Hey all! Welcome to season 2! Things will deviate a lot from the original RWBY episodes this season, and we'll finally get around to training RWBY! Let's do this!
To spark your interest and my own, we have a little trailer, of sorts. Eventually I'll get around to drawing some cover art for this, but until then, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Destiny.
You've traveled the world, done the impossible.
You've survived something nobody should have been able to survive.
You've moved on, and grown stronger through your hardships and bonds.
You've made friends, you've made a new family.
But, what happens when your past catches up to you?
Something is stirring in the Dead Zone, unnatural earthquakes rock the area, centered at the final resting place, the Vanguard's Tomb...
Our tomb.
Something is coming, and now it's time for us to wake up.
Shade, it's time for us to do the impossible, it's time for us to take a page from your tale.
It's time... for the Vanguard to return.
RWBY
Dead Zone
Season 2: Shadows of the Past
"The dead tell no tales,
So, let's tell the tales for them."
So yeah, that was a thing. Anyways, let's move on, shall we?
Shade took a seat at the table next to Velvet this time. The girl smiles before returning to her book. It was winter break, around a month and a half since the battle at the docks. The three teams all ate in companionable silence, Yang and Nora throwing food into each other's mouths. Shade looks on with amusement as Ruby enters, lugging a giant binder filled to the brim. The young leader slams the binder onto the table with a slam.
"And done! Guys! This will be the best day ever!" The reaper cries.
"Oh! Hey sis!" Yang says, catching a grape in her mouth. "Where've you been?"
"Guys! The break is almost done! We need to spend the last day as much as we can! So I've taken it on myself to plan it!" Ruby shouts.
"Is that my binder?" Weiss asks.
"I am not a crook!" Ruby says.
"Sounds cool sis!" Yang says, an apple bouncing off her head. Yang glares and throws the apple back. "What's first?" Ruby couldn't answer as a pie hits Weiss in the face. Shade sighs as Nora points to Ren, moving with the rest of CFVY to be out of the line of fire.
Meanwhile
"These guys are like really cool dude!" Sun says, leading a blue haired teen down the walkway. "I mean, like really cool!"
"Cool, cool." The blue haired man says, grinning.
"And great part is that one of them is a Faunus." Sun blurts, before covering his mouth. "But don't tell anyone, alright? That's, like, a super big secret."
"I got it." The man says.
"Neptune, I just don't wanna mess this up!" Sun says, as Glynda appears around the corner, leading what appears to be an older version of Weiss towards the cafeteria. "Just, be cool, okay?"
"Dude." Neptune says, grinning. Sun nods.
"Good point." The monkey-Faunus replies, ignoring the sounds of fighting inside the room. Glynda doesn't, and neither does Winter. "Hey Goodwitch! Who's that?"
"Mr. Wukong. This is Specialist Winter Schnee." Goodwitch says, gritting her teeth as students run out of the mess hall.
"Nice to meet ya!" Sun says, "Why are you here?"
"For Iron Lord Kurogane." Winter replies, raising an eyebrow at a student covered with food running by.
"Oh yeah, Neptune! I forgot to tell you that I know the last Iron Lord!" Sun says, turning to his friend. Neptune nods, playing everything cool.
"Awesome." The Mistralian replies. The two teens rush inside the mess hall, Goodwitch and Winter right behind them.
"I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE! I'M QUEEN OF THE CASTLE!" Nora shouts, standing atop a fort of tables.
"Justice will served! Justice will be swift! It will be..." Ruby shouts back, crushing a milk carton, "Delicious!" The room erupts into chaos as RWBY and JNPR get into a massive food-fight, most of them somehow finding things to act like their weapons. CFVY and Shade slowly slide towards the teacher as her forehead pops a vein.
"Hey Winter." Shade says. Winter cracks a bemused smile at him, taking in his appearance. An absence of his trademark cloak was noticeable, replaced with a black, full-zip hoodie bearing the same triple arrow insignia on the back. The hoodie was unzipped, revealing a dark green, almost black, form fitting shirt. His black jeans were replaced with black cargo pants, while he still wore the black combat boots. His revolver was holstered on his right thigh, combat knife sheathed under his left forearm, But Not Forgotten was slung across his back while Forgotten Night was in his hand, the blade had evidence of food splattered across it.
"Shade." The woman replies. "Busy morning?" Shade shrugs.
"Your sister took a pie to the face, and then things went south from there." The Iron Lord says, "What are you doing here?"
"We've been cleared by Ironwood to enter the Dead Zone." She replies. CFVY growing silent as they turn to look at their friend. Shade nods. "I will warn you that earthquakes have been rocking the area, the center seems to be the battlefield."
"Of course it is." Shade mutters, "That place won't give me a break, won't it?" Winter grins sheepishly as she nods. "Alright. HEY!" His voice causes RWBY and JNPR to stop instantly, rather comically as Nora seems to defy gravity, somehow floating in midair, just about to smash Yang with Melonhild. "I'm heading out! See ya tomorrow!"
"BYE SHADE!" The eight shout, Ruby using her semblance to give him a big hug before returning to her position.
"Okay, continue." He says, following Winter as the room erupts into chaos once more. "Sorry Goodwitch, let them play a bit, eh?" Glynda sighs. "I'm surprised you didn't reprimand Weiss?"
"Although I may not see her often, I love my sister. I know how strict our father is, so any chance that she has to smile as wide as she was, I will not interfere." The soilder says. Shade nods as the two board her ship, taking off and heading towards the Dead Zone.
One hour later.
Winter and Shade walk through the Dead Zone, a large platoon of knights with them. They had landed at Overwatch, boarded a Bullhead, and landed at Shade's camp, which was surprisingly still there. He grabbed a few things he had forgotten and lead the way to the battlefield. Winter gasps in shock as the treeline breaks to reveal what looks like a volcanic surface. The area was black, no plantlife growing as broken pieces of weapons, armor, and flags little the area. Shade ignores everything, moving quickly to where two broken knives lay imbedded into the ground, two broken halves of a bladed shield lay nearby as well.
"Hey Vivian, Shiro." Shade says, reaching into his bag, pulling out a shell casing for each of the makeshift tombstones. "I didn't have time to pick flowers this time around, sorry." A minor earthquake shakes the ground. "I'm guessing that those have been getting pretty annoying, I'll take care of it." Grinning sadly, Shade motions for Winter to follow him as he heads to the cliffside, zeroing in on the collapsed mouth of the cave. A larger quake hits, shifting a few rocks, and a flash of light catches his attention. With a sharp gasp, Shade quickens his pace, Winter nearly having to sprint to keep up with him. "It can't be."
"Shade! What is it?" Winter pants, watching as he moves away some more rocks. The white glow grows stronger when it's revealed to the sunlight, and then Shade sees what he's looking for as he pulls away a decent sized rock, causing most of the outer layer of boulders to fall away. Staring right back at him was the face of Luna Starlight. She looked younger than he remembered, but the white glow surrounding him catches his attention.
"Isn't that...!" Winter exclaims. Shade nods.
"Luna Starlight, my mentor, and surrogate sister." He replies.
"What's that glow?" The soldier asks, moving to stand next to the Iron Lord. Shade doesn't respond. He, instead, opens his scroll and pulls up the Iron Lord roster, looking through the semblances.
"I'm assuming it's Kuroka's semblance." Shade mutters. "I remember learning about it. It's a sort of area stasis semblance centered around her." He looks through, finding Kuroka's semblance. "Yes, here it is, forwarding it to you." Winter's scroll rings as she pulls it out, looking over the documents.
"It says here that she could activate it at will, but it would also activate if she was about to run out of aura." She says, "But this is the Dead Zone, she couldn't activate it period."
"Remember that I adapted to use aura here." Shade says. "Kuroka spent a lot of time here when she was in training, according to Luna. Since Iron Lords are chosen before their aura fully stabilizes, it wouldn't be a surprise if her aura adapted a bit." Winter nods, still in wondered awe. "I just can't believe that she had enough aura to actually activate it. I couldn't even activate my semblance here, and I spent five years here, Kuroka only spent one." Shade's eyes narrow as another quake shakes the area.
"So, how do we deactivate it?" Winter asks. Shade shrugs.
"I'm not really sure, the stasis field was weird," He replies, shaking the cobwebs clear. Now wasn't the time to be distracted by his emotions. Lives were on the line. "Kuroka always said that it had a mind of its own once activated. I'm guessing her subconscious deactivated it. There's only one more complication."
"What?"
"It isn't really a stasis field, it actually makes you younger, for however long you were in the field, you also forget that amount of time leading up to the stasis field." He says. "If the Vanguard woke, they'd remember that they were the Vanguard, but they'd forget the five years leading to the fall, including me, and the Dead Zone." Winter gasps, it was a little-known fact, but how your semblance and aura evolve throughout your life depends on how strong your will is, as well as your experiences in life. "However, if they were shown something that had a significant impact in their life, it would jog their memories. I know Luna's, perhaps Celestia's as well, but Kuroka's is a mystery, I have a guess but can't do anything right now." His eyes grow sharp as the growl of a Beringal echoes through the area. "I'll handle this, call Ironwood, get an excavation team here, and get the Vanguard home." Drawing Forgotten Night, the glaive erupts into fire as he charges the Grimm. The Scout quickly runs through the statistics of a Beringal. Not heavily armored, but can take a beating, insanely strong and fast, grabble moves. Shade spins his glaive, creating a ring of fire as he slashes at the Grimm, leaving scorch marks and cuts, but the Grimm was largely unaffected. Shade grits his teeth as he jumps back, drawing his revolver and unloading, the Beringal shields its face, and then Shade knew he had it. Charging again, the Beringal catches him off guard when it suddenly grabs him and throws him across the area. The Android escort opens fire, and the Beringal begins to plow through them. Shade uses its distraction to his advantage, drawing his knife as lighting surges through him, he quickly checks his aura gauge. "Ten seconds, more than enough." He flies forwards, cutting off the Grimm just before it reached Winter, The Iron Lord spins, cutting off the head with a flash of lightning, just as the ten seconds end. Winter nods in thanks, just as her scroll connects to Ironwood.
"Winter, what is it?" The General asks, Winter doesn't respond, pointing the camera at Luna instead. "What?! Penny, please get Ozpin on the line! How?!"
"Take a look at the semblance and training records of Kuroka Night." Shade says, "We need an excavation team, and a team to take them to Beacon."
"Why Beacon? Surely our medical teams in Atlas could do better." Ironwood says.
"Because I'm at Beacon, and the second they wake I want to be there, and because Beacon is active Iron Lord Headquarters until further notice." Shade says. "It is my duty as Acting Vanguard to bring them to HQ." Ironwood sighs, and nods. "Good, relay everything to Ozpin, I'm staying here tonight with the excavation team, also, send actual soldiers with Goliath busters, we'll need those just in case since they won't have aura." Ironwood nods.
"The teams have already been scrambled. Specialist, call in your Bullhead for shelter and resupply. Have them land there, the miniguns should be of assistance." The General says. Winter nods. "Shade... we'll bring them home." As the bullhead arrives Shade sighs and leans against a boulder.
"I...I can't believe that they've been alive all this time." He says, "I've visited every year, and all this time they've been right underneath my nose, alive." Winter takes a seat next to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"You didn't want to dig them out, right?" She asks. He nods, his eyes growing dull.
"I already lost Shiro and Vivian, and buried what was left of them. I didn't want to see their bodies." The Scout says. Winter nods, and the two sit in silence, Shade having drawn But Not Forgotten to watch for more Grimm.
The excavation team arrived around midnight, and instantly got to work. The Military set up a temporary outpost. Everyone knew how important this operation was. Shade was seated in the makeshift watchtower.
"Hey." Winter says, climbing up into the tower. "The chief says that they'll probably have them dug out by morning. They've found Celestia, and Kuroka is seen further in." Shade nods. "You should get some sleep."
"Can't." He mutters. "I know I should, but I can't." Winter raises a curious eyebrow. "They were there, for all this time. How didn't I notice?" Winter places a hand on his shoulder.
"You couldn't have." The woman says. Shade nods. "Earlier you said that you knew of what Luna's trigger was, right? What is it?"
"Her sword." He says, "She told me that she'll never give someone her sword, unless she was about to die. So she told me that her memory cue is her sword. Never really gave me the backstory on it though. Celestia's is Vivian, or rather, the picture I have of Shiro, Vivian, and I. She took it when we all passed the Mentor-apprentice trial. Only time I've ever seen Celestia cry. So I think that's her cue." Winter nods.
"Very well, Shade get some sleep, you have training with RWBY at noon tomorrow, right?" At his nod she continues. "I will not have Weiss's training be subpar because you weren't well-rested." Shade snorts, but nods, pulling out a think quilt and bundling up to sleep.
The next day Shade found himself walking off of Winter's ship with three stretchers behind him carrying the Vanguard. The second they had arrived at Beacon Kuroka's semblance had deactivated, but the three women hadn't woken up. The doctors didn't know why they haven't woken, and Shade didn't have any answer as well.
"SHADE!" Ruby's voice echoes through the area, breaking Shade out of his thoughts. The crimson reaper appears in a flurry of rose petals and latches onto her friend. Shade stumbles back in shock while Winter hides a giggle. The rest of RWBY walk up shortly after. "How are you~!" Shade smiles slightly.
"I'm doing alright." He responds while Weiss hugs her sister, before glancing at the stretchers and freezing.
"Shade... is that...?" The heiress asks. The Scout nods.
"Indeed." He says, gesturing to the Vanguard. "Girls, this is the Vanguard, my mentors."
"H-how?" Yang mutters. Shade shrugs.
"Kuroka has a strange semblance..." He mutters. "It's a stasis-type semblance." RWBY nod in understanding.
"How long until they wake?" Blake asks, Winter shrugs.
"Unknown." Shade mutters. "Winter, could you make sure they get to the infirmary?" At her nod he continues. "Weiss, introduce your sister to your teammates before we head off to training." The girl nods.
"Winter, these are my teammates." Weiss starts. "My team leader and partner, Ruby Rose."
"Hi!" Ruby says, "Weiss is like my BFF!" Ruby finishes off by giving her partner a big hug, in which Weiss huffs with a small smile.
"Blake Belladonna, a good friend." The white-haired girl continues.
"I'm also a Faunus," Blake says, twitching her bow. Winter smiles.
"Good job on diversity." The soldier says, nodding to Blake. "Ironwood told me about you, former Fang? As long as you're not a current member then we'll be fine." Blake nods with a small smile.
"And finally, Yang Xiao-Long, the brute." Weiss says with a grin.
"Hey!" Yang says while everyone laughs.
"Yang's actually a great friend, and punching bag." Shade says, and Yang huffs. Winter grins.
"It's nice to see that my sister has made such great friends." Winter says. "I'm Winter Schnee, Weiss's sister." A chorus of greetings follow. "Now, I must take my leave. I'll get the Vanguard into medical care and report in to Ozpin. Have fun training." Shade nods as he leads RWBY away and towards the nearby forest.
"Why are we going into the forest?" Ruby asks, Shade shrugs.
"It's easier to train in a more natural environment, and so nobody disturbs us." The Scout replies. Finding a large enough clearing, he gestures for the girls to take a seat. "Okay, so I can honestly say that I'm no professional teacher, and I'm certainly not qualified to teach anyways, but I'm going to train you to be the best, in my standards. Firstly, Iron Lords are split into three combat roles, could one of you tell me what those roles are?" Weiss raises her hand and the Scout nods to her.
"Guardians, Scouts, and Supporters." The heiress responds. Shade nods.
"Yes, now first order of business is to assign those roles to each of you. Now, I can tell you outright what roles you'd be suited for, but it's much easier, and essential, for you to analyze your own strengths to find out what kind of role you are. It's acceptable to talk to your friends about it as well." He says, and the girls turn to talk among themselves. "But take head, whatever you choose as your combat role, you cannot change, and you will be trained as such." The four girls nod, and talk among themselves.
"I can say that I'm a Scout." Blake says, and her teammates look to her.
"How do you know?" Ruby asks.
"Well, think about it for a second." Weiss says. "Blake doesn't go in and take a beating to deliver one. She pops in and pops out, catching the enemy off guard before getting outside their own reach." Ruby makes a small 'oh'.
"Yeah, the tanking should be left to me." Yang says, punching her fists together. "My semblance allows me to take hits and deal double the damage back." Ruby nods in agreement.
"I guess I'll take the Support then." Weiss says. "Since I'm more of a dust-mage than an actual fighter, I can utilize my knowledge better to support and attack from afar." Everyone turns to Ruby, who was thinking hard. Suddenly she turns to Shade.
"Shade?" The young leader asks. The Iron Lord nods to her. "You're my friend, right?" Another nod is sent her way. "You said we could ask our friends for help on the decision, so I'm asking you as a friend." The rest of RWBY blink, while Shade bursts out laughing.
"Indeed, you can!" He says, chuckling. "I was wonder if one of you would catch that!" Yang, Blake, and Weiss all look to one another with a shocked look. "Ruby, this is why you're the leader, you catch things most won't. Ruby, with your speed and weapon, it makes a tough choice. Most large weapons are a Guardian's preferred weapon. However, your speed makes you more of a Scout, as well as your sniping." He then turns to the rest of RWBY. "You three were spot on with your choices. Yang, your semblance basically means that you were destined to be a tank, Weiss, your skill with your blade is unparalleled, but you rely on the dust chamber more-so, making you a perfect Support. Blake, while your clones are every Guardian's dream, your combat style is more suited to a Scout. Good work you four." Shade stands from the rock he was sitting on. "Yang, Weiss, I will warn you that I cannot train you two fully. I am a Scout, and was trained by a Scout. I did pick up a few things from Kuroka, Shiro, Celestia, and Vivian, but I'm not fully trained in the other roles. Best case, I train you the best I can and when the Vanguard wakes I'll see if they can train you further. Ruby, Blake, your styles are similar but your weapons aren't. I can train both of you, but it will be easier for Ruby because of how similar Forgotten Night is to Crescent Rose. Gambol Shroud is a weapon that I can teach techniques to, but when Luna wakes up, she'll had an easier time teaching you than I would." Both girls nod. "Okay, first lesson. Grimm. I'm sure you all know about the Grimm, but can you tell me the weak points of a Beringal?" Ruby's hand shoots up.
"A Beringal doesn't have think armor, but its muscle mass makes up for in with elasticity. It can take a lot of hits without getting damaged. The easiest way to kill one is to pierce their eyes, straight into the brain. If you can get past their reach though." The reaper says. Shade nods, and continues to quiz the girls on the known types of Grimm. Suddenly, he looks out on the four.
"Alright, does anyone know the weakness of a Goliath?" He asks. The four girls grow silent, looking to each other in shock at the question.
"You think we might go up against a Goliath?" Yang squeaks. Ruby looks pale, and Weiss looks like she'll faint. Blake understands the question, knowing that the Iron Lords fought a Goliath in the Dead Zone.
"You need to be ready for anything." He replies.
"There-There isn't a real weakness on a Goliath." Weiss says, regaining her composure. Shade shakes his head.
"There is one," He says, shocking the girls. "The internal organs." The girls gasp in surprise.
"But you'd need to get through the armor to get to the organs, right?" Ruby questions. The Scout shakes his head again.
"No, what are the three things the make up an explosion?" He asks Yang, the pyrotechnic of the team. Yang thinks for a second.
"Well, the instantaneous combustion," She starts, "Making fire, heat, and a..." Her eyes glint in realization. "A shockwave." Shade nods as the rest of RWBY begin to understand.
"Grimm armor protects from physical blows," Blake muses. "So a shockwave and intense heat would practically boil the innards of a Grimm." Shade nods.
"That's how you take down a Goliath," He says. "Unless you have a bunkerbuster on hand, or a tactical nuke, the only way to take down a Goliath is from the inside out." RWBY nod in understanding. "Good, now that the Grimm theory is out of the way, it's time to go onto personal theory. First thing's first, semblance flaws, I assume you know the limits of your own semblances?" The girls think for a second, before Weiss and Blake nod, but Ruby and Yang don't. "Okay, I'll give an example, since it's important for you to realize your own flaws. My semblance is something I'm going to call ArcBlade. It gives me a huge power boost while giving my weapon an electric charge, sounds pretty cool, right?" Yang and Ruby nod, "However, every semblance has a downside, mine is that it drains my aura at an alarmingly fast rate. I can only use ArcBlade for a minute before I'm out of aura. Then, and this is my theory, the semblance will start to actually consume my soul." The entirety of RWBY gasps in shock. "We'll discuss that tidbit later. Weiss, Blake, care to share your semblance and its flaws?" Weiss snaps out of it first.
"Of course, My semblance is glyphs, and depending on the color and shape, they can do different things, even summoning, though I haven't gotten there yet." The heiress says, "The size of my glyphs are determined by how much I can move my hands, and I need to focus on them to keep them active, and after a while my energy will be drained if I use it to much." Shade nods in agreement before turning to Blake, who sighs and glares at the Iron Lord.
"We're talking about that later, right?" She growls, Shade nods. "Good, my semblance is Shadow Clones, I flash a few meters away from my previous position, leaving a shadow to take a hit. I can use it to propel myself forward. The downsides are that I can only use it once while midair, and that the clones aren't physical, so a wide area attack could still hit me." Ruby and Yang nod, thinking about their own semblances.
"My semblance is speed." Ruby quips. "I can run super-fast, or use it to make the world seem very slow, I use it in Oobleck's class a lot." Everyone chuckles. "The only problem is that when I'm using it, it's hard to turn and see things around me, it's a tunnel vision. And as I get closer to the speed of sound I start to black out." Shade grins, showing the girl that he had observed the same.
"Yang?" Blake asks.
"My semblance takes the hits I receive and doubles the damage I deal back." She says. "The energy it gives off makes my hair catch fire, and turns my eyes red. The downsides, is that it requires me to get hit for it to work, it needs my aura to take the damage, so if I'm out of aura, or against someone who's semblance negates aura, it's ineffective." Shade nods, agreeing with her.
"Now, here's why I had you say this." He says, looking to everyone. "Your semblance is a reflection of yourselves, as many believe. The flaws of your semblance accent the flaws of yourself, and as you grow and change as a person, your semblance does as well." He looks out over his friends. "You are a team, and as such, you need to know the weaknesses of your comrades so you can use your own strengths to cover their weaknesses. This keeps people from dying." RWBY nods as Shade stands. Checking his watch, he nods, a small grin. "Congratulations on passing your first class. We'll meet here after dinner in two days." The girls nod, standing and following Shade out. He quickly moves away from the dormsaway from the dorms, heading towards the infirmary. RWBY shrug, following him through the halls. He knocks first, before entering the infirmary. The five are surprised to see professor Ozpin there, but quickly nod to the man. "What's their status?"
"They're in a comatose state." The headmaster says. "Medical says that they have brain activity, but it's unknown when, or if they'll wake up."
"They'll wake up." Shade says, firmly. "They have to." Blake rests her hand on his shoulder, and the rest of RWBY piles in, giving their friend some comfort.
"Of course they will." Blake says, and Ozpin smiles.
"Well will do everything in our power to find a way to wake them up." The aged headmaster says. Shade nods.
"Alert me if they wake?"
"You'll be the first to now."
A/N: Alright! End of season 2, Shadows of the Past, let's have some fun shall we?
Sorry if the chapter seems rushed, but I just started the original idea phase for the story and need some time to get back into the swing of things.
Bye!