Based off of the song 'The Reluctant Heroes', form the anime Attack On Titan –Shingeki No Kyojin- so you can already tell this will get depressing.
I don't own RWBY, or the song from the AOT anime.
Have fun crying.
(^^^^^^)
You could almost hear the sad, melodic, almost melancholy piano music in the background of this scenario, for here she was, caked in blood, looking up at the sky as the dawn finally bore the sun into witness.
But maybe she didn't want to be here, like her sister who wasn't, her girlfriend who wasn't, and her best friends who weren't.
She was alone, and this ripped her insides out, threw them back in, and sewed her stomach shut again.
It tore her heart up just staring at the puffy white clouds that drifted over the sun, past it as the sun beamed down on her face, shining rays onto her pale white skin as if saluting her for her hard work.
What hard work?
She had watched the life drain form the seven people she cared most for, and she had watched countless others be eaten alive, decapitated, skewered, smashed, stabbed, sliced, dismembered, had their torsos removed...
...it all only happened an hour ago. An hour ago she was on the battlefield, shouting orders to those she was closest to; she had led them to their deaths.
Ozpin was dead, Glynda Goodwitch was dead, and Yang, Weiss, Blake, Nora, Ren, Pyrrha, Jaune, Cardin, Sky, Coco and Velvet were all dead too; all dying in horrific ways, scarring her for life, playing themselves behind her eyes in her dreams every time she fell asleep, scarring her already jigsaw-like mind, and torturing her already tortured soul more.
What she had seen not five minutes ago though as she killed the last one, the last Ursa Major to storm out of the woods, would never be replaced with anything else, never leave her mind, staying there as the apex of her torture.
She had seen the one she had looked up to, cower and raise her gauntlet to her head, whispering a prayer that Ruby had taught her before cocking the gauntlets and blowing apart her face, instantly killing herself.
Ruby saw why she would do such a thing; she, herself, had contemplated such a way out: Such a cease to the pain, violence around her.
Yet she carried on: why? Why did she carry on for the dead?
You don't fight for the dead, you fight for the living.
Yet she fought for Yang, for Weiss, for Blake and for Jaune, for Nora and Ren, for Pyrrha and Coco and Velvet, for Cardin and Sky and Dove, hell, she even fought for Ozpin and Glynda.
Why, why had she done that?
One simple word: memories. Yang had taught her memories are what drive us, what make us stronger, powerful, emotion gone and love replaced by hate; she didn't hate anymore, she didn't love anymore, and nor could she.
She could only watch, fight to live, die to survive, and live to die. Her mission was to survive the next day, her life's mission was to fight to live, to succeed in accepting death doesn't get to touch you today, or tomorrow.
She wrapped Yang's yellow scarf around her face, remembering the scent of lavender her hair always smelled of.
She tightened the bow that she had taken from Blake's dying hands, at her command, around her forearm and sighed.
She reluctantly looked down to the white boots she had wore as Weiss had gifted them to her for her seventeenth birthday.
That was the hardest part: Weiss had opened her childish heart to the world, showing her what lay beyond being happy, what love felt like.
She looked over her shoulder to see four groups of bandaged, bloodied and scarred hunters and huntresses, and stood with her back straight, her eyes forward, and her hands at her sides.
The 'soldiers followed her suit, and everyone saluted her, some with three fingers, others with half-faces.
All wearing that of a smile of pride.
She just stared, saluted back, and looked down again.
The grave in front of her said 'To the heroes of Beacon: reluctant to forget, hesitant to let down, happy to remember'.
"Reluctant heroes..." she looked down to the part of the grave that said Yang Xiao Long, then to Weiss' side, then Blake's. She huffed, smiled slightly, saluted it and walked off, past the saluting hunters.
"...Suits them perfectly."
(^^^^^^)
...I'm a horrid person...