Chapter 25 - Emergence


Jaune stirred, as the harsh light seeped through his eyelids, and slowly roused him back to consciousness.

"Ugh..." Jaune couldn't help but groan, as dozens of wounds made themselves known to him.

He still remembered exactly what had happened. His Aura had finally broken, while he'd been in Alduin's mouth, and without it to protect him he'd been crushed as the teleportation spell had activated. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was falling, falling into a void...

Jaune blinked, before his eyelids shot open, and he suddenly sat up.

His body made itself known how much it disagreed with his course of action, and he winced as sharp pains shot throughout his body.

At least he could still move, though. And at least he wasn't bleeding out. Looked like his Aura had recovered, slightly, and been working overtime to repair his injuries while he'd been out.

Looking around, he quickly realized that he couldn't recognize his surroundings.

At all.

He appeared to be in a ruined building of some sort, the roof blown wide open, exposing him to the midday sun.

For a moment, he wondered if he'd failed, if he was in the ruins of a city Alduin had destroyed, before reason reasserted itself. He'd sent Alduin away, seen the flames closing in around them.

Also, the building seemed to be made of concrete.

Buildings in Skyrim were usually either wood or stone.

"Don't tell me I died again." Jaune groaned, rubbing his temples. Was this supposed to be his Semblance? Waking up in an unfamiliar place every time he was killed by a dragon?

He couldn't help it; a bark of laughter escaped from his throat, despite the unfamiliarity of his surroundings, the state of his body, and the gravity of the situation. There was no way this was his Semblance! Even imagining such a Semblance gave him a fit of giggles.

It slowly died down, though, as his mind processed the situation. He had actually died.

Again.

In circumstances surprisingly similar to the previous one.

Quietly, he hoped that they'd succeeded in stopping Alduin from wreaking any more havoc. He had faith in Yang, sure; she may not have been as skilled as Pyrrha, but she more than made up for with her raw power, bullshit dragon Voice, and willingness to kill. It was his ability to use Serana's spell that bugged him...

Jaune guiped, as he remembered his promise with Yang. Oh, she was not going to happy; he'd specifically promised to return safely, hadn't he? They'd made plans, for after defeating Alduin...

Memories began flowing in.

Of adventuring through a new world, with a boisterous blonde barbarian and a vampire with a messed-up family, and saving it from threats.

Multiple times.

And accidentally almost screwing it over once or twice.

Of battling dragons, bears, trolls, and all manner of wildlife and undead throughout the land.

Of getting kicked out of places after drunken brawls (mostly Yang).

Of cold nights spent surrounding a warm fire, huddling together for warmth.

Of seeing the expressions of people's faces, the sheer delight and relief, when they'd assisted them, taken care of their problems for them, let them know that, even during the chaotic times, there was still people out there, willing to go the extra mile to help others.

Skyrim may have been harsh and wild, but he'd honestly been slowly getting used to his new home, slowly getting attached to it.

And now he was gone.

They continued to come in droves now.

He remembered his first death, fighting the Grimm dragon and Cinder Fall.

He remembered the hope he'd felt, seeing Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha, when they'd burst into Ozpin's office, followed by a thrill of fear.

The desperation he'd felt, when he'd first tried to delay Cinder.

The determination, the refusal to let his partner sacrifice herself, as he'd pushed her into the rocket locker, before running into the clock tower.

The hollow sinking feeling, when they'd realized Cinder had killed Ozpin.

The chaos in Amity Colosseum, the fighting against the Atlesian robots, Grimm, and Bullheads full of White Fang.

The pride, when they'd cleared stage after stage of the Vytal Festival.

Jaune's throat was choking up, and his eyes felt hot.

Leading his team.

Being trained by Pyrrha, during their private lessons together.

Hanging out with his friends.

Helping Pyrrha experience "normal girl stuff", like casually going clothes shopping, watching movies together, and having dinners together.

Reining in Nora's energy.

Quiet moments with Ren, enjoying his tea.

Discussing video games and comics with Ruby.

Trying to woo Weiss.

Initiation.

Motion sickness.

Running away from his family.

Being the youngest of eight siblings, and the only boy.

Playing with his older twin, Joan.

Getting dragged through the outdoors by the tomboy Arc, Jane.

Fleeing in terror from the twins, Jean and Jeanne.

Forcibly receiving lessons from Jess.

Getting pranked by Jen.

Being taken care of by Saphron.

The tears were dripping now, slowly, staining the dry concrete below him, as Jaune sobbed, as he reflected on everything he'd lost, everything he had to say goodbye to.

He knew, by now, that not all stories had happy endings. That not all heroes got back home, had their happy ever after.

And he didn't, couldn't, regret his actions, everything he'd done, despite how things had turned out.

He just... he just hoped it was all worth it, for both the people he'd left behind, and him.

He just hoped his friends had succeeded, that his deaths hadn't been in vain.

And he found himself lost, alone, confused.

What now?

What next?

What was even the point?

A scream filled the air, coming from somewhere outside.

He immediately jumped to his feet, shaking off his maudlin mood.

As Yang had told him, it didn't matter where he was.

People still needed help.

He could still be a hero.

Of course, he wasn't nearly as naive as before. He knew it was more than possible that it was a trap, that whoever was screaming was merely acting as bait.

It didn't matter. He wasn't going to risk leaving someone in danger, just because it could be dangerous.

His dragonbone blade was laying on the ground next to him. Good. At least he wasn't starting out completely defenseless this time.

Quickly grabbing it, he jumped out of the building, ready for anything the new world could throw at him.

-ENTRANCE TO VAULT 101, CAPITAL WASTELAND, 1005 HOURS, AUGUST 17, 2277=

Ruby "Rose" Ironwood sat on the cliff's edge, staring blankly at the morning sun as it bore down on the ruined town below her, the first sight she'd ever had of the Outside World, and wondered just how her life had gone so horribly wrong.

She'd been woken up, just over an hour ago, by her childhood friend Amata, and immediately assumed that she'd overslept, and was going to be late for her shift as Laundry Cannon Operator (and thank god for Mr Brotch, who'd let her change her answers on the Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test! Her original answers had her slated to be the next Vault Chaplain, somehow).

Instead, unlike every other day before then, Amata had come to her with some horrible news. A radroach infestation had occurred. Her father, James, had left, fled the Vault. And Amata's father, the Vault's Overseer, was furious.

His men had already killed Jonas, her honorary uncle, her father's assistant, the man who'd taught her everything she knew about tinkering with technology, who'd been there when she'd fired her first BB gun.

And now Vault Security were looking for her, thinking that she might have known that James had been planning to escape as well.

The fact that Ruby hadn't known a thing would probably be conveniently ignored, in the face of the need for a scapegoat.

Amata, banking on the fact that VaultSec wouldn't be too harsh on the Overseer's daughter, had fled with a stolen 10mm pistol, and gotten to Ruby's room just before the Overseer's men had, to warn her childhood friend, to tell Ruby that she had to leave, to escape the Vault and follow James.

Ruby would have been touched by the gesture, but she'd been more shocked by the fact that her father had actually left the Vault, Jonas was actually dead, and her friend's father actually wanted her dead. All she'd been able to do was numbly accept the proffered stolen pistol, and follow Amata's advice to flee.

She'd been immediately spotted by a security guard as she'd left her room, a man she recognized as Officer Kendall, but half a dozen radroaches had swarmed him, attacked him, before he could confront her.

She'd tried helping him; she didn't care if he had orders to bring her in, she'd known him all her life. But all she'd had was a loaded pistol she'd never used before, too powerful to use on the giant insects, and her bare fists. By the time she'd pulled them off, they'd torn his throat out.

All she could do was apologize to the former officer, a man she'd known as tough and no-nonsense, yet friendly and kind, for failing to save him, as she'd taken his baton, and avenged him with it.

After she'd crushed the radroaches, but before she could escape, the Vault's barber (and leader of a small gang called the Tunnel Snakes, and her childhood bully) Butch DeLoria, had suddenly come bursting down the hallway.

For a moment, she'd frozen, wondering how the hell she was going to explain her standing over Officer Kendall's corpse, with his weapon.

Fortunately, Butch was never that bright, and he definitely wasn't in the know. All he'd seen was the goody-two-shoes wimp Ruby, standing over the tough guy's body, surrounded by dead radroaches, and assumed she'd been trying to help Kendall while he'd been dealing with the radroach infestation.

She went along with it. It was mostly true, and made her sound a lot better than she felt. Also, she didn't really like talking back to Butch.

She'd been surprised, though, when he'd begged her for help. Apparently, to put it bluntly, his mother had been too drunk to run away, when the radroaches had burst into his room, and he'd been too afraid to save her.

Ruby, upon hearing all this, found herself wondering why she'd ever been afraid of Butch.

For a moment, she found herself wavering. Butch was a jerk, had been all her life. And she needed to get out, to escape from the Vault before security caught her. The DeLorias' room was on the other end of the Living Quarters, in the opposite of the direction she needed to head to if she was trying to reach the exit.

But James had always been a doctor had heart, and he'd always taught her that it was their duty to help those in need. Just because he'd escaped and left her behind, just because he wasn't there, didn't mean she could disappoint him or her dead mother.

She'd been raised better than that.

And so, with much reluctance, she'd agreed to take a detour, to save Mrs DeLoria from the giant cockroaches, and had rushed down the hallway towards the DeLorias.

When she'd gotten there, the three radroaches in the room hadn't gotten to Butch's mother yet.

There'd been so many empty vodka bottles on the floor that they'd had a hard time navigating their way through.

She didn't hesitate, pulling out the pistol, thumbing the safety off, and leaned forward, taking careful aim.

Up until then, she'd only ever fired her BB gun. Now sure, she fired it a lot at their homemade range, and had spent her free time reading up on weapons. She knew the N99 10mm pistol had originally been the standard issue conventional sidearm of the United States military, back before the end of the Great War. She knew they were legendary for their reliability and sheer ease-of-repair. She knew the standard magazines used by Vault Security had a maximum capacity of 12 rounds. She also knew that a 10mm round was far stronger than any BB pellet she'd fired from her air rifle.

Even so, the first round she'd fired had almost knocked her flat on her ass from its sheer unexpected recoil, and it had only been by luck that the first round hadn't missed.

The powerful bullet easily smashed through the roach's carapace, killing it.

The loud ringing sound, echoing through the small room, had almost deafened her. It had certainly hurt and disoriented her.

Fortunately (once again), the noise also scared off the radroaches (and somehow failed to rouse the sleeping Mrs DeLoria), and they quickly scuttled back into the air vents, escaping the scary human.

Butch had thanked her, called her his hero, and given her his jacket when she'd emerged with his still-alive mother.

She hadn't stuck around to hear the rest of it, though, already rushing back to the Living Quarters' entrance, before dashing out of it, heading towards the Atrium.

Her route towards the Atrium showed just how badly the situation had degraded, while she'd been sleeping.

As she'd passed by the Diner, where she'd celebrated her tenth birthday, she found a dozen radroaches eating the body of Old Lady Taylor. She couldn't avenge her; she didn't have the time or ammo for that many insects.

Taking the stairs up from the diner had her run head first into a Vault Security guard, and she'd instinctively raised her pistol at him, though her hands trembled, at the thought of actually shooting another person.

Fortunately (again), the guard who'd encountered her had been Officer Gomez, Freddie's father. The good cop to the rest of Vault Security's bad cop, he'd immediately raised his hands, and soothingly talked her down, saying: "Hold on, missy! I just want to talk to you for a minute!"

Ruby hadn't lowered her aim, remembering what Amata had said had happened to Jonas, but she hadn't pulled the trigger, either.

Officer Gomez had told her she'd been lucky, to run into him and not the others in VaultSec. That he had no idea what was going on, but that she needed to escape. He'd happily pretend he hadn't seen her; he had a radroach infestation to deal with, a Vault to secure and protect.

She'd been unable to stop herself from pointing out that he was working for a homicidal maniac and that they'd killed Jonas.

He'd sighed, admitted that yes, he was indeed working for the Overseer, but he hadn't been involved in killing Jonas. He'd only gotten there in time to see the aftermath, and it had disgusted him.

Before Ruby could reply, say anything, they'd heard the sound of something burning, following by multiple chittering noises. Gomez had pushed her then, told her to run for the Atrium, while he went to check it out.

All she did, before running, was tell him about Old Lady Taylor, in the Diner, and the DeLorias, still in the Living Quarters, before wishing him good luck. He grimly returned the gesture.

The Atrium, however, had been the second-worst surprise of her escape.

As she'd finally entered the Atrium, she'd seen two other Vault Dwellers, Tom and Mary Holden, contemplating escape as well. Tom made a run for the corridor to the exit, over Mary's protests. Then, gunfire had erupted from the corridor, and Tom's body had fallen to the ground, bleeding. Mary had cried out for her husband, and run to his body, before more gunfire had erupted, and she too had collapsed in a lifeless heap.

Ruby still couldn't believe it, believe that the Overseer's men had shot two innocent people, just like that. No telling them to stand down, no talking to them, no warning. Just bullets, for people they'd known all their lives.

Everything after that had been a blur for Ruby, as she'd sprinted through the Vault's corridors, once so comfortably familiar, now all claustrophobic and threatening; each shadow a potential enemy, each corner a possible ambush. Even when passing by Jonas's body, almost unrecognizable with how they'd brutalized him, she hadn't been able to muster more than a tear for her honorary uncle; so focused was her mind on escaping, to escape the horrors she'd experienced.

The corridor from the Atrium to the Vault's doors were guarded, and there was no way she could get around two armed security guards. But Amata had told her, once, that she'd found out about a tunnel, from her father's office to the doors, a secret escape passage.

Change of plans, then; sneak into the office of the homicidal maniac that had ordered her execution, hack his computer for access to the secret escape tunnel, and then follow her father out of the Vault she'd spent her entire life in. What could go wrong?

The Overseer's Office hadn't been empty when she'd gotten there.

The Overseer, Officer Mack, and Amata had been in there.

And the Overseer was letting him interrogate Amata. His own daughter.

She'd burst in, pointing the gun at the Overseer, shouting at everyone to stop.

Officer Mack hadn't complied, and had instead immediately reached for his own weapon.

She'd shouted at him to freeze once more, pointing her gun at him.

His hand touchedthe butt of his pistol, and his fingers closed in around it's grip.

She'd pulled the trigger.

Ruby, Amata, and the Overseer had all silently stared at the body of Officer Mack, frozen in shock, unable to comprehend the fact that Ruby had actually pulled the trigger.

After that, all she could do, was keeping going. She pointed the gun at the Overseer, ordered him not to move, and instructed Amata to open the escape tunnel.

The pair had only been able to comply, and Ruby had retreated through the tunnels, continuing to point her gun at them, even as she'd made her way to the doors.

She'd reached the great Vault door, and plugged her Pip-Boy into it, unlocking the button to open the Vault Door.

Steam had hissed, and Amata had emerged from the tunnel just in time to join her in watching the large hydraulic arm swing down, before it's tip entered a port on the giant cog-like door. The arm locked itself to the door, and retracted, pulling the door back, before disengaging from the Vault's door. Then, the Vault's door had simply rolled away, revealing a cave beyond it.

That had been it. The outside world.

Amata, still clearly shaken by Officer Mack's interrogation and subsequent death, asked her what she was going to do now.

Ruby hadn't been able to reply, before they heard footsteps from the corridor to the Atrium.

All she'd had time to do, was say goodbye, before fleeing into the rock and earth, away from the only world she'd ever known.

Eventually, the path had led to a simple door, and beyond it...

Ruby wept quietly, still having difficulty processing what the hell had just happened.

"Dad... why'd you have to leave?" Ruby couldn't help but murmur, asking the skies above her. "And why didn't you tell me anything?"

She felt lost, confused, alone... afraid. She didn't know anything about life outside the Vault! She had no idea where to go, what to do... hell, she could barely even handle socializing with her fellow Vault dwellers! How was she supposed to handle meeting people here? What if they were savages? Cannibals? Cannibal savages?!

At the same time, though... she couldn't simply just sit there, in the sun, staring at rocks and ruins. She didn't have anything but her Vault jumpsuit, a pistol, and ten bullets! She didn't even have food, or a canteen, for God's sake! Where was she supposed to find clean water, in an irradiated ruin?!

As Ruby slowly forced herself to her feet, she remembered her father's advice, about professional detachment.

She compartmentalized her emotions, and isolated herself from them. All the memories, all the pain, all the loss of the past hour... there'd be time to grieve later. For now, if she wanted there to be later, she had a job to do.

She had to survive first.

Getting up, she began to climb down, making her way to the ruined town below her.

She didn't know if there was anything left, after two hundred years, but scavenging through it was her best immediate bet for supplies and shelter.

It took her a while; a fair few houses were still locked, and she didn't have the strength to break down the doors, or the skills needed to pick the locks. Also, she didn't know if someone was still living there, and she didn't want to be rude. But finally, after a few hours of quietly making her way through the town, systemically clearing it building-by-building, she had a few bottles of water of unknown purity, some centuries-old snacks, a backpack, a hip holster for her pistol, and a few spare rounds. She didn't know if they'd fire, honestly, after two centuries of exposure, but she still pocketed them for the time being.

Now, she was faced with a dilemma; which direction should she go in? North? South? East? The Vault was in the hill to the West, but might there have been some other signs of life beyond it? If only she had a map!

A flicker of movement caught her attention, and she turned towards it.

There, to the North! In what appeared to be the ruins of a school, she could just make out some humanoid figures moving around!

Had humanity still survived, persisted through the past two hundred years outside the Vaults? She didn't know, nor did she know if they were friendly.

And so, she investigated, walking lightly and low towards the school a few hundred yards away, watching it all the while.

Unfortunately, she wasn't nearly as stealthy as she'd have liked, and the inhabitants of the school had survived in the Wasteland for decades.

The first warning she had, that they'd spotted her, was when bullets started flying towards her, hitting the ground around her.

She couldn't help it; she screamed in terror, and ran back to the town to the south, hoping to lose them in the buildings.

The raiders who'd been camping out in Springfield Elementary gave chase. The saner ones, the ones who still had some intelligence, knew just how much the slavers at Paradise Falls would pay, for a young and clean girl.

The less sane ones, high on Jet and other drugs, just enjoyed the thrill of the chase, or perhaps wanted more.

Whatever their intentions, Ruby neither knew nor cared, but she highly doubted they were good, seeing as how they'd opened negotiations by shooting at her.

As she rounded the corner of a bombed-out locked apartment complex, however, screaming for help all the while, she saw movement in the corner of her eye, somewhere above them.

The first raider who rounded the corner after Ruby was too high to notice it, though, until an armored boot smashed into his chest, caving it in.

The figure, body wrapped in tattered and torn leather, covered by bits and pieces of armor that Ruby could only describe as medieval, carrying a large sword and shield, looked her over, before turning his attention to the group who'd been chasing her, who'd been momentarily stunned by his sudden appearance.

It didn't last long, though; the raiders charged him together, their confidence bolstered by their numbers.

She heard the figure sigh, before raising his sword and shield easily.

In a defiance of all logic and common sense Ruby had, the metal shield easily held it's own against the rounds the raiders fired at the figure. She could see the bullets falling to the floor in front of the shield, flattened by the impact, but the shield didn't even move or dent.

One swung a length of pipe at him, only for the lead to be sliced in half by the figure's sword, which kept going, past the pipe, and right into her chest.

Ruby could only watch in awe.

The "battle", between the figure and the raiders, would have been more aptly described as a one-sided massacre. Within thirty seconds, the group of raiders all lay on the floor, dead or dying.

Jaune didn't bother sheathing his shield or his sword, as he turned to the black-haired girl in the blue jumpsuit. He didn't know if there were any more hostiles, and he didn't know if the girl was friendly. Sure, she'd been running from the armed mob, and she hadn't tried to stab him in the back, but that could've just meant that it had been in her best interest to let them die first.

Also, he didn't want to scare her. Whoever she was, she'd definitely know more about where he was than he did.

Instead, keeping his weapons pointed low, away from the girl (who was looking oddly familiar to him, though he couldn't quite place it), he cautiously approached her, watching for any sign of sudden movement. He spotted a pistol holstered by her side, but she wasn't reaching for it. Finally, barely a foot from the girl, Jaune knelt down, looking her in the eye, and held out a hand, speaking slowly: "Hey... I'm Jaune."

Ruby blinked, as her mind raced. The really cool barbarian figure was speaking to her! In English! Were handshakes still a thing? What was the proper social procedure for thanking a person for saving your life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland?

Unfortunately for her, while her mind was trying to figure out what to do, her body reacted first. The smell of blood and viscera hit her nose first, triggering memories of Officer Mack, of Jonas, of the gunned-down Holdens, and of Old Lady Taylor and Officer Kendall.

She couldn't help herself.

After hours of holding it in, she turned green, and doubled over, before suddenly and violently throwing up all over his boots.


Author's Note: The plot fairy is never late, nor is she early. She arrives precisely when she means to. Unfortunately for me, however...

... how the hell did I pump out 9 chapters in 2 weeks...

Honestly, life would probably be a lot easier if I pre-wrote my chapters. Then I could probably set up a weekly schedule and easily stick to it, maybe set up a ...

But that's not how I roll. I write a chapter, publish it once I'm done, and then start on the next one. I find that the ideas flow better when I'm essentially just flying by the seat of my pants the entire time. Doesn't help that story beats, ideas, and twists just strike at complete random...

And yes, we are now in the Fallout universe. I know, I know, we've spent so long with Dovah-Yang, growing attached to her, and it feels like such a waste, saying goodbye. Weep for the loss of Dovah-Yang, but fear not! She will return, in Remnant... some day. It's definitely been entertaining, seeing the speculation on when she arrives. Some are even interesting. But I already have plans.

Meanwhile, I shall do my best to attempt to make Ruby "Rose" Ironwood, daughter of James Ironwood and Summer Rose, a likeable character as well!

... good luck, me. What an odd fucking pairing, James Ironwood and Summer Rose. Just, why...

Also, this was a way for me to explore Jaune's current state of mind. Once again, he's fought impossible odds, and (to him) once again he's lost and died for it. It's... well, this is only his second "death". He's hurting from realizing that, once again, he's saying goodbye to everything he's ever known, but he's nowhere near the point of becoming cynical, jaded, or uncaring.

An important thing to remember, about this Ruby, the future Lone Wanderer... she's not exactly a badass. Far from it, in fact. Her only experience with firearms is using an air pellet gun to shoot BB pellets at giant roaches, prior to escaping the Vault. The closest she's been to combat is telling Butch to piss off while he bullies her and Amata. Her day job is operating a laundry cannon (and no, I don't know how it works either. It's an actual profession in game, though, and is somehow tied to the Big Guns skill. Then again, tattoo artist is tied to Small Guns...). She has no survival skills, no knowledge of how to survive in the Capital Wasteland, and not even supplies when she leaves.

In short, she's in Jaune's place, but somehow even worse!

Gotta say, her relationship with a more experienced Jaune, would probably be a fascinating dynamic to read. Perhaps similar to if they were partners in Beacon (albeit reversed), with team leader Ruby teaching Jaune everything she knows about how to fight, to be a Huntsman, while also trying to figure out how to survive the unexpected situation herself (not having expected to join Beacon yet). And Jaune, in turn, supports her as both the best partner he can be as well as her first friend, drawing on his experience as a brother and a normal civilian instead of spending years training to fight Grimm. Meanwhile, the two bond through mutual interests, through geeking out over comics and games, griping about school stuff...

Too bad those aren't the characters we're working with. Also, it's being written by me.

And... yeah. Raiders are not nice people. Raiders in a radioactive post-apocalyptic wasteland, who fight everything from Deathclaws to Radscorpions to Super Mutants? Definitely not nice people. There is a slave-based economy in the Capital Wasteland. Murder and cannibalism also occurs on a regular basis, to put it lightly. I'm not going to go into details, since this isn't torture porn, but I'm not going to pretend it doesn't exist either.

Also, regarding their ages... Dovah-Yang's about 18 and a half, Jaune's about 18, and Lone Wanderer Ruby Rose just turned 19, a month ago. What weird worlds, where Ruby's older than Yang...

Also, should I tag this as RWBY/All Video Games X-over? Or should I just leave it as a general RWBY fic?