Special thanks to:

Pearl Darkness


Hi! I'm trying out something new, so please let me know how you feel about this! This was actually an essay I wrote to practice my English back in the days (I think it was about five years ago). I found it during the year end cleaning and had decided to rewrite it to fit the story into RWBY. Please don't be afraid to leave an honest review! (I read all of them)

This is an AU with an adult Ruby. There are Faunus in this AU as well, but there is no aura and Dust. As the tag says, it is a Sci-Fi piece.

FB: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author, Pa-treon: Freelancer Tank (with a Yang emblem as profile picture)

I do not own RWBY.

#

A Lonely Soldier

Ruby Rose took a deep breath as she saw a huge, tall figure slowly wiggling out of a stone cave. It was night time, and even though she had a really advanced night scope that gave her Faunus-level vision in the dark, she still felt unsettling. She hid behind the blue-colored bushes alone, trying to look for a comfortable spot in the sniper nest she set up prior to this assassination.

This mission to kill the boss of an underground alien mob was assigned to her by her superior Winter Schnee - and none of her teammates would be with her. She would have to carry out this assassination alone, and she knew why - it was unnecessary. Ruby knew the types of aliens (the ones they discovered) on this planet like the back of her hand; the target this time was the 'mother' of all the aliens within the mob, also known as the 'Queen Slime'. When a Queen Slime died, like a chain reaction her herd perish as well.

But why do I feel so uneasy? I've made sure everything is being set up properly, and this isn't my first solo mission...and yet…

Her thought was interrupted when the Queen Slime started to make a strange noise while transforming into its battle state. It probably sensed a threat within the area; its 'danger radar' was the widest among the aliens here. The sniper gulped as she made the shot, finger pulling the trigger back firmly.

She couldn't shake off the uneasiness, but managed to pull this assassination off. She might feel out of the weather at times, but her muscle memory remembered the timing and her hands would never tremble no matter how scared she got.

An electrical sound was heard when the laser sniper rifle fired a deadly ammo - it flew straight towards the heart of the alien. With a loud growl it exploded, flesh and bones burst out within the perimeter, melting anything that came in touch with them. It was one of the reason Ruby was chosen for this mission too - a sniper was the perfect candidate to eliminate the Slime mobs. All her teammates used close-ranged weapons like shotguns anyway.

Plus, she was the only sniper in the Planet Z-II Recon Force, a team consisting of only seven members including herself, as well as Sergeant Schnee.

It didn't take long for the other Slimes to die as well. Soon, the whole area, including the cave, was covered with their remains. The unpleasant smell of corpses started making Ruby extremely uncomfortable, even if she was hundred of feet away from the cave.

She waved her hand, trying her best to yank away the smell, but apparently it was not working. With a huge sigh, she started packing up her equipment, getting ready to head to her mini spaceship. She needed to retreat back to the headquarters to report this successful assassination.

As she was walking towards her ship, a gust of wind blew all of a sudden - and for a short moment, a haunting feeling of loneliness drowned her.

#

"Surprise!"

Ruby Rose was greeted with her teammates' loud voices and a cake upon reaching the camp - the soldiers' camp to be more accurate. Sergeant Schnee lived alone in another tent which wasn't very far away from theirs. And unlike their ordinary tent, Sergeant Schnee's was far more advanced in security to prevent aliens from ambushing her when she was asleep. The six privates had each other to stand guard at night, but she only had her laser rifle.

The soldiers were curious about their Sergeant's intention of not wanting to stay in the same tent as them, and there was a period where everyone thought she hated them. It later turned out that the stern but kind woman just wanted to leave some private space to them, as she knew they would be uncomfortable with a superior around.

Their tent had a super accurate sensor that only allowed the listed soldiers to enter (although not as high-tech as their Sergeant's). The huge, titanium door would only open for its inhabitant; had anyone - or anything else got closer within its sensor perimeter, it would not hesitate to shoot lasers at the intruders. The tents were spray painted with camouflage; a mixture of blue, light blue and white, matching colors to the rather blue planet.

Planet Z-II was blue indeed; the trees, bushes, ground - even the sky was the same color. They were all just different shades of blue.

"Huh?" The sniper blinked twice, unable to process what was going on.

There was a cake. A beautifully designed cake, red and brown in color, with strawberries as its topping.

"Happy Birthday!" The soldiers - Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasilias, Coco Adel, Velvet Scarlatina and Oscar Pine then shouted simultaneously.

Oh…

"You've forgotten about your birthday didn't ya?" Sun the Faunus laughed as his monkey tail wagged around, "But we remembered!"

"Indeed. But you guys didn't have to go announcing it so loudly!" Ruby chuckled, and then whispered to her friends, "I think Sergeant Schee can hear us!"

"Oh she knows." Oscar giggled while covering his mouth. He then pointed towards the table with a mountain of presents on it, "She left hers a while ago."

"She's such a tsundere." Sun snickered.

"Zun...there?"

"Nevermind, Ruby." The blonde smirked, "For someone who doesn't read any ecc- I mean, teen romance manga, this term will never be understood."

"Uh...what?"

"Happy birthday, Rubes." Coco ignored her teammate's manga argument and spread out her arms, "Group hug, everyone?"

"Group hug! I love group hug!" Sun practically leaped into her arms, pulling Ruby closer too with his tail. Everyone then proceeded to come closer and indulge themselves with this hard to describe warmth.

Coco pecked on the birthday girl's cheek and smiled gently, "We love you."

"Ugh...mm…" Ruby tried to hold back her tears, "T...thank you…sniff…"

"Aw, please don't cry, Ruby!" Velvet the rabbit Faunus said.

"Yeah, you should smile plenty today!" Oscar agreed with his friend.

"I mean, you get to eat this awesome cake." Sun grinned as they released themselves from the group hug, "Neptune baked that by the way."

"I didn't know you could bake." Ruby giggled.

"Well...let's just say that in case my career as a soldier doesn't work out...I can at least be a baker back in our planet." The blue-haired boy shrugged.

"I see." The sniper smiled.

"C'mon, let's cut the cake! I'm starving." The monkey Faunus suggested.

Ruby tried to divide the cake as evenly as possible, and there were two slices left after they devoured it. As expected of Neptune, it was really delicious; the team even gave all their strawberries to the sniper, making her extremely happy. She was touched to know that before coming to this scouting mission on Planet Z-II, the team prepared the materials in advance because they knew her birthday was within their mission period.

The five of them let Ruby eat the other slice of cake because she was the birthday girl, and then they had her deliver the remaining one to Sergeant Schnee. The girl came back after a while with a heavy blush on her face.

"She hugged me."

"...Come again?"

"Sergeant Schnee hugged me. Winter Schnee hugged me."

Everyone gasp simultaneously; even Coco, the cool one in the team.

"She wished me happy birthday, and hugged me. Winter Schnee hugged me." Ruby repeated the phrase again.

"Looks like we know who Sergeant's favorite soldier is." Neptune teased.

"..."

They then started chatting casually with one another, mainly about Ruby taking on a Slime mob that had been interfering with their missions for weeks. The girl smiled as she watched her teammates talk, holding a glass of beer with her left hand. They were like her family; it felt very warm just to be together with them, fighting aliens on this unexplored planet.

But somehow, she felt lonely. She felt empty, as if a piece of something was missing in her heart. She couldn't exactly tell what wasn't there, but she vaguely understood the loneliness, and she was trying her best to figure out this haunting feeling.

She supposed she missed her real family back in Planet Remnant - the planet they originated from. She missed Tai, her father who loved her more than anything else in the world; Yang, her dear elder sister who had a warm heart and a strong grip; she also missed Weiss and Blake, her irreplaceable friends, but the person that she wanted to see the most was her mother Summer Rose.

"Don't be sad, Ruby." Coco said when she sensed Ruby's uneasiness. This woman was only second to the best at reading people (the best one would be Sergeant Schnee), and not a single person in the team knew how they could be so perceptive about emotions. "We all feel lonely at times, but we're teammates, and we're also a family. We watch each other's back and face death together. You're not alone. We are, and will always be here for you."

"Thank you, Coco." The sniper smiled bitterly. She meant it; she was really grateful to have such wonderful people in her life. She chose to join the army even though she knew it would be hard for having to be separated from her family and friends. But she had to face the consequences of the choice she made.

"You're welcome, hottie."

Seeing the genuine smile on Coco's face as she replied her had stroke a sudden realization for the sniper.

Yes, she was a sniper - the only sniper in a team of seven people.

Her lips curved up slightly, finally knowing the source of her uneasiness during the Queen Slime mission. While her teammates battled with deadly aliens at the front line, she just stayed behind at a very far place, aiming and supporting them.

She fought alone.

She was a lonely soldier.

#

Yes, there's no ship in this story. I bet it wouldn't get as much view as my other stories, but I'm gonna try.

Personally, I really like the Sci-Fi genre, especially if it involves another planet, or an apocalypse and a team of soldiers. Writing this was a great experience. This story is kind of like 'Imprisoned', which shows only a little part of a big scene. It has a lot of mysterious elements in it and quite frankly, a lot of potential to be made into a huge series. Do press follow if you're interested though, I might add chapters if I have any idea.

Lastly, thank you for reading my story to the end.

P.S. Do tell me if there is any error. My beta reader only proofreads Dear RWBY, and because she's very busy, sometimes I just publish the story without asking for her help.

FB: IBurn 'Tank' RWBY Fanfic Author, Pa-treon: Freelancer Tank.

I do not own RWBY.


Special thanks to:

Pearl Darkness.