CHAPTER 15: OPERATION BATTLE BUDDY

1009 Hours, September 30, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

The Master Chief stood close to the edge of a cliff overlooking the mountainous terrain before him. His eyes scanned the environment searching for the usual signs of Grimm wherever possible. Despite this location not being ideal for the abominations to be located, there were the occasional species hidden.

As for his reason for being here, today was all about land navigation, perhaps one of the most critical skills that a troop needed in combat. While technology helped vastly with precision and accuracy in regards to specific locations, the ability to know how to read a map and figure out a current location was crucial in the event that equipment failed, which it did often enough to warrant such knowledge.

The Spartan had given Ruby some lectures concerning reading a map's legend, discerning the five major and three minor terrain features, and learning how to plot a specific point. Now she was going to have to teach her sister this stuff and the two of them were going to work together to find each point that he had given them. From his current position, he would be able to monitor their progress.

The two of them had three hours to find all five points and jot down the codes that were present at each site, and return to him to confirm their findings. The only tools available to them were a map of the area they were traversing, a compass to tell them their direction and azimuth, and a protractor with a string to help them measure distance on the map. To ensure the validity of their work, all of their devices, weapons, and any other unnecessary equipment was taken away from them, leaving only the tools for this field training and some food and water. They wouldn't need anything else.

Personally, John didn't think they were ready to do a joint mission together, but he had to get them to work together sooner or later. Just because the two of them weren't on friendly terms didn't excuse a lack of cooperation.

Countless times in the UNSC, he had to fight with troops from all the different branches, many of which he didn't agree with in regards to tactics, strategies, management of personnel, and many other factors. Nevertheless, they were all fighting the same fight and they were on the same team. They had to work together to even make a dent in the Covenant war machine.

Both Rose and Xiao Long would have to accept that as unpleasant as their relationship was now, there were more important things than their own disagreements. Whether the two of them learned that lesson the easy or hard way was entirely up to them. One way or another, they would accept the rules and conditions of teamwork he set before them.

The Chief quickly used the sensors and footage from the drones hovering overhead to access current feeds. It was about that time to check up on the progress of his two female trainees.

And predictably, Rose was being the more studious of the two. The silver-eyed girl had her map and tools laid out against a large boulder, carefully taking notes. Meanwhile, her blonde sister sat to the side, feigning indifference while casting occasional glances at the map; the elder sibling likely was having a hard time grasping this knowledge.

"Are you done yet, pipsqueak?" Xiao Long groaned. "This is so boring!"

"If you're going to whine, keep it to yourself." Ruby grumbled, not taking her eyes off of her calculations. "I'm trying to work here."

"Fucking hell, Rubes." Xiao Long glared at the back of her sister's head. "At least pretend that you care."

"The only thing that matters right now is finishing this training." Rose gave a deadpanned look. "You don't like it? Well, you're shit out of luck."

Also predictably, they were still confrontational in their words to each other, not unlike Soldiers and Marines.

"Oh, look at me. I'm better at this than you." Xiao Long began speaking in an exaggerated tone that could only be described as unprofessional. "I can shit-talk you because I'm better."

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Rose ground out those words slowly. "Unlike you, I know exactly what I'm doing here."

"Yeah?" Xiao Long adopted a challenging tone. "So do I."

"I wish I could believe that." Rose seemed resigned in the conversation. "I really do."

Spartan 117 felt a strong feeling of frustration. He couldn't comprehend this level of resistance to simple cooperation. Both of them were being incredibly stubborn in the most unnecessary ways possible. It had only taken him one day to get over his own pride and arrogance in order to work with Sam and Kelly.

Why couldn't these two do the same? They were actually sisters, blood-related and they had shared childhood memories together. The war veteran wouldn't pretend to understand relationships from the perspective of civilians, but surely it wasn't hard to put aside disagreements for the sake of the larger picture.

"Well, fuck you too." Xiao Long delivered a gesture that he was familiar with people using: the middle finger.

Rose sighed and sagged her shoulders. "How about this: the sooner we get this done, the sooner we don't have to look at each others' mugs. You dig?"

"...fine, whatever. Just tell me what the hell we're doing." Xiao Long took at least ten seconds to debate her decision.

"What do you know about reading maps?" Rose questioned.

"Jack and shit, that's what." Xiao Long responded. "So give it to me in layman terms."

Rose stared at her companion before directing her hand to a point on the map. "This is the starting point, where we are. I've already plotted the points. Now we need to figure out the distance between points and the grid to azimuth conversion."

Xiao Long tilted her head. "Grid to azimuth?"

"Remnant is round, but we're reading a flat map." Rose bit her lips in thought before continuing. "We need to account for that when we're doing our calculations. The map is the grid, Remnant is the azimuth."

"Right, yeah." Xiao Long seemed to want to rush this along. "What else?"

"Well, once we determine distance, which is in meters, we're going to have to do a pace count." Rose looked around them. "We count the number of times steps we take in a 100 meters and we use that to roughly measure distance."

"One hundred meters, count the number of steps, got it." Xiao Long appeared to be listening enough. "Got it."

"Next up." Ruby began. "We-"

"Gods dammit, there's more?!" Yang began to adopt a whining tone. "I already feel so stupid!"

"Groan all you want. You have to know this if you want to be good at land nav." Ruby made her argument. "Otherwise, you're not doing it right."

"Then you do it." Yang said without hesitation. "You know all of this shit better than me. I'm a dumbass compared to you and you know it."

"What if you get lost out here?!" Ruby felt a growl in her voice. "How are you going to figure out where to go?!"

"I don't know!" Yang threw a fist at a nearby boulder, shattering it into pieces. "Fuck this place! Fuck this training! Just… FUCK!"

Perhaps a little too much faith had been placed in these two. Still, he would not interfere because there wasn't a good reason to do so. If their argument escalated from verbal to physical, then and only then would he step in.

But I don't think they will. The Master Chief said to himself. I'm not exactly sure why I feel that way, though.

Ruby was now far from working on her map, currently regarding her sister with a look of evenness, but it was clear to the Spartan that the younger girl was struggling with some internal emotions. He had seen it so many times before and although he found himself critical of her inability to control herself, some control was better than none. It was far more than what could be said for the elder sister.

John couldn't recall many memories that involved himself personally experiencing emotions with much strength. To him, emotions were things he received in small doses, enough to drive him into action or allow him to fight longer. In almost all of those instances, he had been in control.

Almost all of them.

The few times that pure and uncontrollable emotions had taken over his better judgement were the only reason that he could put up with this argument between the two sisters, however petty.

But not for long.

"Okay, fine, how about this?" Ruby had calmed down. "You just do a couple things for me and I'll take care of the rest. Cool?"

"...fine, as long as it doesn't involve reading and memorizing boring shit." Yang relented after eleven seconds of silence. "What am I doing?"

An uneven handling of the workload to be sure.

But they were working together.

Halo - - - RWBY

1022 Hours

Ruby had always known herself to be unsociable. For her, making friends was the ultimate challenge. The few friends that she had made in her time at Signal Academy were made by circumstances lining up perfectly. It was not due to her being outgoing or knowing the right thing to say.

But it was only now that the silver-eyed girl was realizing just how lacking her ability to communicate was. If her current relationship with Yang was anything to go by, then she had a good deal of learning to do beyond her training. It was as if the two sisters were strangers all over again. They didn't know how to act around each other and they always fought first before even attempting to make peace with each other.

Ruby knew better than anyone that when the blonde was angry, nothing short of miracles could stop her rampage. It was amazing that the girl had any sort of control whatsoever. Perhaps all the appeasement over the years had made her think that she could always be angry with anything and anyone at the drop of a hat. Such a mentality might work for their family in the past. Not here, though; the Chief might not have called her out on her behavior, but he sure as hell didn't approve of it, at least that's the impression she was getting.

The former scythe-wielder was doing her best to watch and listen to the armored giant. He knew so much more than she could imagine. Her admiration and respect for him could only grow as she came to learn from him. In many ways, she wanted to emulate him, model her behavior to resemble his. When considering that aspect of her self-improvement, she was failing badly.

Ruby silently watched Yang as the blonde kept her pace count and held the compass that was giving them their direction via azimuth. The latter had a pace count of about seventy-three steps for every 100 meters and they were both currently travelling at 219 degrees; they would need to do so for about 400 meters give or take twenty-five meters. All of that was perfectly understood by both of them as they travelled forward.

Despite the elder sibling's claim to being unintelligent, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure, the brawler preferred more hands-on learning as opposed to a textbook, but she wasn't stupid as she claimed herself to be. Under that rough and tough party girl exterior, there was a person with surprising wisdom and clarity, especially given her age, but it rarely showed because her temper was what people mostly remembered her by.

It frustrated Ruby to no end that Yang was like this; if only her sister could quell her rage and control it more. Then she would actually be a more effective combatant and maybe she would actually have more patience when it came to boring things that needed to be done. If only the world was that perfect.

It wasn't.

"Two-hundred meters." Yang called out. "Ow, fucking twigs!"

Ruby scoffed quietly to herself before speaking. "You know, if you're having trouble with your hair, you could just cut it."

"Gods, no!" Yang got immediately defensive. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I do that!"

"It's either that or tie it up." Ruby shot back. "The Chief isn't going to let you keep your hair down."

"What about you?" Yang pointed at the black locks of hair hanging down. "He didn't say anything about your hair?"

"Mine is short enough right now." Ruby gave a hard look. "But yes, I will be cutting it shorter pretty soon."

"Teacher's pet." Yang grumbled to herself.

Ruby frowned, almost finding herself talking back, only barely managing to hold her tongue. Controlling the impulse to strike back was harder than it seemed; being an outsider and telling angry people to be calm was one thing, but experiencing it was something else, easier said than done and all of that.

The next hundred meters were spent in silence. While there were no particular weather conditions that were hampering their progress, the gradual height changes were beginning to show in their breathing. While they weren't high up enough for oxygen thinning to become a problem, both of them could still feel the strain of going up. Neither of them voiced their growing pain in their bodies.

What was more obvious was the clear physical difference between the two of them. Between the brawler and the former scythe-wielder, the former was more able to manage the difficult terrain.

"Three hundred meters." Yang announced. "Hurry up!"

The smaller female picked up her pace despite her calves telling her to stop for a moment. The pain would eventually stop once they actually reached the first marker. She just had to hold out for a bit longer. If she just focused on something else, she could ignore the lactic acid building up in her muscles.

A momentary thought popped in Ruby's mind. I wish I could use my semblance… but using it wouldn't help me get better.

"Wow, you are slow." Yang stopped momentarily to look back. "What, you forget what being fast means?"

Ruby grit her teeth. "We're really going to shit talk each other right now?"

"It's weird talking in my head, makes me feel like a psycho." Yang shrugged her shoulders. "And while you're a total bitch right now, you're all I've got."

"I'm glad that I'm so valuable to you right now." Ruby couldn't sound any more sarcastic. "Really, fuck you."

So much for self-control and whatever.

"Damn, girl, you got a mouth!" Yang seemed to only take some pleasure out of getting a rise. "What would dear old dad say?"

"I'd say he's got no control over my life." Ruby didn't want to delve into this part of her life. "Fact is, the moment I picked up a weapon to fight, I think I earned my right to be called an adult."

Yang made a tsk. "Yeah, like running away like a gods damned coward makes you an adult."

"You're not in a position to judge me." Ruby was more than through with this conversation. "You don't know what I've been through. You don't know what I've seen. You don't get it. None of you do."

Yang appeared astounded. "And tall, green, and robotic does? Him?!"

"Yes." Ruby sounded off confidently.

"No offense, Ruby, but what does a giant suit of armor have in common with a fifteen-year-old girl?!"

"We're both warriors."

"Besides that obvious point. Did you really think this over carefully? Did it not occur to you that MAYBE dad could've helped you out?! Did it ever occur to you that MAYBE I could've helped in some way."

Despite an indifferent look in her eye, the red-clad girl couldn't completely suppress that voice at the back of her mind saying that perhaps there was a chance to fix things back at home. Yang's continued presence with her and the Master Chief only served to bring that small nagging voice to the forefront of her thoughts.

Then Ruby recalled her ultimate reasons for leaving home. "Like I said in my letter when I left, going back home to you and dad would've only meant being comforted. It wouldn't give me a good answer to my problem. Nothing will."

"What could be so bad that you can't talk to us about it?!" Yang demanded. "Tell me!"

"... killing a man with my own two hands."

"...what?"

"You heard me. I killed a man with my own two hands. I had my sidearm in my hands. I saw a bandit that wasn't dead. He was going to kill us, take us with him… so I shot him square in the forehead."

There were plenty of mixed feelings regarding her first killing of another human being, but her horror and shock at her own actions had become much less as she underwent her training and took more time to think about the killing.

"...you're pulling my leg, right?" Yang was still laughing. "You didn't actually-"

"I killed a man." Ruby repeated her words bearing absolute conviction. "He was a bandit granted, but I still took a life no matter how you slice it."

"... you didn't kill. You couldn't have… my baby sister's not a killer…"

"..."

"Please tell me this is an elaborate joke. Just… it's not true. You can't be a killer. It's not in your nature. You're just not that kind of person."

"The old me would've said the same thing, but under the right circumstances, anyone can become a killer. All it takes is one bad day."

Yang visibly shrank back, taking a few steps back. Her previous snarky and condescending attitude had been washed away; in its place was barely-contained fear and alienation. It was the first time that Ruby had ever seen a look like that directed at her specifically.

Try as she did to not let it get to her, the silver-eyed girl felt her heart beat faster and painfully.

But she knew this was going to happen, even expected it.

This was a painful reality she had to deal with.

RWBY - - - Halo

1139 Hours

Somehow, the two girls had managed to complete their land nav training with enough time to get back to the camp site and get some food for lunchtime.

But Yang was far from thinking about food. No, she was absolutely enraged about what she had discovered regarding the brief absence of Ruby prior to the letter discovery. The mere notion of her baby sister being able to take a life was just wrong. It was always about saving the world and doing good for the world. The only killing that was factored into the equation was the killing of Grimm.

However, one look at those silver eyes and it was plain to see that there was nothing but the truth, or at least she believed it. The words by themselves weren't enough to convince the blonde, but those eyes spoke so many volumes. They didn't lie and they didn't sugarcoat.

Either way, it was absolutely unacceptable and one way or another, she intended to get more information and unfortunately, there was only one other person that she could ask: the Master Chief, loathe as she was to admit it.

Yang's first instinct was to rush him and try to overpower him. That would have been the natural thing for her to do. What stopped her was the memories of her attempts to use force to make her point. For all of her stubbornness, at this point and time, there was no fighting against both the armored giant and Ruby.

Once she calmed down, the brawler considered how else she would get more information. Her little sis wasn't about to talk anymore about the subject, that much was sure. That bit of information was said most likely for shock value, something to keep things quiet for a while longer.

Good enough to fool a lot of people.

Not good enough to fool the elder sibling.

The moment they returned to the camp, both girls went their separate ways. Ruby settled down on one of the log benches and began to prepare her MRE, that and her canteen and cup. Yang immediately stalked off to seek out their NCO or whatever it was called. She didn't get this whole military structure thing yet.

It didn't take long to find him. He usually kept his distance from them whenever training wasn't in the cards at the moment. His equipment was set up some twenty-five meters or so away from their own shit.

Currently, his visor was focused on a drone that appeared to be feeding him information. He was probably reviewing their training and deciding on how good or bad they did, not that it mattered. Fuck the training anyway.

She halted in her tracks and took a moment to steady her breathing and cease her shaking. She could deny it with words, but she was really scared of him, not just because of his physical stature or his physical abilities. She was also fearful about becoming too entrenched into the psychology that was this unknown person. She still had doubts about whether he was flesh and bones though.

"...chief, I need to talk to you." Yang mustered up her nerves and politeness. "It's about Ruby."

"If you're referring to her revealing of her first kill, then I have nothing further to offer." He couldn't sound any more indifferent. "What she said is what happened."

Yang wouldn't be shut down like this. "There has to be more than that. It's not enough for me to just accept that she took a man's life."

"She did exactly what any troop would do: eliminate the threat." The Master Chief said with no tone change. "She might not like it, but she will accept it."

"Accept being a murderer?!" Yang didn't believe what she was hearing. "She can't do that! She'll never be the same."

"But she already is." He didn't sound moved at all. "She knew exactly what she was getting into when she agreed to become my trainee. At the end of the day, I am training her to be a killer."

Such a bold and blunt statement caught her off guard. The seriousness couldn't be mistaken for anything else. What he said was fact and nothing else; there was no tact, no room for sugar-coating, nothing that would conceal or dilute the reality in any way, shape, or form. Worst of all, it was said with an absolutism that left nothing left to discuss.

If only Yang was so easily accepting of an unstoppable force. "How dare you… turning my sister into… into…"

She didn't even want to say it because the word left a bad taste in her mouth. It felt a little too close to home. The world she was about to say was applicable to one other person, a woman that she had been searching for, the one that gave birth to her.

But could Ruby be just like her?

Like Raven?

"You should not be worried about past events you cannot change." The Master Chief retrieved his weapon. "You should only focus on now. There is no point in obsessing over what is long gone. Accept that Rose is not the same as she once was."

"I won't!" Yang definitely cried out. "I cannot, I will not accept it!"

"Then you have no place here." He stepped forward. "Your failure to adapt to the circumstances you find yourself in will only cause more problems."

Yang had to crane her head up to see the visor of the Master Chief due to how close he was to her. Her fists curled and uncurled and she could feel a bit of sweat down her back. Although the two of them had never fought a battle that had soundly concluded, from their brief skirmish when they first met, it was clear that he had plenty of experience. Not one hit did she land and she had a feeling he could land plenty of his own.

"I know how to fight just fine and so does my sister!" Her bravery or idiocy had her mouth running faster than her brain. "We don't need you!"

"My observations suggest otherwise." He stared at her without so much as moving a muscle. "If you want proof of what happened, then look no further."

The drone he was working on suddenly sprung to life, a projection coming to life. The footage quality, in spite of its shakiness, was clean and many details could be seen very clearly. The setting sun, the smoke rising into the air, the fires raging in the background.

And Ruby, looking absolutely haggard and scared out of her wits.

The Ruby that Yang could recognize to a degree minus the sheer amount of fear.

So many Grimm.

Absolute chaos.

Screaming people everywhere.

A weapon in view.

A pull of the trigger.

A bloody death.

Quiet killing with none the wiser.

A hostage situation.

"What… is this? This…"

Nobody said a word in response to her fragmented sentences. Her eyes were drawn to the events playing out. It was so unlike the movies. The only commonality was the visceral nature of the violence, but there were no censors to stop the true brutality of what was going on. All the details were clearly on display.

"Oh, gods." Yang could feel a bit of bile in her throat.

Really bad looking guys brandishing weapons, only to be slaughtered quickly and with barely any time to react. The sheer speed of the killing was in stark contrast to the more flashy and flamboyant nature of how she saw other kids her age fighting and certainly much different than what a huntsman would do.

"If you are so averse to this, you can always leave." The Master Chief interrupted her disoriented state of mind. "As I said before, you can either do this or you can't. It's that simple."

"I...I…" Yang couldn't tear herself away. "No...I… can't…"

Then the moment she dreaded.

A bandit still alive and looking ready to curse the world with the fire crystal in his hand.

Then there was a bullet hole right in the center of his forehead.

The camera gave a clear image of this horrific sight before it identified the shooter of the bandit.

Ruby had her sidearm aimed perfectly due to years of marksman training.

The video froze right then and there.

"..." Yang dropped to her knees.

"There is no turning back once a first kill is made." The deep voice reverberated into her mind. "But you have not made yours."

"..."

"Think of me however you wish, but make no mistake: the Grimm will not be as merciful as you. Many humans will not share your sense of right and wrong. I, in turn, will not show them mercy. In time, Rose will not either."

Heavy footsteps sounded off until they became faint and then nonexistent.

Yang blinked.

Halo - - - RWBY

1600 Hours

The Master Chief kept a close eye on Xiao Long for the remainder of the day. Even though he had his own personal feelings regarding her character and conduct, she was still under his supervision. It fell to him to care for because if not him, then nobody would. Rose certainly wouldn't.

But for the first time since meeting her, the spartan felt like he had made a significant breakthrough by revealing all the details regarding the younger sister's transformation from naive dreamer into hardened trainee. This little harsh lesson might have been just what the stubborn female needed all this time.

It wasn't that he wanted to come across as cruel or ruthless. He was well aware that the life he was leading was not one that everyone could be a part of. With service members in the UNSC, it was clear to see the tolls of battle taking effect on each individual, even the most battle-tested and experienced of individuals.

And if John was being completely honest with himself, he was tired himself.

Tired of seeing innocent lives lost.

Tired of seeing comrades and friends dying.

Tired of losing the connections that he had made.

That's why he immersed himself into training Rose and Xiao Long. No matter how imperfect the two of them were, they kept him busy, made him think about anything but the people that came into his life only to be consumed by combat, battle, and war. After over thirty years of service, surely he would've found a way to steel himself so that he could accept these deaths with all the grace and honor befitting them.

But no, a grim realization had dawned upon the war veteran, something that had only been made more glaringly apparent as he spent time with these two emotionally charged teenage girls.

The Master Chief was his title, the name that inspired hope, courage, and vigor in all UNSC forces. Once he stepped onto the playing field, he had to live up to the expectations that everyone had for him.

Spartan 117 was his designation, the indicator of his origins as a warrior. He was born and bred much like the spartans of old. He would never know defeat, never know surrender, and never quit no matter the odds.

John was his last enduring connection to his old life that he once lived, the life that he couldn't banish from his mind no matter how hard he tried. A lifetime of indoctrination and still the human was there.

Being the machine that Cortana had warned him about meant that he would no longer value the relationships he had forged in the past. They would simply be associations that would carry the same importance as a piece of equipment: easily disposable and not missed. There was no possible way for him to reduce his relationships to that standing.

"It's not that I don't want to be human, Cortana." The Master Chief spoke to her. "But… I don't even know where to begin. Human emotions aren't like weapon systems. They can't be broken down and understood easily."

He wished she was here.

She would be able to help him make sense of things.

But just like he had said to Yang, life never went exactly according to plan.

It was just him and his two trainees.

I finally managed to squeeze in another chapter. Between my job, working out a lot more, and making friends, I have far less time to write than I used to have. Nevertheless, I've got of things to do in my life right now, so I can't complain about that.

So some of you might have noticed some shifts in how this chapter was written as opposed the previous chapter. That's because my experiences with the Army, however brief, have begun to bleed into my writing. In the case of this story, it's more ouvert because I want to make this story as military-accurate as possible.

And I know that at least a few of you are either currently serving or have served, so you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Also as a warning, lots of things have been going on regarding my job. I can't say much more nor am I sure what to reveal. Suffice it to say, these next couple of months might see me be absent, but even that's not entirely stable.

Finally, even though I'm far from having the time to bring new stories to life, there is an active poll on my profile asking what story idea I've concocted sounds the most interesting. For more details, check my profile and read the summaries I've provided. Then vote for your favorite pick.

Apologies for grammatical errors. Please feel free to point them out as well as the usual feedback because I want to hear what you all think of my work.

Thank you for reading.

"Everybody needs somebody."

Mahalia Jackson