The End of All We Knew and Loved Chapter 1


Ruby Rose of RWBY

Day One - 22:31:42

Escaping the event known only as The Cataclysm

Current Location: The wilderness south of the city of Vale

Transcript Oh-One Dash One, Audio Log: Play


Authors Note: The events of this story take place originally before the Vytal Festival Tournament. Everything that happened after the Festival takes place will not be apparent in this story. There will be many small details that you may have to remember in order for the story to fully make sense, so try to pay close attention. Story will alternate between third person and first person to give the reader a full experience of immersion. Audio logs will take place in first person.


The only choice we had was to run. Once the emergency alarms rang out, it was escape or die. We got out of there as quick as we could. I didn't see most of us escape alive though, and those that did went different ways. Nora and Ren became separated from us as we ran. In the chaos, we ran into Jaune and had no time to talk to him about what had happened to his teammates. I was forced to hold back tears and the urge to activate my semblance. I couldn't leave my teammates behind. Professor Oobleck was already waiting at the airship pad for the remaining students. But the only students that he would find would be me, Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Jaune.

We wasted no time in boarding the final airship. I kept looking back in hopes that someone else would emerge. No one did. With little knowledge of aviation, Oobleck became our new pilot. I guess we had no choice, though. A massive crack appeared in the airstrip only a few moments after we took flight. It was some kind of miracle that my whole team was still alive.

I looked back at Beacon while we flew off in a direction away from the school and the city of Vale. Beacon Tower was lopsided and on the verge of collapse. Ruins and giant cracks were everywhere. Fire ravaged the once peaceful academy. A few airships were evacuating the same as us, but I doubted that many of us actually escaped...

But the one thing that I remember the most was the amount of liquid dust was in the air. A very thick swirl of purple dust suspended above the school, emanating from a chasm behind Beacon Tower. From what Oobleck told us, if we inhaled even a tiny bit of the purple stuff, our bodies would reject it immediately and probably, maybe kill us.

Once we were flying over the forestry wilderness south of the city, Weiss explained to Jaune that Nora and Ren had run in a different direction. All we knew was that the six of us were alive. that was all.

"It'll work out in the end, Rubes. Just stay strong for us." Yang comforted me. I could see in her eyes that it was mostly for her sanity though. I remembered that as soon as we were in the air, I couldn't control my tears and sadness. We were all crying, except for Jaune who was holding back his air sickness in the corner. We calmed ourselves enough eventually. But once that happened, a new problem arose.

A bunch of flashing lights erupted all around the inside. Then Oobleck's voice rang out over the intercom: "We're having some major engine problems. I'm going to have to make an emergency landing. Brace yourselves everyone!"

We didn't have much time to brace ourselves. The ship lurched violently as metal scraped the tops of trees, quickly descending. Oobleck was doing his best to keep us from crashing hard. None of us dared to move until the ship came to a complete stop on the forest floor. Even then, we were wary. Oobleck emerged from the cockpit with a rather large bag strapped on his back.

"I hope you all located and grabbed your weaponry before we abandoned the school." Oobleck stated in a tone that felt extremely more tired then usual. I patted the hilt of Crescent Rose to assure myself that I still had it. Weiss withdrew Myrtenaster, Blake to Gambol Shroud, Yang to Ember Celica, Jaune to Crocea Mors. The first thought that came to our heads was to take our weapons. Especially me, I couldn't bare leave my sweetheart behind.

Oobleck held his thermos up and gave us a reassuring grin. He instructed for me to shoot the lock on the door behind us since the controls up front were jammed. I did as I was told and watched as the electronic lock short-circuited and released the door lock. Oobleck stepped forward and knocked the door away with a swift movement.

"Now remember, this is wilderness territory. The level of Grimm activity here is surely higher than what any of you are used to. We will need to locate shelter as soon as possible if we want to stay alive. Now follow me, and save your energy and ammunition." Oobleck began walking out into the forest. We had no choice but to let him lead us on.

We didn't encounter anything at first, but we were exposed. We were constantly on guard and were walking at a slow pace through the thick vegetation. Jaune and me took point to clear the heavy roots and bushes with our bladed weapons. It was sluggish and painful. Then we encountered a pack of Beowulves in our way. The six of us cleared them out as quick as we could.

I was starting to get hungry and tired after about thirty minutes, but I kept up my hacking and slashing. Not much later, I can remember hearing a nearby scream. It wasn't pained, but instead sounded like a battle cry. Our group rushed off in the direction of the sound and came upon some friendly faces.

Sun and Scarlet!

We knew that they were still at Beacon Academy during the...

(Hey Yang! What were you calling the whole Beacon getting destroyed thingie again? ...what? I can't hear you! ...oh, okay.)

...during The Catamuh...no, no, the cat-a-cly-sm. The Cataclysm, there we go! Okay, back to where I was.

Team SSSN were at Beacon training for the Vytal Festival and they must have been in the same situation we were. But I didn't know what they were doing out here at the time. We rescued them from a group of four giant Ursas. They seemed ecstatic to see us, which was revealed when Sun ran towards and hugged Blake. Scarlet just kind of stood there with a dorkish smile.

"We became separated from Sage and Neptune back at the Academy. A chasm opened up between us when we were escaping. There was nothing we could do." Scarlet explained to Oobleck as the reunion died down. Oobleck seemed eager to get back on track and didn't want to hear a large explanation just yet. So our group expanded from six to eight, and we returned to the course.

The sky was quickly getting darker and my limbs were sore. Oobleck was desperate to find something we could reside in for the time being. We stopped moving when he pointed out a wooden structure to the right. It was somewhat crude, but pretty big. It was centered in a large clearing and there were no Grimm surrounding it. It looked abandoned, but at least it was in a nice condition.

We shifted our efforts towards the cabin. I made one final lunge at the wicked vegetation in our path and entered the side of the clearing. As we got closer, I could see that the cabin was constructed quite recently and that it was large enough to support all of us.

"This looks like one of the forester's cabins that were put up to help lower the amount of Grimm activity surrounding the major cities and schools. If my calculations are correct, then we should be safe from all Grimm. Most of these cabins have a basement generator that sets up a barrier made of aura. Grimm can't pass through unless it's shut off. Everyone inside." Oobleck lead us all into the cabin. He immediately located the basement door and hurried down.

The seven of us huddled together in the kitchen. Well, not actually huddling. Weiss suggested we scavenge whatever we could since I was complaining about being hungry. Most of the stupid cabinets were empty but we found a few cabinets full of things like canned soups and candy bars. We piled what we found on the central counter.

Oobleck returned and told us with a relief that the generator was turned back on after he fiddled with it. With a reinvigorated attitude, he complimented us on finding a stockpile then disappeared to try and find a fireplace he could start up.

We ate as little as we could just to fill us enough. This cabin was a blessing. Everyone started off to go help Oobleck with what he was doing. Weiss and me were the last to leave. Before I could move, she grabbed my arm with a concerned look on her face.

"Ruby, we need you to be a leader more than ever now. I'm scared to lose anyone else. Circumstances aren't exactly...normal. So please, for the sake of us all, become the leader we need you to be." Her voice was serious. I nodded and we both went into the next room where a warm fire was safely blazing in the fireplace. Furniture surrounded the pit that the others were sitting in, discussing a plan of action.

"Ah, Ms. Rose and Ms. Schnee. Come join the conversation. We were just talking about what we were going to do next." Oobleck said once we entered the room. There were two windows on the far wall, one of which was noticeably broken outward. I sat on the floor after Weiss took the last available chair. We talked for a while about the future of our group.

We decided that we would make this cabin our base until the generator ran out of fuel. Oobleck estimated about fifty to sixty days. We certainly found enough food for that time period. After that, we would scavenge all that we could and traverse towards a fortified settlement in the wilderness. A map provided by the cabin gave a detailed layout of all the settlements in the area. Once we reached the settlement, we would find a way to contact a different kingdom for a rescue effort. We all agreed on the plan and started to make ourselves comfortable.

We searched each room for things such as blankets or places to rest. There were a total of five beds across three rooms. I volunteered to sleep on a sofa along with Weiss and Oobleck. At least there were three sofas...

Well, nobody went to sleep right away. I went into Yang's room to record this audio thingie so that I could track what happens until everything is...normal again. Hopefully things will be fixed soon...