Prologue
It was finally quiet for a change, though that was a relative term, here alone in what used to be team RWBY's dorm. It wasn't the type of quiet Rouge used to know, it wasn't the kind you get right before you slept, or the quiet of an exam hall. It was the quiet of the battlefield. It was the kind of fragile quiet that could be shattered at any moment, that would give way to horror, and chaos, and tragedy. Oh how she wished it could all go back to normal, but she knew that world she dreamed of so desperately was a long way off yet. Not that she could afford to think about any of that right now. For the moment from her position on the bed she had her sights trained on the figure standing by the door. It felt like he'd been there for hours, the two staring at each other, Rouge honestly didn't know why she hadn't shot him yet, or why for that matter he hadn't attacked her, but it seemed neither one had the energy or desire to fight right now. "What are you doing here Biala, and it had better be a damn good reason," she said rising from her spot on the rickety, dust covered bed, shotgun still pointing towards her unwelcomed guest.
The masked invader didn't say a word, instead he stood there in silence for a long stretch of time, before stepping forward passed the young hunters and to the car far side of the room staring out into the expanse of destruction and strife. Rouge couldn't fathom what was passing through his head behind that expressionless mask he was so fond of. "Oh man, this place takes me back," he said almost ignoring Rouge, who was careful to keep her distance. "I remember the day we all moved in here, the four of us were ready to take on the world as future hunters and huntresses,"
"So do I, now leave," she pushed, only for him to continue on that trip down memory lane.
"You remember the time that Winchester kid tried to pick a fight with us and we gave him a royal ass kicking," he said finally turning to acknowledge her.
"Yeah, I remember, Biala, I remember everything," she tightened her grip on Cloud's stock. "If you came here to reminisce-"
"I didn't," he said returning his gaze to the outside, the moonlight bathing his figure as it breached through the crumbling walls. He removed his mask and let his head tilt back, almost as if basking in the near silence.
"Then why, why did you come here," she began to lower her guard, now letting Cloud Rose hang loosely at her side by one hand. She had only now realized it, but she was staring at her once friend's back now.
"Because I want things to be normal again, I want us to be a team, like we used to," he said finally turning to meet her gaze, without the mask to conceal them, Rouge was now staring fully into those icy blue eyes of his. It took her a moment before the words he'd spoken dawned on her. Normal, he'd said he wanted things to be normal again.
"Normal?" she threw the word back in his face, "You want things to be normal again? Look around us, normal left the station a long time ago, and it's not coming back anytime soon," she threw her arms up gesturing to the crumbling school where she had been forced to mature far too quickly. "this isn't how it's supposed to be, none of this is how it's supposed to be, you changed, somewhere along the line you became different, what happened to that young man I met just a few months ago so eager to emulate our predecessors, those who came before us,"
"It's like you said, I've changed, hell, a lot has changed and it's still changing,"