Chapter 2 - The Rose and the Eagle

"…I've never been the kind of man who laughs in the face of danger, much preferring to snigger behind its back and make vulgar hand gestures while it isn't looking."

- Ciaphas Cain

The level of skill and speed shown in one so obviously young indeed impressed me though the weapon and the almost unnatural speed were a bit peculiar. I didn't see any of the prominent signs of warp taint of chaotic influence. Mainly because she was fully clothed, not covered in blood or runes that hurt to look at and she most certainly wasn't infested with multiple horrible gut-wrenching plagues and diseases. Of course, I still have my guard up, you never do truly know after all.

After watching her finish up the rest of the abominations of nature I let out a slow round of applause grinning slightly for a moment as she jumped what I swear could have been a whole foot into the air.

"Very, very impressive young lady. I'm sure your Schola Professor would be proud." I say making sure to have a neutral expression when she turns to face me.

The first thing I notice about her is the eyes. Pure silver and filled with the obvious purity of one who hadn't been around long enough to see the true horrors of the universe they inhabit. In other words the type of person I dread to be around.

She remains still for several moments, face contorting into something unreadable. The tension seems to be building and as I just start to wonder if introducing my presence instead of simply moving on from this potentially unstable individual was the best of ideas she opens her mouth.

"Is that a chainsaw sword?"

I blink, looking down at my weapon before looking back up at her.

"It is indeed a Chainsword, yes," I state.

Her eyes widen with what seems to be pure glee and I can't help but think I may have made a horrible, horrible mistake as she lunges towards me rapidly babbling a series of words I can't for the life of me discern the meaning of before she takes a deep breath and spews out.

"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHAREALCHAINSAWSWORDHOWDOESITWORKISITALSOAGUNWHATSITMADEOFDOESITNEEDFUELORISITSELFRELIANTANDOHMYGOSHTHATSSOCOOLLIKEIHAVEMYOWNWEAPONANDSHESPRETTYAWESOMEBUTILOVESEEINGNEWONESANDYOULOOKSOCOOLWITHALLTHESKULLSAND-" she continues like that for almost a full minute as the horror continues to overtake me.

I find myself in the state of mind to retake my mental statement made a few moments ago. She isn't a potentially unstable individual. She's the queen of them.

When it gets to the point that I'm starting to worry my (sadly) only possible link to civilization may cause herself to pass out I gently yet firmly place my hand over her mouth for a few moments.

"Now young lady, I'd like to ask you to take a deep, calming breath and then repeat that, just slower."

She nods and I remove my mouth to see a rather sheepish grin and a small blush.

"Sorry, sorry. I just love seeing new weapons and I got super super excited… You're also the only person I've seen in like a month or two so I just kinda…" the young lady trails off for a moment and looks down at her feet.

I sigh and place a gentle hand on her shoulder responding with what I hope is a reassuring tone, "Now, now. Don't worry about it young lady I perfectly understand and there truly was no harm done. Now you say I'm the only person you've seen in months?"

The teen seems placated at least for the moment, though I am rather worried by what I've learned so far.

"Yeah… you are. Ever since… -" she cuts herself off adopting a fairly forlorn look at staring at the ground before looking back up at me and continuing - "Nevermind about that, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose." she says holding out a hand.

While slightly annoyed at the denial of potentially critical information I'm not tactless nor heartless enough to push a troubled young girl for information that is evidently the source of some sort of major issue. So I let the subject go and grasp her hand giving it a firm shake while responding with,

"Commissar Ciaphas Cain, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Rose."

Ruby couldn't believe it, finally another person! A real living, breathing, talking person and on top of that, he looked so cool. He had to be a hunter of some kind, who else would have a freaking CHAINSAW sword. Though his name sounded a little strange she couldn't be bothered to make a big deal of it.

She'd thought she was all that was left after the evacuation and… she shakes her head. No point in going down that mental train track, especially not in front of another person. Looking up at him she properly takes his appearance in. The thick black greatcoat with the scarlet sash while underneath some sort of battered yet intact armor peaked out. His face had a few scars on it and his eyes were a dark brown, same with his hair. He looked to be in his early forties, maybe late thirties at the earliest and he had a reassuring smile on his face. The peaked cap completed the look and looked rather fitting in her opinion.

Overall she judged him to be friendly enough.

"So, Ciaphas what are you doing out here? Not that I'm ungrateful to find another person! I just… you know didn't expect to find someone in the middle of nowhere…" she says, noting that something flickers across his face at the use of his first name, but it might have been her imagination.

"Ah yes, about that. I appear to have been separated from my ship by likely dubious means and am presently looking for either the nearest Imperial Guard outpost or the local spaceport. You wouldn't happen to know the location of either of those would you?"

Ruby stares at him for a couple of minutes her pupils shrinking down to almost pinpricks before she shouts,

"OH MY GOSH ARE YOU AN ALIEN!?"

Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say as his face contorts into a scowl and he vigorously shakes his head.

"By the Emperor no! I'm not some filthy Xeno young lady, I'm as human as you are," he says looking almost offended at her choice of words.

"O-oh...sorry. It's just you were saying things like 'Spaceport' and 'Imperial Guard' so I just kind of got excited… It was silly of me, I know there probably isn't life off of Remnant, but I just you know… hoped."

Cain's face softens for a moment and he lowers himself to her eye level.

"My dear, I AM from off the planet, but I am certainly no alien. I am every bit as much as a human being as you are,"

The wonder in her heart ignites again and she stares at him in complete awe.

The horror once again ignites in my heart as I see a terribly familiar inhalation of breath. I speak up quickly in the hopes of cutting off the impending verbal assault.

"Now, I like to think of myself as a man smart enough to realize the situation around him, so I'm going to assume… you have no way off-planet currently, yes?" I state more than ask daring to hope that she may have misspoken in her excitement.

But as some of my more eager colleagues say 'Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment' as Ruby nods effectively dashing any hopes I may have had of a timely extraction off this planet that seemed less and less friendly to human life.

I look up at the darkening sky and sigh walking over to the ruins of the tower and sitting down on one of the more intact chunks of stone.

The girl - Ruby I mentally correct myself follows me and looks at me seeming rather curious.

"What are you doing?" she asks and I fight the temptation to roll my eyes, responding with.

"It's getting rather late Miss Rose, I for one do not intend to move on in the darkness lest more of those abominations decide me to be a worthy snack."

Ruby looks up at the sky almost as if just realizing the time and then nods in agreement.

"Yeah… okay, Ciaphas that's probably a pretty smart idea," Ruby says coming into the tower with me and shutting the rather sturdy looking metal door behind her before sitting beside me.

I once again internally frown with annoyance at the use of my given name, but at this point in my lifetime I've grown used to people and their various ways of addressing others and some just refuse to address you how you oh so wish they would.

With a sigh, I look over at the young girl that seems to have been forced upon me at least for this night and get a proper look at her appearance. The first thing I noticed aside from the rather unique eyes in the rather prominent occurrence of red. The red cloak, the red shirt, the red skirt, the red highlights, and the oversized red weapon. In all honesty, she seems more like a member of the Mechanicus than anything else, but the lack of space travel and Cogwheels scraps that idea. Her combat prowess, however, was rather impressive so I suppose she'd be worth keeping around at least until I found some sort of civilization.

After a few moments, I withdraw a journal from my greatcoat and start to write, mainly of some of my past experiences. A good friend of mine had suggested it to me some time ago and I figure now is as good a time to start as any.

After a few minutes, I hear gentle snoring to my left and with a quiet sigh I look over to my newly acquired 'companion'. She's shivering. I sigh and remove my greatcoat covering her with it and allowing her to slump over to a more comfortable position as I move over to the other side of the room. I suppose it is rather chilly and there's no point in letting her freeze. I lived with Valhallans for a rather long time, I can take a little cold.

Now where to start…

Ah, I know.

'One of the first things you learn as a commissar….'

Authors Note

I got bored and decided to crank out another chapter. Two in two hours, how amazing right?!

Sarcasm aside, I'm actually enjoying writing this a lot more than I thought I would. So I'm thinking this may go on for a while, or not.

ADD and all that.

If anyone wants to know the music I listened to while writing this it's a mixture of the RWBY themes and Offico Auditorium specifically his Cain theme. He's a pretty good 40k music channel that's pretty underappreciated so I say go check him out.

And remember the thought of the day is -

'Even a man who has nothing can still give his life,'