RWBYA: Volume 1: Vale. A RWBY AU/Fanfiction.

Epilogue: Beacon's Light.

"In the end, not only had we failed to save Amber from those who threatened this world, but also, Beacon Academy fell, with Aoihi and Ozpin dead." Pyrrha said to Summer's grave as she made sure to leave out the parts with the Maidens existing. She soon let off a sigh as she looked towards the sky. "As we found out from one of Matthew's drones, Aoihi died trying to stop Jacques Schnee from taking Weiss away against her will. With how he was still exhausted, injured and out of aura from his fight with Cinder, the bullet killed him. As soon as we could all physically recover, we all attended a memorial for him at the ruins of Beacon, as Glynda gave a lovely speech. Recounting the tale of Yamato, a hero of Vale who was a true Beacon of hope to the village of where Beacon now stands. It's all tragic that the Human Purity distorts this figure so greatly in their beliefs. Ironwood and the Atlesian Military is back at Atlas, while Yang is still trying to recover from the lost of her arm, and Blake is finding herself again. I have no doubt Weiss is heartbroken by Aoihi's death, and so to get Sunlight from Glynda would only make things bittersweet for her. We are broken, bruised, but not beaten yet, for we owe it to Aoihi and everyone else who lost their lives at the Beacon's Fall to continue the fight and continue to protect innocent lives. We are Huntsmen, and as Aoihi showed, Huntsmen and Huntresses NEVER give up fighting to defend lives until their last breath. That is something we intend to do and WILL do from here on forward. For it's all what we trained and signed up for. THIS is the day we were waiting for."

As Pyrrha then stood up from her kneeling position, she walked over to Ruby and hugged her again, trying to console her friend, and be consoled herself. This loss was massive for both of them.

"I want to wish it was a dream, Pyrrha. A dream that Team RWBYA is split and forever broken. A mere bad dream I can wake up from."

"Me too, Ruby." Pyrrha replied. "But, as I said, Aoihi will NEVER be forgotten as we continue on our journey. Our fight is JUST beginning, and we aren't going to let Cinder take us down."

"I know." Ruby replied as she wiped her tears. "And Glynda was right. Aoihi truly was Beacon's light, and we are NOT going to let it fade! We'll beat Cinder and her sorry tush! We'll bring her down and rise higher than she ever can!"

"That's right." Pyrrha replied with a smile. "And we'll do this together."

As Pyhrra finished this, she and Ruby turned round to see Jaune, Nora, and Ren all ready and waiting for them to go.

"It's time to go." Jaune said with a smile as Ruby and Pyrrha nodded and walked over to him.

"Leave the map reading to me, Jaune, I know my way around Mistral."

"Sure thing, Pyrrha."

Qrow watched over them as they all leave, transforming into his bird form as he followed them from the skies. Trying to make sure nothing bad happens to them. All across Remnant, Weiss, Yang, and Blake looked to the skies, felling heart broken and solemn over the loss of Aoihi. While Yang punched her punching bag with her remaining hand, Blake stood vigilant with Sun staying by her side. As for Weiss, she constantly cried herself to sleep at night, holding Sunlight close. Part of her wanting to deny that Aoihi was dead.

As fate would have it....

That feeling in Weiss's soul was correct.

As the blizzards picked up again, Ironwood was heading down to the basement of Atlas Academy. He had some business to attend to, as he stood in the Elevator. His expression was emotionless as he waited to reach the bottommost floor.

When the doors of the Elevator opened, he saw a training simulation going on as a figure deflected and slashed some blasts from Hard-light Dust blasters. As all of them were then destroyed with a massive ring of Azure flames, the figure's eyes looked over at Ironwood, glowing blue as his aura.

"I see you have finally recovered from that shot from Jacques's gun." Ironwood remarked, as the figure sheathed his two swords and walked over to Ironwood.

He had his pants, but was without his main long-sleeved shirt and coat, as he wore a blue tank top. Old scars sat on his arms, clearly from swords being used to slash and stab him. The light of the area where Ironwood stood at revealed the blue highlights in his black hair. He soon stopped, holding a distant and solemn look.

"As of late Human Purity members have been invading into the Atlesian Military, purposely hiding among them all so they can slowly and surely turn them against the Faunus citizens. Considering your experience and skill, I believe you are the best one for this mission, Aoihi Moeruhi."

"Very well." Aoihi replied with a solemn voice. "For the sake of innocent lives, I will do want you want, Ironwood."

No one knows that he was actually still alive, and Aoihi knew this. To say it was cruel would be an understatement. He had to be closed off.

To be continued in Volume 2: Mistral.