She leaned against the console of her ship in boredom as she waited. Why couldn't have they just have taken the same ship? Would have been easier, she would have have someone more than her Ghost to talk with.
The Titan exhaled slowly as she set her head down against the metal, closing her eyes for a moment. How long had it been since her Ghost had woken her? Must have been edging onwards towards a decade now. She could still remember that day, waking in a panic with a Hunter standing over her, looking down at her as if she was the most curious thing in the world.
Then the Hunter had recognized her, and it was time before the Titan remembered her proving how odd this new world was going to be. From there the Titan found herself on a two-man fireteam for the next two years until they picked up a Warlock from the side of the road.
So now the three of them were headed to the moon. They were not going to be first Fireteam to land on the moon, nor were they going to be the last. But they had a mission set out before them, and those Hive Knights? They were going to wish that they had never called the Moon their home.
"Ready Yang?" Ghost asked as it appeared before the Titan, the blonde Guardian smirked as she grabbed her helmet, securing it to place upon her head before checking to make sure that the shells in her Exotic Gauntlets were loaded. She laughed slightly to herself, Ember Cecilia could hardly be considered 'Exotic' gear, but to the people and fellow Guardians who did not know her growing up, they didn't' know. So she just rolled with it.
Grabbing a rifle for 'just in case' purposes and setting in on her back, she watched as her Ghost grabbed her beloved Gjallarhorn for those FUBAR situations. Which were more often than not. She laughed slightly before jumping off her ship and onto the moon's surface. Her teammates were already waiting for her.
"Awe, I didn't think I was that slow." Yang said as she crossed her arms, smiling behind her helmet as she looked up the path towards the Archer's Line. She looked back at the Hunter. From first glance alone one could tell that the Hunter used to serve as a Huntress back in the Pre-Golden Age era. It wasn't because of the weapon she carried or that she possessed a completely different skill set not seen in the average Hunter. But it was the mask she wore.
A White Fang masked styled to look like that of a Nevermore's, obviously repurposed by the right people so it could serve as an Exotic Helmet. She kept the hood of her Hunter's Cloak down so the mane of feathers that served as her heritage wouldn't be bound down by cloth and metal. The Hunter was Raven Branwen, the once enigmatic swordswoman of the White Fang.
"Most would say, fashionably late." The Warlock spoke, from her voice alone one could tell that she was smiling underneath her own helmet, her fingers brushing against the feather piece around the collar of her cloak. Yang couldn't help but smile, the Warlock in the white cloak was none other than Summer Rose.
"This would be your first time on the moon." Yang's Ghost appeared before them. Despite that Raven often too the position of fireteam leader, Yang's Ghost often served as navigator. Yang looked at it as it rotated it's chassis once idly.
"It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here." Yang said as she looked around her, probably because it was the moon, but everything seemed so, somber, lacked the life Remnant had.
"Dying here is much more likely." Raven commented in jest as Summer walked up to Yang and looked at the Hunter.
"Excellent pep talk." She nodded, causing a bout of chuckles among the three, it was an usual adventure between the fireteam. "Do you have a read on what we're looking for?" Summer asked as she looked at Ghost, the small robot made a sound.
"In a sense. A lot of it is just stories, you know about the about Crota and the Moon." Ghost explained. "But I do have an audio file here." it said before playing it as the three of them started the trek up towards Archer's Line. The theory of killing the Swarm Princes would destroy Crota's Sword. It was a lead, but it didn't sound like the best plan to slow down Crota and his followers.
"Destroy his sword?" Yang looked at Ghost with a frown. "I would agree with that theory if we didn't have minions of Crota holding rituals to summon Blades of Crota every other day of the week." She crossed her arms. "So. If we kill the Swarm Knights."
"Princes." Summer corrected, Yang was tempted to kick a moon rock at her.
"Princes." Yang sighed. "We're still hurting the Hive, maybe with them gone there will be less Blades killing newborn Guardians."
"A safe assumption." Raven nodded, Yang smiled underneath her own helmet at the praise as they made their way up to the top of the hill, the moon wasn't anywhere as large as Remnant but it would still take time to travel across it all by foot. If one of the Princes was out on one of the shards of the moon, it would be a little bit harder to get to them.
"Let's just the Sparrows online first then we can go after the Princes." Ghost said. "That building there should have a an outpost we can use."
Finding the first ritual site was the easiest part of what was probably going to be a long string of trials to come. The three of them hiding behind a rock as they waited.
"I think we should knock." Summer spoke up after an extended silence, Yang suddenly jerking awake so it looked like she was paying attention. "Do you have any rockets?" Her helmet moved to look at the Titan. Yang just shrugged.
"Seven." Ghost said as Gjallarhorn dropped by Yang's feet. "And about twenty Heavy Ammo Synthesis."
"Just twenty?" Raven quipped, Ghost looked at the Hunter.
"There are some Guardians who still believe they will never need them." Ghost commented idly. "I pity their souls when they find themselves out of rockets." It laughed as it floated away from them and disappeared, Yang sighed in defeat.
"He hangs around your friends too much." Raven muttered as the blonde picked up her Rocket Launcher and helft it over her shoulder before checking to make sure it was loaded before aiming it at the doorway.
"Knock knock." Summer stated, Yang barked a laugh once before pulling the trigger.
"Who's there?!" she shouted over the explosion and the screamed of aggravated Hive as they stormed out of of the dust, one of them was a Knight, their target. Yang just shrugged as she fired her rocket again, striking the Knight down in a massive explosion while the Wolfpack Rounds detonated around them. They still had Hive to clear out.
"Well, now it's a party." Summer quipped.
"Music?" Ghost asked, Yang smirked.
"Something…. classical."
"Taking this should lure the rest of them out." Ghost said as the three Guardians stood in front of a sword that was just, floating, in the middle of the room. Working their way through into the Temple of Crota was the simple task for the three of them. With Summer and Yang being a Voidwalker and Striker respectively, Gjallarhorn didn't need to be reloaded again as they shot their way through the Acolytes and various other Knights. Although a Wizard did prove to be tricky, Raven was quick enough to get it from behind with her gun.
"Can we take a break first?" Yang asked as she placed a hand on top of her head. "Those bastards broke my shield a few times, I know I'm going to be black and blue in the morning, and we have three more left to kill."
"So that's one for the each of us." Summer said. "We've killed worse."
"Name one thing, worse than a Swarm Prince that we have managed to kill." Yang asked, almost too exhausted to be sarcastic Summer paused for a moment.
"I love you?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders and holding her hands out innocently, even Raven was shaking her head now, red eyes closed behind her Nevermore Mask.
"I'll take the sword." the Faunus said as she grabbed it by the hilt. "It's going to draw out the Hive, so you two need to get ready." she looked at them. "Sunsing, if you need to." she added as the two nodded, the Void Energy that normally danced around Summer's hand disappeared as she shifted her energies. Yang made a sound of joy as she knocked her fists together, her old Semblance kicking to life.
It was made out to believe that all Guardians born of Huntsmen would be unique, but in the end it varied on their dormant semblance. Raven's semblance boosted her Arc Abilities as a Bladedancer, however to make up for it she could not access the Solar Energies to perform as a Gunslinger. She knew she could manipulate the Void Element slightly but it was only once in a blue moon where it worked to her favour. Most attempts resulted in an accidental suicide, so she just chose not to use it.
Summer Rose's semblance hardly gave her any boost to her abilities, therefore there was no setback at the same time. She was a textbook Voidwalker and served as a Sunsinger when it was required of her. Her semblance of manipulating Wind Resistance just allowed her to move swifter and jump further. In simple terms, she lacked the ability to 'floof about' and moved through the air with the rage of a Titan's Jetpack.
Yang's semblance was one to boast about. When she was selected to be a Guardian is granted her all the Arc Abilities of a Striker Titan, but her Semblance, taking hits and dealing even more damage back, combined with the Traveler's Light gave her the abilities seen in Sunsingers. She just could not harness abilities seen in Defender Titans to make up for it.
The screams of the Hive could be heard as they started to crawl out of the cracks and the puddles on the ground, a true horror story if written by a skilled writer or storyteller, something none of them were. Raven was quick to turn raising the Sword of Crota and bringing it down in a slam, the Thralls and Acolytes breaking apart. Summer and Yang relying on their weapons and fists to take out any who dared to get close to them.
The roar of the first Prince almost had Raven laughing as she jumped up, the dark energy already gathered in the blade as she slammed it home, the shockwave stunning the Prince before she moved to close the gap, their blades meeting in the middle with a shower of sparks. Raven had to pause for a moment, not quite used to the type of blade she was holding onto.
"Duck!"
She narrowly missed a haymaker swing the Prince had thrown at her head, smirking she pulled the sword away from the deadlock and swung out again striking the Prince so he stumbled back only to glare at Raven before bringing his cleaver down in a massive swing that shattered Raven's shields. She then took the moment to step back and jump away to the upper levels, chucking a grenade down at the same time.
"Reloading." Yang said as she hefted Gjallarhorn off her back again, backing away from the crowds as she slammed her rockets into the chamber. She had five left before she needed to use a synthesis, it took roughly two per Prince so there was a chance she could kill at least two of them and then they could just wail on the last Prince with whatever ammo they had on them.
"Wait Yang!" Raven shouted as she tore through a pack of Thralls "Don't-"
She couldn't get her warning out in time, the Titan firing the rocket at the Prince, once the Wolfpack Rounds detonated the Prince was still standing, a regal blue aura surrounding it.
"I don't think that was the plan." Summer said as she lowered her gun slightly. "Don't they call these types Gatekeepers?"
"That's not right." Ghost said. "Then again, no one has defeated the Princes, they might just be Gatekeepers." Raven lower her head slightly as she looked at the sword in her hand before dashing forwards with a renewed energy, slashing at Garok with the sword, harming him as it it connected.
"The Sword harms him. We can still win." Raven as she swung at him again, parrying Garok's sword and swinging at his head, clearing it off his body. A slow exhale as the Guardians regrouped, Raven still holding into the sword while Yang pulled out her rifle. Summer reloading her own as she lifted it to be at the ready.
"Keep the Hive off me, I'll kill the Princes." Raven said as she raised the sword again, the two other Princes lumbering out of their chambers, Yang smirked under her own helmet. Those poor bastards just did not know what was coming.
"Something must have transformed the Swarm Princes into Hive Gatekeepers." Ghost said as it looked over the remnants of the Princes Raven had destroyed with their own sword. In a sense. "I think, if we go deeper into this Temple, we might find what we are looking for."
"And death." Summer pointed out. "Yes, we, Raven, killed these guys, but who is to say that whatever we find down there won't be the same? Or stronger? The Sword is gone."
"I still have rockets." Yang pointed out. "So if we find another Gatekeeper? Lure him to a bottomless pit and we'll just push him off, it's a legitimate strategy." She walked up and looked down the hallway that descended probably to the core of the Moon. "Despite what people say, the moon has been like this our entire lives. If Crota is the one who had shattered it long ago, that would mean he's been around since." she looked at the other two for help.
"Since the dawn of mankind." Raven answered.
"The Darkness will only get stronger the deeper we go down." Ghost told them. "Dying down there, you have a chance of being consumed by it."
The three of them looked at each other, some of them crossing their arms while the other would shift their weight side to side. They knew they were already here, and running back to look for help would mean they had a chance of being too late.
"I say we go." Yang spoke up. "We might be Guardians, but we are Huntresses first and foremost. This is what we dedicated our lives to. We go down there and it's Crota waiting for us we just do what we have to do."
"And if we die?" Summer asked.
"The Grimoire Cards will not forget about us." Raven pointed out.
"I am not looking forward to this." Ghost muttered, Yang walked up to it to pat the shell slightly.
"It will be fine." she said smiling underneath her helmet. "We'll just go down there, beat whatever it is down there to a pulp, come back and laugh over it with a good drink in our hands.
"If Xur isn't at the bar." Raven stated. "That man freaks me out."
"Coming from you?" Summer raised a brow, Raven waved her off.
The trek deeper into the Temple was silent, but the number of Hive were only growing larger as they moved. Knights standing around every other corner like sentinels. Yang raised her rifle as she looked down the sights, pulling the trigger so it fired in short controlled bursts as she aimed at the heads of the Thralls and Acolytes. Raven was in the lead, as usual her invisibility skills allowed her to flee if need be.
She raised her hand to stop them when the ground started to shake, some form of sound echoing through the tunnels that had them all looking around. It almost sounded like someone walk talking, beckoning them forward. Summer turned around behind them looking forward..
"It sounds like something is calling for something." She said softly. "I don't think that is a good noise at all." a pause. "Should we turn back?" she asked them, Yang and Raven looked at each other for a moment.
"No." The Faunus said. "We're already this far down, if anything, we're running out of time. If the Hive are doing something big, we have to stop them. Remnant cannot afford the return of Crota or some other Hive monstrosity, we have to stop this. We've lost the moon once, we cannot afford to lose it again."
"Alright." Was the agreement as Yang moved forward to push the doors open almost expecting something to be going on in the room. Her Ghost zoomed forward looking around.
"I was almost expecting Hive Wizards to be holding a ritual down here." It said but Yang was suddenly making a notion for it to come back. Confused it turned around to see itself face to face with a Shrieker that was starting to open up.
"Oh… hello."
It ducked out of the way just as the Shrieker was met with a Rocket from Gjallarhorn and Full Auto fire from the other weapons as it shattered with a hollow, purple energy shattering outwards as it gathered itself before flying towards the Guardians, all three of them, scattering to dodge the blasts. Yang skidding off the platform and onto the floor below as the energy exploded around her, forcing her to back up against a wall.
That moved.
Slowly she looked up to see a Knight staring down at her.
She screamed as it roared. It's blade coming down on her just as she brought her hands up to block. However it just wasn't enough and it tore through her, killing her at the same time. Her Ghost shattering open where it was floating to wait for recovery. But with the Darkness as thick as it was, made it impossible.
"Shit! Fuck!" Raven shouted as she jumped down her own sword drawn as she brought it down on the Knight's head. Struggling to keep it in place as it flailed against her, her blade eventually snapping at the hilt as she fell, crashing against the ground herself and rolling for a bit before stopping at the feet of another Knight.
Slowly she looked up, seeing the four Knights surrounding them. Eventually coming to look at the massive green crystal in the center of the room with four Wizards around it, preforming some ritual.
"Crota!" Summer shouted, in the end it was the only explaination of what they had stumbled upon, she was still up on the upper floor looking down as Raven slowly picked herself up, grabbing the hilt of her blade to return it to the scabbard on her back. It was the nature of her weapon as the barrell spun and locked a new blade into place.
Slowly she drew the new weapon and held it out against the four Knights surrounding her.
"Three, two." she didn't need to count to one as one Knight went flying with a fiery blast. Yang standing there and growling as her semblance coupled with the Sunsinger ability gave her the appearance of having wings.
"You two stop the Wakers! I'll deal with this jerks!" She shouted as she raised her fists again to strike another Knight with a shell from Ember Cecilia. Summer jumped down, her own rifle swapped out her her own blades as she nodded at Raven as the two of them moved down to the center of the chamber, breaking apart with the goal of two Wakers of Crota each.
Yang turned to face her own opponents as the remaining Knights turned on her. One charging forward to swing its sword down. This time Yang deflected it with her own gauntlet before bringing her fist up to strike the Knight in the face, blowing its head off just in time as she heard the cry of a dying Wizard.
It was clear that they had stumbled upon a summoning ritual to bring Crota back from his slumber and they only had one choice in this matter. Stop the Wakers and destroy the crystal.
She tossed out two Solar Grenades as she charged the last Knight, ducking under it's swing as she brought her first up for an uppercut. it staggered back as it raised its sword again swinging wide as Yang jumped away, forcing her jetpack to kick in so she could back away a little further as she shifted her energies, fire changing to electricity before dropping down, slamming her fists against the ground as the blast of energy killed the last Knight in a powerful Fists of Havoc.
Not bothering to wait she had Gjallarhorn in her hand again as she turned around, shoving two rockets into the chamber as she looked around. Three of the four Wakers of Crota were dead, Summer and Raven ganging up on the last one. Summer acting as as distraction with her own Radiance. Raven bursting back into existence from her own portal as she drove her blade into the back of the Wizard. It screaming as it died, Raven crashing onto the ground.
"Well." she started as she looked up only to see the crystal starting to rise up. "For the love of!"
"Stay down!" Yang shouted as she fired two rockets at the crystal before reloading her last two and firing them both off. Wolfpack Rounds detonating every which way as another cry of pain could be heard as the crystal rose higher in the air. Raven quickly coming to her senses as she moved, grabbing Summer and quickly darting out of the way.
The both crashed a fair distance away, splashing in the water and looking over to watch as the crystal slammed back down on the ground. It shattered in a bright light, blinding the group as it disappeared, leaving the three of them in a dark chamber surrounded with dead Hive.
"Well." Yang pulled off her helmet to she could just stare at what they had done with her own two eyes.. "That was a thing."
A/N: If anything goes to show, I'm extremely rusty when it comes to writing stories. Or maybe my style has changed since highschool.
Anyway, this chapter introduces Yang, and if you haven't realized, I'm slowly reintroducing members of Team RWBY one by one with dedicated chapters. This time I also brought Summer Rose and Raven Branwen along for the ride. I have a personal headcannon that Raven Branwen is a Faunus (A Crow-Type).
Eventually I'll get used to writing again and my quality will increase, I hope. I have an idea of the direction I want to take this, I just need to be successful in doing so.