Legal boilerplate.
I own nothing but the original characters. Any content created by RT, or any mentioned artist belongs to them, and them alone.
Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
Any comments made toward any group and their parallels to the real world are not opinions I hold. It's fiction. Racist, sexist, homophobic and other offensive language will be used.
This story is rated M for a reason. There will be bloodshed and mature subjects covered. This is the only real warning that will be issued.
That all said and done, this is my serious attempt at a RWBY-verse rewrite.
For those of you who are in the know, I welcome you to...
REMNANT.
Children Of War.
.
Volume 1
.
Chapter 1
.
"Remnant… Such a polite word to say that there is only so little of something left… It's appropriate then, that mankind, and their world is named as such. A byproduct of the past… And yet by the same coin, a remnant is that which survives. And in the end, survival is the only thing that nature's bloody evolution cares for… Good… Bad…. Hero… Villain… It's all the same to nature."
Taiyang Xiao Long crossed his arms authoritatively as he spoke to his youngest daughter on the porch of their cabin, the cold December air nipping at his exposed skin, and a crimson red half helmet and attached goggles dangling from his left hand. "You remember the rules?" He asked, breath coming out in a fog.
Ruby Rose huffed, as she crossed her arms in mimicry of her father, her cloak wrapped around her shoulders. "Yeah dad, I remember, I need to be back by 11, stay out of trouble, and keep Crescent Rose on safe."
"And?" Tai asked, raising an eyebrow, leaning in towards Ruby, his blue eyes locking with her silver ones.
Ruby blew a stray strand of hair out of her face. "And no going to the hotel again, because the manager's got your phone number, and will call you if Clayton and I try to check in. I know dad, I know."
"Good…" Tai said as he held out the helmet to Ruby.
"Seriously dad, I've been 17 for almost two months." Ruby said, as she snatched the helmet, and started to put it on. "I'm not a baby. I'm frikin' 5'6" now, I can handle myself."
"It's not you I'm worried about." Tai said, looking down the long snow blanketed dirt road as a vintage motorcycle and it's attached sidecar came puttering towards the cabin. A tan young man of 6 foot 5, and a robust build kept the bike steady, red coattails flapping behind him.
"Dad, you've known Clayton since we were kids. We've been dating since our first year at Signal." Ruby said, as the motorcycle came to a stop on the edge of the property by the mailbox. Clayton put his left foot down on the ground, his thumbed bare palm scrunching a fistfull of snow.
"I know…" Taiyang sighed, as Clayton adjusted his black leather "helmet." He smiled and waved, showing his short fangs, and arms longer than his legs. "But you've both changed a lot since then… Just… Stay safe, and don't do anything I would have at your age." He said, before ruffling Ruby's helmeted head. With a smile, Ruby took off down the driveway, and jumped into the sidecar of Clayton's old bike. The two waved at Taiyang one last time, before the ape-man revved the little 18 horsepower engine, and honked the mounted horn twice as they left the property. Taiyang shook his head, before looking up at a crow resting on a barren tree branch. "They grow up fast don't they?" He asked it.
Ruby and Clayton road across Patch Island's east coast into the portside town of Tanhide, passing horse riders and work trucks. Clayton honked the horn as he passed a couple of kids they went to Signal with. One of them flipped the bird in return, Russel Thrush if Clayton remembered. Ruby stuck her tongue out before the group disappeared around the corner.
Clayton slowed down as they entered the town's main intersection, before parking on the street, and walking the rest of the way to the diner. Their meal, milkshakes, and the movie they went to see afterwards eventually passed, then together the two set out after dark for home.
As Clayton drove Ruby back to her family's cabin, the wind died down, and Ruby's keen vision saw a dark figure move through the hibernating trees. Ruby tapped Clayton's arm three times, and he slowed the bike to no more than a crawl. "What?" He asked, as Ruby reached behind her back, and pulled Crescent Rose off it's waist belt carrier. Clayton wasted no time pulling his sawn off shotgun out of it's bike holster, and racking the slide.
"They're in the woods…" Ruby said, before Clayton turned off the engine, and the two got off of the motorcycle. The light on the bike went out, leaving them under the waning crescent moon's glow, and it's reflection against the snow.
Patch Island, even though it fell within the Kingdom of Vale's shallow gulf waters, was not so safe that it could escape the darkness. For with darkness came Grimm…
Red eyes glowed from the dead underbrush, before a mass of black jumped out towards the road with a roar, it's gleaming fangs and white exposed skull surging towards the young rose.
In a flash of red, Ruby was gone from where she stood, and beside her, Clayton had spun. The mouth of the wolfish creation of darkness had found itself firmly seated over the 12 gauge muzzle of King Slayer. With a bang, the grimm died where it stood, and faded into mist, as howls sounded from the forest, and several more creatures of evil rushed out of the woods, none too aware of what hung above them.
Having jumped into the air as her boyfriend killed the first grimm, Ruby managed to make a full rotation as she unlocked Crescent Rose, the weapon deploying into it's base rifle form. With her left hand firmly on the pistol grip, she took hold of the bolt on the weapon's right side, and worked the action as quickly as she could to rain copper jacketed lead down onto her foe, nailing five grimm with five rounds of .50 caliber, emptying the magazine, and leaving one round in the chamber.
Ruby's boots hit the snow behind Clayton. She unfolded Crescent Rose to deploy it's three foot scythe blade, firing one last shot to both blow out the chest cavity of the nearest demonic wolf and rush forward several meters to slice another in half.
Clayton swung his fist as he spun once Ruby was clear, backhanding one of the smaller darkwolfs, cracking it's skull, before racking the slide of his shotgun, and putting another spread of 00 buck into the abdomen of a thinner grimm wolf, cutting it in half.
Meanwhile Ruby had broken away from the center of the fight, and reloaded once on the outside of the circle of demons. Inserting a fresh magazine filled to the brim with standard Patetium powder shots, she spun her rifle so the blade would trail behind her and toward the center of the horde. Pulling the trigger as she ran, the chemical element better known as "Air dust" ignited after it's shot cup had exited the muzzle, reacting to the nitrogen in the air, and expanding rapidly. The blast of air forced Ruby across the surface of the snow faster than she could run, slicing grimm in half, and four more times, the blank fire from the muzzle carried her through the air, creating a pentagon around Clayton, as he spun in synchronization with her, keeping his back to her blade the entire time so as to not catch her in the crossfire as he slammed lead with his shotgun.
As Ruby slid to a halt, Clayton ejected the last shell from his trench gun, finding only three of the dark ones remaining, the largest, with bone growths forming along it's back. The three had thus far hung back from the fighting, observing the battle from the treeline. Clayton locked the bolt of his 12 gauge forward with his right foot, as he pulled a tomahawk head out of his messenger bag, and affixed it to the shotgun's heat guard and bayonet lug.
Ruby quickly fed loose rounds hanging off her skirt placard into the open action of her gun. She was only able to cram two rounds into Crescent Rose's magazine before the three wolves pounced. As Clayton jumped towards the three, Ruby made a decisive shot on the smallest wolf to the left, taking it's head clean off, as the small one to the right had intercepted Clayton.
The beast swept it's claws at him, only for the man-ape to duck under the attack, and sink the axe head of his weapon into the creature's gun, ripping it's innards out, before he spun outwards around it's back, and sunk his blade into it's spine.
The largest grimm, now upon them attacked low, trying to sweep Clayton off his feet, only for the oddly proportioned teen to jump over the attack and grab the monster's head and shoulders with three limbs, forcing it's jaw shut, as he sunk the head of his tomahawk into it's back, chopping away at the beast as it spun and clawed at him.
Finally finding an opening, the grimm pulled Clayton off of it's head, and tossed him into the snow. Roaring in rage, the grimm stood up on it's hind legs, only to have it's right shin blown out by lead, courtesy of Ruby Rose. The demon fell forward, and though it tried to stop it's fall, the monster found that it's neck was aligned with the well polished blade of Crescent Rose. Off came it's head, and like all the rest, the Alpha Beowulf faded into mist.
Clayton got to his feet, and together, he and Ruby looked around at the fading corpses of the grimm, each growing a small smile, before Clayton's pocket watch chimed, alerting the two that it was now 1045.
In a mad dash the two rushed towards the Xiao Long family home. Clayton broke Patche's 40MPH speed limit along the way, and as he pulled up to the mailbox, breathed a sigh of relief, as the lights in the house were all out.
Ruby dismounted the motorcycle, and though she knew she was already late, stood on her toes and quickly kissed Clayton before she bolted towards the door as quickly as she could. Only for the living room light to turn on and the door to open in front of her.
Her father looked down at her with disapproval written on his face, before he looked up at Clayton sitting on his bike. Taiyang looked back down at Ruby who wore a nervous smile. "12 minutes late… So… Where have you two been?"
"Nowhere." Ruby nearly whined. "We went to town, ate dinner, saw that new western movie, and came right back." Taiyang raised an eyebrow. "I mean… We sort of stopped to fight a few grimm." Ruby said, as she fiddled with her frilled black skirt. "See, I used ammo and everything." Ruby said, pulling Crescent Rose's empty magazine out as proof.
Taiyang sighed, before he looked up at Clayton again. "Tell your dad I said hello, Clayton."
"Can do Mr. Xiao Long." Clayton said with a thumbs up, before Ruby was ushered into the house, and Taiyang closed the door. "Yeah, he hates me now…" Clayton said to himself, before adjusting his helmet, and puttering off down the road towards his dad's cottage.
As the door slammed behind her, Ruby groaned. "Dad, you are so embarrassing." She said, taking off her helmet.
"I'm embarrassing? Do you have any idea how embarrassing being the parent of a pregnant teen would be?" Taiyang asked.
"I-We-" Ruby sputtered. "There were grimm in the woods! I was attacked!" Ruby said loudly.
"That's not the point. You said you would be home by 11, and you weren't." Taiyang said. "And I can't just trust an empty magazine as proof you actually fought any grimm, Ruby. Not when you lie about when Clayton's dad's home with you two."
"That was one time." Ruby said. "And it wasn't like we planned for Mr. Sanguis to work late."
Taiyang sighed, before rubbing his eyes. "No, it's happened four times… Look, Ruby, I know you're young, and I know you and Clayton are… A thing… And you're going to make mistakes, but just… You scare me half to death sometimes… Yang's bad enough with the sneaking out on the weekends, God only knows where she goes." Taiyang said, hoping that his older daughter was actually asleep upstairs. "And it's my job as your father to make sure you don't end up dead, in jail, or some strip club in Mistral."
Ruby crossed her arms, and pouted. "I'm not a whore." She muttered.
"And I didn't say you were…" Taiyang sighed as he rubbed his eyebrow. "It's late, and I'm tired… So I'm just going to ask, one last time, and take your answer at face value. Why did you get home late?"
Ruby huffed. "We got attacked by grimm on the way back. Are you going to worry about that now too and pull me out of my combat classes?"
Tai scoffed. "I'm not worried about the Little Red Reaper facing a couple grimm… Now get upstairs, it's past your bedtime."
"Yes Daaaad." Ruby said sarcastically, before she started walking to her room.
A crow called from outside, and Taiyang sighed. "Yeah, they do grow up too fast…"
Author's note.
So I sort of want a custom cover done for this but lack the artistic ability to draw. If anyone knows someone, Please PM me.