This is my first work for this great Fandom so I'm somewhat out of the water here.

Special Thanks to leofidus for helping me revise the chapters ... and preventing even longer sentences ;)

I started this fic a long time ago, before season 4 even aired. I originally just wanted to write it for myself and a few friends but I eventually figured: why not share it and let you folks tear me to shreds? ;)

In short: The story diverges from canon after the end of Season 3. Here things turn out quite differently and Atlas and Vale spiral into open War. Yang is still in Patch recovery as said war reaches her doorstep.

Essentially it is a romance between Yang and Velvet in a war scenario with everything that it entails. The relationship between the two will develop very slowly though. These two are the main focus of the story, along with the rest of Team CFVY, as well as some OC's, who are basically there in a supporting manner. Major RWBY characters will appear as the story progresses but the main focus will lie on Yang and Team CFVY.

This story will rely on flashbacks quite often. Those are primarily used to explain/clarify things that have already happened. So if you see something that seems confusing or out of the blue, more than often that will be cleared up a bit later. The reason I write this way is that I hate explaining everything before hand and give character reactions away. It's more fun to wonder about it for a while before you'll get an explanation.

Also there will be mentions of Bumblebee (Blake/Yang) and Splitting Hares (Velvet/Yatsuhashi). There are not tagged because they did not happen at any time prior to the story. In this story, things were heading into those directions before the Fall of Beacon happened. Because of that Blake and Yatsu will play crucial roles for Yang and Velvet respectively, especially in the beginning of the story.

Furthermore Yang does have a form of PTSD in this story. However I do believe that PTSD affects every person differently and in Yang's case here it might seem that she is perfectly fine. At least in the first chapters. She isn't though and it will show, though at the start of the story she's quite good at avoiding it... for a while.

As for the M rating, it is most likely not justified for the first chapters but it will be in the later ones. And I did not want to change it mid story. This way it's clear from the start in which way the story is headed.

I do appreciate feedback though and if you have thoughts and/or criticism on the story or everything else I might mess up just let me know in the comments.

I try to post chapters regulary every week once I got everything I have written already online, so I'd love for you to stick around and read it.

Cheers!

Chapter 1: Wake Of A New Day

Thursday, 5 a.m.

Four months after the Fall of Beacon

Silence fell over the early morning hours of the small island, only occasionally disrupted by low whistles of the wind and dimmed thumbs of dropping snow. There had not been new snowfall for days but the dry coldness of the new year's first winter weeks plastered the land with soft, powder-like white, sliding off the branches of numerous elder trees.

Yang Xiao Long stood on the balcony of her childhood home, the wood cleaned diligently from wayward snow. Her left hand was resting on the railing as she blended herself into the silence surrounding her. Breathing in the fresh winter air, she was shivering from the low winter breeze, a feeling she grew accustomed to over the last months. She almost appreciated the reasonably new sensation, the fire within her that keep her warm all these years long gone and nearly forgotten.

Her eyes wandered to the bandaged stump on her right, the arm cut off just above the elbow. The clean white of the cloth meticulously wrapped around it, barely standing out from the snow in the backyard. The wound underneath the fabric long healed but shrouded from unwanted eyes. Much had changed for her since that fateful day. Granted much had changed for everyone else too, the world in a constant, uncertain flux. Not that it mattered to Yang. Her world barely stretched past her wooden home in the forest. For the longest time, it barely made it out of her bedroom.

Her weary eyes returning to the horizon, still darkened by night, the glow of the rising sun signaling a new day, yet an hour or so away. She did not mind waking up this early, giving that there was barely a night where she did not wake up drenched in her sweat, panting heavily and clutching her stump. Nightmares of the tournament, of that fateful day, of Beacon, of HIM … and her … Just thinking about it send guilt and fear running through her body causing involuntary shudders, trembling. She pushed those feelings down; she would not stand for it. Not again. Even for weeks, she was too paralyzed to leave the bed, her mind playing everything back to her over and over again. Guilt and fear. Guilt for what she caused at the tournament. Guilt for forcing her teammates to face the attack alone. Fear of that man. Fear of the future without an arm. Fear of herself for being too blinded by rage to remember even the most basic rules of combat. Guilt for being useless to everyone, of being a burden to her sister Ruby, who left without her because Yang was worthless. Guilt towards her father who would not chase after his youngest daughter because he had to take care of his crippled daughter. Fear of her partner who ...

Yang's left fist collided with the railing to snap her out of her thoughts. With controlled breaths, she managed to stop her shaking completely. She had come to terms with her failures, with what she had done and caused. She moved past that. She swore that to herself weeks ago. She promised herself that she would make up for it, atone for her sins, maybe that would cause the nightmares to go, the fear to disappear. So she won't let those treacherous feelings stop her now, not when she had work to do.

Yang let out a deep sigh as she turned on her heels, heavy boots leaving audible thumps on the wood, piercing through the silence of the dawn. She closed the balcony door to the house behind her and walked through the small corridor past her room down the stairs towards the kitchen. She switched on the TV while preparing enough coffee and food to get her through the day.

"…and today completes the second week of no Grimm alerts in Vale. It seems that Glynda Goodwitch's combined force of hunters and the civilian militia is living up to promises made." "That is right Lisa, the costly recapture of the former Beacon Academy seems to be paying off in the long run." "That is good to hear Daisy, but what about the people? Valid concerns that Goodwitch is essentially running a military state were certainly not unfounded." "Well Lisa, I can't dismiss those concerns entirely, but it seems that with the recent success the end seems to justify the means. With Goodwitch's troops roaming the streets crime rates are dropping by the day, and White Fang attacks are getting stopped more effectively. It is hard to argue with that. The army is also actively helping with the election process for the new council, keeping politicians save so they won't end like their predecessors. So at the time, it seems concerns about a military coup seem to be unfounded." "That is good to hear, but what about the growing tensions with Atlas?" "Unfortunately, that is hard to tell, Lisa. The citizens of Vale made it very clear that they did not believe the explanation Atlas and the former Vale council offered after the fall of Beacon. And while we cannot condone the ensued riots and executions we have to accept the fact that the murder of the Vale council and attacks on Atlas representatives in Vale and Atlas may have severely damaged the kingdom's relations of many years to come. However, with Atlas closing its borders and stopping all trade towards Vale and without a functioning government it is tough to …"

Yang let out a sigh as she turned off the news. She had heard the same thing with only slight variations for weeks now. It was a mystery to Yang how the media can manage to over-complicate the simplest things and stretch them into week-long discussions. No matter how you justify and present the events, in the end, it'll always be the same fundamental truth: the Vale and Atlas governments told the people about Cinder's faction and the White Fang, but they waited a whole month to do so. By then everybody already blamed Atlas, and by siding with Atlas, the Vale council was considered an accomplice. So the people took matters into their own hands until Goodwitch stepped up with the other hunters and put an end to the bloody violence and street justice. Since then Goodwitch had tried to establish some order, but with the CCT down and Grimm attacks on a daily basis, it was tough.

Yang finished preparing her food and put it and a thermos of coffee into her supply bag before making her way towards the entrance. Situated on a small table in front of the wardrobe mirror rested her weapon, or at least what was still left of it. Ha, left of it. Formerly she would have giggled and mentally high-fived herself for that small pun, considering only the left half of her gauntlets was still in her possession, but she was way past such simple joys. Carefully and with a bit of a struggle, she slit her gauntlet on her wrist. Even in its collapsed form, she had not been able to get used to putting it on one-handed. Her lilac eyes traced up towards her reflection in the mirror. Her long, blond hair tied in a messy ponytail and held together with three red hair clips, was more functional this way than she used to wear it before. Her old hairstyle required time and effort and managing it was too much of a bother at this point. She was wearing a simple gray hoodie, and gray jeans tugged into her heavy, knee-high leather boots. A look, which just a few months ago she would not have been caught dead with, but that was then; now it served his purpose. Not that the knot tied neatly in her hoodie by her father did her much favor in the beauty department anyway. Neither did the big, dark bags under her eyes or the fallen-in face courtesy of week after week of refused meals, inadequate nutrition, and nightmare filled nights. She still managed to maintain a healthy amount of muscle mass, though that was more the result of recent activities.

As she wiggled herself in a dull, brown winter coat, that almost reached down to her ankles and made her way towards the back exit of the house, Zwei joined her side. While the corgi barked and bounced happily around her, she allowed herself a small, rare smile. The situation she found herself in currently was indeed somewhat comical of sorts as she reflected how she ended up here:

Naturally, with Goodwitch in charge, that meant there was a need for trained hunters, so it was not before long that Glynda came to visit Yang's father in their home in Patch. Even though reluctant to leave his daughter, being the man he is, Taiyang Xiao Long agreed to help out as much as he could. Glynda, in fact, walked up to Yang in her bedroom to reassure her that there would always be a place for her once she was ready, but it did not escape her that Glynda had a look of pity on her face, nor that she had automatically assumed what Yang already knew. Right now, she would not even be of use in a militia of farmers and street performers. So Yang stayed in bed and wallowed in self-regret and guilt while over the weeks her father kept staying away longer and longer. One time he was away for a few days, and Yang was faced with the decision to either, dramatically speaking, die in her bed or finally leave her room for more than her bathroom trips and make herself something to eat. So she did.

Yang failed more times than she cared to remember just trying to get something edible into a pan but in the end, she managed, and the blonde got rewarded by a sense of accomplishment she had not had for a long time. She wasn't entirely helpless and useless after all. So she started more tasks around the house. First order of business was feeding Zwei, the lovable dog who either didn't grasp her troubles or he merely dismissed them as unimportant. He loved her unconditionally, and the dog waited patiently while she found out that opening a can of dog food one-handed proved to be harder than one of Doctor Oobleck's history tests. But in the end, she managed like she managed to do chores from getting the mail to cutting wood and lighting the house's fireplace. Step by step she managed to accomplish all the tasks she could think of, and when her father came home after a week looking worse for wear, he lit up brightly as he saw her sitting on the living room floor playing with Zwei. Of course, her newfound independence only led to her father being away even more often, and so her enthusiasm dimmed rather quickly and faded into a dull routine.

Though one day, a few weeks ago, she was faced with an unexpected problem. Her father was away for a fortnight straight as the doorbell rung. Managing to look acceptably decent Yang opened the door to see one of the elder citizens of the island. She was familiar with the old lady; she ran the local bookstore. Yang used to visit it often in her childhood, always asking her for more stories and fairy tales the blonde could lend to read for Ruby. After the fall of Beacon, she came to visit Yang sometimes, but Yang never was good company back then.

"Yang, my dear. How are you? It is so good to see you back on your feet." She asked back then with a genuine smile on her face, but Yang could tell by her worn look and strained expression that something was amiss.

"Doing better, Miss Gramforth. I have to." Yang managed to produce a weak smile just as Zwei brushed past her legs barking happily in front of the old woman.

"Good day to you too, Zwei." She knelt down slowly to pet the corgi while looking up at Yang. "I knew it would not take you long to get back up. You were always so full of fire and determination back in the day. Always chasing dangers and not backing down from anything. You should come down to the town from time to time. I am sure people would love to see you up and about."

"I'll think about it, Miss Gramforth. And I am sorry for being more distant during your last visits. I wasn't quite myself. But do come in. Winter is just around the corner, and it's much cozier inside."

As she stepped from the door, Miss Gramforth stood and slowly shook her head. "I'd love to, dear, but this is not one of my usual visits. Truth be told, I came to ask if your father has returned yet."

"I'm afraid not. I know Dad is overdue to return, but it is rather common to get his plans delayed these days."

The old woman looked slightly defeated at that. "I see. That is not good news, not good indeed. Here I was hoping he could help us town folk out of the misery we are in."

Yang rose an eyebrow at that. Patch was somewhat isolated, and she did not think that problems requiring a veteran hunter would come up here. "Misery? What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, as you said Winter is approaching and normally we would go out and refill the firewood stocks before it gets too cold. As you know, Patch is still home to some small numbers of Beowolves. Normally Signal Academy sends a group of students with a teacher to keep them away from our workers but with the academy closed due to the recent troubles we were in need to hire other hunters so far." That was right, even though Patch was home to one of Vale's primary combat schools it was still low populated and had a distinct town feel. In Yang's opinion, Patch had all the shops and facilities it needs, but its inhabitants take pride and joy in living less industrialized than the rest of Vale, it was part of its charm. Still, it yielded problems. "However none seem to have time to help us this time around. No matter where we ask the response is always that they are occupied in Vale City. We do not know why, but we think it is because of the attempt to retake Beacon Academy, though we can't be too certain about that. So we thought we could ask your father to help us out, even though he is retired and this would be way below his pay grade. But seeing as he is not here, I thought that you would be willing to help us out, my dear?"

Yang involuntarily took a step back and looked at the floor. "I … don't think I can help you, Miss Gramforth."

The woman took on a stern expression. "Nonsense! I saw you pummel a Beowolf only weeks into your training at Signal. That handful of Grimm won't even be a challenge for you now."

Yang could not manage to look the old lady in the eyes; even Zwei looked up at her slightly wincing. "I … can't fight anymore. Not after … not after what happened." When she trailed off, she only raised her stump as an answer.

Miss Gramforth tilted her head slightly and gave her a knowing smile. "Yang … do you remember little Brawn Hedgens?"

Yang raised her head in surprise, not expecting to get confronted with a memory long past, her first day at Signal. When she did not answer, the old lady continued. "He was in his last year at Signal when you started. Tai and young Ruby came to see you off. And you know how your sister was and I assume still is. She rushed straight to a group of older students to admire their weapons. One of them, little Brawn got annoyed by her antics and lifted her by the collar. You rushed in head first and challenged him to a duel for your sister's honor." The old lady started giggling at that. "I think you read to much of the old knight tales I gave you. When they just laughed you decided to provoke them further. Do you remember what you said?"

Yang slowly looked up at the smiling woman and took a few seconds before answering. "I said that I could defeat a punk like him with my right arm tied behind my back."

"And you did do just that after he didn't back down. And now you want to tell me that all these years of training did make you weaker than you were back then? What are a few Grimm if it means getting our workers back home safe?"

"I … I …" Yang struggled to form a response. Even with one arm, a few Grimm should be manageable. Still, she hesitated. Overcoming her fear to get out of bed was one thing but this … this step was different. She closed her eyes and balled her left into a fist. She was a huntress in training once damn it. Protecting people was her job, she signed up for that. And even if she cannot hunt like she used to, she sure as hell can stand guard. Besides after all she caused in the wake of the tournament, was it such a bad idea to try and pay some of her debt off? Start making amends for what she did … why not start here?

"… When do you guys want to head out?"

The smile on Miss Gramforth brightened even further. "Tomorrow morning if that' alright with you, my dear."

"I'll be there."

Reaching the back exit of the house and opening the door she took a look at the horizon, now slowly beginning to paint itself in the colors of a new winter morning. She did indeed remember that day she helped the townsfolk out fondly. She even got to punch and kill the sole Beowolf stupid enough to try and approach them, and the feeling of that almost woke a fire in her she had thought long forgotten. Nothing like she was used to feel, but it was a start. So when Miss Gramforth came back after a few days to ask to help the local game hunters, she agreed. And after that, she helped out construction workers built communication relays in the forest, and the fishermen with their catch, which sooner than later contained the occasional aquatic Grimm. By now she handled every task for hunters on Patch, even when her father or other hunters were available. The townsfolk preferred her helping them out, and Yang thought it was their way of helping her back on her feet. She was fortunate and grateful to have her hometown look after her like that.

She was just about to start a day of patrolling the town borders checking on the communication relay as Zwei gave out a happy bark and started towards the front door, tail wiggling vigorously. The trusty dog always had Yang's back out there, at this rate even making it seem like he was pulling more weight than herself. Yang looked back just as the front door flew open, her father running in with a panicked expression on his face, Zwei stopping in front of him confused.

"Yang! We need to get out of here! They … "

He never got to finish that sentence as something absurdly fast collided with the entrance hall's floor and turned her entire rebuilding world into fire and pain.