Author's Note: I do not own anything about RWBY, that is all Roosterteeth. This story is a continuation of the events that transpire in volume 3. Faded Rose will attempt to expand past volume 3 with our canon characters. All events will strive to maintain continuity and create plausible scenarios that have a likelihood of becoming a reality in the canon universe. Feel free to critique the writing, but this piece of work at it's core is meant to be just a release to channel my obsession of RWBY in a more reasonable manner than cleaving people with a giant gun-scythe. Now sit back, pucker butts and set aside our feels at how volume 3 ended, time to jump right into the sunshine and rainbows that RWBY should be! It is never time to say goodbye.
Taiyang Xiao Long's world hung in time, the tray with crescent rolls and a mug of hot chocolate, now loose from his grip suspended in mid air. There on the pillow where he expected Ruby to lay, was a note. Tai did not concern himself with the details, only noticing the little red heart with his daughter's name beside it. He somehow knew what it said, Ruby had left to follow whatever misguided trail Qrow had lay before her.
Tai stormed through the house and ripped open the front door. "Ruby!" He expelled all the air in his lungs in hope to reach her ears. Snow flakes landed softly on his cheeks, melting away as if to offer what little comfort they could. "Dammit Qrow, you send her off on some fool's journey to who knows where!"
"Tai, you have to let go." Qrow was leaning against the exterior wall, sipping solemnly on his flask. He glanced over to his former team mate. "This needs to be done Tai."
Tai not expecting his old friend to be so close and his words to actually find Qrow's ears. "You have no right to do this Qrow!" Tai was livid, directing his anger towards Qrow . He balled his hands into a fist and threw a punch. Surprisingly it landed solid on the side of his face.
Qrow pushed himself slowly off the wall, clearly unphased from the attack. Moving aside Tai's outstretched arm he turned his head forward to gaze over the snow covered forest. Qrow placed his flask back into his belt pouch. "Look, with Ozpin gone we still have to keep moving forward. Ruby, and Yang can't stay your little innocent girls forever. If we can learn anything from this attack, Tai, things are getting grim. And don't worry, they will have me watching over them." Qrow glanced over towards Tai with a one sided smile, a very charismatic pose that would strike any fair maiden down.
Tai in defeat looked earthwards, 'I can't lose anymore' a single tear fell graciously to melt the snow below him. Qrow's words cut deep, but he wasn't going to let his girls get caught up in some grand scheme designed by Ozpin or anyone else. "This isn't their fight, not yet Qrow. There must be more time they, they aren't ready-" Tai looked to where his old teammate once stood. Off in the horizon was a bird, no a crow. It flew into the backdrop of foreboding clouds, the snow began to fall at an increasing rate, covering bits of Tai's clothing. He noticed four tracks in the snow leading away from the homestead and out into the forest.
What was once a nice change of scenery became a hindrance as the snow fell stronger than before. It was in the middle of the day, yet the sun wasn't able to penetrate the dark clouds which formed as far as those silver eyes could see. The snow clung to Ruby's clothing, almost completely covering her shoulders in stiffening cold. She pulled her hood tightly over her head, having to keep a firm grip on it from flying back in the wind.
Ruby was trailing Jaune who was having the same difficult time keeping his own black hood on. "So how far is Signal from here?"
"Not too far, wait I thought you guys came from Signal?" Ruby spoke over the howling wind.
Hesitantly Jaune looked back, "Well yeah, but its all forest. It looks the same. This is the right way, right?" He chuckled a bit, poorly covering up traces of doubt in his voice.
Nora ran passed Ruby and Jaune. "Yeah we are almost there! See, don't you remember passing that tree up ahead?" She pointed outwards as she spun around to take the lead position.
"Nora, we are in a forest. All these trees look the same." Ren spoke, barely heard over the wind.
"Wait do you see that?" Ruby halted, Ren slammed into her back. She was looking to where Nora had pointed towards. Faintly in the distance black figures moved, passing in between the trees. "Grimm," Ruby paused as she looked more closely. "A lot of Grimm, what? I've never seen so many Grimm on Patch before." Team RNJR collectively crouched, in an attempt to become less visible to the distant Grimm. "They, are moving... where?"
Yang opened her eyes to the room she lay in. She looked over to to her left. A Sunflower and one of her Ember Celica were placed on the dresser. Yang glanced down at her missing limb, the other Ember Celica was either destroyed or left with her forearm back in Beacon she figured. Thoughts of Blake in pain filled her mind as she focused her attention to the closest window. There staring back at her, in all it's self pity and anguish was her reflection. She placed her only hand on the window, her reflection did the same. "I love you too Ruby," tears flowed from her closed eyes. "B-Blake I can't believe, how could you run and let Weiss be taken away. It's all my fault, if I only..." She opened her eyes, expecting to see herself torn apart. Yang was about to look away from the window when she noticed a black outline around her outstretched hand. She slowly moved her hand away to reveal a black claw where her hand once was. After closer inspection Yang saw two pointed ears, with a skull like figure positioned between them.
A howl erupted form the other side of the window as the claw came bursting through. Yang's aura took the full brunt of the attack. She rolled out of bed grabbing her Ember Celica, knocking over the adjacent vase. She squatted in a well balanced position close to the ground, her legs stretched out ready to move. Yang threw up her weapon and thrust her hand into her gauntlet. She look up to meet her adversary, the Beowolf did not pay that kind respect of locking eyes as it launched itself through the broken window, scattering even more glass throughout the room. Yang managed to bring her left arm up to guard the attack, but was slammed into the wall behind her. She shrugged off the blow and preformed a cartwheel kick to the top of the Beowolf's head, slamming it into the ground. Now half slumped over the bed and floor Yang drove her Ember Celica into it's head.
Yang stood back upright, peering out of the broken window, curtains obscured most of the sight but she could see those red eyes closing distance. Suddenly she lost her balance as the beast grabbed her closest leg, pulling it out from under her. Now prone, the Beowolf towered over Yang. It lifted its claw into the air and with a howl brought it down forcefully.
The tracks were there. He saw them, but it became increasingly difficult to see. Tai raced though the snow covered forest. He cursed himself for not bringing a coat, but time was of the essence. "Surely they couldn't of gone too far. They have got to be heading for a ship at Signal." He said to himself. Tai stopped, and dropped low to the ground. A massive herd of Beowolves became visible through the snow storm ahead. "Damn, there are so many. It's like every Grimm on Patch is congregating into this herd," A realization hit Taiyang. "They are headed for Signal Academy!" The thought of Ruby fighting off this many Grimm in a snow storm forced itself into his mind.
Tai took in the surroundings, he noticed a light from the direction he had come. No light, it was a fire. "Yang, no."He choked, abandoning all concealment he once had, Tai dashed toward the light. "Ruby can handle herself." He repeated in his mind, forcing himself reluctantly to believe. "No, she has to handle herself." He reassured himself.
"Separating us, taking our strength in unity away. Will only bring out that small soul, and turn it into a grand soul. One to deliver us from wickedness, to foil your twisted schemes. As history shows, we are at our strongest when in peril. And through peril we unit, once again." -Ozpin
Weiss stared out of the window of the Schnee's personal air liner, dark clouds loomed below. The ship was large and luxurious. Although room a plenty for refugees of Vale, none were on board. Just Schnee employees, Weiss and her father along with military personnel. Vale was in ruins, the safe zone was but a small block in the city to the west. It was now barely giving shelter and medical attention to the survivors of the Vale and Beacon attack. Beacon fell, with the CCT all communications were lost. Vale struggled as the close proximity to Beacon made it an easy target for Grimm to push through weakened walls. No one was even sure if the government was still in place. General Ironwood seemed to step forward in all the chaos.
The ship would pass Vale's crumbling walls shortly, on their way north to Atlas. Turbulence was expected on a flight passing through such an outrageously intense storm. Weiss couldn't help but to notice how much turbulence there was. She saw some crew members running about the cabin, with a certain air of importance and speed to match.
"I know what your thinking Weiss," Her father not looking at her nor expecting to lock eyes, yet he directed his words clearly to were she sat impatiently. His mustache danced with each syllable. "There is no more reason for you to stay here at the safe zone. Beacon has fallen and if you stayed, you'll only see more destruction." He finally looked over at her, she did not remove her gaze from the window, peering down below. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Trust me Weiss please, there is more to this than you or anyone of your little friends could imagine." He slightly shook Weiss, as if to somehow force his concern into her.
It agitated her for her friends to be called 'little', as if her father knew anything about her. "Father, I don't think you understand. I'm a part of this now. We are a team! I will be a Huntress, things will clear up right?" Weiss really had no clue on how bad things may or may not be. For all she knew the CCT was down and communication was out for awhile.
Her father chuckled. "Don't worry Weiss, Atlas can be your home once again, where it's safe." Weiss closed her eyes. "You don't need to be a Huntress, there are far more important things to do. Now that all this is behind you-." Her father stood up. "Just stay here, everything will be fine." His tone shifted from fatherly to a sterner, commanding voice. He removed his hand from Weiss.
Weiss opened her eyes, pushing back small amounts of tears. Black specs could be spotted through slightly blurred vision. She looked back to see her father dashing down the isle toward the command center. Weiss fully cleared her eyes and looked back in time to see a black and white streak fly in front of the window.
A cabin boy yelled down the hallway. "Griffins, Mr. Schnee we have Griffins everywhere. They are attacking the ship!"
Weiss gripped Myrtenaster, she stood up and bolted for the deck.
"Weiss no, get back here!" Her father shouted.
Atlas military personnel were already on the deck, firing their weapons into the swarm of Griffins. Periodically a troopers' yell could be heard right before being picked up by massive talons and hauled off the ship followed by their last cry for help. Weiss drew her weapon as she took in the scene.
All around them were streaks of black and white, cawing and screaming with constant percussion of weapon fire. Some Griffins fell onto the deck, wounded from not so well aimed fire. They flailed around helplessly as Atlas personal finished the beasts off with generous weapon discharges.
"General Ironwood," A frail voice spoke, "I'm sorry, but her Aura was destroyed with such trauma to the body." A short pause to regain composure. "I'm afraid we would only be able to salvage the frame and majority of spare parts, but we learned so much from this experiment."
"It was truly a success in failure." Ironwood spoke, "Unfortunate for her father, but he knew the risks of even attempting that aura transplant. It worked out more favorably than we could of hoped for."
A trooper wearing Atlas military garb burst into the room. "Sorry for the intrusion General," He saluted.
Ironwood stood stiffly, hand behind his back. "Go ahead."
"We have reports of more attacks on the airships sir, The Schnee ship and other civilian extraction ships have either fallen or sustained great damage in attacks by Griffins."
"That is unfortunate, it was to be expected that heavy Grimm activity would accompany this battle. But the not even the skies are our safe route out now." A short sigh forced itself out. "We must continue to hold firm on this safe zone in Vale. Our first few ships to leave for Atlas should be able to send reinforcements promptly."