This is my first time attempting writing, well pretty much anything, in around a decade.
The last thing I wrote in the way of fiction was a real cheesy pretty cruddy maximum ride one shot, and honestly I've been a bit tentative, hesitant in attempting to write a RWBY fanfic, I don't want to upset the fanbase by pushing my own ideals too much into the story, or by writing something terrible, but I figure the only thing that's gonna really scratch this RWBY itch I've had during the hiatus is gonna be writing my own fanfic, and if I'm writing it, I might as well share, who knows it might help tide some of you over too.
This first chapter I'm posting isn't going to be major story based, it's mostly going to be giving you guys AU (alternate universe for those who don't know) background, and then a small prologue to set the scene (after starting on the prologue I decided I'm going to do a prologue for each of the 4 main characters for the first few chapters, kind of like they did the trailers)
The AU I'm planning on using is fairly simple, geographically, it's going to be Remnant (for the most part), and the schools, governments and kingdoms are all most likely to also follow a similar pattern to what we see in Remnant. There will be Faunus, the science will be fairly atlas level, but there will not be dust, nor Grimm, there won't be immortal beings, or magic, or semblances (though I think ill use their semblances to decide certain hobbies or behaviours). I plan on using the characters and storylines of the show to influence events and behaviours in the story, but not necessarily dictate what they will be. History wise I plan on there having been a great war, and that being the reason that much of the world is as fragmented (and wild) as it is. The schools will use a Jan-December year layout, because I think that works best with their birthdays and ages for Ruby to be 2 years behind the others… The rest I will leave for you to discover through the story
Prologue - RED
The young girl sighed, cursing at herself for having left the street before her sister arrived. Their dad had warned them not to stay out this late in this part of town, but Yang was late… AGAIN, so Ruby had been forced to leave the comic book store, where they had planned to meet, because it was closing. That in of itself wouldn't have been an issue, however ruby heard something happening down an alleyway nearby and couldn't stop herself from going to see what was happening.
"Please, just take my Lien and leave!" An elderly man was cowering from a pair of thugs, crooked smirks lining their faces as they held him up against the wall.
"HEY! What are you doing!?" Ruby was infuriated by the scene she had happened across, the men, taken by surprise, dropped the older man and turned to face her, behind them their previous target scampered away, but the pair didn't seem to care, they had a new target in their sights… Ruby.
And that was how she ended up here, back to a wall, overshadowed by two large men, who's greedy looks sent a shiver down her spine. Ruby went over the self defence her uncle had taught her, but even with that knowledge she wasn't sure she could take on both men, she didn't have a choice though, she would have to try.
Ruby turned to her right, hooking her left leg behind the knee of the man on her right and pushing him to the ground, feeling the other man grabbing onto her shoulder she clutched onto his forearm, and ducking down used the man's own momentum to fuel the throw, lurching him over her shoulder, and onto his back. Suddenly Ruby felt a dull pain in her shin and her knee buckled, forcing her to the ground, followed by an incredibly sharp pain on the right side of her head, causing the world to become unfocused and shaky. Other than the very clear pain and the warm trickle of a thick liquid dripping past her ear, everything seemed muffled for a while. She could hear that the men were panicking, but couldn't focus on the words they were saying, she noticed they didn't even bother to take her money before they ran.
"Heh, I win!" ruby slurred out the words, not entirely sure if they sounded like she thought they did at all.
"I'm not sure I'd call that a win young lady, you are lucky you didn't get yourself killed. Only the Gods know what would have happened if I hadn't found you in time."
It was then that things started to come back into focus, and Ruby realized she wasn't alone, kneeling beside her, administering first aid was a rather stern looking woman in a Beacon medic's uniform. Her face seemed rather expressionless, but Ruby was sure she could see a hint of worry in her eyes.
"I'm going to take you to Beacon so I can check your injuries properly, and try to find out what exactly caused you to be in that predicament in the first place, okay?"
Ruby nodded her head in response, regretting doing so instantly as the right side of her head throbbed painfully and she felt incredibly dizzy.
Most of the rest of the night was a bit of a blur to Ruby, she vaguely remembered the woman telling her she was an instructor at the academy, and her name, Foodwitch? Goodwish? Whatever it was she spent most of the night explaining what had happened, answering questions, and receiving a lecture. The one thing she remembered vividly was meeting Professor Ozpin.
"So where did a young girl such as yourself learn to do this?" His green suit ran slightly short in the arm as he gestured to the CCTV footage of Ruby throwing a full sized man over her shoulder like it was nothing.
"My uncle taught me, he used to be part of Beacons forces, before he was discharged, now he teaches a self defence class at Signal Prep, I was struggling with it at first so he gave me extra lessons, with my sister, she…" Ruby realized she was starting to ramble so cut herself off.
"That dusty old Qrow is still teaching? That surprises me…" Ozpin looked like he was remembering something painful for a moment, before he turned back to Ruby with a glint in his eye. "I see you are on the combat course at Signal, I assume that means you intend to attend Beacon?"
"Yeah, My sister starts this year, but I still have 2 years at signal before I graduate, my parents went to Beacon too, and I really want to protect people, just like my mom did!" The same flash of pain flitted across Ozpin's expression for a moment, as he flipped through some pages.
"Looking at your transcripts, you are performing well beyond your age academically, and in combat, your marksmanship is on par with even Beacon graduates, and after seeing your bravery and selfless actions tonight I think we can make it work." A smile spread across his face as he looked towards Ruby.
"Make what work sir?" Ruby tilted her head ever so slightly to the side in confusion.
"Well, we will have to talk to your father about it, but I believe you are ready for Beacon, if that is what you would like of course?" There was a pause of silence where Ruby took in what had been said, as she looked for the words to express what she thought. She could have swore hours passed, but in reality she knew it was mere seconds before she mustered up the courage to speak. The words came out barely more than a whisper.
"More than anything."
I know it's not super long, but it was never meant to be.
I'll be honest I'm not sure if any of the chapters will be very long.
I'm open to some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and for you guys to point out punctuation, spelling, grammar, I know I'm not great at all of that stuff.
I will say, I'm English, so some of the spellings might end up in the British-English variant, I will try to use 'mom' over mum because I think that's slightly different.
