RWBY Au: Last Hope
Original Concept By rwbythehuntress on tumblr
Story by me
They called us heroes, once. What was it that they used to say about us? That we were the "next generation of heroes", the "last light in an all-consuming darkness". They made us sound like saviors.
But we weren't heroes, we were weapons.
We were no fire. We were no burning beacon of glory and hope, blazing defiantly against the shadows. We were a flicker.
Many thought that was enough, thought that with enough kindling, we would ignite a fire that would never die. One that would burn for generations to come, and would allow us to leave behind the fear we had all become so sickly accustomed too.
But we were just a flicker. And all flames eventually burn out.
So it was with Atlas. With Mistral. With all of the kingdoms. Once upon a time, we were the kindling of that great, feeble fire.
Now, the few that remain lay scattered. Most are hiding, having finally given up on fighting for their 'great cause'. They're busy fighting for themselves now. After all, the second Great War made a target out of every last hunter and huntress left. At our lowest point, anyone who even knew how to use dust was targeted.
Things have changed since then, but not much. The world is still in ruins. I wouldn't call humanity "on the brink of extinction", but we're barely surviving. If the Grimm attacks weren't enough, the rouges keep everyone from branching too far outside the safety zones. Zones, I should add, that still risk falling every day.
A lot of people have given up. I've seen too many people succumb to the darkness; believing death was easier than burning another day. Then, I've seen the strays, those who still fight. Though they're just as cynical as the dead. I used to think like them, all the strays. After all, war showed me enough death to last several lifetimes.
But then I met her.
She didn't tell me at the time, but it was later that I learned her named was Ruby. Ruby Rose. The last huntress from Beacon Academy.
None of this I heard from her, everything I learned when I got to one of the zones. "Ruby Rose" they said, "she's going to save the world one day."
When I first heard it, I laughed. "The world's already past saving" I said to them, too amused to even sound bitter. The Ruby Rose I had met certainly knew how to fight, but saving the world was a different story.
It was then that a boy from Vacuo spoke up. A friend of a friend whose brother knew Ruby Rose. He made to defend her, and I prepared myself for the story of 'the one'. The story of the one born on the eve of the Great War, whose density it was to unite humans and faunus everywhere and bring an end to the darkness. When the boy began, I tried not to roll my eyes. The main character was always changing, but the story stayed the same every time.
Instead, the boy surprised me. He spoke not of a savior, but of a girl. A girl who had lost everything. Not a hero by any means, but another victim.
It would take me many months to gather the whole story. And as I did, I began to believe.
The first part I heard from the boy. Her story began with Ozpin's death, the first casualty of the Second Great War. He was the head of Beacon Academy, although this I had already known. Apparently he personally invited her to the school, though whether it was because of her aptitude or personal reasons I do not know. Either way, their connection surprised me. She must have felt the first blow harder than most.
Almost all survivors of the war remember that day; remember the shot that changed history. It was before the real fighting began, before all the com towers went down, so news of the death spread fast. Though we were all shocked, no one could have predicted the aftermath. No one saw coming the he chain of events that lead to the beginning of the chaos, the closing of the kingdoms, and General Ironwood's execution. By the time war was upon us, there was no turning back.
Ruby, I learned, fought on the side of Atlas. Granted, at the time most of us did, as the alternative meant betraying the system that had kept us all safe for more than 70 years. As a huntress-in-training, she worked within the kingdom initially, charged with protecting the citizens from Grimm, while others did the dirty work.
However, it wasn't long until the war was at Atlas's front doorstep, and her own classmates were being counted amongst the dead.
At first it seemed, she was fortunate. Though death surrounded her, Ruby and her closest friends remained untouched. There was still hope then, the higher ups still seeking a speedy end to the fighting. Then things got worse.
Though it's clearly speculation on his part, according to the boy things got worse after the capitol bombings. Some of Beacon's top hunters and huntresses were lost then. Port, Oobleck, even Glynda, all of them wiped out. By the time Governance dissipated, and by the time Ruby and her friends fled the city, they numbered only six.
This was all the boy knew for sure, it seemed. Next the world heard of Ruby she was alone. But I wanted, no, I needed to know what happened. And learning this proved the greatest challenge. Though the boy had heard that the six who fled had consisted of four humans and two faunus, he had no information on who they were, or how it was she ended up alone. That I had to learn for myself.
I talked to many who had seen or heard of the girl, but records were inconsistent. Many told tales of Ruby alone, and of the lives she saved during her travels. But few had seen her with others.
I was close to giving up when I stumbled upon an unexpected source, a book collector who roamed from zone to zone. He wouldn't give me his name, but it was easy to see he was passionate about his work. It's rare to see someone like that. Someone determined to preserve the history others were too willing to forget.
I searched his stock on instinct, curiosity compelling me more than my search for answers. I asked him if he had seen the red girl, though casually. He hadn't, and I almost passed him by when something in his collection caught my eye. It was a small black diary, from after the war.
Though I was hopeful, I didn't expect to find anything. So when I saw Ruby's name I was stunned. This was not just any journal, it belong to one of the six she fled with.
And it was in the journal that I learned the names of her companions: Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee, Sun Wukong, Jaune Arc, and Blake Belladonna, the diary's author. Four humans, two faunus. Just like the boy had said.
The first entries dated before the war; when the girls were part of team RWBY, Sun and Jaune the remnants of teams SSNS and JNPR. The journal told briefly of early missions together, even exploring Blake's time in the White Fang. However, entries became irregular after their second year, just before the Second Great War began.
Then their story went dark, eight months of time missing, the torn edges of the pages the only indication that the journal was still on someone's possession. When the entries resumed, they no longer had dates, so it was impossible to tell the consistency of the writing. For her part, however, Blake was thorough in her storytelling. She told of their journey in great detail, of their voyage South toward Vale. They were all good friends, the six, and fights between them seemed rare. In fact, the journal seemed to imply a few lasting relationships between a few, most notably Weiss and Ruby. Which made it all the more unsettling that I had found her alone.
However, it wasn't long until the group's first loss. Having recently been in a skirmish with a few rouges, their band had been significantly weakened. Blake openly expressed her concern for her partner Yang, who couldn't even stand upright without aid. So when the group was ambushed my Grimm, the situation looked dire:
"We didn't notice the Grimm until it was too late. It was our own fault, they must have sensed our fear and came running. But we couldn't help it; with Weiss and Yang's injuries we had to make it to shelter before nightfall. Unfortunately, we were not fast enough.
Ruby had us form a defensive circle around Weiss and Yang, having us hold the line in the hopes of at least driving the Grimm back. But they were persistent and – short on supplies and weakened already – it quickly became clear that we were fighting a losing battle.
It was then that Jaune stepped up, saying that he and Ruby could stay back, and distract the Grimm while Sun and I slipped away with Weiss and Yang. It was a risky plan; even Yang had enough fight in her to acknowledge it. But as we saw it, there was no other option. As soon as there was an opening Sun and I slipped away, he carrying Weiss, me supporting Yang.
About half a kilometer away we found a sheltered area, taking refuge. We could still hear the distant screams of the Grimm. Before I could stop him Sun turned back the way we came, intending to go help them. I would have followed, but I couldn't leave Weiss and Yang unprotected. Looking back, I should have taken the chance.
It was almost a half an hour later that Sun returned, Ruby close behind him. Trails of dried blood stained her face, and a deep bite on Sun's right leg caused him to limp badly. Something in their expressions told me what was wrong, even before a half conscious Weiss sputtered the thought on my mind: "Where's Jaune?"
Gone, my mind filled in. So he was their first casualty outside the walls. According to the journal, the group took the death hard. Jaune had been a close friend of theirs from their time at Beacon, in fact all of team JNPR had. His death must have crushed them.
But their struggles were not over yet. Though Weiss and Yang made strides in recovering from their wounds, Sun did not. The bite Blake mentioned had become infected, quickly progressing to the point that the faunus could barely walk. Blake's concern for him was apparent. Then, not long after Jaune, Sun passed away was well.
In some ways, the girls took his death worse than Jaune's. He was the last of their dear friends, the last link to teams JNPR and SSNS. After all they had been through, all they had fought for, team RWBY now found themselves alone.
The journal continued for a short period of time with the four girls. They managed to reach the ocean, securing an old ship which they had plans to take across. However, it was at this point that the diary stopped short, the back half of the pages stained with seawater. Desperate, I questioned the book collector, asking for more pages, or another book he had found with this one. But, this was all there was.
Before I could entirely lose hope, however, I stumbled across a note near the very back. The handwriting clearly wasn't Blake's, it was taller, scratchier. The message was shoved in the bottom corner of a page, like an afterthought.
"Blake. You spent so much time protecting me, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough the protect you. –Y"
I could guess who the Y was. From there, I could also guess who the next person they lost was. That left Yang, Weiss, and Ruby. After everything they had faced, still death pursued them. And would continue to, even further.
For weeks I searched for the final remnants of their tale, stopping from zone to zone, even pestering a few strays. A few of them had seen the group, and as time passed I managed to piece together that Yang had sacrificed herself to save Ruby and Weiss. There had been a Grimm hoard, and not enough time. Yang made the only decision she could to save her sister.
But what had happened to Weiss took the longest time to learn. Plenty of people knew of Ruby, stories of whom were spreading rapidly throughout the zones. But no one knew what happened to the last of the Schnee family. That is, until I met Lila.
She was a stray, traveling with a few other ex-huntsmen and huntresses. I had stopped them to trade items, some dried meats for some water canisters, dried fruits for some bandages, etc. Out of habit I asked if she knew Ruby, just in case. When I did, the entire group turned to me. "Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee," they said back to me. "Yeah we know them, they saved our lives."
It happened around six months ago, they told me, which wasn't too long before I had first heard of Ruby. Their group had been larger than, numbering seven over the four they had now. In a mountain pass they were ambushed by one of the larger, more feral groups of rouges, one of those that got a kick out of tearing down the smaller safety zones. It had been clear that Lila's group stood no chance, and they had been willing to cooperate and avoid bloodshed.
The rouges, however, had other plans. Ches – then the leader of Lila's group – was struck down before anyone could make to protest. It was only a matter of seconds before the fighting began. Lila and the other strays didn't hold back, but they were outnumbered, and hopelessly outmatched.
Then, as Lila describes it, a flurry of rose petals ripped through the battlefield. Two girls, one white and one red, stood between them and the rouges, weapons drawn. The girl in red, Ruby, pulled back her hood. She asked them to lay down their weapons, and cease fighting.
"Too many lives have been lost already today." She said calmly, looking peaceably between the two groups. "Wouldn't you rather retreat, and fight another day, than lose more brothers and sisters?"
Lila was shocked by the girl's words. She'd never seen anyone talk against the rouges like that, at least, not anyone who expected to live. But Ruby wasn't just speaking against them, she was calling for peace. In the middle of a battle, after war and tragedy had ripped apart any last shreds of hope, she dared to call for peace.
Naturally, the rouges laughed off her comment. If she had a death wish, it was fine by them. Without hesitation, the rouges lunged.
For a split second, neither girl moved, and Lila was sure they were gone. Then, in a flash of red and white they two attacked. According to Lila, they were like nothing she had ever seen before. The girls moved in perfect coordination, a precise balance of offense and defense, which left them practically untouchable. All of this without a word exchanged between the two, or a hint of reluctance. In merely a minute, the fight was over.
Lila and her group were left speechless, unsure whether to be afraid or thankful. They settled into the latter, feverishly expressing gratitude the two. Lila told them herself that her group owed the two their lives.
They were gracious, Weiss and Ruby. The Weiss they put it, they were just doing their jobs. For that moment, Lila expressed, it was almost like the times before the war. Here were two huntresses saving those in need, fighting not for personal gain, but for peace. Here were two who dared to stand against the darkness, in a time when almost no one else would. Here were two harbingers of hope.
Then that moment passed.
The sound of a rifle shot echoed through the mountain pass. One of Lila's group members quickly took care of the shooter, one of the rouges Ruby and Weiss had overlooked. But the damage was already done.
On that day, Ruby Rose became the last remaining member of team RWBY.
Ruby Rose's story is not the easiest to hear. Nor is it the easiest to tell. She is no hero to be written of in story books. She is no savior destined to bring humanity back from the brink of destruction. She is a girl. A victim. Just like the rest of us.
And that's why her story is the one that matters the most. As much as children like to hear stories of 'the one', everyone gets tired of baseless legends. After a while, people get sick of hearing "it gets better". What we need, what we always needed, was hope.
Ruby Rose is that hope. Our last hope. I did not gather her story for my own sake, but for them. For the strays, the rogues, the civilians, all of them. For the ashes.
Despite what I tell people, in all likelihood Ruby Rose will not save the world. She will not go on to forge a new kingdom, to reunite the scattered and reclaim what we lost. She is, after all, just one girl.
Though she herself may change little, her story may do more. Already tales of her have been spreading throughout the zones. And with these tales come hope.
There is still much to do. There are still others who do not know her name, or her story. That task is mine to fulfill. I may bear no weapons, but in my own way I too fight against the darkness. With words. The words that make up her story.
In time, many things will change. Then again, perhaps nothing will. Ruby's only task was providing the spark. It's up to the rest of us rekindle the flame.
A/N: This took me writing on and off about 4 months to complete. I tried a new style for this story, and I think it worked out pretty well. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!