Forever Fall

[Disclaimer, this is a RWBY AU and RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and the dearly departed Monty Oum. This is inspired by artwork on Dishwasher1910s Deviantart Page, IE the Team PJRP, Future Ruby, Future Jaune, Penny Persephone, and Pyrrha the Fall Maiden.]

"I HATE waiting"- Mercury Black

Chapter 09: Preparations

Emerald

"I HATE waiting!" Mercury growls as the metal behemoth takes heavy steps around the room its arms behind its back a long black cloak flowing all the way to the ground.

"You have asked me to come up with a plan… you have given me the knowledge I require to come up with one as well… You will wait or I promise you will be next on the menu for our allies," It growls at Merc. The heavy footfalls stop short as the metal faced beast turns upon Merc.

The metal faceplate of the creature turns to Merc it's red eyes glowing with hate. It stands at nearly six foot six covered from head to toe in white plated armour fit soundly with its thin body and skeleton. Blood red Grimm markings extend over the white plates giving the mechanized warriour the appearance of being Grimm. The overall imposing figure is made even more so by the black cloak accentuating the different servos and hydraulics making up the body. Black lines reminiscent of the White Fang view slits are painted upon the beast's faceplate. Fangs and teeth made of sharp metal cover a mesh voice modulator… but are no less terrifying when the beast's deep and angry voice once more speaks.

"Control your dog Emerald otherwise I'll never be capable of figuring a plan to solve your dilemma," It growls at me. I grimace at it but nod at it before turning a sour look on Merc.

"Hold your tongue Merc… the monster is thinking," I say, a smile gracing my face once more as I make the jab at the creature. In response it growls at me before letting blades slide out of its arms.

"Another such word and I will not hesitate to repeat the beating from earlier," it snarls.

"You are a beast and incapable of truly beating us… we let you do that much damage on purpose creature… if you believe we can be beaten by the likes of you…" Merc starts but is interrupted when one of the red blades slams into the ground before him.

"Quiet you insolent fool if you wish to kill the greatest of the Remnant's fighters than you must be smart enough to catch them unawares, cause them fear beyond their own imagination, and finally be sure they are broken before engaging them. That is the only way we stand a chance of winning against such powerful opponents. We cannot allow them to have reinforcements and we must make sure they are separated when we begin our attack. Therefore the plan will be simple… two of them will be leaving on a hunting mission, both are powerful but between the three of us and the element of surprise we should be able to get to them. Isolate and incapacitate the one in red, the blue can be left alone until the red is dealt with. Once we have red we'll get white and once that is done yellow with fall as well. We catch them one at a time and we can actually beat them… take them as one and we will fail. Use their compassion as a weakness," it commands. I nod seeing the sense in the plan, but my own anger flares resenting the claim that we are worth less.

"Maybe if one of our allies hadn't have went and gotten himself killed in a foolish attempt to get retribution for the betrayal he felt," I hiss at the machine. It growls at me in response before turning the extended blade at me.

"Do not test my ever thinning patience with you," it growls.

Schnee-Rose Manor, Vale

Winter

I groan as I try to force myself into a sitting position, pain spiking in my side at the movement.

"Winter Schnee-Branwen I swear if I find you sitting up on that couch so Dust help me I will tie you down again!" rings Ruby's voice from the kitchen. I groan once more as I lower myself knowing that my younger sister-in-law would willingly do exactly as she says and tie me to the couch just as she had before. Weiss had definitely impressed it upon the younger girl that she needed to take injuries seriously. "Now if you're laying down on the couch nicely when I get in there I might just make you some of your precious teaaa"

I smile at the prospect as Ruby comes into the front room a tray in her hands which has a soup bowl and a bit of bread on it. She sets the tray down on the table before holding her hands out to help me sit up nice and easy. It takes a couple of painful tries for us to get me in a sitting position and then Ruby plops down lightly beside me bringing the tray into her lap and getting a spoonful of soup ready.

"I can eat by myself," I growl at her, sadly the young woman has become completely use to glares, growls, rants, and any other attempt to keep her from doing what she wishes. I grumble but allow her to spoon feed me the soup and then afterwards hand me the bread.

"Sorry Winter but I have to follow Weiss' orders to the letter! I didn't do that the last time I got majorly hurt and she ended up taking a week off to literally do everything for me… I don't want to know what a punishment I'd get if something else happened to you," Ruby explains before picking up the dishes and heading back to the kitchen.

"You know I don't like feeling helpless…" I whisper.

"I know that Winter but you really should have been more careful… don't remember what happened last time I didn't call in on time?" Ruby states from the kitchen. I only nod in response my mind drifting to nearly three years ago.

{It was bright and sunny, not like the often clichéd rainy and stormy days when something goes wrong. Ruby had been out on a hunt trying to keep a swelling Grimm population down when her check-in time with Weiss came and passed. Weiss had been reasonable for all of about an hour after the message or call failed to come despite her being in a meeting with the board. When the hour was up Weiss all but tossed the board of directors for Schnee Dust out of the meeting room and called the head of Schnee Dust's personal spec ops units to her office where she was struggling not to cry and was tightly gripping Myrtenaster in her left hand. The orders were simple even for a spec ops unit, find Ruby was apparently all she said.

It didn't work out how it was supposed to though. The spec ops unit didn't come back and had gone just as dark as Ruby, this meant that Weiss couldn't be calmed down at all. She was balling by the time I arrived, Pyrrha had failed to get through to the distraught woman and upon my arrival Weiss clung to me her tear stained face buried in my chest her arms wrapped tightly around my body, akin to her thinking that if she let go I'd fade from existence. I consoled my sister to the best of my ability, but it took Yang's arrival as well to help us get Weiss out of her office and back home once more. I knew I was out of my depth but the pain swelling in my heart was too much to bear and so without permission Yang, Pyrrha, Jaune, and I left Vale on military grade Repulsor Bikes.

We reached the last known point of contact with the spec ops unit only to find their bodies torn apart and left to rot, a couple of Beowolves having decided to take the time to snack on the remaining flesh. The sight sickened me more than anything else, but something was instantly clear to all of us, and that was the distinct lack of red cloth or dust imbued armour plates anywhere around.

"She's alive Winter we just have to find her," Yang commanded and I agreed with the decision. After seeing how pained and distraught Weiss was I knew we had to find Ruby, but I also knew that with every passing hour the odds of finding the young beauty decreased exponentially.

The search lasted a grand total of six hours. Meticulously we cleared each acre of forest going out from the spec ops unit's massacre until I came across a single clue. Snagged on a broken branch of a tree was piece of fabric that no doubt belonged to Ruby's combat outfit. A short scroll message and a couple of minutes later all four of us were tracking in the same direction trying to find more signs of the missing red and black haired girl.

The next clue we found were a pile of spent magazines fitting both Crescent Rose and Blazing Rose Ruby's beloved weapons. I nodded and the red flare in Yang's eyes only grew, the ground soon became muddy and unstable, trees were broken and ripped straight out of the soil, more shell casings and spent magazines covered the ground. Tracks were everywhere showing signs of a large Grimm heard having passed through sometime recently. Sadly a young Beowolf seemed to have caught our scent and came out of the forest directly in front of the smoldering Yang. The sight of the creature broke Yang somehow and she pulverized the Grimm until after it had faded away. Pyrrha and Jaune had had to jump on her to keep Yang from causing any more damage to still destabilizing ground. I stepped off the beaten path and found Ruby lying in the mud, her cloak was dirty and covered in Dust residue as well as mud and blood. She had wrapped the tails of the cloak tightly around her right leg, a splint and covering clearly visible. Both of the large weapons were half extended and set up so she could fire at anything that came for her without much movement. A couple more glances revealed deep cuts on her face and tears in the fabric of her half mask, as well as more tears in the clothing taken to create more tourniquets and bandages for the girl.

It took nearly three weeks for Ruby to fully recover, the first week involving Weiss doing everything for her Dolt of a wife. Ruby had broken her right leg in three places along with a compound fracture. Her arms were covered in lacerations from the wrists all the way up her biceps. A slash across her forehead is what caused the damage to her precious half mask. Ruby had also had three bruised ribs, one cracked, and another broken. It was terrifying to see her in such a state, Weiss wasn't normal for two weeks until Ruby made her take another week off and helped Weiss to figure out what was bugging her… no doubt her considering everything her fault. Poor Weiss got that trait from watching me and it is one of the few things I do truly regret teaching the girl when I was too callous to understand the effects of my distant to her.}

"Winter ? Hey Winter? You okay?" Ruby asks waving her hand in front of my face. I shake my head and slowly lean into her.

"Sorry… I-I just got caught up in an unpleasant memory. Ruby can you make me another promise?" I ask lightly hoping she won't reject the proposition.

"Will I promise to come back every time I go out? That I return carrying Crescent Rose or on her?" Ruby begins. "I'm sorry Winter… but I won't make any one a promise that I can't keep. I once promised you something I could do, but don't ask me to promise that because in our line of work I can't say it'll happen… or even that it'll be something within my realm of doing."

I nod and slowly push myself off of her, how much alike you are to your uncle… I only wish my husband was a little more optimistic sometimes…

"How about I help you back to your room? We can play a card game before Weiss gets back and yells at me when she finds out I helped you down here so you could have a different view for a bit?" Ruby questions. I only nod in response letting a small smile grace my lips as Ruby takes most of my weight and we begin the lengthy trip back to the room I'd been given to stay in.

"Thank you Ruby… thank you for everything," I whisper to her.