Chapter 25: In Amber Clad
Slipspace
UNSC Stalwart-class light Fregade"In Amber Clad", Cryo bay
October 30; 2552
Ruby frantically spat out the sour chemicals as she fell to the ground. Her whole body shivered from the freezing cold, and the puddle of puke in front of her only got bigger, as she barfed up what felt like her entire stomach.
Around her, more cryotubes opened up, and the female personnel of the ship stepped out. Everyone was naked, just like Ruby. Of course, she and Weiss were against it at first, but it the crew explained that any form of clothes could lead to their skin getting raw and blistered. Still, she could spot a few blisters on her skin, thanks to the chemicals used inside the tube. However, from what the crew said, those would go away in a few hours.
Something touched her back, and she looked up. Her joints hurt thanks to the freezer burn, another side effect of cryosleep. Weiss stood in front of her, her pale, white skin looking similar to the alloy the bay was made out of. It didn't have any blisters on it, and Ruby guessed that Weiss was used to cold climates from back home, though she could spot small, sparkling ice crystals in her hair. Maybe Weiss shouldn't have tried to wash her hair before going into the tube.
"Here, cover yourself," Weiss said, handing her a big towel.
"Thanks." Ruby took the piece of cloth and wrapped it around herself. "Phew. I hope I never have to do this crap again."
Weiss shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. Except for the whole naked part."
"Weiss..." Ruby muttered. "You're still naked."
Weiss looked down at herself, realizing her mistake. Her cheeks became slightly red. "Oh crap!" She quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around. "Much better."
"Heh..."
"What is it?"
"I still got bigger-"
"Shut up." Weiss snapped and slapped Ruby hard enough to throw her onto the metal floor. "Seriously, it's apparent that you had Yang around you for years."
"Ouch." Ruby rubbed her head and stood back up. "By the way, did you dream something?"
"Just the usual," Weiss replied. They started to walk towards the lockers. "How I save my Corporation, restore my family name, and you getting hurt."
"Hey!"
"Listen, we might be friends, but you're still... how should I put it? Annoying."
"I'm not annoying!" Ruby yelled. Several heads turned towards them.
"You jumped onto my desk and splashed like a fish on land because I wasn't able to play with you," Weiss replied, stemming her hands onto her hips.
"Sorry." Ruby opened one of the lockers and pulled out her normal outfit. "Also, I dreamed nothing. Thank you very much."
"Nothing? That's weird. Yang said you were a vivid dreamer." Weiss put on her dress in what looked like not even a second, leaving Ruby perplexed for a second.
"Y- Yeah. Normally. Maybe it's the medicine. Or the cold." Ruby tightened her cape and nodded after making sure everything sat correctly. "Welp, I'm done. Time to catch a-" She stopped, as her view fell onto the calendar hanging on the wall. "Weiss?"
"Yes?"
"It's October 30th."
"And?"
"You realize what that means?" Ruby asked in pure excitement.
"Uhm... That tomorrow is Halloween?"
"Nope."
"That Remnant has the same amount of days, hours, months as this world, and even the same name for them?"
"Well, yeah, that's weird. But not what I meant! Tomorrow's my birthday!"
"Oh, dear gods no," Weiss replied annoyed.
"What? You're not happy for me?" Ruby put her arm around Weiss' shoulders. "After all, this might be your first time visiting the birthday party of your BFF."
"Okay, first off, you're not my BFF. Second, we're on a military spaceship, coming out of one of the biggest battles in our lives, only to go into the next while leaving a reality that consists of ten dimensions. I don't think you'll even have much of a party."
"Come on, we'll have a great party." Pyrrha intervened. It looked like she was the last one the exit her cryopod, and only had her underwear and the clothes she normally wore under her armor.
"Seriously? We can't spend any time on trivial stuff like that." Weiss yelled.
"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked. "You seem a bit on edge."
She sighed and put her hand to her forehead. "Sorry. I think the cryosleep got a bit on my nerves. Maybe it's best to grab a bite to eat."
"Yeah. I'm hungry too. I hope they have cookies. Or strawberries. Or strawberry cookies." Ruby squealed and dragged her partner out of the cryobay, despite her desperate pleas.
Sol-System, Orbit around Earth
Quito Space Tether, Crimson Wing, Med Bay
October 28; 2552
Yang slowly opened her eyes, and immediately looked around. The first thing she saw was the white ceiling. Then multiple tubes, going directly into her arms. A small screen next to her showed what she presumed to be her heartbeat, as well as other medical details.
The girl tried to sit up and felt as if a heavy dumbbell was sitting right inside her chest. The room she was in seemed to be rather small, only containing the bed she was in, a small cupboard with medical equipment and a screen that was probably used to explain complicated issues to the patient.
"Ugh, my head hurts." She muttered to herself. Yang looked around and saw a small device next to her. She picked it up and guessed that this was to call the doctor or something. At least there were some things similar to home.
Mere seconds after pushing the button, the door opened with a hiss. A doctor came in, wearing a long, white coat with the symbol of ONI on the chest. "Glad that you're awake, Ms. Xiao-Long."
"How long was I out?"
"A week."
"That long? How?"
"Well, see that?" The doctor put his datapad on a medical table, and the screen showed a Xray of Yang's chest. "During the battle of New Mombasa, a metal pole impaled you through the lung. That alone wouldn't have been much of a problem to heal, but the gravity lift your friends used to escape opened the wound up even more."
"So...?"
"So you're entire lung filled with blood, popping most of your alveolus. Honestly, you're lucky that Vergil and your friends immediately helped you."
"Yeah," Yang muttered, still trying to figure out what an alveolus was. "But it's healed now, right?"
"Yes and no. We had to give you a new lung. It's mostly organic though, but your Aura gave us some problems with the implantation process." He explained. "All in all, you should be able to walk around again tomorrow. And maybe in two or three days, you can go back into battle."
That was right. She almost forgot that part. "How is the battle going?"
"Maybe it's better if your friend explains that to you." He pressed a little device in his ear. "Sergeant Belladonna? You can come in."
The door opened once again, revealing a clearly happy Blake. The Faunus ran in, directly to Yang's bed. She hugged Yang and sat down on a chair next to the bed. "I'm so happy you're alive!"
"Yeah, it's okay Kitty."
"And you ruined it," Blake replied, standing back up.
"I'm going to come back later." The doctor stated. The girls nodded, and he left the room.
"So... Thanks for saving me."
"Hey, we're partners. Was I supposed to let you die there?"
Yang laughed. "Right. So how is it going on Earth? And where are we?"
"We're on a Space Tether, one that ONI appropriated," Blake explained. "As for Earth, it's bad. The Covenant breached most of our defenses."
"So Earth's lost? Fucking great."
"Not really," Blake said. "They are concentrating their forces on New Mombasa. Or rather... what's left of it... They're digging up something big, maybe Forerunner in origin."
"Ugh, we aren't going to get away from those guys, are we?"
"Doesn't look like it. Other than that, they mostly attacked Military bases, though Antarctica and some other bigger cities got hit as well. Then there's the other problem. While we managed to destroy Lao qishi, it didn't do much in the long run."
"Let me guess, there are still Grimm around?"
"Yeah. It looks like the ones that sped off from Africa somehow created new hives. While the Grimm aren't that strong yet, it looks like all the negative emotions of both humans and Covenant are putting them into some kind of ecstatic state."
"So the Grimm are overrunning Earth?"
"In a way. We're still able to hold them off in a lot of places, but some of the more open cities have been attacked without stop."
"That's just great. And what about you guys?"
"Oh, we have been deployed from time to time."
"I guessed that. He called you a Sergeant, didn't he?"
Blake nodded. "We got promoted after New Mombasa. Oh, and you might want to look at your arm."
"Huh?" Yang rolled up the sleeve of her hospital garment and noticed a black symbol on her upper arm. "What the? Is that a tattoo?"
"Exactly. You, me, Nora, Ren and even Penny got one." Blake rolled up her sleeve, revealing the same tattoo. "The guys of Alpha-Nine suggested it. Honestly, it was mostly Nora who pushed us into doing it, but I think it's pretty cool."
"What does it mean?"
"It's something called a kanji, a form of writing used by some human cultures in this world. This particular one means as much as badass, or bastard. It's a form of appreciation from ODSTs."
Yang rolled her sleeve back down, silently appreciating the gesture. "And what battles did you partake in?"
"Well, for one, we had to secure some data in Essen."
"I have literally no idea where this is."
"Europe. Germany, to be precise. Beweglichkeitsrüstungssysteme called ONI for it."
"What's so important there?"
"They produce MJOLNIR armor. You know, what the Chief's wearing. ONI definitely wants to keep those from the Covenant. Then there was a small operation in Indonesia against a nest of Grimm, and a bigger battle in Seoul, once again to secure some data."
"ONI just loves their data, don't they?"
"Still, we were dumb."
"Huh?"
"We thought that we could do anything in this war, after what happened on Halo. But that was nothing. The Covenant is far too strong, even with the few ships they got here."
"Of course. Did you really think we'd just beat the Covenant like a group of Beowolf?" Yang asked, receiving a small nod from Blake.
"Sorry. I'm just... I'm just a bit tired. I haven't gotten much sleep." Balke sighed. "By the way, I wanted to ask you something. When we fled from New Mombasa, you were muttering something in your sleep..."
"Oh, that was nothing. Just a bad dream is all." Yang said. Sure, she could mention what she was dreaming, but she didn't want to make Blake worry. The parasite was wiped out anyways.
Slipspace
UNSC Stalwart-class light Fregade"In Amber Clad", Training Room
October 30; 2552
"Okay, widen your stance," Pyrrha said, looking at Jaune. Both were in the middle of a sparring match, their blades ready to clash.
"Got it." Jaune did just as his friend said, and widened his stand. "And no-" He couldn't even react, as Milo crashed into his chest plate. All the air left his lungs, but he managed to keep standing. At least until Pyrrha's shield hit his tight, throwing him onto the ground. "Ouch."
"You still got a ways to go, Jaune." Pyrrha laughed.
"Y-Yeah. It's just the... The cryosleep affecting me. Yeah, that's it."
"Right," Pyrrha said, rolling her eyes. She helped him up. "When you want to fight the Covenant head on, then you gotta keep training."
"She's right, boy. Excuses won't help you if a Brute is 'bout to tear you apart."
Both followed the voice and saw Johnson entering the room. "Sergeant!" Both instantly saluted.
"Good mornin'. I hope your first cryosleep went well?"
"It was... different," Jaune replied. "Here to train?"
"Nah, I just wanted to see if the two of you are good." Johnson pulled out a cigar from his pocket, lit it, and put it into his mouth. "Cryo can get on your nerves real quick if you ain't used to it."
"I'm okay. Jaune seems to still be a bit frozen, but other than that..." Pyrrha muttered.
"By the way, I wanted to ask you somethin'," Johnson said and pointed at Crocea Mors. "That sword of yours, why do you have it?"
"Because it's my weapon?" Jaune replied, unsure what to say.
"Yeah, I got that. But all your friends got fancy transforming weapons. You got a normal sword."
"Well, it was an heirloom," Jaune explained. "My dad gave it to me the day I left for Beacon." He let out a small laughter. "He didn't think I'd make it very far since I never went to a combat school. And now look at me. Regarded by the military of another dimension as an important asset."
"You didn't have any prior training? That's pretty bold to enroll in a combat academy then."
"He even had to fake his papers," Pyrrha said with a smirk.
"Pyrrha, you're not helping me. Anyways, It was my dream to become a Huntsmen. My dad was a hero, his dad was a hero, and so on..."
"They were Huntsmen?"
"Well, my granddad was something similar. I mean, the term Huntsmen didn't exactly exist back then. My dad, on the other hand, lived at home."
"Wait, really?" Pyrrha replied confused. "You always said he was a hero."
"For me he was. See, we lived in a small town near Vale. As you know, Towns outside of the large cities are almost always under attack by the Grimm. Now, our home was located between a couple of mountains, so it was pretty safe. Still, we had a militia that fought if Grimm found their way in."
"And your dad was part of that militia?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, he and my oldest sister." Jaune finished. "I miss them."
"Hey, you still got your whole life in front of you," Johnson said, patting him on the back. "And while you might not become a Huntsmen, you can still go into other careers. Was there anything else that interested you as a kid?"
"Well, yeah. Like, I always loved comics. Making those would be pretty cool." He smiled, as he thought back to his early childhood. "In elementary school, I used to draw small comics for our school magazine."
"See? If you have a goal, you simply have to work towards it." Pyrrha replied. "At least you have one. I have no idea what I can do. I always knew that I would get to be a Huntress."
"For now, you two should concentrate on winning this war. And if we're lucky, it won't last very long."
"What? How can you be so sure?"
"Boy, I've been in enough battles to know when one comes to an end. It's the same with wars. There's a tension in the air. Either we win now, or we have lost. Be lucky that we won't have to deal with that damn Flood anymore." Leaving his words hanging in the air, Johnson left the room, his cigar in his mouth.
"Well, want to continue?" Pyrrha asked.
Jaune nodded. "Sure."
Sol-System, Orbit around Earth
Quito Space Tether, Crimson Wing, Mess Hall
October 29; 2552
Blake sat in the dining hall, eating lunch. There was a surprisingly low amount of people here, and she guessed that was due to most of the people here being scientists, who preferred to eat instant meals in their laboratories.
She herself had some fish, her favorite food, and a welcome change to the food she ate on missions.
"Hey, Blake." She looked up from her food and saw the Rookie. He held a plate in his hands. "Can I sit down?"
"Sure." He pulled the chair back and sat down across from the Faunus.
"How is Yang doing?"
"She's doing well," Blake responded. "Actually, she should even be able to walk around again."
"That's great."
"By the way, did they send Alpha-Nine on any missions?"
The Rookie shook his head, before putting a piece of potato into his mouth. "They want us here to help with Vergil."
"Really? I thought they'd get the Engineer we found to help."
"Apparently he's stuck somewhere on Mars." The Rookie replied. "So... I wanted to ask you something..."
"Go ahead."
"It's about the Grimm. Back in New Mombasa, you mentioned the Ancients. What exactly is the deal with them?"
"To make it short, there are legendary Grimm back on Remnant, said to be the oldest ones alive. Lao quishi was one of them, though there are said to be twelve in total, depending on who you ask."
"And what are the others?"
"I can't say. I only remember them from children's books. All of them were thought to be legends, but I'm not so sure about that anymore. The only one I remember besides Lao quishi is Skipets djevel."
"Sounds like something from Norway..."
"Well, it's a Grimm that's said to live under Solitas. Well, maybe I should explain that Solitas is the most northern continent of Remnant. It's mostly covered by Ice, and while the southern parts of the continent have land under the ice, the northern parts are simply frozen ocean."
"And what is it like? The Grimm I mean?"
"According to the legends, it's a giant snake. Big enough to eat a modern cargo ship. Luckily, it might be trapped forever, thanks to the ice." She let out a short laugh. "If you trust old legends than this thing is actually supposed to bring about the end of the world by eating it. Ridiculous, but interesting nonetheless."
"I... I just hope nothing like that ever appears here."
"Definitely. We have enough problems as it is. And it's not like we can just bombard the Grimm whenever we see them." Blake took a sip of her juice. "By the way, what are you going to do? If we win the war and all?"
"I don't know yet. I'll take it as it comes. You?"
"I have no idea either. For now, I just want to survive. I think I'll just roll with whatever my teammates are doing."
"You seem a bit... sad?"
"Well, it's hard for me. I'm one of two Faunus in this world. I'm, like, an endangered species. And the other one would probably try to kill me." Blake's eyes shot open. "That's it, maybe I can track him down!"
"But Buck said..."
"Yeah, that he might not have survived the battle of New Mombasa, but if he did, then I have to make sure he doesn't do anything."
"I think ONI'd help you with that."
"Yeah... Sure." Blake silently went back to eating, sunken into thoughts. What should she do? As the only member of her species? Or at least the only one that wasn't trying to murder her and her friends.
Slipspace
UNSC Stalwart-class light Fregade"In Amber Clad", Hallways
October 31; 2552
Weiss had just woken up. She still wasn't used to the uncomfortable beds aboard a spaceship, but then again, that was what cryosleep was for. Currently, she was on the way to the hangar.
One thing that interested her most about this world were the spaceships, especially navigation. Thus, she asked if the pilots on board could teach her a thing or two about controlling a Pelican. Though they were reluctant at first, she won them over after mentioning that she knew how to operate a Bullhead back home.
Sometimes, the special education she got as a Schnee was really useful.
However, that endeavor soon got interrupted, as a high voice echoed through the halls. "WEISS!"
The heiress saw a red blur flying towards her, and thus swiftly stopped the living projectile. She created a glyph, which Ruby immediately crashed into. She slowly slid down and instantly shot up again. "Hey, Weiss!"
"Ruby? Are you okay? You seem a bit... more excited than... Wait, today's your birthday."
Ruby nodded with a wide smile on her face. "That and Halloween."
"Sorry, I totally forgot."
"I told you yesterday..." Ruby replied with a long sigh.
"Yeah, but I got a couple of other things on my mind right now. Sorry that I don't have a present."
"Ah, don't worry. I mean, I have no idea where you could get anything in here anyway. Thus, I thought of something different."
"Which'd be?" Weiss replied, a bit scared.
"We're going to go trick or treating!" Ruby said and pulled out two costumes.
"You want to go trick or treating... on a spaceship?"
"Huh, I thought you'd be more concerned about going in the first place. Never took you for the type to go trick or treating."
"Well, I never was as a kid. Dad didn't let me. The only glimpse I got of it, besides TV-shows, was through people knocking on our door."
"You actually gave out candy?"
"Not really. Dad always bought that cheap stuff no one likes. And in addition, he gave Dust brochures and taste samples. Either that or he sent the guard dogs."
"Guard dogs?" Ruby asked in shock.
"Yeah, for some reason he got angry when he saw people wearing costumes with mustaches. He is really protective of his..."
Ruby wrapped an arm around her partner's shoulders. "Trust me, you'll love it. You get candy, can prank people if they don't give you anything. And best of all, I got our costumes in partner-look."
"Oh dear..." Weiss stuttered. "Wait, where did you even get costumes?"
"That's a secret. Now let's go change!" Ruby grabbed Weiss' arm in a surprisingly strong grip and dragged her off into her room.
Only a few minutes later, and both left the room in their new costumes. Weiss found them... less than appealing.
However, she had to admit, they were well crafted. She took a look at Ruby and realized that, if she didn't know that it was a costume, she would've mistaken Ruby for an actual Spartan.
"Come on now, let's get some birthday candy!" She grabbed Weiss' arm once again and dragged her away.
Sol-System, Orbit around Eart
Quito Space Tether, Crimson Wing, Makeshift Armory
October 31; 2552
"I hope Ruby has a good birthday..." Yang muttered putting her M90 back on a weapon rack. She stretched herself, feeling the pain from the area where a bolt of plasma hit her on the arm earlier.
"It's a shame she has to spend it like that..." Nora replied.
"Well, she always loved her birthday. And Halloween." Yang explained. "So, yeah. You're right."
"Ugh, that was a pain." Blake groaned, stepping into the room.
"Eh, we still had a successful mission." Yang shrugged. "ONI was really intent on getting that data though."
"Why even? From what I understood, that section of Materials Group only made mechas for industrial use..." Nora said.
"Apparently it's somewhat connected to Aura research," Ren explained.
"And how'd you know?"
"ONI asked me about Aura. They mentioned that they are working on something. And they needed that data for it..."
"And they can't send any Marines?" Nora replied, definitely annoyed.
"Well, every Marine and every soldier of the other corps is currently down there, trying to hold key positions." Dare said as she entered the room. "Good work down there."
"Seriously, I hope this will be over soon. I don't think I can take that much more." Yang muttered.
"Good for you. The war will definitely end soon. One way or another." Blake replied. "Dare? Why are you here?"
"The eggheads want to see you. Something about your Aura."
The four huntsmen looked at each other, confused as to what this was all about. Sure, they had continued to look into Aura and Semblance, with the help of Penny, but that was pretty fast.
Slipspace
UNSC Stalwart-class light Fregade"In Amber Clad", Hallways
October 31; 2552
"Trick or treat!" Ruby yelled after one of the engineers opened the door of his cabin. He looked at them for a second and went back inside. "Oh man, this isn't going well. This was, like, the third door we knocked on."
"I would be surprised if they have any sweets on this ship," Weiss replied. "Why not just give up and throw a small party."
"Weiss! We can't just give up. You just have to believe that we can do this!"
"Believe? What?"
"Yeah, just believe in the Me that believes in you!" Ruby said, crossing her arms.
"You got that from a series, didn't you?"
Ruby sighed and led her arms down. "Yeah. Still, we never gave up, didn't we? And we fought Grimm. We fought the Covenant. We fought the Flood. Finding a bit of candy shouldn't be that hard."
They heard steps in the hallway and saw Johnson coming towards them. He stopped in his tracks, obviously surprised and confused. "Well, would ya look at that. We got ourselves two new Spartans."
"You do know it's us, right?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, not hard to guess. What exactly are you doing?"
"Trick or treating," Ruby explained. "I mean, it's Halloween, isn't it?"
"That's true, but we're also on a spaceship in Slipspace. We don't have any candy here. You should go train or somethin'."
"But... It's my birthday." Ruby said, putting on her biggest puppy eyes. "I... I just want to do something..."
"That's fine, just try to throw a small dinner party with your friends. That's all we can do here. I mean, it's not unusual to actually celebrate at a later time, isn't it?"
Ruby shrugged. "Right. I'm gonna go search for Pyrrha and Jaune. Maybe we can organize a small something."
Sol-System, Orbit around Eart
Quito Space Tether, Crimson Wing, Aura Research Center
October 31; 2552
"You called us here?" Yang asked immediately after opening the door into the science lab. If one could even call it that. It was mostly just a small room with a bed and a few machines that were transported here from other laboratories.
"Ah, you're here. Good." The scientist replied.
"Hey, guys!" Penny greeted, sitting on the bed.
"Hi. Now, what is this about?"
"We studied your robotic friend here." He started. "And, I have to admit, I didn't expect a breakthrough this early."
"Breakthrough?" Ren asked.
"We're not exactly sure yet, but we think we managed to grasp the essentials of Aura."
"Wait, are you saying you know what it is?" Nora asked. "That's awesome! How did you manage to do that?"
"It all comes down to having enough resources. From what Miss Polendina told me, Remnant seems to be somewhat advanced, but not as far as we are. And even your people just recently started to look at Aura from a scientific standpoint. I believe it might be due to your culture being based on Aura that you took so long. We don't have that bias though."
"Yeah, Yeah. Just cut to the chase. What is Aura?" Blake asked.
"Essentially, it's a form of energy. Just like electrical or nuclear energy. It seems to flow through your bodies, originating in your brains. It's rather interesting. Luckily, Miss Xiao-Long's surgery also gave us some insight into your biology."
"And?"
"And we officially designated you as Homo Fortis."
"Wait, do you mean..."
"You're not human. At least not in our sense of the word. Sure, it is observed that people in the colonies tend to be a bit different in their muscle and bone structure, but not to such a high degree as you."
"Okay, I can deal with that..." Ren said. "However, I would like to know what differentiates us."
"I was about to get to that." He opened up a holographic projection, showing an X-Ray of Yang. "If we approach this from your DNA, then it looks like you got a lot of similarities with early humans. That could mean that, somehow, both our species share a common ancestor. We have no idea how, but it is possible. Millennia of evolution has led to a couple of interesting changes." The projection highlighted the bones in Yang's body.
"First off, your bone structure is denser and harder. Combined with your stronger muscles, it's easy to assume that an average Homo Fortis is generally stronger than an average Homo Sapiens. We guess this is due to your continued struggle against the Creatures of Grimm, or a generally harsher environment. But the really interesting part comes in the brain."
The projection zoomed in on Yang's brain, highlighting different areas. "Like I said, your Aura is stemming from your brain. You have more regions than Homo Sapiens. At least one of them is connected to the production of Aura. Seeing as Semblance is connected with Aura, that might explain why Semblance is somewhat resembling the user's personality."
"And how does it work?" Ren asked. "I mean, how can that basically alter reality?"
"We don't know that yet. We'd have to do field studies for that. But, we know one thing. That, if we manage to reproduce that part of the brain, and insert it into our soldiers, we might be able to recreate the effect in Homo Sapiens. Obviously, that will take some time though."
"You want to make a weirdly mixed species? That's unethical." Blake said a bit angered.
"Calm down, it's just a thought experiment. We aren't exactly sure yet. You once mentioned that animals also have Aura, and if it really is connected to the brain, then this could mean drastic changes in the theory of evolution, at least concerning your homeworld. However, we managed to have another breakthrough."
"Which would be?"
"Well, like I said, we have analyzed Miss Polendina. We believe that we can manage to, just like any other form of energy, sent it through machines. Maybe we can build a suit of armor that can be powered by Aura."
"Yeah, that would be pretty cool," Nora said excitedly.
"And I got more good news for you. Thanks to the Dust Samples Miss Schnee gave us, we managed to find the reason as to why it doesn't work outside your atmosphere."
"Wait, really? Why?!" Yang asked. She seemed excited to be able to use her Gauntlets again.
"The vials that contained the samples still had the air of your homeworld sealed inside. Thanks to that, we were able to find the reason. And, I have to admit, it's rather simple. Dust reacts with q certain element contained within your atmosphere, one that's extremely rare on planets here."
"Wait, that's it? Then we could've easily gone to space." Yang said. "Dammit, why didn't we think of that?"
"Well, it's possible your people never really thought of it. We also found that the molecular structure of Dust shares a striking resemblance to the material the Covenant uses in their Needlers."
"Seriously? So it's that purple, explody stuff?" Nora replied. "So can we get Needlers and make our forms of Dust out of them?"
"Not really. If a Needler would land in Remnant, then the Needles would no doubt be called a form of Dust. Just like Fire Dust, or Ice Dust."
"Wait, let me get this straight..." Yang said. "You're telling me that Needler Ammo is a form of Dust?"
"Exactly. We believe that the reason that it works outside of Remnant lies in how the Covenant processes the Blamite and send it through their Needlers."
"Can we replicate that process?" Yang asked. "I mean, we got the Huragok on our side. They should know how to do that."
"It's not that easy. Even the Huragok don't seem to know the intricate work that goes into processing Blamite. At least not the one you brought along from Alpha Halo."
"What about Vergil?" Penny asked.
"He hasn't talked yet, but that's not your concern." He replied.
"So there's, like, one source of Dust in this world?"
"Not necessarily. Scans of a planet orbiting a red star have shown similar structures."
"Why don't we mine it then?"
"Because it's inaccessible to us. That planet is a pure water world, with kilometer deep oceans. If that wasn't enough to prevent any exploration, the wildlife is even worse. However, we know that the planet is one of the oldest planets known to us, so we have the theory that Dust might be a resource that was more common many billions of years ago until it somehow disappeared for the most part. Remnant, being in another dimension, would explain the abundance of the resource in your world."
"But wouldn't that mean that our worlds were once one and the same?"
"That's beyond what we can determine right now. Even in this day and age, interdimensional research is hard to conduct. Especially in the middle of a war like this."
"So, in a nutshell, Aura is simply a form of energy?" Yang asked.
"Exactly. That was all I wanted to talk to you about for now. You just came from a mission, right?"
"Yeah," Nora replied. "Why?"
"You should get some rest now. I'm pretty sure ONI will have more missions for you soon."
"Ugh, fine," Yang said, exhausted thanks to the back to back mission over the last days.
Slipspace
UNSC Stalwart-class light Fregade"In Amber Clad", Mess Hall
October 31; 2552
"Happy birthday!" Pyrrha cheered, while Ruby cut into her cake.
"Thanks." She replied with a smile and bit into her baked goods. Sure, it didn't taste like it was fresh, but a frozen cake was better than nothing, though she was still surprised that the ship had these.
"Honestly, I'm impressed," Weiss muttered. "I didn't actually think we would be able to make this."
"Everything's possible with a little determination," Ruby replied.
"Well, now that everyone's here..." Jaune started, looking at all the guests. Of course, all of the Remnants were here, along with Johnson, who was surprisingly easy to get on board with the promise of cigars, and some of the engineers that came thanks to the cake. "Has anyone seen my towel?"
"Towel?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah. For some reason, all the towels inside my cabin are gone..."
"Well, yeah. That's a real mystery..." Pyrrha replied with an awkward laugh.
Johnson simply sighed at that and left. "Ain't got time to deal with that."
"Jaune... I'm sure they're in good hands..." Ruby muttered, moving her chair a bit away from Pyrrha, while keeping an eye on her.
"I think I'll just put in a request for more..."
"That won't be necessary." They all looked towards the entrance and saw Keyes standing in the doorway.
"Captain!"
"Why're you here? I thought they'd need you on the bridge?" Weiss asked.
"I put the In Amber Clad in the hands of Cortana for now. I heard what was going on here, and wanted to wish you a good birthday."
"Thanks," Ruby replied, shaking her hand. "By the way, do you think the Chief will come too?"
"Definitely not," Miranda replied.
"Why not? I sent him an invitation." Ruby said in a sad tone.
"Invitation? When did you write them?" Weiss asked.
"Secret."
"I think you're forgetting that the Chief is a Spartan," Keyes explained. "They're strict supersoldiers. They don't show much emotion, and much less do they want to attend this kind of celebration."
"Oh man. And I thought we were friends..." Ruby stuttered.
"Well, you're probably as close to being friends with a Spartan as one could hope to get," Miranda replied.
"Captain?" Jaune interrupted. "What exactly did you mean with 'That won't be necessary'?"
"We'll leave Slipspace in 48 hours. You should get ready for a tough battle, we don't know what the Covenant is heading towards."
They all looked at each other with concern on their faces, and Ruby gulped down her cake. It was at that moment that the realization dawned on them. The Prophet fled from Earth, so there was a good possibility for more ships to be on the other side. And that was something their little ship couldn't deal with.
"Great. Ruined the mood." Ruby growled.
Lambda Aurigae System, Roost
Security Bunker under Arila, Briefing Room
November 1; 2552
It had been two weeks. Two long weeks, since it began. Back then, it was a normal day on the colony of Roost, as colony primarily living from tourism and fishing. Of course, tourism and the general mood was a bit down when the news of Reach being glassed reached them, but they tried to continue their lives as normal as possible.
Until it happened. The day that changed everything. From one minute to the other, strange, black creatures started to appear on the planet. They attacked the human population mercilessly, like animals, though still coordinated.
The news of villages and towns being ravaged and slaughtered by those monsters quickly caused a panic, and even more, monsters appeared, until the capital was under attack.
Normally, the UNSC would've stepped in, using their ships to aid from Orbit and pushed the enemies back. However, shortly before the attack started, the UEG called in all available ships to help defend Earth, leaving Roost defenseless, and without a way to effectively evacuate the citizens.
"We have to fight back!" Aiden Kai said, hitting the table. "Those are just dumb animals. We have guns and vehicles. We can push them back!"
"It's not that easy, Governor." Littner, the Minister of Intelligence, replied. "These monsters are acting coordinated, at least the bigger ones do. And even then, those things are awfully resistant." He pulled up a feed of the southern part of the capital, which fell just a few days ago. It showed a giant black bird, crashing through a building and coming out unscathed. The sky was full of smaller monsters, constantly diving down to kill humans on the surface.
"He's right." Amanda, the leader of the local militia stated. Her left arm was missing, courtesy of one of the wolves. "The smaller ones go down easily. But the big ones... I've seen those bears shrug off small explosions and medium rounds."
"Then use bigger ones!" The Governor replied.
"Impossible. Our armory is completely overrun, and all possible supply lines are cut off."
"Dammit. We're losing this fight, aren't we?"
"If there isn't any help coming soon, then yes," Littner muttered. "Speaking of which, we received word from the next colony."
"And? Can they send help?"
"You won't believe it, but they are getting overrun too. Seems like Roost isn't the only planet under attack."
"Why?" Aiden asked. "Why can't we beat those things?"
"We're too spread out," Amanda replied. "Most of our resources come from facilities scattered over the planet. Those things use numbers to overwhelm us, a tactic incredibly dangerous for us."
"Sir!" One of the militia members yelled, almost breaking through the door.
"We're in the middle of a tactical meeting!" Amanda replied.
"I know. But it's important. The animals have breached our defensive line."
"What? Get everyone ready to defend themselves!" Amanda commanded and took her Magnum. "Did we get any word form the UNSC?"
"No..." Littner said. "We haven't even reached them yet. Without any slipspace capable ships, we're practically cut off..."
"Then let's die honorable," Amanda said. The sound of gunfire echoed from outside, coupled with the screams of dying soldiers. She cocked her Magnum and aimed at the entrance.
"First the Covenant, and now this..." Aiden said in defeat. He walked over to a weapon rack and grabbed a Battle Rifle. "Do we stand a chance?"
"I don't know," Littner said, as he grabbed a weapon himself. "But even if we don't, then we'll die trying."
Aiden walked over to the entrance, and took a last glance at his Datapad, burning the defeat in his mind. The population of once 500 million people, reduced to a few hundred. All the major cities overrun and in ruins. The live feed from outside showed hundreds of monsters crawling all over the city, but was quickly obstructed, as a corpse dangled down. He was able to see one of the birds feeding on it and closed the feed.
"Let's see who survives the longest." He said.
A form crawled out of the darkness, reminiscent of a small, bipedal theropod. Then a second one. The monsters charged them, but the three managed to shoot them down. Then the next wave came. And the next one.
"Outta ammo." Amanda sighed. "Was good working for you, sir." He managed to shoot down one last monster before one engulfed her head between its jaws. A sickening crunch later, and she was gone.
With her gone, the animals poured into the room at a faster rate, and easily overwhelmed them. A wolf knocked him onto his back, and looked into his face, opening its bloody jaws.
The last thing he saw before everything went black was the face of everyone he let down in his leadership, and Littner, who was still fighting next to him. A few shots still echoed in from outside, but it was no use. A second later, his head was crushed by the jaws of a Beowolf.
And Chapter 25 is here.
Well, next time H2 is going to officially continue. I decided to put in a scene of another part of the galaxy here, and how they're dealing with the Grimm while the whole UNSC fleet is at Earth.
However, the main part of this Chapter are the connections between Halo and RWBY I thought of. Of course, they aren't everything there is to it, and there are a few other things to discuss, but I thought that exposition might help a little with putting things into perspective.
Also, this is actually the longest Chapter yet, if one counts in the Author's note.
Now to replies:
Tronmaster5704: Well, she didn't die. It would definitely take a lot more to kill her.
Tincanman123: Thanks. Honestly, if I ever decide to not continue a story, I'd definitely put in an explanation at the end of the last Chapter.
Plasma Dragon 123: It was Dutch who got hurt in the game. And yeah, Yang's fine, except for the 'printed' lung.
red october700: Mentioned only. They are going to appear again, but not during H2 or 3.
As for books, I can definitely recommend the Forerunner Trilogy. Hunters in the Dark and Broken Circle are also great, especially for insight into the Covenant and Sangheili. Then there's, of course, Warfleet, New Blood, and Fractures. From the books you mentioned, I'd say finish the Kilo-5 Trilogy first though, and then move on to the next book. Hope I was able to help.
Re the re class: Nope. Partially because the events between H3 and 4 need her presence, and because she wouldn't be able to survive it without a MJOLNIR or something similar.
Bob: Yes, I know that. I'd suggest you read First Strike, it details why the survivors of Installation 04 went back to Reach. It also wasn't entirely glassed. Menachite Mountain and CASTLE-Base were still intact. (Until First Strike)
SqueegeeWing: Thanks. That's why I did it this way. It's also a good way to have different points of view between the two groups.
Axcel: Holy crap, that's a lot. Well, I'm gonna reply to the reviews in their own paragraph, from oldest to newest.
Where does the exploding stuff come from? I can't remember reading that anywhere, and a google search didn't hold anything either. As for why they were able to do it, it's honestly just to have them have a bit more modern tech integrated into their weapons. Especially Nora and Jaune, since they lack any form of ranged attacks. As for the ODPs, I think massive ships and Earth itself are a bit more impressive than the Orbital Defense Platforms.
Yeah, Ruby can't fly. What happened there was meant to be the move she did in the Volume 4 short, against the Beringel. ODSTs are part of the Marine Corps, so technically, they are. Yes, Elites have two hearts, and it's true that stabbing one through one heart wouldn't necessarily insta-kill him, but it's still possible. Both hearts are still part of one system, that probably only works as long as both are pumping.
MREs might taste good, but it also depends on personal taste. Jaune simply doesn't like them.
I agree wholeheartedly. In that situation, it'd be defense. However, that doesn't mean everyone agrees with it. And if the UNSC were to get control of Halo, then the Covenant would likely be in their hand or concentrate their forces on the ring, so actually firing it would be a bit cruel. (Then there's also the factor that it wipes out the entire life in the galaxy, but they didn't know that part then.)
Yang is actually pretty strong. Remember, in Volume 2 she was able to casually carry a massive boombox that caused a small earthquake when she put it down, and she is even stronger when angry. (i.E. how she obliterated the Paladin Roman was in.)
I've never seen the spikes portrayed as movable anywhere. Even a search through the internet didn't yield any results. What I found though was that the Spikes are meant as a symbol of the particular Mgalekgolo having a Bond Brother, meaning that Mgalekgolo that haven't grown big enough to split yet don't have those spikes.
I'll keep the whole stuff about the Grimm for later, as it came up in another one of your reviews.
Good point didn't think about that.
That's possible. Though, didn't Mendicant Bias first learn of humanity when they found us on Harvest? That's why he wanted to move the Dreadnought.
Well, like I said, Jaune simply doesn't like them. The others are indifferent.
True, but Neko is shorter and it doesn't make that much of a difference in the end.
Well, to be fair, Salem didn't know what was on the other side. She simply saw a possibility to spread the Grimm and took it. However, I disagree with the Grimm not being a threat. On Remnant, most of the production areas, such as ammunition plants, are concentrated in the cities, ensuring a good supply. They also have thousands of years of experience fighting the Grimm. Meanwhile, the UNSC doesn't. Factories and Ressource plants are often separate or in smaller communities, making them less defended. Then there's also the defense of cities. Obviously, Remnant has most of its cities in areas hard to reach for the Grimm, and they are heavily defended. The UNSC, and Covenant for that matter are mostly prepared for attacks from the air and space, and less against monsters attacking the city from all sides.
Of course, the people in the Halo world are also a danger in that situation, thanks to all the negative emotion, especially during a war.
By no means would the Grimm be able to defeat UNSC or Covenant completely, but they would no doubt cripple both parties immensely. In the end, the sentient species can't bombard or glass their cities or entire planets either as soon as they detect some Grimm.
What you mean are the blades of the Spiker, they're made of Tungsten-Carbide. The ammo is simply described as 'Superheated Metallic Spikes'. Honestly, I have no idea where I got that Magnesium stuff from. I think it was from the German manual of Halo 3, though I'm not quite sure. I have to rummage through some stuff to find it again.
Like I said, I'm not big on shipping, and I'm not a big fan of having characters from different franchises getting together, especially with that age difference. (The only things I actually ever shipped were Jaune and Pyrrha, as well as Gamagori and Mako from Kill la Kill) Though I gotta admit, they'd probably work well together. I can just imagine a date between the two where they simply sit there and say nothing the whole evening.
Yeah, she'd probably be arrested in the normal world. (Still wondering why she didn't get any punishment after the yellow trailer). However, she's an important asset in the Covenant War, so ONI is giving her a second chance.
That's gonna be a fun part when they learn the truth, and how their world fits in. And I can definitely say that they will all take it differently.
All in all, this was great feedback. Thanks for taking your time with it.
PhoenixClaw2128: Thanks, I feel the same. It's just that sometimes I feel like people are going to think I stopped writing when nothing comes out for more than a month.
ChronoHyperion: I appreciate the effort. I can definitely have those Marines make cameos, but High Charity is already planned out completely. As it is, I already suspect it to have around seven thousand words.
Remnant will definitely have more screentime either way though. I'm not going to spoil anything about the scene in which Miranda died in H3, so you'll just have to wait and see. As for the Marines, if what the scientist this Chapter said will become reality, then you can expect more badass human soldiers. (And who knows, maybe some Covies too.) Infinity though, they'd have two at most. The UNSC Infinity was the only one ever built, and it took decades. But it actually has a sister ship, the UNSC Eternity, which isn't completed yet.
Leader, COLE TRAIN, ERROR SANS: I'm just going to stop replying to these.
Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft; RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.