Hey everyone RedRenegade here!
I know its been a long time since I updated my other story Dying of the Light, but don't worry that bad boy is getting its fair share of writing and
new chapters will be up soon, but anyway I had this idea for a RWBY Fic as far bask as volume three and I just had to get it out there so I hope you enjoy
look for the after note for more info!
RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and not me, although I spend enough on merch to probably qualify for some percentage... :)
Thanks Atma-Stand for beta reading this as well as Jarl Dovah!
Chapter 1: Escape the Nightmare
What is it like to die?
Depending on whom you ask you can either end up with a completely irrational or insanely vague answer.
For example you ask a doctor, they'll say that death is when all vital processes in the body shut down and your cells begin to deteriorate, that's it the end nothing…insanely vague.
You ask a philosopher they'll say that death is merely the beginning, that as long as people remember you, your deeds and your actions you will continue to live on in their memory…again vague.
Religious believers will talk about your soul going somewhere doing…something or other…he couldn't care less.
But if you ask someone who has died, (just to be clear here someone who has died for a few moments and been resuscitated), someone who slipped through the grasps of humanity and peaked beyond that thin veil they all usually say the same thing. They saw a bright light and felt peace.
Which to him made no sense whatsoever as he watched the last slivers of light leave the eyes of the man he was currently strangling with his bare hands.
'Seriously? A white light and a feeling of peace, who came up with that crap' he wondered as the sounds of the dying man's last ragged breaths finally quieted in the small cell. Looking down at his victim, he noticed that his frantic movements had ceased and for a moment he let himself relax against the grime encrusted wall behind them, quickly forgetting the first rule of murder 101.
Always check if the son of a bitch you're trying to kill is actually dead.
The older man lunged at him with a speed and ferocity he did, yet did not expect from his fellow prisoner surprising him slightly as he clunked his head against the wall. Disoriented from the ringing in his ears he ducked low avoiding his opponent's outstretched fist and thrusting out his legs he quickly brought him to the ground, a sickening crack resounding from the older combatant's newly shattered limbs.
Once back on his feet he planted his right foot on the older man's neck preventing his last ditch effort to escape once and for all.
With a deep sigh he rolled his shoulder, thanking himself once again for going through that pesky hunter training all those years ago. Bringing his hands forward, eager to finish his earlier task, he noticed a small blade was currently lodged through the palm of his left hand.
'Now where were you hiding this old man?' he smirked and with a small twist, yanked the hastily made protrusion out and launched it across the length of their share cell implanting it to its hilt within the concrete of the dingy wall.
Gotta love those robotic limbs.
"You know, for a minute there I was actually going to let you go." He said, his voice raspy and deep from exertion, his screams at the man before him long since over, "But now…oh you have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy this!"
Quickly thrusting the robotic limb at his face the old man's nose was shattered upon impact, rivulets of blood cascading down his face and over the rusty metal fingers clasped around his windpipe. With a flash the man's aura activated casting a bright emerald light throughout the cell and spilling over into the cell block's empty hall. The energy lashed out at him like whips constantly slicing away at his face and hands in a desperate attempt to break his hold over him.
To him the aura infused attacks felt like little more than mosquito bites on his skin, and for a moment he was tempted to laugh it off as a mere joke if not for the glowing ball of pure white light that started to form in the old man's opposite hand.
In that instant his nerves turned to stone and his blood boiled over in rage at the man beneath his feet and with one inhuman yell he proceeded to stomp on his hand until he felt the bones give way and his foot made contact with the concrete below it.
The cause of this mans uncontrolled rage? Nothing more than a single truth shared between dying men, lying in wait for their ends long forgotten by the rest of the world.
To him, his war was over, done, a series of small meaningless victories followed by one monumental defeat and a bright new life in an enemy death camp. For two years they were tortured, beaten, starved, mutilated (hell one guy actually flayed people and fed the prisoners their skin as jerky), you name it their captors did it.
Eventually their captors grew tired of them their screams and their pleas for it all to end and began to contemplate exactly how to get rid of a prison filled with broken ex- huntsmen and huntresses. After a series of failed attempts to clear out the populace their captors settled on one last cruel method of torture.
They all got up, and they walked away.
They left the camp alone, unguarded in the middle of nowhere thousands of miles away from man and half that distance from the creatures of grimm. With all the cell doors locked no less too! No food, no water, nothing!
Oh and did I mention that this death camp, prison, evil satanic bdsm dungeon, was located in the middle of a desert? No, well now you know…
Even if you found a way out of your cell you wouldn't last a day in the wasteland without supplies, and if you actually did manage to survive the day well good luck with the nights! The harsh sun bleached sand nearly froze over when the sun went down and the light seemed to get sucked right out of the world with its departure. Not even their Faunus jailers in the white fang could see past their noses even with their natural night vision. Nope, you only had two options, 1) you kill yourself, be done with it and if it applied (and by the sound and smell of it for most of their neighbors it did) provide one last hearty meal for your fellow cell mate, or 2) you let yourself waste away into nothing and die a slow and agonizing death.
While the rest of their fellow prisoners had succumbed to madness, they both agreed on the latter each of them too proud to give their captors and by extension their larger enemy the satisfaction of dying a cowards death.
And so they waited, and waited, and waited, the ever shrinking sounds of their fellow prisoners used as a way of marking the passage of time until finally after six weeks without a single scrap of food or a drop of water left in his veins, his cell mates resolve shattered.
It is amazing what one will say out loud when confronting imminent death, he knew first hand from his years on the battlefield watching both comrades and foes spill their guts out (many times literally) on deaths door. To anyone else it would have been gibberish but he understood, oh he understood just fine and not a moment after the words parted his former friends cracked lips did he lunge at the old man and started choking the life out of him.
He was pulled out of his musings by the fading emerald light around him. A small smile stretching across his gaunt jaw as the light receded, glad that all of this was almost over. For the second time in the fight he let his guard down ever so slightly, allowing the man under him to fling his now handless left arm right at him coating his eyes and face in a fine layer of red. Shouting a curse in surprise he broke his grasp on his neck and reeled backwards rubbing the blood out of his eyes.
"You fucking asshole! That the best you got!" he shouted as he kicked his opponent towards the barred entrance bending the metal outwards and sending a resounding crack throughout the room. The man slumped lifelessly against the bars his chest barely quivering with each ragged drawn out breath and he knew for certain that he could not delay his fate any longer. Finally cleaning away the blood from his eyes he could only look on at what the man he had once looked up to in his youth had become.
The once proud and dignified hunter had truly become a shell of his former self. Once upon a time he was the face of power and intellect, now he sits in the dark wallowing in his own pity and it showed.
His skin was pale and drawn tight around his bones, the blue and purple veins stuck out like some sort of twisted internal tattoo. His once bright silver hair was now a dull grey color, with red blotchy patches of scar tissue dotting his scalp and face while each remaining strand of hair was long and visibly matted. His shoulder length hair matched the long beard that sat upon his sunken in cheeks visibly aging the man tenfold. The most dramatic change in him however, was in his eyes. Once long ago they seemed to glow, filled with power and pride. Now one was expressionless, the milky white scar tissue marring the window to the soul, and the other was sunken in and reflected only desperation and fear.
And so he sat there staring back at him, unmoving as the blood trickled out from his severed hand and as his breathing became more and more labored he was almost overcome with pity for the old man. However, he ignored it reminding himself that this man did not deserve his pity, or anything else for that matter. And with a voice full of contempt and malice he asked the question on the tip of his tongue since being thrown into his cell all those years ago.
"Who would have thought that the great Ozpin of Beacon could have fallen so low?"
For a moment all was silent as Ozpin craned his head back and simply stared back at him as his rage began to take over.
"You knew, all this time you knew what would happen!" he shouted at the dying man, his eyes wild in rage. "The War! The Maiden! All of it, and yet you did nothing! Was this all just a game to you? Where you so focused on beating them… no proving you were smarter than them that you forgot about the rest of us!" Grabbing him tightly by the collar he proceeded to slam Ozpins head against the bars as he screamed in his face. "We weren't PAWNS you sick fuck we were PEOPLE! And after everything we've been throu- no I'VE been through you have the balls to tell me that you're just going to fix everything?! Nope, sorry to break it to you Ozzie, YOU DON'T GET A DO OVER!"
At his yell his own aura began to seep through his skin, the sickly black energy moved with a mind of its own quickly covering both his hands and Ozpins body. Slowly the black tendrils grabbed onto the remaining areas of emerald light and coiled themselves around it breaking it apart piece by peace and devouring its light. When the last speck of light died he dropped Ozpin like a sack of bricks, sending him sprawling on the floor. Kneeling down he grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled his face towards him, "Any last words old man?" he whispered.
His lips struggled to move and for a moment all that emanated was a high pitch whine as he struggled to operate the long unused vocal cords. With all the strength he probably had left in his body Ozpin turned his head, hair still stuck in his grasp, looked him dead in the eyes and in a whisper said,
"Don't do this… I can fix things… this time we'll win… I'll go back and make you… the strongest *cough* man in the * cough* world please don't do this J-"*SQUELCH*
Before Ozpin could finish he ripped his tongue out in one fluid motion, discarding the traitorous muscle in a corner as he watched his former friend choke to death on his own blood. "Sorry Oz, I didn't quite catch that." Ozpins eyes rolled back and his breathing stopped, finally after what felt like days of combat to the emaciated and beaten man Ozpin was finally dead. "Just to be safe…" he whispered to himself as he knelt over the rapidly cooling corpse.
Pulling the discarded shank from its spot on the wall he quickly thrust the blade through Ozpin's skull, he repeated the action three more times for good measure the small smile never leaving his face.
Now the great and powerful Ozpin was dead.
It took him a few minutes to catch his breath each lung full of the stale air threatening to rip apart his tortured organs. After a brief period of two minutes (it felt like two hours to him) he stood straight, squared his shoulders, tilted his head and laughed.
The almost maniacal cackle resounded through the entire compound horrifying those still alive and drawing the few airborne creatures of evil that circled the mausoleum of iron and concrete ever closer. While to others this was the sound of a desperate and dying man to him it was a sound of pure unadulterated joy. For years he had wallowed in his own world pain and misery, watching as comrade after comrade, friend after friend, and even worse those whom he called family die at the hands of their shared enemy. But now…after losing it for so long… he finally found it again.
Hope…
Quickly scouring the corners of the cell for any supplies he could use on his mission he found that, other than the serrated shank he held and the bloody rags Ozpin was wearing, he was out of luck.
The guard barracks however, now that could be a different story. "Well nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose!" he said as he slid Ozpin aside with his foot and forced the dented iron bars apart. He continued to laugh as he wandered through the hall, peering into each and every open cell he could find (which wasn't a lot).
He found it quite productive as, by the time he had reached the long abandoned guards quarters, had acquired a pair of (albeit mismatched and slightly small) shoes, a rotted leather overcoat that still had some shock dust left in its lining, and (by far his favorite thing so far) a well fed and healthy rat that served to curb his voracious appetite.
"Well, that wasn't the worst shopping trip I've been on, but hey you know what they say about shopping on an empty stomach." Patting his 'full' stomach and letting out an imitated belch he grasped the rusted iron handle of the barracks with his robotic hand and began to pull the door off its hinges. The wooden door splintered at the force and cracked apart at the handle creating a hole large enough for him to fit through.
His laughter ceased as he took in the state of his "treasure trove" of exploding goodies he needed for his mission. The shelves were literally stripped bare, with several of them hanging off the wall and the cache of dust stocked in the back corner was spilt over, some noxious smelling liquid dumped on top of the now dull vials.
Seeing that the conventional mass produced weapons section of the store was also a bust he turned and made his way over to the guards bunk room which, he hoped, held better results for him.
The room only contained two rows of bunks, each three bunks high, giving a grand total of nine assholes sleeping at a time, oh what he would give to be here when they still slept here, at least 6 of them would be ball less by the time they woke up, maybe 7 if he was having a good day.
'Oh well, can't win them all I guess. Now if I were a psychotic war criminal with a taste for sharp pointy things where would I hide them?' he thought as he searched the rotting bunks for his prize. As he reached the last bunk he let out a curse and slammed his fist through a mattress ripping the thing apart in a shower of stuffing and springs in his rage.
Now how was he going to enact his plan without any real gear!
Making his way out into the hall a nagging feeling popped into his head and he quickly doubled back and scooped up some of the foul smelling liquid covering the dust crates into a few small vials. Whatever this stuff was it looked like it could dampen the effects of dust, and even if it didn't it never hurt to be prepared right?
Making the long trek back to his cell in silence he unconsciously cracked his knuckles, every other step accented by the sharp pop. As he neared what he once thought would be his tomb his aura began to appear, the jet black mass of energy began coiling around him first at his feet then at his waist and climbing rapidly. By the time he had reached the entrance the energy was already up to his chest, the black tendrils quickly wrapping around his neck. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes focusing on the aura around him and after a few moments of searching he found what he was looking for and he reached out towards it in his mind.
As the dark aura over took his form, shrouding him in a mass of wavering darkness a small yet bright green light began to pool in his chest. The same glow appeared around the doorway of the cell giving off an ethereal light as the air began to ripple around it, and after releasing the air trapped in his chest he stepped through the door of his personal hell.
And vanished without a trace…
For the first time in what felt like a lifetime he felt the wind on his face, in the distance he could hear cars driving and horns blaring, sounds that he once found annoying almost brought tears to his eyes. As the rest of his aura receded the more he could comprehend of the environment he found himself in, the sounds of shopkeepers yelling at passersby, children and other youths complaining to each other as they strolled, even the stray cats that rummaged through the trash were a beautiful Atlesian symphony to him, and he hated classical music! He dared not open his eyes in the very realistic fear that everything that had happened was a dream, a sick delusion brought on by sheer hunger so with one final breath he forced his eyes wide open and took in the world around him.
No longer was he surrounded by the grimy cement walls of his cell, instead he was surrounded by the grimy brick walls of an alleyway! "I'm...I'm back…I can't believe that actually worked!" he laughed with uncontrolled glee, he had done the impossible and all it took was a single step-
To fall flat on his face…
"The fuck just happened?" he groaned into the concrete below him. One moment he was like a kid on Christmas morning the next every single part of his body felt like it had gone through a garbage disposal…at the same time. After trying unsuccessfully to move even his fingers he rolled his eyes and accepted his fate.
After all feeling like going through a wood chipper was a small price to pay for traveling through time.
It was dark by the time he had woken up. Most of the shops had closed by now and there weren't as many people walking around outside, save for the occasional civilian or Atleasian knight patrol which for a guy wearing nothing but bloodstained pants a ripped up jacket and mismatched shoes was a good thing. "That'd be great" he scoffed as he slipped his knife in between the door of a newspaper dispenser "with my story they'd chuck me into a looney bin for sure. Now let's see what's going on this week in…Vale?!" His jaw dropped at the name of the paper and after looking at the date in the corner his jaw could have fallen off and he wouldn't have noticed.
The Valelian Post
Grimm attack in Downtown Vale leaves Council Outraged and Officials Baffled
"In the two weeks following the massive grim incursion that residents are now calling 'The Breech of Vale' little information has come to light about the events surrounding Criminal mastermind Roman Torchwick's attack on the downtown area of Vale. While anti-Faunus activists continue to rally for stricter laws regarding Faunus in the kingdom many are now starting to question the SDC and the Atleasian military after reports that stolen Paladins were used by the white fang during the attack. In response to these accusations General James Ironwood…"
The rest of the article was meaningless to him as he threw the paper in the nearest bin he passed, "Two weeks after the breech… that means the Vytal festival is still…two months away." he mumbled to himself as he walked with a renewed urgency through the town
"That means I've gone back more than a decade!" he said breathlessly as he turned down the street in order to avoid an oncoming patrol. Leaning against a wall he craned his head around the corner to follow the patrol of mechanical puppets, a few tense moments passed in silence and he let out a breath as the drones passed him by.
"Alright alright… going back in time is great and all but it's not going to mean jack if I don't find a way to fix things." He racked his fingers through his matted hair as he ran through the past thirteen years in his head 'There has to be something that can change the future come on! Think…think…think!' he thought as he gripped his hair in his hands, close to ripping the strands out of his scalp. "God dammit!" he shouted in frustration "you'd think after two years in a cell, with nothing to do but think, that I'd have a plan to stop the fall of civilization!"
"Wait a minute…" the gears in his brain began turning at frightening speeds his plan already in motion as he pushed himself off the wall and made a b-line for the nearest airship port. His gaze never wavering from the emerald glow that emanated from the cliff high above the city of Vale.
"Next stop Beacon…"
The airship ride was far from comfortable, although that was to be expected when riding atop the wings instead of inside the cabin but alas he wasn't. The schools entryway was slowly coming into view and he could make out the line of immaculately trimmed hedges and trees from his position. Spying a decent sized tree close to the school's main fountain he channeled his aura into the shock dust lining his coat, the trim glowing blue for a moment before transferring to his hands causing small arcs of electricity to dance along the wings.
The airship dipped slightly with the shock, one of the engines slowly losing its power, and he made his exit. The wind rushing past didn't bother him nor did the impact with the tree as he shrugged both off with indifference as he made his way through the dark campus.
So far the plan was going great. Once he had made it to the airship port he had found the oldest, dingiest, and most importantly smallest transport he could find. After breaking into the hangar office he accessed the terminal and switched out the cargo manifests, switching the overnight delivery of fresh fruit from another airship to his. The rest was relatively simple, hide on airship, jump off airship, sneak into Ozpin's tower and exact bloody and painful revenge thereby saving the world of Remnant from certain annihilation. 'Okay let's run this again… airship check, infiltrate Beacon check, squadron of armed soldiers inside tower lobby…'
"Fuck"
Not one step into the door way and already his plan was a bust! A quick glance at the lobby before he dived behind a decorative column had six soldiers all wearing matching armor with Vale yellow accents and two with blue accents. However since he only counted three of the soldiers shooting at him that meant they weren't all armed.
'And for a second there I was worried.' Channeling his aura he dived out from behind the column ramming himself into the midsection of one of the soldiers surrounding him. Bringing his metallic arm up to block the oncoming fire he grabbed the soldier's helmet by the visor, slamming it and the soldier's head repeatedly to the ground until he went limp. Using the unconscious soldier as a human shield the squadron quickly changed from ranged to melee combat, something he was hoping for.
"Let's get this over with' he said under his breath gripping the soldier's collar tightly "Hey assholes I've got a present for ya!" With a mighty heave he threw the soldier into one of the approaching operatives taking both of them out of the fight and ducked under the now wide swing of another. Grabbing one of the soldier's wrists he delivered three punches to the chest, two to the arm itself, and flipped the body over his shoulder and launched him straight into a decorative pillar. "DAMNIT" he cried as a blade raked down his back, tearing a straight line through his coat. Spinning on his heel he sent the soldier flying with a roundhouse kick to the skull snatching his sword out of the air as it fell. He paused for a moment and raked his fingers through his hair swiping several strands out of his eyes in the process. Looking at the standard issue blade in his hand he practiced slicing the air for a bit adjusting to the weight. Once he was finished he spread his feet and dropped into a combat stance taunting the remaining soldiers with a four fingered wave and a smile on his face.
Two of the remaining four men rushed at him with their swords drawn, within a moment they began hacking away at him. Their style was crude at best, his sword flashed in his hands as he parried each blow with relative ease, but their determination was incredible he had to give them that. Whatever attacks he couldn't block were absorbed by his aura but he knew that after the last few weeks of starvation he couldn't keep relying on it to shield him forever so as one of the two men came at him with a wide swing from the left he twisted to the side causing the blade to catch his shoulder and the blade to get stuck in his metallic joints. He pivoted on his heel again, this time using the trapped sword to distract the other soldier next to him as he went to guard against the perceived attack, he stabbed under his outstretched arm planting his sword deep within the man's own shoulder joint causing him to scream and clutch his arm in agony. Following through with his attack he delivered a quick punch to his throat silencing the bastard and brought his knee to his helmet as he hunched over, knocking him unconscious. Turning to the dazed and disarmed soldier he dropped to the ground and swept the soldiers legs out from under him two quick punches to the inside of his ribcage as he fell kept him writhing in pain as he delivered once strong kick to his face knocking a few teeth loose and the soldier out.
Cracking his neck he let out a sigh as he took in the sight around him. "Whew, six goons in less than a minute, I almost broke my record… oh well next time maybe. Speaking of which…"
Grabbing the protruding handle from his shoulder he threw the blade into the outstretched hand of a blue armored soldier stopping him from hitting an alarm box near the elevator. "Come on I have a schedule to keep and I'd appreciate if we could keep this little ass kicking to ourselves okay?" Crossing over to the struggling guard he hit him with a well-placed chop to the neck dropping the man instantly. "Now where did your friend gooooOH SHIT!" he exclaimed when he was tackled from behind his face slamming into the wall. Maneuvering his feet against the wall he quickly ran up the side flipping out and over the soldiers hold, his hand glowing with the telltale signs of shock dust and with one electrifying punch ended the battle.
Righting himself he swept the dust off his shoulders taking a moment to breathe before moving on. In his pause he smelt something akin to burnt bacon and found that the ends of his coat had burst into flames. "Well shit looks like I've used up all the dust" removing the smoldering garment he stamped out the flames and stared at the crumpled up heap. "Okay, was kind of banking on that shock dust to get the elevator working but hey, fuck it am I right? Now" he said turning to the incapacitated guards "which one of you lucky gentlemen is going to let me into that elevator?"
"Like we'd ever help criminal scum like you!" the guard whose hand had been knifed to the wall slurred angrily, his weak aura lightly glowing around him.
"A volunteer perfect!"
He cheered merrily as he advanced on the trapped soldier. "Look I'd love to stay and chat but I've had a rough couple of years, and to be honest if you knew what I was going to do you'd probably let me. So I'll just take this and be on my merry way."
He ripped off the soldier's helmet and placed it on his head, after tinkering with the HUD settings he found the access codes to the elevator. After snatching a coat from one of the downed men he walked to the emerald doors they opened automatically the single light in the small chamber appeared almost inviting, causing him to smile as he stepped through the double doors.
The soldier scoffed at him, a smile creeping on his face "Just because you took out a few soldiers doesn't mean you've got what it takes to beat him. He's not the headmaster of this place for nothing you know. So head on up if you've got the balls I'll be right here waiting for him to kick your ass."
"On any other day you'd be correct, there's no way I could take him on but there's just one little thing you're forgetting." He said as he fiddled with the elevator buttons.
"Oh yeah smart ass what's that?" The guard sneered.
He slammed his hand into the elevator panel, ripping out the wires within with a slight flare of his aura. The lights flickered as the motors sprang to life the doors slowly closing as the chamber embarked to its destination.
"Who said anything about going up?"
The past few days had been exhausting to say the least…
If it wasn't a massive Grimm invasion it was the frequent white fang attacks in the streets or their enemies' spies infiltrating his school and causing havoc. So when there comes a day when all he needed to worry about was how to run the school without going over budget and when he could enjoy a nice pot of coffee to himself, Ozpin considered that a relaxing experience.
So imagine his surprise when he is awakened from that relaxing experience by the blinding light of his scroll. With a tired groan Ozpin straightened himself from his desk, a few pops emanating from his back as he stretched his taxed joints, and accepted the call. A hologram of James Ironwood popping up at his desk.
"General it's almost three in the morning" Ozpin said as the last vestiges of sleep left his mind "I don't know what sort of hours a man of your position keeps but I assure you they are not the same as mine. So please if you would be so kind as to get this over with I would very much like to go back to sleep."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your much needed beauty rest Ozpin, but I just got back from an airfield outside of Vale." The General waved over his shoulder most likely sending orders to some off screen grunt.
"After talking with some rather distressed gentlemen." He continued "It seems that their ship had an electrical malfunction midflight and they almost crashed."
Ozpin groaned as he leaned back into his chair, sliding his glasses down as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in thought. "And you are telling me this because?"
"When they checked the engines they found handprints on the roof and some traces of shock dust. I asked them where their last stop was and you're not going to like it."
With renewed urgency Ozpin pulled up the schools security system, he eyes grew wide at the state of the main lobby and even more so at the masked man stepping into the elevator.
"Whoever it was on the plane just took out your guards James, and with some degree of force I might add. It appears we are dealing with a professional."
"Well that's just what we needed, two infiltrations in less than a month…When the council finds out about this it's both our heads on the chopping block."
An estranged groan echoed from the hologram and he didn't need to glance over at the image to know that James had just opened his flask and was taking a well-deserved swig of liquid courage.
"Do me a favor Ozpin, when whoever this punk is reaches you take him down quickly alright? The sooner we figure out who he works for the better…"
"For once General we are in agreement, by the looks of things it seems he's alone and unarmed" he said as he took a long swig of his own beverage of choice, "this won't take too lo-…"
"Oh no…"
"Ozpin?"
In a flurry of motion that would put Oobleck to shame Ozpin typed away at his terminal, windows upon windows of code opened and closed as he tried to stop what he could only assume was the beginning of the end.
"Damnit!" he swore as he smashed his fist against the desk, his coffee cup clattering to the floor and shattering into a thousand pieces spraying the blessed liquid into the air. "He's locked me out of the system, I can't control the elevators!"
Startled by his outburst Ironwood lowered his flask, focused on his friend "Ozpin what's going on?! What's happening over there?"
"He's not going up James! He used one of your men's helmets to hack into the system and take control of the elevator…"
"He knows about the chamber…he's headed straight for Amber!"
Everything was silent onboard his flagship, the sound of his flask falling to the floor was like a cannon blast. After a moment the feared General James Ironwood roared to his men, orders flying as the ship sped faster to its destination.
"Ozpin do whatever you can to stall him." He barked to the projection "I'm ten minutes out, once we arrive my men and I will try to contain him. If the queen gets her hands on Amber, one of her men slipping through our fingers again will be the absolute least of our problems."
With a nod to his fellow guardian James cut the line diverting all power in the ships systems to the engines, but the speed of the passing scenery below was not fast enough.
"Can't you move this ship a little faster!" he yelled to the closest pilot. "The fate of the Kingdoms is at stake and we're moving as fast as a herd of goliath!"
"I'm sorry general we just don't have the power." One of the pilots shouted over the commotion "These ships are destroyer class sir, they're built for taking out large numbers of Grimm from a distance, we simply can't maintain this velocity!"
Ironwood rammed his hand into the wall behind him, the metallic appendage leaving a sizeable dent in the polished steel. His rage dissipated for the moment as he drew his pistol, flicked open the chamber and sighed. "Capitan, tell the men to ready a cruiser."
"Are you sure General?" the pilot said bewildered at such an uncharacteristically bold action.
With a nod the General walked out the door and into the depths of the ship ready to take on what could only be described as a twisted pawn in the queen's plan. "One more thing captain" he shouted.
"I'm going to need a bigger gun."
The elevator ride felt like an eternity to him.
The cold metallic walls seemed to close in as fowl memories returned of his cell. Vigorously he shook his head, his borrowed helmet threatening to fly off. (And it most definitely would if it wasn't for the straps holding it in place). With a jolt the mechanical deathtrap stopped. After a moment the green doors opened to the dark chamber. The marble floor was polished and the columns that spanned the hall reached so high that they were consumed by the darkness above, not even the sparks flying from the destroyed control panel or the elevators own light could dream of illuminating even a fraction of the vast hall. But in the end the light didn't even matter, he knew where to go… he had been here before after all.
'It all comes down to this' he thought as he ventured into the hall. Every pipe dream, every wish, every hope for the future started here…the site of his greatest failure.
Fate might be a fucking bitch but she does have a sense of humor, who knew?
The faint staccato of his mismatched heels on marble stopped when she came into view, the light from the various machines blinking like beacons, as if announcing her presence, her life, to the vast darkness below the school. There trapped behind a thin veil of glass slept what was once one of the most powerful and archaic forces in all of Remnant, now reduced to little more than a vegetable. Amber the Fall maiden of legend protector of all that was good and the bane of his existence. He stood there for what felt like forever simply staring at her, how her breath fogged the glass slightly as her chest rose and fell with the help of the machines she was trapped in and how she would cringe ever so slightly when the stale air brushed her hair against the scars on her face.
And for a moment he could no longer see who she was or what she was. No all he saw in that moment was a girl another innocent person turned pawn in a game they had no say in. His anger was replaced by pity as he looked over her state, at the machines keeping her alive, at the needles thrust through her skin, at the tubes that held the whole thing together and at the empty pod next to her…
And at that moment all he saw was red.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
With a yell of pure anguish he lunged at the empty pod ploughing his robotic fist through the solid plate glass and through the other side. Without rest he rained blow after blow after blow upon the unholy device never flinching when the machine sparked angrily in reply or when his own arm began to cave under the force of his blows. Until he gripped the latch with his sparking, shattered hand and thrust the slab of pulverized metal through the machine and out the other side. His pale skin glowed briefly, as his aura shielded him from the rain of glass and steel his heavy breaths marking the end of his enraged onslaught.
"I'm sorry," he said between breaths as he made his way back to Amber "that it has to be this way. I don't know if you asked for this… this power or that you sought it like so many before you, but all I know is that your power was taken from you by someone else." He ran his sparking hand over the plated glass, imagining the smooth feeling with his remaining three fingers before resting his hand over the control panel.
"And one day that person… I don't even think she deserves to be called that… she uses your power to destroy what we all hold dear and the saddest part is that she isn't even the worst of it not by a long shot. So I'm sorry but if doing this means that there is a shred of hope for this world than I'm not going to let anything stand in my way."
He reared his fist back and whispered. "Rest in peace Amber, you've earned it."
"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH!"
*click*
"What?"
All he felt was a sudden impact just below his shoulder and the next thing he knew he was flying through the air smoke trailing behind him as he made contact with the marble floor sending spider web cracks outward with each impact of his form.
As the smoke cleared General Ironwood looked over the remains of whoever the queen had sent to finish the job. Glancing downward he dropped the out of date heavy cannon to the ground in favor of reaching for his flask in celebration, he did just take out one of the queen's agents after all so some celebration was in order.
Much to his dismay his pocket was empty and he quickly realized that he left it on the ship after his conversation with Ozpin. There was no time to mourn the loss of his ale however as his scroll began buzzing, with a sigh he answered the call.
"This is General Ironwood, state your business."
"General Ironwood Sir, this is petty officer Dawles with the engineering corps I'm with a team in the main lobby and we're trying to manually override the elevator…"
Placing his fingers against the bridge of his nose the General sighed, 'there's always a but with these clowns isn't there…'
"But…" he said in a trying tone.
"But…but the cables seem to be incredibly unstable after you climbed down with the riot cannon sir. It will…um… it's going to take some time before we can raise the car and get some men down to you… Sir."
With a heavy sigh Ironwood looked over the carnage the mysterious assailant had wrought. Ambers chamber hadn't suffered any damage 'thank whatever deity was responsible for that miracle' he thought, that would have been a nightmare to fix. The opposing chamber looked like it had taken the brunt of the attack its metal was near flattened and the industrial grade polymer screen was literally shoved through the pod and out the other side. 'And this guy managed to do all that with just his hands… again thanking whoever made that miracle possible', whoever the guy was Ironwood was glad he was able to catch him off guard who knows what kind of damage they could have done to the area if the two had actually come to blows. Thankfully he came prepared one well-placed rocket blast later and the Queen's latest pawn was planted firmly in an empty crater.
"Wait a minute…"
"SURPRISE MOTHER FUCKER!"
*BASH*
Ironwood suppressed a grunt as the agent landed a solid blow to the back of his skull, momentarily dazed by the attack Ironwood raised his arms to guard against the next obvious blow only for his attacker to disappear from is field of vision. His aura flared as he blocked two more blows from the queen's agent this time aimed under his rib cage and the space underneath his jaw on his left.
'Interesting he's purposefully aiming for my weakest areas on the left side of my body', he thought as he swung a haymaker at the man missing by inches, 'this guy's done his homework he know that blunt attacks won't work on my right half.' With that in mind Ironwood dropped his body into a loose boxers stance and proceeded to dodge another flurry of blows from the agent as he dipped, ducked and danced around the general peppering his body with quick jabs that his combat forged aura had no trouble of absorbing.
"Aw what's wrong? The big scary Atlas general not gonna fight back?" his opponent wined as he threw another telegraphed punch towards his face, a blow that like the others had been easily avoided.
The agent wasn't discouraged in the slightest as he continued the one sided conversation "You call yourself 'Ironwood'? The way you've been fighting me they should call you Tin Twig!"
He wasn't stupid, this guy was obviously trying to bate him into attacking and as annoying as this guy was starting to get he'd been on enough battlefields to know to check bravado and pride at the door. He'd seen far too many men lose their heads in combat and he was not being figurative in that regard. However two could play at that game "Big talk coming from a man hiding behind a mask."
In a surprising surge of speed the agent dashed towards him only to dive through his open legs, quickly rise up and get him into a strangle hold. The assailant simply shrugged as he kicked out one of his legs dropping the general further into the hold. "You know now that I think about it with all that metal you got going on you have to be like walking lady repellant or something… probably got two shriveled berries to go with that tin twig of yours…"
"Alright ENOUGH!" slamming his elbow into the agent he loosened the hold just enough for him to turn his body and land a hit directly to his ribcage, feeling the man's rib crack beneath his fist before the hold loosened and he stumbled backwards in pain.
Before he could regain his standing Ironwood grabbed him by his collarbone and punched him in the face with his robotic arm breaking off part of the helmet in the process. Two solid punches to the man's torso followed in retaliation for the noticeably slower attacks to his upper chest, seeing the futility of his actions the agent started attacking his arm in an attempt to escape from the generals hold.
With a flick of his wrist Ironwood shattered the man's clavicle stunning the assailant long enough for him to kick him in the knee bending the leg at an awkward angle and driving him to the floor. "It never ceases to amaze me" he said as he bent towards him "How people like you can live in a world like ours and think that just because the world didn't give you what you wanted on a silver platter or that your life was 'hard' out there for you, you decide to follow whichever person came along and promised that they would give you wanted."
"The one thing I can count on these days is the fact that they'll send in a grunt to do their dirty work instead of actually facing me themselves, so do me a favor and have the decen- no the self-preservation to give up your boss before you black out it'll make my job a lot easier in the future."
The man at his feet writhed in agony over his ruined stump of an arm however it seemed that this pawn, unlike all the others he'd encountered so far, didn't care about his employer's identity as he saw him mumbling under his breath.
Annoyed by the turn of events but nonetheless grateful Ironwood grabbed him by his jacket and hoisted him up towards him "Will you speak up already give me your bosses na-"
BASH *CRACK*
The assailant lunged forward, head-butting the general so hard that his nose shattered, pearly white breaking through the skin around the contorted bleeding mess.
"GOD DAMM MOTHER FUCKER…WHY DO I KEEP FALLING FOR THAT!" James shouted as he clutched his bleeding nose. Blinded by an overwhelming sense of rage the leader of the proud nation of Atlas let loose a kick so powerful when it connected it lifted his opponents body clear off the ground, spun him around in the air several times and left him skidding across the floor leaving a trail of his own blood until he collided with Amber's pod with a resounding metallic thud.
The pain in his shoulder was like nothing he had ever felt before, sure he had a few broken ribs and if the wheezing was any indication he had punctured a lung with that last kick from the general but it, like everything else he'd dealt with before, he'd get over it. In all seriousness the entire situation was almost funny the last time he saw this chamber he became responsible for the destruction of the entire kingdom among other things but now so many years later 'or was it years before time travel is weird' he'd still be responsible for unspeakable horrors just on a much smaller scale.
"You just don't know when to quit do you?" the general shouted from across the chamber shoulders squared back and slightly dipping with exhaustion. "Take a look around you you've lost, my men will be through that elevator shaft in moments and before you can say mercy I'll be personally escorting you to the smallest dankest cell in all of Remnant. When I'm through with you, your cohorts and your precious Queen I'll make sure each and every one of you gets their own personal cell six …feet…. under." His last words dripped with such venom he swore he could taste his own hate, taking a single breath to calm himself he looked at the beaten man with satisfaction a smile starting to take shape "I have the men, I have the firepower, I even have your arm so tell me what do you have left?"
Shifting his body so that his back was flush against the glass of the pod he spat out the blood in his mouth and smiled a bloody toothy grin.
"Easy" he laughed at the general "I have your gun."
James eyed the gunmetal grey revolver in his hand and rushed towards him eyes wide with fear.
'Sorry, but I've waited a long time for this' He placed the gun against the glass and fired the dust enhanced .45 caliber round shattering apart the transparent barrier and tearing through Amber's skull like it was wet rice paper, completely blowing away her lower jaw and splattering grey matter inside the pod.
A shockwave the likes he had never seen erupted from Amber's still warm corpse as a brilliant orange light radiated from her form sending him sprawling ass over teakettle until he collided with the elevator doors with enough force to dent them. Ironwood could only watch on in awe as the assailant staggered to his feet seemingly unaffected by the roaring energy mere inches before him.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" he shouted, Amber was dead the power of fall left inside her would join the rest of the powers the Queen had stolen so many months ago.
It was over… all of it… they won.
Or so he thought until the man before him started screaming at the top of his lungs
"If you think you're getting away that easily THEN BITCH YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!" all light in the room vanished as the man's aura flared about him. Black tendrils of aura flew through the air of their own volition striking anything and everything in their path until they collided with the orange light forming a void around the power of Fall herself.
With a flick of his wrist the tendrils collapsed in on themselves forming a singular black tether to the caged light before him and within moments that tether, the light of the maiden's power and the body of the former maiden amber was absorbed into darkness and flowed into the masked man.
Ironwood couldn't believe what he'd seen, he couldn't move, couldn't breathe he could do nothing but look on at him in a twisted sense of awe. A plume of smoke and the trampling of boots on marble shook him out of his daze, his men wasting no time in surrounding the man in the mask their weapons set to kill. Ignoring the soldier who offered his hand to help him up Ironwood slowly rose from his front row seat to what should have been impossible and walked right up towards the man, no the monster he had been fighting.
"What are you?" he asked in a harsh whisper, his face inches from the near destroyed helmet of Ambers murderer. When he received nothing in response he signaled his men to take him away it wasn't until they had dragged him into the makeshift elevator that he spoke out to him.
"Hey general, before you take me to that special cell of yours you think you could do me a favor?" he said aloud, a hint of relief evident in his words.
"Sure, what do you want?"
Shrugging his arm free from the guard the man pulled the shattered helmet off his head. Matted and filthy blonde hair falling about his face as he did so throwing shadows over the minute scars that littered his face but doing nothing to hide the blazing sapphire eyes that stared straight through General James Ironwood before a cheerful smile threatened to split his face apart.
"Tell Professor Ozpin, Jaune Arc says hello."
Well that was intense yeah?
Anyway I plan on updating this fic alongside my Kingdom Hearts story so i'm trying to do at least one chapter a week on an alternating schedule.
So two chapters Remnants of a Soul a month, two of Dying of the light a month hopefully that works out for me on my end, life has been pretty content on throwing so much crap my way that writing is almost non occurring...
I digress, Oh yeah one last thing I came up with the framework for this story way before any of the info from volume four was a thing so I've changed certain aspects of the story to match what happens to our heroes in volume 4 onward
but its still divergent enough to call it an AU.
Once again thank you rooster teeth for everything you do keep making awesome shit!
(But please spare us the feelings, i'm still recovering from the first half of vol 4)