Edited for clarity and/or minor fixes 4/28/19


Chapter Twelve – Winter Contingency


/-\ Weiss Schnee; Atlas /-\


I smiled as I slurped my strawberry shake. "I think this was a wonderful idea, Winter. Between your occupation and my studies, we don't get to spend much time together." I said as we walked down the bustling streets of Atlas. Instead of the narrow streets, wide sidewalks, and a mix of building styles that dominated Vale, my home kingdom of Atlas was basically its polar opposite. Wide streets, narrow, if any, sidewalks, and towering glass-lined skyscrapers dominated the city.

"On that we can agree, sister." She said, a trace of a smile on her face. "However, might I ask where you acquired the taste for such…" She paused, likely searching for the right word. "…unhealthy foods?"

I shrugged. "It must have been during my tenure at Beacon." A smirk played at my lips. "Oh, you should have seen how Ruby reacted when she first tried these."

"You seem to talk about her quite often." She struggled to keep a full-blown smile off her face. "I am happy that you finally made a friend."

I let out a sigh. "Well, I'm sure you know how hard it can be bearing our name…"

"That I do." She placed a hand on my shoulder. "And I am glad you came to the same realization that I did at your age."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"That, while rare, there are those in this world that do not wish to befriend us merely because of our heritage."

I tossed my, now empty, strawberry shake into a nearby trashcan. "Yes." I nodded. "While you are correct that many do wish to befriend us to further their own ends, I'm glad I was assigned a team in which none of its members share that particular motivation."

"Then count yourself lucky, sister." She sighed. "For I was not so lucky during my tenure at Atlas Academy." A smile played at her lips. "Though Bernstein did become the team's…" She trailed off.

"…Punching bag?" I supplied with a smirk.

"Why, sister!" She said, feigning offense. "How uncouth of you to suggest something of that nature!"

We shared a slight giggle before I forcibly brought up my hand to block the sun's blinding reflection from a skyscraper. "Ugh, I forgot how much I hate the day/night cycle here." I said.

"Well," She started. "count yourself lucky you missed the winter, then."

I nodded. "Yes, it was quite nice to have at least some sun in January."

"Also, sunset here is only an hour or so ahead of Vale's."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, but Vale doesn't have glass buildings everywhere with which the sun may reflect." I said before entering a weapon shop. I raised an eyebrow. "What are we doing here?"

"I have found the skills of my company's quartermaster to be… lacking… Therefore, I take my weapons here to have them maintained. Mister Smith does excellent work in my honest opinion."

Just then, a dark-skinned man wearing blacksmith's apparel comes out of the back. "Welcome to Smith's Ste- Oh! Miss Schnee! I'll be right back with your weapons!" He said before ducking back into the rear of the store. Seconds later, he returned with both my sister's saber and her stiletto. "Here you are, ma'am! I'll send the bill to the military, as per usual. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

She took a few experimental swings of both weapons before nodding. "Excellent work, as usual. No, I believe that is all I require at this time. Thank you for your services."

He grinned. "Always a pleasure, Miss Schnee. Have a wonderful day!"

"Alright, where to next, sister?" I asked as we passed an alley adjacent to the shop.

"YOU!" We heard a vaguely feminine voice shout from the alley.

Normally, I would have simply passed by her, but something urged me to stay. I raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware of who you are speaking to?" The woman before us was old, had to be in her late nineties. The clothes she wore were barely better than rags, and her hair was long, greasy, and ratty.

She violently coughed. "Oh? Am I aware? Oh, yesyesyes, dear Imp! Aware, I very much am."

I blinked. "Imp?"

"Yes, an Imp indeed… Too small, too weak, to be a demon… nonono… Yet… too strong, too willful, to be a mere flat-face…"

My sister took a step forward. "And just what, may I inquire, are you implying?"

At this, the raggedy woman blinked her cloudy, likely blind, eyes. "Oh? The sister of the Imp approaches her… hehehehehe… how quaint…" She broke into another coughing fit. "Matters beyond you, our conversation concerns, snow of the winter…" She turned her head back to me. "You, snow of the white! You must bring her here. The demon!"

I blinked, just now figuring out that she was referring to my team's leader. "And why would I do that?"

"Oh? Why, she asks? Little one, cannot you see? For they are coming." She paused long enough to let out another cough. "An errant bolt of blue. A tear in reality itself! But this one was not like the others around it… nonono… Wrong, it was… Broken… Dimensions didn't it cross, as intended, instead, Universes!"

"You're not making any sense!" My sister shouted. "I have had enough of this inane conversation. You will now accompany me to a mental health facility." She commanded as she started walking towards the woman.

"Winter!" I shouted, halting her in her tracks. "Let her speak."

"Good! Good! Perhaps the Imp will listen!" Yet another violent coughing fit. "Greenisle, Odinsdottir, Devil's Hand, Road Paved With Red." She paused. "Cornered. Animals being slaughtered. They fled their doom above Reach. But not guess were followed! Nonono, never guess..." She let out yet another coughing fit. "Followed by the hunters were they! Hunters faster than their prey… Time has gone… You will need this!" She produced a revolver, though at first glance, there was nothing special about it.

"How do you know this?"

"Ohoho, 'tis my semblance, little Imp. Sight of the many futures that await us! This one always happens, my Imp. Snowfall is upon us!" She broke into yet another coughing fit, and I saw blood spill from her mouth… …shortly before she collapsed.

Winter ran over to her and checked her pulse. She froze on the spot. "She… She's dead…"

I stood there in shock. "H- How did she know those words…?" I said, shakily.

"Sister, she was a madwoman. Her words held no meaning whatsoever."

"To you…" I mumbled. Winter raised an eyebrow. "I just hope she's wrong…"

She blinked. "It is as I said, her words were meaningless."

I hummed. "I really want to believe that, Winter… But something's telling me they weren't." 'Like how she knew about slipspace ruptures, or Reach…' I sighed. "I should at least call Ruby and give her an update."

"If you must." She said as I pulled out my scroll.

"Huh?" I let out. "No signal?"

I looked over to my sister, who had raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps your scroll is broken? If this call is so important to you, use mine." She says as she hands it to me.

I once more try to reach my leader, only to groan in frustration. "Ugh! Yours has the same problem!"

She blinked. "That… can't be right… We're not even a mile from the tower!"

I paled, suddenly remembering something. "Slipspace ruptures emit EMP…" I mumbled.

"What was that?"

I rushed and picked up the pistol the now-deceased woman offered me. "Winter, we need to get back to the mansion!"

"Weiss, surely you're-"

"Not another word, sister!" I shouted. "We are leaving. Now." I said shortly before turning to run for the house.

I heard my sister mumble something before running after me, the clicking of her high heels growing closer every second. "Weiss! What is wrong?!" She shouted, concern evident in her voice. I heard the telltale ring of a glyph being activated and seconds later, my sister was in front of me, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Weiss! What has gotten into you?!"

"I can't tell you!" I shouted. "You won't believe me!"

"Sister. Tell me what's wrong!"

"I-" I heard a whistling sound coming from the sky. Looking up, I saw a swarm of purple dots descending from the heavens. My eyes widened. "Winter…" I paused. "I just want you to know… that I love you…"

She blinked. "Weiss, what has-" She was interrupted by a thump coming from behind her. A thump caused by a Covenant single-occupant drop pod.

I shoved my sister aside and drew my pistol just as the hatch flew off, revealing an Elite Minor. I sent off a round into the beast, and its shields flared. It growled and drew a plasma rifle, loosing a volley of plasma my way. I dodged easily with a roll before shooting once more, and I saw its shields crack under the strain. It let out a roar, and I charged forward with a trail of speed glyphs. Just as it had raised its weapon, I shoved the barrel of my revolver into its mouth and pulled the trigger, splattering purple blood across both the drop pod and also my left arm.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as the body fell to the ground, lifeless. I felt a force on my shoulder moments before being spun around, coming face-to-face with my sister. "What have you done, sister?" She basically growled out.

I pulled away from her and motioned to the many observers around us. "Saved their lives." I kicked the remains of my enemy. "Look at it. See its armor? Its weapon? This is not a race that came to Remnant in peace. My leader has fought their kind before, and every Human world they come across, they simply burn." I swiped a pair of plasma grenades from its corpse, putting them in a handbag I had brought for my shopping trip. "That is the purpose of these things. The complete and utter annihilation of Humanity." I grabbed its claw-shaped plasma rifle. "I don't know about you, sister, but I will not stand idly by while my home burns." As if to accentuate my point, the sounds of both plasma fire and dust-based firearms sounded in the distance.

She glared at me for a moment before sighing. "Regardless of if your actions caused this or not, it is my duty to protect the people."

I nodded. "We need to get to my armor. It's the only way to contact my team… and if anyone can lead us to victory, its Ruby."

I turned and started jogging towards the mansion, knowing that public transportation was not only unsafe, but likely about to be outright destroyed. Winter ran after me. "Experience is good, but what can a single person do against an invasion?"

I turned my head to her and smirked. "Well, they didn't give her the title of 'Hyper Lethal Vector' for no reason…" Suddenly, I heard the familiar whirring of Covenant aircraft as they approached. "Phantom inbound!" I announced as I dove into cover.

My sister quickly joined me as the dropship descended and disgorged its troops. 'Three shots,' I thought. 'I need to make them count.' I eyed the opposing infantry. One Elite Minor, three Grunts, and two Jackals. I turned to my sister. "I'll draw their fire, you go around and hit their flank. Prioritize the Elite." She raised an eyebrow. "The split-jawed one." She nodded and I sprinted out from cover, firing a round into the exposed head of a Jackal, killing it.

The others immediately turned their attention to me, a swarm of needles and plasma hurling my way. I deftly dodged with a combination of speed and barrier glyphs, but one glob of green plasma struck home, and I yelled in pain.

I dove behind a wrecked car, but not before I caught a glimpse of a snow-white Beowolf ripping the Elite to shreds. The second the hailstorm of fire stopped, I sprinted out of cover, unleashing my own hail of plasma into the backs of the remaining Jackals. Seconds later, the last Grunt died with my sister's saber through its chest.

She sprinted over to me. "Are you alright?!" She practically yelled, her voice oozing with concern. "I saw you get hit."

"Yeah… I'll be fine…" I checked my aura. "87%... those things pack a punch…" I swapped out my used plasma rifle for the nearly-fully charged one dropped by the Elite. "Let's get goi- AHH!" I yelled as a needle round pinged off my aura. "SNIPER!"

I spun around, revealing a single Skirmisher standing inside a skyscraper a few stories up. I spawned a propulsion glyph -the weaker form of a repulsion glyph that doesn't use dust- under the creature, sending it flying towards me. "Winter!" I yelled, attempting to signal her.

Thankfully, she got the message, and seconds later, her sword cleaved the alien in two. I holstered my revolver and handed the plasma rifle to my sister. "Here, you need a ranged weapon."

She blinked before hesitantly accepting the alien device. "Very well, I will humor you."

I sighed. "Winter, there are some creatures that will overpower you in an instant if engaged in melee, even accounting for aura." I said while jogging alongside the skyscrapers, being sure to check for snipers.

"I hardly believe that, sister." She spouted. "Those… Elites, as you called them, are already far too large and unwieldy. Any form of life larger than them would certainly-"

-Fwooooom-

My eyes widened. "DOWN!" I shouted as I dove atop my sister and tackled her to the ground… …just in time to dodge a pair of green plasma beams. I followed their trail to their source as an explosion sounded behind me. Looking up, I saw an entire Covenant armored column, spearheaded by a pair of Hunters. I grabbed my sister, activated a propulsion glyph under us, and took off; ducking us behind a building and narrowly avoiding the plasma splash from a Wraith. "They're headed right for the mansion!" I shouted. "Any ideas on how to deal with them?" I asked my sister.

She hummed. "Perhaps we-" Suddenly, we heard loud thumping and the charging of what sounded like an energy weapon. I looked towards the source and saw a duo of large, gunmetal grey walkers, each bearing the Atlesian seal. My sister shrugged. "That is also an option."

I ducked out from behind cover, lining up a shot on the frontmost Wraith's gunner, before loosing a single needle round. The Unggoy slumped over, dead, just as the two walkers rounded their corner. I ducked back behind cover and turned to my sister. "We can duck through these buildings and flank them. That plasma rifle works exceptionally well against energy shields, focus fire on the Elites until their shields pop, I'll finish them off."

She nodded, and we ducked into the building, the sounds of the two armored forces clashing sounding throughout the halls. Inside, I came across the body of a civilian. His lifeless eyes were wide, with one hand clutching a plasma burn on his chest and the other hanging onto a knife stained in the blue blood of a nearby Grunt.

I knelt down to close his eyes, accidentally disturbing his hand and flipping over a photograph. My face fell as I saw its contents. It was of the man and a pregnant woman both sitting on opposite sides of a young girl. This man had a family…

…and the Covenant had taken him from them…

My face twisted into a snarl as I closed his eyes and pried the knife from his lifeless hands. The sound of plasma fire snapped me out of my anger and drew me towards a window, my sister in tow. Outside, I saw an Elite Ultra crouched behind cover, his back turned to me. Positioned ahead of him was the armored column, still engaging the walkers, though both sides had taken a beating. One of the walkers laid against a Wraith, both painted in orange blood and both smoldering wrecks. The other was missing an arm, though the cannon mounted on its opposite was still blazing away at the two remaining tanks.

I turned to Winter before whispering in her ear. "Have a Deathstalker ready, the walkers need backup." I silently crawled out the window, my knife held at . Just as the beast was about to poke its head up above cover, I jammed my knife into its exposed neck, killing it instantly. "Now!"

A large summoning glyph appeared behind the rearmost Wraith as I drew the needle rifle, headshotting a Grunt as it aimed a fuel rod gun at the last walker. I saw the Deathstalker start to climb out of the glyph, though a Wraith had taken a particular attention to it. I narrowed my eyes before activating a road of speed glyphs, propelling me right behind the tank. Taking a page out of Ruby's book, I climbed aboard the rear of the vehicle and planted a plasma grenade directly into its exhaust before leaping behind a destroyed car.

Plasma washed over my position just as the tank exploded, sending flaming shrapnel flying into my cover with several loud pings. I looked over to see Winter's Deathstalker finally finish spawning before letting out a loud screech. It charged forward, impaling the last Wraith upon its stinger several times.

With the plasma fire now solely focused on the beast, I popped out of cover and started shooting at the remaining Covenant infantry, occasionally hunkering down to slam a new magazine into my needle rifle.

Finally, the last Grunt dropped, and I approached my sister, who was examining the corpses of the aliens we had engaged. "Are you alright?"

She gave me a half-hearted smile. "I should be asking you that, sister." She sighed. "But yes, you?"

I nodded. "I managed to not take any hits there." The Deathstalker dissipated in a flurry of snowflakes in front of us.

A loud thumping caught our attention, and my sister straightened her posture. "Identify yourself."

"Gunnery Sergeant Grunwald, 1st Paladin division."

My sister nodded. "Lieutenant-Colonel Schnee, 4th Specialist Corps."

He immediately made his walker do a salute with its remaining, left, arm. "Ma'am!"

"At ease." She ordered, the walker dropped its arm. "We are headed to Schnee Manor, mind if we hitch a ride?"

"Not at all, Ma'am. Though I must warn you, this model of Paladin was not built to carry troops. You might have some difficulty holding on."

"Irrelevant, just take us to the manor."

"Yes Ma'am." He replied, turning around so that we may mount the walker. Both my sister and I climbed up its back and sat atop its cold, metal, shoulders.

A minute later, we arrived at the courtyard of our mansion. We dismounted and were addressed by its occupant. "Here you are, Ma'am, I must take my leave now. There's civilians out there that likely could use a little assistance."

She nodded. "Understood, dismissed, Gunnery Sergeant." She said shortly before the behemoth strode away.

I turned back to the city and saw a force of three Covenant corvettes accompanying two destroyers descending from the clouds. In the distance, the Royal Atlesian Navy were mustering a response. Fourteen destroyers, ten cruisers of various weights, four dreadnoughts, one battlecarrier, and over a hundred fighters. The Royal Atlesian Home Defense Fleet.

The dreadnoughts, all of them being of the new Aurora-class, formed up on the flanks of the RANV Sovereign, the lead ship of the newest line of battlecarrier. The two Resolute-class Line-cruisers formed up on their flanks, whereas the eight lighter Mantle-class Strike-cruisers formed into two separate 'wolf packs' further away. All the destroyers were seen hovering into position around the three flotillas.

The Covenant deployed their two destroyers side-by-side, with the three corvettes in a V-shaped formation positioned slightly behind the larger ships.

Swarms of missiles erupted from every Atlesian dreadnought, being answered by plasma torpedoes launched from the pair of destroyers. However, the Covenant salvo was not aimed for the center formation. It instead, veered to the south, straight towards one of the wolf packs. Point defense lasers on the entirety of that flotilla blazed, red streaks piercing the sky. Some struck home, though they passed straight through their targets, doing no damage.

The cruisers took evasive action, though it was too little, too late. Seven out of the dozen torpedoes struck home, with the remaining five veering off and embedding themselves in a destroyer each.

A moment passed, and in that moment, it looked like the cruisers would shake off the damage inflicted. However, after that moment had passed, flames burst out of every orifice, both built-in and not, of the cruisers. They plummeted to the ground, lost with all hands.

Meanwhile, the missiles had finally reached half-way to their targets…

…only to be cut down by a laser-based point defense grid. None of the missiles reached their intended targets.

A blinding red light erupted from the bows of the four dreadnoughts at the exact same time the remainder of the two wolf packs hit their afterburners, charging around the enemy ships in an attempt to flank them, the fighters sticking close to their carriers. One shot went wide, bisecting a skyscraper in the distance. Two shots impacted the leftmost destroyer, shattering its shields and grazing one of the aft pylons, sending blue flames screaming throughout the air. The fourth, and final, shot impacted the rightmost destroyer, its shields barely clinging to life as newly-vaporized gasses jetted away from the path the laser took.

The formation of Corvettes emerged from their protection behind the destroyers and charged headlong into the remaining Atlesian wolf pack, loosing pulse-laser fire as they went in order to thin out the fighters.

The Sovereign's formation charged head-on, both the battlecarrier's and the dreadnoughts' medium-yield weapons still out of range…

…though that didn't seem to be a problem for the enemy destroyers. Globs of hot plasma erupted from several spines along the crafts, striking the Sovereign in the port-side wing stabilizers, causing it to dangerously list and forcing it to withdraw. Other stray shots impacted the two line-cruisers, sealing their explosive fates. Seeing the damage that those weapons could do, the four dreadnoughts split up not only in lateral direction, but also vertical direction as well.

The Atlesian wolf pack was finally within range of their weapons and executed a high-g turn, placing the corvettes well-within the firing arcs of the flotilla's broadsides. It seems that they all had the same target in mind, because after a few seconds, the entire front section of the lead ship was reduced to a molten slag.

As the former corvette plummeted to the ground, its friends mimicked the cruiser's movements, orienting their broadsides towards the Atlesian forces. Meanwhile, scorching gasses were vented from the cruisers, desperately trying to cool their weapons for another salvo.

The cruiser's destroyer escort broke off from the main force and charged headlong at the enemy corvettes, likely in a near-suicidal torpedo run. However, the corvette's completed their turn before any shots could be fired, and promptly let loose several volleys of plasma. Two cruisers outright exploded, one was split right down the middle, and the last was routed after one of its stabilizers was clipped.

Finally, the Atlesian destroyers reached their firing range and dropped their payloads. Almost two dozen torpedoes streaked towards the duo of corvettes, soon to be joined by the destroyer's own, albeit low-intensity, laser weapons. Purple point-defense lasers stained the sky, shooting down the Atlesian weapons left and right. However, one managed to sneak through…

…and promptly detonated in the alien hangar.

The corvette broke in two, the two massive pieces falling onto the snowy plains just outside the city walls. Seconds later, however, and the remaining corvette had finished off the Atlesian destroyers, their hulks coming to rest alongside their final kill. However, the corvette was not unharmed, as it was bellowing blue flames from most of the side that had been facing the Atlesians.

Back with the four dreadnoughts, they had finally entered the outskirts of their mid-tier weapons range. They all executed the same maneuver that the wolf pack had before them…

…shortly before a blinding blue light erupted from the top of the destroyers, bisecting two dreadnoughts before they even had a chance to react.

By this time, the bottom two had finished their maneuver, and loosed a deadly broadside at the weakened leftmost destroyer. Its shields already depleted, it was obvious that heavy damage had been caused to the ship, as it was bellowing blue flames just like the remaining corvette.

Just when things were looking slightly up, the same blue light that bisected the upper fleet also hit the lower one, though it was only one beam this time. Now all that remained of the Atlesian fleet was a single dreadnought.

It immediately turned and headed outside of range at emergency speed, completely disregarding any and all other functions. Though it seems that the ship was not quite done fighting just yet, as on its way out, it loosed another salvo of missiles.

Though vastly inferior in numbers compared to the volley at the beginning of the battle, this one was far more successful; owing to the fact that most of the point-defense lasers on the destroyer were disabled by this point.

Almost all the missiles struck home, and, seconds later, the destroyer erupted in blue flames and plummeted to the ground. Likely on the edge of its effective range, the remaining destroyer loosed a salvo of plasma. Most were dodged, but some impacted, causing heavy, but survivable, damage to the last Atlesian ship on the board.

This battle was over… And it was exceedingly clear that we had lost.

I looked over to my sister, whose face adorned a look of complete and utter horror. "Do you see now?" I said. "Do you see why we need every advantage we can get?"

"Weiss, I-"

"No." I said. "You had no way of knowing." I sighed. "I need my armor, and we need Ruby." She shakily nodded as we sprinted into the mansion, headed straight for my room. Being in a hurry, I donned my armor in record time, four minutes forty-four seconds, to be exact.

I keyed my mic. "This is Weiss Schnee to any and all UNSC forces. Winter Contingency. I repeat, Winter Contingency, Atlas. How copy?"

A second passed, then another, before Ruby's voice finally echoed over the comms. "Repeat your last. Did you say Winter Contingency?"

"Correct." I said, sorrow dripping from my voice. "They're here, Ruby."

"…May god help us all…" She paused. "We're en route. ETA whenever the fuck we get there. Stay alive, Ice Queen."

"Just get here, Oaf." I said as I severed the connection. I checked my weapons, noting Myrtenaster on my left hip, the revolver on my right, the needle rifle on my back, and my BR55 in my hands. I turned to my sister as I polarized my visor. "We need to gather a resistance force, what's the quickest way to Atlas Academy?"

She paused in thought. "Follow me." She said as we sprinted down the halls, eventually arriving at my father's study. She ran up to the bookcase and pulled a specific book before the whole wall opened up. "Down here." She said, leading the way. "They built this passageway last year, when Father began to fear a White Fang raid on our home."

"…Why didn't he tell me about it?" I asked, somewhat annoyed.

"Because you were meant to buy him time to escape." She said, her voice dripping with venom. "I only know because General Ironwood told me. I'm sure Jacques had the same thing in mind for me." She said as we climbed into an elevator.

"That bastard." I growled.

My sister put her hand on my shoulder. "I know." She sighed. "I may or may not be having the same thoughts at the moment."

Just then, the elevator dinged, giving us the sight of our father next to our brother beside a tram. We both blinked. "Whitley?!" We shouted in unison.

Winter recovered first and marched over to our father. "Why did you tell him about this but not us, father." She growled in his face. "Do you not love us?! Your own flesh and blood?!"

Jacques straightened his suit and gave a wry smile. "Winter, I was not aware you had retu-"

"Oh, don't give me that! I've been here for over a week! You know I have been here for my sister."

He balked at that statement. "And why would she need that? She is a Schnee, we don't need anyone."

My sister glared at him. "Stop evading the question, Jacques. Why did you tell our brother but not us?!"

He gave another wry smile. "Well, I deemed this to be above you. For this is information that only the current CEO and the heir may know."

I paled, catching his intentional use of the masculine form of heiress, as I felt a solitary tear trail down my cheek. "W- Why?"

"Because you have never been one to stay within reality, sisters." I heard my brother spout off. "You both would rather pursue your barbaric and inconsequential dreams, whereas I," he placed a hand on his chest for emphasis. ", have been working tirelessly to ensure that, when I inherit, I am ready to lead the Schnee Dust Company to a brighter future."

This time, Jacques gave a genuine smile. The first I have ever seen from him. "I could not have said it better myself… Son." All three of us blinked. He had never referred to any of us by anything but our names except for when he was being condescending. However, now he seemed… proud of Whitley… He turned to me. "Ever since you got the idea of going to Beacon instead of Atlas, you have done nothing but waste your time on your fools' errand of an ambition." He paused and, as more tears fell, I could never be more glad that my visor was polarized. "I was prepared to forgive your errors upon your graduation, but then you came back wearing that… perversion of a uniform. The moment I laid eyes upon it, I knew you would take the same path as your sister. And I made steps to… correct the inheritance scheme of the SDC." I slowly started marching towards him, gradually picking up speed with every step. He huffed at my approach. "Now what? Are you going to beg for your position?" He smirked. "If you vow to never return to Beacon, I may just let you become a secre- GAH!" He said as I slapped him full-force, sending him to the ground.

"Not only is this a wrongful disinheritance, father, but larger things are at stake! If you haven't noticed, the godsdamn mother-fucking Covenant are burning the city!" I shoved my pathetic excuse for a father away from the tram. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have a planet to save… Without you." I turned to my sister as boarded the transport. "Come, Winter."

She blinked, shortly before complying. Seconds later, we set off. "Are you alright?"

I de-polarized my visor before meekly nodding. "For now…"

My sister enveloped me in a hug. "I'm proud of you." I sniffed before returning the embrace. "You are correct, that was not a valid reason to revoke your inheritance." She pulled back slightly and looked me in the eye. "We will find a way to reverse his decision."

I chuckled darkly. "If there's even an SDC to inherit after this…"

The tram began to slow down, signifying that we were near to our destination. "One problem at a time, sister." She said as we stopped. I nodded, polarizing my visor and ascending the newly revealed staircase.

When we reached the top, the distinct sounds of plasma fire could be heard. I looked to my sister, who nodded. "Feet first into hell." I whispered to myself as my sister opened the door.

She sprinted out, with me not far behind, her plasma rifle blazing. I started taking shots with my BR55, Grunts and Jackals falling under my sustained fire. Plasma washed over me, some shots impacting the ablative plates on my armor, as I dove for cover. It was at this time that I silently thanked Ruby for her suggestion of aura-repelling armor plates, seeing as I would probably be howling in pain right now if I had refused her suggestion.

I slammed a new magazine into my rifle shortly before hearing an Elite roar. I popped up to see that Winter had managed to down the shields of a Ranger-class Elite. One burst later, and the beast was slumped onto the ground, dead.

The combat in the immediate area died down for a minute, enough for me to both assess the damage to my armor and also to briefly survey our surroundings. Both my right shoulder and my breastplate took a hit, though they were both still mostly functional, so I didn't have to worry about dropping them. I heard the sound of glass shattering and realized that my skirt now had two new needle-sized holes in it.

I sighed before taking stock of our position. The unassuming door we came out of was in between two spartan-looking buildings, though I could see several other structures, each proudly flying the Atlas banner.

My sister ran up to me, her eyes widening upon seeing the damage to my armor. "Weiss!" She shouted, her voice full of concern. "I didn't know your aura-"

"Stop." I ordered. "My aura's fine. This armor is doing its job."

She blinked. "What? But wouldn't your aura-"

"The outer plates are designed to repel aura, effectively making them take the hit before I do." I smirked under my visor. "I am completely unharmed." I checked the ammo readout on my weapon, 33 rounds remaining. "Any idea where we are?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. We are next to the commissary." She pointed to a building right across from us. "That's the mess hall," She pointed down the alleyway. "over there is the barracks, and over here is-" She started, only to be cut off by the staccato of both gunfire and plasma fire. "…the CCT…"

"Let's get moving, then." I said, jogging forward with my weapon at a low ready. We approached a corner, and I nodded to my sister, who gave me a pat on the back. I rounded the corner and came upon a very surprised Elite Minor who, three bursts later, lay dead in a pool of its own blood.

'24 rounds; 8 bursts.' I noted as I leaned out from cover, my rifle raised. My eyes widened at the scene before me. Several squads of Atlesian Troopers had set up makeshift barricades in front of the CCT, though, as evidenced by the numerous bodies, they had taken heavy casualties.

It seemed there was only a handful of huntsmen-in-training present to assist the Troopers, and even then, some had succumbed to the enemy's relentless attacks with most hunkering behind the barricade; only occasionally popping out to take a potshot or two. The Covenant themselves were not without losses, as the bodies of their own infantry outnumbered the Humans and Faunus approximately five to one.

In front of the barricades by just over a hundred meters stood a phalanx of Jackals, slowly advancing under the cover of their shields and protecting a mass of infantry behind them. I grinned under my visor as I reached back and grabbed one of my electricity grenades. I turned to my sister. "Have a Beowolf pack ready to charge the second this thing goes off." She nodded and thrust her sword into the ground, white glyphs appearing behind her.

I primed and hurled my grenade into the direct center of the enemy phalanx. Exactly 1.5 seconds after it landed, it detonated, sending an electrical pulse that stunned all enemies within a ten-meter radius. But more importantly, it also disabled their shields.

The Troopers wasted no time whatsoever in targeting the new opening, and I joined them, adding the staccato of my own weapon to the roar that already permeated the school grounds. Winter's summons charged forward, intercepting the formation on its right flank and tearing through Grunts, Elites, and even the odd Jackal.

Within thirty seconds, their entire formation lay dead or dying. I slammed a new magazine into my rifle as the Beowolves dissipated. We both jogged over to the formation of tired students and weary soldiers, keeping ourselves alert as we did so.

Their guns relaxed a tiny bit when they saw two Humans approach them. "Finally, has command sent us some relief?" One of them asked.

I shook my head as I depolarized my visor, but before I could answer, my sister did it for me. "Unfortunately not, trooper. We actually came looking for reinforcements ourselves, given the situation in the city."

"Of course you did…" He sighed and gestured to the men, both soldiers and students, behind the barricades. "As you can see, we are in no position to reinforce anyone. On top of that, General Ironwood personally came down here to order us to protect the CCT at all costs… Don't know where he went, though."

I stripped my metallic backpack. "I have some basic medical supplies with me, it might help a little bit." I said as I fished out the medkit that Ruby had made standard for every one of us. "I don't know how good it will be against plasma burns, but it's better than nothing."

An AAF Corpsman heard me and instantly rushed over, practically ripping the small container from my hands and immediately moving to treat someone. I looked over to my sister, who had her eyes narrowed. "You seem to know an awful lot about our enemy, sister."

I sighed. "I was wondering when you would notice that." I paused. "As I have implied, my team's leader, Ruby, has fighting experience against them. The Covenant, they are called." I sighed again. "What I haven't mentioned is just how much experience she has. I don't know how, but when she disappeared a decade ago, she somehow went to a place where time passes faster than it does on Remnant. She has been either training to fight or outright fighting the covvies for her entire life. All twenty-two years of it."

Winter's eyes widened. "What? But, that would make her-"

"Old enough to be a fully-fledged huntress and the same age as you, I know."

She crossed her arms. "Well, neglecting the fact that what you say is impossible… Say I believe that she somehow has experience fighting these… things, and that she has taught you some of the things she has learned. What could you tell us about our current situation?"

I turned to observe the scene before me before doing the same to the city; the two alien ships still hovering above it. "Well," I sighed. "I have good news and bad news." I paused. "They're looking for something, which is very strange for them."

Winter raised an eyebrow. "And the good news?"

"That was the good news." I deadpanned. "If they weren't looking for something, they'd've glassed us by now." I silenced my audience's unasked question with a wave. "You all saw those beams they used to cut down the dreadnoughts, right?" They nodded. "Imagine using that against a planet." They paled. "It superheats the planet's crust to the point where everything turns to volcanic glass. Hence the term 'Glassing'."

Winter sighed. "Okay, and the bad news?" She said, already dreading the answer.

"They have reinforcements coming in from above those two ships. Meaning that they have more forces in orbit."

The Trooper laughed at my statement. "Orbit? HA! Little lady, we all know that space travel is impossible."

I crossed my arms before gesturing to the pile of dead Covenant. "And you're telling me that these things are from Remnant, then? How would we, thousands of years into Human history, be the first to find them?"

"Yeah, no. Those things aren't alie-" There was a loud thunk as he hit the ground, dead, courtesy of the needle round in his head.

"SNIPER!" I yelled as I polarized my visor. Everyone took cover as I whipped out my Battle Rifle, scanning the rooftops for the probably-Skirmisher responsible for that man's death. A second later, I found it, and pulled the trigger, sending a trio of rounds into the target and dropping it.

I breathed a sigh of relief… …shortly before my eyes widened at the sight of a small fleet of Phantoms approaching the Academy. "DEFENSIVE POSITIONS!" Both me and my sister shouted in unison.

I looked to see that one of the huntsmen-in-training didn't have a ranged weapon. "You there!" I said as I grabbed him. "Do you know how to use a rifle?"

"Uhh- umm-"

"YES OR NO, CADET!" My sister yelled.

"Umm, y- yes ma'am!" He finally answered.

"Good." I unslung my needle rifle from my back. "We need all the guns we can get." I said as I thrust it towards him before giving him my extra ammo for the weapon. By now the dropships had begun disgorging their troops. "Open fire!" I ordered, and was answered by a deafening amount of gunfire. But it seems that we were just as ineffective as the troopers had been before we got here, with only a few dropping and the covvies advancing behind a shield wall.

I reached for my grenade pouch, only to feel that I was out of EMP grenades. I inwardly cursed, remembering that I'd left most of my grenades at Beacon, instead grabbing a gravity grenade. "Everyone, on my mark!" I said as I primed the grenade. "Three!" I threw the explosive. "Two!" It landed. "One!" It 'exploded', causing the aliens to float helplessly in the air. "Mark!"

Everyone popped up and let loose several unopposed volleys, the aliens 'falling' in droves before our gunfire. Exactly five seconds after the grenade detonated, the effects wore off and the now-dead bodies of the Covenant infantry lay dead.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Good work everyone, we're cle-" I started, but was interrupted by several black, angular, drop pods impacting the ground. The hatches flew off and my eyes widened as I saw what stepped out. I shot upwards. "HOLD YOUR FIRE! FRIENDLIES DOWNRANGE!"

A quartet of black-armored figures advanced towards us, weapons at a low ready. Their leader de-polarized his visor as he approached. "Weiss Schnee?"

I nodded, de-polarizing my own visor. "That is I." I let a smirk show on my face. "Nice of you to drop in, Trooper."


(A/N) Aaaand it looks like the cavalry has arrived!

Only a couple actual plot points happened this chapter, mainly because, as Weiss puts it: "The godsdamn mother-fucking Covenant are burning the city!", though her disinheritance happened a bit earlier than it did in the cannon timeline. I think that Jacques would be in-character for doing it now, though… at least for the reason he stated.

To be honest, I think the naval battle sequence was the single most fun thing to write that I have written so far, hope you guys enjoyed it. But as long as we're on the subject of the navy, I'm just going to state the general idea of each class of Atlesian ship; as well as their sizes, given that I've only stated one so far.


Whitedale-Class destroyer (130m long) [Hull symbol: DE] – Named for one of the many battles during the Great War, this ship is primarily used to escort larger ships, though its torpedoes make it fairly deadly within knife-fight range. Thin armor, low-yield pulse lasers, and lack of any real options at range make this a somewhat poor choice for anything but grimm defense.

Outrider-Class patrol cruiser (153m long) [Hull symbol: PC] – These ships make up the bulk of the Atlesian cruiser fleet, though they are really only suited for patrols, as their name implies. Unlike every other cruiser-class ship, they lack broadsides and are only outfitted with one medium-yield laser turret. Though their armor is relatively thick for their size. This class of ship is the smallest that the Atlesian Naval Bureau considers to be 'Capital-Weight'.

Mantle-Class strike-cruiser (176m long) [Hull symbol: SC] – This relatively small cruiser is meant to close the gap between opposing fleets and engage with powerful, Heavy cruiser class, broadsides. Though its thin armor (only twice as thick as the Whitedale-class) ensures that the cruiser rarely gets to its optimum range.

Resolute-Class line-cruiser (244m long) [Hull symbol: LC] – While not as long-ranged as a dreadnought, this class of line-cruiser is famous for its heavy-hitting guns and thick armor, albeit this makes it only slightly faster than the dreads it commonly accompanies.

Aurora-Class dreadnought (301m long) [Hull symbol: DN] – The pride of the Atlesian fleet, and the newest of a long and storied history of dreadnoughts. This class of ship is meant to go toe-to-toe with anything that anyone can dish out. With armor up to half-a-meter in some places, these beasts are almost impenetrable by Remnant standards.

Solitas-Class battlecarrier (478m long) [Hull symbol: BCV] – An older model of battlecarrier built before Atlas decided to focus on smaller, less expensive, ships during times of peace. Though showing their age, Atlas still operates two of these venerable ships. They are extremely heavily armored, more so than even the newer dreadnoughts. Though relatively lightly armed, this class of carrier can still be in the thick of battle and provide limited fire support, all the while, its fighter craft wreak havoc on the enemy.

Sovereign-Class battlecarrier (430m long) [Hull symbol: BCV] – The newest carrier in service to Atlas, just as heavily armored as its predecessor, though only carrying three-fourths of its aircraft. This model of carrier can do almost everything the last model could… …and at a cheaper cost, too.


Alright, so that was a thing. I know that the size of the Atlesian ships might seem a bit… smaller than the Halo community is used to, but I actually based the size of the first and the third ships on old WWII US navy ships, just upscaled slightly (Fletcher-class destroyer, and Cleveland-class light cruiser, respectively). With the patrol cruiser being an in-between for the two, and the LC/DN being in-betweens for the strike cruiser and the battlecarrier. By the way, the Sovereign-class is almost ninety meters longer than the (to my knowledge) biggest supercarrier Earth has yet to produce; The USS Enterprise (342m) [CVN-65].

On the subject of ship sizes, writing this has made me realize just how ridiculously large a lot of ships are in comparison to other franchises. Seriously, an SDV-class corvette is only about two-hundred meters shy of a friggin Venator-class Star Destroyer from Star Wars. As well as the CCS-class battlecruiser being bigger than an ISD by over a hundred meters… Not saying the covvies would win against the Republic or the Empire, just thought I'd point out something I found to be interesting.

Anyways, on to the reviews!

Guest 001 – I'm sure that happened somewhere, in fact, Winter showed something kinda similar during her first encounter, in that she was a bit angry at Weiss for shooting first. I agree with you that there are some things that aura doesn't protect against, in fact, I basically made it cannon being that _WBY's armor repels aura. The only reason why weapons don't have that same property, is because they would just flat out break if they weren't protected by aura (That's my headcannon on how something as mechanically complex as, say, Crescent Rose, is able to hit something and not immediately shatter into a million pieces), meaning that aura-ignoring weapons are reserved only for very stealthy and easily replaced weapons. I'm probably not gonna go with the whole 'aura zombie' idea, though it's interesting for sure.

Itharax – Yea, may god have mercy on them indeed. Sorry Ruby didn't get there yet, my reasoning is that, looking at a map, it would appear that Weiss is in the equivalent of Greenland whereas R_BY + _T_Q are in Florida. I looked up the travel time, and it's about a seven-hour flight. Its safe to say that they won't arrive 'til nightfall if they were to go via a normal airship.

Shadow Walker of Fire – Yea, sorry about the hiatus, but look on the bright side! It won't be anywhere near as long as the hiatus between cannon volumes. Speaking of which, V6C1 was really good! …And that's all I'm gonna say about that because it's a pretty safe bet that the majority of people reading this haven't seen it yet. I won't directly say what my other project is about, though you can hazard a guess by the title: "A Summer's Harvest". They don't believe themselves to be members of the UNSC, no. They took the moniker because of their somewhat idealistic view of the UNSC and that both their training and armor are reminiscent of their ODST counterparts. Just pack my box with PT gear!

SmoothedBeast36 – Yea, while researching just how much energy a MAC round (even one from a Charon-class frigate) outputs, I realized I may have made Atlas a taaaaaaaad bit overpowered with their lasers. Way back in chapter seven, I had Ruby state that a Charon's MAC produces slightly less energy than the high-yield laser of an Aurora-class dreadnought. Back then, I didn't realize that said MAC produced 270 Terrajoules of energy. Fun fact: Nanolaminate actually melts at less than a hundred degrees higher than elemental titanium, making it effectively just as shit at deflecting DEWs as said substance. At 100% efficiency, and fudging the specific heat of nanolaminate to be 1000 J/(kg (degrees in kelvin))[For the lazy, Specific Heat is a way to measure the amount of resistance a substance has to changing temperature. That's probably grossly oversimplified, but it'll do for now], that much energy is enough to vaporize nearly 159,000 tons of that material. Obviously, a 100% efficient energy conversion is impossible, so I settled with the covvies shields being one-shotted and also anything more than a graze completely gutting the affected section. If the mid-yield lasers are even 1% the yield of their larger cousins, that still means over a thousand tons of nanolaminate being scattered to the wind (literally) every time the weapon is fired. Eventually, I settled on making Atlesian lasers far more devastating to localized sections, though far less devastating to the entire ship as a whole. Concerning the armor that Atlas uses, I will agree that they might as well have been using tissue paper, at least that wouldn't weigh them down so much. To be honest, after nearly three decades of war, I'm wondering why the UNSC hasn't completely stripped its lighter ships of armor entirely due to its ineffectiveness. It would make them A) Faster to accelerate. B) Cheaper to produce. And C) No difference in durability vs covvies. For reference, a Charon-class frigate has about 11cm thicker armor than the thickest parts of the armor on an Iowa-class battleship from WWII. That might not seem like much, but the difference alone is thicker than the armor used on that ship's main deck.

TL;DR: Both the covvies and UNSC are shit at dealing with energy weapons; guess what Atlas uses.

osterreicher97 – Yep, the UNSC is here now, and the covvies actually followed them to Remnant, just like they followed the Pillar of Autumn to Alpha Halo. In regards to Remnant's relation to Earth and whatnot, it is actually in a different universe. Like the crazy lady at the beginning said, the covvies damaged a UNSC slipspace drive and it tore a hole in the universe, as opposed to simply between dimensions (slipspace vs realspace). As for how Remnant was seeded, I'd rather not tell for now, as I haven't decided when I'll address it. It could be within the next two chapters, or it could be four canon volumes down the line.

ShadowPony12 – Thanks! And I hope it didn't disappoint.

Guest 002 – Nope, there's not really a reason for that to go on hiatus. In fact, the only reason why its kinda gotten neglected a bit was because I was running a bit short on time the past few weeks. Hopefully, that's the longest hiatus that fic will ever see.

survivorsp – Yea, I kinda already did in some regards, though there are ways to weasel out of the corners I've painted myself in at this time.

Guest 003 – Speaking of weaseling out of corners, that's the only real reason why Summer isn't a Wolf Faunus. I do think both Summer and Ruby make better wolves than cats.

4 – Well, at least there's still two more chapters 'til the hiatus hits. And there will be two more.

raw666 – Considering its up in the air if Atlas will even exist in a few days' time, considering the grimm are conspicuously absent, idk, maybe. As for the last two scenarios, probably both will happen.

devek1 – Actually, the source I used specifically stated that Jorge's height without armor was 7'4", and with, he was eight foot. I looked and looked and could not find anyone saying the rest of Noble team's heights with or without armor, so I'm just gonna say that's their height without armor because that makes sense to record that statistic. Also, in chapter one, I will admit I was an idiot and didn't consider Ruby's armor effecting her height. It has always been my intention to make her short, on account of her canon height being well below average, and at the time I believed all Spartans to be seven feet tall. Where I got this idea when Jorge was obviously much taller than canon Noble Six in Halo: Reach, I have no idea, but its what stuck in my mind at the time. As for Lucy, the wiki specifically states that her height was recorded at age twelve, aka the augmentation age. I'm interpreting that as being her pre-augmentation height, because dear god how fucking short would she be without augs if it wasn't. As for the comparison between SII's and SIII's, Ruby didn't really have that in mind when saying that. It was just "He was on my team, and he was easily the tallest one". Keep in mind that not everything any one character says is the absolute 100% truth, it is instead either a lie or the truth according to them. And humans are known to make errors… such as myself.

Side thought: would the saying 'To err is to human' be the same on Remnant? Given that the faunus exist.

psp reader – Yea, things were going far too well for everyone. Volume three called and said it wanted to come early :D

Guest 004 – I'm hoping to get chapter 15 out by the end of the year, though don't be surprised if it ends up being January before it comes out.

red october700 – The ships are, for now, just team names. That will change in the future, but I won't say which ones will change. I personally say love whoever the fuck you want, though it's entirely within your rights to disagree with me. (Note to anyone else reading this: Don't send hatemail, it doesn't actually accomplish anything.) Yea, I personally like her more as a Wolf, too, buuuut its kinda hard to hide those ears beneath just a hood, and I didn't want to make Ruby seem like an idiot for not noticing in ch1 when she first saw the picture. Although I don't have anything planned out, her heritage will play into the story… somehow… Also, ONI isn't on Remnant, in fact, they don't even know it exists; though I do agree that it is definitely something they'd do. While these guys are from the Covenant Empire, I am currently open to the idea that, say, the Swords of Sanghelios will visit Remnant, or a joint Human-alien ship. Though it'd be far in the future. And it'll be even more interesting because now every sapient being on Remnant has a reason to fucking despise aliens… Great, now all I can think of is a 40k rip off in the form of The Imperium of Mantle… That fits too well… While I haven't read Halo: First Strike, I am at least familiar with its events in passing thanks to some Youtubers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Ascendant Justice the ship that they combined with a human one? Anyways, I didn't de-age Ruby, I just slowed down her aging process so I wouldn't have to de-age her… Loopholes ftw… In all seriousness, that's the entire reason for her getting that slowing down aging perk. I wanted her family to still be able to recognize her and not immediately go "Why are you older than you should be?" Because there is quite a noticeable difference between a 15-year-old and a 22-year-old.

Guest 005 – In all likelihood, no. Sorry about that.

Guest 006 – Don't worry, I certainly will. It's just there's a lot to cover between the one or two in-universe days that this arc takes place over. I'll get to R_BY + _T_Q in the next chapter.

Guest 007 – Well, if time worked the way it usually does, then yes, they would be fine. But it doesn't, and these guys are still coming from the Fall of Reach.

– Again, I choose to interpret that as a complement.

475213 – The way I saw it, at the time, was that the fragmentation pierced the 'unarmored' sections of her suit. Later, I learned that no such sections exist. Also, during the fall from orbit, I said her aura hadn't broken… though looking back on it now, it really should have. Man, I really was an idiot back then, wasn't I? I'll probably be saying that again in the future though.

Well, that's all for today! Hope you guys enjoyed. "Frozen Hell" is next up! Ch3 of The Fall of Reach should be up either later today or tomorrow.