The following story is based on RWBY, created by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth, and 'Dishwasher1910's artwork.
-Chapter 1.1-
A foursome of people walked across a green and lush forest. On a journey that would take them across an entire continent, seeking for answers that would hopefully quench the thirst for knowledge over the cause of the events that wreaked havoc in their lives.
They all lost the sense of normality and predictability that up until that point had defined their lives since they started attending Beacon Academy.
But above all else, all lost a dear friend and something more that day.
Ruby Rose lost an inspirational figure in front of her very own eyes.
Jaune Arc lost who could have been a potential lover which he willfully ignored for so long.
Lie Ren lost a willing pair of ears that would listen to whatever rare issue he could not bring himself to tell Nora or Jaune.
And Nora Valkyrie lost her fellow woman infatuated with a dense boy, and Pyrrha was so close to her goal as well.
They walked along the dirt path, headed in the general direction of the next village. Ruby in charge of directions, her eyes darting back and forth between the map and the scenery around them.
Despite the relative calm, the wind blew overhead of them, putting some of her hair bangs on her face, forcing her to either blow them away with her breath, or manually move them with her hands, briefly taking her attention away from navigating the group.
However, that wasn't what kept most of her headspace working overtime, and her hairs standing on end.
It was something else, an uneasy sensation. Like something - or someone - is breathing down your neck, but you can't see them. She's found herself looking back more than once.
And she's just done it again, and it did not go unnoticed.
"Ruby, you okay?" Asked Jaune.
"I'm fine" She deflected.
"Ruby, you have been looking around often" Pointed out the raven-haired male with a pink pinstripe on it, known as Ren.
"I'm just looking for landmarks, you know? Navigation?" She held up the map she was carrying.
"Ruby, you've been looking back." the usually hyperactive ginger known as Nora piped up. "Are we lost?"
"No no no no! We're not lost, I know where we're going – No, I don't have the map upside down this time!" Ruby cut off Jaune, who was about to interject.
"I know that Ruby, it's something else, isn't it?" Ren inquired.
"It is but... You're going to call me crazy for it" The red themed huntress bashfully admitted.
"Look, Ruby" Jaune put a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder and continued. "If you've noticed something that's freaking you out, don't be afraid to tell us. We're out in the wilds, anything could happen."
"Well, what's happening is..." Ruby looked around, before requesting for the group to huddle together. Everyone complied with the request and huddled closer to share the intimate tidbit. "I feel like someone's following us. It's been like this for the last few miles. I don't know their intent but we gotta watch out."
"You think it's a Grimm? Cuz, I can smash it out of existence!" Nora proposed.
"I'll be honest, I've noticed it too," Ren added. "It's a strange presence. Kind of like a person and a Grimm at the same time. But a Grimm would have attacked at this point. We need to be on guard."
"Ren, how do you know this?" Jaune took the question from Ruby's lips and posed it to the group.
"My semblance, remember? It doesn't only mute emotions and hides me from Grimm when using it, it also allows me to perceive Grimm around me. Grimm have this aura of death, hatred, and suffering everywhere they go, but this... It feels different. It feels mostly like death and suffering – like a Grimm – but there's something else in the mix as well, something I can't quite place." The black and pink ninja elaborated.
"Well, whatever it is…" Ruby picked up the conversation with an order. "We don't know whether it's friendly or not. So we better watch ourselves. Everyone, two in the back and two in the front, parallel to each other so we're all always in view of someone else. Weapons ready at a moment's notice. Okay?"
"Aye!" Nora agreed.
"Sounds good." Jaune nodded in agreement.
As the group got into their chosen formation, a crow flew overhead. This was friendly.
However, in the bushes a few hundred yards behind them, two glowing red eyes watched the group carefully, studying their every move.
And, it focused on the girl in red the most…
~o0o~
On the other side of the world, a certain raven-haired cat faunus pondered over the rail of a boat about what awaits her at home.
She hasn't been the best daughter to her parents, she knows as much. Running away from home and then opting to be a freedom fighter (Which many people would just call being a terrorist, but she digresses even though she's trying to make amends), then running away from being a freedom fighter and trying to set her life straight by becoming a huntress, which in all honesty, was going well until the school got attacked by her former comrades at the White Fang.
Life gives many twists and turns, but turns like these are quite frankly, Blake Belladonna hasn't been the best with doing damage control in many situations and it shows.
She's shaken out of her thoughts by a raindrop falling on her cat ears, which she quickly shook off before being pelted by another, and another, and another…
With that she ran inside the boat, where an eager, blonde monkey faunus known as Sun Wukong was dancing on the soles of his feet. Despite the sudden torrential weather and somber mood of his companion, which was Blake herself.
"What's got you so worried?" He asked her, noticing the expression on her face.
She looked at the roof for a moment, thinking her words carefully before replying with: "I haven't been home in a long time. Things have changed a lot around the world, especially after Beacon. And Gods know how much has changed on the island."
"Shouldn't that have you excited? I mean, it's like going to a new place, it's just that it's slightly familiar" He rebutted.
"It's exactly that what has got me worried, that and my family…" She leans against one of the walls, arms crossed and head looking down to the floor.
"What about them?"
"My parents… I haven't really been in contact with them after I ran away to join the White Fang with… With…" She instinctively put a hand over the scar in her waist, drifting off.
"I see…" Sun assented in understanding, his monkey tail standing still. "Look, if your parents are worth their salt, the most they can do is tease you over it. Relax, everything will be fine, Blake."
She looked out in the distance with vacant eyes, thinking at most about the downpour. "Hoping, Sun. Here's hoping"
He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Maybe believing would be a better course of action. You know what they say, the mind is a powerful thing"
"Perhaps you're right. We need some positivism."
With that, Sun let Blake's shoulder go, sliding up to her side. "You know, I've never been to Menagerie before, how's Kuo Kuana?"
Blake smiled at him, appreciating the change in subject. "It's a small city – if you can call it that – it's nice and sunny almost the whole year. The locals are welcoming of other people, at least to faunus. I've never seen a human go to Menagerie in the time I had been living there – I wonder if that's changed, though. Equality starts at home"
With that, Blake lost herself in describing her former home to her friend for the rest of the voyage.
~o0o~
When Blake and Sun arrived at Kuo Kuana, instead of the sunny, upbeat tropical feel they were expecting, they found themselves in a gray, rainy, borderline depressing village lined by palm and mango trees.
As the boat anchored and unloaded, Sun couldn't help but quip. "Well, looks like we came on the wrong day for the sunny vibes."
"Let's run and beat the rain." Blake suggested.
"Right behind you." He agreed.
As soon as the ramp was down, Blake and Sun ran out of the boat and into the streets of Kuo Kuana. Quickly taking refuge under the overhang of a building's roof.
In the short while they were exposed to the sky, however, they became drenched in rainwater, both of them not appreciating the sudden wetness.
"Geez! It's raining cats and dogs out there" Sun claimed, before he looked at the cat faunus and added, "No offense."
Blake tried to shake herself dry, to no avail. "It's alright, it's cyclone season."
"You guys have a cyclone season?" Sun asked, perplexed.
"We do, they run from June to November" She admitted. "When there's a storm, we used to post it on info boards, I wonder if that's changed."
Sun then pointed in the direction of a shelter with a corkboard. "There's one over there, we should check it out and see if we came on a bad time."
With that, Blake and Sun bolted in the direction of the shelter and board. And after attempting to shake off some more water, they began to read out what was on the board.
Only for Blake's eyes to widen in shock…
"MISSING PERSON"
"MISSING PERSON"
"MISSING PERSON"
"MISSING PERSON"
"MISSING PERSON"
"MISSING PERSON"
Those words were about the only thing on the board on different posters at least nine dozen times. And in a place like Kuo Kuana, that's no small number.
"... What the hell's going on? Why are there so many missing people?" Sun asked, equally in shock.
"I've no idea" She replied at a loss, while still reading out the posters. Suddenly she realized something important, "Oh no… I know some of these people!"
"From where?"
"They're all White Fang members!" She points at a male faunus with bat wings in a poster. "This is Yuma, he's one of our air recon crew!" then she pointed at another poster, "And that's Clowy, she's the top trap expert!"
As she listed off a few more names to Sun, Blake quickly came to a somber realization.
They might not be missing at all…
She turned to Sun before getting ready to run in the direction of her family home. "Screw the rain, we need to find out what's going on here!"
"I'm right behind you!" Sun reassures Blake.
With that, the black-haired and blonde duo run about the rain-soaked streets of Kuo Kuana, Blake leading the charge, no longer minding the rain and now solely focused on finding out what's happening here on the island.
These people may be White Fang members, but they're also people Blake has known for years, and the idea that they're no longer alive gives Blake a widening pit in her gut.
Eventually they run through the Aqua Market, a section of Kuo Kuana designed with aquatic faunus in mind.
But the pools collecting rainwater are stained with a sickening red hue. And it's not Halloween. Ruby's birthday would remind her as much. And Blake quickly realized by the smell what it was.
Looking up, there's a banner adorning the market, a text in with a red liquid dripping down onto the pools below reads:
"THEIR GREED COSTS US OUR EQUALITY"
Looking around, Blake saw something that was somehow far worse than seeing Yang missing an arm.
Two fox faunus, mutilated. Their eyes popped out and hanging out of their sockets, necks slit, arms and legs ripped apart by some unknown force. And around the mouths were a single slash, micking a sick smile.
These were the remains of the Albain brothers, Corsac and Fennec. Some of the White Fang's loudest mouthpieces on the island.
As she heard Sun vomiting in the background, there was more text on the banner, but it was washing out due to the rain.
Still, she could piece it together.
"THE WHITE FANG IS A TUMOR, AND IT WILL BE REMOVED"
Her bile was rising in her mouth, which she quickly covered with her hand. This spelled trouble. It meant negativity was at an all time high with the disappearances, the deaths, and the bodies on display.
Kuo Kuana… no, the whole island of Menagerie was a ticking bomb.
They had to stop this and soon.
Author's Notes:
Okay for everyone who is wondering, this is only part of 1 of 'Chapter 1'. Me and a fellow fanfic writer are working together on this one. Also, along with the words, there will be artwork to accompany the story too. You can find one of the first scenes made on Deviant Art under the same name as here on Fanfic.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this fanfic in the coming months, but with work piling up on me, I can only update this whenever I can. Not once a Month, or every few weeks kind of thing. None of that. IRL stuff must always come first. Got it?