Hi there. This story just sort of came up out of nowhere, and if it feels like I'm ripping off someone else's work, please let me know so I can edit or remove this one.

Warning: there might be character death. Off the top of my head, that's about all the warnings I have.

This story won't have any OCs, cos I already have one work with an OC and figured this would balance things out. It's also partially because a friend of mine requested I do a RWBY AU that revolved around only the canon characters, so yeah. Here's to you, old chap.

It was a night of shooting stars, dancing across the peaceful night sky as they descended to the Earth.

She remembered the faint smiles of contentment as they huddled around the window with the lights switched off, admiring the exquisite phenomenon. She remembered not being able to control her outbursts whenever she saw a particularly bright streak of light. She also remembered the countless times her white-haired teammate told her to hush, called her childish, but still kept her light blue eyes glued to the window.

She remembered cuddling with someone, even though she could not remember who. She remembered her warmth as they rested against each other, their combined body heat driving back the cold. That was before the chills crawled up her spine.

She remembered the screams. The blood-curdling screams that resonated across the otherwise soundless campus, eventually silenced by the cacophony of violence. Of chaos. Of tragedy.

She remembered the blood. She remembered the vibrant color of death smeared across the school grounds as they ran. She remembered the gruesome images of mangled bodies, resting eternally in an overflowing river of crimson.

She remembered her own voice. She could hardly even tell it was her own voice she was hearing at first. She screamed, she begged, she hollered, and even when her throat started burning, she did not stop. Her eyes burned as well, casting two blazing trails down her cheeks as she cried.

She hazily remembered falling to her knees after what felt like an eternity of fighting. She recalled her sister's radiant golden hair as she carried her over her shoulder, running away or towards something she could not see. Even though she could not look up to see, she was sure of what happened.

On that night, where the tranquility was fiercely ripped to shreds, Ruby Rose saw the world collapse around her.

It was a night of falling stars, plummeting across the flame-lit sky as they crashed miserably to the ground.

Ruby heaved a sigh of relief as she shifted the boulder back into place, covering the passage they were in. While she waited, the former Huntress-in-training quickly removed the brown cloak she was wearing.

"Why so nervous, sis?" Yang asked cheerfully as the torch in her hand lit up, illuminating her beautiful face. You've avoided larger patrols before with no problem, right?"

"Today was a really close call!" Ruby replied, walking down the dark passageway carved through the rocks. "We were THAT close to being spotted!"

"So what?" Yang asked nonchalantly. "We could've just knocked them out without breaking a sweat."

"Of course that wouldn't work!" Ruby complained. "They'd still see us!"

"Uh… So?" Yang asked again, not getting the point.

"So it's a disaster if I'm seen!" Ruby raised her voice at having to explain something so obvious. "This cloak is brown, Yang! BROWN! It's an unprecedented fashion disaster! I'd die of embarrassment!"

Yang sighed, a wry smile playing on her lips.

"Look on the bright side," she offered. "At least it can't be worse than the baby pictures I showed to Blake and Weiss, right?"

Ruby turned pale. She still wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere even though that incident had been months ago.

"I mean," Yang said thoughtfully. "Between being seen in your brown cloak and me uploading every single picture I have onto the-"

"You wouldn't," Ruby gasped, aghast.

Yang did not reply, instead opting for giving her a playful wink before walking ahead. Ruby chased after her, desperately pleading with the saddest, biggest puppy dog eyes she could manage.

"Welcome back."

As they reached the end of the path, the sisters entered a large room surrounded by rocks and lit by smaller torches affixed to them. It was the shelter that they had spent many days meticulously carving out until it was sufficiently enough for the four of them.

Seated by a wooden stump with a bunch of papers in front of her was Blake, who had greeted them with a small smile as they entered. Pushing the papers aside, she walked up to them and relieved Yang of the bags she was carrying, but not before accepting Ruby's enthusiastic hug.

Yang could not help but smile at the sight of Blake smiling. When everything went to hell, Blake was the one who came back the most damaged emotionally. When she heard that the attack on Vale was by the White Fang, she charged into the heat of battle despite barely escaping with her team from Beacon. When she returned, and for the longest time Yang feared she would not at all, she was utterly broken.

Blake had refused to talk, eat or sleep for days on end, and only after much persuasion did she finally give in. She did not share much, but after she admitted she had killed a couple of White Fang members in the scuffle, Yang was already convinced that she did not want to make her say anymore. Ruby and Weiss, thankfully, shared those sentiments.

It was two months later that Blake finally loosened up. Even now, she was still distant, but she was finally starting to accept physical contact and interaction with others. Ruby was confident that she would return to being the 'good old Blake' before long, and Yang could only hope she was right.

"What were you arguing about?" Blake asked, setting down the bags by the side of the room where a makeshift stove was.

"Yang wanted to upload my baby pictures onto the net!" Ruby complained. She looked cross, but the impression it left on Blake was merely a comical one.

"Well, to be fair," Blake offered. "They are pretty cute."

"Exactly!" Yang agreed energetically, as Ruby slumped her shoulders in defeat. Her cheeks were already flushed when the steam started pouring out from her ears. "Things that cute must be shared!"

A groan answered Yang's outburst, prompting Ruby to swiftly rush to the owner of that voice. Lying on one of the beds in the far end of the large space was Weiss Schnee, sitting up gingerly as she slowly opened her eyes. Ruby gently helped her get into a comfortable position, taking care not to hurt her left arm which was in a cast.

Weiss, for all her pride and attitude, had gone out of her way to fight for her friends back at Beacon. On the night they had to fight their way out of that Hell on Earth, the heiress had stood up for Blake even after learning of the White Fang being responsible. To protect her friend and teammate, the Ice Queen had fought against even her former peers when they tried to attack Blake, whose bow had been ripped off in combat, exposing her Faunus ears. Without a care for her broken arm, Weiss defended a stunned Blake, eventually holding out until Ruby and Yang came to their rescue.

However, she was unable to get proper treatment, and her arm was left to heal by itself. It was not helped by the fact that they were on the run, and Weiss's stubbornness which insisted that she help out with setting up their hideout. It ended up dragging out her recovery, and even though she said it herself that it was going to heal any day now, Ruby had doubts to Weiss's honesty about her condition. Regardless, she decided to trust her little Ice Princess.

"I'm sure the world would be thrilled to see that dolt hugging a bunny," Weiss said, her voice not as sarcastic as she had intended it to be. "And you forgot to take off the 'Collars', you two."

With a goofy grin, Yang reached for the metallic choker around her neck and detached its halves with a sharp clicking sound. Sticking her tongue out playfully, Ruby followed suit.

When the White Fang took over Vale, they changed the face of the world. Despite their lack of cat ears or monkey tails, the humans were now the ones treated like commonplace animals. With frightening military prowess, the White Fang brought the Kingdom to its knees, forcefully enforcing a 'Collar' upon every human under this new rule. The Collar did nothing except serve as an accessory at first, but when they passed on the 'Leash' to the Faunus, that changed swiftly.

The Leash was a simple remote control with a single button, and with a single press all Collars within a hundred meter radius would activate, producing a painful electric shock throughout the wearer's body. There were rumors of Leashes belonging to the higher-ups within the White Fang that could do even more than that, but no one spread them; the Faunus could not care less, and the humans were far too scared. The way to distinguish the humans and Faunus were now not from their physical differences, but from whether or not they wore a 'Collar' around their neck.

Granted, some Faunus did refuse this idea at first, and some even protested against the White Fang's actions. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears and those foolish enough to try were either silenced or, as they called it, 'had seen the errors of their ways'. The only known Faunus still alive for going against those ideals was a woman called Blake Belladonna, who was now a wanted criminal alongside her team, with a bounty on her head far greater than the other three's combined.

"I hate that thing," Yang muttered, tossing her Collar onto the floor. The ones they wore were not functional, but it did help to avoid some attention when they walked around in disguises; most Faunus just spare them a passing glance before moving on, like they do every other human. Some actually gave them a sympathetic look, since they assumed that the girls – like every other human who was able to roam the streets – had been released from the concentration camps.

"How're you feeling, Weiss?" Ruby asked, her voice wrecked with worry as the heiress stood up and walked over to the stump in the center of the room.

"I'm alright, Ruby," Weiss reassured her. "More importantly, Blake's found something interesting today."

"You left the cave?" Yang asked, staring at a very guilty-looking Blake. "What were you thinking, Blake?! It's far too dangerous for you!"

"Calm down, Yang," Weiss said. "I was with her."

"You left the cave?" Ruby asked, mirroring her sister. "What were you thinking, Wei- Oww!"

Rubbing her head where Weiss had mercilessly chopped with her right hand, Ruby sulked as Yang attempted to calm herself down with deep breaths.

"Okay," the blonde said at last. "We're a reckless bunch of idiots. It's not news. Okay. What've you got?"

"We think we found Team JNPR," Blake answered. "They should be at the concentration camp on the southwestern part of Vale; a few people who left that place told us they saw a group of people resembling the photos we had."

"That's great!" Ruby said excitedly. "Let's go bust them out!"

"Hold on, Ruby," Weiss intervened. "If it were that easy, we'd have raided every concentration camp the White Fang has. We need to think of a proper plan. We'll need to at least know when the guards change their shifts, what battlesuits and other resistances we'll be facing and a lot of other things. We'll get ourselves killed if we just charge in blindly. And if you say I'm not going to participate because of this arm," she added menacingly, raising her right hand in preparation for another chop.

Ruby yelped, hastily covering the top of her head as she shook it rapidly.

"Weiss is right," Blake agreed. "With some luck, we should be able to sneak inside in about a week and break them out. We might only be able to save them and no one else though, Ruby. Are you alright with that?"

"I…" Ruby hesitated. "I understand. I'll tell everyone else there to hold on a bit more for us."

Blake nodded. Ruby may still be a young girl with too soft a heart, but she was no fool; she knew what had to be done, even if she could never bring herself to kill anyone. Not that Blake, Weiss or Yang would ever let her have to do that.

Biting her lip, the former White Fang soldier held back her tears as she remembered. She recalled all the horrid yet lucid scenery she had witnessed, as well as the countless terrifying atrocities she had performed with her own hands.

But most of all, she remembered the pain she had put her friends through, because of her incompetence. Because she had not been able to stop him back then.

Fighting back the waking nightmares, Blake clenched her fists.

"Right!" Ruby said suddenly, addressing the group. "Tomorrow, we roll out!"

And there it is: the introductory first chapter. To be honest, I wanted to expand on the world and the situation they were in a little more, but I guess I'll leave them for next time.

There's a rough idea of what happened to Blake and Weiss during the attack on Beacon here, but the girls' experiences will be fleshed out in the future chapters, I promise.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!