WARNING: THERE IS MILDLY GRAPHIC CONTENT IN THIS CHAPTER.

CHAPTER 6: OPERATION EMOTIONAL TURMOIL

1930 Hours, August 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

The Master Chief walked at a much slower pace than he was used to. He had to do this in order for his companion to keep up with him. Although she had made a full recovery physically speaking, her relative lack of activity for the past week had left a little weak.

The past few days had been spent getting her back on her feet and having her make sure that she could maintain basic movement and walk around normally. The first day she had stumbled a bit and she got a bit winded too quickly. The second day she had gained more strength and was showing little sign that she had suffered a life-threatening injury. Today, she had insisted that she was okay and after a moment of hesitation, the spartan had agreed.

John couldn't provide her much in the way of clothing aside from a small towel granted to him from one of his expeditions at a small village. It was a small gift in exchange for solving a few Grimm problems. He didn't think he would have any use for it until now. For now, it would serve as a means of making sure that the teenage girl was at least decent.

Ruby Rose showed far more signs of mental recovery, slowly breaking away from her more timid and hesitant state that she had first woken up to. Now, she was like an overcharged plasma pistol, always ready for anything at a moment's notice and constantly pestering him about his armor and weapons.

And speaking of his weapons, after waking up from one of his dreams, he had found an MA5D in his hands. After making sure that he wasn't experiencing any delusions, he quickly did a check of the rifle, finding it to be a fully functioning weapon. It had a full clip loaded and amazingly enough, there were seven additional magazines stored in his belt pouches. He couldn't explain any of this logically.

As best as he could recall the dream, he was fighting to protect his newest charge's life when the weapon appeared to him in his time of most need, but that's when he took a step back and recalled all the amazing and fantastic events that he had witnessed in his life.

That led him to the only conclusion that seemed to make any sort of sense. At first, this information was little more than a recollection of combat with the Forerunner Prometheans. They appeared and disappeared at will, adding a dangerous element in a firefight that was difficult to deal with. Then he connected this with his conversation with the Librarian and the memories of the war that the ancient Humans fought with the Forerunners. The technology at work and the technology being employed was on a scale that the UNSC wasn't able to compare with, but somewhere deep down, he knew what he was seeing.

Reclaimer, the genesong that I placed within you contains many gifts, including an immunity to the composer. The Librarian had relayed these words to him. But it must be unlocked.

Indeed the Forerunner female had unlocked the immunity to the composer, but what other gifts had she given to him?

Was it possible that he had gained a bit of power from the Forerunners themselves?

If that was the case, could he harness that power in combat?

Spartan 117 mentally resorted to his list of priorities. Assuming that he could gain control of his new supposed abilities, then this just might change more than his ability to fight. It could prove to be a massive boon for the UNSC. Humanity would gain a new means of defense and offense. Perhaps the Covenant could be forced on the defensive for the first time since alien contact.

Unfortunately, his ability to research this phenomenon was limited seeing as his focus had been solely dedicated on the recovery of Ruby. As important as armament was to him, it was more important to see to the well-being of the young girl that had come under his care. She was human and her life was in danger. That was more than enough reason to make sure that she was kept safe until they reached Vale.

But before she could be returned to civilization, the girl possessing black hair with red tips had insisted that they retrieve her personal weapon designated Crescent Rose. According to her description, it was a custom-made weapon, a hybrid of a sniper rifle and a scythe. Simply put, it was a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe. At first, John thought he had heard her incorrectly and requested that she repeat herself, to which the girl eagerly restated what she had said once with a clear amount of enthusiasm. Once he confirmed that he had not misheard her and that she wasn't otherwise mentally deficient, he pointed out the immediate flaws of such a design.

Firstly, a weapon's ultimate purpose was to wound and kill. A scythe was a weapon used in fiction, a sort of romanticized way of looking at combat. In no way was wielding one practical. As far as the Master Chief understood it, the original purpose of the scythe was in agriculture as a tool. Yes, the weapon was dangerous if its tip managed to hit someone, but in the time it would take for a hit to land, a nimble opponent could kill a scythe-wielder in several different ways. This conclusion was worked out with the knowledge of weapons that came from the same time period.

Additionally, a hybrid weapon meant more moving parts and in the middle of an intense firefight, a gun with fewer moving parts would save a soldier's life over a gun with more moving parts.

Ruby seemed offended that her weapon of choice was being criticized in the way it was. She had gone on about how it was important that a weapon be more than a functional piece of equipment. It needed to be unique from user to user because that was a part of a person's soul. It signified who they were at heart. She also made the case that her unique weapon was perfectly functional in her hands. According to her words, a scythe wasn't a weapon that was easy to use. It took years of discipline and skill.

Spartan 117 would have argued further, but then his own words came back to him; never make assumptions because assumptions could be deadly. He needed to adjust his thinking to this world and figure out what worked and what didn't from his own experiences. The rules were different here and he needed to know them and follow them. Any competent special forces operator had to think outside what was conventional knowledge or wisdom.

And now that John thought about it, he had never seen a huntsman or a huntress fight first-hand. All he had were some offhand accounts and some limited access to video feeds, none of which were particularly useful in gauging the true combat prowess of these elite warriors. While a huntress in training wasn't an ideal subject, she could help him jump start his knowledge base.

"So that's why you need to get your own weapon with its own name." Ruby's voice split into his thoughts. "Also, can I add some blades to your rifle?"

Had she been talking about weapons this whole time?

"I said no the first time." The Chief stated in a deadpan tone. "I said no the second time and I've said no every time you requested to modify my weapons. If you ask me again if I will allow you to modify my weapons, my answer will still be no."

He didn't want to have this conversation further with her. Frankly speaking, he couldn't deal with someone who could speak this much. Even the marines that he often worked with weren't this mouthy. They could be rowdy at times, but not this much.

Ruby didn't seem to understand that he had shut down the conversation. "So… can I modify your armor?"

The war veteran ceased his walking and turned to look at her. As he was right now in MJOLNIR, he was a full sixty centimeters taller than her. That massive height difference served as more than ample intimidation. All he had to do was stare her eye to eye, although all she would interpret was eye to faceplate and the Master Chief was well aware that people were often unnerved by a lack of eyes in his helmet.

"No." The super soldier maintained eye contact as he declared his answer. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"N-no, sir." Ruby withered under his gaze.

Satisfied that he had sufficiently subdued her, he turned to walk at the pace he was going at, hearing the familiar sound of the girl's footsteps following him.

The silence that followed them was exactly what he needed in order to keep his senses trained on detecting any enemy targets that could attack them.

Even if the current company he kept was not to his liking, he still had a duty to protect her life.

Halo - - - RWBY

2000 Hours

Ruby felt her legs aching. For gods knew how long, she had been walking alongside the Chief for a good while. She didn't know the time because unfortunately, her scroll had been busted during her encounter with the Grimm. All she had was him to relay her information and right now, she didn't dare to speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Her excitement over his gear was apparently not welcome and he had politely and forcefully told her to not broach the subject any further. His stare was scary and the worst part was she couldn't figure out anything else.

But in spite of his intimidating gaze, the giant man, assuming that he was human, had this rather unusual presence about him. The fifteen-year old couldn't quite place what exactly she sensed that made her wonder about him. She just knew that he was unlike anyone she had ever seen before and that was saying a lot considering she was in the know when it came to people with insane combat skills. Despite the fact that she had never seen him in combat, she got the feeling that he was more than capable of doing some damage.

And speaking of combat, Ruby really wanted to get Crescent Rose back. It was her pride and joy that she had spent so much time crafting, tuning, and perfecting the sniper-scythe combination. Without her beautiful baby, she was a far less effective Grimm hunter and she felt incomplete. That was why she had made a request from her savior to retrieve the weapon. Although he had agreed, now with the mood that was between them, she wasn't so sure if this was a good idea.

The silver-eyed girl kept her eyes focused in front of her, throwing her companion occasional glances. Even if she didn't dare to speak about his armor or weapons, her nature as a self-identified weapon-obsessor made her ask mental questions. The problem was that even with all her technical knowledge about all things related to fighting, she couldn't figure out what the Master Chief was wearing. The fact that he refused to divulge any information further tempted her to find answers.

Maybe she could find a way to be more than just a burden to him and then he might be willing to talk more on the subject. She didn't want to be a drain on him any more than she already was. With the way he moved, he seemed like someone that had a goal and a purpose and she had disrupted all of that because she couldn't protect herself.

Ruby felt herself recalling the near-death experience again. Even after a week of recovery, she found herself shaking at the memory. Death felt so cold and miserable and all sorts of terrible. It was unlike anything she had ever felt in her life. All of the complaints she had ever issued in her entire life now seemed so trivial in comparison to this. It made her wonder why she even complained in the first place.

She felt her hands shaking and she struggled to get ahold of herself. She thought that she could get over this by acting like normal and forgetting about the entire experience, but clearly that wasn't the case. The experience just wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to distract herself with her hobby and love for weapons. She grabbed her left wrist with her right hand in an attempt to steady her movements, but found the action unhelpful. Both her hands were shaking.

"Ruby." The Master Chief spoke to her.

"Y-yes, sir!" Ruby squeaked. "H-how can I help?"

"I am not your superior officer." His helmeted head regarded her. "You don't need to call me sir."

"Um, right." Ruby cast her eyes toward the ground. "Sorry."

"...what are you doing?" The Chief asked her.

"Nothing." Ruby attempted to hide her discomfort. "I'm fine!"

"Are you?" His visor noticed her hands. "Your body says otherwise."

"It's just cold!" Ruby blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "So I'm shivering."

Once she realized what words came out of her mouth, she felt stupid. They were in the heart of summer. The lowest temperatures around this time of year weren't even closer to cool temperatures.

"Stop lying to me." The Master Chief saw right through her. "I know that you're afraid of going back."

It was disheartening to admit that she was afraid of potentially facing Grimm. It wasn't all that long ago that the thought of facing the black monstrosities brought nothing but glee on her face. She was going to be a huntress and she expected to face these things in droves. She was going to be a hero. She was going to go on adventures and save the world. She was going to become a hero that would be recorded in history and be made into a legend for generations down the line to admire.

Could she do that now?

"I thought it was going to be just like in the books." Ruby's voice came out with a whimper. "I thought I'd always win. I thought no matter what stands in the way, I'd always come out on top."

Small tears were forming in her eyes. It had been a while since she had cried. The last time she did, Yang babied her immensely in the days that followed. The girl didn't want to worry her sister or her father so much, so it seemed like a good idea to start fighting and get stronger. If she could do everything herself, no one would have to worry about her anymore. Maybe she could do the worrying instead.

"You thought you could do it alone." The Chief inquired.

"...yes." Ruby felt the naivety of her beliefs come crashing down

As selfish as she knew she was, she couldn't help but hope in vain that he might provide her with a ray of hope. She was desperate to hold onto her dreams and aspirations. She had come so far, made so many strides, fallen down so many times, all for the sake of an ideal. At the core of that ideal was conviction that she could do anything as long as she put her mind to it. If there was no way to salvage all of that, then what was she doing?

"Then you failing was inevitable." The Master Chief told her. "Anyone who thinks they can save the world alone will die alone."

That was the last thing she wanted to hear, so she did the only thing that felt right: fight back.

"There have been heroes in the past who won entire battles alone!" Ruby knew that much from history. "So why can't I?"

"Whether you know it or not, those 'heroes' that you admire never fought alone, not really." The Chief was quick to point out a flaw. "They had help. Whether you see that help or not is irrelevant. That is simply how it is."

"But-"

"If you had been with a senior huntsman or at least another student, would you have lost that battle with the Grimm?"

"N-no…"

Of course she wouldn't be in this situation if she had gotten help. If she had just told Yang that she wanted some additional training, then her sister would have easily agreed to help her out. This entire ordeal wouldn't even be happening, but it was far too late for regrets now. The past was set in stone.

Quiet settled between the two of them, but it was anything but a serene setting. This was a very bitter pill to swallow. It was all too much for the budding huntress to take in all at once. All she felt like doing was curling into a ball and waking up. Maybe this was just some terrible dream and she was simply having a very bad day.

Then Ruby felt a slight jab of pain at her side, the only remainder of the injuries she had sustained when fighting the Beowolf Alphas.

This was no dream. This was the cold truth of her life. She had tried to improve her skills and she had failed. She wasn't good enough to be a hero.

A slight noise had her head turning up. At this point any distraction was preferable to the overpowering feeling of despair.

The Chief was no longer looking at her. He seemed to be staring into the distance at something. The sound she had just heard appeared to be him yanking the charging handle on his assault rifle. With a sliver of curiosity still, Ruby tried to see what he saw.

In the distance, there were trees and the horizon as well as something orange glowing in the distance and it definitely wasn't the sun. The sun was to the west, setting and giving room for the night to follow.

"We need to hurry." The Master Chief informed her. "How fast can you run?"

"Um, p-pretty fast." Ruby reported.

"Good." He held his rifle at the ready. "We're going in."

Crescent Rose was going to have to wait.

And strangely enough, Ruby didn't mind.

RWBY - - - Halo

2019 Hours

The spartan took off in a full sprint, reaching his peak speed. To his right, he saw what looked to be a flash of rose petals alongside him. It took him all of a half second to realize that it was Ruby. Indeed she was pretty fast, but he wasn't expecting her to keep up with him. This must be the power of aura and semblances.

As soon as the dirt road became more clear, it was easier to see the general state of the village. The first thing that came to the forefront was that there was not a single Grimm in sight, which was strange, but since they were attracted to negative emotion, it would only be a matter of time before they did show up.

He stopped and she did the same.

John retrieved his sidearm and held it up. "How good of a shot are you?"

"I. uh…" Ruby looked unsure how to answer that. "Okay, I guess?"

He peered at her. That was not the answer he was looking for and she sensed that.

"I was the best at Signal Academy." She didn't look sure, but at least that was a clear answer.

"Good." He didn't know what that meant, but handed her the M6D pistol. "Take this. It's loaded. The safety's on this side."

The war veteran quickly took another view of the burning town. If it wasn't Grimm, then this situation was man-made and he doubted that this was an accident. That left only one other viable option.

Bandits.

The Master Chief advanced with Ruby at his side. What remained of the entrance to the village was just a ruined fence and gate along with some bodies strewn around. Some were already dead judging by the blood covering the ground. A cough alerted the two of them to a survivor. A man with blonde hair slowly picked himself off the ground.

"What happened?" The super soldier quickly rushed to his aid.

"Gods damned bandits." The man groaned in pain. "They… came out of nowhere, took us by surprise. These guys aren't just looking to steal from us. It looks like they're not taking prisoners, at least… not male prisoners."

"How many guards are here?" John pressed for more information.

"We've only got twenty posted last I saw. I don't know if they're still alive."

"Understood." The spartan grabbed some medical items. "This'll stop the bleeding. Once we're done here, steer clear until all hostiles are eliminated."

His selection of meds were limited and he had no biofoam, which would have made it easier. Fortunately, as long as the wounds could be closed, he would survive.

"Wait." Ruby's voice sounded upset. "You don't mean you're going to kill the bandits."

"That's exactly what I'm going to do." The Chief replied.

This almost felt like an extreme case of dealing with the Insurrectionists. It wasn't unheard of for human rebels to take such drastic actions against large civilian populations just to make a point.

These bandits must either be desperate or very cruel. Either way, using deadly force was the only surefire way to end this threat permanently.

"B-but those are people!" Ruby didn't seem to understand that. "It's not right to kill people!"

"No, it's not." Spartan 117 rose to his full height, ready for battle. "But I'm not about to take chances."

"Isn't there another way?" Ruby pleaded with him, a hand on his gauntlet. "There has to be!"

"No." John affirmed.

However cruel that it was to take the life of another person, he couldn't ignore the death and chaos. The longer this dragged out, the worse the Grimm problem would be. Sparing any of these bandits was just too much of a risk. They could start something and the problem wouldn't be solved.

The Chief knew perfectly well right from wrong. Mendez has taught him as much during Spartan-II training, but when in the heat of battle, taking the moral high ground could lead to a massive loss of life. If given a choice between saving lives and being morally sound, the super soldier would always choose the former.

Morality could always be rebuilt, but lives could never be replaced. With that in mind, he decided on his next course of action.

"Stay here." The man in armor informed his teenage tagalong.

"You're going alone?" Ruby's panic was visible. "But you said that going alone means you die!"

"You aren't willing to kill." The spartan put it bluntly. "I don't trust you to have my back. Stay here and watch him. If you spot any Grimm, do not engage. Avoid them."

His harsh words looked to have reached her. She offered no resistance, simply bowing her head, signalling that she would stay out of the fight. Satisfied with her compliance, he proceeded forward into the blazing village.

His ears tracked each and every sight and sound. It looked like a considerable number of civilians were still alive and fighting for their lives. Now that he thought about it, he didn't ask for a way to identify friendies from foes. That meant he would have to rely on his own judgement and hope that his aim was true.

As he advanced into the small town, he took note of the various bodies littering the street. From the way things were going, it looked like these people weren't given ample time to prepare for this attack. This had to be the result of a planned surprise attack. Also of note was that most of the dead were male. Only a few females were among the fallen.

When he heard a distinctly feminine shrill, John looked to his four o'clock and spotted a group of roughly-dressed men grabbing a woman. They were systematically taking turns handling her. Judging by the way they were holding her, they were the hostile element.

While in running motion, he pointed his assault rifle, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. His first two bursts were direct hits. Red blood filled the air. Before the remaining ones could even react, he slammed his fist into the face of another, the feeling of something caving in resulting. The butt of his MA5D came to smack the jaw of another, the sound of a crack resounding. The final one was quickly hoisted by the neck before it got crushed, a body soon falling to the ground.

Three seconds. Five tangos down.

"Ma'am." The Master Chief bent down to check the female civilian. "Are you okay?"

She didn't have any wounds that he could see. The only thing wrong was that her attire was shredded, leaving her somewhat exposed.

"Y-yes." She appeared shaken but she was able to formulate words. "Thank you."

"Is there somewhere you can hide for now?" The spartan asked. "Until I clear the village, you're not safe."

"T-there's a hidden shelter to the northeast." The woman pointed in the general direction. "We all know where to go."

"Good." John sweeped the area before asking his final question. "Did you see anyone else in trouble?"

"I-I don't think there are many left." She was shaking so much. "The last I saw, they were taking the women away, maybe that way."

According to her, they were heading southwest. Maybe they were regrouping or taking stock of their status.

"Understood." The super soldier kept his guard up. "Make your way to the front gate before moving to the shelter. The way clear for now."

"Yeah, I will." She took a few steps before looking back. "Thank you, whoever you are."

The man in MJOLNIR nodded once, then took off to his right. Isolating the sound of the fire from human sounds was proving to be a bit problematic. It was only through practice and experience that he was able to have a semblance of clarity.

He encountered four additional targets, all of them unaware of him and it remained that way as he shot them all with bursts of 7.62 mm fire.

His motion tracker was picking up movement to his eleven o'clock. The smoke temporarily obscured his vision. In order to see through the smog, he switched modes on his HUD.

"HELP US!" A man screamed once he saw the green armor.

"STAY BACK!" Another grabbed the first man by his neck. "ANOTHER STEP AND I'LL-"

The aggressor didn't finish his declaration as a perfectly-aligned shot struck him dead in the center of his forehead. Blood came pouring from the wound as the lifeless form fell to the ground. Wasting no time, the Chief rushed forward to assess the situation.

"Are you hurt?"

"Just some internal wounds, nothing serious. I can walk. Thanks, stranger."

"Have you seen anyone else?"

"I don't know. I was just trying to buy myself some time until I could escape."

"The way to the main gate is clear. Are you okay to go on your own?"

"Sure."

Halo - - - RWBY

Ruby clutched the large pistol in her hands. It was the only tangible thing that she felt was keeping her sane in this insane environment.

She couldn't even begin to explain the inferno that she was witnessing. She had her own internal flames to deal with. The unsolved emotions that she was dealing with didn't help matters. It was all just chaos and she couldn't do a thing about it.

A small part of her wanted nothing more than to shake off all of her doubts and emotions and just get in there to kick some butt. As much as this part of her had been beaten down just today, she wanted to hold out that hope.

That was easier said than done though.

"But what can I do?" Ruby whispered to herself, hugging her only weapon closer to her body. "I couldn't save myself and now you're telling me to save a village?"

She tried to rationalize. Killing Grimm was one thing, but saving a village from bad people was completely out of her scope of experience. Furthermore, the notion that she might have to take a life was the ultimate thing preventing her from taking a step into the blaze. Being a huntress was all about being an example to the people. If she crossed that line, then she could no longer be that example.

Why had the Master Chief just gone in without even breaking a sweat?

Why could he commit to such an action?

What motivated him to do this?

Ruby didn't think of the man in armor as a bad guy. He was far from the most pleasant person she had met, but he knew himself well and he knew what actions to take and how to stick by those actions. That's how she thought he looked, but this was hardly a window into the reasoning behind his decision to kill.

No matter how she tried to process it, murder was wrong no matter how it was done and undert what circumstances it was done. It was just bad, plain and simple and she wasn't about doing bad stuff. All her life, she had read the stories and learned the exploits of historical figures and fictional characters, all of them triumphing over evil through pure good and nothing else. Time and time again, she had been told that the act of killing was one of the worst things that could be done.

But when caught in a life and death situation, did that really matter anymore?

The Chief didn't think so apparently.

How could he justify killing and be a good guy?

Why?

More than anything, she wanted to understand him, understand his actions, and his logic. He was her best bet at figuring out how to deal with all of these conflicting sides.

Ruby stood up, then remembered what she was supposed to be doing.

"You want to help him, don't you?" The guard she was supposed to be watching noticed the glint in her eyes.

"No, I need to stay here with you." Ruby shook her head. "I can't abandon you."

"You don't need to worry about me, girl." The man chuckled as he managed to remain composed. "I've been at this longer than you've been alive. I can handle myself. Just go. He is your friend, right? Friends don't leave each other behind."

"Friends." Ruby tested the word.

She wasn't sure if that was an apt description of their relationship.

Still, she didn't want to fight without any backup.

Ruby made her decision.

I wrote this chapter in all of three days and this will be my last official chapter of 2019. Man, we're ending the 2010's and we're entering into the 2020's. A new decade. I wonder what possibilities await for the world.

As many of you have probably guessed already, Ruby needs to go through some serious changes if she's to work alongside the Master Chief. She has yet to understand that when it comes to fighting people, morality is never that simple. Yes, we want to be good people and we want to always do right, but when faced with death, most people will want to protect their life or the lives of their friends and family. Consider this as a sort of wakeup call for Ruby.

As for the Master Chief, he's not completely without some flaws too. After all, he's still dealing with the loss of Cortana. Or rather, he knows that Cortana is 'dead' logically speaking, but his emotions haven't caught up and he hasn't properly processed that grief he's still holding, so he's got his own problems.

Some of you have raised concerns as to how the Chief stacks up in combat against experienced veterans like Qrow and Raven and I can assure you that Spartan 117 is more than a worthy foe for the likes of them. Remember that John is one of only two spartans that is rated as Hyper-Lethal Vector. As far as I understand it, this phrase means that he exceeds the extremely high expectations of a SpecOps division. In short, a literal one-man army. You guys still worried about the Master Chief?

Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated. What do you guys think about how I'm framing Ruby and her struggles? How do you think I handled the Chief's resposes to her naivety?

Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope all of you make the most of the rest of 2019 and this decade and I'll see you all in the next decade. Here's hoping it's a spectacular one!

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'It will be happier.'

Alfred Lord Tennysen