KRWBY
The city was loud.
That was the first thing he realized as he woke from whatever blow had rendered him unconscious. It was not loud in the way of roaring artillery. It was not loud in the way of a Commissar bellowing litanies or orders. It was not even loud in the way of a rumbling super heavy or the bray of a Titan's war-calls. The city was loud in colors, in light, in scent and in sound. His eyes, aching from the first bit of sunlight he'd seen in Throne knows when, stared up into the blue sky that was framed on either side by the roofed edge of buildings.
He went to sit up, hands pressing at something soft beneath him, but nausea brought him low. His mask, already knocked askew to break the seal and expose him to fresh air, was shunted down around his neck as he rolled over onto his hands and knees to wretch. Vomit and the unmistakable taste of bile scorched his throat and soured his tongue. His stomach clenched and his lungs ached as his body quivered from his ordeal. He jerked, his empty stomach desperately trying to empty itself of something that wasn't there.
That was why he wasn't prepared for being found.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Hands, quivering from the retching, darted for an empty holster as he turned about. He found the power cord to his Hellpistol and thumbed the safety off as he found the source of the voice with the sights of his firearm. His other hand shunted his mask back in place before the girl could even hope to catch sight of what was beneath it.
"Identify yourself."
"Who, me?" The girl questioned. "Uh... I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose. Can you put your weapon down? I'm just… Uh, checking to see if you're alright." She clearly seemed unsettled by something. She mentioned a body?
He aim wavered a bit as another wave of nausea hit him. "Where am I?" The masked man questioned, his dull voice muffled by his mask.
"Uh. An alleyway?" The girl, Ruby, gestured with her thin arms to the brick siding of the buildings that flanked them on either side. "So, why are you sitting in the middle of an alleyway puking? Are you hungover or something? Yang sometimes pukes in the shower. Then she cries."
The man ignored her, feeling around for whatever he'd awoken to cushioning him from the cold asphalt below. A mask, complete with a passive filter, stared back at him from the ground. He reached down, gently, a took it up. He turned it gently, side to side, while Ruby watched him. His own lenses were reflected in the hardened material that made up the "eyes" of the Death Korps Offficer Corps.
Watchmaster 566-563-89983-66-Zestin turned back to Ruby and nodded. "I am operable." He rotated it around once more and found the mask to have no failures. No breaches. Perfectly serviceable.
"Uh, you sure you don't want me to call a taxi or something?"
"I am sure." The Korpsman agreed.
"Riiiiight. So, who are you?"
The Korpsman grunted and did a quick check over his uniform. Hellpistol was in his holster, power sabre was in his scabbard and… He rested his hands on his hip and clenched gloved fingers around the box that sat there. He dared to lift it up, the silk cord that threaded and secured it to his belt pulled tight by the action. The iron clasp scraped as he pried it open and… A breath he didn't know he had taken was released. It was fine.
Ruby watched with morbid curiosity as the man worried himself over a box of bones. "Sooo… You don't talk much, do you?"
"No." Zestin admitted as he gently shut the box and secured the clasp shut. With an almost gentle touch, he let the thing hang back against his waist to gently sway against his thigh and busied himself with securing the Officer's mask in his unused mask bag.
"Well, Mister Creepy Guy, if you're not gonna talk, I'm just gonna… Bye!" Ruby turned, ready to make her way away from the creepy guy that seemed to enjoy playing with bones, but she was stopped by him speaking once more.
"Where am I? This is not Vraks."
Her silver eyes blinked as she looked back over her shoulder at him. "Vraks?" She questioned as she spun on her heels, hands slipping behind her back. "Where's Vraks? That over in Atlas? You sound like you're from Atlas."
The Korpsman cocked his head, the tubing that stretched over his carapace plate to his filtration system pulling tight. "Atlas? Is that the name of this planet?"
The two confused teenagers stared at each other in silence while Ruby mimicked a fish. "Oh my God! You're not from Remnant!"
This seemed very evident to the Korpsman. It only served to confuse him more. "No." He slowly admitted once more. "I was on Vraks this morning… Last night. The 468th were repelling an assault and…" And what? He couldn't remember what happened. Did he take a blow to the head? Was this some kind of fever dream caused by a swollen brain?
"Oh God! Are you some kind of alien under there or something! Oh, oh! Are you one of those Space Faunus like in that one comic book?!"
The Korpsman jerked back for a moment as though struck. She mistook him, a loyal guardsman, as an alien? "Nein!" He growled. "I am Human. I am pure of blood by the eugenics of Krieg."
"Okay, okay, so you're a spaceman!"
That seemed the easiest definition to go along with so he nodded in agreement.
"So, where's your ship? You have a ship, right? I bet it's like some sort of UFO or something. Oh God, Yang is going to freak when she finds out about this! She's going to find this so awesome!"
While Ruby gushed and squealed, his hand drifted down to his waist while his lenses swept the alley. The structures seemed nothing like what he was used to. Low tech… Clearly not ferrocrete or flakboard structures. Civilized world? That seemed the most evident thing. The Grenadier Watchmaster zoned in just as he caught sight of Ruby leering at his equipment.
"Oh! OH! You gotta let me look at your gear! I want to see what space weapons look like! Please! Please! PLEAAAAAASE!"
"No."
"Aww, come on! What if I buy you lunch! C'mon, I'll buy you lunch and I'll show you mine!"
Lunch? That somewhat caught his attention. "I'll buy you lunch and I'll explain all about Vale! It's an awesome place! You and your space buddies can totally come to visit!"
"I must find the local Planetary Governor. I need to get in contact with the Adeptus Administratum so I can receive orders on what I must now do. Cut off from my Regiment, I have no orders or command hierarchy. This cannot stand."
Ruby's smile as wide. "I didn't understand a thing you said. I don't think we've got any kind of Governor over all of Remnant. I mean, there are the councils, but—"
"What?" The Krieger interrupted. "Then who is the Imperial government actor here?"
"Imperial? What's that?"
Zestin stared blankly at the girl as his mind chewed over what she just said. "Look, come on, we'll get lunch and I'll get you a map and everything will be better, alright? I needed to pick up the latest Schnee weapon magazine tonight anyway. Yang is going to Beacon so I gotta entertain myself before I go back to Signal…"
He barely felt her small hand grab him by one of his filthy sleeves and pull him towards the mouth of the alleyway.
Hobnailed boots scuffed at the asphalt, fingers clenched around a rifle and a spare rucksack and the Korpsman followed the girl in the little red hood without any word of complaint or issue. He couldn't come up with any. His mind was still wrapped up with the concept that this place seemed to have no Imperial body governing it.
As Ruby blathered on about some place called Beacon, her kin and something called a Huntress, the Korpsman was taken with a mixture of feelings he'd never felt before. He wasn't sure what to call them. He felt… alone, really. He'd never been without contact or knowledge of the Korps before. He'd done forward actions, sure, but he still knew the lines were there. This was something different.
Then, just as fast as it came, the feeling was gone. It was replaced by a reminder of a recommendation from the Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer. In the event one cannot return to Imperial lines, it is prudent to sell one's life dearly while disrupting and destroying the enemy.
Both of them in their own thoughts, none of them noticed the wide-eyed looks being sent towards the blood and mud covered man with a very interesting look mask.
"You're being too quiet again. You really don't like talking much do you, Mister Creepy Space Man?"
"I have told you this before, Ruby Rose. I do not. That is not what I was created for." Once more, the Korpsman admitted his social weakness. "Are you sure you've never seen a governing body with the Aquila upon it?" Ruby, who was looking over her shoulder as she marched down the street, watched him tap on the forehead of his helmet.
"Nope."
"Is that a 'Yes, I have' or a 'No, I have not'?"
"Nope."
Zestin relented in his questioning and just let the girl carry him off. It seemed he did not have very long to wait as, soon, they came upon a small eatery. Whatever the place was called seemed lost amid a plethora of signs, cultural garbage and self-applied decorations.
"And we're here! Yang takes me to this place all the time! A lot of the people look rough, but they're nice enough when you get to know them!"
Zestin couldn't help but feel like the small girl had brought him to some ganger's hideout. Still, she was currently something of a lifeline at the moment. If it was a trap, he had the equipment and training to certainly make a good account of himself. When Ruby entered the restaurant, he had little choice but to follow the girl in.
"You know something?" Ruby started talking again as soon as she chose their table. "I just thought about it, but what if you're just crazy? I mean, you could be some homeless guy that might just think he's—"
The stare she received was enough to cut off the rest of her idea. "Hehe… Yeah, right. Cause spacemen make so much more sense…"
Zestin was pleased when silence reigned. Ruby, who seemed to be staring hard at him, seemed to be coming down from her excitement into confusion. When the waitress came, Ruby just offhandedly requested two "regulars" and left it at that.
"So… You come from space, right? Do you fight aliens and stuff out there?"
He nodded and Ruby's flagging excitement returned with a massive grin.
"Ooh! Ooh! So, what kind of things have you fought? I'm sure you're probably like three hundred years old and the veteran of countless battles! I mean, that's what space is like, right?"
He shook his head.
"…No? So, then what are you?"
"I'm an Imperial Guardsman. You sound as though you were expecting one of His Adeptus Astartes?"
"Who and what?"
"The Emperor's blessed Space Marines. The gene-enhanced warriors who champion Humanity at every turn."
Ruby nodded slowly. "So, you're like a mook or something?"
The Korpsman shook his head. "No, I am no monk. Among the traditional forces of the Imperium, it is the Imperial Guard that holds the line at every turn. We are the elite of the elite and the greatest soldiers of our planets."
Drinks came and further explanation was cut off. Zestin was confused by the appearance of a glass full of white… stuff. "What is it?"
Ruby didn't expect this and broke out in a bit of lightly nasally snickering. "What, you guys don't have whole milk in space?"
The Krieger picked up the glass of milk and inspected it more closely through one of his lenses. "I do not know what a 'whole' is or what kind of milk it might produce. Milk is a very limited commodity and is mostly drunk on agri-worlds where it will not spoil due to storage time."
Ruby blinked and took a swig from her glass. "Well, it's good. It's milk from cows! Yang always gets on me about needing to grow up. I don't need to though, since I drink my milk!" She pumped an arm as if she were trying to show off musculature.
Cows? "Bovine are, likewise, limited commodities. Their flesh is typically only eaten by upperhivers and nobility. Grox produces far more flesh relative to investment. Bovine is a specialty product because of how far it goes back to Terra."
Again, discussion was broken off. This time by the very source of their conversation. Ruby was already cheering when she caught sight of the hearty steaks laid upon their plates. Zestin just continued to stare at everything. "Come on, spaceman, eat up!"
"What is it?"
Again, Ruby gave one of her snickers.
"Okay. Okay. So, lemme explain. That's milk. With me so far?"
She got a nod.
"That's a steak. You know, beef? The thing you were talking about. That's steak fries with extra salt and pepper. They're both really good."
Zestin was hesitant to partake now that he was faced with the strange food but his stomach urged him on alongside his distaste of wasting material. His fingers reached up beneath the edge of his helmet and slowly loosened the straps to properly hang the mask around his neck.
The face that stared from beneath the equipment was not what Ruby expected. He was young. Probably around Yang's age. Maybe a bit older or a bit younger. She wasn't good enough to tell. His face was sunken and gaunt, crossed with small scars and bruises. His nose was just a bit crooked, as though it had healed wrong. He almost looked handsome in the way that a well-used rifle or an old warrior might be handsome. He was worn. He was battered. She suspected if he started drinking his milk he might even end up cute. The thing helping him most, though, were his eyes. Dull dark grey eyes, practically silver like her own, stared at the steak with the slightest bit of caution.
Ruby's mouth hung open as he watched her new "friend" take up his fork and knife. He cut through the steak with little problem, placed the hunk of meat in his mouth and…
Wait, where did half the steak go?
Ruby could've sworn she had just been looking at a full plate. The Korpsman, now clearly revealed to be very hungry, proceeded to dig in after the first bite. He ate with little refinement as though he was expecting the meal to be taken away from him. She wondered if he was even tasting it.
"You haven't eaten much, have you?"
The Korpsman just stared at her as he chewed on a piece of gristle.
Ruby looked at him with a crease of her brow and lifted a steak fry to her mouth. "So, you never answered my question? Who are you? Do you have a name?"
"I am Watchmaster 566-563-89983-66-Zestin of the 468th Siege Regiment, 34th Line Korps, 88th Siege Army." Ruby was almost amazed how he continued to eat without choking. It was like watching Yang chow down after cardio.
"I don't understand a thing what you said, but I'm going to call you Zesty."
The Korpsman's steak knife screeched against the plate and his fork almost cracked into the plate at the usage of such a nickname. "…Do not. If you must use shorthand then 'Zestin' will be satisfactory for both of us."
"Mawriff, Zessy."
Once more the Korpsman was left staring as the red hooded young girl struggled to swallow down a hunk of meat while her lungs seized from a suppressed giggle.
"What?"
Ruby almost choked at his response and had to take a drink from her milk. "I said 'Alright, Zesty'."
The Korpsman's nose twitched with annoyance and his brow furrowed enough to make his pale, emotionless face seem almost unhappy. Almost. "I would request that you hurry and eat your portion of the meal. This has already taken longer than it should."
Ruby looked down once more to find a plate absolutely cleaned. Had he been starving?
"You eat fast."
"I do." He admitted. "Taking a period of time to eat is a waste of said time that can be used elsewhere. If you are called to duty in the middle of eating then that is a meal you shall not get back. You eat and you move on."
"Huh." The silver eyed girl remarked as she plucked a piece of fat from between her lips. "You know, you really should work on that. It's not like someone is gonna take it away from you."
Though his face didn't contort into any particular emotion, Ruby had a feeling the stare she was getting was some kind of… "You know nothing" stare she'd see from a grumpy Yang who'd been scolded by Dad.
"Alright, alright! Yes, Dad, let me go ahead and eat! God!" Silver eyes rolled in their sockets and then focused on the only remaining steak. She almost missed the Korpsman lifting his mask back into place.
"Hey?"
"Yes?" The Korpsman responded flatly.
"Why do you wear the mask?"
He cocked his head. "My mask? It is… the face that matters, I suppose. A reminder of my place. A reminder of my oath."
Ruby nodded, chewed and swallowed. "You've got a lot of loyalty for… whatever you said you were."
Zestin nodded firmly. "We failed in our duties once. We will not allow such things to occur again. By our blood and flesh, we will not be known for our betrayal."
"Betrayal? Oh, if I pulled that mask off long enough, would you die?"
Tubing pulled tight as the Korpsman shook his head. "My people tried to turn away from our Lord once. The Korps did not abide that. As for my mask… No. So long as there is no airborne spore or some such that might sprout in my lungs and suffocate me with fungus, I do not think so."
"Huh. …Is …Is that a thing somewhere?"
"Probably."
Silence reigned for several minutes while Ruby dealt with the concept of planets with lung eating fungus floating in the air. Zestin seemed comfortable enough to just sit back and watch Ruby eat her steak.
"So, uh…" Ruby finally broke the silence. "Is there any other kind of fungus in space that can kill you?"
"Yes, there are Orkz."
"What's an Ork?"
Zestin paused and turned his head to a slight angle as he thought on how best to explain it. "An Ork is a large, green humanoid. They are birthed from fungus pods, hold the strength to rip an unaugmented man limb from limb without breaking a sweat and have few true organs. Most of their biology is a fungal soup within the thoracic cavity. They are durable with a number of biological redundancies."
"…People get killed by walking mushroom people?"
"If you wish to put it in such a disregarding manner, yes."
Ruby pushed her plate away and stood up. "Well, I think that's enough for me. The idea of large mushrooms sneaking around and stabbing people has taken away my appetite… Fungus is so weird! It's worse thinking about the idea of it just… walking around. Ew."
Ruby disliked fungus. That was something he'd file away mentally for later. He watched her walk over to someone behind some machine and hand them some kind of plastic card. Lien, he thought the waitress called it? Local currency. Another important thing to remember.
"Welp, it seems like we've burned up enough time. It's already starting to get dark. C'mon, there's a shop around the corner we can hit. It… might have maps. I'm not sure…"
A third thing to remember. Ruby was bad at keeping track of goals.
"Well, c'mon, only one way we can make sure!" Her arms pumped and her legs rose and fell as she marched herself out the door of the eatery. Zestin, tired, followed after her. This occurrence had become one of the strangest in his admittedly short life. His hobnailed boots beat a disciplined, steady beat that was a complete contrast to the energetic and irregular footfalls of his red hooded guide. Something was bothering him, though. He knew little of life outside of the Korps. Many Kriegers often questioned why civilians were worth their efforts in some actions. They knew that they were lazy things, obsessed with their own comforts and securities and enraptured in their own connections. Hives were even worse. Nobody helped anyone in the Imperium. It weakened both members. The helper was left with less while the helped was left weaker for being unable to overcome their own trials.
"Why are you helping me, Ruby Rose?"
Ruby leaned back on the balls of her feet and skid a few inches before she stopped, whirled about and lifted a singular finger to the sky. "Dad always said that if someone needs help, then it is our right-nay, our duty, to help out those who need it most! Besides, it would be a very good thing if I let a Spaceman wander around Vale and maybe get hit by a car because he wandered into the street…"
Eye stared widely at Ruby with a mixture of caution and confusion. "You are far too trusting, Ruby Rose. Though I am not… ungrateful for your help, I would advise against doing such again in the future. It only weakens you. The resources you spend on me could be used elsewhere."
Ruby stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry, causing Zestin to jerk his head back in alarm. "Nah, I'm gonna help people! That's why I'm going to be a Huntress! I'll be like one of those heroes out of the stories I used to read! I'm going to fight for what's right and protect people who can't protect themselves!"
Zestin shook his head, looked forward and walked around the excitable girl. "That is not a very good plan. Those who cannot strive and fight deserve to be left behind. If you cannot pull your weight, you do not deserve to live."
Ruby pursed her lips, spun around and chased after her grim "friend". "What do you mean they don't deserve to live? That's cruel! If you don't fight to protect people, why do you fight?"
Zestin didn't stop walking nor did he pick up the pace as Ruby overtook him, turned herself about once more and started walking backwards to stare at him with a pout. "The galaxy is cruel, Ruby Rose. If we were to reach a hand out to bring everyone into safety and security, we would drown in debt and weakness. As for why I fight… Shame. Duty. Hatred. Take your pick."
"Shame? Hatred?"
"Shame. Hatred."
Ruby just pouted more and threw her hands up. "Are you going to explain what you mean by that, then?" She spun around and, with her hands up, threw herself off balance. Zestin stopped and watched passively as the girl slammed her ass down onto the cold asphalt and winched in pain. "Ow!"
"Have you broken anything, Ruby Rose?"
"…Only my pride? I'm okay."
Zestin cast a glance around the street as the energetic girl picked herself up once more and swayed almost drunkenly into a spin. A few civilians were staring at him. Strange but nothing for him to be concerned with at the moment.
"Anyway, we're here, come on!"
Once more Ruby proved her lack of foresight in explaining things by turning in and walking into a store. Once more Zestin proved his lack of interest in things by not even bothering to question or call after the girl. She led, he followed, things worked.
The slight jingle of the doorbell set the Korpsman's worries aflame and he looked down for some kind of explosive or tripwire he'd set off. Ruby looked at him questioningly as he took a moment to realize that it was the sound of a small pair of brass bells.
"You're really weird."
He looked up to Ruby and shook his head. His lenses, giving away nothing of what he was thinking at the distance he was to the other two occupants of the store, turned to the shop owner that was giving him a very particular look. "Maps, sir?" The shop owner jerked back, surprised, and leaned forward to squint at the Krieger. After several moments, he waved a hand to the back. Ruby, having visited before, happily skipped her way to the back of the shop with her latest friend skulking after her. Immediately, upon finding their goals, they two split up to cover what they were each present to do.
Ruby, being Ruby, buried herself in the latest weapon magazine. Dust Till Dawn was the best! She loved the place because, since they had a deal with the Schnee Dust Company, they got all their magazines a day early! …Well, "early." Same release day as in Atlas!
Zestin, desiring to know about the area, picked up a map and unfolded the thing. Much of what was upon it he could not read. That was something he could not help. What he could see, however, was nothing that matched any kind of similarity between any of the other planets near Vraks or really anything he could identify at all. None of the universal markers for important Imperial structures or locations were to be seen on any of the maps. Not Vacuo, not Atlas and certainly not Vale. All he got from it was the fact that the continent north of Vacuo looked like a dragon.
He looked to Ruby, engrossed in her magazine and music, and shook his head. Numb fingers deftly began to fold the maps back up and sit them back in their places on the wall when he took note of a rather bothersome sound coming from the front desk.
"Please, just take my lien and leave!"
"Shh, shh, shh. Calm down. We're not here for your money. …Grab the Dust."
The clatter of boots and equipment being moved around alarmed the Krieger, yet… This was not his fight. It was not his place to intercede in what may or may not be official or gang related business. He was tempted to resume his map stowing when he noticed the sound of footsteps making their way across the hard floor towards Ruby.
The map in his hand was carefully dropped as he stepped back. His fingers went to his gear webbing and the first thing he found himself grabbing hold of was his entrenchment tool. The 9-70 was a useful tool and, among the Korps, almost as prized as their masks and their greatcoats. It was the humble 9-70 that saw them through even the greatest fortification work and the most brutal assaults. Next to their bayonet, there were few things that a Krieger would rather have on hand in any fight.
The leather strap around the synthetic wooden handle was loosened, the buttons were undone and the head was unfolded out. He leaned against the row of items behind Ruby and slowly sidestepped his way over to the edge of row and, carefully, peered around.
Unfortunately, Kriegers weren't exactly stealthy with the heavy positive pressure system on their bodies sucking in air. Fortunately, Junior's boys weren't the most composed. The Korpsman found himself with a strange, red machete being pointed at him.
"Put your hands in the air!"
The Korpsman cocked his head, stepped out from behind cover and tightened his grip around the heft of his E-tool. "Are you attempting to rob a member of the Astra Militarum?"
"Who? I mean, yeah!"
The Korpsman nodded, sidestepped the point of the blade and brought the mono-edge of his E-tool about in a backswing. The henchman, not really expecting things to go from zero to sixty from a short weirdo holding a shovel, didn't have much of a chance to react beyond blindly swatting the flat edge of the machete towards the Krieger's general direction. The E-tool… The E-tool found flesh and bone.
Flesh parted with and bone split with a sickening, cracking suction noise. Blood and ocular fluid poured down the man's ravaged face as he dropped his machete and reached for the heavy blade jammed into his skull. A short, pained cry caught the attention of not only Ruby, but the others in the store as well. Zestin twisted and jerked, fracturing more bone and freeing his tool from the man's face. The goon dropped, his body writhing in pain while a hand pressed up against a ruined socket.
He was wounded but not mortally. The Korpsman made sure to fix that very soon.
Ruby turned about, her hand pulling down her headset, just in time to watch her latest friend get to work. He stepped forward, kicked a desperate hand out of the way and brought his hobnailed boots down on the man's head. The goon rolled over, body curling up to try to protect itself, but the Korpsman didn't relent. The second stomp was higher up and, judging by the sound, broke bone.
Ruby's mouth opened like a fish for the second time that day, opening and closing as she watched someone go into seizures from trauma-related brain damage. It wasn't exactly something someone saw regularly in Remnant and it caused her a good bit of surprise and alarm. Yet, she snapped out of it when one of the other henchmen burst around the corner with a sidearm raised towards Zestin.
Just a burst of her Semblance launched the young girl at speeds neither of the males expected into the thug and sent them both hurtling through the storefront window. Zestin couldn't see beyond that as he quickly found himself dealing with another of them coming around the corner to check on his friend. Another machete was held tightly in his hand and, likewise, he stood little chance against the Korpsman.
He brought the machete down in a swing that the Korpsman responded to by sidestepping and circling around. The thug stepped forward, turned around and reoriented himself. The sound of a fight outside urged the Korpsman to make the standoff end soon. While the sound of a man dying from seizures kept the thug's attention, Zestin waited calmly for the next blow. When it came, harsh, angry and reckless, he was ready. He stepped back and let the blade miss him, lashed out with his E-tool and caught the man by the back of his neck with the inside of the digging head. Using his purchase on the man, he pulled him about and slammed his head through a glass case which still held a few precious dust crystals.
The henchman tried to pull his head out of the mess of razor sharp glass by a slam to his upper back pushed him back down and skewered his throat on a long, fractured piece of the case. His panicked attempts to pull himself free only opened his throat more and, with a massive drop in blood pressure, led to the man slumping against the case, dead.
Leaving two now stilled bodies and a wide eyed, panicking shop owner behind him, the Korpsman stepped out of the wide open door to find Ruby being held at… cane point? The other two thugs laid in the street, unmoving, though they didn't seem dead. Too few wounds. Incapacitated? It mattered little.
His attention fell on the red head with the hat as he pulled the trigger and set the world up in a smattering of shattered asphalt and smoke. Zestin actually had to wince at the burst of fragmentation.
Ruby had launched herself with the help of her weapon and had avoided much of the damage. Zestin wasn't sure how to feel about that. During the trouble, though, both had lost track of one Roman Torchwick long enough for the man to hurry along with his attempted escape.
"I got him!" Ruby called loudly, spun her scythe about and launched herself through the air with another cartridge blast from her weapon. She arced through the air after the redhead and Zestin, only able to travel on foot, had to rush after the two.
"How are they so fast?" Throne above. As he ran after the two he felt compelled to compare them to those Elfdar things that the Primer mentioned a few times. Thin, light of build but incredibly fast and agile.
The sound of roaring aircraft engines met the Krieger's ears as he made his way up the ladder that was secured to the side of the building that Roman had chosen to flee up. By the time he made his way up, he was face to face with a furious blast tearing a great chunk from the roof. Ruby, however, was not torn apart as he had been expecting for a split second. A woman, tall and of a more mature persuasion, was holding some kind of shield in front of Ruby.
Zestin was alarmed by the show of lights and sorcery, but he had little time to think about it. With one firm pull, he cleared the edge of the apartment building and joined the two females watching the aircraft hover before them.
Everything held still for a moment, Ruby watched the new arrival with something like awe and Zestin looked to her with suspicious caution. She pushed her glasses up, gave an irritated exhalation of air and waved her riding crop at the aircraft. Lights of a dark purple color came from the air and lanced towards the woman's target, punching into the armored plating of the Bullhead and rocking it back and forth with savage power.
The machine swayed for several moments as the Huntress brought her riding crop down in a forceful swing, then regained control of itself just soon enough to catch a barrage of razor sharp ice blades brought forth from the Huntress's summoned storm.
A figure, wreathed in glowing shapes, stepped into the view from the innards of the aircraft. Little was done by her, but a great ball of fire lurched from her hands and was intercepted by another of the Huntress's shields. Ash and burning material splattered the roofing behind her and Zestin, tired of watching, drew his hellpistol.
He took aim and fired off a burst of fire towards the shattered canopy, hoping to hit something important, but his aim was thrown off as another section of the roof was torn apart by another fiery blast. The Huntress, who Zestin was quite sure was a psyker of some kind, took the sections of roof, bound them together in a great lance and launched the thing towards the side of the craft. Bursts of fire tore into the spear, shattering it once, yet it rebuilt itself in time for the banking craft to take the blow from it to the top of the fuselage. The armor tore and was left with great rents, yet the lance did not stop. It broke apart into a myriad of smaller lances and sought the final death of the machine. A nova of heat and hungry flames broke them into nothing and turned the blades of ice in the machine's hide into nothing but meltwater.
The battle paused once more as the tempo of fighting eased itself. The machine banked away to begin an ascent and Ruby, finally getting herself under control, transformed her scythe and began to pump rounds into the hull.
Like the lance, each one found a fiery projectile shield intercepting every blow.
The powerful figure onboard the craft waved their hand once more and sent a series of small blasts that, had the Huntress not acted, would've seen Ruby and Zestin both burnt to a crisp. By the time Ruby and Glynda were able to get their attention back on the craft, it turned about trailing smoke and fuel and slowly limped off into the distance.
The two females turned and looked at each other, one happy, the other dour. Ruby's mouth opened to squeal in excitement but shut itself in surprise and horror as the Huntress turned around and telekinetically threw Zestin across the roof. The Korpsman had, while the other two recovered, secured his E-tool and drawn a long single edged blade. He had almost taken the elder female's head off.
Glynda Goodwitch brought her riding crop up and prepared to handle what she thought, for a moment, might be a White Fang member, but fell short as Ruby put herself between the two combatants. "Zesty, what are you doing?! She's a Huntress! A Huntress! That's a nice blade by the way. Still, why were you doing that?!"
Blade held loosely in his right hand, sidearm tightly in the left, the Korpsman stood with a squared stance. His knees were slightly bent and his saber was gently rested against his shoulder with the power field off. "Ruby Rose, her powers are unearthly; she is some kind of psyker. She's a Witch."
"That's Goodwitch to you, young man. Glynda Goodwitch, exactly. As for my 'powers', my Semblance is telekinesis."
"….Your what?"
Ruby squealed in happiness, all worry of the fight diffused by that one question. "Oh! Miss Goodwitch, he's not from Remnant! He's from space!"
"Excuse me?" Glynda questioned.
Zestin stood cautiously, sheathed and holstered his weapons, then turned about to glance towards Dust Till Dawn. Police cars already covered the place and a duo of bodybags were laid out for two fresh corpses.
"That is absolutely absurd, Miss."
"No, no! Seriously, I found him puking in an alleyway! He didn't even know what milk was! He's also really weird!"
"None of those things constitute reason to believe he's from space, young lady. Clearly, if he's willing to attack someone out of nowhere, he's unbalanced." Glynda, ever looking at things logically, shot down Ruby's poor points.
"Glynda Goodwitch, there is no Imperial actor on this world, is there?" The suddenness and, to Glynda, strangeness of the question cut through the debate. "Excuse me?"
"There is no acting members of the Imperium of Man governing or part of this planet, is there?"
"I do not know what you're talking about, young man. However, you should drop this foolishness."
Zestin shook his head and stepped towards the ladder. He looped his hands around a rung and slowly climbed down the strips of metal bolted securely into the sheer siding. By the time he touched ground and turned around, both females were looking at him expectedly and a duo of cop cars were sitting at either edge of alleyway.
When the officers touched him, he didn't resist. He found it strange they did not move to take away his weapons or that Ruby was secured next to him, but he didn't offer an ounce of resistance against the men in blue. Ruby chatted amiably to one of the officers while the combustion engine vehicle pulled onto the street. He mentioned something about a beacon and a daughter, yet he didn't catch much more. His thoughts drifted into what it meant that there was no Imperial control. Sure, Ruby had pretty much confirmed that since he'd asked. However, Ruby was… Ruby. He didn't suspect she'd have paid much interest to it if there was an Imperial actor on the planet.
He was silent and compliant through their processing once they reached the Vale Police Department unlike Ruby who seemed happy to talk and question everything. He found it odd, though, that once they reached an interrogation room it was Glynda who met them, not a member of the Police Department.
It seemed she held some kind of legal authority, then?
The two of them sat, Ruby mercifully silent for once, as Glynda looked over some handheld device and paced back and forth. He could see through it and noticed it was a recording of the brief from in Dust Till Dawn. Her jaw set a few times, particularly when footage covered his actions, but didn't seem overly bothered.
"…If it was up to me," Glynda started. "You'd be sent home with a warning and a slap on the wrist. Those deaths, young man, were unneeded and overly brutal. Young Ruby Rose, here, at least did not feel the need to kill them."
Ah, so that was why she was staring at him.
"Now, despite my disagreement with Miss Ruby Rose, there is someone here that wishes to meet you two. Both of you."
Ruby's face turned from a look of apprehension into one of surprise. "Is it Dad? Or Yang? They're going to be so upset…"
"No, Miss Rose, it is not."
The door opened and a man stepped from the darkness with a plate of cookies and a cup of tea in hand. "Ruby Rose," Ozpin greeted. "And… you." He finished blandly. He turned to Ruby and slowly leaned down to the girl who was staring with an open mouth, performing yet another of her fish mimicries. "…You have silver eyes."
"Uhh..?"
"So, we've a bit to cover today. First, we'll start with you, Miss Rose. Where did you learn to handle a scythe like that? Why, I know of only one other scythe user of your level and he's just a dusty old crow."
"Oh! That's my Uncle Qrow! He taught me back in Signal!"
"I see…" Ozpin set the plate of cookies down between the two teenagers and stepped back.
Ruby looked down, took a cookie… Then she took another cookie. By the time she'd gone back to reach for another, the previous baked good was already chewed to pieces and she was all too happy to stuff her face.
"Now, what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well," Ruby started slowly. "I want to be a Huntress."
"I see," Ozpin stated. "So, you want to slay monsters?"
"Well, yeah. I only have two more years at Signal then I'm going to apply for Beacon. My sister, Yang, is starting there this year and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress because I want to help people. My parents always taught us to help others so I thought, 'Ah, well, may as well make a career out of it'. I mean, the police are alright but Hunters and Huntresses are so much cooler and so much more.." She died off into a series of passionate squeals and other sounds that mimicked ailing wildlife. "You know?!"
Glynda seemed to stare dispassionately at the girl which Zestin took notice of. Ozpin, though, had the slightest curl around the corner of his mouth. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Professor Ozpin. You're the Headmaster at Beacon."
Beacon? The Korpsman had heard nothing but mentions of that place today. It seemed to be a place of great importance and a training ground for these… Hunters and Huntresses that placed Glynda Goodwitch among their numbers.
"Hmph," Ozpin sounded out. "Hello."
"Nice to meet you!" Ruby greeted with a bit more subdued energy than she normally would've. Again, the Korpsman took note. She was influenced by the importance the man held. Beacon must've been a cultural or social icon as well as a place of training, then. Ruby did state she wished to transfer…
"Do you want to come to my school?"
"More than anything."
"Well," Ozpin began with a look towards Glynda. "Okay."
Ruby looked like she won a million Thrones. Zestin couldn't empathize. However, he did feel some curiosity when Ozpin turned his attention to him.
"Now, I believe we come to our second occurrence of the night. Who are you?"
Zestin stared silently. He didn't move. He didn't speak. He just stared at Ozpin until Ruby finally tried to break the ice. "He's… He's Zestin. He's, uh, not from around here."
"A spaceman, right?"
"A member of the Astra Militarum," Zestin affirmed forcefully. "A member of His Imperial Guard and a Grenadier of the Death Korps of Krieg."
"Right. I don't suppose you have a way of proving your statement, Mister Zestin? I apologize, but I can't really take the word of a man who was, as Miss Rose said, puking in alleyway when he was found."
Truthfully, the Korpsman could understand the issue. Such a thing would certainly be an oddity. He had paperwork and he had more visual proof, but he needed one thing.
"Why should I prove it?"
Ozpin smiled a bit at the response. "I see you're not exactly someone that's quick to give something up. Well, if you're quite telling the truth, then that means your 'Imperium' isn't present here. I think it would be helpful to all of us, including yourself, if you could prove your claims." The Professor paused for a moment. "And if you could, might we see your face?"
Zestin grunted once more. "Fine." He stood slowly, watching the two Beacon Professors while Ruby watched him. One hand slipped into his pocket, grabbed a small tablet-like device and set it on the table. "Press the top button for pict-recordings, the second for maps and the third for… Well, you can't read our battlecant."
Ozpin grabbed the machine a bit too quickly for the Korpsman's tastes and stepped back to peruse what he'd been given. "Do you remember who you got here, Mister Zestin?" The Korpsman watched the older male's face closely as the flicker of lights danced across his visage, projected as they were by the screen of the tablet.
"The Warp. I will explain little else."
"The Warp?" The question seemed truly interested, but he couldn't understand why they didn't know what the Warp was.
"The Warp? The hellish realm that houses the Archenemy and from which all sins and temptations flow. I was… thrown through it, I think. I remember an assault, a portal and…" The Korpsman lapsed into silence while Ozpin finished watching what he could only imagine was one of dozens of hours of assault footage on the data-slate.
"Well," The Headmaster started. He seemed a bit green. Perhaps he'd seen what the Death Guard could do? "I think this is enough proof, Mister Zestin. I certainly believe you. This is quite a bit of information for someone to have made up to prove a lie." He gently set the data-slate back and slid it across the table.
"But, I do have one question for you. What do you plan on doing here? You said you were an Astra Military?"
"Astra Militarum," The Korpsman corrected. "The Imperial Guard. The Hammer and the Shield of Humanity. Truthfully, I do not know. I suppose, if there are enemies to Humanity here, my duties would drive me to see their slaughter until my own termination."
"I see. Would you possibly be interested in becoming a Huntsman, Mister Zestin?" Once more, Ozpin had that strange curl around his lips. He was smiling.
The Korpsman weighed his choices. He had little idea of what the Hunters did or what they hunted. However, it would give him a chance to do something other than starve or sit around wasting resources. He had nothing that could benefit him in the pursuit of a civilian life. Really, he didn't even know how he could try pursuing a civilian life.
"I will attempt your training system."
A very carefully worded statement in Ozpin's opinion. He was not agreeing to become a Huntsman, but neither was he denying the chance. He knew little of Remnant and was cautious about what he was getting into. Ozpin liked that. It meant the boy was smart.
"Very well, Mister Zestin, do you mind if we shake on it? I'd like if you'd take your mask off, too, so I can see who I'm bringing into my school." Glynda looked a bit upset, but she knew her place and didn't question the Headmaster in front of the two new "students".
The Krieger seemed hesitant but, after a moment, he reached up and loosened his mask until it fell from beneath his helmet to hang around his neck. What Ozpin saw beneath surprised him. "You're young… And you've got silver eyes too."
"I'm from the bunkers beneath Hive Ferrograd. It is a common genetic variation among the genetic pool there. The majority of colors are shades of blue."
Ozpin reached out and grabbed the boy's hand. "I would like a favor from you, since I'm putting this trust in you, young man."
Zestin grunted noncommittally.
"I want you to close your eyes and I want you to focus on my hands. Can you do that for me?"
The boy's bare face twitched a bit. It, like the mask that usually covered it, gave away very little of what the boy was thinking. He was cautious still, though, and only did so after staring the Headmaster in the eye.
He firmly wrapped his hand around the Headmaster's, closed his eyes and waited for whatever the Headmaster was going to do. Because of that, he didn't quite see the colored glow coming off the Headmaster and slowly creeping up his own forearm.
"You're unlocking his—" Glynda was shushed.
"Keep your eyes shut, Mister Zestin. Just focus on the feeling of my hand."
"What are you doing?" The alarmed Krieger questioned.
A dark grey hue shimmered to life around the Korpsman for a moment, then disappeared as the Headmaster slipped his hand out of the grasp of Zestin's firm grip. "I was just making sure you were ready for Beacon, Mister Zestin. You didn't have an Aura."
The Korpsman's eyes flickered open to look at both Proffessors with caution. "An Aura? What is an Aura?"
Ruby went to open her mouth but a glance from Ozpin quieted her. "Well," The Headmaster began. "I'm sure Ruby would be more than happy to tell you once you get somewhere comfortable. You both have your first day in the morning, after all. For now, I've got to sign you both up for your classes. I'm sure Oobleck will be very interested in you, Mister Zestin. Now, if you'll excuse us…"
Headmaster Ozpin stepped back, took a pull from his mug and smiled at both teenagers. Then, without another word, he turned around and headed out the door. Glynda looked at the doorway, Zestin, then turned and followed the Headmaster out with a slight sound of dissatisfaction.
Ruby silently watched the doorway while her friend secured his mask back over his face. The only sound was the hum of his air filter on his back. In fact, it was quiet enough that Zestin actually looked to Ruby to see if she was okay. Once his mask was on, that is.
He caught sight of a massive, wide smile stretched across her face. "We're going to Beacon! This! Is! Awesome!" He shouted loud enough that the Krieger thought they were going to get a noise complaint. They were still in the "Arbites" Precinct. "Oh God," She lamented after a moment. "Dad is going to have to go get my books in the morning! I need to go!"
"Are we free to go?"
"I think so?"
Zestin pocketed his data-slate, stood and pushed his chair in. He stepped towards the door, peered down the hallways and shrugged. He stepped out and Ruby rushed out after him. "Hey, don't leave without me!"
By the time she caught up with him, he'd already discharged himself and was walking down the steps and out the door to the precinct. Ruby had to take note that he was hustling to get himself moving. He didn't seem to like sitting around. Weird.
"Hey, Zesty, where are you going?"
"I don't know," The Korpsman admitted. "I am left without resources and have no idea where I am supposed to go from this point." Class was in the morning? What did a Schola even include? Was he supposed to go meet someone somewhere? He'd never been to a Schola. He couldn't even really read beyond Krieg Battlecant. What kind of books did he need?
"Oh! Oh! You can crash in the hotel with me and Yang! See, Yang is going there in the morning, and now I can go too! Dad's gonna have to send my books to Beacon, but… You can spend the night with us and maybe I can ask Dad if he can get you some books and I still can't believe we're going to Beacon!"
Zestin watched her dance in place for a moment and shook his head. She was far too energetic for his tastes. Too loud, too. "Did I not say you should cease expending resources on me, Ruby Rose?" Another raspberry was his reward for daring to question her "wisdom".
"Come on, what are they gonna do, kick us out because we brought a boy into the hotel room? I mean, isn't that what they're used for most times? Heh… That sounded better in my head."
"Explain what Aura is."
"What?" Ruby blinked as she grabbed her friend by his greatcoat and spun him around. "Oh, alright, I'll explain while we walk. You should do some laundry when we get to the hotel, too, your gear is filthy."
"I'll maintain my equipment once we are in position. Explain. Now."
"Okay, okay," Ruby soothed. "So, Aura is like… You know how everything has a soul, right? Well, Aura is when you can kinda project your soul out and you can use it to do a lot of different things. You can defend yourself against attacks, reinforce your weapon, use it as a shield… Semblances are a part of that, too. They're like a great manifestation of your Aura!"
"…Sorcery."
"What? No. It's your soul. There's no such thing as magic. Everyone has Aura. Even animals have it!"
"He knew from the recordings that we dislike magic. That's why he had you wait to explain it."
"What?"
Ruby looked over her should to catch sight of her friend with his hand around the hilt of his sword and a very dangerous glint in his lenses. "H-hey! Calm down, it's just Aura!"
"No, it's sorcery. He touched my soul. Tainted me."
"Nope! You can't do something like that. He just brought out your Aura. You already had it. Like I said, everyone has it."
If the Korpsman was better educated or of higher rank, he might have used the debate of latent pyskers have their own genetics brought forth, but as is, he couldn't. He was unhappy, quite righteously so, but Ozpin was nowhere to be seen. He could not make the man account for his action. Suicide, too, was not an option. He could not waste himself. That was a shameful thing to the Korps.
Despite the bile in his throat, he forced himself to calm down. He felt numb and his spine felt like ice, but he pushed the burning sensation in his chest away. "…Fine. This schola will give me a chance to learn more about this Aura, will it not?"
"Yep."
"Good."
Once again silence reigned. This time, however, Zestin's negative mood couldn't influence Ruby's happiness one bit. She skipped along with her hand wrapped around the edge of his greatcoat and he, as he had done all day, followed after her without complaint. By now, the city had quieted down quite a bit. Though, it seemed a bit of rain had hit while they'd been inside the precinct. Ruby guided the both of them through the city nonetheless, only once getting lost on a side street that left them backtracking for several minutes. By the time they reached the hotel, a rather spread out one with multiple little buildings, it was well into the night.
Before they even hit the door, Ruby knew Yang was upset. Why?
Yang herself was standing in front of the door, toes tapping impatiently as her little sister marched herself right up to her best friend/sister. Though Yang tried to put on a mask of anger, it quickly melted when her happy little sister finally made it back into her sight.
"Rubes, where have you been? You were supposed to be back hours ago! I kept sending you messages on your Scroll but you never messaged me back. I was worried!"
Ruby let go of Zestin's greatcoat, stepped up to her sister and wrapped her in the biggest hug she could manage. "Yang-bang! My sister! My long time less pretty but more experienced self! I have good news!" The blonde wrapped her right arm around her sister and rubbed her cloak.
"Yeah, I can see that. You brought someone home. Is that a boy, or… Rubes, you gonna have to have a talk with Dad when we get home?"
A shove answered her question. "Pfft. No. That's Zestin. He's from space. Anyway, so, we were out and about today and the two of us stopped a robbery! We got arrested for a bit, but the Headmaster of Beacon showed up and he gave us both a free ride into Beacon! It's kinda awesome! I'm gonna be going to Beacon with you in the morning! …Oh God, I hope people don't think I'm special for going in two years early!"
Yang jerked back from her sister as if bitten. "Wait, wait, back up there. You spend all day out with a guy, bring him home and tell me he's from space? Did you hit your head or something, sis?" Ruby laughed, grabbed Zestin's hand and pulled him closer.
"Nope, sis, this is Zestin! He's a Watchthingy from the Space Corps of Krieg!"
"Death Korps of Krieg," Said Korpsman corrected.
"Yeah, them."
Yang leaned in real close. She leaned in close enough to stare through the lenses of the Korpsman's mask and, despite the rather fierce glare she gave him, he didn't back down. In fact, Yang was pleasantly surprised to find him staring back right into her eyes.
"Well… Alright, I believe you."
"You do?" Ruby questioned, seemingly surprised.
"Well, yeah, it's the only thing that makes sense. If my little sister goes out and spends all day with some boy, obviously it's going to be some boy from another planet. You're my sister, Rubes, our family doesn't do things halfway!"
The Krieger looked between the two, shook his head and moved towards the door. "This is our habitation for the night, correct?"
"Yep!"
"Wait, Rubes," Yang called out. "He's staying the night with us?"
"Yep!"
"Why?" The blonde questioned.
"Well, he doesn't really have anywhere else to go. Plus, he's pretty neat. I was hoping to ask him some questions in the morning. Hey, hey, Zestin! What is your home planet like?"
The Krieger cracked the door open and cast a glance to the rather nice flooring, aesthetically designed walling and released a huff. Such a pretty building but it didn't look like it could take fire from even a Heavy Stubber. He didn't like the structures he'd seen so far.
"Krieg?" He clarified, stepping in with the girls following behind him. "Krieg is Krieg. She is dead, yet still she serves. She is our mother, our example and our shame."
"Your planet is dead?" Both girls looked at each other as they questioned the poor boy in stereo. "Hey, you owe me a soda, Rubes." Ruby just huffed.
"Anyway," Yang returned to the point. "What do you mean your planet is dead?"
"Once upon a time upon a time, our leaders tried to turn away from our Lord. They took control of the majority of the world and forced loyalist forces back to one last hold. Hive Ferrograd was the last obstacle to complete loss of Imperial control on Krieg. The Imperial Officer of the 83rd Krieg Regiment stationed there made one choice that sealed the fate of our planet. If Krieg would not serve the Throne, she would serve nobody. So, he took the great nuclear weapons stored beneath the Hive, had his men dig in and set the atmosphere up in a massive eruption that swept Krieg in a cleansing radiological hellfire."
Both girls stared blankly at the boy. "Uh…Then what happened?" Ruby carefully questioned.
"Then? Then we fought for Krieg. Just because the planet was ruined didn't mean the enemy was destroyed. So, for five centuries we fought for every mile of our planet. For five hundred years we were unable to do our wider duties, pay our tithes or serve the Throne properly. For five hundred years we reaped the seed from our sins."
"That's heavy, dude." Yang, like her sister, seemed to enjoy pointing out the obvious.
"I have no idea what weight has to do with the story. Anyway, where is a place where I might cleanse myself and my uniform of this filth?"
"Bathroom is over in the corner, man."
Zestin nodded, turned and made his way over to the indicated door. He turned back, stared at the girls who each stared at him, then slipped into the bathroom. By the time he came back out, both girls would be asleep and he'd find himself a place on the floor to bed down.
While he cleaned up Yang gave Ruby a very firm stare. "Rubes, you know Dad is going to freak out about this, right? Uncle Qrow is gonna freak, too, once he finds out you were arrested. I mean, he usually expects something like that outta me, but you're the good niece! You're the sweet sister!"
"Nuh! I can be a bad ass rebel too, Yang! I'm fifteen! I can start doing things that are cool, too! Besides, I'm gonna be joining you at Beacon tomorrow! Uncle Qrow will find that awesome!"
Yang crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Still, Rubes, this guy you brought home is weird. Are you really super serious about him being from space? His eyes are… They aren't right, Rubes."
"The Headmaster of Beacon even agreed! I don't know what he saw on that Scroll that Zestin gave him, but he seemed pretty convinced. He's gonna be joining us at Beacon too! And I know Zest seems a little… strange. He's a little violent and quiet too, but… He's okayish!
Yang threw her hands up and threw herself down on one of the two beds. "I hope you know what you're talking about, Rubes. You're becoming a big girl so I need to let you make your own choices. Just… if he seems any weirder, just drop him."
"Yang! He's from space! He needs help! Dad always said to help people that need it!"
"That's true," Yang agreed. "But I'm just worried about him hurting you. His eyes are… There's a lot behind them, sis. A lot of hate. A lot of violence. Just looking at his eyes I can tell he's gone through a lot. I've seen eyes like those before, sis. Those are bad eyes."
"I mean, he was really brutal during the robbery, but…"
"Just keep an eye on him then, sis. I'm just worried about you. I'm going to turn in. I want to try to get a run in before we head to the pickup point tomorrow. Don't trust him too much, alright? You still don't know too much about him. I still don't trust him."
Ruby nodded, slumped down on her bed and sighed. "Yang?"
A groan answered her.
"Thanks for watching out for me. You've done it ever since I was a kid and you've always tried to do what you thought was best. I'll keep an eye on him. Still, I'm not gonna turn my back on him. You say he's bad, but there's nobody who's truly bad. Everyone can be helped."
"Uh huh," The groggy blonde answered as she slowly settled into sleep. "Good luck."
"Good night, Yang."
"Night, Rubes."
Like her sister, Ruby settled into the bed, not even bothering to change out of her clothes. She didn't know where the sheets had been so she didn't want to touch them too much. She kicked her shoes off, settled her head onto the pillows and let herself settle into a restless night of sleep.
She'd need it. Tomorrow would be interesting. None of them knew it but Beacon was just the start of a new struggle for not only the three teenagers, but Vale and the rest of Remnant as well. One good night of sleep could make all the difference.
Author's notations:
So, this is a pile of fuck. I hit RWBY like it was heroin and I've been a deep fan of 40k for quite a bit. The Death Korps of Krieg? I love every single aspect of them. So, after hitting some of the RWBY fandom media, I was taken with the desire to try my hand at this after seeing a few other stories in a similar vein on the site. Needless to say, I'm having trouble getting things how I want it, but there you go. I'm hoping to get better at this as I go and, once I get into the meat of things, hope to expand a bit on the classically brutal action that everyone loves to see the Death Korps knee deep in. I won't say this'll turn out to be the best thing, or even the longest story, but I hope to turn this into something enjoyable.