Prologue: The Day the World Went Away

Night was about to take control over Vale as the sun set in the west, but darkness had long since reigned throughout the prior day. Black clouds had covered the sky from dawn until dusk as the battle waged endlessly. It seemed eternal in Ruby's eyes, at the very least. Every second, which would go by in the blink of an eye, felt as though it would last for all of eternity. That eternity that would repeat itself every instant was like a moment in Dante's hell, and with every chance at salvation came the crushing sound of damnation as the walls of hope slowly crumbled around them, seemingly damning them to that violent Seventh.

The battlefield lay around her, desolate and barren; if one could even still call it a battlefield after the events of the day. There seemed a more suitable word in her mind; graveyard. There wasn't a living soul in sight, or at least none that she could tell were living. Anyone still alive in this mess must have been like her; beaten, broken, and dying. The battle was a massacre. Breathing was difficult due to several shattered ribs, walking wasn't an option due to the massive hole that was bitten into her leg, and there wasn't much left of her left hand that would tell you that it used to be a hand. Her left hand; her strong hand. Even if she survived, she wouldn't be of any real use anymore. She'd be a cripple, so she just lay there leaning against the cold stone of a boulder that rested in the midst of Horrida Campi; Grim Valley.

How did she even get here? Why did this even happen? It felt like just yesterday that she was a student at Beacon, learning how to become a huntress so that she could help people. A laughable concept to her now if she was still capable of laughing. If today was of any indication, there wouldn't be anyone left to help when it was all said and done. Now there would be nothing. No more studying, no more helping, and no more hanging out with friends. My friends, she thought weakly. She felt solely responsible for their fates. Guilt made what bones that weren't broken ache with agony. All this torment and hell was because of the abnormal growth rate that sprung up in Grimm right after the black comet appeared; Harbinger. This war was the definition of hell, taking up the better part of the last year; she couldn't even celebrate her birthday six months ago.

Ruby struggled to breathe in as she rolled her eyes to look at her right arm. Wrapped around her right bicep was the only thing left of her older sister; an orange scarf. During a previous scouting mission, conditions changed for the worse and team RWBY was ambushed unexpectedly by a horde of Grimm. In their attempt to escape, Ruby's arm was injured by a lone Beowolf. When they found a safe hideaway, Yang removed her scarf and used it as a makeshift bandage to patch her little sister up. "This isn't so bad," she had said with a smile. "It'll heal up in no time. You're a tough cookie, sis. It'll take more than this to put you down." If only the same could be said for her older sister.

Yang was the strong one, the sister that could take anything in stride and ask for a second helping without batting an eye. But the Grimm caught up, and they brought Hell with them. There was no escaping without all of them becoming a list of casualties. Yang, without explaining her plan to the others, stopped running and forced them to keep going. The other three reluctantly continued on. When they came back with a larger force, there was very little of Yang's body they could recover. She was team RWBY's first casualty.

Weiss was the second to fall. The mission was to recover as much usable dust as possible from an abandoned Schnee mining facility. It was abandoned weeks prior when the Grimm overran it, killing most of the workers. Team RWBY was selected because of Weiss's knowledge of the facility. The dust wasn't salvageable, as they discovered that a large horde of Beowolves had made the mine their den. All was silent for most of the mission until they heard the first howl. Then came a second. A third. A tenth. A twentieth. A hundredth. It seemed to keep growing. As team RWBY ran to evacuate on a Bullhead, they soon realized that the Beowolves would overcome them before they made it. Weiss, like Yang, stayed behind to allow the rest of her team to escape. There were containers of dust all around, and Weiss only needed one clean shot with Myrtenaster's dust. As Ruby and Blake flew away in the Bullhead, the mining facility exploded in a show of fantastical colors and flames; Weiss and every Grimm present were incinerated, and the already deep chasm sank further into the earth.

And then there's Blake, the most recent casualty to team RWBY. She didn't die in an act of heroic strength like Yang or Weiss. She didn't give her life to protect those she cared about. She died today, on the battlefield, and she died a needless death. Her concentration was broken for a split second to make sure that Ruby was safe. Ruby had taken a Beowolf's claw to the leg and stumbled, forcing Blake to stop her engagement to help her, and in that moment a Nevermore pierced her heart with one of its feathers. Of all of her friend's deaths, she felt the most responsible for Blake's. Had she been taking better care of herself, Blake wouldn't have needed to check on her in the middle of a battle. It seemed fitting to Ruby, however, to hold off on mourning and to focus on the battle at hand. She was the leader of a dead team, and she would do her fallen comrades justice or die trying. As the saying goes, the captain must go down with the ship.

But Ruby now realized that her ship had sunk deep to the bottom of the abyss long ago, resting in a haunted fashion in the great below. Before Weiss, Blake, or Yang died, her ship sank the day they were graduated early to prepare the onslaught of Grimm. The day alliances were formed that made the world of Remnant rejoice in harmony was they day Remnant died. Humans, faunus, huntsmen, huntresses, criminal masterminds, school teachers, soldiers, and commoners were all fighting a losing war. She wished she could believe that they ever stood a chance. She wanted to believe that she could help everyone and save the day. Yet here she was; lying in the mud, surrounded by the bodies of all of her old friends and enemies turned friends. Beaten, broken, and dying.

She heard what sounded like footsteps. She slowly turned her head in the direction of the disturbance, and saw a man wearing a worn, war torn white coat. He used to have a black hat, but he lost it weeks ago during another battle, so his bright red hair waved gently in the wind. His left eye was covered by a cheap eye patch, and his trousers had tears in them, most likely placed there by angry Beowolves. His remaining green eye scanned the battlefield until it fell on Ruby's mangled body. "Red!" he exclaimed. He came rushing over to her. Upon getting closer, Ruby saw that his left sleeve was torn and he had gashes all over his arm. His head was also bleeding, but only slightly, and most of the blood was caked and dried.

Ruby smiled lightly. "Hey, Roman. What's up?" Even in the face of death, she tried to be light hearted. A laugh attempted to escape from her lips, but she only coughed blood.

Roman shook his head. "No time for jokes, Red. How bad are you hurt?"

"Bad," she replied. "I won't be around much longer."

"Now, we can't have you talking like that. I'll get you patched up and then we can..."

"Roman," she interrupted, coughing even more blood in the process. "Look at me. I'm broken. My hand is useless, my ribs are shattered, and my leg's been nicked. Do you see where?" He nodded. "That's an artery. It's small enough for the process to be slow, but still beyond repair at this point. Maybe thirty minutes ago you could have saved me. But it's too late now."

"Well, what do you want me to do? I can't just leave you here!"

She smiled. "You would have before."

He returned the smile, though it wasn't happy. It pained him to smile at her right now. "I...I guess you're right. I would have. But not now."

"Then," she continued, closing her eyes slowly. "Keep me company for a while. The Grimm have moved on, after all." She breathed in roughly and coughed another glob of blood.

Roman nodded and sat down next to her. Ruby Rose, now only sixteen, and formerly his enemy, was bleeding to death in front of him. How he pitied her, and wanted to save her, and how he hated himself for once fighting against her himself. "Part of me is glad that all of this happened," he said. "With the Grimm outnumbering humanity, we had to unite under the same banner of survival. I had to fight to survive, but not just for my own survival, but for the people around me too." He looked around. "I hated the faunus, but here I had to fight side by side with them. I've come to trust many of them, and became friends with just as many. I...I even had to bury a few of them." He sounded sad towards the end of the statement.

Ruby smiled, blood staining her once white teeth. "You know," she said with a pause. "I used to hate you. You were lower than scum to me. You tried to hurt me and my friends. You even admitted to plotting to destroy Beacon. But now? I'm glad we had to work together."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"Because you once tried to hurt me, but now you're sitting beside me as I die, trying to comfort me. It proves that even jerks like you have a sweet side. And if it wasn't for the night that I met you, I wouldn't have made all the friends I did at Beacon."

"So, you do care about me, don't you, Red?" he tried to tease, but she could hear the tears in his voice.

"My...name..." she struggled. "Isn't Red." While her eyes were already closed, her eyelids felt heavier than before. "So...tired." Before Roman could respond, her body went limp. He turned towards her and grabbed her right hand, feeling for her pulse. It was gone.

Roman nodded. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry," he paused. Leaning forward, he placed a gentle, loving kiss upon her forehead. "Sleep well, Ruby. Rest easy."

Ruby jolted awake in her bed. She could feel hot tears running down her face. Her immediate reflex was to look at her left hand. It wasn't shredded, torn to bits, or missing; it was whole and strong, just as it should be. Then she felt the pressure of eyes watching her. She turned to see them. Her team was staring at her, all sharing looks of concern. They were all wearing their night apparel, and were poised as though they were just about to go to sleep and bring the day to an end. Ruby's tears came stronger now as she felt a sense of relief wash over her. "G-girls?" she asked.

"Ruby, are you okay? What's wrong?" Yang asked, her older sister instincts kicking in. Instead of answering, Ruby leapt from her bunk and embraced her sister in a tight, locking hug as she began to sob. Yang returned the hug, but was still concerned for her younger sister. "Sis, what's wrong? Tell me?"

Ruby still didn't respond. She jolted away from her sister and spun until she was looking Weiss in the eyes. "Weiss? Is that really you?"

Weiss nodded. "O-of course, you dunce. Who else would I be?" she answered softly. Ruby once again gave no warning as she hugged Weiss, still sobbing.

Once more, Ruby pulled away and locked eyes with Blake. "B-Blake!" she gasped as she pounced on the cat faunus.

Blake, trying to emulate Yang, returned the hug, hushing Ruby gently. "It's alright, Ruby. We're still here. We're not going anywhere."

"I...I thought...I..." Ruby tried to form her thoughts into words, but she was far too emotional, becoming borderline hysterical.

"Calm down," Yang said as she gently caressed Ruby's back. "Take deep breaths Ruby and take your time. We'll listen."

She nodded as she inhaled deeply, letting Blake sit her down on Weiss's bed. Slowly she regained most of her composure and the tears slowed, but didn't completely stop. Finally she began to speak. "I...I had a horrible dream."

"We figured as much," Weiss said. "Do you remember it?"

Yang shook her head. "I doubt she remembers it all. Dreams are slippery, after all. Easily forgotten."

Ruby nodded, but as she stared at the floor in concentration, her eyes went wide. "I...I remember all of it, though. Every little detail is burned into my mind, Yang."

"R-really? How bad was it?"

"It...it's difficult to explain. It was almost like a sequence of memories. We graduated from Beacon early. There was this weird black comet, and Grimm started to spread like wildfire. Humans and faunus finally put aside their differences and they worked together to fight the Grimm off."

"That actually doesn't sound too bad," Yang commented. "I mean, Grimm are pretty bad, but if it made humans and faunus work together in harmony then is it really a bad thing?"

Ruby met Yang's gaze. "Roman Torchwick was helping us fight them off too."

"That does sound bad," Blake added.

"Ruby, your reaction to seeing us...what happened?" Weiss asked, ignoring Blake and Yang.

Ruby began to tear up again. "You...you all died. Yang died protecting the three of us, Weiss died to help me and Blake escape, and Blake..." she paused and turned to face the cat faunus. "I'm so sorry, Blake." Ruby began to cry again.

"Hey, whatever it was didn't actually happen. I'm fine, see?" Blake said, comforting her.

Yang sat down next to Ruby and hugged her tightly. "Well, sis, I can assure you that none of that will ever happen. We'll be fine, and we won't have to fight a losing war against an army of Grimm. We'll always be by your side." The other two agreed and joined in for a group hug.

In spite of the comfort she was receiving, a part of her was still afraid. You're supposed to forget most dreams, aren't you? Then why do I remember every little detail as though I actually lived through it all? she asked herself silently. Her eye's glanced out of the window. The moon was fragmenting, and the sky was devoid of cloud cover. The night was filled with countless bright lights, each of them a burning star full of life and energy. Yet her heart felt a dread, as though she expected the light to be blotted out by that black comet.

By that Harbinger.

Song: The Day the World Went Away - Nine Inch Nails

Author's Note

So, this is a turn from what I usually write. In every possible sense. I don't usually like Dark fanfics, but this idea had been in my head and I just couldn't resist it any longer. This story will get darker, so be careful: we're going deeper!

Till Next Time!

January 6, 2016 /REVISED/

I, HolyOrderOtaku, would like to present you with The Longest Night/ REVISITED. I loved writing this story, and to this day, nearly two years after starting this Shifting Remnant project of mine, this is the fan fiction I enjoyed writing the most. I tried so many new things that I'd never done before, and I was surprised to find that they worked! You, the Readers, liked it. You liked it a lot, and that still amazes me. But, my biggest problem was that I am lazy, and there are a lot of things wrong with this rather sizable book of a fan fiction. So, nearly two years later, I'm going back and I'm actually going to edit and revise the story. Clean it up. Make it look presentable. Give it the same treatment that my original books get.

So, as often as I can, I'm going to update and re-upload the chapters to The Longest Night, and every chapter that has the /REVISED/ mark means that its been updated.

Fear not, I am still writing my other fics. Observer should get its next chapter soonish. Never was good at juggling projects, as you guys probably know by now. I also work 40+ hours a week now, making it hard to find time to write and edit.

Still, its about damn time I did this. Till next time! :D