RWBYond War

AN: I know I have some people foaming at the mouth for this story, but I want to make this clear, this isn't some big bombastic sequel to RWBYond Vale. This is a smaller more personal story with smaller more personal stakes. This first chapter, is also an anomaly, I came up with this idea, long before I ever started writing RWBYond. This is the only time I'll be writing from tis character's perspective and he isn't going to be much more than a plot device by the end. This story is just too small to cram in all the characters from RWBYond Vale, and with new characters, don't expect everyone to make an appearance.

Chapter 1: To Think It All Started with a Walk in the Woods

"Now Helios…" His mother looked at him with bloodshot cerulean eyes. "You protect… your sister now… you hear." His mother had been deathly ill for a long time now. She had taken them to Menagerie to do some good. She had fallen ill to some kind of cancer. By the time IT happened, she was too weak to even move.

The Grimm had hit the hospital hard. Not many people made it out of there alive. Helios' mother was one of the willing victims. She wasn't going to live long anyway and moving her was…impossible in that situation.

So a four-year-old Helios took his barely three-month-old baby sister, Eos, and ran. There were two kinds of people Hanson saw that day. People running and people fighting. The people who fought, died. The people who ran, well they weren't any better.

Helios wished more than anything that he could fight. But he had more than himself to think about. The infant clutched to his hoodie in desperation. She was crying up a storm and nothing Helios could do could stop it.

The crying had attracted more Grimm. The fear in the air was palpable even to the young boy. He was found that way by a man with a rifle that was firing bullets up at the Grimm. When he saw them, he stopped fighting and tried getting the kids to safety.

It didn't work, a beringel ambushed them and crushed the man's skull. Just when Helios was at the peak of desperation he heard an unfamiliar scream. The echoing wail was followed by a red streak that cut through the horde like a knife.

Strings wrapped around Helios and pulled the two children into a building. He was met with a dark haired girl and a large shark Faunas. There were other survivors with them as they entered the cave system of the city. Helios was safe after that.

Before too long they were on a ship headed for Atlas. Then they were taken with other refugees deeper into the kingdom. Then the war was over. Helios and Eos had no home to return to. So they bounced around various orphanages settling for one in Dragna for a short time.

That was four years ago. Now they were ship wrecked. The Grimm had returned, or at least enough strong ones to take out a small passenger ship. As far as the now eight-year-old boy could tell, not many people died. He and Eos had escaped on a boat. Shortly afterward the huntsmen of Vale had arrived. But by then, Helios and Eos' ship was carried away by a massive storm and onto an island.

Helios didn't know much about geography, so he couldn't for the life of him guess what the name of the island was. All he knew was that he and his sister were safe once again. Sadly, it was freezing out, winter had come and covered the snow in a white icy blanket and was still flaking down from the sky.

"Where are we?" Eos asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"I don't know." Helios said. "But surely there's a town here." He scanned his surroundings and saw a trail leading up a cliff. It was hard to tell because everything was covered in snow, but the markers of the trail were still visible, even if they could not be read due to the lack of light.

It was still the middle of the day but it was also a very cloudy day. Helios grabbed Eos' hand and started walking up the cliff trail in the vague direction of the pointed part of the signs. When they got to the top, curiosity got the better of him. He walked to the edge of the cliff. He could not see the ship, or any sign of the storm from here.

The curious thing was the small stone slab at the cliff's edge. Up close, Helios could make out a few letters. He traced his hand over it, so that he could find out what else it said. "Summer Rose-Thus Kindly I Scatter." At the bottom there was an engraving of a pose bud. A grave? Helios wasn't sure. But the stone had been well kept. The fact that it was not covered in snow meant someone had been here…recently.

"What is it Helios?" Eos asked.

"I think it's a grave." Helios said. "Someone was here recently."

"I think I see some tracks." Eos said. Helios went to investigate. Sure enough there were tracks. They weren't exactly fresh but the basic shape was still there.

"Let's follow them." Helios said. He grabbed his sister's hand and headed deeper into the forest.

They must have walked for hours. The tracks seemed directionless, never staying straight for more than a few yards. Hanson was getting hungry. Eos was too, but she was much more preoccupied with being tired.

"Bubby, can you carry me?" She said sweetly.

"Sure." Helios got on his knees and lifted his sister up on his back. "Wow, you're getting heavy Eos. Soon enough I won't be able to give you piggy-back rides."

"Nah-uh." Eos said. "Because you'll get bigger too."

"Oh…you're right." Helios kept walking. He tried to keep his eyes on the tracks but also looked for any light or anything that was a sign of civilization. It was now evening and getting colder. Helios could no longer feel his fingers and toes. His nose might as well have fallen off. Eos was shivering into his backside. Frustration, panic and exhaustion overwhelmed him. He set Eos in the snow and nearly collapsed.

"B…Bubby." Eos cried.

"I'm fine…" That's when he heard them. The growling, the snarling. They needed to go. "Run!" Helios said. He grabbed Eos hand and made a B-line for God knows where. They had to keep moving. Helios could see them running, scurrying around. The sound of paws on snow echoed alongside the growls and howls. Next came the red eyes, burning and bloody.

They had surrounded the two kids. Helios pulled out a pocket knife to defend himself. As the strange looking beowolf looked at him from the base of the nearby tree, Helios got into a defensive stanc.

"Bubby I'm scared." Eos cried.

"Leave her alone!" He yelled as loud as his tiny voice could carry. The monster looked at him curiously before being flanked by two more. Helios looked around and saw dozens of them creeping from the shadows. In the low lighting all he could see were the eyes.

The three in front pounced first. Helios squeezed his eyes shut and swung the blade wildly. He felt nothing but the cold air bite at his hands. Then there was a primal yelp, the sound of gears shifting, a gunshot, and a grunt.

Helios felt something hit his face. When he opened his eyes, it had dissolved. The Grimm howled in panic as they…tried running? Helios didn't even know that was possible. He hadn't even seen who…or what saved him and his sister.

Then there it was; crimson red streak moving like wild bullet through the pack, leaving rose petals in its wake. All Helios could see was the red streak carving its way through the Grimm, with the occasional glint of moonlight on metal.

Wherever the streak went, the Grimm in closest proximity would fall to pieces. It moved faster than the eye could see. If not for the trail of petals, Helios would not even be able to glimpse it. Because it moved so fast, the whole ordeal was done in a matter of seconds.

Helios looked up as the streak stopped in front of him. It was a woman clad in a crimson cape and hood. Shae wore black and red boots with long stockings leading up to her matching skirt. Her blouse could barely be seen as the wind rushed to Helios' face. The cape obscured most of her features.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Uh-huh." Helios could barely answer.

The woman dropped her hood to reveal a gorgeous face. She looked younger than how Helios remembered his mother looking. The sky began to clear, allowing Helios a better look at her face, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary, save for her eyes which were a startling silver. She also had dark, crimson hair that framed her face. There was something familiar about her, and not because of the red streak that had saved him before. Silver eyes…Helios had heard about that from somewhere.

"Well…" The woman sighed as she examined them. "Come on." She spun around, revealing a metallic rectangle attacked to her back. Helios assumed that it must be her weapon. It was red, and had lots of little grooves showcasing the shifting parts.

"Thank you for saving us Ms." Eos said.

"It was no problem." Ruby said. "It's my job to hunt monsters and save people."

"You're a huntress?"

"That I am." The woman responded. "What's your names, kids?"

"I'm Helios and this is my sister Eos."

"Those are bright little names." She said.

"If you're a huntress…that means you fought in the Grimm War."

"Yes, I fought."

"Did you ever fight in Menagerie?" Helios asked. The woman stopped in her tracks.

"You…you were in Puerto Nuevo…weren't you?"

"That's where I was born." Eos said.

"Our mom was sick and couldn't be moved from the hospital." Helios explained. "So, that was you I saw that day?"

"If what you just saw seemed familiar…that's because it is." She said.

"So what's your name?" Helios asked.

"Ruby…Ruby Rose-Arc." She said.

"Rose?" Helios said. "Say, when we got on the island we found a little gravestone with a rose on it."

"That's my mother's. She died when I was about your age."

"I guess I know how you feel." Helios said.

"I'm tired." Eos said. "How much further?" She whined.

"Not much." Ruby said. "But if you want, I can carry you." Eos took her up on the offer with a nod.

"So what were a pair of kids like you doing so deep in the woods?"

"We were ship wrecked." Helios answered.

"Oh, so you're survivors of that attacks earlier today."

"Yep." Helios said. "How did you know?"

"I wanted to go help, but I wasn't in the shape to go out on missions like that. I'm still not."

"Are you kidding me?" Helios said. "You slaughtered those beowolves."

"Beowolves are one thing, a kraken is another. This was just a warm up. Something to help me get back on my feet after sitting on my butt for so long."

"What happened?" Eos asked curiously.

"Well…Apparently it's frowned upon for a pregnant woman to go on hunts." Ruby joked.

"So wait…you have a kid?" Helios said.

"A beautiful baby girl that just turned one month." Ruby said happily. "She's got her mommy's eyes and her daddy's hair."

"What's her name?" Eos asked.

"Her names Citrine." Ruby answered. "You'll get to meet her when we get to my place."

"About that…" Helios said. "What's going to happen to us?"

"Well, I'll at least have you over for tonight. I take it your orphans, so I'll probably get you to an orphanage in Vale when I have the time. There's not really a place like that on this island."

"Speaking of which, what's the name of this place?" Helios asked.

"My, aren't you full of questions. You're on Patch silly."

"Well sorry Mrs. Arc, I'm not good with places." Helios crossed his arms eliciting a laugh from Ruby.

"Oh, I think you and I are going to get along quite well." She said. "I just hope Jaune isn't too tired from work. I also hope he remembered to pick up Citrine from the baby sitter. This is the first time neither of us have been by her side."

"Can I hold her?" Eos asked.

"Of course Eos." Ruby answered. "After I have my turn anyways."

After about half an hour of walking, they came upon the house. It didn't look like anything special. It was a simple log cabin that sat on the edge of a small road leading through the barren woods. There were lights on inside, meaning someone was probably already in there. Helios noticed Ruby's pace increase as they got closer to the house. She must have been excited to get back home. Helios was just excited to be somewhere warm.

AN: Again, I had the idea for this chapter LONG before anything else in this story or even half of RWBYond Vale. That's how long I've been saving this. On a side note, there was originally going to be an emotional arc for Ruby, where she doesn't have kids and can't because of a wound and that subplot was going to end with her being able to through…I won't say but regardless, I didn't like how that sounded when I said it out loud, so Citrine is already born. More on her next time. Please Review, follow, favorite and stay classy.