CHAPTER 11: OPERATION HEADCASE

1300 Hours, September 4, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

The Master Chief's original plan to train Ruby Rose into a "sailor" was being tweaked every day several times a day, but that was to be expected. To think that a plan would never go awry was one of the worst assumptions that any military serviceman could have. Things were always changing all around and it was up to the people in service to adapt to those changes because failure to do so could mean more people dying.

Surprisingly enough, the silver-eyed girl had been developing very well physically. She was now capable of keeping up with his regiment, even as it constantly evolved. This was helped by the fact that she had this go-getter attitude and never even considered quitting for a moment. She also followed his orders to the letter and the few failings that she did have were quickly corrected.

In simple terms, she was shaping up to be quite the trooper.

The entire third week of training had been dedicated to marksmanship, a skill that Ruby was gifted in. In fact, based on her shooting style and her accuracy, she could easily qualify as a sniper. In hindsight, this shouldn't have come off as a surprise. She had plenty of time and training under her belt alongside her aptitude. Now it was a matter of honing all of that into the finest point possible and it would be a sharp one to be sure.

The only real trouble that the Spartan could see in her skills was that she wasn't acquainted with the more technical aspects of sniping. Usually, snipers worked with a spotter in order to operate most effectively. There were of course a few exceptions like his fellow Spartan II, Linda-058, but as a Spartan, she was expected to be able to be a spotter and shooter at the same time. While Ruby certainly had the ability to do both, she wasn't quite yet capable of fully articulating the steps necessary to be an effective sniper with the aid of a spotter. That was what he had been practicing with her.

This exercise was also important for her in building team cooperation skills. She might be a leader in this case, but it was important that she understand how to work with others. In this case, a solid amount of trust with a spotter could mean the difference between life and death.

John had been testing her with the DMR for four days. Usually, he would have given much more time to sharpshooting, but for the sake of keeping to his eight-week overall time frame, he decided that she was competent enough as a designated marksman that she could move on to true sniping. He acted as spotter while she did the shooting.

According to her training, she was using the only weapon appropriate for that action: the Sniper Rifle System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel. The reason that he had chosen this variant of the SRS99 series was due to its superior sights. It was also a weapon that felt real good when in usage and Ruby had taken to it like a fish in water. Of course this applied more to his personal tastes.

There was also the potential issue of having her lug the rifle around. Considering that the sniper rifle was 187.5 centimeters in length and she was 154.94 centimeters in height, carrying it around anonymously was going to be impossible. With a difference of 32.56 centimeters, how this was going to be viable, he was not sure.

The reason that the Master Chief was thinking about this a lot was because after three days of shooting with the SRS99D, he was fairly convinced that the girl was going to serve him best as a sniper. She was so good at using the weapon that she might even be able to rival Linda given enough time, training, and experience. In his eyes, even having a fraction of Spartan 058's overal sniping ability was outstanding.

In the event that they couldn't find a way for her to feasibly carry the SRS99D into battle, then he would have her use the DMR or the BR55, although he had yet to test her with the BR55. Another week would probably be needed for more shooting time. He needed to get a complete picture regarding what her strengths and weaknesses were weapon wise.

This entire process was helped with the fact that Ruby had a keen interest in all things related to weapons. That was a bonus perk; she would have no trouble with maintenance and understanding the internal mechanisms of the weapon that she would be issued once her training was over.

The one thing the Spartan had to be mindful about was what he told her in regards to where he got all of the weapons. Technically speaking, his newfound ability to summon weapons was not in any way classified by either the UNSC or ONI in any way, so revealing its true nature to his recruit would not constitute a security breach or be a violation of any kind. It was something that he had been gifted by a Forerunner and he was developing this gift of his own initiative.

However, if there was one thing that he had learned over the course of his entire service, it was always best to keep one or two tricks up his sleeve in the event that there was an emergency, he could at least have a chance to turn things around in his favor. Winning was the name of the game after all.

But John's reasons for concealing this power from Ruby also came with it a bad taste in his mouth. While he could see the merit in keeping this on a need-to-know basis, a part of him saw it as keeping a secret from a future teammate. There was no doubt that with this girl's mentality that she was going to be by his side wherever he went. She was proving her mettle and she wasn't showing any sign of stopping. Because of his growing assurance in her overall combat effectiveness, he was beginning to trust her more. As such, he felt that to keep her out of the loop in terms of his true capabilities was somehow wrong.

What was the right thing to do?

Did he maintain secrecy as he had been trained to do his whole life?

Or did he trust in the silver-eyed girl and tell her what he knew?

The Master Chief let another second pass before he banished these distracting questions from his mind. It was time to resume training. He would give this more thought when the night settled in.

"Range to target: wun, zero, wun, niner." He looked through his rangefinder.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Ruby carefully adjusting the scope in accordance with the distance that he provided her. She performed this task silently while making a minimum amount of noise. Her face was clear and focused; she was dialed in.

The Spartan gave her another piece of information "Wind, moving from west to east, quarter value."

Again, the silver-eyed girl made the necessary adjustments to her scope, doing so without the need to request any further clarification or repeat of the information. A few motion with her left hand and she was ready.

"On scope." John reported.

A few seconds passed and she made some minute adjustments to the weapon, making sure that it was snug against her body, her trigger finger now very slowly moving into position while he heard as she drew in a deep breath

"On target." Ruby softly said while beginning to exhale very slowly.

The Master Chief gave the order. "Fire."

About half a second after he gave her the command, she pulled the trigger and the familiar sound of a 14.5 millimeter high velocity, armor-piercing round exiting the weapon sounded off. It took less than half a second for the bullet to reach its target over a kilometer away. The result was a very dead-looking giant Death Stalker.

"Hit confirmed. Stand by for the second target." Spartan 117 didn't waste time and quickly moved forward. "High-flying, 100 meters up. Do you see it?"

Ruby was quiet for four seconds before replying. "I tally."

"Fire." John said the command again.

Again, the sound of the SRS99 releasing the deadly round reverberated and once again, it took less than half a second for the target in question, a Nevermore, to be struck right in between the eyes and then plummet to the ground.

"Hit confirmed." The Chief nodded his head. "Targets suppressed."

He was the first one to rise from his prone position. She followed suit, carefully brushing off the dirt and dust that had collected on herself. One look at her face and it was clear to see that she was still thinking about the kills.

"How did it feel?" He asked her. "Are there any problems with the equipment?"

"Everything works perfectly, Chief." She didn't look at him. "I was just thinking about how easy that was."

Good.

She was adapting.

Halo - - - RWBY

2000 Hours, September 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

Whatever time Ruby wasn't spending doing her training and increasing her knowledge, she spent squaring away her equipment and making sure that she was okay physically. The toughest part of training wasn't over, that much her gut instinct told her. It was only going to get more arduous with time. The Master Chief might have all but stopped barking orders, but he was watching her carefully. Everything she did needed to be done with a purpose.

Right now, she was busy cleaning her disassembled M9D pistol. It was now her weapon and she needed to treat it like it was her best friend, not that properly maintaining her only personal weapon was going to be much trouble. As much as she had tried to distance herself from her life and the parts of herself associated with it, she couldn't help but being a lover of all things weapon-related.

But her enthusiasm was kept to herself. The last thing that the Chief would appreciate was her spontaneously showing bursts of emotions, although now that she thought about it, she was not being yelled at as much. That wasn't to say that she wasn't making mistakes because she still was. It was just that instead of screaming orders to her, her superior was now content to issue stern reminders and warnings that were barely above a loud talking voice. Whatever the case, she wasn't about to push her luck.

Ruby grabbed a small rag coated with lubrication and gently rubbed along the slide. The supplies that weren't weapon-related had been procured thanks to the Grimm extermination that they had been doing. Although they couldn't get rates as high as a professional huntsman could, their sparse living expenses ensured that they had enough. If a purchase didn't serve a functional purpose for their training or their hunts, then they didn't need it.

How the Master Chief was able to procure the weapons he had used for training she had no idea still, but every time she tested out a new toy, her curiosity would grow. However, once she began to focus, even her scatterbrained questioning ceased. She had more than enough fun shooting and having the feeling of something powerful in her hands. It made her encounters with the Grimm a little more easier to bear.

No, she had not gotten over her fear of the monsters, not completely. Even when training with targets over a very long distance, she found her heart rate increasing, her breathing spike in frequency, and she often broke out in a sweat. What brought her back to her sense was when her savior spoke to him. Either that or sometimes, reminding herself of his presence was all that she needed to stow her fear and just shoot.

Ruby still felt that she had a long way to go before she could consider herself to be fully able to handle herself in a situation involving Grimm and every time she felt any sort of hesitation, it was another reminder that she needed to work harder to overcome this problem. They were the enemy and they wouldn't hesitate to kill her if given the chance. She should be ready to respond in kind, otherwise she could get herself killed.

And she still didn't want to die.

The teenager stopped what she was doing to close her eyes, banish her fears, and exhale a breath out, then inhale in, then out again. After two minute passed by, she had normalized her breathing. She wished that it had happened sooner, but she could at least be happy with the fact that she regained control by herself. Once she was calm, her mind began to occupy itself with thoughts of the next few days of training.

With her skill in sniping showing consistent signs of betterment, it was now time for her to learn how to become a sniper not just in marksmanship, but in stealth and reconnaissance. Although she had done some training with the Chief in the latter, the former was new to her. Never before had she ever thought she would ever need to blend into her environment as a sniper. After all, with her semblance and her past of using a scythe, there didn't seem to be a need for being all quiet and motionless.

And in all honesty, it was the stealth part that made Ruby the most anxious. She knew next to nothing about how to be silent while in combat. Her dream of becoming a huntress and a heroine to Remnant demanded that she always present herself to the enemy without a hint of fear. This complete turnaround of how she fought was jarring to say the least, but she would take it one step at a time and eventually adapt it as her new normal.

As she thought about what the days would look like, she had subconsciously resumed cleaning of her weapon. It was one of the most comforting feelings in the world back in her old life and it still was even now. The cool metal against her fingers, the sound of metal against metal as she took apart and put it back together, and the sound of bullets being loaded into a magazine. All of that struck a familiar chord with her.

It almost felt like she was at home.

Then she saw the Master Chief approaching their campsite with an elk carefully held over his shoulder. The effort of carrying the animal looked nearly effortless. He simply walked normally with it. Judging by how clean the body of the dead animal looked, it appeared that the kill was a clean one. The only sign of a struggle was some blood covering the side of his armor where he held the species of deer.

The man quickly set about to begin skinning the animal and begin sectioning off pieces that were edible and parts that they couldn't use for anything else useful. The speed and precision that he was displaying for butchering this kill was very remarkable. He must've done this many times in his life. No matter how many times she witnessed him returning with food, it never ceased to impress her. She certainly wasn't a hunter.

Ruby decided that she wanted to be useful. "Can I help with that, Chief?"

"There's nothing for you to do now." The green-armored giant told her. "But after I drain the blood, I can teach you how to skin it."

Ruby could accept that. "Okay."

By the time that he was done getting all of the blood out of his kill, she was done cleaning up her weapon and reassembling it before doing a dry test fire. Once she completed her tasks, she watched and waited patiently for him.

"If you still wish to help, now's the time." The Master Chief called to her.

"Roger that, Chief." Ruby put down her weapon and leaped to her feet.

She regarded the animal hanging by rope attached to a nearby tree. Aside from blood stains along its neck and chest, it was a clean kill. Strangely enough, the sight didn't really trigger any sort of bad reactions from the girl. She felt a little reservations about doing this, but she did agree to help and it would reflect poorly on her if she backed out now.

Since she was new to all of this, she was slowly guided by him regarding the most efficient and effective methods of skinning, which parts of the animal that could be eaten and which parts were to be discarded. Just like with their training, she followed his instructions to the letter.

"Where did you learn how to hunt, Chief?" Ruby asked suddenly.

A pause occurred before he answered. "I learned alongside my comrades. The skill of hunting game was a self-taught skill that we all learned."

"Ah." Ruby replied lamely. "... wait, we? As in, there are more of you?"

"...there were." The Master Chief responded.

Every time that he changed the way he spoke, she noticed it. Emotional responses from him were few and far in between. She could count the number of times he had expressed any sort of emotions on one hand, so whenever something like this happened, she couldn't help but stare at his helmeted head and wonder what sort of expressions were playing out on his face.

But as much as she wished to know more, she could hear the heaviness in his tone. It sounded like speaking of these comrades of his was quite an undertaking. That meant that this wasn't a discussion that he often had. Maybe the subject was not something he cared to talk about. Bad things must've happened or something along those lines.

Ruby resumed her skinning of the elk. After she finished, she would then be sectioning the pieces of meat and they would be able to cook the pieces they wanted for tonight. Whatever they didn't eat, they would need to dispose of. They would do what they could to leave as few traces of themselves as possible.

The last thing that either of them wanted were unwelcome stalkers.

RWBY - - - Halo

2000 Hours, September 11, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

It had been one month since the Master Chief had taken Ruby in. In that timeframe, she had transformed into someone much different than she was prior. The change was so drastic that it almost felt like she was a new person.

However, the Spartan supersoldier knew that just like with any military serviceman who joined the military, she would never be completely rid of her old self. Traces of her former civilian identity still remained despite the grueling training she was undergoing. His choice to not crack down harder on this was partially due to the fact that he demanded that she follow rules and protocol as he saw it, he didn't wish to stomp out her individuality. In fact, it was that individuality that he needed intact.

What he needed from her was more discipline and focus to balance out that individuality. If this was the UNSC and there were many more troopers, a more standard and rigid basic combat training course would be warranted, but out here, he only had himself and her to rely on. Hence, a need for flexibility and imagination was critical to staying alive.

John was applying those very same lessons onto himself as well. Half way into boot camp and he had made so many modifications to his original plan that it was looking nothing like it had when he first started. Most of the training involved with Ruby was practical and applicable in real life. Although he didn't neglect to train her mind and add onto her knowledge, he had learned quickly that his student was at her best when she was made to apply what she knew into a situation or scenario. She retained what she was taught better when she knew that she could actually use what she was learning in a direct way.

Actually, as much as she still acted immature and undisciplined at times, she was incredible at absorbing new ideas. He had never once had a problem with her attention span. She paid attention to everything he said and did her best to mimic him. Her willingness to take in his wisdom was a good thing in his mind. This ability to listen was not the marks of a good follower. They were also the marks of a good leader as well.

Today's plan was to move on to terrain navigation and dealing with various physical obstacles. They had reached the mountain range which served as a natural barrier for the Kingdom of Vale against the Grimm. Working in higher elevations was always tricky regardless of where it took place. Numerous hazards and factors were added to a trooper's list of things to bear in mind while on a mountain.

As they made their final checks, the Master Chief heard something very faint, but that wasn't what set him on alert. They were in a wild environment with plenty of other sounds that were much louder than the noise he had heard. The fact that he was able to clearly distinguish a noise separate from the wild life all around meant one thing.

Someone was coming.

His instincts told him to move out of the way, so the supersoldier did just that, crouching while also shifting three meters to his right. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something fly by him, slicing the air that he was standing in. Spartan Time kicked in and he quickly brandished an MA5D that he kept on hand. Ruby too had drawn her weapon and was pointing it at the target, but as soon as she did, her eyes widened and the M6D was lowered.

Standing some fifteen meters to his eleven o'clock was a girl. She looked young, perhaps a teenager closer to twenty years of age. She had long blonde hair that ended at her hips, two eyes that were a light shade of purple. He estimated her height to be about 173 centimeters, which was significantly shorter than himself, although not in comparison to Ruby. Her stance indicated that she was a fighter of some kind, more used to close quarters combat. She also appeared to be emotionally unstable right now.

"Identify yourself." The Master Chief commanded.

"Like I give two shits about what you want, kidnapper!" The girl was glowing and her stare was venomous. "Now, I'm gonna kick your ass into the dirt! Nobody takes my baby sister from me! Nobody!"

"Yang! What are you doing here?!" Ruby snapped out of her surprise. "How did you find us?!"

"Shut up, Ruby!" The assailant now identified as Yang regarded the girl with silver eyes. "You're in big trouble! Once I'm through killing this guy, we're going home! You've got some explaining to do!"

"What?!" Ruby looked aghast. "I'm not going home. I don't-"

"Yeah, the letter. We know, and we don't care. This asshole right here's responsible, isn't he?! Is this thing even a person?!"

Spartan 117 calmed his nerves. She looked to be the only enemy around and she looked to be the impulsive type that would charge off without a care in the world. That was perfectly fine. He wasn't about to take chances.

"What is your relationship with Ruby Rose?" John questioned.

"We're sisters." Ruby explained, trying to keep calm herself. "Half-sisters. We have the same father. Please, Yang! Stop this! I'm here by choice!"

So they were family by blood and they were close from the look of things. Such a raw display of emotion like this was unfamiliar to him. Even with UNSC Marines, such unrestrained emotional outbursts were uncommon. They tended to keep their anger on a leash in order to unleash it as an effective tool against their enemies. This girl had absolutely no concept of self-control.

It was just rage, nothing more. The blonde launched herself forward. In reaction to this straightforward avenue of attack, the Chief grabbed her fist just as it was about to make contact with his chest and he tossed her back. Yang quickly recovered and charged again, this time keeping her feet planted on the ground. Once she was within striking distance, she began throwing punches at him relentlessly. He chose not to counter her even though she was leaving more than a few openings for him to expose.

One thing that was unexpected about this engagement was that his opponent carried far more strength than her stature would suggest. He could only surmise that this was due to her aura more than anything else. So all he needed to do was drain her aura and her threat level would be much less.

Holding back wasn't in his nature usually, but this girl was human and she was aiming all of her efforts at him specifically. Disabling her would be more than sufficient.

John systematically either dodged, blocked, or absorbed her fists. It looked like she was counting on trying to overwhelm him with sheer force alone, but with the way she was attempting to put him out of commission, she didn't appear to have much strategy other than using her brute force. If only that was enough.

He grabbed both her arms, holding her in a vice grip before rearing his helmeted head and slamming into her head with all the force that he could muster. She became temporarily blinded, which gave him the chance to slam her into the ground, one hand grabbing her neck to keep her down.

"Stand down." The Master Chief warned her. "Now."

"The fuck I will!" The brawler retorted. "ARGH!"

An explosion of energy came out of nowhere to surround Yang and the war veteran instinctively backed away and put some distance from her. He didn't know what that was, but he wasn't about to take chances. The blonde stood up, almost appearing to be on fire, her teeth gritting and her eyes red.

"YANG!" Ruby was now screaming. "STOP THIS!"

The plea was not answered as her sister once again moved in to attack again. There didn't look to be any reasoning with this girl. The only way that they were ever going to end this was to take her down as soon as possible.

"Chief, her semblance converts strikes against her into energy!" Ruby warned him, apparently sensing the atmosphere. "Don't hit her or she'll get stronger!"

"Understood." He acknowledged.

He wasn't quite sure he understood, but Ruby did know Yang better than he did and he would have to trust in her information. If he couldn't make any physical strikes without risking an enemy with even more strength, then he would need to stick to the plan of wearing her down to a point where he could hit back and knock her out.

Yang's fighting style was becoming less organized and more chaotic and frenzied. Her danger level was increasing simply because she was becoming more erratic. Her power output was increasing. He was beginning to make use of his Promethean Hardlight Shield to help him in his defenses.

This gave him an idea. He once more grappled with the brawler before delivering a knee to her side, staggering her for a split second, more than enough time to deliver a kick to her midsection.

It appeared she was weak to kicks.

Halo - - - RWBY

Yang was only becoming more frustrated and this only fed her anger. Here she was, finally able to beat the guy that had taken her sister from her and she wasn't able to do a damn thing against him.

He was good, annoyingly good. He was ducking, dodging, weaving, evading, countering, blocking, absorbing, basically any word that meant that she wasn't able to land a hit that made contact with any part of his physical body.

Seriously, who did that? Every guy before this one had always gotten a good beating if they even so much as thought about Ruby the wrong way.

And to make things worse, her baby sister had just spilled the secret to how her semblance worked and her opponent was working to make sure that she couldn't get any more powerful as an indirect result of his actions.

That just made her doubly angry.

She needed to push more, go faster, get stronger, beat this thing into oblivion.

Yang fired Ember Celica, to which the armored giant responded with that oversized blue shield. Her shots were deflected away from her. She kept firing and she was met with the same result. Three of her shots were reflected back at her. One she managed to barely escape from, but the other two returned back to Ember Celica. Making it even worse, they were fire rounds and once they made contact with her weapons, the temperature was enough to heat the metal of the barrels in a way that warped them. Now she couldn't even fire.

Yang whipped her hands to her destroyed weapons, then back to him.

How dare he.

HOW. DARE. HE.

Then she noticed something that she hadn't spotted before. A small strand of her blonde hair floating in the air, right in the middle of her field of vision. She watched the single piece of hair fall to the ground.

That was the last straw for Yang. "BASTARD! FUCKING DIE!"

She drew upon her aura to the fullest extent and put everything she had into her legs, giving herself a boost in speed that she normally didn't have. This combined with her now overloaded strength had to be enough.

Only her punch never landed.

Out of the corner of her vision, she saw something red entering her field of view, but before her mind could even process what exactly she was seeing, she felt something slamming into the side of her head, kind of like a fist delivering a right hook.

All that Yang knew for sure was that it hurt and she was knocked off course and she slammed into a nearby tree, causing it to fall over from the kinetic energy. Once the brawler checked to make sure she was in one piece.

"Don't get up." That was Ruby's voice, but it sounded so grave.

Yang whipped her head up, her anger dissipating. "Ruby?"

When her eyes regained focus, the elder sister looked up. There she was, the same black hair with red tips, the same silver eyes, the same cute face, all of that was the same, but there was something much different that made even those familiar features appear so alien.

That hardened look on her face.

Did her baby sister just hit her?

"I told you to stay home. I said I chose this path." Ruby's voice was quiet, yet it was so full of fury. "Why didn't you respect my wishes? Why did you come to find me when I didn't want to be found?"

"Ruby, you're my sister. I love you. I was worried about you." Yang began to rise to her feet, struggling to reason. "You're just a kid. You shouldn't be-"

This time, the blonde saw the fist coming, but she still wasn't fast enough to do anything but take it. The impact was enough to send her back to the ground, her head resting just two inches above the three that she had knocked down moments ago.

Her baby sister had just hit her.

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" Ruby screeched. "IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU WOULD HAVE RESPECTED MY WISHES!"

Never before had this ever happened before. There was nothing for comparison in the past. Every single argument between the two siblings was often childish and occurred for the most petty of reasons. Some of their more serious fights had ended on bad terms, but nothing that wasn't eventually forgiven.

Now though? This was so out of the ordinary, so unexpected that it shocked the brawler. Her mind was simply unable to comprehend what she was dealing with.

But still Yang tried. "Ruby, come on, you're not in the right state of-"

"Get out of here." Ruby's voice resumed a low tone.

"Huh?" Yang didn't believe she heard right. "What did-"

"You heard me, Yang." Ruby pointed away from their current location. "Get out of here. I don't want to see you."

What in the gods' name was this? What had happened to Ruby? Why was she acting like this?

"Ruby-"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Ruby shouted. "I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU!"

What was the proper way to handle this? Was there even a way that this all could end with everything returning to normal?

"...no." Yang shook her head.

She wasn't about to let her sister slip out of her hands. She was family and family was the most important thing in the world. Nothing would ever get between them, not if she could help it. She couldn't give up now.

Yang witnessed a myriad of emotions flicker over Ruby's face. Bitterness, anguish, and maybe a bit of doubt, but the fifteen year old made no move to help her sister up or offer her any kind words. Then, the younger teenager closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, exhaled it, then opened her eyes.

That hardened look again. It was frightening.

"Chief, orders?" Ruby turned her head to the third presence.

The golden visor merely regarded them both. "Make sure that she can't follow us."

Ruby nodded. "Roger that, Master Chief."

The way that she took commands from him without hesitation was so out of the ordinary as well. It wasn't that her little sister wasn't respectful of authority figures, but Yang never recalled seeing Ruby act like this.

Silver eyes met lilac ones.

A tense silence between the two of them.

"Don't do this." Yang begged. "Please don't leave us. Don't leave me."

"Too late." Ruby shook her head. "It's already too late."

With that, the younger girl reached into the pocket of her elder sister and retrieved a scroll. The elder grasped the wrist of the younger.

"Let. Go." Ruby seethed.

"I'm not going anywhere." Yang repeated herself. "If you want me to let go, you're going to have to make me."

The brawler expected the former scythe-wielder to hesitate or reconsider, but that was a dashed hope. The former reached to her side and retrieved a large pistol from her side. There was not even a moment of doubt as the black-haired sister used the butt of the weapon to slam it into the side of the blonde's head.

Either Ruby had gotten stronger or she was out of aura because Yang felt the world spin before she faded to black.

Why did this happen?

I managed to get this chapter in on time. I wasn't sure that I would be able to considering my schedule this week.

A small update concerning my enlistment. To make it short, I went through MEPS, got through it with no trouble, and I signed the dotted line and swore in. So yeah, I guess you could say that I'm getting a little bit closer to becoming a real life Master Chief, but I'm not an official US Army Soldier until I graduate from BCT. That said, I have be mindful about how I conduct myself now that I've signed a contract with the government.

Now back to the story. Yang finally shows up and quite abruptly at that, but her role in the story is far from over. I mean, considering her busted gear and her current state, she ain't exactly in shape to go back to Vale.

Ruby's characterization here was tricky because as much as she's dealing with trauma, she still values the people she calls family. Plus, there's also the changes that's she gone through to consider. The result is this chapter and I believe this makes sense within the context of this story.

As for the Chief, he has no idea how conflicts between family occurs. I don't think there's even been an instance where he's gotten into a real fight between his fellow Spartan II's, so this is all new to him, the idea that fights are inevitable between people who are different, even if those people are family.

That's all I can say about this chapter. Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing as well as you can in these tough times.

"Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance."

Calvin Coolidge