Author's note: This is my version of RWBY volume 4 and beyond. The dotted line in between paragraphs mark a change in perspective from one character to the next. Hope you like it! Cover Image made by TyberZann2814 on Deviantart
One hour…One hour was all it took for Ruby's whole world to fall apart, shattered like the false illusions of peace that they knew. She still had dreams about that night. It was all so bright and happy before, but like the setting sun it was gone in an instant and replaced with a night of hell on Remnant. The memories were all so vivid but confused, melting together into a pool of fear and terror, memories of sharing secrets with Penny intermingled with images of her dismembered lifeless body on the floor of the arena. The shock of seeing that criminal Torchwick be devoured by a Grimm. The sounds of her teammates' laughter laid over the sights of Yang's unconscious body lying on the cobble stone of the schoolyard with one arm a bloody mess of bandages and the other clutched tightly in the hands of a wounded Blake rapidly repeating the same three words, "I'm so sorry." The sickening appearance of the Grimm dragon that had snaked its way around the CCT, and whose roars silenced Vale and deafened the world. The image of Cinder's arrow piercing Pyrrha's chest burning her to ashes as she gasped for air was branded into her nightmares every night, including tonight.
"Ruby! Ruby, wake up!" A panicked voice yelled.
Ruby woke up with a violent jolt which pushed Nora onto her back with a loud thud.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ruby screamed at the top of her lungs, eyes sparkling silver, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Nora jumped up and pulled Ruby into a hug and began whispering into her ear. "Shhh….it's okay, it's okay, you stopped it, it's not going to hurt anyone anymore," She spoke these words in such a gentle, motherly, tone it was hard to believe that a few months ago Ruby only knew her as her team's hyperactive rival from team JNPR. "Better?" She asked.
"Yeah," Ruby said as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "Better."
Nora smiled and stood up, allowing Ruby to reassess her surroundings. It was sunset, the rising moon was shining dimly in its broken phase, barely illuminating their mismatched team's campsite. The only real light was coming from the… Ruby flinched and looked away, ever since that night she couldn't even look at fire. She didn't want to look at the sunset either for worries that it might bring back memories of better times.
"We're going to be sprouting grey hairs pretty soon if you keep making us worry like that" Nora said.
Ruby sighed, it had been roughly four months since the battle and the nightmares weren't pulling any punches, she had hoped that her journey to Haven, the Huntsman academy in Mistral, with Nora and the others would help keep her mind off things but this was the third episode she had since they left Patch three weeks prior. "It's embarrassing, you guys were there too and your dreams don't send you into a fit!" Ruby groaned in frustration at her own inadequacy.
"We were there yes, but you were at the center of it. You…" Nora trailed off and shifted uneasily on the ground, "Saw it all." she finished.
Ruby stared at Nora intensely as to avoid letting her eyes wander to the fire. Nora's naturally messy orange hair seemed right at home with the rough wilderness but she could see on her face that she, like her, was nearing her emotional limit. There were bags starting to form under her wild green eyes. She was constantly jittering like always, not in the carefree and unpredictable way her friends came to know and love about her, but in an anxious way, like how a kid can't sit still when a parent tells them to.
"Where are Ren and Jaune?" Ruby asked to break the silence. As if on cue the two teenage boys came barreling through the bushes.
"NORA!" Ren yelled, as Jaune tripped on a root and toppled on top of him with a loud grunt.
The sight made Ruby and Nora laugh, "For a couple of huntsman in training you two sure are clumsy." Nora said in between her giggles. That made Ruby smile ever more, it was good to see the fun loving Nora was still alive in there even if it felt like the whole world seemed to be trying to kill it.
"Don't look at me, it was Jaune who tripped" said Ren as he was dusting himself off.
"Hey it was a team effort" said Jaune as he did the same.
"But what happened? We heard screaming" Ren asked concernedly.
Ruby's face went a bright shade of pink, "I was screaming too?" She asked as she buried her burning face in the folds of her shirt.
Nora and the others exchanged worried looks before Jaune sat down next to Ruby and patted her on the back. "Don't worry we aren't judging you, we're barely doing any better" he said in a weak attempt to comfort Ruby.
She looked up at him, even though he wasn't good at consoling with words, his very presence always felt calming. Something about his awkward wide smile always cheered up everyone.
"Come on everyone, Dinner's almost ready, let's act like normal teens for once and eat our problems away!" Nora said in her once normal chipper mood.
"Ha, you seem to be getting better at cooking Nora" Ren scoffed.
"Why thank you," Nora said proudly as she began passing out slices of turkey.
"And it only took the world going to hell for it to happen," Ruby said sarcastically, Jaune and Ren chuckled much to Nora's annoyance.
...
Yang woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Panting heavily she removed her covers and turned on the lamp at her bedside. She looked down at her left arm and saw it shaking furiously. "Ok, Yang remember what dad told you, just breath," Yang closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her nerves. Afterwards she looked to her right and winced, she doubted that she would ever get used to seeing a tiny stump where her arm once was once was. She sighed, "I need a glass of water." she moaned before getting out of bed and shambling down the hall.
When she entered the kitchen she found her father sorting through travel supplies and stuffing them into a backpack. He turned around when he heard her enter and nearly jumped out of his skin, "Y-yang, What are you doing up this late you should be in bed!"
Yang rolled her eyes and responded in a kind of distant tone, "It's been four months, dad, I'm fine, what are you doing?"
"Well um…" Taiyang rubbed the back of his head and did everything in his power to avoid eye contact with her. Ever since the incident Yang had seemed to always have an angry subtext to everything she said and a piercing stare that could make a Goliath flinch. "Things have been pretty bad recently and the Huntsman Association has called a meeting at Shade in Vacuo for all Platinum rank Huntsman so I…"
Yang sighed, "Don't worry about me Dad, just go do your work and save the world like Ruby." Yang said in a tired and disinterested tone.
Taiyang winced at the mention of his daughter that ran away from home to chase whatever delusion of grandeur that Qrow had filled her head with. "Yeah, save the world," he said while swallowing the lump in his throat. "I'm not leaving until tomorrow so don't worry about it ok, I'll be back in a week or so, and I asked some of the neighbors to check up on you," he put his hand on Yang's shoulder, trying not to stare at her stump arm. "You will be all right, don't worry." He said, trying to be reassuring.
"Ok," Yang said with the most sincere half smile she could muster. He hesitated for a moment before lifting his hand from Yang's shoulder.
"Now get back to bed, you still need your rest. I'll bring you some water."
Yang nodded before walking back to her room, a large grimace replacing her weak smile.
...
Blake's wounds were still sore but they were no longer hindering her ability to fight, she had already fended off a dozen Beowolfs and a few Ursas in search of the local White Fang hideout. The lackey she had interrogated said that they had taken over the ruined night club in the slums and were shipping weapons to another location. She didn't hear Adam's name, so there was a chance he wouldn't be there, but if he was then it would finally be time to face him. Blake knew she couldn't win against him, but she just had to fight him, to put an end to this madness even if it meant she couldn't ever see her friends again. Blake arrived outside the nightclub she was told about and began getting ready for a fight, she peered in through a window and surveyed the room, the bar and dance floor were torn apart and there were at least 2 dozen soldiers and a lieutenant carrying a large mechanized pickaxe similar to the chainsaw that the lieutenant from Mount Glenn used.
Blake entered through the window and began to meticulously circle around the building's rafters. "Dammit, he isn't here!" Blake yelled on the inside. Blake saw out of the corner of her eye, something moving on the other side of the glass window on the owner's door. Blake moved towards the door quietly and picked the lock. She carefully opened the door and found the owner of the club as well as a few thugs and two gaudily dressed women tied up and gagged.
Blake crept into the room and closed the door before removing the gag in the owner's mouth. "Blehhck…if you're going to kill us now then get it over with; you've already bled us dry of all our supplies...Blec!" Blake quickly stuffed the gag back in his mouth.
"Not so loud!" Blake hissed in a hushed voice. "I'm not one of them, just tell me what happened, I'm going to remove the gag now, if your voice gets any louder than mine and alerts the guards then I will gut you so fast you will be dead before they open the door. Got that?" The Owner nodded in agreement with a terrified expression. Blake smiled, "Good boy." she said slyly as she removed the gag.
"Now," Blake took out her Gambol Shroud and pointed the shiv at the Owner's neck, "Start talking." she said.
"God dammit," the Owner said in a quiet voice, "how many teenage girls are going to try and kill me this year?" He said, incredibly annoyed. "My name is Junior, and these animals, no offense, took over my whole setup after the city went to shit. You see this club is only a front, in actuality it's part of a dust smuggling network. The White Fang took over because they needed my network to smuggle weapons and troops to the Atleasian capital."
Blake looked confused, "Why would they go to Atlas? It's the most heavily guarded place in the world and they just finished their last attack, they can't be at full strength!" She said worriedly.
Junior grumbled, "I don't know, they said something about striking while the iron was hot. At first they offered me money in exchange for help, but I'm no terrorist so I said no. Then that guy with the Katana showed up…"
Blake's face fell, "That guy, what was his name? Was it Adam?" She asked.
Junior thought for a moment, "Yeah it was" he finally said.
Blake was right, Adam was here, "But why Atlas?" She asked herself. But before she could think on it further the door opened and a Faunus walked in.
"Alright Junior, you and your little club of misfits have lived out your usefulness. It's time to say…" He froze when he made eye contact with Blake and the whole room fell silent for a few seconds before Junior spoke up.
"Hey! Perry! What's up? How has terrorism been working out for you? Let's just all sit down and have a nice..."
Perry quickly pulled out his rifle and aimed it at them but Blake jumped up and shot the gun out of his hand and kicked him out of the doorway, sending him falling till he smashed head first into the bar.
Knowing her cover was blown she leaped out into the center of the destroyed dance floor and began shooting everything that moved. One, two, three, four guards dead before they finally started attacking back. Blake used her clone semblance to slip quickly into the shadows, confusing the guards long enough for her to pounce on a group of them.
The Lieutenant was getting very angry and began yelling. "Damn Maggots! Just kill her already! This operation is too important to be compromised!" He grabbed his weapon and charged at her.
Blake back flipped onto a crate to avoid his swing and then leaped to the railing above and began shooting down at him. The bullets hit but barely seemed to faze him. He clearly had an unlocked aura.
The guards on the upper level began raining suppressive fire down on Blake, forcing her to retreat into a corner. Not wanting to be cornered, Blake tucked and rolled to the nearest cover and started picking off the guards one by one again.
"I've got you now!" The lieutenant yelled. Blake had been so busy slicing through their ranks that she didn't notice him until he was right behind her. She tried to run but he grabbed her and slammed her on the ground, dizzying her. The lieutenant smiled a sadistic smile, raised his pickaxe and said, "This is my lucky day, Adam is sure going to pay quite the hefty price for your dead body, now stop squirming and I'll make it quick!"
Blake snapped, she wasn't going to die here to some no name lackey, no, if Adam was going to have the satisfaction of seeing her dead then he would have to put her down with his own two hands!
She used her semblance in junction with the last of the dust that Weiss gave her on their mission to Mount Glenn and froze him to an icy clone of herself, rendering him completely immobile. "You slimy Bitch!" The man yelled.
Blake jumped from the walkway to pounce on a guard and stabbed him with her weapon. The other guards, who had let their guard down due to thinking their boss killed her, scrambled into a sloppy formation which Blake quickly broke apart. Once she was in the center of the group she let her animal instincts take control. In a blinding flurry she hacked and slashed her helpless foes and easily dispatched them all in less than a minute, leaving them all either dead or bleeding onto the floor.
"ENOUGH!" A voice boomed. The lieutenant had broken free and in a berserk rage at the loss of his men, jumped from the walkway to try and finish Blake off with a single powerful strike. Blake channeled every speck of dust left over, as well as much of her aura, into her blade and leaped into the air to meet his strike. But at the last second she turned her weapon and stabbed him in the stomach piercing his aura for a split second. He howled in pain and the two toppled to the ground.
He staggered to his feet clutching his wound with one hand and his weapon in the other. Blake didn't give him a chance to attack again and threw her grappling hook attachment around his neck causing him to begin choking. He dropped his Pickaxe and started pulling at the rope in a panic, the poor idiot.
With all her might, Blake pulled on the rope and flung him head first into a steel beam so hard it dented. His whole body shuttered before falling to the ground lifelessly.
She fell to her knees in exhaustion and sat there gasping for breath for about a minute before she heard Junior calling from upstairs. "Cat girl where are you? Did you win? If you didn't then...uh…never mind."
She smiled, "I won, be there in a minute."
After freeing Junior and his men from captivity he gave her a bear hug that nearly came closer to ending her life then the fight. "Damn, what are they feeding you kids these days!? First Blondie now you? Anyways have a drink on me!"
She looked at him in shock "Did you say Blondie? You don't mean Yang Xiao Long do you?"
Junior's smile faltered a bit at the mention of her name. "Yeah, she nearly destroyed my club about a year ago. I'm guessing she is a friend of yours?"
"Blake looked down at her feet, "Yeah, we were on the same team at Beacon but she got badly injured during the grimm invasion, and now I'm not sure if she will pull through."
Junior chuckled, "Look on the bright side, at least she will be a lot humbler now."
Blake felt anger rising in her, "What do you know?" She yelled.
Junior sighed, "I wouldn't worry too much about her, from what I've seen not even death can stop her, it would just get her angry." Him and all his men collectively shivered.
Her anger subsided, "You're right, thank you. If you know anything else about what the White Fang is up to I would most appreciate it."
"Well then I guess this is your lucky day pussycat," said a very apathetic voice.
The two gaudily dressed girls walked up holding a rolled up map and gave it to Blake. "This was in one of their rooms, I think it's a plan of attack or something."
Junior scratched his head, "Well let's check it out then" he concluded.
The four of them unrolled the map onto the only unbroken table in the place and recoiled in shock.
"The Schnee Company Headquarters?" Junior yelled. "They really are crazy!"
Blake shook her head in dismay, "No, that would be a suicide mission of the highest order! Why would Adam willingly do something like…" Blake went pale at her realization, "Weiss, he is after Weiss." Blake looked up at Junior hopelessly, "Is there anyway for me to get there in time?"
Junior began frantically reading all the notes on the map, "Bad news and good news. Bad news is that the attack is only a week away, these guys were the last of the troops to head out. The good news is you got here just in time, they were about ready to leave with the last transport and you stopped them." He looked up and smiled, "We're going to move our business to somewhere less Grimm infested, and we'd be happy to drop our savior off in Atlas on the way."
She exhaled a sigh of relief, "Thank you Junior" she said.
Junior turned to his crew and yelled, "Get everything we need men! We're moving our operation to my brother's place in Mistral!"
...
The next night Yang was having dinner with her neighbor and temporary caretaker Mrs. Chestnut.
"That was delicious Mrs. Chestnut. My father could learn a lot from you." Said Yang in a cheerful voice.
The middle aged Woman chuckled, "Oh Yang you're too nice, you did a lot of the work yourself, even with your...um...disadvantage you helped prepare this dish marvelously, I could have just given you the recipe and you could have made it yourself, heck it would have probably been better!"
Yang smiled, "Oh you give me too much credit, It was your wonderful teaching that helped me."
Mrs. Chestnut blushed, "Fine, fine, I'll take the compliment if you're so insistent on giving it. Now I'll clean this up and tomorrow I can teach you how to cook Salmon. I say by the time your father's back you will be the best chef in Patch!"
Yang's smile faded, "Yes...Of course." She said while staring down at her lap.
Mrs. Chestnut took Yang's only hand into her own and said warmly, "You know how it is with men, they constantly feel like they have to protect the ones they love, but that's not a bad thing, I remember when my husband was in his glory days, he would always leave on grand and dangerous adventures for weeks at a time and I always missed him dearly, but he always came back smiling, knowing that what he was doing was right and keeping me safe."
Yang pulled her hand away and started crying, "But that's not how it was supposed to be! It was my turn to go out and see the world, It was my turn to be the one to help people, It was my turn to keep the ones I love safe! Now he and Ruby have to do it for me, and I'm the weak one!" Yang pounded her arm on the table nearly breaking it.
Yang then regained her composure and apologized. Mrs. Chestnut got up and hugged Yang, "Yang sweetie it's ok. This is only a bump on the long and crazy road of your life and you must steel yourself, because this world is both cruel and beautiful, but don't give up just yet, you're an amazing woman with much more than a strong punch to offer. I know this is hard to accept but look on the bright side, you may have just been spared a lot of trouble, for the life of a huntsman is one littered with tragedy."
Yang wiped the tears from her eyes and sniffled, "Thanks, that really helped."
Mrs. Chestnut blushed again, "Oh it was nothing. My, Beautiful, polite, strong, ambitious, and a fine cook? You will make a fine wife for the man of your dreams some day."
Yang laughed, "Well I'm not eyeing anyone right now, who knows what could happen?" She glanced up at the time, "Oh it's already that late? You should really get back home soon."
Mrs. Chestnut looked at the clock and was taken aback. "Oh where has the time gone! Well no use dwelling on it, You sure you can get to bed alright?" She asked.
Yang nodded, "Don't worry, just go home and get some rest, you look really tired."
Mrs. Chestnut kissed Yang on the cheek and began walking to the door, "Well do behave my dear, I will be back again tomorrow." She stepped outside but before closing the door she turned around and said, "Don't be discouraged dear, because when one door closes in your life, another two will always open up." She closed the door behind her and walked away.
The second she was gone Yang's smile turned into a tiered frown, "That is it! I won't stay here and be trained as a housewife while my little sister saves the world!" She said furiously to herself.
An hour later Yang had almost finished packing her bag, she found the lock number for the family safe and took 700 Lien, "Sorry Dad," she said to herself as she put the money in her pocket. Ruby was too sweet to steal any money so she was taking the long hike across the continent to the refuge boats near Vale to get to Haven, but with this money Yang could catch a ride straight to the capital of Mistral and catch up with her. She knew this was a pretty scummy move, but in her condition she wouldn't survive on her own. She need to get there before Ruby or else she may never know where to find her.
She packed enough provisions for the trip as well as a flashlight, some spare clothes, and some extra rounds for her Ember Celica. She only had one of her trusty shotgun bracelets and was severely weakened because of it but she still needed it, not only because it was her only way of defending herself if she is attacked by a Grimm, but because it was a part of her just like her arm and couldn't be taken from her, unless it was by force of course. Lastly, she took her father's large winter coat and clumsily put it on for warmth. She was dressed pretty heavily already compared to her more revealing wardrobe, but she felt it was necessary due to the cold of the winter, even if it did feel very constraining. Once she was done she wrote a goodbye note on the table for Mrs. Chestnut and sneaked out the back door.
"It's a two hour walk that way to the port." She said to herself.
She gazed out at the open dirt road in front of her and deeply inhaled a large quantity of fresh air that smelled of pine trees. She exhaled, feeling more alive since the tournament. "A long and crazy road filled with grand and dangerous adventures, eh?" She smiled her first genuine smile in months. "Boy does the world have an even worse sense of humor than even I do." She looked back at her house one last time before taking off down the road.
Author's note: I will try and upload once a week on Saturdays. It may change but I hope to stay consistent.