I don't own RWBY.
When I was first tasked with keeping watch over Her, I'll admit I was skeptical. Playing bodyguard for a little girl? That wasn't really what I signed up for. It only got worse when I found out that she wasn't even real. She was a synthetic girl, a machine. Yet she could generate her own Aura, and General Ironwood had specifically tasked me to protect her, so I did.
And yet, as time went by, I slowly began to grow attached to her. She was socially awkward, but then again, I wasn't exactly Mr. Social either. I grew up in a military family, I was a military brat. My strict upbringing and even stricter training straightened my spine and clamped shut my mouth. Serving under General Ironwood and Specialist Schnee only enforced those traits.
So it aggravated me at times when I had to play babysitter to her, or chase her all around Atlas. She was curious about everything, always asking questions, always smiling, and almost always tripping over her own two feet. There wasn't a single mean bolt in that metal body of hers, and I slowly began to forget the fact that she wasn't even a real girl to begin with.
Eventually we grew close. She nicknamed me "Red", due to my armor colour, and I wound up growing attached to her. I even dared to request my code-name to be changed to that. She had broken down my barriers, pushed past my military life, without even meaning to.
I remember her favorite greeting, one that always made me crack a smile whenever I saw her.
"Salutations!" she'd say, smiling all the while, not a care in the world. I remember when another soldier was also assigned to watch her alongside me. He was similar to me, with his strict military upbringing, but he was more easily exasperated, often chasing after her, leaving him short of breath. She didn't seem to mind though, and honestly, I found it funny.
When she was finally allowed to attend the Vytal Festival over in Vale, she was ecstatic. It was her first time outside the Kingdom, and she couldn't wait to see everything outside of Atlas. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go with her during that time, as I was given duties elsewhere, so I had another, newer, soldier assigned as her bodyguard temporarily until I could make the trip.
During that time, it seems she would wander off or run away from her bodyguards quite often, losing them easily. One such time this happened, she wound up getting some damage to the synthetic skin on her hands. When I finally arrived in Vale, I reprimanded the two for allowing her to leave their sights for even a minute and allowing such a thing to happen.
When I went to scold her, she confided in me that although she knew it was wrong, she was just too curious about the rest of the world to sit by and be watched. She said that she had seen many different things, stopped some bad guys, and apparently even made a new friend!
I simply sighed and ruffled her hair, smiled, and asked that she only be more careful next time.
She came to me one day, excited, and told me that Beacon Academy was having a dance Sunday night, and that she wanted to go. I contacted General Ironwood and requested permission for her, citing that I could attend with another guard if need be, and he gave the OK.
It was the typical teenage party, one I would normally have never even entertained the thought of, let alone joining. But I had changed, and all thanks to her. I can still remember tapping my foot in tune to the beat while she danced beside me, stopping briefly only because the younger soldier had stared at me.
Eventually I decided to quit caring altogether, and danced with her. I had never danced before and was pretty bad at it, just doing The Robot, but she didn't mind. Her smile that night will stay with me until the day I take my final breath.
She was an innocent girl, pure and kind. She could never be cruel, and she should have been allowed to enjoy life like other girls.
So why? Why was it cut so short? I remember it clearly. I was given a new assignment when they had given a young woman my position as her bodyguard. I was upset, but didn't dare try and refuse an order.
Instead, I took to my new assignment, border patrol. After such a long time being her bodyguard, it felt off to be assigned to something that felt so trivial. I watched her match against two of Beacon's students, and was proud of her.
Then came the finals. She was to fight that girl from Mistral. Many had said the girl was invincible, but I was confident that she could beat her.
But she didn't. All I could do was watch helplessly as she was quartered by her own weapons' strings. I could only stare in numb shock as her pupils widened and went dark.
And just like that, she was gone.
I wasn't able to protect her like I had been assigned to. Vale was then overrun by Grimm, and I was tasked with fending them off and helping evacuate the citizens. I could mourn later, lives were at stake.
When everything quieted down, and that...beast was frozen atop the remains of the CCT, and General Ironwood, my fellow soldiers, and I were aboard Bullheads heading back to Atlas, only then was I able to feel the full weight of the situation.
Penny Polendina was dead. And I would never see her smiling face again.
Author's Notes: Just a quick oneshot told from the perspective of that guard who danced with Penny in Volume 2. I like to think that he was close to her, and that her death hit him hard.