Author's Notes:
-Well my friends, we have come to the end of the Mistralian Huntsman and Huntress Massacre. Before we begin this chapter, let us take a moment of silence to remember the fallen. These are all the huntsmen and huntresses that have fallen on or off-screen (at least, all the names we know of), in order of when their deaths occurred and/or were mentioned. Albeit they are likely a small sample of an overall larger population of huntsmen and huntresses, it is still a tragedy. (Which plays into the Hurt/Comfort and Angst genres I'd classify this story as.)
-Many of these guys were not shown in canon. The ones that were shown on-screen in RWBY canon material are bolded.
-Some of these characters even fell from grace before falling in battle. These characters are italicized.
-Note that all of these characters belong to Roosterteeth in one way or another unless specified otherwise, and please, pay attention to last names. I don't want any of these guys being mixed up with canon characters or other OCs. I can not stress that enough.
-Also note that any huntsmen/huntresses used in RWBY: The Grimm Campaign (such as the members of team SAFR (Sapphire)) or other RWBY media will not be used here, as the fates of many of those characters has yet to be determined. If applicable, I may show one or more of them in certain character flashbacks or in present time.
Now then, here's the list;
Dead; Phoenix Nikos (OC), Rory Andrews, Roux Forhan, Mauve Erdos, Zach Hyacinth, Fuschia Lin, Lucero Hawthorne, Boyd Raine, Ivy Altham, Shani Forenza, Lali Choi, Ash Lynch, Amethyst Kreiss, Inigo Nash, Lotus Yu, Jay Hawkins, Cyan Kratz, Caroline Teale, Team CUBB (Cubeb) members (in order of killing)- [Blanka Griffin, Ayress Umbra, Carmina Griffin, and Maza Bashir], Azura Durham, Dove Cowan, Terra Hunt, Orville Odur (OC, of team SOLR), Flann Lucero, Slate de Sena, Cascade Rhodes, Orion Page, Li Midori, Aoi Rivas, Venus Hale, Nova Carrillo, Mae Levine, Dee, Dudley, Daisy Hughes, Farrow Vaccaro, Shiro Wan, Star Rivera, Harkin Lunsford, Stark Silver, Aurora Castillo, Clover Hopkins, Wyatt Forest, Onyx Thurmon, Heather Shields, Uriel Aaron (OC)
Total deaths: 49
Alive: Aurelio Sterling (OC, Argus, currently comatose and not considered a threat), Brick Bond (OC, Vale (originally Argus), currently helping to repair the ruined Beacon Academy), Viola Varga (aka VV, originally Mistral, spared by being inactive and going on a musical tour), team SOLR minus Orville, or alternatively SLR- [OCs, Surya Arun, Apollo Legolas, and Atum Ra, now outside Vale, originally from Mistral, currently working to rebuild Aquarian's political structure], Crimson Arc (OC, spared and taken to an asylum), Maple Larsen (Higanbana, spared by being out of Mistral kingdom's boundaries), Anastasia Chrysanthe (OC, originally from Zephyros, spared by working with what was once team SSEA)
Total survivors: 9
Please note that there will be an official, separate death tally for significant characters at the end of volume 4 (which will include Orville, Dee and Dudley (and possibly the huntresses of team CUBB, among other deaths.))
Now then, considering I've had to shuffle certain parts between chapters a lot, let's get moving.
[May 30th, 80 AGW]
The camera cut to a shot of blue sky above a green forest. The sound of blowing wind was drowned out amongst the discussion of Nora and Ren as the camera showed a few shots inside the forest before Nora started speaking.
"I'm just saying," she continued as she and Ren emerged from behind a tree, walking together. "we have all four members of team JNPR and only one member of team RWBY. If we just introduce ourselves as team JNPR-Ruby, people might think we're talking about both teams instead of one team. It makes sense to go with JNPRR and call it a day."
"But JNPRR sounds the same as JNPR and would make Ruby feel invisible." Ren reasoned. "After the Water Dragon Incident, we really don't want to do that."
The Valkyrie groaned. "I know, but it doesn't make any sense to break up the letters of our team name if we have our entire team still alive and active."
"I never said that."
Nora shrugged. "Maybe R-J-N-P-R would work?"
"But that doesn't form anything tangible." Ren told her.
"Guys, we should not be arguing over such triv..." Pyrrha tried to say.
A rumble was heard and felt through their section of the forest. Pyrrha breathed to steady herself after a frightened "Woah," and looked at Jaune in concern, his normal weapon gone but instead having a temporarily-loaned gun in its place.
"It's here." Jaune spoke.
The scene changed to Ruby flying backwards from trees, firing Crescent Rose in the direction she came from. A collection of floating boulders with a Grimm mask forming a Geist moved the trees aside in pursuit of her.
The silver-eyed girl fell, crashing against tree limbs along the way. "Bad..." Crash! "...landing..." Crash! "...strategy!" Crash!
She rolled herself like a ball in midair, her feet finding a tree branch for her to jump back and regain her momentum. Flying past the Grimm with her semblance, Ruby retreated as Jaune and Pyrrha advanced.
Nora shot a grenade at the Geist's back. Unfortunately, it missed them, the Geist ignored it and continued its pursuit of the red-hooded girl. Jaune and Pyrrha ran towards the Geist as Ren jumped into the trees. Ruby, in the form of rose petals, dashed by them.
"I could use a hand here!"
She shot at the Geist again as Ren jumped out from behind.
The Grimm attempted to hit the ninja. Ren ran up its rock arm, flew into the air, and came down upon the Grimm, striking and firing at it with StormFlower, but to no avail.
Pyrrha similarly attempted to strike the eye of its head with two levitating swords of Floating Array, but fell short each time.
"My blades have no effect!" he exclaimed.
"He's too fast!" she warned as she called the swords back to her.
Ruby glared at the Grimm. "How about this?!"
She loaded a cartage with a lightning bolt on it into Crescent Rose and fired away. Electric bolts encased one of the Grimm's arms. The red lines on the arm glowed brighter, and the Grimm slammed it into the ground. Everyone was sent flying backwards- Ren, Nora, and Ruby managed to land on their feet, with the silver eyed warrior holding herself in place with her scythe in the ground. Pyrrha did the same with Milo and used her semblance to stop Jaune from tumbling into a boulder by pulling his chest armor forward.
He faintly smiled. "Thanks Pyrrha."
Nora glared at the Geist. "That's it!"
She ran forward, tossing Magnhild into the air and transforming it into hammer mode. She leapt into the air and hit the Geist with all her might, breaking its arm apart. A large piece of it flew straight toward Nora, but Ruby dashed between them and knocked it away. The Grimm then used its other arm to strike at the two girls.
As Jaune tried to figure out how to use his loaned gun to distract the Geist, he soon had to dodge a barrage of rocks. As he landed, he tried to get a sense of his bearings. "Hey! Be careful!"
A rock the size of his head hit him in the face and sent him into a tree. Jaune landed in a crouch and shook his head to clear the pain.
Pyrrha, who was in the process of trying to strike the Geist's eye, dropped her swords and ran to her beloved. "Jaune! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine..."
The Grimm continually tried and failed to hit an evasive Nora. Jaune stood up and looked up at the Grimm as Pyrrha created her sword skirt.
The Grimm's armless shoulder manifested a glowing red circle with a symbol of an eye in the middle. As Salem's Grimm emblem formed and spun around, a black, elongated arm with clawed fingers emerged from it. The arm reared back.
Pyrrha winced. "Uh-oh."
The Grimm shoved its new arm into the tree Jaune was leaning against and lifted it from the ground.
"His arm is a tree! His arm is a tree!" Jaune yelled as he ran, running by Pyrrha's side as they dodged its attack.
The silver eyed warrior smirked. "Big mistake!"
Ruby spun Crescent Rose and loaded another cartage into it - this one with an image of fire on its side. She fired away, and the flaming projectile swings around to the tree arm. Jaune fist pumps. The tree arm swung around to him, on fire, but not disintegrating. Jaune's smile quickly vanished.
"Even bigger mistake! RUN!" Jaune exclaimed.
The Grimm chased the lovebirds, swinging the flaming arm at them. It missed twice, but Jaune swiftly used his semblance to help him and Pyrrha evade the third swing. One of the StormFlower blades spun through the air and made a cut across the Grimm's mask. The Grimm fell as the group regathered.
"Okay, we need a new plan."
"His body is too thick to break through." Ren told them.
"It doesn't care about its body."
"It can grab new limbs." Nora added.
"It's always protecting its eye." Pyrrha mentioned.
"That's it. We need to take out all the limbs at once, and strike them in the eye."
Ruby blinked and smiled. "He's right. Let's take him down then."
"Very well. Ren, to the left. Ruby, right. Pyrrha; get back and use the combined power of Penny's swords. And Nora... Break his legs!"
The heroes went forward. Ruby attacked the right side as Ren attacked the left. Jaune ran around to make himself a target, firing at the Grimm with his gun.
Nora activated a mechanism generating a current of electricity across the hammerhead of Magnhild.
"Pyrrha now!"
With Polarity, Pyrrha lifted the swords of Floating Array and spun them in a circle as they charged up. Pushing her arms forward, the swords released a combined laser beam, severing the Geist's left arm.
All the while, Nora charged Magnhild even more and braced her feet. "Ready!"
Ruby landed next to Jaune after another attack.
"Use everything you've got!" he commanded.
Ruby used her semblance, Petal Burst, to fly at the Grimm, taking Nora with her, and the red and pink swirls went right for the tree arm. Ruby sliced the tree in half, opening the way for Nora to hit the mask with Magnhild. The rock body shatters and a piece of rock fell the ground. The ephemeral Grimm rose out of it and flew off.
With Milo in one hand and a Floating Array sword in another, she slashed through the Geist, causing it to dissolve.
Pyrrha smiled in relief. "And with that, victory is ours."
"Well done team." Jaune congratulated.
That same day, Weiss was still in Carapace Gorge. With her knight summon walking beside her, she saw a border for a dessert up ahead. There was a patch of dark brown colored rock that gave way to red sand, with small patches of sand extending over the rock and into the gorge.
She sighed. "I've been in this gorge for weeks."
I've been in the wild for two months.
"I cleared out a few Grimm, found former Trojan Alliance member Misty and helped her reunite with her family. But yet we are still here. You seem to detect what I can not; Grimm, people. What else can you feel around you?"
The Gigas summon was silent and took a few steps in front of her.
"And I'm learning again that you can't speak human language."
I've learned a lot during my time here. But I've been wondering; is there a possibility that magic is real? And that Grimm are made from dark magic?
No, that's ridiculous.
Suddenly her summon came to a stop in front of her, causing her to bump into it.
"Oh, what the?"
The Gigas pointed to a corpse. Weiss looked from behind him and felt a chill sprawl up her spine. The corpse was nothing more than a pile of bones at this point, but what got her attention was the item they held in their hand, appearing to reflect a small light.
Weiss looked closely at the item they held in their hands.
"A mirror?"
The Gigas summon nodded and motioned to the mirror. It was a vintage silver hand-mirror with a circular shape. The stem of the mirror had small butterflies etched into the precious metal. Facing away from Weiss, the backside of the mirror had a cursive 'f', one facing forward and one written backwards.
"Are you sure about this? I'd be stealing from the dead, and it's not like a mirror would help me."
Who knows what sort of pathogens are on it? But it's not like my Grimm summon would understand germ theory.
"It's not... cursed is it?"
The Armas Gigas nodded side to side, even though Weiss didn't notice.
"Oh what am I saying?" She knelt down and took the mirror from the corpse. "Magic isn't real."
The Gigas summon tilted its head to the side, as if to say, "Are you sure about that?"
The ex-heiress sighed. "Winter would reprimand me for believing such childish notions. Oh Winter. What would she say if she was here? I wish I could see her..."
Suddenly the mirror glowed with white energy. Weiss gasped as the energy in the circle swirled clockwise before Winter Schnee appeared in the mirror's glass.
She was sitting within a room, her hair loose. She grabbed a large navy blue hair-bow and started putting her hair up. The eldest sibling was wearing a white collared undershirt, a necktie that connected to her new brooch, and a girdle underneath the lapels of her coat. She wore navy blue gloves and pants and carried a Dust pouch around her waist. On her left side was a military badge that Weiss couldn't identify.
What is this? Weiss thought.
As Winter fixed her hair, Weiss's eyes darted around the room in the mirror. From the building interior architecture and skyline of the buildings below, Weiss could identify her location.
"My sister... is back in Atlas? At Atlas Academy?" she asked. "No, this can't be. She was stationed in Argus. Why was she called back?"
A knock was heard on the door.
"Come in." Winter answered formally.
Harriet Bree entered the room.
"Colonel Schnee. General Ironwood is requesting your presence in his office." she told Weiss's sister.
"Thank you, Ms. Bree. I'll be right there."
With this, Harriet left and the latter finished knotting her hair into a bun.
Winter spoke to herself, "From specialist huntress to Colonel Huntress. It appears I've come quite far in such a short amount of time. The only downside is that Weiss is not here to see it."
She gave a resigned sigh before leaving her room and entering the hallway.
Weiss willed the image to disappear, unable to bear watching her like this. The white light faded away.
"No... this can't be. Then this means my entire journey to Mistral, the dangerous flight to Mistral, and Fenix Atar's death... were all for nothing."
The ex-heiress stared at her reflection before giving off a sad sigh.
"I can't go back to Atlas. I went through so much trouble to leave the kingdom, and my abusive home behind." Her eyes watered. "With Winter's new position, she doesn't have time for me, even if she does miss me. I'd only be a hindrance."
The Gigas summon looked at her with what Weiss presumed was a look of sympathy.
Is Winter the only one who misses me? What about the servants? My parents don't care, and in his joy of being the new heir, Whitley doesn't care at all.
"Magic may be real, but it can't help me." She stood up and walked away from the skeleton, mirror still in hand. "I wish I could say that this is all a nightmare, that I'll awake from this comatose state, but I can't. I'm awake, and nothing will change." She tucked away the mirror, securing it in her waist sash before looking down. "I don't need a magic mirror to tell me that I'm still the loneliest of all."
Later that day, the heroic quintet members were back in Cornwater, giving their report to town leader Oroko Ayano as they walked through the town.
"We truly can't thank you enough."
Ruby smiled. "Just doing our job, Mr. Ayano."
"That Geist had been plaguing our village for weeks. We were beginning to wonder if we'd have to relocate."
"Well, we are on our way to Mistral. You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe." Ruby offered.
Scenes of the idyllic life in the village were shown: people buying fresh produce from a cart, standing and chatting on open balconies overlooking the roads, citizens tending to their horses and going about their daily lives peacefully. The village had plentiful trees, green spaces and cobbled roads.
The Mayor chuckled. "Anima is a large continent. I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the Kingdoms, but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more."
"Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient." Ren reassured them.
Team JNPR-Ruby bowed respectfully.
Following this, they made their way to the blacksmith.
"I will admit, between the Trojan Alliance badges you gave me, the circlet and the metal I found here in this village, I had no shortage of material to work with." He smiled at the quintet, his glance turning to Jaune. "And I've done well with it. Your armor is going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws."
The knight smiled sheepishly. "Wow. I... I don't know what to say."
"You don't gotta say anything! Just put it on! I'll go get your weapon."
The Faunus blacksmith turned and went out back into the shop.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pyrrha nudged him. "Try it on!"
"Oh, uh, right!" Jaune took off his old chest-plate. "Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually."
He turned around, Ruby gasping, covering her mouth and trying not to giggle.
"What?"
She pointed at his chest. "What is that?"
A bunny emblem appeared on Jaune's chest.
He shrugged, trying to save face. "What, my hoodie? I've always had this."
She snorted. "It's got a cute little bunny rabbit!"
Ruby laughed.
"It's Pumpkin Pete! You know, from the cereal?"
Ruby, nearly hysterical, continued her laughter. "What did you do?! Send in a box top for a prize?"
The knight turned away and folded his arms. "Yeah! Fifty of em!"
Ruby continued to laugh hysterically, her head stylistically expanding, before she fell onto the floor.
Pyrrha smiled. "I think it's adorable."
He turned to her, warming up. "You don't have to say that just because you love me."
Soon the blacksmith returned. "Can't have a Huntsman trainee without his weapon."
The modified Corcea Mors was presented. The sword was placed into the shield. Jaune's shield was now marked with bronze accents resembling Pyrrha's rusted circlet.
"The material you gave me was oddly beautiful and well made for a piece of rusted metal. Where did you get it?"
"I got it from her." Jaune gestured to Pyrrha. "My teammate, former teacher, and the love of my life. The gold in her circlet may not have been real, but the love between us and the bond we share is worth more than any gold could ever be."
"Aw..."
"You too are too adorable."
They smiled as Pyrrha soon helped Jaune get his new armor on.
"Guys, I have a proposal for a new team name."
Ren looked on in curiosity. "And what did you have in mind?"
"Team AVNRR (Avenger)." Jaune proposed. "Ruby still has her position of co-leader, but now we have a unique name that truly includes everyone. We are no longer merely team JNPR+Ruby. We are a new team, that will face whatever comes our way."
"Wow, that's really cool." Ruby gleamed.
"Hmm... Odd, yet fitting." Pyrrha said.
Nora gave a thumbs up. Even the blacksmith nodded in approval.
Ren raised a question. "Is AVNRR even a color?"
"Not necessarily, but it can allude to bloodshed in avenging someone." Jaune answered.
How fitting, considering Pyrrha's mission. Ren thought.
Pyrrha was silent.
"You kids sure you won't stick around?" the blacksmith asked. "You've been real good to this town."
"We would, but we've got another mission." Ruby answered.
Pyrrha looked at her hands. "Make it to Haven Academy and fulfill my promise there, no matter what."
Ren asked, "We've heard the next village over has a working airship. Is this true?"
The faunus blacksmith frowned. "I wish I could confirm that. Scroll signals were weak enough out here back when Beacon's Tower was still up. Haven't heard from Shion Village in a while."
"Well, there's only one way to find out." The silver-eyed warrior turned to the blacksmith. "Thanks again for helping us with our weapons."
"You're welcome. And good luck out there."
With this, they exited the workshop.
"They've been so kind to us." Pyrrha asked. "I hope they find new warriors that will help them."
"As do I. Now come, we have a long way to Mistral." Jaune gestured.
With this, team AVNRR left the village.
The scene showed a student in Atlas Academy with pale skin, blue eyes and black hair with blue reflections, held into long pigtails by green ribbons. She wore her standard school uniform along with an emerald pendant.
She walked down a hallway before entering a locker room. The student found her locker and looked briefly at it. Inside were various objects including some snacks, two bottles of water, textbooks and folders. On the backside of the door; a picture of herself, her father Angelo Bleu, and an elderly lady, presumably her grandmother.
The student retrieved a water bottle and her weapon; a pair of arm-mounted grappling hooks. She put them on her forearms as her Scroll dinged.
Fishing it out of her pocket, she saw the following message;
Iris Khloris; You still down to practice today Vega Bleu? I've been waiting here for like five minutes
She started to type a message; Sorry I'm late. Homework took a lot longer to get done than I thought it would.
Vega sent another message; I got my weapon now, you got Prism loaded?
Loaded and ready to go! came through almost immediately.
Great! See you there!
With this, Vega put her Scroll into her pocket and made her way to the open combat practice room.
Man it's incredibly lonely, being here and not being able to contact my dad and grandma. I hope they're alright. I hope she's alright...
All the while, team AVNRR (Avenger) made their way forward. The sun was setting as clouds began to form.
Pyrrha held on to the map. "Looks like the next town is Shion."
"Ah, Shion." Jaune smiled. "My family used to visit it all the time."
Ruby blinked in remembrance. "Oh yeah. You have seven sisters."
Jaune nodded. "Uhm-hmm. Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent because I was special. Also, so my sisters would stop braiding my hair."
"Didn't like the look?" Ruby guessed.
"Yeah, they just kept doing pigtails, but personally, I think I'm more of a "warrior's wolftail" kind of guy."
"Isn't that just a ponytail?"
"I stand by what I said."
Pyrrha chuckled behind the map.
Nora stopped short, raising her hands to her lips as her eyes widened. Soon after, Ren stopped as well, visibly tense.
The latter asked, "Uh, guys?"
Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune all looked up and said in unison, "Huh?"
Pyrrha looked up from the map. The trio's eyes widened and their jaws dropped, with Pyrrha covering her mouth in horror. In front of them laid a desolated village. The sky was gray and two columns of smoke rose in the air. A gazebo with a broken tower, lampposts askew from the ground and several walls were crumbled down. At least one dead body was seen on the side of the road approaching the town.
The map was dropped and all five rushed forward, with Ren and Nora leading the pack. They briskly moved into the town, looking around.
Ruby looked around frantically. "There could be survivors!"
"Over here!"
The other four rushed to where Ren is leading them. On the ground, sitting propped against a broken building wall was a young man in armor. He breathed heavily and held his hand against a bleeding wound in his abdomen. Ren knelt by his side and put his hand on his shoulder.
Ruby cried out, "A Huntsman!"
"What happened? Who killed all these people?" Jaune asked.
The Dying Huntsman coughed. "Bandits. The whole tribe... In a storm... Then, with all the panic..."
The Huntsman couldn't finish and coughed repeatedly.
Pyrrha blinked in sorrow. "The Grimm."
Ren stood before walking a few paces away, placing his hands atop his head. The other AVNRR members stepped away to confer.
"Alright, we can get him to the next village and try to find a doctor there." Ruby told her team.
Dying Huntsman told them, "No... I don't..." He coughed three times. "deserve it."
He extended his hand before dropping it, revealing a Trojan Alliance badge in it. Nora softly gasped.
"Ren and I can take turns carrying him there." Jaune suggested.
Pyrrha told him, "I don't know if he'll make it."
"He will. He has to."
Nora turned back and went over to the Huntsman. She took the Trojan Alliance badge from the huntsman's hand. Ren looked on in sorrow.
"If we get going now, our chances will be better." Ruby spoke. "I can run ahead and look for help!"
"Guys." Ren began.
The others turned and discovered that the Huntsman was already dead.
Ruby asked, "Should we bury him?"
Ren walked right past them without a backward glance.
"I don't understand. Why did the huntsman say he didn't deserve forgiveness?" Jaune asked.
Nora turned and followed her long-time friend. Pyrrha put her hand on Jaune's arm, saddened and confused.
Pyrrha tried to reassure him. "It'll be okay."
Jaune didn't respond.
Ren stopped and looked at something on the ground, his eyes widening. A cloven hoofprint was impressed into the ground. Nora came to his side, seeing the same mark and her eyes also widened in recognition. The two of them silently make eye contact.
"Is something wrong?" Jaune asked.
Nora looked at her bundled hands, back at the print and then back to her team leader. "I have the answer to your question."
She opened her hands, revealing the badge she found.
Jaune stammered. "He is... was... a Trojan Alliance member?"
Ren answered, "This whole village was."
From the ruins of the village, Trojan Alliance emblems and posters of Pyrrha and the rest of her friends were shown in tatters and singes, some of them on the wall or on the ground.
The spartan warrior shook, trying to keep herself together. "The Trojan Alliance. Some of our worst enemies. But why is it that despite everything they tried to do to us... why do I feel sympathy for them?"
Ruby spoke... "Pyrrha..."
Pyrrha turned away, a few singed wanted posters drifting in the wind.
We're no closer to finding the truth. the Mistralian champion thought. Something is missing. But what is it?
Author's Notes;
-And with that, all of the timeskip outfits have been adopted. We're less than five chapters away from V4's finale. With luck, it will be finished before the new year.
-I'd also like to thank GeraltRex for helping me to come up with JNPR-Ruby's new name. Seriously, fellow meat-person- you rock.
I believe that is all.
