Hey all, Storyteller here.
This is a background project of me half rewriting my old Terria Chaos story and half just experimenting. I'm using the newer lore made by mister Freeman for RWBY Alt, though with my own stuff sprinkled in.
Enjoy.
PS, don't expect scheduled updates.
Episode 1
"Sisters"
The day that Taiyang Xao Long died was probably not the best day to come back home, Yang considered. She'd been gone for ten years, ever since going to Beacon and training there, to now working as a Huntress, one of the great Warriors and Protectors of Mankind. With financial interest.
Patch, the hamlet on the shores of Gaillas, where she had grown up, was solemn and quiet. Much like the funeral of her step-mother, Summer Rose-Xiao Long, almost all of Patch came to give their respects to another legend, having passed away into History. Indeed, the members of STRQ had all, supposedly, either vanished or died off. Fifty-fifty, to be exact. Yang didn't quite think on it, not after her trials and tribulations in trying to find her own biological Mother.
Yang first detoured toward the burial grounds, where priests and crowds of people were heading. Even under her Thorian brown coat, thick sweater and padded under-armour, she could be recognised behind the hood and sunglasses she wore. Either way, relenting, she joined the procession and soon saw the hair of someone who had certainly grown the last time she saw.
Her little half-sister, Ruby.
The red and black that moulded in her hair, despite looking unnatural, was noticeable past the black mass of clothing around Yang. If it was ten years ago, Yang would've walked over and hugged her little sister. It wasn't though. Instead, the elder sister took her place in the far back, staring at the back of Ruby's head, which was downcast in sorrow, for she led the procession of the coffin behind her, carried by men Yang understood were Tai's drinking buddies, friends, confidants, neighbours.
Yang felt sorrow, as well, as she stared from the back as the coffin was slowly laid into the hole that was dug out for it. After the blessings were said and the hole piled over with the dirt next to it, the people paid their respects to Ruby, and nodded to Yang, in silence.
Soon enough, Yang stood there, a few meters away from Ruby, her hands inside of her coat pockets, whilst Ruby stared at the gravestone of their Father, which now rested together with Ruby's mother's gravestone.
Yang, after a couple of minutes of silence, approached her, slowly standing beside her. They both stared down at the gravestone before Ruby's curiosity got the better of her. Her watery, grey eyes looked up at Yang, and Yang removed her sunglasses, smiling down at her sister, solemnly.
"Hey, Ru-..." Yang didn't get to finish her greeting, as the little sister hugged her elder sister tightly. Almost by instinct, Yang sighed, clutching Ruby and pulling her closer, tighter to her chest.
Ruby sobbed into Yang's chested, and after a while, the two walked back to their childhood home in silence. Along the route, they passed through the forest Yang remembered playing in, and soon enough she noticed how much Ruby had grown. Hell, she could tell she was buff. No doubt training from their father helped with that.
They reached the porch of their forested dwelling, the house a bit dilapidated and sad during the grey-skied afternoon and the miss-management of its surroundings. No doubt that Taiyang had died a few weeks ago. Letting go of Ruby, she little sister opened the doors and held them open, as Yang whispered a silent "thanks" to her, before walking inside and slipping her hood and coat off.
Looking around idly as she took off the scar around the turtle neck of her sweater, she looked upon the various black-and-white pictures. Taiyang catching a Greater Tuna with his fishing buddies. Summer's birthday. Team STRQ group pictures. Damn, Uncle Qrow was pretty old, Yang thought, as she looked upon the oldest member of the notorious Hunter team.
"So, um… I hope it's like you remember." Ruby said, switching on some of the gas lightings in the hallway, and lighting some candles further into the lobby room, having rid herself of her mourning clothes.
"It's great, Rubes," Yang said, smiling down at her, trying to make it less awkward. The two stared at each other, with Yang awkwardly standing in the hallway and Ruby in the middle of the main lounge room, surrounded by empty seats and cushions. Ruby's eyes flashed and she smiled, clapping her hands. "I'll get the wine!"
"What?"
Yang didn't get an answer as her little sister disappeared into the kitchen. Yang hung her coat and scarf in the dressing room hangers and slowly entered the lounge. She looked around once more, seeing the large family picture above the fireplace, which was filled with ash and an orange hue from desperate brimstones.
The Huntress snapped her head back around and saw Ruby holding up two wine glasses and a wine bottle in the other hand, smiling goofily at her sister. Yang approached her and, with a smirk, took the bottle, looking it over.
"Oh, wow. Dad, you amaze me. 1595… Good year." Yang commented.
"Yeah, I just drink whatever…" Ruby said. "I'm pretty lightweight though."
"Dad lets you drink?" Yang asked, passing the bottle back before Ruby turned around and approached the kitchen table, which had two chairs set up on either end of the round table. Setting the bottle down and pouring the red alcohol into either glass, Ruby giggled.
"Yeah, a bit, after some of the spars."
"Spars, eh? He started training you?" Yang asked, smirking up at Ruby as she sat down, staring at the wine glasses as they were filled.
"Yeah. Wanted to be a Huntress, still want to, but… Well, Dad used a lot of his funding for you, and after you kind of dipped…" Ruby didn't want to say it, but as Yang slowly took her wineglass, she stared in slight guilt down into the red liquid.
"I'm sorry, Ruby. I've been working. A lot. It's just that…"
"No, no, don't worry! I', just going to go around and beat up bad guys!" Ruby said, sitting down and taking her own glass as if she knew what she was talking about. Still naive, Yang concluded, but she ignored it. Instead, the two toasted each other.
"To Dad," Ruby said, with a slight crack in her voice.
"To Dad." And the two drank, with Ruby frowning and wretching a bit at the taste, but still swallowing.
After a bout of silence and drinking, Ruby spoke up.
"So, erm… How's life in Hyperion?"
Yang looked up from her glass, blinking before her violet eyes grew solemn. Shrugging, Yang answered in a sombre tone. "My job takes me all over the place, Ruby. That's the life of a Huntress who doesn't go out and kill Grimm to earn her living."
"Oh, right. What was Beacon like?"
Grey met violet, as the two sisters stared at each other. Ruby's curious eyes turned to slight confusion, then she relaxed into her seat, staring back the rigid gaze of her older sister. Yang herself then shut her eyes and drank some of the wine, before shaking her head.
"Nothing like you imagine. And not in a good way, Ruby."
"Well, that's fine, I guess. Couldn't get into it if I wanted to, either way. I mean, I'm the correct age, but I don't have the money." Ruby said, in a chipper, but fake tone, laying her finger on a roundabout over the glass's top.
"Well, you could earn it." Yang couldn't stop herself, and their eyes met again, and Yang continued after Ruby gave her a confused gaze.
"I work for the Schnees. Never met them in person, except Lord Jacques, but their family has paid me plenty to do some of their… work…" she resisted saying 'dirty', but continued.
"I have an apartment, enough money to spare, too. And each job I do, I get money. I'm like a Mercenary."
"Oh, wow. How much?"
Yang had to think about that. Scratching her head, she was surprised at Ruby slamming the table in utter shock at the number that Yang had blurted out.
"Ten thousand!?"
"Yeah, ten thousand."
"Each job?"
"Could be more."
"Oh, dear Avi, Yang, that's a lot! I mean, I mean… Wow!"
Yang chuckled at Ruby's shocked face, as her little sister's mind raced. Then, she stat still and pointed at Yang, her eyes flaring up and her cheeks slightly red from the abundance of wine in her.
"Apprenticeship!"
"... Excuse me?"
"Mom was an Apprentice to a Hunter before she built Beacon, and became a Huntress while an Apprentice! You're a Huntress, I have the training- just take me on as an Apprentice!" Ruby exclaimed, and Yang rose her hands up.
"Hold on, I was going to offer to send funds and help you live here, this isn't-..."
"Come on, Yang! I want to be a Huntress! I want to see Hyperion! Please, it's been so long since I've seen you! And, and…" Ruby had reached over the table and Yang had frozen in place, staring at her as her sister clutched her hands and was about to weep, with her voice cracking.
Taking her hands in her own, Yang tried to calm her down.
"Hey, hey… Okay, just calm down, Ruby… Please…" The sister pleaded, and RUby soon enough took one hand away and wiped her watery eyes, nodding haphazardly at Tang. Yang then sighed, still clutching the palms of her sister.
"I'll do it. Just promise me you'll stay with a clear mind… Hyperion, Atlas- it's a different place. Different people. Different ways of doing this. What you see, what you do, it matters. I learned it the hard way." Yang spoke in a sombre tone, making Ruby stare into her wayward violet eyes in slight suspicion.
"We should head to bed," Yang stated, and Ruby couldn't agree more.
Nodding to Yang, she rose up and started clearing the table. "Y-yeah. Dad kept your room clean for you."
"Really?"
"Yeah…" Ruby said, not meeting her sister's eyes, for now, simply cleaning up, as Yang slowly departed. In silence, Yang then came upon her bedroom door. She entered the dark room, seeing the bed that she had left ten years ago. The desk. The small pictures she had sketched her whole life.
It was empty, but it held a lot of her history over her head. She didn't like that. Either way, she thrust herself onto her bed and simply shut her eyes, trying her best with sleeping in a room that she wanted to lay down in for so many years, but now couldn't.
Ruby had awoken earlier than Yang thought. Even so, Yang had woken up long before her. Having the tendency to drink liquor by herself after a hard mission, she was used to Wine, even if it was the strong stuff. Ruby, however, kept to her word as a lightweight and continued her slumber long into ten in the morning, while Yang had woken up at seven, precisely. Something the Huntress had charged and trained into herself.
Ruby had stumbled into Yang's room expecting to see her sister under the covers, but she found her sitting down in the chair that had sat before her desk, staring out the window, with her chin on top of one of her palms.
The sisters' eyes met, and Yang stood up, without a word, passing Ruby and walking to the kitchen. Ruby, bewildered, followed behind, though shuffling in her steps. After a yawn, Ruby asked:
"Hey, uh… How long were you up for?"
"Hardly slept," Yang said, opening the cupboards for the eggs and bread, and getting some matches to light the fire. Opening the gas, she carefully lit the match and the gas under the pan she had set up and started getting the eggs, whilst Ruby watched, still bewildered, slowly sitting down…
"You didn't even know how to make eggs."
"What?" Yang asked, confused. The two looked at each other, with Ruby having an almost goofy, confused stare.
"You hardly cooked your entire life."
"Oh. Yeah, I had to learn something in Hyperion. They don't teach you that in Beacon, that's for sure." Yang explained, snorting at her own ironic statement, which Ruby was lost on, but the little sister let it slide for now. Idly, she watched Yang make their breakfast before the two sat down to eat.
"So, erm… Our deal."
Yang stopped mid-shewing, as she swallowed the piece of toast and egg in her throat and nodded along. "Right. Surprised you remember."
"Hey, I'm not that dumb. I'm not ten anymore. Besides, I'm serious. When you're going back, I'm coming with you."
Yang frowned at this, but Ruby stared her down. Looking around herself, Yang sighed.
"What about this place?"
"I can call up Granny to take care of it. I mean, she's bound to like it better than her apartment down in the capital." Ruby said, waving her fork around in a dismissive manner, and Yang frowned a bit at that.
"Shit, that old crone's still alive?" Yang asked, earning a shocked expression from Ruby, which made Yang chuckle.
"Hey! Don't talk like that!"
"Oh, come on, that old hag is insufferable to everyone but you. There's a reason they call her the Witch, you know…" Yang continued, commenting on her half-sister's grandmother, from her mother's side. Maria Rose was certainly an odd one. She was half-blind but was a very, very old Huntress, and still could put up a good fight, despite her height and age.
Yang then came back from her thoughts and stared blankly at Ruby, who began eating again. After her bout of silence, Yang laid her fork and knife down, before clutching her hands together, and resting both against her mouth, staring Ruby down.
Grey eyes looked up in surprise, and Ruby asked after chewing her food: "W-What?"
"Are you sure you want this, Ruby?" Before Ruby could say anymore, Yang continued. "This isn't like the stories that Dad or Summer used to say. Hyperion isn't what you'd expect. It's a darker world out there. I mean… It's not Grimm I'm fighting over there, Ruby is what I'm saying."
Ruby stared back at Yang, and Yang frowned.
"Do you want that?"
Ruby then looked down at her food, idly poking the leaking, yellowy substance within the egg before her, before she stared up at Yang, nodding stiffly.
"I'm sure."
Yang was disappointed.
Yang nodded, with an encouraging smile, before standing up, with her plate in hand.
"Good, because I'm needed back there in three days, and I need to grab a train around…" she looked down at the watch on her wrist, smirking. "Well, in two hours. So get packing."
Ruby was up and back into her bedroom like a lightning bolt, and Yang kept smiling at her before that smile faltered. Putting the dishes into the sink, she sighed, laying her head down and cursing herself. She shouldn't have opened her mouth about Hyperion. But, she had to understand- Ruby wasn't one to be not curious. Instead, she would've probably asked to be her apprentice either way.
Apprentice Ruby. Goddess, Yang thought, she was going to have to train her, if it was going to be official. And she was too innocent for Hyperion, either.
No, a voice told her. She has to learn.
The voice steeled Yang.
Yeah, she had to. And she won't be alone. Yang will protect her, by any means.
Whatever it takes.