The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Thirteen, Hope's Last Stand.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Soltias, Atlas, Schnee Manor-
Within the heart of the floating city known as Atlas, the camera was able to zoom past everything like a rocket, jettisoning towards the rather imposing white manor of the Schnees, which seemed to be rotting away in some places and covered in scorch marks.
Down the halls and through empty rooms the camera went, twisting and turning like a small airship, as it moved towards the far left hand side of the second floor, where, within the rather clean study room, a single figure loomed over a small desk, their body obscured by both the large silk chair and the dim lightning, and continually moved their right hand over a rather peculiar object of note.
A small white journal, one that was torn a little near the spine but otherwise in perfect condition.
The pen, jet black in color with a fine red tip, moved upwards and downwards as the screen began to fade to white, black letters forming on the screen as a narration, a male one, began to play in the background.
Dear diary,
The crisis has escalated over a fortnight, the people, the barbarian huntsmen, everyone is in a state of madness. Fires, robberies and mob violence everywhere, and all because of rising Dust prices.
The Schnee Dust Company, in its infinite wisdom, decided to keep the demand higher for several months and this was the result. Atlas is falling, Mantle is overthrowing the Atlasian guards, and father...he has been ripped to shreds by his own people, all because of Dust, the most valuable commodity in this world of monsters and so-called heroes.
There will be a meeting later this week, or night depending on the situation, on why the next CEO will be and how to recover from this event. Knowing my siblings, they will either have no interest or little insight into the situation to properly evaluate the best course of action.
I must leave, I hear the mob outside the manor.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Crisis averted. The rampages in Atlas and Mantle have subsided, thank the gods. All because a new order of business was established at the meeting, which happened to be the complete decrease of Dust prices by about seventy five percent.
My sister, the huntress, hasn't talked to me since the funeral, like always. Always trying to remove themselves from the family in their own ways.
I must cut this 'talk' short, I have a meeting with the metal man himself, something about ensuring loyalty to the kingdom, not that I don't have any, unlike two certain siblings.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Today was rather...warm. Not like it was warm as a Mistrali day but more...luke warm. Strange given the fact the city has its own climate but it is...strange to say the least.
But regardless of the temperature, the company is running smoothly...and boringly in my personal opinion. So many conferences and business actions, no wonder father was so upset all the time. Or...no. Don't think of the past. The Specialist sister came to me this afternoon, wanting to talk about opening trade talks to the military, to Ironwood.
I humbly declined and saw her off, although seeing her cold expression makes me feel like she finds my presence, my very existence tolerable. Still, this was better than the times she avoided me for her younger sister, always going to her, never asking me how I was and if I needed comfort.
The past is the past, better to move on then relieve the pain of being alone with your own thoughts.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
The stock of the SDC is normal and everything is fine...is what I would say if the second part was true. Shockingly, something wrong is occurring and none of the scientists of Altas or Mantle have any idea what it was.
All of Solitas is becoming warmer. For ten long years the temperature has been increasing dramatically, ruining the crop productions in the process. There is a shortage of all known Soltias based products from bread to sugar outside of Atlas' walls.
Only time will tell if this is a temporary issue with the climate or possibly something man made, although I personally think it's the former, no human made object or byproduct could affect the planet in this short amount of time.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Weiss contacted me, a first in years, telling me all about her huntress career with Team Bla bla bla or something, I really don't care for such barbarity. She went on and on and on and on and ON about how she saved the world or kept Vale safe from corruption, but what I heard from those thinly veiled words was 'why do you have to steal my dream?' or 'why are you even here?'. It's all the same, always painting me as the bad guy and herself as the heroine, but that is far from true.
She knows more about the business end of the company, I know the trends, the people, the fine line between the poor and the elite, the current technological advantages of Atlas. I know everything that's currently in Atlas and its sister city Mantle, but her? HER!? She is too far in her own little world to understand others, I mean look at her team, first and second year, cold, detached and being racist to the only faunus of the team multiple times. Sure she said 'she's learned her mistakes', but I know the truth, she only cares about herself, never about others despite her noble intentions for the family business. Just like mother says, she's too much like father when it comes to stubbornness and more like herself in other ways.
Oh sister dear, you really enjoy making enemies of the family, even...those that shouldn't be.
I must be off, I have a meeting with Ironwood, something about a landslide in the far west portion of the city limits. I don't remember but he did ask for transport so, I must be the dutiful citizen...as always.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
The winter is gone, no snow, not hail, just a muggy dry heat wave that is unbearable. Is this what Vaucoians feel like every day? Still, the heat is unbearable.
Still I miss the cold, the feelings of harsh reality that made Atlas tougher than the rest of Remnant, and the calm breeze that accompanies the harshest of blizzards….just like Winter, my eldest sister.
Sometimes I pity her, given she saw mother before her descent into the bottle and tried to make an effort to change the family for the better. But those feelings are moot, for she is like the Soltias storms, hurtful, uncaring and cold to anyone but her kingdom, her general and her sister, her only sibling. I used to look up to her, Weiss as well, but time has made me a little wiser to the actions of others, for I see their true intentions made bare. For Weiss, it was blind ignorance to the world and people outside her dreams, and for Winter, eldest of the Schnee trio...its cowardness.
From the day she became a member of the military, she has done nothing but run from her family, her birthright and her roots to become something she's not, a robotic servant to a cyborg that plans for wars that will never happen. Ruthless in tongue as she is with blades, she attacks those that disrespect Ironwood like a common dog, looking for attention yet receiving little for her own personal health. Wounds from her training, forced discipline from the Creatures of Grimm's onslaught, and conditioning from cold unfeeling logic turned her from a human, one that might have led a life of happiness, to a machine that will be tossed aside like trash when the need arises.
Many times I have tried to talk to her, voice my thoughts on her life's goals for the future, yet every time, she mocks my speech, makes jabs at my intentions and worse, considers me a spitting image of father. I might be many things, ambitious, proud, silver tongued among many titles, but I am never like father. I came to him in desperation for companionship, I cared for him like a good son would, yet I never saw myself as another Jacques Schnee. Not after seeing him turn the company into a shameful excuse of our grandfather's legacy.
For all my power, all my influence...all I want is reconnection. Yet, that dream is unattainable, a fleeting dream for a lonely soul.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Terrible news, according to every media outlet this side of Soltias. The landslides have become more frequent due to the permafrost melting, yes melting, and causing mass floods across the continent, destroying villages and, to everyone in Atlas' horror, destroying large chunks of the walls located in Mantle and in the ensuring landslides, destroyed not only the tethers of the Snow Shoe Shipping company but the city has been completely filled in, the entire crater is now a graveyard.
Without the Dust tethers, the Hard Light Dust supply for the barrier will be depleted in a matter of days, if not weeks, and without Dust, the SDC will be in ruins. But for the people living there in Mantle...it was a tragedy, something that could've been avoided if given the preparations. But as with all Atlasians, they cared nothing for the city below, like an overgrown tick after starving its host to death.
I must leave, an emergency board meeting for the future of the company is currently underway. I pray that this will not get any worse than it already has.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Things have gone from bad to worse in a few short years. The company has lost much of its own net value, causing many to quit before the situation became worse and the SDC is now at the brink of bankruptcy. An irony really, my grandfather made the company, my father maintained it, and I destroyed it in a matter of years. If they were here, I would be mocked for my foolishness. I know my siblings are behind closed doors.
If mother was still around, perhaps the company would rise again but...given she died during the Mantle landslide, a fact I didn't know until survivors dragged her body from the mud a month after the event, that...will never be the case. Mother, a drunk yes but a kind woman that tried her best in the face of adversity, although if she tried harder then maybe things would be better...maybe? I do not know, no one knows.
Grimm, dark monsters that might have been animals of a former life. That theory might be true after all, especially when huntsmen, for once in their miserable existence, reported something of note. The native Grimm, those that weren't placed there as exotic 'pets' by the more disturbed members of the Atlasian elite, have deteriorated in numbers, as if the rising climate has drastically affected their population. Many have turned to smog, according to sources, and have been sighted as 'unusually aggressive' to most forms of life, even animals of lower intelligence to humans.
Perhaps, like animals encroached by human settlements, the Grimm of Soltias are being threatened by the quick changes to their own biospheres? I must look into this later, perhaps there is a correlation between the climate, the Grimm and...something the company did.
Regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
Oh gods...oh gods almighty. The Grimm...they have attacked Atlas! Hundreds if not thousands of them all converging on the city like a hurricane of malice!
Large and small, unintelligent or Alphas, they are attacking everything, ripping down the generators, all of it! It's...unheard of! And yet, scientists have watched them for months, seeing as their rage grew over the normal levels of a Grimm, if there WAS a limit to how angry these things could get!
The military is trying their best to stave off the Grimm, but with the company now bankrupt and the amount of Dust powered drones decreasing every hour, it's a losing battle. Winter...she died on the first wave, eaten alive by Beowolves, oh gods, the sight must have been...ugh. Keep it together!
The huntsmen were no help, either running away or getting killed by their own ineffective actions, all taught by that cyborg, no creativity, just cold destructive logic against an ocean of illogical monsters!
I must contact Weiss, if she is the hero that she says she is, she needs to come back and help the survivors. I need to hurry, I see Razorbacks flying towards the city!
Desperate regards,
W. Schnee.
Dear diary,
She said no...she said NO! SHE SAID NO! Weiss Schnee, huntress of Beacon, SAID NO! She yelled at me, called me a liar, a thief and a murderer! She said NO!
...sorry. I let my aggression take over. Sorry.
In true Schnee coldness, my sister, my only family left in this world, said no to my desperate pleas for help. In her mind, I helped kill mother, I helped take her dream and in her mind, she saw me as nothing but a parasite. Saying that Atlas was fine and that I was making the entire thing up for 'attention' she hung up and blocked my Scroll. This...This stung even more than the constant isolation of my youth. Doesn't she know about the plight of Atlas? Of its people?
No. She doesn't care, and because of that cold hate towards her roots, hope has been snuffed out...or perhaps not.
This is a long shot, and one that might lead to more destruction...but I need to make amends. I...I caused all of this, I realized it now as I pen this entry. I lowered the price of Dust and Soltias' warmer climate...all from Fire Dust. Before the company filed for bankruptcy, I used the last of the family lien to purchase three things. The data from the Atlasian scientists that conducted the Soltias climate analysis, extra airships for the military...all destroyed in the attack, and something...more illegal.
Arthur Watts, scientist, creator of the Atlasian series, problematic thinker. All things that you would find in a very bad Spruce Willis movie, but without the volcanic island. However, his genius came from his unfinished project, the Atlasian Knights 0.1-1 series, near microscopic nanochips capable of self regenerating and near infinite data storage, a marvel that could have changed the planet...if father didn't call it a waste of time, given the nanochips required high amounts of Dust to power them for an indefinite amount of time. If I was in charge, I would have authorized the production but it is in the past.
I obtained this from less than credible sources but I had my reason, and that reason was to create a serum, one infused with crushed Fire Dust, that can jumpstart my aura and grant me a semblance. Yes, there wasn't a preliminary test and I don't know if I will gain my family's semblance or something absurd like shooting fire from my eyes, but the Grimm are invading Atlas, my home, and I must protect the survivors.
Atlas must live, even if it's just the people.
Winter, Weiss...I know we are not the closest of siblings but...will this finally make you proud of me?
Regards...for the final time,
W. Schnee.
The screen slowly changed back to normal, revealing the dark room in the process as the jorunar was closed by a human hand, the sounds of screams being heard in the distance followed by a loud primal roar that shook the manor's foundation.
The figure, revealed to be a tall pale skinned man with short white hair with a long cowlick on his head, light blue eyes that were starting to gain dark circles, wearing a long sleeved black dress shirt with white cuffs, twin gold buttons on the cuffs, a light navy blue vest, a white handkerchief in his right breast pocket, a white necktie, navy blue trousers, white dress shoes, and a single silver ring on his left index finger, stood up from his desk and pulled out a small glass beaker with deep red liquid inside from his breast pocket.
As he looked upon the beaker, the red substance glowing faintly in the moonlight outside the window, and steeled himself as he popped the brown cork and drank it.
BABUM!
CRASH!
Glass shattered at his feet as his body gained thick red veins and his skin started to flake, a guttural cry of pain emanated from his throat as the screen went black as pitch.
(Elsewhere)
-Atlas Eye Building-
BOOM!
"AHHH!"
"ROAR!" bellowed a monstrous Sabyr as it ran towards a survivor, a reporter that tried to escape through the confusion, its fangs ready to sink into the human's warm flesh.
The human screamed as they ran down the hallway towards the front entrance, her eyes filled with tears as she raced towards her salvation.
As the feline like Grimm raced towards the woman, another one of its species appeared from the right side of the main lobby and tackled the woman right out of the glass door, causing great harm to her body as two more Sabyrs appeared from the sides and began moving towards her with the intent to kill.
"AHHH!"
"RA-"
WOOOOOSSSSHHH!
In an instant, a wave of deep orange fire shot towards the Grimm, burning them to the ground as the reporter was stunned and utterly confused at what happened.
But as the flames died down, the reporter saw something that terrified her to her core.
That something was an extremely tall skeletal like humanoid with five claw like fingers, thick spinal protrusions lining the back, deep red eyes, hexagonal veins attached to the charred black bones, and covered in thick orange flames that melted the steel under its feet, who's eyes seemed to be filled with an near sentient malice that made the reporter scramble to back away in terror.
Flames licked the air as several Sabyrs and Razorwings appeared from all directions, sensing the threat to their existence, and charged towards the flaming humanoid.
WOOSH!
Only for many of them to be burned into ash upon being hit by the flames, all the while the humanoid began to use its flames to take flight, propelling itself through the air using its feet like rocket engines.
As the humanoid monster flew across the city, it began to use its powers over flames to burn massive sections of the capital to the ground, each portion strangely devoid of any sentient life as the Grimm were burned or fused into the melting pits of metal under their feet.
However, as it moved towards the older sector of Atlas, a loud cry of fury was heard in the distance and in a flash-
"ROAR!"
"CAW!"
Several Ravagers and Sphinxes charged towards the humanoid and tackled it right into the abandoned railway, getting completely burned in the process as their wings and masks melted off to expose the blackened bones and coagulating black ooze dripping from the eyes and mouths.
The creature groaned before its eyes looked around to see a hoard of Grimm, from Megoliaths to Ursai, all frothing at the jawline with a black foam like substance as their eyes glowed an unnatural red, seemingly filled with a hatred unseen by any human eyes before this very day, surrounding the humanoid in a large circle.
WOOOOOSH!
Instantly, the humanoid blasted the Grimm with its flames, the hexagonal veins starting to change from red to a dull amber color, as more Grimm continued to replace its drying comrades as some of them seemed to resist the flames and rush towards the humanoid.
"ROAR!"
WOOOSSSH!
The humanoid monster kept on blasting the Grimm, seemingly trying to keep them occupied with a threat to their primal slaughter of Atlasian citizens, as the flames started to die down from a roaring inferno to a small bonfire with each passing second.
WOOOoooooossss…..h..h...h...h...
"ROAR!"
The humanoid kept on sending its now weakened flames at the Grimm before a Beowolf charged towards the figure and pinned the now extinguished skeleton-like humanoid to the ground as the bones began to crack under the Grimm's weight.
"...W...Winter…" the humanoid growled out weakly as the Grimm began to charge towards it, its eyes closing in resignation as the Beowolf's jaw opened near its face. "P...P...Pro..ud...yet?"
And in a single-
CRUNCH!
The world became blood red as the screen turned black once more.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Whitley Schnee/The Flame of Hope (Hope's Last Stand Whitley Schnee- HLSWSRWBY)
Age: 37
Affiliation: Mega Evil (Repentive)
Dimension: - 000001- 88 HLSWSRWBY
Abilities: Enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability and agility (via semblance), limited regeneration (via semblance), large aura pool (via semblance), sharp memory, business and political knowledge, deception/lie detection, SDC knowledge and tactics, understanding of designing and architecture, SDC 'master' access, Atlasian technology knowledge, Dust knowledge and handling.
Semblance(s): Glyphs (formerly), B-UN-X (an artificial semblance created from the combined technological genius of Watts's prototype Atlasian Knights 0.1-1, a series of nanochips that can self regenerate and store near infinite data at the cost of high Dust consumption, and the liquidized remains of Fire Dust to create a forced temporary semblance. Through the manipulation of atomic matter, the user is capable of increasing the speed of atoms and burning anything down to the subatomic level...at the cost of the user's life energy, which weakens every time it's used.)
Bio: In this timeline, the continent of Soltias went into an economic catastrophe as the demand for Dust rose to unimaginable levels, threatening to destroy the delicate balance of Remnant's economy. Riots and terrostic actions took place and almost destroyed Atlas until Whitley Schnee, having seen his father ripped to shreds by the mobs, decided to lower the prices of all forms of Dust, including Fire Dust, to placate the inhabitants of Soltias. This created temporary peace for Soltias until an ecological disaster started to form, causing the continent to become warmer and warmer, affecting Atlas, Mantle and the surrounding villages and towns. This warming of the permafrost and the icely mountains caused crop developmental disturbances, flooding, the destruction of agricultural norms, and deadly landslides that destroyed many of Mantle's earthen walls, causing the supply of Hard Light Dust to deplete and effectively 'destroy' the shield generators of Atlas. From this catastrophe, an unexpected side effect occurred in the native Grimm, this being an unnatural primal survivalist rage, spurred on by the warming temperatures that gravely affected their living conditions and habitats, which soon lead to the massive invasion of thousands of various Grimm species, including the elder Alphas, on the city of Atlas itself to preserve the continent's delicate climate. Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Grimm, the Kingdom of Atlas was unable to stave off the Grimm and were forced to abandon the city, leaving very few to survive, including Whitley himself. Having watched as his older and middle siblings were either killed or abandoned their ancestral home, he decided to repent for his prior actions by using a special concoction of Fire Dust and nanobots called Atlasian Knights 0.1-1 to jumpstart his own aura and semblance to defend the remaining humans and faunus left within the city. However, the concoction was untested and unstable, causing Whitley to transform into a flaming humanoid monster that decimated anything it touched until his own aura depleted along with his life energy, making him easily picking for the remaining Grimm. From this disaster, the fall of the Kingdoms became assured as without the Dust, the other Kingdoms became fixated on protecting themselves over uniting and led to the same mistakes as before, but this time Ice Dust in Sanus. A single hope of redemption...snuffed out by humanity's flawed nature.