I'm not even dressed yet!
Qrow and Ruby laughed when a panting Yang finally caught up to them, and gave them a glare full of murderous intent.
"So… what's this… surprise?"
Qrow eyed his eldest niece. She had on her mother's tan mechanic's jacket, tucked into her pants and zipped halfway to reveal an orange T-shirt, with the long sleeves rolled up to her mid forearm. Her knee high leather boots covered most of her black pants.
"You'll just have to wait and see, although with your patience it might be Xiao Long time!"
Yang groaned at Qrow's poor attempt at a pun, while Ruby just laughed even harder than she was earlier. "I ran all the way here, for that? Seriously?"
Qrow just shrugged. "If you want my surprise, you'll just have to deal with it, won't you?"
'Uggh, fine. Do you at least have a cool story you could tell us on the way?"
Qrow chuckled, and smirked playfully at the blonde. "Boy do I have a story for you…"
"…and there I was surrounded by no less than thirty bikers, armed with an assortment of table legs and the like-"
Ruby interrupted for the thirtieth time, "Ooh, ooh, what happened next!?"
"—and they all rushed me at the same time! I took out five of them with some sweet judo moves, and then boxed another five, and then threw down a smoke bomb to obscure my perfectly timed escape! And here I am, alive and in the flesh, without a scratch on me!"
Ruby squealed and clapped loudly in celebration at her Uncle's story, clearly oblivious to the embellishments he added.
Yang didn't believe a word of it. "None of that actually happened. If anything, you fought just three guys instead of thirty, and they were probably drunk to boot."
Qrow recoiled in mock horror. "You would question my honor in such a way? How dare you!"
Yang just rolled her eyes before replying, "Yea, yea, integrity and all that."
Qrow chuckled a bit before pulling up in front of an establishment whose front sign read, Witch Warfare. "Here we are."
Yang eyed the place, which had taken them a good hour to walk to considering it was on the other end of the market place, before muttering, "This better be good…"
Qrow pushed open the front door led them in, while he himself headed to the back of the store.
Yang and Ruby had never seen such a broad arrangement of weapons and armor in their lives, and it seemed that the pieces they were admiring were top of the line to boot. Armor lined locked racks on the walls, while weapons were safely stashed in bulletproof display cases.
Their amazement was cut short when they heard emanating from Qrow a tone-deaf sing-song voice that rang, "Oooooooohhhh Glynda!"
From out of the back office, a blonde woman in her middle thirties emerged. She wore a white blouse tucked in worn black denim jeans, which were in turn tucked into black boots. Over all of it, she wore what looked like a blacksmith's apron, and had a baton attached to her belt on her left hip. The woman had leather gloves that went up to her elbow.
Currently, the woman had pushed up her glassed that showed her vibrant green eyes, and swept a stray lock of her hair, most of which was pinned up in a bun, out her face. Not surprisingly, this "Glynda" person was clearly irked by Qrow's presence.
"Qrow, would it kill you to come into my store like a normal customer? I have enough stress haggling with people who think they know more about my wares than I do."
Qrow completely ignored her irritation and continued as if she hadn't spoken. "How's the good witch doing today?"
Glynda deadpanned the man, and his two nieces as they all doubled over with laughter. "You had been planning that one for a while now, haven't you?"
Qrow wiped a tear from the corner of his eye as he replied, "I save my best puns for you Glynda. All puns aside, I'm here for the surprise I've had you prepare for the two."
Glynda looked over his shoulder to spot his two nieces eagerly awaiting their gift. She nodded once before acknowledging the children, "Right this way please."
She swiftly turned on her heel to head back to the door in the back. Qrow, Ruby, and Yang followed suit, and walked into what appeared to be a very well furnished workshop. Glynda motioned over for Ruby and Yang to come by her.
"Ruby, Yang, your uncle has commissioned me to create your very first set of Guardian armor. I assure you that it will be of the highest quality."
The two sisters' jaws dropped simultaneously. "Wait…. What?!"
Ruby squealed louder than a raider baby on cocaine.
Glynda moved over to the nearest workbench in the room, and grabbed the helmet, chestplate, bracers, and greaves of the armor set that lay on it. She proceeded to hand them over to Yang. "Here is your armor. I took the base Marauder set of Guardian armor and made several modifications. The helmet is fully retractable into the back of the chest plate. The outer layering of the armor is nanofiliment carbon weave, nearly indestructible. Within every piece of armor, there are kinetic transfers that fuel the ability within the bracers. I've installed fire dust conduits into the bracer knuckles, allowing for a flame-enhanced punch with every strike. Given your more reckless brawling tendencies provided for me by Qrow, I have a feeling that the armor will augment your abilities nicely. Oh, and there are miniature shotguns rigged onto the bottom of the bracers."
Yang's awe was clearly evident as she clicked each armor piece into place over her normal clothes. "It's absolutely perfect! Qrow you are the best! Hey, can I get some flame designs painted on this thing?"
Glynda coughed, "Ahem."
"Oh yea, and you Glynda! Thanks."
"It's my— "
"Excuse me, but can we get to my set?"
Qrow laughed, "Ever the impatient one aren't you, Rubes?"
Ruby pouted. "Well Yang gets to have her cool armor stuff! I want to see mine!"
She crossed her arms impatiently as Glynda mildly chuckled. "All right then. Come with me Ruby." The duo crossed to the back of the room, while Yang and Qrow looked on eagerly.
Glynda stopped in front of a suit rack that held some interesting looking armor in red and black details.
"Here we have my pride and joy, which Qrow paid handsomely for. I present to you the Mark Two Scout Armor. Top of the line stealth systems, fully sealable in order to traverse poisonous environments, top notch filtration systems, and since Qrow asked so nicely, I added some specials servos to the lower body that will grant dynamic agility."
Ruby looked at Glynda dumbfounded.
She sighed before speaking in simpler terms, "Basically it'll make you really, really fast."
Ruby's eyes sparkled in absolute amazement, "Wow…. Uncle Qrow, you are hands down the best Uncle ever… and you're cool too Glynda."
Glynda had just opened up a case in the corner of the room, and pulled a large, 50. Caliber rifle out of it. It gleamed as if it had just been made, which in all fairness, it probably had.
"That's not all Ruby. Here I have the V-25 Crescent. Absolutely deadly at any range, and weighing in at a mere 6 pounds due to the alloy I used to craft it."
Ruby, who had just finished slipping on her armor, nearly fainted. She regained her composure but was at a loss for words. "I.. I … Don't know what to say…"
Qrow stood there smirking like an idiot, and a particularly stupid plan had worked its way into his skull. While Glynda continued to expand on Ruby's armor's defensive capabilities, the lightweight ceramic plating, the ballistic weave in the polymer overlay that connected the pieces, the visor metrics, blah blah blah, Qrow had the idea for Yang and Ruby to have their first mission, under his supervision of course. Nothing could go wrong, right?
It took Yang pulling on his arm to pull him out of his daydream. "…. Cle Qrow! Come on! You've been standing there with a stupid look on your face for the past 8 minutes!"
"Huh? Oh, oh, alrighty then," the biggest grin spread on his face as he prepared to break the news, "tell you what, how about we go on your very first mission? Every Guardian initiate always has a training mission under a senior officer. And it would be non-other than me!"
Yang and Ruby were, understandably, ecstatic. "HELL YES!" Yang yelled as she punched her fist in the air. The unforeseen consequence, since Yang was still wearing her armor, was that a great fiery shotgun blast punched a hole in the store ceiling.
The room was filled with silence as the blast echoes faded away.
Qrow nervously broke the silence, "It's a good thing we're going on that mission, I'm gonna need more money to pay for that."
The senior Guardian and two Guardian's to be currently were doing a mission briefing on Ozpin's latest assignment for Qrow in Cave Mansion, the de facto Guardian HQ located in a cave hidden by the waterfall. Officially they worked out of town hall, but that's not really plausible when you were part Spec Ops, part police, part detective, part diplomat, and general badass, as Qrow liked to put it.
Qrow was finishing up summarizing the major details of the operation, just so that Ruby could understand.
"Okay, no going off on your own. We are a team, and we must work together as a team to succeed. I've seen plenty of simple assignments go bad because one person had to be a hero. Here's looking at you, Coco." Qrow threw a salute at the aforementioned brunette, who just scoffed in return before reading up on her own assignment with her partner, Fox Alistair.
"I'm going to go over the mission parameters one more time. Somebody, probably raiders, have been hijacking our trading caravans from the Nomads. We are going to head out to the capital, Khazayin, and spend a few days there. We are to search for any information that anyone might know about who's been attacking our shipments, and to personally act as a guard duty to see our goods through."
Yang whined, "Aw come on Uncle Qrow! Can't we get a cool mission, like some heavy duty action where I can test our Ember Celica, or maybe a spy mission?"
Qrow was quite amused that Yang had already named her armor. Or maybe just the bracers. In fact, that would probably be more accurate.
Ruby pitched in her own two lien. "Yea Uncle Qrow! I've been dying to test out Crescent Rose here!"
Qrow laughed a bit at the two co-pouters, "Trust me, once you've been at it for as long as I have, you'll grow to love these simple assignments. You guys have your stuff packed right?"
Both heads nodded in affirmation.
Qrow was pleased, "Good, we can get this show on the road."
The trio walked outside to where Qrow's motorcycle had been parked. For the first time, Ruby seemed to notice the passenger cab attached to the side, while Yang had her own bike she had been tinkering with for a while now.
"Ooooohhhhhh no! No way am I getting in that thing! I'd rather walk!"
Qrow just shrugged. "Fine stay here by yourself then while me and your sister go have some major fun. Ciao."
Needless to say, fifteen minutes later the three were on the road, Ruby pouting from her passenger cab, Yang on her own bike, and Qrow laughing into the wind. He was going to enjoy this.