From Huntsmen to Heathens
Disclaimers I don't own RWBY, please support any to all official releases, this also acts as a spiritual continuation to From Heathen to Hero, so please give that a read whenever as it is now complete.
It was horrible, Beacon Academy, the Kingdom of Vale was war torn, Grimm infested, and was progressively burning to the ground by a threat not known by the majority of the public as it rages on consuming anyone and everyone who didn't manage to evacuate in time.
People like Blake and Yang, who were unable to escape Adam's merciless rampage, or Jaune who was overcome with grief over Pyrrha's suicide confession that he lost the will to live and let the stray Grimm consume him.
Granted there were those willing to fight till the bitter end, like Ren, Nora, and Weiss, but even they were brought down do to battle fatigue and panic over not knowing the well-being of their friends.
And then there was Pyrrha, who just died before Ruby by the clandestine hands of Cinder, as she stood there smug and victorious as they clearly are the winners to todays battle as Ruby could do nothing but also fall to her knees in shock.
Lowering her head with her weapon by her side, we see that the recently awaken Dragon was ready to resume it's onslaught and figured it start by taking out Ruby.
Looking up with tears in her eyes, Ruby could only whimper as the Dragon began to bare it's fangs before going in for the kill and consume the little red riding hood, putting an end to her tale.
In Hell
Waking up on the hot asphalt that burnt to the touch, Ruby saw that she was surrounded by her team and sister team once more, alive and well for the most part considering where they were.
"Ugh, where are we" groaned Weiss, "I don't know, but I suggest we get off this hot road before we have to start peeling our hot flesh off it" said Yang as she helped Blake up with her right arm of all things.
"Yang your arm!" exclaimed Blake, "Holy shit, this is freaky" said Yang in equal amazement as she examined her arm herself.
"Are you both alright" asked Pyrrha as she was instantly glomped by both Jaune and Pyrrha, "Pyrrha, oh my god your alive" cried Ruby as Jaune said nothing as he continued to silently cry in joy knowing she was alive and by his side again.
"Yes, yes I am…" trailed off Pyrrha as she tried soothing the duo considering the emotional trauma they had experienced.
"Somethings not right" said Ren as he was clearly panicking, an emotion he hasn't been familiar with since he unlocked his semblance.
"Ren, please calm down, everything is alright, I mean look we're all together again" said Nora, "Yes but where is together" asked Weiss as that was the million lien question the group all had.
"I don't know, but look whatever happened to us, we should take solace knowing that we're all together, so let's figure this out together guys" said Ruby, "Ruby's right, so let's discuss as to what happened to us, and maybe one of us can have an idea as to where we're at" suggested Jaune as he finally wiped his tears away.
Even after going into great detail and thinking back to any to all possible detail, nothing seemed to click or connect other than the fact they all failed to protect Vale, and died.
"Damn it, this is frustrating, I mean I died as one armed beggar before Adam murdered us, and yet here I am whole again" said Yang as she lifted her right arm up for emphasis.
"Nearly whole, I mean, we don't have our weapons on us" said Ruby, "Or our semblance for that matter" said Ren.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" asked Weiss, "I mean you guys can give it a shot, but if you haven't notice, I'm not that emotionless guy in the corner with words of wisdom to share during a dispute" said Ren in frustration.
"So what?" asked Yang, "My semblance acts passively, it has rendered me emotionless for such a long time now, that being able to express my emotions in an overwhelming manner is overwhelming on top of it" said Ren as he could either have panic attack or mental break down any minute now.
"Ren, you got to calm down" said Nora as she held him close to her chess as she began to sooth him in a more calming state as she would hate for him to lose his marbles now.
"Pyrrha, there's a road sign up ahead, mind using your semblance on that thing to prove Ren's assumption" said Jaune as he followed her along with Weiss to the road sign which was riddled with bullet holes, and rest as it read 66, with an extra 6 written in blood.
Sticking a hand out, Pyrrha tried to bend to road sign to her will but got jack shit, with jack having the sense to leave town.
"This can't be good" said Jaune as the trio regrouped with their friends.
"Ok, so Ren was right, we can't use our semblance, and we don't have our weapons on us, like we didn't have enough to worry about" said Weiss.
"Or you know we've got nothing to worry about, I mean who knows we could be in the great beyond free from conflict" said Ruby trying to be optimistic.
"You call being stranded here without our weapons or semblance in the middle of this dust ball wasteland to be the Elysium of the great beyond" asked Weiss, "Weiss just chill, at least Ruby is trying to be positive in our situation" said Yang.
"I don't know about us being in Elysium, I mean, Blake, Nora, and I all believe in reincarnation" said Ren, "And me and Weiss are pragmatist and believe that once we die, that's it" admitted Pyrrha.
"Hold, if this isn't Elysium or Valhalla or Warp World, then you guys don't believe that we're in…" trailed off Jaune, "Stop! Don't even say we're in Tartarus or even Asphodel, I refuse to believe that any of us deserved to be here. Except for Ice Queen maybe" said Yang, "Hey!" exclaimed Weiss.
"Yang, not helping, but it could stand to believe we've taken the bus straight to the deep south" said Blake, "But if we're here, the question remains why though, I mean I might sound like a selfish jerk by saying I don't belong here, but I think we can all agree Ruby doesn't belong here compare to all of us" said Jaune.
"So what, where are we then, in purgatory, cause if so, we should be reliving our mediocre school lives all over again, up to our deaths in loop like a bad movie" said Weiss.
"Guys, just stop please!" shouted Ruby finally getting everyone's attention.
"Look we truly don't know what's before us now, but clearly we're not gonna stand here and just arguing about it" said Ruby, "What you have us do then" asked Pyrrha.
"We can start walking down this road and hopefully run into some people who are in the same predicament as us" said Ruby, "Not a bad idea" said Jaune as he was supportive of this as everyone agreed to walk ahead towards the unknown.
About 2 miles in there hike, the group heard the sounds of a vehicle rapidly speeding behind them at a distance.
"Guys look, a car!" shouted Ren as everyone began to wave down towards the driver, hoping they'd be willing to help, only for them to zoom past the group.
"No! Don't go!" shouted Jaune in disbelief, "That son of a bitch! What an asshole!" jeered Yang.
"I agree with your sentiment of dissatisfaction" said Weiss as she kicked a rock onto the road.
"In hindsight I wouldn't stop if I saw a large group waving me down either" said Blake, "But look at the bright side, we're clearly not alone here" said Jaune.
"That's right, so let's keep marching people, maybe there's a gas station up ahead" said Ruby as everyone got their second wind as they continued to walk these hot roads to the nearest rest stop which wouldn't be for another hour.
Now as for their rest stop in question, it was clearly a junk yard that people were gathering around since the place was fenced off with mounds of broken cars and junk that should be recycled and not thrown out.
"Anyone getting the 'Hills have Eyes' vibes" said Ren as the group can here hollering amongst the sound of vehicles revving and roaring.
"Trying to ignore that feeling, but thank you for pointing that out" said Blake, "Hey, if these people cause trouble for us, we can still kick ass, I mean we've all had combat experience, with or without our weapons or semblance" said Yang.
"Easy for you to say" said Weiss as she was admittingly the most liable without her weapons or dust.
"All right guys, stick close and let's be ready for anything" said Jaune as he began to take the lead, "Ruby, stay behind me" said Yang as she hid Ruby behind.
"Yang, I can take care of myself" argued Ruby, "Don't argue with me right now" said Yang bluntly as Ruby begrudgingly obliged.
Walking towards the entrance of the group, the most the group was expecting to meet were over zealous locals having a good time.
What they didn't expect was they were faced with people, though calling them that seemed wrong, since people are normally pale to black in terms of skin pigmentation, as their skin killer was anything from, green, blue, purple, and orange.
More so they all had been adorned with 2 stubby horns above their forehead, and before someone can suggest they might be of Faunus decent, they all had other malnormal appendages, like a sing webbed wing on their back, or a tail with 3 barbs, deformed hands that proved to be a danger to anyone who gets hit by said hand.
And that's not counting the fact they all have a weapon meant to either bludgeon, stab, or otherwise riddle them with more holes in their bodies than a block of Swiss cheese, as their merry making demeanor was now plastered with that of a mad psycho ready to skin their faces off and place it on a slice of pizza.
"Run!" shouted Ruby as they all tried to head for the exit only for someone to turn on a switch causing the fence to automatically close on them and being conducting with electricity.
"Oh crap, what do we do" said Ren, "We fight that's what we do" said Yang as she turned heel just in time as 2 demi-demons began to charge her with a weapon at hand.
Stepping to the side and landing a sucker punch to the jaw of one of the demi-demons as they fell to the ground, Yang manage to grapple onto the other one as it swung it's butterfly knife on her, and disarmed them properly before tossing them head first to the electrical fence behind them.
"Yang's right" said Nora as she took the offensive towards a demi-demon who's weapon as a baseball bat with a teddy bear duct taped to it, where after a short game of tug of war, managed to pull the weapon from the demi-demon before clocking them to the jaw and knocking them out for the count.
"This could be possible" said Blake as Yang shove the butterfly knife into her hand as they both went on ahead together and took on another demi-demon with a bet, as Yang blocked and gripped onto the weapon, giving Blake a chance to sneak around and slit the demi-demon's throat.
"Ruby, stay back, I seriously don't want you to get hurt" said Yang as she turned back to her sister briefly as she went to continue their attack.
"She can't be serious" said Ruby in disbelief, "I think for now it's better if we don't argue" said Pyrrha as she bent down and pick up the discarded iron pipe dropped by the demi-demon left by Yang as she and Ren ran up to provide back up.
"Ruby, let's stick back here for now and try to find some cover, maybe even a way to turn the fence off" said Jaune as he rested his hand on to Ruby, "Hey guys, there's a shack over there" pointed out Weiss as she spotted the toolshed with a window just behind a stack of crushed cars.
As the trio began to take cover, Jaune felt a sharp pain hit him in the back of the shoulder as he screamed in pain.
"Jaune!" exclaimed Ruby as she turned her head back to check on her best friend as he an arrow going through the back of his shoulder.
The cause was a small group of demi-demons standing atop the mounds of crushed vehicles, ready to shoot them, including the one with the crossbow who was successful in in hitting Jaune.
"Jaune we gotta hurry" said Ruby as she ran to drag her friend with her as more demi-demons prepared to shoot the pair, if not for Weiss to suddenly tackle them behind some steel drum cans.
"Why am I always stuck having to look out for the 2 dolts that are our leaders" said Weiss as stray bullet zipped over her head.
"Weiss, Jaune's hurt" said Ruby, "I can see that, but I can't see how bad it us, let me see Jaune" said Weiss as she sat Jaune up correctly to see that the bolt had gone completely through.
"Good news, it made a clean break, which means removing it should be easy once we've made it to safety" said Weiss, "Yeah but how are we going to do that" asked Ruby.
"I've got an idea, Ruby, I need you to take your belt off, and help me remove mine" said Jaune as we pan to the rest of the group.
Running towards Nora's aid, Ren kicked the knee in of a demi-demon, causing to kneel down where he slammed their head into the ground as he performed a one handed cartwheel behind a different demon, where he used his free hand to punch them behind the leg, staggering them long enough so Nora can slam their head in.
All the while Yang was proven to be the most formidable in terms of fighting things mano-a-mano as she delivered a straight punch into a demi-demon as they fell into the arms of his buddy only for Pyrrha to come swinging in with her pipe to the side of their head.
"Told you we got this covered" said Yang as she spun back and kicked a demi-demon in their gut, before Black came in and plunged her knife into the back of their head.
"Yeah, but we shouldn't get cocky" said Blake as her ears twitched, before she pulled Yang aside, and narrowly avoiding take a round to the chest as a demi-demon with a revolver was toting his arm.
"Thanks my little kitty cat" said Yang with a smile, "Compliment me later" said Blake as the demi-demon began to spray and pray with his revolver as the group began to duck and cover behind the vehicles.
"That's cheating you jerk!" shouted Nora, "Nora, now's not the time to antagonize that thing with a gun" said Ren as 2 stray bullets ricochet over them.
"Hey, guys, where's Ruby and the others" asked Yang, "In Jaune's care" said Pyrrha as that was the last thing she saw before joining the fray.
"Don't fail me now vomit boy" said Yang as she stuck her head out, only to duck down from getting shot at as the demi-demon began to reload his weapon.
"Jump him while he's reloading" said Ren, as the group didn't need to be told twice as we move back to our desperate trio as they were enacting Jaune's plan, which was to use both his belt and Ruby's to wrap around one of the drum barrels and use it as a shield as they began to drag the thing closer to the shack.
"I can't believe this is working" commented Weiss, "Well it is" said Ruby as she stuck close to Jaune as she literally had her back to his chest as they had the responsibility of dragging the drum together.
"Just a little further and we can make a run for it" said Jaune, "Weiss, how much farther are we from the shack" asked Ruby, "Just a couple more feet" said Weiss as she had to keep her head really low in order to avoiding getting hurt herself.
Seeing as they weren't hitting their target from their current distance, the demi-demons made their way down, and began to make chase to the group, which didn't go unnoticed.
"Shift it into gear 2 guys, those things decided to come after us" said Weiss, "Just a little more and we can make a run for it" said Jaune as he wanted to get the drum can close to the beat up and rusted pickup that was parked outside the shack before they made a break for it.
Once they were close enough, the trio made a break and managed to avoid getting hit as Jaune shut the door behind them.
"That's not gonna hold them back forever" said Weiss, "Yeah, not with an open window" said Jaune as he used his good hand to grab a near buy butchers knife that was left on the counter.
Scrambling for a weapon of any kind, Weiss had to settle for a skillet, as Ruby found a BB gun of all things in this shack as she began to load the thing up.
"Here they come guys" said Ruby as she took a post and proceeded to return the favor back as she began to shoot back at the demi-demons as the copper pellets hurt like hell, as evident by one who literally had an eye put out.
"Keep it up, I'm gonna try to flank them" said Jaune, "No you don't mister, you sit here and keep Ruby safe, I got you both covered" said Weiss as she rolled out the door and hid behind the abandoned pickup truck.
As Ruby continued to return cover fire, Weiss shimmied her way towards the demi-demons as they used their cheap conditioned weapons to attack Ruby.
Ready to get the drop on them, Weiss hit a small snag, where her skirt caught onto the pickup, getting a demi-demon's attention as he pointed his revolver at Weiss and was ready to pull trigger.
Sacrificing her fashion aesthetics, Weiss narrowly avoided getting shot when she used her skilled as a shield to block the bullet before swinging it down to the demi-demon's hand, completely disarming them, before swinging upwards towards their jaw, where she heard a loud crack as they fell back.
Still not satisfied, she stepped forward and slammed the skilled overhead onto the demi-demon who had shot Jaune with their crossbow, as she left a large indent in their skull as they fell forward.
"Wow, this is OP and amazing" said Weiss as she spotted the last 2 demi-demons hiding behind the drum can they had used.
Ready to end this already, Weiss was prepared to take out the one that was still shooting, thinking the one that was blind in one eye wasn't a threat, but was proven wrong when they got up and tackled her to the ground and managed to wrap the hands around her neck.
Thinking this was the end, the last thing Weiss expected was to be rescued by who else but Yang when she procured a revolver and shot the demi-demon that was attempting to strangle her, before shooting the last one down.
"You guys alright" asked Yang as she gave a hand to Weiss and helped her to her feet, "I'll live" said Weiss.
"Guys, you're alive" said Jaune as he dragged his way out the shack, where everyone saw his injury.
"Jaune, you're hurt" said Pyrrha as she helped sat him on a chair, "I'll be fine, Weiss said it made a clean break whatever that means" said Jaune.
"It means, we can remove the bolt from you without any repercussions, though it's gonna hurt like hell" said Weiss, "I was afraid you were going to say that" said Jaune.
"Ruby, try to find something that can be used as antiseptic in that shack, and something for Jaune to bite on" said Ren, "On it" said Ruby.
"Hang in their fearless leader, you'll pull through" reassured Nora, "I know" Jaune said as he forced a smile on as Ruby came out.
"The best I can find is this old dishrag and some salt" said Ruby, "It'll have to do I guess. Jaune open your mouth and bite on this, and try to not taste it so much" said Pyrrha as Ruby put the rag in his mouth.
"Who wants to do honors" asked Weiss, "Hold on, we should at least cut the quills off, so they don't get caught or stuck inside his body" said Blake as she used her knife to chop the back of the bolt off.
"All right here comes the fun part, ready vomit boy" asked Yang as Jaune gave her an affirming grunt.
With one quick pull and a muffled scream, Jaune was rid of his bolt problem as he spat the dirty rag out his mouth.
"Thank you" gasped Jaune, "Don't thank me yet, cause this is where it really hurts" said Yang as she grabbed a pinch of salt and proceeded to dab and spread it around Jaune's wound as he hissed in pain.
"And we're done" said Yang as she set the salt down as Jaune began to catch his breath.
"All in all, I say mission accomplished" said Jaune, "Not really, I mean none of our questions got answered, and we're more confused then when we first got here" said Blake.
"I mean, we're alive, and now we got some weapons at our disposal, and a vehicle or 2, really we just need to find a way to open the gate" said Jaune, "He's got a point, come one let's try to get out of here and find some place safer" said Ruby.
"Let's do it, Jaune, you stay there and rest, Nora mind keeping him company" said Ren, "No problem" said Nora as the group began to spread out and tried to find a circuit breaker or like a control booth.
Eventually they spotted a trailer with a large antenna erected and wires that were connected to a circuit box to the fence.
"This might be it" said Blake, "Yeah, but to be safe, you and Yang stay back, I'll check it out first" said Ren as they both nod in agreement.
Approaching the door with caution, if it wasn't for that split second of his hearing picking up the sound of a firearm was being pointed by the other side, Ren would have been dead.
Instead he fell back as the door was obliterated into splinters as a large demi-demon stepped out with a double barrel shotgun bun being pointed down towards Ren in his defenseless state.
Thinking that this was the end, Ren shut his eyes as the sound of gunfire was heard far and wide, everyone began to gather to the scene and saw that someone had planted a bullet through the demi-demons eyes as their body laid lifeless on the ground as Ren dusted himself.
"Thank you whoever saved my ass back there" said Ren, "That wasn't me" said Yang as she was the only one close enough with a gun who could've saved Ren.
"Wasn't me" said Ruby, "Definitely wasn't us" said Jaune, "It wasn't any of us" said Pyrrha, "Then who saved Ren then" asked Weiss.
"That would be me" came a voice as appearing before them through a maelstrom of smoke was a red skinned devil as he had on black business pants, witch a matching 3 piece set, his black hair was in a fauxhawk with it being on his left side as it avoided touching his unihorn that was just above the hairline as he carried a Walther WA 2000 rifle in his hands.
"Greetings" said the devil with a smile as everyone took a step back, "Who are you" Ruby asked cautiously, "No need to be alarmed now, after all the awesomeness of the awesome me did save your friend just now from a demi-demon" said the devil.
"So please let me introduce myself as Beeqok Heliozah, the Devil of Envy" said Beeqok with a bow.
"Devil? Demi-demons? You've got to be kidding me, kidding us right now" Weiss said in disbelief, "Aun contraire, or is my red skin and horn not badge of honor anymore" asked Beeqok.
"Hold on, what makes you different from the guys we put down" asked Yang, "A lot of things, but the big one being our titled of classification, for these are demi-demons, and I'm one of the 7 Devils of Hell assisting our current Satan" said Beeqok.
"You said, we're in Hell right? I mean I'm not gonna pretend I don't have a clean past, but I'm positive more than half of us don't deserve here, so please tell us why" asked Blake.
Pulling out his smartphone, Beeqok began to look everyone up and the world they had all came from to explain their reason for being here.
"Simple, you all come from a world without a god, or more accurately a world where your gods have abandoned you, as such everyone from your world is unfortunately sent to live your lives in eternal damnation, usually by stripping you of your identities and turning your all into demi-demons" explained Beeqok.
"There's got to be a mistake of some kind, I mean can't you cut us a deal or break" pleaded Jaune.
"Well funny how you should say that, since the reason we haven't gone through that process as I mentioned, was because right now you're all candidates for a very rare, and wonderous opportunity" said Beeqok.
"You see, you 8 have gone through what I can best describe as an initiation" said Beeqok, "Initiation for what" asked Yang.
"Why what else, but to become the next Devils of Hell itself. You see, while we can uphold and take on this job forever in a sense, we always have a choice to find some worthy candidates from the living realms, which is a necessity since we believe a fresh set of eyes, and world experience, especially during current social norms make better and a more fairer judgment when keeping order here Hell and assisting our dark lord and master of course" explained Beeqok.
"So that's why we're here right now, the 8 of us all have a fair opportunity to be a Devil of Hell" asked Ruby, "Precisely" said Beeqok.
"Hold on, you just said, your one of 7 Devils of Hell, does that mean only 7 of us has a chance to become a Devil or what" asked Blake, "Perceptive. Well I'll be forward and say only 7 of you have chance" said Beeqok.
"So what happens to the odd man out" asked Nora, "Most likely we'd turn them into a demi-demon, or a full on demon as a means of compensation if you have proven your worth" said Beeqok.
"That's so not fair, I'd rather turn myself into a demi-demon now than risk seeing one of friend getting turned after not being chosen" said Yang, "Yang, you don't mean that" said Ruby.
"I do, in fact I'd rather die again than see you be turned into one of those savages we had to kill" said Yang.
"That can all be arrange, though I'd much rather give you all a fair shake before casting any sort of judgement" said Beeqok.
"Can you please stay out of this" said Weiss as they all had a group huddle.
"Ok guys how do you want to do this" asked Ruby, "I say we turn this guy down" said Yang, "And be turned into a demi-demon, forget about it" said Blake.
"It's clear this is a test that'll push us all to our limits and against us, where the only clear way to go about it is play or along and opt out" said Jaune, "I've already died once, I don't need to be stripped of my identity" said Ren.
"So we're agreement, none of us wants to be turned into a demi-demon, and none of us want to participate" said Weiss, "Yes, but I don't think we got a choice on the matter" said Pyrrha.
After another few minutes of rabbling on, the group of friends begrudgingly accepted their new fate.
"All right, we accept you terms" said Pyrrha, "Excellent, now the real test can begin" said Beeqok.
"Now the 8 of you must make a long journey where me and the other 7 Devils will monitor your actions, and cast our judgment in between your journey starting from here in Truxasko, all the way to Vey Aria, that's the capital city within Kalliphonreeah, the journey won't be easy as you'll be forced to deal with demi-demons, the elements, with your own wits and survival skill" explained Beeqok.
"With that being said, should any of you encounter any of the New Ancient Demons, we shall step in to aid you, but otherwise you're on your own" explained Beeqok.
"Any questions" asked Beeqok, "Yeah, why did all of that sounded like absolute and total nonsense" asked Weiss.
"Cause you're all in Hell, and regardless of who you are or what you did prior, we all still got debts to pay, so learn to accept it and roll with it" said Beeqok.
"Good, now I must depart and inform my associates, so until then I wish you all good luck and try to stay alive and in one piece. Ta-ta" said Beeqok as he disappeared the same way he appeared.
"Well guys, I guess this is it huh, the start of our newest journey in life" said Ruby as she bent down to lift the shotgun as she rested it over her shoulder.
"You think all the other Devils are like him" asked Yang, "I hope not" said Ren, "Let's hope when we interact with them, that at least one of them is patient and giving to our cause" said Blake.
"Well we're not gonna get anything done standing here, let's try to gather any useful supplies before we hit the road" said Jaune, "Does anyone know how to drive" asked Weiss as the group of friends still find time to be just that in spite of whatever strife comes their way.
Right so here's the first of a 3 chapters to this 3 shot will hopefully get me out of this slump, fingers crossed, with a high chance of this getting a full adaptation if feedback turns up amazing.
Until then, be safe, be good people, and please support your local fandom communities.
This has been your Humble Narrator and official author Tobi Yaza. =3