Author's notes: Well it took substantially longer than I expected to get back into the character's heads. But Legacy of War is finally back! ( =

Also would anyone be interested in hearing about the lives of Winter Rose and Gilgamesh Arc? I wasn't initially planning to go back that far but I have no shortage of ideas either. PM or review if that would be something you'd be interested in (or if you have any other kind of feedback for that matter.)

30 BP (75 years before team RWBY)

Winter Rose was going shopping. Dustmas was coming up and she had to get presents for her husband and child. She knew her husband would like a new coffee maker but she couldn't quite decide what to get for her 5 year old daughter, Summer.

She looked at Summer's list. It was filled with things like "trip to the moon" and "visit from Gilgamesh Arc". She considered writing to someone to check if the legendary hunter was busy before she realized she wouldn't even know who to contact.

She eventually decided on a good book and a large chocolate Beowolf. She picked up a copy of "Encounter at Farpoint" and grabbed the largest chocolate Beowolf they had that wasn't bigger than could be finished before it spoiled.

As she was leaving the store. She saw Summer Rose waiting for her outside. Winter tried to hide the bags of presents behind her own body. She saw her husband's face go white and felt a barrel jab into the back of her neck.

A man spoke to her "are you Winter Rose?"

She very calmly responded "yes"

The man answered quickly "my name is Elliot Georgia. Some may call you a 'hero'. I know better. I know you are nothing more than a faunus sympathizer. You want the faunus to be free. You want them to be equals. That makes you just as inhuman as they are. You are guilty of high treason against the human race. Sentence is death. Prepare for immediate execution. May the gods have mercy on your soul."

Winter felt the position and angle of the gun on her neck and knew exactly where he was behind her. She quickly elbowed him in the nose and started running towards the store. She hoped that he wouldn't dare to follow her into the crowds within. She was wrong. He recovered a few seconds later and started to chase her towards the store. He followed her into the flock of holiday shoppers. He immediately pointed his gun into the air and fired several shots. The people chaotically cleared the area around him. He saw Winter and ran after her while shooting in her direction. After not too long Winter had circled the whole store and left again. Eliot followed.

He caught up with her outside the store and grabbed her by the arm. He threw her down to the ground and lifted his weapon. Summer Rose could do nothing to stop the events unfolding before her eyes. Elliot pulled the trigger and there was a blinding flash. Summer watched as Winter went limp on the pavement above a growing puddle of blood. Summer watched her mother die.

2 years later

Peter Port arrived at school just like any other day. He paid attention in class and did as the teachers told. He skipped recess to talk with the teacher as usual. When lunch came around he quickly made his way to an empty table and sat down to eat. He noticed something in the corner of his eye that made him freeze to look. He saw a girl his age sitting alone a few tables over. He didn't recognize her. She must have been new. She seemed sad and wore a hood.

He picked up his bag and walked over to say hello "hi, my name is Peter. Can I sit here?"

Fu McGinnis looked up at the boy "sure, go ahead."

Peter sat and opened his lunch. He looked at Fu a bit closer. He saw something moving under her hood "why is your hood moving?"

Fu answered "I use it to hide my ears." She bent back a corner of her hood to show him one of her ears "I'm a faunus."

Peter reached over and pulled her hood down "you shouldn't hide your ears. Why would you want to do that?"

Fu slapped his hand away and rapidly lifted the hood back into place. It was too late. The damage had been done. A girl from a nearby table had seen her ears.

The girl walked over and introduced herself "hi, my name is Darla, Darla Winchester. I love your ears! They make you look like a freak." Darla grabbed the back of Fu's head and rammed it into the table.

Peter quickly pushed Darla away "get away from her! What's your problem?"

Darla laughed "my problem is that a faunus killed my grandfather. I don't trust them. So I think batgirl here needs to go."

Peter narrowed his eyes at her "she's not going anywhere. If you wanna change that you'll have to get through me first."

Darla turned to walk away "whatever, freaks"

It was only then that Peter looked back at Fu. Her mouth was bleeding and she was scrambling under the table searching for something.

Peter crouched down next to her "what are you looking for? Are you ok?"

Fu didn't stop searching "I'm fine. That bully knocked out my lucky tooth."

Peter asked as he started looking as well "your lucky tooth?"

Fu nodded "yeah, my mom says it's made of ivory. Dad was gonna have it removed in a few years so we could sell it. He said we could get a thousand Lien for it and he was gonna let me keep a hundred of it."

Peter saw an air conditioning vent and looked inside "is that it?"

Fu pushed him aside to look at the sharp white object "yeah, that's it." The bell rang and she reluctantly was forced to abandoned the tooth.

The next day at recess Peter found his way into the lunch room. He found the grate and pulled out a screwdriver he had borrowed from his father's toolbox. A few minutes later he had the tooth in hand and had reattached the vent before the bell went off that signaled the end of recess.

When lunch came he walked over to the table where Fu was sitting. He stopped a meter away and looked at her apologetically "I'm sorry I showed your ears to everyone. I didn't know it was supposed to be a secret."

Fu looked down at the floor "that's ok. It's not your fault Darla is a big fat meanie."

Peter outstretched his hand with the fang in it "I found this."

Fu looked at his hand in disbelief "how did you get that?"

Peter laughed "I had to break a lot of rules. I had to get it back because it was my fault you lost it. Can we be friends now?"

Fu smiled at the boy as she took the white fang from his hand "I'd like that. I think I'd like to have friends."

25 BP (70 years before team RWBY)

Arthur Arc knew that something big was coming. He just couldn't quite tell what. He had sensed it through his aura. No one believed him. He needed proof. He was headed to the library to research what it might be that he had detected.

He turned through dozens of old tomes and volumes filled with legends and prophecies that spoke of all nature of events that could merit the term "apocalypse". It was the only word he could think of to describe what he knew was coming.

Eventually he found an ancient text that spoke of the original crystal, the source of all dust in the world. The legend went that when humanity has lost all hope against the Grimm they had gone to a more powerful entity for help. They had contacted a being by the name of "Grod" and asked for a weapon to be used to fight the Grimm. Grod gave them a crystal that create transformed the rock around it into dust. They used that dust to fight against the Grimm but they forgot their side of the bargain. Grod had asked for one thing when he had given them the crystal. He had asked that they destroy the crystal once they were done with it as Grod did not believe that humanity was ready for the power it held. Eventually the crystal was lost and forgotten.

Arthur read this tale and decided to research anything else related to Grod. He found a book of prophecies. It spoke of the return of Grod on the day of dark alignment. It stated that when Grod returned it would search for the crystal. If it found the crystal still intact then it would shatter Remnant into fragments in the sky. Nothing would survive such an event. Arthur searched for further mention of the day of dark alignment. Eventually he found a volume that described a day when all the darkness in the world would align and extinguish all life. It said that the day would come on the 50th anniversary of the night as bright as day.

He found references to a night when the stars had shined much brighter than on any other night. He finally found a dated historical account. The night as bright as day had come only 12 days short of 50 years ago. Arthur's brain rattled with information but eventually one factoid came to the surface and made itself very visible. The day of dark alignment was in 12 days. Arthur had 12 days to stop the end of the world.

11 days til dark alignment

Arthur awoke and instantly grabbed all the books he had used for research to take his findings to someone. His father would have been perfect for this if he hadn't have died a few years back. He decided to go to the military. He found a military base and tried to walk through the gates before a guard held out an arm in front of him.

The guard asked him "name and identification?"

Arthur sighed "Arthur, and I don't have any ID but I'm here on a matter of utmost importance. The fate of the world may well rest on what I do today. Which means you have a choice to make. You can either follow regulations to the letter and stop an unarmed man from entering an area where literally everyone is armed and very dangerous or you can let me talk to your superior officer and quite possibly save the world in the process. Now, what are you going to do?"

The guard led him to the colonel in charge of the base. Arthur walked into the office and dropped the pile of paper on the colonel's desk.

The colonel spoke calmly but strictly "what is all this? And please summarize it for me. I don't have 5 hours to spare before I decide if you're worth my time."

Arthur gave a quick nod "I understand, I'll keep it brief. I believe that I have found sufficient evidence to suggest that a global devastation event may be only 11 days away."

The colonel looked at him "I'm going to bed a bit more than that to decide if you're crazy or not."

Arthur pulled out a sheet of old paper and placed it in front of the colonel "you can see here references to a "day of dark alignment" when, if the original crystal is still intact, the world will shatter into fragments in the sky. I also found reference to a day when darkness would align that has been predicted by some to take place on the 50th year since "the night as bright as day". Then I found historical accounts from almost 50 years ago to the day that described a night when the stars lit up the night giving the effect of 72 hours of daylight."

The colonel interrupted "that was the night as bright as day. Which makes the day of dark alignment 11 days from now."

Arthur nodded "exactly"

The colonel asked "so what would you have me do about it?"

Arthur's smile dropped "what do you mean?"

The colonel pointed at the papers "I mean that you still have no evidence pointing to the location of the crystal. We can't exactly destroy a crystal we can't find."

Arthur answered "that's not entirely true. I did find this passage that speaks of the day the crystal was lost. It states that it was being moved to the place closest to the Sun when it fell to the place that's farthest from."

The colonel thought for a moment "the place closest to the Sun sounds like Mt. Sol. It's the tallest mountain on this side of remnant."

Arthur nodded "any ideas on the place farthest from?"

The colonel shook his head "there's nothing near the mountain for several kilometers except woods and a few shallow caves."

Arthur frowned "well Mt. Sol is still the best bet we have. How many men can you spare?"

The colonel laughed "if you're right and this really is the apocalypse then we'll need all the help we can get. If you're wrong then I lose my job either way. I'm mobilizing the whole base."

Arthur smiled "that just might be enough."

Up next: 9 days later