Title: Scattered Embers

Author: ice shredder

Fandom: RWBY

Disclaimer: not mine, all belong to Roosterteeth and the late Monty Oum

Warnings/Spoilers: post 3x06 up to 3x12. Beacon has fallen and Yang reflects on the fateful night that set it in motion. Rewritten to follow canon events in Vol 3 as they come so spoilers, spoilers spoilers! Don't know how many chps I'll make this but here goes!

Yang Xiao Long stood on the roof of a random apartment complex with no less than four Atlesian troops and Professor Goodwitch as she surveyed the hollowed remains of Beacon Academy a good five blocks away, a place she and Team RWBY and their friends had once called home. Pale lilac eyes, once alight with an all-consuming fire were now as dead and lifeless as the school that at one point was her pride and joy.

She took in the sorry sight of the once proud, prestigious academy. Shattered columns lay on their sides. The pristine white courtyard was overrun by weeds and dirt and the ever-present Grimm tracks. Blown out glass-like broken teeth-littered the grounds where the dorms once held thousands of students in their walls with starry-eyed dreams of making the world a safer place. And the sharp tower pinnacle that was once Ozpin's office was broken off. He vanished without a trace shortly before the CCT went down, nobody knowing where he went. And since Yang wasn't in the mood to entertain wild-assed theories she assumed the man was missing or dead.

The rest of the teachers who had survived the invasion were back in the Safe Zone with General Ironwood on the outskirts of Vale defending the refugees who'd been unable to escape.

The vast complex in front of the young woman however was anything but deserted. The Grimm wasted no time making it their new abode-especially that Great Dragon who sat perched on the top of the broken tower-the strange paralysis Ruby had inflicted on it long since worn off-and the surrounding town of Vale.

Ever since That Night at the 40th Vytal Festival when she'd broken Mercury Black's leg in an act of self-defense the once peaceful world blew apart and Darkness swept in on snarling teeth and claws ripping everything to bloody shreds. Beacon had been overrun and hundreds of innocent civilians slaughtered she'd been plagued by nightmares of the White Fang and the ensuing Grimm invasion. That Bull Faunus stabbing Blake through her gut. Cutting off her arm, depriving her of her weapon-

Yang shook her head, a bitter smile playing over her chapped lips.

It was pathetic to say the least.

What did I hope to accomplish coming here in the first place? There's no more classes. No more normal. No more parties with my friends. None of us will graduate as planned. No more girls nights. No more gossiping about cute, sexy boys. No more group training sessions. No more school dances. No more random food fights.

"Ms. Xiao Long? Are you all rig-?"

"I'm fine Professor." Liar. Her mind hissed but the ex-brawler put the voice on ignore. It wouldn't do any good if she attracted the Grimm's attention. "Let's go."

She turned and walked away without a backward glance, Goodwitch and the soldiers right on her heels. Without a partner or a team this trip had been totally pointless. And with everyone split apart in the aftermath of the infamous Battle of Beacon it was suicidal to take on multiple Grimm alone. Especially since that damned Dragon kept emitting a huge negative signal attracting even more of the hated creatures. The Little Sun Dragon of one of Beacon's premiere teams refused to stay at a place that haunted her every waking thought.

Shortly after the fall of Beacon everyone was scattered to the wind, like the rose petals drifting off her little sister's cape. And since the CCT had been shut down thanks to the Fall Maiden Cinder, she hadn't had contact with her team for nearly three months. No one wanted to return to the place of nightmares.

Besides, it was partially her fault that Vale was a deserted ghost town and a mass grave to begin with.

Yang sighed as her feet carried her to the edge of the roof and waited for Glynda to work her magic. With her right arm no more than a bandaged stump, the former brawler lost all sense of balance. Not to mention she wasn't as strong as she once was. And with the Grimm slowly overtaking the city it wouldn't be long before they encroached on the Safe Zone and overran it. And they would in time. A bitter reminder of the dark, hostile world they now lived in.

"Brace yourself, Ms. Xiao Long. We've got to get back."

Yang stared straight ahead, unblinking.

"Can we swing by Junior's nightclub first?"

Glynda shot the subdued blond beauty an incredulous look.

"Why, what on earth for child? That's right in the center of Grimm territory."

"I wanna raid his liquor shelves."

Glynda pursed her lips, ever the severe schoolmarm.

"Absolutely not Ms. Xiao Long. It's too dangerous. I'm sure General Ironwood has some in the Safe Zone. Besides," she glanced at the girl's arm stub. "You're in no condition to fight."

Yang grunted. Don't remind me hag. She thought as the woman's Semblance overtook her and the next thing she knew was the sensation of flying through the heavy grey skies. The same color that matched her mood for the past six months.

I just wanna go home. Stupid Dad telling me to face my demons. Hah, like HE'S one to talk-

The sharp report of a high-powered rifle accompanied by an aborted growl startled the blond out of her angry thoughts. Just in time to watch a Beowolf fall to its death five stories below and evaporate.

"Please keep your emotions in check Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda's calm, yet firm voice pierced through the thick, depressive fog clouding her mind. "Your father will have a stroke if I don't return you in one piece."

Yang tried to take the woman's advice but it was hard. There was no stopping the memory reel replaying the tragic events of That Night through her mind on overdrive.

Taunting her.

Mocking her.

She heard as clearly as if it'd just happened, the sickening crack as Ember Celica connected with a vulnerable kneecap. Heard Mercury's pained cry. Saw him clutch his awkwardly bent limb and Emerald rush to his side, crimson eyes glaring. The collective booing of the stadium crowd. The sight of Atlesian shock troops surrounding her guns drawn ordering her to stand down. But it was the collective stunned shock on her teammates's faces right after the video replay showing her-along with everyone else-quite a different sight than what she experienced that haunted her the most.

The aftermath had been quite a chaotic blur. After extensive review of the footage, she'd been barred from the tournament via executive decision by the board and General Ironwood himself. She recalled being led off the stage in thick cuffs to a Bullhead waiting at the north end of the stadium, but not before she watched Emerald run alongside the medics as they rushed Mercury out of the building on a stretcher, never once leaving his side.

Amity Coliseum - 6 months ago

"Please, somebody help him!"

Yang watched in stunned disbelief and shock, surrounded by Atlesian guards at the dark-skinned girl crying out in desperation as she practically cradled the taller man in her hands.

"Can you do something?!"

She knew it was bad when the men exchanged urgent glances, one of them saying they needed to get him to a hospital right away. Her heart sank to her toes as she saw Mercury grimace in pain as the medics lifted him off the stage before rushing towards a waiting ambulance.

She tried once more to plead her case. "You don't understand! He attacked me I swear-!"

"Stow it!" One of the soldiers snapped. "You've already caused enough of a scene!"

Those nine words were an icy dagger to her heart. And they were the beginning of the end of life as everyone had known it.

Tears pricked the corners of her dusty eyes. It wasn't fair. She gritted her teeth as the mental onslaught continued. It wasn't fair dammit! This wasn't happening. Even now, she expected to wake up and everything would be back to normal. She'd be back in her dorm room with her beloved team: laughing, crying, practicing, and studying together. Her body would be whole. Pyrrha and Penny would be alive. Zwei would bark and make his friendly rounds to each of the girls. Blake would be hunched up in her bunk, back pressed against the wall, trying to create space between her and the affable Corgi...

But it wouldn't. Thanks to Mercury and her short fuse, nothing would ever be alright again.

She remembered being escorted from the stage like a criminal under intense booing and whisked to her dorm room where she was instructed to sit down, keep quiet and not move until General Ironwood arrived to decide her fate.

Flying through the air suspended by nothing but Glynda's telekinesis with a brittle wind skirling through the abandoned downtown sector, Yang tasted the bitter poison of her public humiliation and subsequent maiming even stronger sitting in her bedroom back at Patch than when she'd been detained in her old dorm in Beacon.

Bad enough she attacked Mercury in front of the entire world. She spent every waking moment since That Night running through every possible scenario, wondering how she should've handled the situation differently. She was a living shock absorber for Dust's sake! I could've easily dodged that. Or absorbed it. I could've taken that hit! But she considered not a single one of those options. Her quick temper and pride cost her far more than the match. It cost her an arm. Ruined her good name. And once that was gone, it was impossible to restore.

The second she applied force to the problem it backfired in her face. And the worst part? She still believed she was innocent. Even her friends backed her up. Well...it took a bit to convince Blake she'd never hurt Mercury on purpose, but those moments of doubt ached like a festering wound. But the world had drawn their own conclusions and her life would never be the same. She'd carry a tarnished reputation for the rest of her life.

She understood now or at least grasped the edges of, that she and everyone else involved had been pawns in an elaborate scheme. But six months ago she'd just been an ignorant thrillseeker with the simple desire to travel and save people along the way. To Yang, hunting was an added bonus. It wasn't her entire life. Not like Ruby's. Her sister was a born Huntress with the dreamy optimism to go with it.

But in the end, all their combined efforts amounted to nothing. There were no grand heroics on the battlefield. The tidal wave of Grimm hordes proved too much for the fledgling hunters. Soon it was every man for himself and most of the visiting teams who simply traveled to participate in the tournament-along with thousands of innocents-were maimed or killed.

Ironwood's interrogation with her and the rest of her team had been a special kind of painful. Squeezing her eyes shut Yang remembered how fiercely Ruby and Weiss jumped to her defense. And how much it hurt when Blake...her own partner doubted her story...

Beacon Academy - 6 months ago

"He attacked me! I swear!"

Ironwood's boots clumped over the carpet, gloved hands behind his back.

"Camera footage and millions of people say otherwise."

"But Yang would never do that!" Weiss protested.

Ruby stood up echoing the Ice Queen's statement.

"Yeah!"

She sighed, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. No matter how hard they defended her, Ironwood wouldn't allow this to slide. Public image was everything, and he would rather quell the people's anger than give her-a well-known hot-head-the benefit of the doubt.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the General gave his speech on battle adrenaline and how it clouded one's judgement, inducing someone to see things that simply weren't there. Stress hallucinations brought on by excess battle energy.

"But I wasn't-"

"That's ENOUGH!" His sharp tone instantly cut off any more protests. Then it softened. "Whether it was an assault or an accident, the sad truth is the world saw you attack an innocent student. They've already drawn their own conclusions. And it's my job to inform you...that you're disqualified."

She hadn't seen Ironwood since he left her under military lockdown.

The last time she'd seen Qrow alive was two hours before the first wave hit the edge of the city and again before he disappeared God knows where after she'd been rushed from the hospital back to her childhood home. She wished he was still here, giving her advice hoping against hope he'd survived the initial attack on Vale. But her scroll was next to useless. She couldn't make calls abroad thanks to the CCT being down. So she only made local calls or texts if she really needed to.

She recalled telling him about seeing her mother Raven, and the way he stiffened when she dropped that bombshell. And she didn't forget how sad, and pitying he sounded when he talked about his twin. And how serious it was when he told her that the woman was dangerous.

It didn't take long for an already crappy situation to go from bad to nightmarish. Reports of Grimm sightings soon flooded the 'Net. She remembered standing by the window looking out over the darkened grounds as Cinder delivered her speech via scroll in the brightly lit dorm room alone-with only Zwei for company-listening to the emergency sirens' eerie wails and feeling a cold knot of dread forming in the pit of her stomach.

The Grimm were coming.

Thanks to her actions at Amity, the monsters had been spotted making their way down from Mountain Glenn and through Forever Fall. They wound up hitting the edge of Beacon not too long after that. And it spelled doom for everyone who dared to challenge the creatures head on.

Beacon had been the only structure standing between the Grimm and the rest of Vale. The school got overrun, not from a shortage of military backup, but a lack of preparation. Civilian casualties went through the roof and the Grimm had a field day.

The ensuing battle was nothing but chaos. Most of the teams weren't prepared for the vicious onslaught that barreled down like a dark rapids towards Beacon. The mock violence of the arena suddenly erupted into a brutal battle to the death out of nowhere.

Teams were torn apart. Bodies fell under the relentless deluge of evil creatures. Yang found herself separated from her friends in the initial stages of the bloodbath when she went to the docks to fight. There was no choice. The bruiser fled Beacon, weeping for her comrades as she went off to battle Grimm and White Fang alike. She chanced a quick peek back and almost felt her heart stop at the sight of Ursai and Beowolves stampeding through the courtyard unchecked, swarming over the buildings and dorms, Nevermores shrieking like banshees as they dive-bombed Ozpin's tower. Screams and cries of wounded, dying soldiers and hunters alike echoed in her ears as she fought through the boiling cauldron of chaos and death.

Now here she was, six months later without Ember Celica and her right arm. A bitter, vengeful shell had replaced her former flirtatious self with no friends, no family and no team. With Vale cut off from the rest of the world due to Cinder knocking out the CCT, there was no way to get in contact with them if they were still alive.

Not like she really gave a damn. Let them pretend they were heroes. Let them cling to their foolish hope that they could slay the monsters. Let them believe they could beat back the encroaching darkness with nothing more than the simple faith of their souls. Pyrrha tried. Oh, she tried all right. She'd played the part perfectly.

But in the end it was all in vain. There was nothing left of her to prove she existed.

Beacon was gone.

Vale was utterly destroyed.

And her friends and family-including herself-were no more than scattered embers of a dying flame.

TBC...?

Yeah, so that got darker than I expected but eh, this is my attempt to make sense of a very confusing and ominous cliffhanger. Enjoy and don't forget to let me know what you think! Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year peeps! :)