Child of Omens Ruination: Aftermath

Chapter 3: What Was Lost

Summer sits inside V's small kitchen. While he didn't have a large assortment of food to cook with, she was able to make herself something to eat, Ace helping her to use some of the new kitchen appliances. The two sit down at a small two-person table, Ace looking over his revolver as Summer begins to eat.

Summer: "Ooh! What kind of weapon is that? What does it transform into? If you don't mind me asking."

Ace: "Oh, not a problem. This is King of Clubs. Unfortunately, it doesn't transform. I've never really been good at fighting up close."

Summer: "Well, I would show you my weapons, but I seem to have lost track of mine. But don't worry, I have extras back at home, so maybe I can show you sometime."

Ace: "...Yeah. Look, Summer; you've been gone for quite a bit."

Summer: "Well, I have been gone for a while. What? Around a month at most."

Ace: "No, Summer. You've been missing for 25 years."

This news stunned Summer; she chuckled in disbelief. But Ace wasn't laughing as he looked at her with a straight face.

Summer: "You're.. you're not kidding. But..but-that...means-" Her voice became filled with worry and distress.

Ace: "Summer, calm down. Breathe." He places his hand on hers, which seems to calm her down. "Look, I can explain everything, but I need you to listen. After that, I can answer your questions. Okay?" She nods, not letting go of his hand.

Ace: "Okay. *sigh* After your disappearance, nothing really changed—no worldwide manhunt for you. Nothing. The world thought you were dead, so it decided to move on. Things went pretty peacefully, then the 40th Vytal festival. That's when things went down south really fast. Salem and her minions orchestrated a joint attack by an army of Grimm and the White Fang to annihilate Vale and Beacon...She succeeded."

Summer: "Did anyone survive?" Her grip tightened slightly.

Ace: "Oh yeah, totally. The survivors split off to head toward different kingdoms. I do not know the specifics about who and where some of them went since I'm from Vacuo. But since I went to Shade Academy, I did see some new exchange students arrive shortly after." Summer let out a small sigh of relief. "Anyway. Salem wasn't done yet, she quickly moved to destroy Haven, and while she failed, she did destroy the school but not the city."

Summer: "What about the rest of my team, Qrow, Raven, and Tai? I know Raven would've stepped into at least help."

Ace: "I'll get to that just...just wait. After she failed, there was a several-month gap of relative peace. It mostly just condensed down to people heading to Atlas to seek refuge, which I didn't mind, fewer competitors to worry about in Vacuo. But when we finally thought that we knew our enemy and had planned to bounce back...things only went from bad to worse. Salem planned on brute-forcing her way into Atlas as the kingdom had begun to crumble from inner corruption. She led a massive Grimm army to storm the kingdom. And when it looked like the battle was reaching its peak..he arrived." The was a slight pause as Summer could feel Ace's grip tighten.

Summer: "Ace? Are you okay? Who arrived?"

Ace: "*sigh* Hawk Branwen." Summer was slightly shocked. She never knew Qrow or Raven had a son. "Hawk was the son of Raven Branwen. He had been trained from birth to be the ultimate killer. No one knew how but Hawk had somehow gotten his hands on the Blade of Destruction, a sword named Yamato. We thought he was here to help, to destroy the Grimm and defeat Salem. But we were wrong. He declared war on..everyone. He said that it was people like the huntsman and Ozpin who let Salem kill as she pleased. He blamed them for allowing Salem to kill his mother and destroy the Branwen clan. He then displayed the type of threat he was by singlehandedly wiping out the entirety of the Grimm army with a single attack. Then he left. Shortly after, he made his first move by taking the Staff of Creation, killing Atlas refugees in the process."

Summer: "Oh my Oum."

Ace: "No. Oum isn't real. If he were, he wouldn't have made a monster like Hawk. I never finished the history lesson. There was only one city left that protected its people, and that was Vacuo. The Grimm couldn't get to us; the terrain didn't allow for large groups of Grimm to find us. But it wasn't the Grimm we had to fear. It was Hawk. He would go on to create a day that would live on in nightmarish infamy, the Day of the Red Sun. In the span of one afternoon, marked by the sun turning a blood-red, Hawk would slaughter the entire city of Vacuo. Every man, woman, and child stood no chance against him. And I saw it; I saw it with my own eyes. I saw him tear a child from their mother's corpse and bisect them without even a glance. I saw him murder countless huntsmen and huntresses, so many that piles began to form. I remember the soulless hatred in his eyes as he swept through the city like a wildfire. All so that he could have a single person. One FUCKING kid."

Summer: "Ace...Ace, I'm so sorry." Her maternal instincts kicked in as she gripped his hand with both of hers.

Ace: "Thank you. But you are the lucky one. You never got to see what he did, what horrors a person can do to another. After that day, he just...disappeared. Come to find out, he had gathered the Four Relics and summoned the Twin Gods...only to kill them."

Summer: "What?!" Ace nodded.

Ace: "The only good thing to come out of that was Hawk died doing so. So no more Crimson Tyrant am I. Heh. But that's it. After his death, peace finally came to Remnant, Salem had been dealt with, Grimm had become mindless animals, and the four kingdoms banded together to make New Beacon."

Summer: "Ace? Did you ever meet a young girl by the name of Ruby Rose?"

Ace: "No...*sigh*..but I did recognize her. She looked just like her mother." Summer seemed to chipper up as Ace looked away.

Summer: "Really?! Where is she? Can we see her? Oh, she must be so old now. I can't wait to see her and hug her and give her so many kisses-"

Ace: "She's dead!" Summer practically froze. "Ruby..is dead. She was there...during the Red Sun. She and her team, they fought Hawk...they...she...i'm so sorry."