Prologue

All around her, Beacon burned. Flames rose high into the night, spewing plumes of inky-black smoke into the sky so thick that they all but covered the moon. Off in the distance, the sounds of battle continued to rage, though they grew fainter and fainter with every passing moment – gunfire was steadily drowned out by bestial roars and the screams of the dying as the Grimm continued to surge forwards, an endless answer to mankind's continued folly of resistance against the inevitable.

It had long since ceased to be a battle, and had since turned into a massacre. Just the way she had planned it.

Cinder stared down at the girl lying at her feet, an arrow in her Achilles tendon. Pyrrha Nikos stared back defiantly, but even in her rebellious stare, there was a glimmer of fear. Cinder couldn't help but relish in her victory. A plan so well-executed deserved at least that much, after all.

"It's unfortunate that you were promised a power that was never truly yours," Cinder said. She knelt down, taking Pyrrha by the chin and turning her face up so she could look into her eyes. A wicked smile crossed her face. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed. She pulled away, sitting up and staring into Cinder's eyes. The glimmer of fear disappeared, replaced with more defiance. "Do you believe in destiny?" she asked.

Cinder's smirk faded, replaced with disdain as Pyrrha's words pierced her mind despite her best efforts. Her malice-filled gaze bore into the would-be maiden. "Yes," she sneered.

With that, Cinder stood up, readying her bow and arrow. She drew the drawstring back, but movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A flash of red came bursting into the tower, and a quick look revealed it was none other than Ruby Rose.

Ruby stared at the scene before her in stunned disbelief. "...Pyrrha?" she asked.

It was too late. Cinder loosed the arrow, and the head embedded itself in Pyrrha's chest. Pyrrha gasped, going rigid as the arrow ripped through her, burrowing itself into her chest up to its fletch. She clutched at her chest as blood began to bubble out of her mouth, then fell and writhed on the ground in agony.

There was silence for a heartbeat, and then…

"PYRRHA!"

There was a flash of light, and then pain. Instinctively, Cinder called upon the Maiden powers, but it was no use – the light made impact with her, and Cinder screamed as the two magics collided with each other – she screamed until her vocal cords gave out, the pain passing through her body with ease and tearing directly at her soul, trying to rip her apart from her very foundation.

The light faded as quickly as it came, and unconsciousness came quickly for her.

The last thing she noticed before she passed out was a field of green and brown, and a sky full of thunderclouds.

It was a drop of rain landing on her face that woke Ruby up. Her eyes came fluttering open, and the first thing she saw was a sky so dark with black clouds that she could have sworn it was night. A bolt of pain lanced through her head, directly behind her eyes, and Ruby let out a small whimper as she grasped at her temples, her eyes screwed shut with pain. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to work past the migraine and to open her eyes enough for her to see, only for them to shoot open when she got a clear look around her for the first time.

"Where am I…?"

It seemed so mundane to ask after everything she had just been through – Beacon being attacked, all those people being mauled… Pyrrha being killed. A vision of her friend lying on the ground, blood pooling around her as she writhed in agony, grasping in vain at the arrow in the chest as she sputtered for breath, suddenly flashed through her mind. Tears filled Ruby's eyes, but she wiped them away.

There would be time to dwell on what she had lost after she figured out where she was.

Wherever she had ended up, it wasn't Beacon, that was for sure. Gone were the immaculately-crafted, almost artistic buildings that had made up the campus, now replaced by old, run-down, rusted and hollowed out buildings, and hills of green and brown grass. Off in the distance, atop two of the hills, a destroyed railway sat, the rail cars piled up on each other and hanging off the bridge, the rusted metal stretching between the two hills like a rusted brown scar on the land.

A bolt of lightning arced across the sky, followed a split-second later by a crack of thunder. Ruby winced, the noise aggravating her migraine once more. The rain began to fall in earnest, and Ruby struggled to her feet, doing her best to shake the pain in her head away.

"Gotta get moving..." she said.

Looking around, she found Crescent Rose lying at her feet. A small grin of familiarity crossed her face, and she bent down to pick it up.

She was surprised when she struggled to even lift the massive weapon off the ground, the sudden weight of it making her stumble. Surprised, she stared at it, unsure of what to think.

"What..?"

Ruby tried to flare her aura, but nothing happened. Stunned, she tried a third time… and for the third time, nothing happened. Her aura remained as dormant as it had been before her uncle had unlocked it, all those years ago.

For the first time in a long time, Ruby felt true fear.

Off in the distance, there was a burst of gunfire, followed by a low-pitched, bestial roar. Ruby tensed – no Grimm had ever made her afraid like this before, but without her aura…

The gunshots ended as soon as they came, the telltale staccato of automatic fire dying off as suddenly as they had started. Ruby instinctively took a step back, her heart hammering in her chest.

Her aura wasn't working, the world seemed to be no safer than Remnant, and it was somehow even more dead than the abandoned settlements outside of Vale. It all came together to form one big question in her mind, one that frightened her to her very foundation.

"What kind of place is this…?"

Pyrrha let out a small gasp as she finally succeeded in rolling over onto her back, taking the pressure off the arrow in her chest. Her whole body heaved with exertion, and the twin wounds in her chest and her leg screamed at her in agony. She grit her teeth, each heartbeat sending a pulse of pain through her.

Somehow, Cinder hadn't killed her. She had meant to, Pyrrha knew that much, but something had thrown her aim off at the last second, and saved her life in the process.

Of course, it had also dragged her here, somehow. Where 'here' was, she couldn't tell – all she knew was that she was in the middle of some kind of crossroads, between some green boxes and a rusted, abandoned flatbed truck. There was a small tarp hanging over her, which helped to shield her from the downpour going on just a short ways away.

Being dry wasn't much comfort at this point, but given how she had just cheated death, she was willing to hold on to even the tiniest of victories with a white-knuckled grip.

Her breath was coming out ragged, each gasp of air a greater struggle than the last. Cinder's arrow had luckily missed her heart, but it had grazed her lung; she wasn't much of a surgeon, but even Pyrrha knew that if she didn't do something fast, things were going to take a turn for the worse. She was still bleeding, albeit it had been staunched a bit thanks to the arrows remaining stuck in her body – with the shafts of the two arrows closing up the wounds, they had already started to clot, and her blood loss had quickly fallen from 'imminently dangerous' to 'least concern'.

Not for lack of urgency, of course – it was just that at this point, she was more likely to die from exposure, shock, her soon-to-be collapsed lung, or infection before the blood loss finally did her in.

Another bolt of lightning tore its way across the sky, illuminating the path around her for a brief instant. Pyrrha looked off int the distance, her eyes focusing on several beams of light that were dancing on the road ahead. There were three of them, each of them bobbing in time with each other – flashlights, if she had to guess. What someone was doing out in this storm, she had no idea. She doubted they were looking for her; wherever that light had sent her, it wasn't Beacon, that was for sure. As far as she was aware, nobody was coming to save her.

Not that the realization helped her any – with the arrow buried in her leg, she had no chance of walking anywhere. Even if the pain wasn't enough to make her stop walking, the fact that it impeded the use of her Achilles tendon was more than enough on its own. Not to mention the one in her chest interfering with her breathing – it was hard enough for her to maintain steady breath control here, lying on the ground. Adding movement to the equation would probably just outright kill her at this point.

And so, Pyrrha did nothing, because she could do nothing. Instead, she sat there, and waited for destiny to come greet her in the form of three lights on a highway in the middle of nowhere.

Destiny… She shook her head, a scowl crossing her face. All her life, she had believed in it, and she had maintained that belief up until oblivion had come to meet her head-on.

If believing in destiny had brought her to her own demise, then what use was it to her?

Her musing was interrupted by the lights getting closer and closer, then finally shining on her. Pyrrha brought her hands up to shield her eyes from the sudden bright light. Mercifully, two of the lights shut off, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she got a look at them.

There were three of them, all dressed in green-and-yellow fatigues of some kind. Judging by their body armor and weapons, they were soldiers of some sort, though she couldn't tell from where – this certainly wasn't Atlas; in fact, it looked closer to Mistral, but as far as she knew, Mistral didn't have an official military, or even a self-defense force. Still, soldiers were soldiers, she supposed – better that she'd been found by them than bandits, or left to die from exposure on her own.

The three men turned to look at each other in surprise, then began speaking in a language she didn't recognize. Of course, it didn't take a genius for her to figure out what was going on – they were talking among themselves about her. Their pointed gestures towards her and confused tones of voice were proof enough of that.

Finally, one of them took a step forward and hesitantly addressed her in broken Valean.

"Why Roman?" he asked, motioning to her armor.

Pyrrha's brow furrowed. What Roman Torchwick had to do with anything, she had no idea. Shaking her head, she gestured to herself and managed to gasp out, "Not Roman… Pyrrha Nikos… help me, please?"

She gestured to the arrow in her chest, and then to the one in her leg. The man exchanged a glance with the other two. After a moment, they all shrugged, then slung their weapons over their shoulders and moved over to her. Carefully, they picked her up, letting her lean on the one who had addressed her as he slowly helped her hobble forwards.

"We help," he managed to get out. "You not worry. We bring you to doctor. He fix you."

If her body had allowed it, Pyrrha would have burst into tears right then and there out of sheer gratefulness and relief.

Instead, the pain finally proved to be too much for her, and she passed out right there in that man's grip.

If he'd had the time, Jaune would have stopped to consider where he had ended up, and how. The last thing he had been aware of before the light had overtaken him in the tower was Cinder Fall loosing an arrow into his best friend's chest, killing her. Normally, that would have broken him, but he hadn't exactly had time to stop and let it sink in yet. There hadn't been much of an opportunity for any kind of breather since he had freed himself from the rocket locker – between falling back to the ground and losing most of his aura in the process, then charging up Ozpin's tower, then watching Pyrrha's murder, and finally being consumed by the light… it had been too much.

And then he had woken up in field in the middle of a rainstorm, only to find someone in a black coat rifling through his pockets. They'd already gotten his scroll, but thankfully Crocea Mors had been untouched, as he been fortunate enough to land in such a way that it was caught underneath his body. The thief must have thought him dead, because he had been very surprised when Jaune had woken up and immediately knocked out a few of his teeth with a well-placed right hook – almost as surprised as Jaune, in fact; as much progress as he'd made, he'd never thought of himself as that strong.

Of course, the thief's surprise quickly gave way to anger, and as Jaune had been unfortunate enough to learn, the trenchcoat-clad man's anger was palpable, to say nothing of his friends.

A series of gunshots went sailing over Jaune's shoulder, their supersonic cracks making him flinch. He grit his teeth and increased his pace, doing his best to put some distance between himself and the men chasing him. He vaulted over a pile of garbage, sprinting for a nearby hill; a burst of gunfire dissuaded him of that option, and he immediately changed course. Spotting a swamp in the distance, he made an immediate beeline towards it. Several blocks of old cement were arranged in front of it, apparently as building material for some structure; he figured he could set up behind one of those and stage an ambush there.

Reaching the blocks of cement, Jaune ducked behind the largest, drawing his sword and waiting with bated breath. He waited, and waited… but nothing came. Tentatively, he peered out from around the corner, and to his surprise, he found the four trenchcoat-clad men standing several meters away, arguing with each other in an unfamiliar language. One of them – the leader, if he had to guess – kept motioning towards Jaune's hiding place, his words taking on a pointed tone every time he did so. Clearly, he wanted to come in after him, but something was preventing him from doing so.

Suddenly, Jaune became aware of the fact that his skin was starting to burn, and not just from the outside – every breath he took made it feel like he had just taken a drag off one of his father's prized Atlesian cigars, times a hundred. He forced himself to suppress a cough, then turned towards the nearby swamp, his eyes watering from the irritation.

The swamp hadn't exactly looked like the safest place to begin with, but now that he looked at it, the sickly-green chemical miasma it was throwing out into the air looked downright lethal.

So, those were his options, then – stay here and subject himself to the toxic swamp, or take his chances with the four thieves, all of them armed and out for his blood. He searched his brain for a better option, found none, and then resigned himself to choosing between the two equally terrible decisions he had forced himself into.

And then, both options died with the sound of labored, heavy breathing.

Jaune instantly froze, letting himself go stiff as a board as he sank back into cover. Whatever was making that breathing noise, it was not natural, that much was certain – it didn't sound like any human or animal or even Grimm he'd ever heard before. The thieves seemed to realize it too, as they also went silent, their arguing ceasing as they focused on the noise.

For a moment, silence reigned, before it was split by a roar more terrifying than any gunshot.

"Bloodsucker!" one of the men cried.

Jaune didn't know what a Bloodsucker was, only that whatever it was, it was somehow dangerous enough to convince four murderous, armed men to give up their quarry and immediately start sending as much panicked lead downrange as they possibly could. It didn't last, however – within just a few seconds, the labored breathing started up again, drawing away from Jaune and towards the men. There was a tearing sound, followed by a choked scream that turned into a sickening gurgle just a second later, which was in turn welcomed by the remaining three men turning tail and running, their footsteps clearly audible thanks to the mud on the ground.

Jaune didn't stop to question the opportunity given to him. He darted out from cover, sprinting as fast as his legs would take him, not looking back for even an instant, lest the swamp or the thieves or the Bloodsucker find him and finish the job. He ran off into the night, not stopping to catch his breath until he had ended up in somewhere that seemed safe – a makeshift junkyard, full of rusted, abandoned vehicles and surrounded by barbed wire. He ducked behind one of the trucks and doubled over, his hands on his knees as he greedily gulped down clean air, his heart threatening to burst out of his ribcage the entire time.

Jaune didn't know exactly where he had ended up yet; he hadn't had the chance to stop and catch his breath until now, let alone think. All he knew was one thing.

Wherever he was, it was the closest thing to hell on Remnant he had ever seen.

Welcome, friends, to a little pet project of mine that I've been working on for a few months now. There's a story behind this one, but I'll just give you all the short version – I didn't intend to begin posting this for awhile, but someone left a comment on another story that made me realize that was a bad idea for various reasons, so I'm posting it now.

I'll warn you now: updates for this one will be slow, since I'm purposely taking my time with it. I think this story is some of my best work so I'm trying to really capitalize on that and not burn out on it. That being said, I'm going to post chapter 1 pretty soon after this, and then I'm going to post a chapter whenever another chapter is completed, if that makes sense. This is currently my favorite story to work on, but I don't want to risk compromising on quality or burning out on it, so I'm kinda taking it slow.

This one is probably going to be pretty long, so be prepared for that. Chapters are going to reach around the 10k word mark or so, because we're going to have a few different viewpoint characters. You can probably already guess who that's going to be, lol.

Anyway, thanks a lot for checking this one out. I realize that STALKER is a niche series so I don't know what kind of following this story is going to get, but I'm honestly happy with whatever I end up with, I just love writing this story so much. I hope you all enjoy it, and please stay tuned for chapter 1 to come out sometime very soon.

Thanks again!