A Choice Of Many Regret's

Chapter 1.

The Beginning of the End?

DISCLAIMER.

I do not own RWBY, they are a product of Rooster Teeth.

Below her Vale burned, Salem could smell it standing from here, in her shining beacon of hope.

"Is all lost?" She thought, perhaps it was…

In her many years she had always able to escape to some other small pocket of civilization and start anew, but not today, all her forces where here, the last Relic was here, all she held dear was here.

She fell back into her chair, covered her face and breathed in, perhaps this was the Gods true punishment for her hubris's all those years ago, to see all that she held dear or would hold dear ripped apart before her very eyes until the end of the world itself. Humanity was destroyed because of her, Ozma was corrupted because of her, her children where dead because of her, and finally the world was about to be destroyed because of her…

She rarely doubted by this point that she deserved it, lest she again release the Gods wrath upon those she held dear….

If she had just accepted what the God of Light had told her all those years ago this wouldn't have happened. she should have just mourned Ozma and moved on with life and then maybe "they" wouldn't have had to suffer.

"Mommy?, Daddy?" asked a collection of voice's from behind, that would haunt her memories for all of her eternity, as a green light raced towards them, she turned and as usual their wasn't four little blond girls gazing up at her with big eyes.

"They" where her biggest mistake, as a mother she had the most regrets, she had dragged her children into their parent's arguments and though she knew Ozma was more to blame in their death for striking first, she also knew that in reality, that confrontation should have never included them.

She turned and examined her surroundings. she now understood the meaning of death and why the Gods had punished her, she had realized that ages ago and now the only thing left was to punish herself. Perhaps that was why she had Beacon made in likeness to the tower she had at one point in time been a prisoner in, many years ago and had it made of the green stone that only reminded her of the Man she had once loved and what her husband was at one point and time and now wasn't.

"My sins keep piling up and today will probably be amongst my greatest," she thought as she reached up to a small earpiece she was wearing.

"Hmm'…interesting" A man sitting behind a desk that overlooked dozens of computer monitors mused to himself, as he watched a new type of Grimm that looked like a oversized cross between a man and a lizard fight a few dozen huntsmen, before he turned his attention to a smaller monitor that had Download Y/N? displayed on it, he pushed Y before turning his attention back to the battlefield that was displayed through the many screens.

"Things are going well all things considered" he thought, indeed while many huntsmen and huntresses may have fallen, they held and appeared to be holding for a mome-

"Professor! "

He reached up and touched his ear piece, "yes?" He replied curtly to the voice…

"It's team BLAK professor! We have more Grimm advancing one click north along Grid 8-5 and I don't think we can stop them on our own, can we get som-"

"Reinforcements, yes?" The man cut him off as he watched the Grimm advancing through the burning shredded remains of the Emerald Forest before continuing, "don't fret I am having Team HVOC dispatched to your location."

"Thanks for the assist Professor over and out!"

The man resumed his vigilant watching of the monitor's and taking a cup of tea to calm his nerves, "It will only get worse from here on out," he thought, as he took another sip. "If the Grimm continue to advance while wearing us down, at this rate we will only have until-"

"Arthur?" A clear female voice rang through his earpiece cutting him out of his line of thought.

"Ma'am" he responded professionally his back jerking to attention, "I assume you have called asking for a update?"

"No" Arthur, I just want you to withdraw the eyes and bring them to the Maiden Vault yourself included, that's an order…"

Watt's nearly spat out his tea, "Has she finally cracked?"

"Ma'am" he replied, as he choked on his drink, "are you are aware that I am not planning next semesters history lessons at the moment, I am directing a "battle" and the eyes are vital pieces of that battle and if they are removed our defenses will collapse and we will effectively be giving up any odds of defeating the enemy and surviving?!"

..."Arthur let's be honest with ourselves how much longer do you think we can hold out? I think we both know the answer…"

Watts shifted as he listened to Salem speak, she sounded more exhausted than a person traveling by foot through Vacou. He paused before replying, a strain in his Voice.

"We are surrounded" He stated flatly, "On all sides by Grimm, as far as the eyes can see. We are running low on supplies and even considering this schools massive stockpiles of food and ammunition at the rate we are using the latter we shall be out within a day, if! our men hold out that long and If! we don't have any of Ozpin's attack dogs show up," Watts trailed off…

"But that's unlikely, he continued, "I have detected two groups of flying objects near Vale, One coming from the direction of what was Atlas and another from Mistral, my guess is that its our old friends Ironwood and Belladonna, this coupled with the fact that the Grimm seemed to have briefly stopped their advance means tha-"

-"Ozpin is gathering all his forces for the final push," Salem's voice cut in, "and "he" as well as all his forces will likely be taking part…"

Watts cringed as Salem uttered those words as if it had only confirmed what he had already long suspected and slumped in his chair his eyes looking at the screen before him with a haunted gaze and for A few agonizing seconds he said nothing, before asking, "Ma'am do you have a plan?"

"Yes' Arthur, all you need to do is send the eyes to me…"

The man blinked his thoughts ever churning, "Victory… how?" he thought, the headmistresses voice sounded sure enough, but she sounded strangely flat and unenthusiastic about it.

His head spinning at the thought he replied, "yes ma'am it shall be done."

"My thanks Arthur, when you finish contacting the eyes make sure that the FINAL protocols are in place," Salem replied as she signed off.

Watts rubbed his forehead before replying to no one in particular,

"If we live that long…"

"Fire in the hold!" one of the Hunter's shouted, as a mint green haired girl, dove out of the way of a fireball, which roared by her and hit a nearby fuel truck that promptly exploded, taking at least ten Alpha Beowolf's with it.

"Today is not my day!" Emerald thought, as she pulled herself to her feet to see Cinder giving her an apologetic nod as she again sprung into action to assist one of the ten remaining Huntsmen that assisted them….

"There was twenty of them thirty minutes ago," she mused dejectedly as she shot a Ursa in the eye before vaulting over it's disappearing carcass and charging towards a nearby Beringel.

"Is victory even possible at this point even if we win?" Emerald though, "will humanity even be in a state to survive?"

What with the Civil war destroying Atlas, the White Fangs ruthless takeover of mistral and the subsequent eradication of its human population and the complete and utter bloody anarchy in Vacao as a result of the Scare-Qrow and his Army of bloodthirsty killer bandits stroking the flames, she doubted it.

The Beringel roared as it lifted its arms to crush her, as she dropped and slid beneath its legs and strapped a fire dust explosive to one them, before sliding out on the other-side, vaulting upwards and running away pushing a button on a detonator as she ran.

BOOOM!

Emerald didn't even look back to make sure it was down as she raced at the one of the few remaining Grimm in the present wav-

"EMERALD! GET DOWN NOW!"

She didn't even recognize the voice of who had yelled at her, but she obeyed and hit the ground. then Emerald felt her Aura flare to life as she felt her back sear from the heat and heard the groan of the Grimm.

After a second she reluctantly turned and saw the smoldering Beringel, apparently it leg hadn't been completely destroyed by her explosive and it was about to crush her from behind.

"That was way to close, if that Beringel had came any closer I would have been screwed," Emerald thought as a hand appeared in her vision.

"Sister' you need to stop being so careless, If I had been slower you would have been crushed," Cinder Fall stated flatly and seriously with a look of no argument and wildy worried concern in her amber eyes.

Emerald blinked and took her sister hand, normally her sister was the definition of cool and collected, she only showed her emotions in action and rarely through expression. so the fact that she was now showing worry coupled with the dire situation they where in told her something.

"We are "far" beyond screwed,' Emerald thought as Cinder pulled her to her feet and she dazedly glanced at the huntsmen around them killing the last of the Grimm...until the next wave at least...

Apparently Cinder could read her face because she turned to the other Huntsmen and said, "All of you have a quick breather and have a drink the next wave may come at anytime, so be on guard, I have something I wish to discuss with Emerald in private"

The various Huntsmen gave Cinder weary nods before walking towards a defensive pile of ruble thirty feet away, Cinder then turned to her and said, "Emerald can I plea-"

"BZZT!"

Cinder looked annoyed at the cut off and looked even more annoyed when she pulled out her scroll and saw the displayed caller ID. she seemed reluctant to answer, but she did so anyways turning her back to Emerald.

"Hello is everything going smoothly Watts?" Cinder responded, Emerald almost snorted at the mocking way Cinder had answered the teams least favorite teacher.

"Yes?"..."WHAT!? Cinders voice rose causing Emerald to flinch.

"You...bastard!" Cinder hissed as she lowered her voice, "don't joke around about things like this!..."

"You...you aren't joking?"..."but"..."no"..."NO!"...

"I"... "I understand," Cinder stated, as she ended the call and for a moment she didn't move or say anything, her gaze shifting over to where the team of huntsmen and huntresses where trying to rest up.

"What was all of that about? and what on Remnant did Watts want?" Emerald thought, trying to make heads or tails out of what little she heard.

Cinder stopped staring at their escort and turned to Emerald and said, "come on" and started silently walking towards them, as they approached the lead huntsmen (Blue, Indigo. If Emerald recalled his name correctly) got up and asked, Is everything alright Ma'am?"

"Yes" Cinder replied, "I have just got new orders from the Headmistress, Emerald and I are to go on a brief trip to scout out the enemy for any Alpha class Grimm and possible Omega class. I expect you to hold this position if the Grimm should re-start their assault and await my and Emeralds return."

Emerald blinked and felt her stomach give of a uneasy feeling, "This is weird? something about this feels...off, But what?"

Blue nodded as he lit a cigarette, "Alright we will hold this ground as long as we can, be careful, we wish you a swift return." the others assembled nodded and gave a few quick subdued words of encouragement.

"They are frightened," Emerald thought, "they know that without me or especially Cinder that their odds of coming out of the next wave are a lot smaller if non-existent, they can only hope that we return before the next wave starts.

Cinder nodded her head at the remarks and turned and began walking away with Emerald tailing her and unusually she didn't even give her a glance over her shoulder to make sure she was following her.

"There is something wrong here" Emerald thought, "The way Cinder is acting, the call and now these unusual orders, what's going on?"

Deep down, something inside her told her, she didn't want to know.

Author's note's.

Alright my first chapter of my first delve into Fan-Fiction, the name is Fallout-man101, I am new to as a official author, but have been a lurker for years and now it is finally my turn to bring a story to you.

This story is particularly special to me, as I am fairly sure that this type of story hasn't been done In RWBY fanfiction before or at the very least in the manner of which I intend to do it.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy it for what it is, Regrets will probably be a more character interaction based than straight up action, although it will have alot action so don't worry about it getting too boring.

This story shall be rated T at first however it will be updated to Mature at some point it's mainly for Violence, language, gore and probably suggestive adult theme's.

NOTHING EXPLICIT, not only is it against site rules, but I feel that it just cheapens the story I am aiming for.

Also while I state this in my bio, don't expect any sort of schedule in regards to updates as I see don't like to rush myself with deadlines and I like to work on my own time, on my art.

Speaking of art I would like to credit the cover art to whoever froze it from it's volume 6 episode, as I got it from google, it however is a product of rooster teeth however due to it being a froze image from the show. I saw it online and felt it would be a perfect cover especially since I don't know how to photo-shop.

Also 2,450 words for a first chapter darn...

EDIT 08/25/2019 have made a few light word changes to the chapter and added a few new lines for clarification and ease of reading.

nothing that changes the plot majorly though.