Chapter 2, coming to you. I have a lot of free time right now, but I won't pretty soon as I am starting in a new job tomorrow, and I especially won't when I go back to college in the fall, so I will try to get as far as I can during the summer, and dedicate as much time as I can to writing once that time comes. But it won't be for a long time so I wouldn't get too worried yet, I'm just letting you know that chapters will most likely not be produced this quickly under normal circumstances.

On to the story!


Part I

The Lost Child


August 1, 2537 (Military Calendar)/ Onyx, Zeta Doradus system

It was on a strange ship, surrounded by strange people, on a strange world, with a strange war brewing in a strange galaxy that Ruby Rose started to wonder if her life would ever go back to normal. Of course it wouldn't, her whole family was dead, and she had agreed to become a Spartan, whatever that was.

She looked around at the other children in the passenger area of the pelican. She tried not to make eye contact with most of them, opting to look at them through her periphery vision. They all either looked scary, wearing deep frowns on their faces, or looked scared, their eyes darting around the room rapidly.

She returned her gaze to her feet. Her clothing was the same as all the other children: a dark gray shirt tucked into dark gray pants tucked into dark gray boots. Her other clothing had been taken away before she boarded the pelican, she just hoped she would be given back her red cloak.

She scratched her head, wincing at the itchy prickles of her freshly shaven hair. All the other children had their heads shaved too, at least she wasn't alone on that.

The woman that had taken her from Jeremy had told her a lot about what she was getting herself into. Apparently, there was a war going on, a war against aliens, and they wanted to destroy all of humanity. She guessed that was bad, especially since she was a part of humanity, and all of her friends, and her uncle, back home on Remnant. She tried not to think too much of them, otherwise she found herself feeling terrible.

When she did mention Remnant to the woman she had told her they didn't matter anymore, and that this was her home now, alongside the other children on this pelican and several others that were flying in formation around them.

She had kept on asking questions about this new home: Why did she never hear of the UNSC until recently? Why didn't the UNSC help against the Grimm? Where are the Grimm? Why does the Covenant want to destroy humanity? What is the Covenant? What is the Insurrection? Where did all the faunus go?

Eventually the woman stopped listening to her, and a little while after that she had stopped asking questions. It didn't take her long to realize the people around her, especially the adults in the weird uniforms, were really mean. She didn't know if she wanted to be here anymore, she just wanted her mother.

It was after what felt like an hour or more when a man in dull green clothing and a bald head entered the passenger bay from what must have been the cockpit. The door slid shut behind him and he stood with his hands behind his back as he slowly turned his head left to right, observing all the candidates on the pelican.

After five minutes he spoke. "Spartan candidates! Attention!" It was more of a yell, actually.

All twenty children spun their heads to look at the scary man, eyes widened in fear.

"Welcome to Camp Currahee. Twenty thousand feet below us is where you will eat, sleep, and train for the next eight years." The man paused to let that sink in. Eight years!? Actually, that sort of made sense. Huntsmen on Remnant train for almost a decade before they are typically given their licenses. The other children on the pelican didn't see it her way, as evident by their wide-eyed expressions.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why we're so high up. Well, let me tell you." The man reached above him, producing several parachutes from an overhead compartment.

"This is your first test as Spartan IIIs. I want to see how many of you have what it takes. You will put these parachutes on. Here is the main pull cord, here is the altitude meter, and here is the secondary pull cord." The man said as he pointed to different parts on the parachute in his hand.

"You will pull the main cord at one thousand feet, from there, follow the rising sun and you will land in the training field outside of Camp Currahee."

"If the parachute fails, which it won't, pull the secondary cord, and follow the same instructions." He pointed to the second cord, and gave the parachute to the boy closest to his left.

"Furthermore, failure to jump will be counted as a forfeit, you will be one of the first washouts, you will be flown back to the ground safely, and sent back to whatever shit hole you came from." Ruby gasped silently at the curse word, and looked to the other children to see their expressions. It seemed every child had a different expression on their face ranging from terrified to hardened determination to strange excitement.

The hatch at the back of the pelican slowly opened, letting in buffeting winds and freezing cold rain.

"Looks like it's your lucky day, candidates. The weather's perfect for a jump." One of the children raised his hand to ask a question and almost put it down once the man turned to stare daggers at the boy. It was only the man's shouting, telling the boy to speak his mind, did he actually ask his question.

"How do we know where the sun is rising if it's raining?" The boy had to scream to be heard over the sound of the wind.

"That's not my problem, candidate. Not that it would matter anyways since it's noon! The sun was out this morning before the flight, I hope you paid attention!"

Ruby felt her grip on her seatbelt weaken as her nerves started bubbling up from deep within her stomach. How hard would the rest of the training be if this was the first test?

"Look at the bright side, candidates, the test is about whether you jump, not where you land. I would recommend landing in the designated landing zone, though. It's a long walk back to base, otherwise, and the mess hall closes at one. So if you're feeling hungry, I suggest you land where you're supposed to." The man's frown did not change as he spoke, only the muscles on his neck as he shouted, spraying spittle on the nearest candidates.

"Alright, this is the spot! Grab a parachute, and line up at the hatch." They did as they were told. Ruby grabbed her own, securing it as tight as she could, and stood near the middle of the line towards the back.

"Looks like you're first, candidate, jump when you are ready!" The man's large hand impacted with the candidate's back, knocking some of the air out of him.

Okay, Ruby, time to be brave. She thought to herself. She drilled a hole in the floor with her eyes as she waited for the line to move forward. Her hands turned white as they gripped the straps of her parachute.

After about a minute without the line moving an inch, she looked up, wondering what was going on. The man standing at the front of the line had his arms crossed and was slowly shaking his head. Eventually she heard the raised voices of the other candidates near the front.

"Hurry up and go already." The boy jumping second said.

"I-I don't want to." The first boy said.

"You have to go eventually, why not go now?" A girl, third in line, said as she leaned to her right to speak to the boy.

"I can't! Can someone else go first?" The boy shouted.

The man was about to reach his hand forward to move him to the back of the line when someone spoke up.

"I'll go first!" Ruby was confused when several eyes turned to her, soon after she realized it was her that had said it.

Feeling committed, she moved to the front of the line, and turned her head to speak to the boy before she would jump.

"Be brave with me?" Ruby asked.

The boy, with tears in his eyes, simply nodded his head.

Ruby turned to look out into the howling winds that would soon either carry her to her future, or to her death-

No! I can't think like that. This is nothing special, Mom would tell me about all the scary adventures she went on, she talked about how important it was to be brave. This is basically what she told me about her initiation at Beacon. Ruby took a deep breath, and released it slowly. She closed her silver eyes.

This is Beacon. I am becoming a Huntress, and huntresses are not afraid of anything. She opened her eyes, and, after checking the straps on her parachute were secured, she jumped.


August 2, 2537 (Military Calendar) / Onyx, Zeta Doradus system

Ruby's eyes shot open at the sound of a blaring alarm going off in her barracks. She quickly sat up and looked around. After watching several other children jump off their bunks and stand at attention at the foot of their beds, she did the same.

She felt her back ache as she stood as straight as possible while a large man with grey in his beard and a scowl on his face slowly walked through the barracks, inspecting each and every one of them.

"Good morning, Spartan Candidates! My name is Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, you all can call me sir. At the end of every sentence that comes out of my pretty mouth," He motioned to his face, which Ruby could now see had several large scars running the length of it. "You will respond with 'Sir, yes sir!' Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes sir." If Ruby said they responded in unison, it would have been a lie.

"I said, IS THAT CLEAR!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Ruby was startled by Mendez's volume, but in order to not bring attention to herself, yelled the response with every other child in the room.

"That's what I like to hear." Mendez reached the end of the barracks before he turned around and continued speaking.

"As I am sure you are all aware, you spent the majority of yesterday going through several tests to determine who would be worthy of calling themselves Spartans." Ruby could very vividly remember just how terrifying those tests were. Instead of only requiring them to jump from a plane once and have a break afterwards, they had them jump two more times! She had heard from one of the other candidates it was because they wanted to give everyone three tries to build the courage to jump, and they had made everyone who had jumped before jump again because it was 'good practice'. Ruby didn't want to go near another pelican again.

"I can tell you now that of the 419 of you that were initially conscripted, only 387 remain in this very barracks." Mendez paused, making sure everyone knew how many people didn't make it through the first day.

"Of the 387 of you still remaining, only 300 will graduate to become Spartans. I am telling you this now because of how important it is for each one of you to put your best effort into your training, your learning, and your team." The more Ruby listened, the more she made connections between the Spartans, and the Huntsmen academies back on Remnant.

"Speaking of your training, you will wake up at 0600 hours every day and make your way to the mess hall. After breakfast you will spend your days training, and building team cohesion between you and your fellow Spartan candidates. In the evenings you will be studying under the tutelage of our base's resident AI, Deep Winter. Am I understood, candidates?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Very good. In regards to teams, the 300 graduating Spartans will be split into seventy five teams of four, your teammates will be chosen based on which Spartans you work well with during the first few years of your training." That sounded familiar to Ruby. Her mom told her about her adventures with team STRQ, though she couldn't remember most of it due to her being too young to remember.

"Currently, it is 0615, you will all go to the mess hall, eat your breakfast, and move to the training fields. There, you will meet your drill instructors, teachers, and your training director. Move out, candidates!" Ruby followed the group; since most of them were taking off their sleepwear to put on the same outfit they had worn yesterday, she did the same, she followed them when they started to move towards the mess hall, eating in silence, and she followed them when they made their way to the training fields. She was not going to embarrass herself on the first full day.

One of their instructors told them to stand in formation. Ruby didn't know what that meant at first, but after several minutes of the man yelling at each and every one of them about the straightness of their lines, she had soon understood.

They stood at attention for no longer than a minute under the watchful eyes of several instructors when a large group of men and women in uniforms exited a nearby building and made their way to the three hundred children standing in line.

Ruby's eyes passed by most of the people, finding nothing of note, until they settled on the person in the front of the formation: a huge man standing at least two feet taller than any other person around him, his brown hair and friendly eyes made him seem less threatening to Ruby. She would have guessed her head only came up to his waist, but she wasn't about to break formation to test it.

"Good morning, Spartans. My name is Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose. I am your training director. All that you will learn at Camp Currahee will be chosen by me." He paused, hearing the quiet gasps coming from some of the children. Ruby likened him to a headmaster at one of the huntsmen academies, it made sense to her that he would be involved in almost everything they did.

He continued to speak softly, a stark contrast between him and the other drill instructors they had the displeasure of interacting with.

"You are all here for a purpose: to fight for Humanity. This war has taken much from us. Our homes, our friends, our loved ones. It is our duty to take something back. I will be training you to be the best soldiers you can be. But, it will be up to you to push yourselves, and become something greater than any of you could ever imagine." Ruby didn't know about that, her mother was a really great huntress, she hoped that becoming a Spartan could allow her to become a fraction of what her mother was.

"I'll be watching you every step of the way. I know, and you know, that not all of you will graduate to become Spartans. Do not be discouraged by that notion, take it as a challenge. Work hard, study harder, and connect with your fellow Spartans, and you will graduate from Camp Currahee." Ruby saw a few different children raise their chins higher at his words.

"Around me are your drill instructors. I am only one man, so I cannot personally train all of you. Because of this, I will be delegating my authority to these men and women. Every order that comes out of their mouths, you will treat as if it came from mine. And I suggest you listen, I cannot guarantee they will be as forgiving as I am." Ambrose gestured to the three dozen or so other men and women who were standing in line opposite them. Ruby noticed they were standing information similar to how they were.

"You will be broken into twenty different classes, each class will go under the tutelage of two drill instructors. In these classes you will undergo the majority of your training. All of you will be present during larger lectures by Deep Winter in the evenings, and full company exercises later on in your training. SCPO Mendez will announce your classes. Have a good day, Spartans."

"Alright, candidates. Listen closely to your class assignments as I do not like repeating myself." Mendez shouted for all of them to hear.

"Keep in mind, these classes are randomized, so if you are put in a class with someone you hate, don't come crying to me. Deal with the problem yourselves and you'll be better off for it." Ruby couldn't imagine herself not getting along with anybody. Not that she was overly friendly, but that she couldn't imagine a scenario in which she would outwardly disagree with someone, and have that disagreement lead to an argument. She wondered for a moment what type of person would be able to get a rise out of her like that.

"Class Alpha will consist of Spartans: B188, B406, B265, B161, B122, B101, B063, B027-" Ruby tuned out most of the numbers Mendez spoke. In the back of her mind she thought that might be a bad idea, the likelihood of her missing her number would be fairly high. But, Ruby was confident she could listen to the class names, and for her number to be called, and be just fine in the end.

Ruby was starting to get irritated when she didn't hear her number until the very last class was formed. "And finally, Class Tango will consist of Spartans: B060, B380, B266, B283, B210, B419, B312-" Ruby finally was able to fully let her mind wander. She let out a quiet exhale, hoping she could get something to eat soon; standing outside in the hot sun while 387 numbers were called made a girl hungry. She had a feeling she wouldn't be that lucky, though.

"-B405, B028, and, last but not least, B104. You will be a part of these classes until the time where your fireteams can be determined based on your team cohesion." By this point most of the other drill instructors had left the field, she guessed they wouldn't be the ones dealing directly with any classes.

"All classes will move to building 03, there you will go to the room that shares the same name as your class. You will meet your drill instructors and will be introduced to the training regimen, lecture schedules, and your code of conduct you will abide by during your studies at Camp Currahee. Spartan candidates! Move out!"

Ruby jogged with the twenty or so other children towards what she could only assume was building 03. She had no idea who always knew what to do and where yo go, but she was glad they did.

Their room was a strange combination of futuristic, at least to her, and bland. The walls and floors were made of some strange stone she didn't know the name of, and each surface had decorative lines engraved into each one. The wall at the front of the classroom was adorned with a large banner with an intricate eagle design with the letters "UNSC" emboldened in the front. She imagined she would be seeing that image a lot in the coming years.

Ruby sat near the back of the class, content to let the attention of whichever drill instructors they were assigned be focused on the dummies who sat near the front. It was fortunate she was one of the last in the classroom too, otherwise it would have looked weird for her to sit in the very last row when there were plenty of seats open in front of her.

She didn't look too long at the people she was sitting beside, instead she focused her attention on the two adults standing on either side of the banner, their feet were abnormally far apart and their hands were behind their backs in what Ruby could only assume did not feel like a natural standing position.

"Good morning Class Tango, I am-" Ruby immediately stopped listening when the man's monotone voice started filling the room. She kept her eyes on the man, and moved them to the woman when she started talking, but her mind was elsewhere during the majority of the lecture. She had a feeling it wouldn't be that important. She just wished she had some paper to draw on, maybe even mock the man by drawing him with a big nose or something, Ruby almost giggled at the thought.

It wasn't until almost everyone's eyes were on her did her mind come back to the present. Not only were all the other children looking at her, but the instructors as well, and they looked furious.

"B419, can you repeat what I just said!" The female drill instructor, who was taller than the man, making her scarier to Ruby, stormed to where Ruby was sitting. Ruby's eyes widened in terror as she approached.

"Ugh… umm-" Ruby was about to answer her, trying to make up something, but the instructor did not wait for her to make something up.

"Clearly fucking not! Stand up, B419! I swear, you will show me the respect- DO NOT LOOK AT ME! You will show me the respect me and my fellow instructors deserve, or so help me God I will string you up from your ankles and watch as the birds start plucking those big, silver eyes from their sockets, you deaf bag of walking shit! AM I UNDERSTOOD!"

"Y-y-y-yes Ma'a-"

"What was that, I can't hear you, you must be mute too!?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" Ruby felt the tears run down her face but desperately tried not to cry.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!? Do I look like a man to you!? Deaf, mute, and blind, how in the fuck do you wipe your ass in the morning! Let's see if you've learned something, or if you're retarded too, AM I FUCKING UNDERSTOOD!"

"MA'AM, YES MA'AM!" Ruby's legs were shaking as she held her eyes shut as hard as she could. She could feel the drill instructor's breath washing over her face, and she wanted to die in a hole. She didn't care about what the other children had thought of her now. She just wished she hadn't agreed to go along with that stupid ONI woman.

"Sit your ass down in that seat right there, B419, and pay a-fucking-ttention!" The woman pushed her down into the seat, Ruby hit her elbow and knees on the edge of the desk as she did, and her face scrunched up in pain as she fought to hold in her cries of fear, shock, and pain. Once she had calmed down a little bit, she had watched the rest of the instructor's lecture through blurry tears with the most respect and attention she had ever given to a teacher in her entire life. Maybe this wouldn't be like Beacon, a simple school, after all.


Ruby continued to sniffle the last of her tears as she stood at attention with all 387 other Spartan candidates. She thanked the Gods she wasn't the only one in her distraught emotional state.

Mendez stood before them, hands on his hips, and a smug smile on his face. "It seems some of you have experienced the hospitality offered here at Camp Currahee. I hope you've learned your lesson, whatever that may be. I pray, for all your sakes, that you don't have a habit of repeating your mistakes."

Ruby glared at the man, but didn't - wouldn't - do anything else. One of the things her instructors had told her, after she had started paying attention, was that Mendez was the senior drill instructor, and if they wanted to see what hell looks like in person, they only needed to misbehave in front of him.

Mendez pivoted on his heel and walked the length of their formation as he talked. "Currently, it is 1139 hours. Lunch starts at 1200 hours, and ends at 1230 hours. Every morning you will have PT, or Physical Training. I'm sure you all realize that you, in fact, did not have PT this morning. As such, we are making up for it now. Before you is a mile long track. You will run this track, make it back to the barracks, clean yourselves in the showers, and make your way to the mess hall for lunch. As per usual, you will have until 1230 to eat, afterwards, the mess closes until dinner is served at 1800 hours. So, if you don't want to go hungry, I suggest you push yourselves on this mile."

"What are you all standing around for, get to running!" With Mendez's final words, well over three hundred children began running as fast as they could along the track. Ruby didn't want to stand out anymore than she already had, so she tried to stay in the middle of the pack, sprinting along with them.

Ruby knew better, of course she did, her Mother, Father, Uncle, and even her sister had told her about how important it was to pace yourself when doing physical activities. Something huntsmen and huntresses had to do all the time. But her head wasn't in the right place to make that decision now. It was only when her breath started to come out haggard did she finally fall behind. Many children forcefully pushed her aside as they passed her. Eventually she was in the back of the group, beside only a handful of other children.

"Feeling tired yet?" An accented voice spoke from beside her, she turned to see a taller girl with tanned skin running right beside her, more of a jog really.

"I don't know what those idiots are thinking, if we jog, we'll have plenty of time to eat, so long as we rush the shower." The girl said. Ruby thought about that for a second, and remembered how much of a hassle it would be having to wait for hundreds of other children to finish their showers, and how cold it would be once she got her turn.

"Wouldn't there be a line? And the water would be cold after so many showers." Ruby said as they jogged.

The girl beside her giggled. "There's at least a hundred showers here, there will be plenty of time to eat lunch."

Ruby was only slightly relieved. Her brutal scolding remained in the back of her mind.

"Have you gotten yelled at by one of the instructors yet?" Ruby asked suddenly, after a few seconds of silence.

"No, but I saw someone who did, I didn't know someone could pee so much. I hoped they changed their pants before they came here." Ruby let out a short chuckle at the thought, relieved for her telling off to have not been so bad she wet herself.

"I got yelled at earlier. I wasn't paying attention when one of the drill instructors asked me a question."

The girl beside her chuckled. "Yep, that'll do it. You seem to have taken it well."

"I didn't at the time! I was scared. I'm surprised I'm still not crying. I've been doing that a lot lately." She added the last part under her breath. The girl beside her heard it all the same.

"Let me guess, you're recently orphaned? Your parents just died?" The girl looked down into her eyes, and Ruby looked up, silver meeting blue.

"Yeah, a little over a week ago." Ruby looked down at her feet as she jogged. She noticed they were passing several other children that had started sprinting at the beginning of the run, they were walking now.

"I know what that feels like. My father died fighting on Harvest, and my mother died of cancer. And once my grandmother died, I had nowhere else to go but here, so here I am."

"It sounds like we've all lost someone." Ruby whispered. She remembered being told that everyone else here had been orphaned by the war. She only wished they could bond over that, Ruby's family was killed by the Insurrection.

"I'm Ruby, by the way." Ruby blurted out. She didn't know why she said it, but something about this girl comforted Ruby. Maybe she reminded her of her sister.

"I'm Catherine, but my friends call me Kat." They both made eye contact while they ran, sharing an invisible handshake.

"Who're your friends?" Ruby asked. Hoping to meet more people so she wouldn't be alone at Camp Currahee.

"Err.. just you, so far. I meant my friends back home on New Harmony." Kat said.

"Oh, well, Kat, I'm glad to call you my friend. Maybe we can find new friends here, together?"

"That sounds great, Ruby." Kat laughed softly as they jogged.

Before she knew it, they were at the end of the track, facing their barracks. Ruby turned and saw most of the other children were still slowly walking along the track, surprised to see just how many of them they had passed.

The short walk to their barracks was accompanied by a mostly comfortable silence between Ruby and Kat. Ruby didn't know what to say, and Kat didn't have anything to say, but Ruby didn't see anything on Kat's face that would suggest she was expecting her to say something.

Ruby exhaled the anxiety she was feeling at the sight of several unused shower stalls. She took Kat's earlier advice and rushed hers, moving her hands as quickly as possible to get all the smelliness off of her before quickly dressing and moving to the mess hall.

The mess hall was relatively empty. Only filled with the smarter people who had paced themselves, and the really athletic kids who had run the whole mile like it was nothing.

She looked at a nearby clock to see it was 1208 hours, which would be enough time to eat, so long as she quickly walked through the serving line and made it to a table as fast as she could.

She sat down with a soft clang of the metal food tray on the table and got to eating. She was too hungry to care that it didn't taste all that good; she wondered how anyone could make what looked like varying colors of goop taste anything other than bland. But, at least they had strawberries in the fruit cart!

She started shoveling food in her mouth when Kat sat beside her, taking large bites out of an apple and chewing slowly.

"Twenty minutes is a long time to eat, Ruby. You don't need to stuff your face; you won't die from a missed meal." She said between small bites of her own. Ruby ignored her. She didn't care about anything other than her meal at this point. She tried to think of the times when her whole family would share a meal on a warm, cotton blanket under the hot sun, drinking lemonade and eating sandwiches. Ruby remembered Yang's laugh when she had freaked out after an ant had crawled up her leg. She slowed down her eating a bit as the memories flashed through her eyes.

"There you go, patience is a virtue." Kat said, seemingly missing the reasoning behind Ruby's changing mood.

"You're pretty smart, aren't you?" Ruby asked, after swallowing the final bite of her delicious strawberries.

"Yeah, you could call me that." Kat said after a short time pondering the question.

"Could you help me during the lectures?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure what the lectures will be about." They both stood up as a bell rang, signalling the end of their lunch period. Ruby winced as a few kids ran in too late to eat their lunch, their faces scrunched in frustrated disappointment.

"Well, whatever they're about, I'm scared it'll be too hard for me, can you help me? Since you're so smart?" Ruby pleaded with the taller girl, using her signature puppy-eyes that had made her father crack on multiple occasions.

"How old are you, anyways?" It seemed Kat was too smart for her manipulations.

"Four and a half."

"Little baby, huh? I'm seven and a half. Sure, I'll help you with what I can." Kat didn't look at her as Ruby bounced up and down in appreciation.

"But, whatever you do, don't jump around like that again. You're irritating me." Ruby let out a quiet apology as she settled down.

She didn't remember who said it, but someone mentioned the next thing on their schedule was a full company lecture, and so Ruby, Kat, and three hundred other Spartan candidates made their way to the large building on the other side of Camp Currahee. Ruby wanted to sit in the back again, but Kat said the drill instructors would be looking for inattentive candidates in the back. Ruby quickly saw her logic easily thanks to her own experience, and sat down silently next to Kat in the first row of chairs.

Several more children filed in soon after them, and each one took a seat. Ruby guessed this room could fit five hundred people in it. She couldn't imagine how the teachers would answer all the questions that almost four hundred young children could ask.

About a minute after the last child ran into the room, scared he was going to be late, Lieutenant Ambrose walked across the stage at the front of the large room. In the center of the stage was a podium with a mic sitting on top of it. Ruby doubted he could even see the people in the back with all the spotlights illuminating the man and the screen right behind him. She turned her head to see what the people near the back were even doing, and she saw several drill instructors standing near the back walls, she assumed they would be the ones handing out punishments to the kids unfortunate enough to goof off.

Ambrose cleared his throat as he tapped on the mic, getting the room's attention. "Hello, Spartans. This room is the company wide lecture hall. Here, you will be receiving the bulk of the knowledge this training will provide you." He waved his hands slowly around the room, gesturing to the walls.

"I want you to get used to this place, and maybe even grow to love it. But, right now, I need you to respect this place. People are here to learn, to better themselves, and since you've made it this far, I trust each and every one of you will be the same. As such I ask that you please remain silent and attentive as the lecturer speaks. Also, please refrain from asking any questions until after the lecture. Once the lecture is done, you will move to your separate classes, and there you will discuss what you have learned, and ask all the questions you have." Ruby winced at that for a moment. She didn't like her class, especially that female drill instructor. She didn't know whether she would appreciate her asking any questions or not, and considering how new this place was to her, and not just Camp Currahee, she imagined she would have a lot of questions.

"Over the next several years we will discuss many topics; they will range from history, both civilian and military, politics, and battlefield tactics, to science, mathematics, and material sciences and engineering. Here you will be crafted into some of the greatest minds the UNSC has to offer. And I trust you will use your minds to good use; as they are your greatest weapon." Ruby groaned internally at the thought of having to do math when training to become a hero.

"Spartans, I want you to meet your primary instructor, Camp Currahee's dedicated smart AI, Deep Winter." A small, glowing man appeared on the podium on Ambrose's cue. Ruby's jaw dropped at the sight of an elderly man wearing a snow-covered cape, surrounded by a flurry of snowflakes, walk off the podium, and project himself as a life size human being, although see through, with what Ruby guessed were lines of code running up and down the AI's exposed 'skin'.

"Thank you for the riveting introduction Lieutenant Ambrose. Hello, Spartans, I am AI DWR 5488-7, but you may call me Deep Winter." The artificial intelligence said. He spoke with a deep masculine voice, kind of like her uncle's, but his accent was much more high class than Qrow's, and the AI didn't have a drunken slur to his voice.

"All stories have a beginning. The UNSC is no different. Tonight's lecture will cover the history of the United Nations Space Command, from the events leading to its inception during the 20th century, through the interplanetary wars, to today. The exact events that lead to the founding of the UNSC are generally contested by historians, but a concrete place to start is most often cited as the end of the first World War, back on earth in the early 1900s. After the war, the League of Nations was formed, in hopes to-" Ruby leaned forward in her seat, listening to every word that came from the AI's mouth, along with the helpful pictures and diagrams that were displayed on the screen above him. Ruby would not go through the same embarrassment of being scolded by any drill instructor ever again.


Several hours had passed once the main lecture was over. Ruby and the other Spartans were sent back to their classrooms, and would be assigned a short quiz of the material. The assignment was more of a homework assignment than a quiz. Deep Winter had split himself into many fragments and would be present in each classroom, answering questions the candidates had as they came. At the end of the discussion, their two drill instructors barged into the room with blank expressions. Each one of them would stand up after being called on to answer a question, if they got it right, they would sit down, if they got it wrong, they would stay standing and have to wait their turn while the rest of the class were asked the same question until someone got it right and sat down. After each correct question, a new one would be asked.

After a few other kids sat down, and a few more remained standing, it was Ruby's turn to answer a question.

"B419, when was the first colony ship deployed to settle distant planets, what was the ship's name, what system did it go to, and what planet did it colonize?" The female drill instructor was standing next to Ruby's desk. Ruby kept her eyes to the front of the room as she answered.

"Ma'am, on January 1st, 2362, the colony ship Odyssey, embarked from a lunar mooring base, and traveled to the Epsilon Eridani system. There, it settled the first human colony outside of the Sol System that would later become Reach." Ruby practically restated exactly what Deep Winter had told them during the lecture, almost word for word. She didn't even know what some of the words meant, but she could guess they were the right ones.

The female looked at her clip board with all the answers, looked at Ruby, then turned her eyes on the rest of the class as she spoke. "Very good, B419. You may take a seat. Perhaps some of the other candidates in the class could learn a thing or two from you."

She didn't know what to make of that comment as she moved on to ask another kid a different question. Was it a compliment aimed at her? Was it dismissing the other Spartan's poor attempts? Or was it an attempt to make her stand out, and be targeted by other envious candidates? Based off of the glares a couple kids sent her way, she thought it was the latter.

There were a few rounds of questioning, each with a different time period of focus. Most of the other Spartans had at least one question wrong during the test, all of them except for Ruby. She had answered everything right. Much to the irritation of the other Spartans. She hoped her pleading looks she gave them convinced them she wasn't doing this to take the spotlight away from them, she just wanted to be left alone by the drill instructors, and the best way to do that was to do everything right. She didn't know which was worse: an angry drill sergeant who could make up imaginative new slurs on the spot, or a handful of angry, orphaned kids who were being trained to be warriors.

The mess hall was a blur of sounds and smells after their classes were over. Ruby sat next to Kat near the center of the room. Ruby wolfing down food like there was no tomorrow again.

"Did anyone teach you table manners when you were younger?" Kat asked, cutting through a chicken breast with a plastic knife.

"No, what's that?" Ruby said through a mouthful of food.

"It's the total opposite of everything you are doing." Kat used her fork to gesture to Ruby.

"Well, I am young, and no one else cares."

"That's because they're not sitting right next to you, trying to talk to you."

"That sounds like their problem to me." Kat laughed as Ruby took another huge bite of her mashed potatoes.

"So, Ruby, how did your first quiz go with your class?" Kat asked after a short break in the conversation.

"I got everything right. I think some of the other Spartans in my class don't like me because of it." Ruby said, looking down at her tray.

"If they can't appreciate someone else doing their best, then they obviously aren't doing it themselves. So fuck 'em." Kat said. Ruby gasped at the cuss, and lightly slapped Kat's arm. The older girl only raised her eyebrow in return.

"Don't swear! But, do you think so? I don't want to make enemies or anything. I thought the drill instructors said we're supposed to be a team?" Ruby said.

"You can't make a good team with everybody. Some people are bound to get under your skin eventually." Kat said, taking the last bite of her food, and standing up to throw her garbage away without a word. Ruby sat in silence, chewing her strawberries and thinking over her advice. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she couldn't make friends with everybody.

She was about to take another bite of her last strawberry when someone knocked into her back forcefully, making her drop the delicious fruit on the floor. She turned to see who had ruined her snack when she saw a rather large boy standing over her.

"Know it all." The boy growled.

"What?"

"You heard me. You think you're better than everyone else just because you got a few extra questions right. Please, I could beat you up if I wanted to." The boy made a show of cracking his knuckles, trying to intimidate her. Ruby was a little embarrassed to say it worked.

"That's because she is better than you, jackass. If you tried as hard as she did then maybe you'd be worth a damn." Kat said as she approached from the other side of the table. Ruby jerked her head back and forth between the two, hoping they would fight each other, instead of over her.

"Tsk, whatever, assholes. Have fun being losers." The boy pushed hard against Ruby's head as he left, almost jamming her nose into the table. Kat made to move against him but Ruby stopped her, telling her it's not worth getting in trouble over this. One of the first things they were told not to do was fight each other.

"Whatever, he'll probably be the first one to die anyway. You okay, Ruby?" Kat asked. Ruby tilted her head at the morbid suggestion but nodded after she opted to ignore it. She picked up her tray and moved to throw her garbage away as well. Ruby noticed several other boys looking at the both of them, scowls on their faces, they seemed to be the first boy's friends.

There wasn't much time to do anything after dinner was over before it was time for lights out, so Kat and Ruby made their way back to their shared Barracks. Beta Company's lodging was similar to a hotel, or hostel, in that it housed a large group of people separated across six large rooms, each room capable of sheltering a hundred people comfortably.

Ruby's and Kat's rooms were directly across the hall from each other. They chose to stand in the hallway so they could chat, and, if they needed to, make a break for their own rooms before any drill instructors came by.

"So, Ruby, I've told you where I was born, on New Harmony, but I don't think you've mentioned where you were born." Kat said, changing the topic of their conversation. Uh oh, that wasn't good, from her interactions with Jeremy and the other ONI woman, she had realized her home, Remnant, was not something that was normal here. Although, learning that there were around 800 different planets under the jurisdiction of the UNSC earlier in the day had given her some confidence that she could say it was a backwater outer colony that had been rather unlucky and was glassed soon after it was colonized.

"Oh, well, I was born on an outer colony, not too many people have heard of it, it was called Remnant." Ruby watched Kat for her reaction, she was only a little relieved when there was none.

"Yeah, I haven't heard of that one. You said it was called Remnant. Was it glassed by the covenant?" Kat's eyes gained a sympathetic edge to them.

"Yeah, it was." Ruby remembered what the ONI woman had said about her family, about how it was the Insurrection that had killed them. "I wasn't there when it was, and thankfully my family weren't either. They were killed by the Insurrection, and I was taken here a few days afterward. I only heard it was glassed on my way here."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. It must be difficult, going through all this with the death of your family so close in your mind, huh?"

"Yeah… it is. But, they wanted me to be a hero, so I think they'd be proud of me, seeing where I am. I don't want to let what happened to me happen to anyone else ever again." Ruby's eyes were steel as she declared her intentions for her future in the SPARTAN-III program.

"That's a pretty tall order, Ruby. I doubt that much is possible for one person." Kat looked at her, unimpressed.

"Well, I'm not just one person. You're here, and there will be 298 others who will be just like us. We can do anything we set our minds to." Ruby poked at Kat's chest as she spoke. She gestured at the building and the other candidates around them.

"Whatever you say, tough gal. Just don't get yourself killed trying to be a hero." Kat said. Before she could finish the conversation, one of the drill sergeants entered the building and started yelling at them all to go to bed. Not one to draw the attention of one of the DIs, she quickly rushed a short goodnight to Kat and ran back to her bunk, sliding under the sheets eagerly, thankful for the rest that was about to come.

A short while later, after the lights were off and darkness filled the room. Ruby felt something poking at her side. Lifting her head up, she saw it was the boy from dinner. Ruby felt her heart drop a little at the sight of him.

"Hey, smartass, you sleeping good? I heard about your telling off by one of the DIs this morning. Ah man, what a relief. Good to know you can be as stupid as anyone else, if not dumber. Jesus Christ, not paying attention? What were you thinking?" The boy poked and prodded at her the whole time he spoke, not letting her turn back around and fall asleep.

"I don't know? It was a mistake, one that I won't make again." Ruby whispered back. She didn't know how to make him leave.

"Oh? Feisty. I'll hold you to it, smartass. Let's see how good you really are." Before he left, he jammed a finger hard into her side, making her yelp and sit up. They both panicked at the sound of angry footsteps from what must have been one of the drill instructors. Ruby quickly got back to bed, and the other boy climbed into a bunk on the other side of hers.

Ruby held her eyes shut as hard as she could as the DI walked by. She didn't know why, but what the bully had said had gotten to her somehow. She couldn't stop her emotions from bubbling forth into silent sobs and even quieter tears. She knew it wasn't totally about what the boy had said, it wasn't even mostly about what he said, it was about the pressure. She had been on her best behavior all day, and now she just wanted to laugh and cry and be a child again for a few minutes, not a soldier.

Because that's what it was. She wasn't here to be a hero, she was here to be a soldier. She should have figured it out sooner from all the military personnel and jargon that was constantly being shoved down her throat. She hated it here, even if she would never admit it. She didn't want to be the one to break first, to be a cry baby as well as a smartass, but she knew she couldn't keep up the facade forever. This isn't Beacon, they would never treat me this harshly. I guess, if I don't cry in front of anyone else, if I keep it to myself, then no one would think worse of me, especially not Kat. I have to stay strong if I want to make it through this.

As the full, unshattered moon climbed high into the night - something that had astonished Ruby the first time she saw it - Ruby worked to reign in her weeping as best she could, careful not to let anyone know just how distraught she still was about her new life


July 31 1356 KE (Remnant Calendar) / Remnant

Yang couldn't keep it in anymore.

She hit her bed with a muffled crash of strained bed springs and shuffling sheets, and screamed into the pillow. It had been a few days since her sister and mother's funeral. She had been told it would only get easier since. It was the opposite for her.

It probably would have been easier if she had someone who she could grieve with. Her dad had completely shut down. Yang didn't think he had even left the house since they died - since mom died - forcing Yang to be the one to go out into town to buy groceries and things.

She had seen some of her friends at the store when she went. They gave her their condolences and shallow apologies, but all that did was remind her that they were gone. She found some solace in the fact that the world kept on moving on, that this was seen as relatively normal, at least she could try and ignore it then.

Today, there was a memorial on TV about all the huntsmen that were lost in the fight against the Grimm this month, as there was every month. She had watched it a few times in the past, but she never got too invested in it. It didn't help to hear about all the dead huntsmen and huntresses when you wanted to be one yourself. But this month was different; she had seen her mother there.

She had her own dedicated moment of silence for her, since she was a local huntress. They even mentioned her poor daughter who had died alongside her. Seeing their smiling faces from a family photo they had taken a while back had all her emotions resurfacing: grief, pain, sadness, anger, regret.

She had shut off the TV when they started talking about Ruby, not willing to hear about how it was such a tragedy that a young girl like her could die so young. Her father hadn't appreciated that.

It was especially hard on her when they had proceeded to get into a shouting match about whether Ruby was alive or dead. Yang thought her dad had only chosen to believe his second daughter had passed away because it was easier for him; there were no questions to be asked, no searches to be conducted, no hopes to be crushed. There was a calming sense of finality, assuming someone was dead when they could very well not be, but Yang couldn't do that to her sister, her best friend. She had to know for sure, and until a body was found, Yang would refuse to believe her sister was dead.

It was these thoughts that had pervaded Yang's mind for the last hour, accompanied by shed tears and violent cries. As the last vestiges of her energy crept away from her, Yang drifted off into a dreamless sleep under the light of the shattered moon.


Another fairly long chapter. While I will say that the frequency of these chapters will decrease in the future, I don't really want the chapters to get shorter. Especially if there is a long break in between chapters. I like to read a chapter and concretely see stuff happening. Sometimes it can feel like after a few chapters in some stories nothing has happened, or what is happening is a several chapter long set up for a big event that feels like it is being dragged on forever due to the break in the chapters.

Until next time.