All he wanted in life was to make his family proud, his Ma, his older brothers; Anthony, Dan, and especially his eldest brother Clay. The moment he could sign himself over to the COG, to be trained as a Gear, is where his life truly started in Benjamin's mind. His destiny was to bear the weight of a Gear's duty to not only the COG but Humanity as a whole, if they wished to survive this great and terrible war for survival. He joined without hesitation or fear, just a goofy boyish smile with confidence in himself to bring honor to his family.

Yet currently all he felt was fear as he fell, screaming into the gaping maw of the Rift Worm.

He hadn't been in the field for long, yet he had the honor of serving with the best squad the COG had to offer. The same squad Anthony served and died in, it seemed that he would be following in his older brother's footsteps after all, perhaps a bit too closely. Though his mind was racing a million miles an hour, his thoughts were on his dear Mama Carmine and how she was going to cry her eyes out when she received his flag and some shiny medal as if it were a participation trophy, a consolation prize in a sick and twisted way.

'It would go right next to Anthony's.' He thought briefly as he tried his best to brace himself, curling up into a ball as he started to roll down the slimy giant worm's gullet, his quick thinking saved him from possibly breaking any bones as he tumbled, though he broke his formation when he landed hard on his back after what seemed like forever.

"Uggggh," The youngest Carmine groaned as the air left his lungs, upon instinct he curled up once more and rolled out of the way as his Lancer and Longshot came down, the sharp chainsaw teeth imbedding themselves a few inches into the worm upon landing. Without wasting any more time, the Gear gave a great huff and dove for his weapons before any more debris could fall.

With haste Ben Carmine checked over his Longshot, grimacing at how the scope was cracked, there was only so much he could do about the slime in the rifle's bolt assembly besides scraping some glops out with his gloved finger, his Lancer was worse for wear as it had slipped from where it was originally embedded into a small pool of green slime, "Gross."

His heart jumped as he felt the worm moved, he quickly tried for the coms, but his signal wasn't getting out to Delta or Control. Cursing inwardly the Gear advanced into the smelly putrid unknown. His boots made squishing noises with every foot fall, though compared to the giant smashing teeth looking things ahead, his footfalls might as well have been rain drops.

"Oh shit." Carmine muttered watching the giant what he could only assume to be teeth slammed with the force of trash compactors meant to crush Centaurs. Seeing no other option, the rookie Gear timed the drop of the massive teeth and made a break for it, gritting his own teeth as adrenaline flowed through his body like raging rivers.

Each slam was like a mortar going off, the vibration resounding in the rookie's chest, his luck it seemed got worse as he slipped up at the last gigantic digestive tooth and tumbled down a fleshy path. Groaning with disgust, Ben Carmine stood up once more, but his surprise he saw something oddly shiny. Cautiously the Gear scooped up what appeared to be a blue medallion, a strange blue gem rested in a circular gear, it was an odd trinket to the youngest Carmine as he had never seen a gear used as jewelry outside of military medals. Seeing on how he might possibly just make it out alive, he supposed, it would make a great gift for Mama Carmine when he got the chance to see her again. Casually he stuffed it in his rear pocket and patted it as if assuring it would be safe.

Horror, however soon struck the Carmine boy as he saw the flesh from the Riftworm starting to bubble up, creatures resembling Tickers shrieked horribly as they scurried towards him. Benjamin raised his Longshot and tried to squeeze off a round but to his dread, the rifle jammed, "Shit!"

In his barest of instincts, he turned the rifle around to use it as a club, he bent his knees as he gave a desperate warcry with his eyes clamped shut out of stark terror, ready to beat on whatever crawling parasite was first.

Now in another universe, the youngest of the Carmine brothers would've had the misfortune of having his insides be torn out of his guts by the ravenous parasites in the Riftworm and join his brother in being martyred as a hero.

This however is not that universe.

Unbenounced to the youngest Carmine, the medallion he pilfered and stored in his back pocket hummed, glowing a bright florescent blue. Before the butt of his rifle could meet the first critter head on, he vanished in a flash. The three parasites that were to attack him went flying into a concrete wall that the Riftworm previously swallowed, in a painful clatter the nipping bugs sniffed and tasted the air in utter confusion as they tried desperately to relocate their clumsy meal.

Only to be denied by Fate.

When the youngest Carmine opened his eyes to deliver the swing meant for the first nightmarish creature, his helmeted face met the ground as he had thrown all of his body weight into the swing only to hit nothing. Sitting back on his knees it took a few moments for Benjamin to take in his surroundings, alarms flared up in his head, frantically he looked left and right before springing up to his feet.

"Sarge! Sergeant Fenix!" He called out while instinctively cuffing his hands where his mouth would've been without his helmet. Shaking off a feeling of foolishness, Benjamin tried his helmet's com system to make contact with either Delta or Command, "Hello? Is anyone listening? This is Private Benjamin Carmine from Delta, I, uh…I-"

The poor Private choked on his words, his eyes nearly popped out of his helmet at the sight of sunlight and tall seemingly endless trees. Dread filled his heart as the sudden realization of how hopelessly lost he was becoming quite clear to him. If he remembered correctly, winter was rounding the corner yet the temperature outside was quite warm.

Benjamin closed his eyes tight and shook his head, he opened them once more to his utter horror the scenery hadn't changed at all. The faintest of hopes had Ben clinging to the belief that this was a nightmare, that he was somehow daydreaming or perhaps hallucinating from the fumes of the Riftworm's stomach acid. Hesitantly he removed his right glove and felt the grass.

An audible gulp was made, the grass was real, and he could only think of one thing at the moment.

"Sarge is gonna have my ass."

Oddly enough the young Gear could only think about his NCO versus thoughts on a much more grander scale of consequence, yet he feared the wrath of one Sergeant Marcus Fenix more than anything, perhaps wrath and fear weren't the correct words, it was more of disappointment and inconveniencing the hero he had the honor of serving under.

A thought shot through Carmine's head like a bullet-pun intended- quickly he rifled through his back pocket and pulled out the strange medallion he found. Ben's blood chilled when he saw that the gem was no longer glowing blue, instead it was completely black like coal. He shook it close to his head to hear if it would jingle like a light bulb, though it took a moment to realize that plan wasn't exactly the smartest considering the possible implications of shaking the magic medallion.

Daniel was the smart one damnit, this was literally Ben's first day out in the field.

Seeing on how he was in unknown, possibly hostile territory, Benjamin went to work on clear his Longshot's bolt assembly of the still wet Riftworm gunk that had caused him to jam earlier and nearly cost him his life to the parasites.

"Ah geez," Ben muttered scooping out a finger full of goop, he set the Longshot down as he went to work on unzipping the weapon's cleaning kit from his right pocket. Carefully the Carmine boy unfolded a long metal rod with a cleaning swab at the end, usually this was meant to clean the barrel of powder or dirt, yet it would suffice for getting rid of monster worm gunk.

At least that's what he assumed when he stuffs the cleaning rod down the barrel, grimacing as thick saliva oozed from the barrel around the rod and out of the round ejector. This process was repeated several times over with a new swab, it didn't stop until the rifle's bolt could be chambered properly, for now the Gear believed his field cleaning sufficed.

The very long and strenuous process of stripping and cleaning his MK2 Lancer would've begun if not for the ground suddenly trembling like a Brumak charging. A loud, girly scream passed him by overhead like a bullet, the Gear whipped his neck around trying to locate the sound, "What the-"

"Run!"

Benjamin nearly snapped his neck to see a redhaired girl wearing what he could only describe a Pre-Silver Age Era Tryan clothing sprinting like a bat out of hell, not that he could blame her, she was being chased by a-

"HOLY SHIT!" Benjamin screamed as he joined the redhead in an early morning run for his life, his mind barely had a second to fully register just what in the world was going on. One moment his was in the gullet of a giant worm, the next moment he was outside miraculously, and now he was being chased by a giant scorpion.

No one in the history of the COG could dare claim to have a worst first day than him.

Even with the utter exhaustion he felt screaming throughout his body, even with the extra gear and weapons that nearly equaled his own bodyweight, Benjamin Carmine ran the fastest he has ever ran before in his life. His heart was beating like the propellers of a King Raven, every step sent waves of fear though his body as it would be his luck to trip over something.

Just barely out of the Gear's peripheral vision he saw the bronze clothed redhead glimpse at him every now and again as they ran, there was the temptation of trying to get a better look at the girl versus just going off the initial glancing view he had of her, but the thought of getting close-lined by a low hanging tree branch was just a variable he couldn't afford.

The giant scorpion was enough reason for him to keep up with the girl.

His lungs felt like they were being burned and torn apart by hooks, by the COG did he just want to stop to take a breather but his instinct to survive overrode the pain that he felt all over his battered and bruised body. Fear permeated around him, enticing the Deathstalker with his foreign aroma of terror, its pincers tried to snatch up the blue armored human with every chance it got, missing by just a few hairs.

"AHHHHH-AHHHHH-FUCKFUCKFUCK!" Ben screamed as another pincher just barely missed grabbing him by the ass, he silently prayed that by some divine intervention a King Raven would swoop down and shred the giant bug. His prayer was not answered, but from the looks of it there'd at least be some support up ahead.

"Jaune!" The redhead shouted as they ran into a clearing.

Ben felt very minor relief as he tried to spot any friendly Gears within the group of people up ahead, yet to his utter disappointment they were all teenagers in…very colorful civilian wares versus the usual scraggly Stranded rags. Because of this minor distraction, coupled with his exhaustion, the Deathstalker gained enough ground to smack him with a large claw, his jogging partner had also gotten hit in an alternate swipe.

"AHHH- GUH!" Ben gasped as he landed hard enough to knock the air from his lungs, he rolled several times before landing on his side, the left eyepiece of his helmet cracked, his whole chest piece had a vicious crack on it. Benjamin tried to force his body to move no matter how much it screamed in protest, the Deathstalker was gunning right for him as he laid completely separated from the group of Humans.

Desperately he rolled to his knees and reached for his Longshot, even with its scope being irreparably broken, if he was going to die, he'd die putting a cap in the big ugly bug's face.


By the ruins…

Pyrrha slammed into the ground with a loud thud, cursing in her head at the pain she felt. Yang however did not look at her as her gaze was fixated on the lone blue armored boy who had the Deathstalker going right for him, "Oh no, that guy is in trouble!"

"Not if I can't help it!" Ruby cried as she sprung into action with her semblance propelling her right at the Deathstalker, Crescent Rose in hand.

Yang's pupil's dilated as she reached out to her baby sister, "Ruby wait!"

With Benjamin…

Just as a round was going to be squeezed off, a red blur dashed in front of the scorpion at an astonishing speed, it took Ben a minute to realize that it was a girl wielding an outrageously large scythe. He watched with fascination as the girl bounced off the scorpion's guard.

She turned towards him after recovering, "D-don't worry, totally fine!"

He became even more bewildered when she fired off what sounded like a sniper round of all things from the head of her scythe to cover her retreat.

"Ruby!" Came another voice, Ben turned his head and saw a blonde girl in a…very revealing outfit running towards the scythe using girl. Almost immediately Benjamin jumped to his feet, his oath as a COG Gear, a warrior of Humanity, a defender of order and the Coalition's way of life sang through his muscles as he charged towards the caped girl coming his way.

He may have not been the smartest, the toughest, but damnit it all he was going to make good on his oath and give the girl some more time to run back to her friends even if that meant taking on the giant scorpion and giant-

'What the fuck is wrong with this place!?' He thought suddenly as a giant bird came swooping towards them. As if the situation wasn't bad enough, the giant bird sent a hailstorm of feathers that hit the ground like spears. Gritting his teeth, Benjamin smashed through three wall-like feathers to reach the girl whose cape was now stuck to the ground, making her vulnerable to the scorpion.

Stupid fucking capes.

Ben fired a shot from his Longshot, striking one of the many scorpion's shining bulbus eyes. While it screamed in agony, Carmine switched to his MK2 Lancer and revved his chainsaw bayonet, he delivered a vertical slash down the feather holding down his would-be rescuer. With his mind firmly set in Gear mode, Benjamin pulled the girl to her feet, "GO! GO! I'LL COVER YOU!"

Yet it was too late, the giant scorpion reeled its tail back for a strike. On pure instinct Benjamin shoved the girl to the side and held his chainsaw bayonet up to meet the stinger, "COME AND DIE FOR PAPA!"

Carmine closed his eyes knowing that he was not going to survive the strike coming for him, that this death, this was truly a hero's death that would make his Ma, his brothers, and all of the COG proud of him for his noble sacrifice. Against the odds, ever defiant against the inhuman monstrosities that plagued Sera, a true testament to Mankind's ability to control his destiny no matter what end would befall him and-

SMACK!

Ben groaned as he opened his eyes, lifting his head up he- "HOLY SHIT!"

The Gear crawled back rapidly from underneath the scorpion, grabbing for his Lancer only to realize that the monster's right side and tail were frozen in place in a thick layer of ice.

Hissing, Benjamin stood up and to his bewilderment saw a girl paler than a tan Locust lecturing the red caped scythe wielder. Silently he observed the conversation, unable to hear with his heartbeat in his ears, he turned back to the giant bug with both hands flipping it the bird as he began laughing manically, 'Heh, heheh, heh, haha, FUCK- YOU- YOU BUG BITCH!"

Both of the girls turned towards Carmine with their jaws dropped at his foul language, "Fuckyoufuckyoufuckyoufuckyou- I'm still alive! HAHA! Not bad for a rookie! HAHAHAHA-FUCK! YOU!"

"Hey! Watch your language!" The girl in white demanded as he walked right up to Ben in a very commanding fashion that reminded him of an officer, "Just who are you and what are you even doing out here!? I don't remember seeing you at the launch pads at Beacon!"

For a moment Benjamin hesitated, but he quickly gave a salute as he was trained to do, "Private Benjamin Carmine, Imma- hold on, just who the hell are you talking to me like that little girl!?"

An indignant blush came over the girl's face as she glared icy hell into Carmine's soul, "I'm the person that froze the Deathstalker and saved your life! And the name is Weiss Schnee! You know, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!?"

"…what? Who the hell sells- you froze that big bug- how the fuck did you-" A sudden knee-jerk reaction struck Benjamin as he jumped back pointing dramatically at Weiss's nose, "YOU'RE A WITCH!"

With completely unamused glare, Weiss slapped his hand to the side, before she could go on a tirade that would send even the thickest of Grubs scurrying for an E-hole, the blonde girl from earlier butted in between the two, "Hey! Knock it off you two, we don't have time for this!"

Ben's mind went blank for a moment as he found the blonde to be one of the most beautiful girls he had ever laid eyes on, he shook his more private thoughts out of his head, "Hey, I'm just- it's been a really long day man, I gotta get-get back, my- things are just really fucked right now, I'm sooooo fucking confused!"

The blonde gently set her hand on his shoulder, "Hey, I get it, school initiations are rough."

An alarm exploded in Benjamin's mind, "School initiation!? What sort of fucked up school are you even- where in the COG's name am I!?"

"COG?" The girl in red asked scratching her head, much to Benjamin's immense horror.

"No, no, nononono-NO-nonono- you did not just say that like it's a question-"

"You aren't exactly making a lot of sense buddy, let's take a few steps back and calm down." The blonde girl said in a calm yet obviously warning tone, if ben had been paying attention then he would've noticed the shotguns gauntlets were pointed at him.

"Uhh, guys!" A blonde boy called, "That thing is circling back, what are we going to do!?"

Ben Carmine groaned at the sight of the giant bird circling overhead, it looked like it could peck Reavers out of the sky like they were flies, he doubted that his weapons could come close to harming let alone scratching the damn monster in the sky. His Lancer was jammed to shit, he had six rounds left for his Longshot and it was just a cruel joke to think a Snub Nose could do anything to the giant bird. If Sergeant Fenix was here, he would've thought of something.

The other teens from those ruins came running up beside him and the three girls, Ben glanced at them with their weapons drawn, finding it odd that they held a great variety of firearms. Civilians in the COG were rarely permitted to possess any such weapon, excluding some former military personnel, though with the current Locust War, he wasn't too surprised to see kids with guns, like he was one to judge.

He looked back towards the redhead that had been running beside him, she seemed to have stepped out of the past with the clothing she wore yet he could see some minor modern aesthetics that made her seem even more strange. The boy to her left had some form of light armor mixed with casual clothing but carried a sword and shield just like the girl, two completely useless weapons against the thick-skinned Locust Horde.

There was a strange orange haired girl with a massive warhammer, something that he wouldn't expect a woman, let alone a girl to realistically ever be able to hold with such ease. The boy next to her looked like he was from Pesang with a taste for the ceremonial stuff, though, he had never seen pistols like the one that the boy carried, they looked quite neat actually. Lastly there was a very pretty girl dressed in monochrome, she had a calm yet fierce look about her that just made her seem kinda cool to Ben, she eyed him with suspicion and held her odd pistol in a low-ready rest, almost like she was prepared to take him on.

For that reason alone, Ben felt along his Snub Nose very subtly just in case this girl was a hostile Stranded, he's never killed another person before, but he wasn't intent on dying because he was getting distracted by a pretty face.

"Hey, hey!" Ben turned his head right back around to the redhead he had ran next to not too long ago, "We're getting ready to run, do you have your chess piece?"

"My what?" The youngest Carmine asked with bemusement, 'Just what the actual fuck are these kids even out here for in the first place? Playing a sick game of scavenger hunt? For some school? What sort of fucking school does this with giant- where on Sera even is this place?'

He initially suspected his homeland of Tyrus, but the Tyrian landscape was currently settling in for a long cold winter, not for spring. The trees where he grew up were nowhere near this tall, they weren't nearly as thick either, a whole rural village could be made from just one of these gigantic towers of wood. There was a growing suspicion of doubt in the young soldier's mind that he indeed was very far from home.

"You know, the relics, the things we're supposed to get for Beacon!?" Yang said with exasperation, "I know I don't pay attention that well either dude but come on!"

Ben had just about had it, the youngest Carmine was starting to really lose his cool, "Who the hell are you people and what the FUCK are those things!?"

The screech of the Nevermore robbed Benjamin's attention, he was starting to not really care where he was, the young COG just wanted to get the hell away from the two Brumak rivaling monsters of nightmares. He felt a pit in his gut as the scorpion started to shift and struggle in the ice, its golden eyes seemed to stare directly at him in rage.

"Hey," The redhead in the Pre-Silver Age clothes called as she held out a black pawn to Benjamin, "sorry, but this was one of the only ones left, I don't think I violated any of the rules giving it to you."

"What the-" Ben just stared down at the chess piece in his hand he was handed, he stared down, completely baffled as he looked back up at the girl, "-why- wha-"

"Come on! We have to go, now!" Weiss called back as she and the others started to run, almost leaving him in the dust, "Stop dilly-dallying!"

Benjamin grimaced as he felt his whole midsection scream, his everything felt like utter hell and he would've fallen to his knees, taking caution to the wind Benjamin grabbed for his med pack and fished out an adrenaline stim, "Just a little further-"

The ice started to crack as Ben stabbed himself in the neck, he grunted as a cold feeling flowed through his veins and he felt alive, like he was wired with fifteen energy drinks. He broke off in a sprint just as the Deathstalker broke free, its scream giving the young Carmine more than enough reasons to run like hell.

Weeks ago he ran a nine minute mile and a half run, fully geared up, something that not a whole lotta Gears were able to do with all of the extra weight of their uniforms so easily, but thankfully the Carmines had practically trained all of their lives for the inevitable day that they would join the COG as a Gear, hence why Ben wasn't too shocked, even under the influence of adrenaline, that he was catching up with those kids that ditched him with the scorpion. He had some words for them on that for certain.

He was just about to catch up when the giant bird flew down and perched on what appeared to be ruins at the end of the forest, the youngest Carmine groaned meekly as he slammed against a wall, he grabbed at his mid-section as he glanced over at the girl with the cape, "I-I'm hurting bad kid."

The girl slid over to him and touched the underpart of his armor, wincing as Ben groaned, sliding down the wall. He started babbling under his helmet, pointing in the direction they just came, "F-f- ahhhhh!"

Trees flew as the Deathstalker came charging back through the way they came, its claws snapping furiously. The Gear took a deep breath and tried to stand, only to be pulled to his feet by the blonde girl with a surprising show of strength as she shouldered him, he could only stare dumb founded as he started to see these "kids" go into action. The one orange haired girl firing pink explosives and the other previous kids engaging the scorpion upfront, whilst to his utter surprise.

Ben grunted in agony as the blonde unceremoniously dropped him after the bird crashed through the bridge, he forced himself to his feet and upholstered his Longshot. His part of the bridge was still whole, so he did his best to chamber a round into his Longshot, every movement was slow and excruciating, but the Gear could not just sit idly by, "H-hey! Hey! You! Come and get me bitch! Y-you, stupid turkey!"

Blood seeped from the young Gear's mouth as he took aim, his shot went wide, far from being anywhere close to the bird. He'd curse but his eyes started to flicker, and his grip started to slacken, the tumble he had was worse than he thought previously. In a minute or less the whole world was moving so incredibly fast, it might've been the blood loss, but he could've sworn he saw those kids moving like blurs and shooting bright light at the giant monsters, taking them down in tandem.

Ben lost hold of his rifle and slammed the back of his helmet against the stone bridge, no attempt was made at trying to sit up right, his own hands felt like weights. At least he was dying on the surface and not underground like so many of his fellow Gears, it was at least cleaner than getting his guts chewed out by parasites, his mother could at least get an open casket for him, until they cremated him in any event.

Blinking weakly, he managed to make out the blonde girl and that one girl in black leering over him, saying something, but he couldn't focus on their words and eventually lost focus of their faces too. Fading away into blissfulness, it was odd, he was kinda eager to see Anthony again, maybe even a few of his cousins that had died early on in the war too, he did wonder though, would there be bacon?


With a dry gasp Ben Carmine sat up, nearly crying out as he fell back in a soundless yelp of pain. Hissing slightly, Benjamin opened his eyes to a pristinely white hospital room, surrounded by empty beds that sat not too far from each other. The last hospital he had been in was currently in flames last he recalled, far from being so clean looking and void of any injured Gears.

Weakly he managed to pull himself up the bed by his elbows, sweat poured down his brow as he dreaded the report he'd have to give to Sergeant Fenix…if he could even find him that is. The steady beeping of his heart monitor slowly started to rise as the Gear realized that he had also been stripped of his COG issued uniform, after his few bouts with the Locust, he felt very naked without any armor, the hospital gown without any underwear didn't help either.

Ben tried to strain his neck to see if there was a nurse nearby, he'd call out, but his throat was just too dry to say anything let alone yell for help. There was a degree of hopelessness and humiliation, his first day had gone from bad, to worst. He wasn't anywhere near certain about what was going on, hell, he had no idea if this wasn't just some sort of fever dream, and he would just wake up screaming with his guts being torn out by the worm parasites. In that case, he'd rather stay dreaming and see where this dream would take him.

Tentatively, Ben tried touching his wounds, regretting his decision as he grunted and hissed. He glanced at an IV bag with morphine steadily dripping down into his tube, if he wasn't so afraid of killing himself via overdose, he'd squeeze the bag like a juice box. So, he just lied there with a dry huff, staring up at the ceiling with a pout, this reminded him of the time he broke his leg in a game of Thrashball and was bedridden for weeks because crutches were not available during the sixth-year post E-Day. Anthony would at least play cards with him, while Mama Carmine would make them bacon rations with their stale army bread.

Mama Carmine…

Benjamin's eyes started to sting, what in the hell was he thinking? He left her all alone, the last son to go into the COG as a Gear, the youngest boy to leave home prematurely, he wasn't a man, he was still just a dumb kid. He sniffled and rubbed his eye, she must be worrying herself sick, how long had it been since he last wrote her? Will Delta find him? Will he be M.I.A in the COG's records? K.I.A? What will she do?

The Gear nearly sat up when he heard doors from the far side of the room opened, he could only awkwardly turn his head towards the direction of shoes and heels clicking against the floor. He was disappointed to see that it wasn't that Anya woman and the Sarge, they looked like civilians, maybe COG party members before E-Day.

"Hello," The man in the green jacket said, leaning forward on his cane, "I hope you're not too uncomfortable."

Benjamin's face twitched, he brought his right arm up to his throat slowly and made a straining motion with his fist clenched. The woman understood what he meant and walked closer to his bed, there was a tray out of reach that held a pitcher of water and a few plastic cups. The young Gear did his best to not look up at her too directly because, well, she was extremely hot to the hormonal soldier, like a pin-up girl in one of Clay's dirty magazines that he hid under his bed. Sexy teacher/secretary hot with a slightly loose blouse, his brothers would be all over her like she was a plate of bacon.

"Here, this should make it easier to drink out of." The woman said as she put a bendy straw in the cup, a light blush dusted Ben's cheeks as he avoided looking down her shirt. He stared at the straw for a few moments though, feeling like a child all over again, but soon realized how thirsty he was.

The man with the cane walked a little bit closer to Ben's left and smiled, "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Ozpin, I am the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the school you're staying at, and this is Professor Goodwitch, the Vice Headmistress."

Ben coughed a little bit as he held his water to the side, "N-never heard of it or any of you, who are you?"

"I just-"

The young Gear nodded his head with an unnaturally serious look on his boyish face, "No, I mean, you're not the COG, and there's no one else left, so who are you?"

Both teachers gave the boy a strange look, one that did nothing to ease his nerves in the slightest, his hand started to shake as he looked desperately around for a propaganda poster to reassure his nerves, only to find none. He started feeling around his chest for his COG tags only to feel nothing but his bare chest, "My tags."

Ozpin reached down into his pants pocket and pulled the two little gears hanging by their nylon thread out, "They're right here, Mister Carmine."

The Gear stared at the grey-haired man with sweat rolling down his brow, he knew who he was already, he had probably been though his shit too, "Who the hell are you people!? What the hell were those fucking things outside, and- just what was with those kids! They were jumping around and flying and smashing into the- that one girl had a giant freaking scythe!"

Professor Goodwitch gently grasped the panicking Gear's arm, making him stop at the sudden contact, "Mister Carmine, Ben, calm down. You're going to hurt yourself if you don't, the wounds you sustained were quite grievous, you're lucky that two members of team RWBY used some of their Aura to keep you from hemorrhaging on the inside."

He stared at her with a blank, dumbfounded look on his face, "Team who?"

"Let's start from the beginning," Professor Ozpin said as he sat beside Ben, making the Gear slightly warier of his intent, "how old are you?"

The Gear put on a brave face as he met the man's eyes, "T-twenty-one…"

Ozpin however gave him an unamused unblinking stare, much like how Ben's father used to give when he knew that the boy was lying, "How old?"

Benjamin swallowed hard as he averted boy of the teacher's gazes, "S-sixteen, I turn seventeen at the week's end…don't tell my recruiter I lied…"

Surprisingly, neither teacher was angry with him, rather they looked at him sympathetically, "What army let you join Ben?"

"Well, things are pretty bad for the COG right now, the Locust got this- oh shit!" The Gear's eyes pop open and he grabs Ozpin's sleeve, "Jacinto is in trouble! The damn Grubs got a giant worm that sinks cities! GAH!"

"Slow down, what are you talking about?" Ozpin asked, trying to keep the excitable young man from launching himself out of bed, and dragging out his IVs.

"The Locust you- you…don't know…" His blood went cold, they just stared at him like he was looney, yet it started to make sense to him. Those beasts weren't Locust bred, those kids weren't stranded, and these people did not work for the COG or any government he would recognize on Sera, which could only mean one thing.

He was on a whole new level of AWOL.

Ozpin looked between the boy and Glynda, as held a similar distressed look, "Maybe you need to rest a little while more, collect yourself, and we'll talk later, does that sound reasonable?"

Benjamin gave no word of acknowledgement, he just lied there with a thousand-yard stare with sweat pouring down his face. Professor Goodwitch seemed to be the most worried out of the two adults, she placed her hand against his forehead and glanced at his heart monitor as he stayed at a high rate, "Ozpin?"

"He seems to be in a state of shock Glynda, I think it would be best to let Private Carmine rest a little while before he can explain himself." The Headmaster said as he gave the boy a remorseful look, there had only been so few huntsmen that held such a stare, usually after a horrifically traumatic event, he could only imagine why a boy his age had such a look.

Little did the Beacon teachers realize, Benjamin Carmine was more than conscious about their actions, he was simply too scared to say anything. What was there to say? They confirmed his suspicions that he was in all sorts of trouble to say the least, he was AWOL from the COG on what seemed like a completely different world to Sera. He had so many questions, too many to coherently word together, and so many more that kept on materializing in his mind, how desperately he wanted Clay or Dan to be here to help him sort this shit.

He sat up on his elbows, growling as his ribs stung like a motherfucker, there was no way in hell he was leaving the bed anytime soon with the amount of pain that barely moving was causing him. Ben stared up at the white ceiling with a frown when he realized that the familiar light of stars shone from above him, he was out for the day it seemed and now it was night time, how exactly was he supposed to sleep now?

For a few minutes he drummed his fingers on his elbows, trying to find some absent-minded thoughts he could focus on to bore himself to sleep but that did not seem to work. If his mind wasn't focused on the despair of being completely fucked on this supposed new world, then it was drifting back to his Ma, all alone, fretting herself sick over where he was, or it was about the colossal worm and the idea of it somehow sinking Humanity's last best hope at survival.

All in all, it was shaping to be a long night.

The doors to the infirmary opened and Ben could scarcely glance at who it was now, his neck had gotten stiff and if he tried to crack it, he'd hurt his sore ribs again from the swift movement. Though, he was surprised to see that his unexpected night time guest was that girl with the red cape from before, the one that had gotten stuck with that giant feather, only this time she was dressed in what seemed to be her night time wear. Ben thought her tank top paired with her pants were a little bit silly but felt slightly embarrassed as he realized that the girl was more…curvier than he initially saw out in the forest.

She crept on her toes with a great bit of exaggeration, like she was straight out of one of those COG cartoons with spies that crept past landmines, only to comically trigger them and try running through the field as gunfire went off around them. He coughed to get her attention, she froze with a squeak, balancing on one foot and frantically waved her arms as she lost her balance and fell with a thud.

"Uhhh…" Ben was about to push himself up, despite the pain, to see if the girl was alright.

He blinked rapidly she sprung back up to her feet, several rose petals flew around her, her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was a little bit messed up, "Sorry, I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, no you're fine," Ben said as he watched her fidget uncomfortably. She couldn't be too much younger than him, but seemed a tad bit smaller, then again, most boys his age were having to take hormonal supplements to grow more muscle quicker, the less time on that the more time they could spend learning how to kill grubs, "You're the girl I helped out."

"Hi, I'm Ruby Rose!" She said sticking her hand out, he tried to reach out but hissed as he moved, "Ohh! Sorry!"

"It's fine," Benjamin lied, he felt like his insides were made of soft wet paper and every breath was just a steady tear throughout his chest, "you're okay, right?"

Her flushed red for a moment as she bobbed her head, "Yeah, because of you. That was pretty cool, when you came up and cut the feather in half with your chainsaw-rifle, do you think I could get a look at your gun?"

The Carmine boy stifled a naughty snicker as he thought back to boot camp, where the Drill Sergeant explained with detail what the difference between your Lancer and your "gun" was, but he didn't think the girl would appreciate it.

"Sure…I don't really know where it is though, or where the rest of my stuff is. But, hey, still alive, those things gotta try a lot harder to kill a Carmine boy, let alone a Gear." He said with a bit of prideful boast, coupled with the best smile he could muster despite how much his everything hurt, and how humiliating it was that a girl her size was engaging the giant monsters, whereas he nearly bled to death after a single swipe from the giant scorpion.

Ruby hummed silently, her petite lips shifted into a similar smile, but it fell quickly as her brow furrowed to a curious expression, "So what school are you from? And were you in the forest before everyone else? I didn't see you at the launchpads, and I would've remembered seeing you when everyone got to Beacon."

'Damn, she's one smart cookie.' Benjamin himself wasn't entirely sure about just what in the hell happened either. One moment he was face to face with a painful death, now, now he was in a hospital ward with a really cute girl at his bedside, 'Clay would not let me hear the end of it.'

"I would really like to explain myself, but its really complicated." He wasn't lying, she'd think he was crazy if the truth, however outlandish, poured out from his lips, 'Got ate by a giant worm, weird blue medallion saved me from man sized parasites, found you guys in the forest…wanna go out?'

Yeah, he wished Sergeant Fenix was here, right now.

Ruby's silver eyes looked unconvinced, perhaps even disappointed that he was not straightforward with her, but she relented from further questioning. She did glance down at the COG tags shining from the moonlight, "What's that?"

"Oh these?" He held the tags out in his hand, staring down at them, he offered them to Ruby, "My COG tags, I'm a Gear, y'know?"

Ruby held onto the tags, reading his name and rank, yet the confused look in her eyes only confirmed what he already knew. There was no COG on this planet, there was no Sergeant Fenix, no Dom, no Cole, no Clay or Dan…no Mama Carmine.

Ben sniffed and wiped his eyes quickly, his arm gripped around his ribs to hide the fact that he wanted to cry but would not debase himself in front of this girl. Ruby set his tags down on the tray next to his bed, her small hands gently set down on his forward, she tried giving a reassuring smile, "I'll see you later Ben, try to get some rest, okay?"

Private Carmine returned the smile, unable to retort as his throat started to crinkle and strain, when he was sure that she was gone he hid his face in both hands, sobbing despite the pain from his ribs. He was lost, injured, confused, and so very much alone.


Ben Carmine was one of my favorite Gears of War characters, he grew on you quickly and his death made me want to kill every single last Locust bastard with even more enthusiasm. I am proud to say I participated in the "Save Carmine" contest for Gears 3, then I was pissed how they killed off Gary in 4, the Lizzie in 5.

C'mon, tell us who the fourth brother is Microsoft, you bastards. My beta reader and I decided on Daniel/Dan in case you hadn't noticed.