Here we go again, this time with a look not into the present, but the future...

Crimson Empire

(Inspired by Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Destiny 2: Season of the Splicer)

The basic premise reads as follows: We begin not during the war against Salem, but the final battle, where we see our heroes work together within the Lands of Darkness, with the armies of man at their backs, as together, they bring an end to Salem and her Grimm, as well as Cinder and the rest of her court, bringing about the destruction of the Grimm, the banishment of the gods, and a new age upon Remnant.

As such, the story would begin in the immediate aftermath of the Grimm War, and would explore the repercussions of the end of the Grimm and peace upon Remnant as celebrations break out across the planet, unrestrained by the Grimm, as a new world opens up to them. One of hope, and yet of uncertainty as well.

Much of the story would be focused on exploring what would happen if the Grimm were defeated, revealing that not all of them were killed, but were reduced to just the bare dozens, and scattered into pockets across the continents, as well as exploring the societal, geopolitical, and economical aftereffects of the destruction of the Grimm.

Soon, the story would jump ahead years into the future, and would reveal the fates of everyone that had fought in the Grimm War.

Weiss and her family would locate themselves in Solitas, along with what was left of the population of Atlas and Mantle, in order to rebuild their once proud kingdom. Yang would focus herself on exploring the entire world, sometimes stopping by Menagerie to help Blake and her new White Fang settle human and Faunus relations. Ren and Nora would begin a government sponsored program to support the masses of orphans across the continents, named the Nikos Initiative. Oscar would move back into his farm and rebegin his life as a farmer, alongside Emerald as he offers her a home, something that she has never truly had...

And Jaune and Ruby?

They would tread two very different, yet also similar paths.

Jaune would work within the governments of the kingdoms to help resettle the countless refugees sheltering within the kingdoms, creating slum and housing districts within the cities, whilst also acting as a scout for the kingdoms, taking inventory of the settlements scattered across the continents, locating and exterminating the last pockets of Grimm, and assisting the settlements in defending themselves against the rising bandit and raider clans seeking to take advantage of the chaos of the end of the Grimm War.

Meanwhile, Ruby would focus herself on expanding the old Beacon Academy into the size of a city, centralise all Huntsman academies and operations into this new Beacon City, situated a lake away from the kingdom of Vale, and become Headmistress of Beacon City, becoming leader of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, and focusing her efforts on training the next generation of warriors, and keeping the peace and restoring order across all of Remnant.

However, thanks to the original fall of Beacon Academy, Ruby would learn from the lessons of both Ozpin and Ironwood, and would implement her own changes to the practices of the Huntsmen.

The biggest change would come in the form of the Crimson Guard, a private military organisation (Modelled after the Clone Shock Troopers from Star Wars) That originally started as a loose collection of mercenaries, before growing into the main police, military, and security arm of Beacon City, utilising their own vehicles and airships, such as the Nimbus-class interceptor and the Nu-class attack shuttle. This private military would answer directly to the Headmistress- Ruby- And would be her personal way of enforcing her rules and what she thought was right across Remnant.

Within the Crimson Guard would be a specialised unit of soldiers known as the Obsidian Guard (Modelled after the Elite Squad Troopers from Star Wars as well), Numbering to only a few squads of four, but serving as both Ruby's personal bodyguards, as well as her hit-squads and personal enforcers within the Huntsmen.

The other biggest change would be from the centralisation of all Huntsmen facilities and academies within Beacon City, as well as the creation of Beacon City itself, declared neutral from the rest of the kingdoms, and establishing the Huntsmen in general as not tools of the kingdom councils, and as their own separate entity, leveraging them much political power.

Jaune and Ruby would work closely together in mapping out the settlements across Remnant and protecting them from the bandit clans that threatened them, as well as tracking down the last few Grimm cells and eliminating them. Meanwhile, Ruby would also support Jaune's efforts in finding a home for the refugees of Remnant through her Crimson Guard, as they worked together to create, within the ruins of Mountain Glenn, a new shelter and settlement known as the Arcadia (Ruby had suggested the name. Jaune hadn't liked it, but everyone else did). In fact, they had been working so closely together that Jaune could unofficially pull rank on even Ruby's Obsidian Guard soldiers, something that no other person on the planet had the power to do, effectively settling himself into the chain of command for the Crimson Guard.

However, as the Grimm lessened in strength, the need for the Huntsmen was being questioned, and soon, more and more Huntsmen were either forced into retirement, used as trainers for the Crimson Guard troopers, or pushed into joint operations with the Crimson Guard themselves, as Beacon City began to transform from an oversized academy for Huntsmen, into a staging ground for Ruby's forces to spread their operations across the planet.

Jaune and several other characters would take note of this, but not think too much about it, seeing as the time of the Grimm was at an end, and as such, the need for Huntsmen had gone with them. They would be saddened by this, sure, but they would be understanding of it.

However, as the Crimson Guard began to grow more and more powerful, and would begin to slowly worm themselves into more and more aspects of Remnant's society, the others would begin to grow umbrage to these efforts, and would work to try and understand Ruby's goals and motivations into doing all of this, whilst also working to keep her growing political and military power in check, as the Crimson Guard began to expand across Remnant.

Soon, Jaune would come across a pocket of Grimm, only this time, they were... Different.

They were humanoid.

They were sentient.

And they no longer wished to be the enemies of humanity.

Unsure of their loyalties, and of the intentions of Ruby and her Crimson Guard, Jaune, as well as the loyal supporters that he had gained within the Arcadia, would hide this strange group of Grimm within the underbelly of Mountain Glenn, only to learn, through a series of traumatic episodes on the part of these Grimm, that they had been birthed there by Merlot and his group when he was still alive- Having been forcefully bonded with humans and given a full understanding of the human moral compass- And that they only wished now to make up for their sins against mankind, and live out the rest of their lives in quiet peace.

This decision would begin to escalate tensions between Ruby and Jaune, and the latter did his best to keep the former ignorant of what he was hiding, whilst the former would continue to worm herself into almost every aspect of life within Remnant, all the while everyone would be working to try and understand her motivations and why she was doing all of this.

But then, soon, disaster would strike.

A small pocket of Grimm would breach the walls of Vale, within the slums that Jaune had helped to create within the city for refugees.

In a panic, the council would open the literal floodgates in the port of Vale, and flood the slums with thousands of gallons of water.

The Grimm would be killed, but so would all one-thousand, three-hundred, and twenty-five refugees that had made their homes in the slums. Men, women, and children would all be drowned in the floodwaters.

In response, Ruby and her Crimson Guard, with the popular support of the people, would depose the Council of Vale from power, and insert the Crimson Guard and Beacon City as the dominant governing power in Vale, giving them so much more political leverage over the other kingdoms as they began to expand outwards to take control of the rebuilding of Atlas and Mantle from the Schnees.

At the same time, Jaune would learn that it had been Ruby and her Obsidian Guard who had allowed the Grimm into the city, and had manipulated the council into unleashing the floodwaters into the slums, killing over a thousand people in order to gain power over Vale.

But then, Ruby would reveal that she knew that Jaune knew this. Not only that, but she knew that Jaune and his allies were working against her, and that he was sheltering the group of Grimm that he had found within the Arcadia.

The Crimson Guard, led by Ruby and her Obsidian Guard, would storm the Arcadia, triggering a violent battle between the two sides as Jaune, his scant few allies, and this family of Grimm, as well as the populace of the slum city, would be forced to scatter and go on the run, as the nascent Crimson Empire would slowly begin to rise, and force Jaune to go into city as the Crimson Empire expanded itself out to begin to take control over all of Remnant.

Jaune and his allies would begin to form resistance groups and rebel cells against Ruby and her forces, and all of the other sides and factions on Remnant would begin to arm and ready themselves as the possibility of a Second Great War began to grow.

All the while, everyone busied themselves with trying to learn and understand Ruby's motivations and wants from all of this, and why she was even doing all of this to begin with.

But more than that, this fic would be an exploration of what life after the canon timeline would look like, and how the disappearance of the Grimm- A huge daily factor of every single aspect of human life- Would effect and change human and Faunus culture and life as a whole...

For better, and for worse.

As always, if you guys want to use this idea, then shoot me a PM, give me credit within the story, and you'll be all set.

Titanmaster117 out!