Chapter 1: The End of an Era.
Ruby Rose ran as fast as her legs could carry her, deflecting arrows with her scythe as numerous soldiers chased her, a tumultuous period of time in Vale reaching its climax. As the last remaining member of the Rose lineage, Ruby ran for her life as enemy troops chased her from all sides a few spears came up, and she called up her semblance, the spears bouncing uselessly off a newly formed red crystal. A long lasting feud between the Rose and Thrush clans had come to an end when the Winchesters came to the aid of the Thrush. Now Ruby, alone at the top of a volcano, looked at the rows of men that had set out to pursue her. Vale was once a unified country of Faunus, a great nation capable of fending off the human invaders that occasional came from the north to raid. Now? It was every household for itself, as the population of people increased, there simply wasn't enough room for everybody, and war tore the land apart. It was surprising how the North hadn't invaded them yet, the civil war between the many clans would have easily caused the humans to take over.
Clad in her battle gear, black chest plates, kneepads and pauldrons outlined in red, with a black knee length dress under, and a long red cape completing the look, she had prepared for a standoff with her family's warriors. What she hadn't expected, was a betrayal by the Winchester clan, their forces joining with the Thrushes in a pincer attack against her army. Overwhelmed, her clan's warriors were struck down, one by one, until few were left.
She had put up a stand with the last remaining soldiers of her clan, defending the castle before the castle itself was set ablaze, only Ruby surviving due to her semblance, an ability to create an unbreakable crystal, which covered her from rubble and flames. She gasped in pain as she tried lifting her scythe, her broken arm hindering her. She slumped down, her pauldrons and kneepads clattering softly as her knees hit the ground, fatigue catching up to her. A quake shook the ground, a rumbling that seemed to come within the volcano.
The men slowly closed in around her, spears and shields pointed at all sides, cornering the wolf Faunus as she stood still, contemplating what to do. She stiffened as the heir to the Winchesters, Cardin, stood between the ranks of his men, sneering at the trapped girl. Another earthquake shook the ground, causing everyone to tense a moment. It soon ceased, and Cardin took advantage of the silence to speak.
"Well Rose, It seems you are in a tight spot" he drawled, gesturing with his hand the sea of men behind him. Some of them chuckled at his statement.
Ruby refused to talk, mind racing on how to escape this predicament, though most of her mind had admitted defeat.
"Hmm…Well then. As Heir to the Winchesters, I offer you two options. You can either die a warrior's death, right here, right now, or…"He paused again, beckoning Russel Thrush over: "You come with us, a thrall to us and our nobles, and a maidservant to our chambers." He ended with a wink. Ruby did not like any of those options.
Cardin and Russel awaited an answer form the now silent scythe wielder, hand poised to give the signal to strike, the signal was never needed. They watched in shock as Ruby jumped over the edge of the volcano, her cape the last thing they saw before it followed her, fluttering as she fell. They peered over the edge to see just what would become of their most difficult opponent.
Ruby had one last trick in her sleeve, and she prepared for it now. She started summoning her semblance, her aura flickering as she used a vast amount to make the biggest crystal possible, a size she struggled to make even with many years of training her aura. The shining red construct turned into a spear shaped as it flew, straight towards the bottom of the volcano's crater. It impacted, breaking the rock formed be cooling magma, and going into the heart. The volcano roared to life as the barrier that halted the magma from getting out was shattered, the hot fiery substance now making its way through the cracks of the rocks faster and faster. She was shot out of the volcano with a number of rocks, speeding towards an unknown fate.
Cardin heard a brief boom before he saw a glowing red spot on the bottom of the volcano. An earthquake shook the ground again, except it stayed rumbling, never ceasing. It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Cardin told his men to run for their lives as rocks and other debris shot out of the volcano, bits of magma, and if anyone was looking up at the time, they would've noticed Ruby being tossed out with the other projectiles. Faunus all over Vale, fighting and feuding over land and resources looked at the exploding volcano with terror in their eyes. Then the volcano truly exploded, ripping apart, sending a shockwave that flattened trees and levelled buildings, killing many Faunus. More rocks fell and covered the land in a thick ash, killing many more. The sky turned black as thick smoke rose from the volcano, blossoming out and covering the sky.
There would be no sunlight for half a year, 160 days, enough to wither the land and reduce a good portion into wasteland. A whole civilization, wiped out by themselves, their need for more land catching up with them as the land itself swallowed them and became their grave. Ruby would not be able to see what she had done, as her drastic loss of Aura and impact on the ground sent her to sleep, for a long, long time.
Humans did come, but only a few years after the great eruption of Mount Glenn, hoping to catch the civilization of Vale off guard. The humans found nothing at all, not a single Faunus remained, and all of their cities and towns lay in waste, only a couple of buildings lay standing. Vale had been defeated, by their own land.
Ruby would lay in the land for a long time, her resting place marked by her spear of crystal, a tall red monolith in a land now devoid of magic. The humans would eventually find the tall crystal, one that intrigued them. For many years they tried to uproot it, to examine it and see what lay at the bottom, but it wouldn't budge. The area eventually turned into a national park, called the Redstone National Park, which the stone as a natural attraction. As humanity grew more sophisticated and advanced, the more they tried to find clues about the lost civilization of the Faunus from the stone. They found an energy capable of powering several cities on its own from the stone, and also a small pulsating vibration deep inside in the rock, one that felt almost like a heartbeat. Requests to dig up this rock were viciously fought against and reprimanded, as it was now a symbol of the nation itself.
Scientists were baffled by the rock, which had properties that made it light as a feather, yet stronger and harder than any metal that they could create. The stone and Ruby where left alone, until one fateful day, where it all changed. The president of Vale, Lionheart, decided approve an undercover operation that would dig under the unsuspecting tourists and park guides, and find true answers under the soil. The men dug underground when the park was closed, making their way towards the crystal. What they found astounded them, a discovery that was perhaps of the century. A lone Faunus girl lay in the middle of the red crystal, seemingly perfectly preserved. She had two wolf ears adorned on her head, black with red at the tips. She wore a black skirt that was armored at the chest, shoulders and knees, each armor piece black and bordered with red. She had fair skin, with a height of around 5'2". A man took a stethoscope and put his ear to the crystal, eyes widening when he heard the slow heartbeat of the girl himself. The expedition began to leave when they realized their time was short before guests came, and they made their way out of the tunnel, carefully covering the entrance and putting a fluorescent marker around the area and marking the trees around the area, some of them cursing themselves for not bringing a camera. Ozpin, the man with the stethoscope, could have sworn he had seen the girl open her eyes a slight bit as the men had left their little tunnel.
Ruby opened her eyes groggily, her broken arm still in pain, how long had she slept? She looked at where the light was coming from, a man with white hair holding the stick the light was coming from. Her eyes widened as she recognized him as human, and immediately closed her eyes. She opened them again when the men had left, seeing them leave the tunnel. As soon as they were gone, she dispersed the crystal surrounding her arm, holding it out painfully as her Aura adjusted it forcefully back to the proper position. She put her arm back in place, and froze it back in place. There was no way that humans would have found her before Faunus did, and she would wait until she was found by Faunus. She felt strange though, as if the crystal around her had given her strength over the years, but she had always found strength from the crystal, so maybe that was the case. The men looked different though, all of them dressed in a garb she had never seen before.
Just how long had she been out?
That question could be answered later as she closed her eyes again, this time expecting to wake up earlier.