Well guys, I'm alive. Two days off from work in all of May. Yeah, it was as bad as it sounds.

But enough doom and gloom! Here is a new chapter!

Four months.

Ruby was amazed what could happen in four months. She had joined a intragalactic military under an oppressive and archaic regime, made friends, made enemies, been shot. She had also fired highly charged ionic plasma from a weapon that epitomized the name cliché by being called a 'plasma gun.' She had even made the comment that it would be like calling an autogun a bulletgun. But she hadn't really cared, it was still cool and she wanted one... or five. She had learned to march in perfect step, basic Cadian battle cant and infantry tactics. And worst of all, she had been forced to learn the necessary prayers to not only her weapon, but the Emperor as well.

Yet for all of this, the training, the drilling, the ceaseless brutality of the conditioning, the most important lesson she had ever learned came in the quiet of the evening. A one on one conversation between herself, and her cynical Sergeant. A dialogue that very well may have saved her life in the cold, arid and unfeeling underground of Hive Kastle, a hive beset by its very own inhabitants. The conversation that would remain in the forefront of her mind even now as rockets and mortars detonated around her and her comrades as she, along with the rest of the 744th Cadian Regiment, fought to buy time. Time to save the hive for at least one more day.

"Have you ever killed someone before?" Asked Cade.

Ruby's palms were sweaty on the grip of her lasgun as she held it braced against the wall of ferrocrete before her. The short wall, laid only a few days before and only coming up to Ruby's chest, was more a layer of cover than an actual wall. It was all that protected the Guardsmen from the few wayward shots that reached them. Ruby nonetheless appreciated the cover as sighted down the iron sights mounted along the spine of her lasgun. Not that she would need the sights, she wouldn't miss the encroaching horde even if she tried.

"No," Ruby answered simply from her seat on her bed, dropping her eyes to the floor in equal parts pride and shame at her answer. "I mean, I've hurt people, but I've never killed anyone."

She looked out at the masses of humanity and cringed. They surged forward from the dark tunnels deep below Hive Kastle. Ancient and rusted train rails striated the scorched and tainted dirt, marking the original use of the underground highways as shipping for the materials mined from the planet. The enemy cared not for the history of their own world as over the stiff and uncaring earth they swarmed. Ramshackle vehicles and mining engines rumbled side by side with Chimeras and a single Leman Russ, undoubtedly taken from the armouries of the PDF. The once proud vehicles now defiled with streaks of ghastly paint splattered on their hulls.

Behind Ruby, some distance away, righteous hulking machines idled, chugging and churning out blackened smoke and acrid fumes. A trio of Leman Russ tanks. Massive cannons and bolters twisted and rotated in eager anticipation. A loudspeaker rested upon the armoured chassis of one named Holy Intent, from which bellowed the words of Commissar Faulkner who stood upon the exposed tank fearlessly.

"Soldiers of the Emperor, stand fast! The enemy comes to face us. They attempt to push us aside but we will not let them! This tunnel leads directly to the hablocks of this city. If we fail here, thousands of innocent women and children will die." The Commissar's deep voice rose and fell in passion. "Do not falter. Do not yield. Do not take one. Step. Back!"

He continued to speak, but Ruby herself was only dimly aware. She already knew the stakes and focused on the enemy before her. She picked a target and slowed her breathing, oblivious to the inaccurate shots that ricocheted off the ferrocrete wall. She aimed down her sights and focused on the man running at the front of the horde.

Cade stepped closer to her and sat on the bench next to her. "Do you think you could?"

His eyes were wide and red, a maniacal grin upon his twisted face as he ran with a serrated and cruel knife in one hand and a chainsword in the other. Blood streamed from the knife and from his face and naked torso. Ruby had the twisted thought that the blood on his weapon was his own. She aligned the sights on his rapidly closing head and rested her finger on the trigger. She licked her cracked and dry lips and gently squeezed the trigger.

"I… I don't know" She said. "I don't want to."

She loosened her grip on the trigger and looked at the man once more. Try as she might she thought that this man may have led a normal life. He may have had a wife and a home. He may have children. Did he really deserve-

"FIRE!"

The man she had been watching disintegrated as bolter shells detonated in his body. Around that organic explosive, others followed suite, collapsing and crumpling, Blood and viscera flew through the air like shrapnel. Men and women ignited under the barrage of lasbolts that seared and burst their flesh. The air whooshed overhead, blowing Ruby's hair askew as a Leman Russ fired its main cannon. With a whistle the shell passed overhead and crumped into the horde. Limbs and men alike were blown aside.

The horde did not falter, did not stop. Their return fire only grew as they charged closer and closer to the defending guardsmen. A trooper down the line to Ruby's left screamed and clutched his arm, where now only a stump remained. A rocket cavorted through the air before detonating against the thin wall tossing shattered ferrocrete and armoured soldiers aside.

Ruby was stunned by the brutality. Her limbs stiffened as she watched in morbid fascination, wanting to look away, but finding herself unable to. Her heart began to race, thudding in her chest and ears and all but deafening her.

"I've seen enough death for a lifetime." Continued Ruby, turning her eyes up to meet Cade's in a pleading manner. "Do you think it will ever stop? Do we really have to add to it?"

A hand jostled her shoulder and she turned slowly to the owner of the hand, Lovelock. He shouted at her, she could see his mouth moving, could hear his voice, but she couldn't understand him. He yelled something else at her and turned back to the wall, firing his weapon once more. Turning to her left she saw Bearings. His eyes were wide and fearful, yet he stood against the wall as the others and fired as well.

Ruby looked out into the mass as well, noticing absentmindedly that they were much closer than before. She could see the finer details of them now. They looked, for the most part, normal, not all like the beasts the propaganda said they were. She saw men in flak vests akin to her own and figured they were a part of the Planetary Defense Force, PDF they called them, if she remembered right. Others were clad in civilian clothes. They fired lasguns or autoguns back at the guardsmen as they ran across the open ground. They looked for the most part, normal. She even saw one man as he knelt, crying in the middle of the crossfire as he held the limp body of a woman.

Then the next man took their place in her vision who smiled with razor teeth while his unnaturally long tongue flicked out to lick them. Not. Normal. Those were the words her brain proceeded to scream. An instantaneous fight or flight response which she shoved it down beneath the weight of experience.

A guardsman down the line was less prepared and he dropped his weapon and ran from the wall, tearing off his helmet as he ran. A lasbolt cracked into his skull and he pitched forward into the dirt limply. Ruby didn't see who killed the man, rather, she was intently focused on another enemy who was in the process of throwing something. The small object sailed gently through the air, bounced off the ferrocrete in front of Ruby, and landed at her feet.

As she stared, curiosity was replaced with panic, "GRENADE!" She screamed, turning and running away from the deadly explosive. She made it four steps before a blossom of heat erupted at her back. She tumbled forward to the ground before rolling to a stop facing back towards the wall. Her ears were ringing and the world seemed to be bright and blinding. She saw Bearings rolling on the ground as he screamed, his right side pockmarked with burning shrapnel.

Cade didn't answer for a moment yet he continued to look intently at Ruby. She felt rather uncomfortable under his gaze. "You tell me, do you think it will ever stop on its own?"

She watched Bearings blankly as he lay there in pain, her own mind fogged and disoriented. A stout man leapt over their blasted wall, landing a few feet from the wounded trooper. He looked over at Bearings and grinned, it was a rather unsettling grin that promised pain and worse. He pulled a large dagger from his belt and ran it over his tongue as he crouched down to Bearings. Others climbed over the wall as well, engaging her companions, yet Ruby's eyes were fixated on Bearings.

Ruby sighed, looking away from Cade, "No. But I can always hope. I just don't see how we can ever stop it."

Ruby tried to cry out to him, but she wasn't sure if she was. She could feel her mouth open wide, feel her vocal cords vibrating. Yet she could hear nothing. She tried to reach for her autopistol in its holster which was pinned underneath her, but she couldn't reach it in time. The traitor stopped over Bearings and buried his knife into the man's stomach. Bearings screamed as the knife was withdrawn and rammed home again-

-And again-

-And again-

-Until the pained screams ceased and Bearings lay very still. With a final tug, Bearing's killer pulled the knife free, blood dripping from the jagged weapon onto the ground.

"How do you do it?" She asked. "How do you kill someone?"

Finally, she unclasped the strap for her sidearm and pulled it free. Just as she did so the murderer turned his head to Ruby. Blood was splattered across his face in crimson pinpricks and splotches. This time, his macabre smile was disturbingly pleasant, which made it all the more terrifying. He stood and ran towards her, hands and weapon outstretched as he rapidly closed the gap between them. Ruby stretched out her arm and pointed the autopistol at him, she took the fraction of time that she had to aim and squeeze the trigger.

Cade chuckled and gave Ruby a gentle push, "I don't think you need me to tell you how."

"You know what I mean." Said Ruby, giving his arm a playful punch in return.

He smirked and pulled his autopistol from his hip, holding it out as if he was aiming. "Sometimes, there is no other option. It's you or them. Do or die. There is no time to think about morality or who the other person was." He pulled the trigger, dry firing the weapon with a click.

The man fell forward with a hole in his forehead, blood and bone slinging from the back of his skull. He collapsed upon Ruby who couldn't bite back a shriek as the body fell atop her. He was heavy and sweaty, smelling of blood and… Cologne?... She swallowed back bile as she rolled the body off of her.

"What's it like? Killing?"

Cade rested his elbows on his knees, autopistol dangling down and pointed at the floor. "At first, you feel sick. I remember trying my best not to splatter my boots when I threw up."

She rolled to her knees, finding her helmet chin strap digging into her throat. She ripped the helmet from her head and threw it aside. She looked at the corpse of the twisted human, the view of the shattered bone and the sweet iron scent of blood was sickening. She turned and vomited violently on the ground, oblivious to the screeching of shells and the shouts of men around her.

"Then, after you've lost all of your breakfast, you realize something amazing."

"What?" Ruby asked.

"You're alive."

She wiped her face, ignoring the burning in her throat and mouth. Her hands shook as she knelt there. She felt… Alive. She had won, she was still breathing and her enemy was not. She felt different. It was a rush that killing Grimm had never brought. It was a cruel feeling, one she didn't want to feel, but couldn't deny how invigorating it was.

She looked up to see Lovelock slouched against the wall. The side of his head was bleeding and his head was lolling onto his chest where shrapnel had scarred and punctured his flak vest. His shoulders rose and fell in shallow breaths. Grandy stood over Lovelock and her flamer poured burning promethium over the wall, holding back the tide of crazed men. Flaming torches of humanity ran from the flames, screaming as they did so as skin sloughed from their bones. Cracking lasbolts zipped forward to mercifully silence them forever.

With a sputter, Grandy's flamer spat out a final weak stream of flame, before ceasing entirely. She cursed as the wall of flame halted, ducking as solid slug rounds impacted about her. As the flame and smoke faded, Ruby could see beyond. All down the wall, similar stories were playing out. Crazed or desperate men and women vaulted the walls, meeting bayonet and flak armour with blade and flesh as the brave Guardsmen of the 744th stood their ground.

"That's the trick I think. Remember that everyone around you is just like you, fighting for their lives. Every person that you kill is one less person to kill the ones you care for." Cade flipped the autopistol over and handed it to Ruby, grip first. "'For those we cherish.' A famous phrase to live by. Its helped me."

Ruby could see Merith as she dragged another guardsman away, his left arm severed at the elbow. her arms underneath what remained of his as she pulled him to safety. Cade was crouched behind cover, longlas steadied with his eye at the lens. Bolts snapped from his weapon to catch a woman hefting a rocket launcher. The traitor slumped to the ground, twitching as her nervous system overloaded. Her finger depressed on the launcher's trigger and the rocket flashed to the side, exploding and shredding a half-dozen men who hid behind a rocky outcropping.

"So, can you do it?" Asked Cade as Ruby took the autopistol from him, she looked down at the weapon to see an engraving into the slide. It was roughly done and Ruby wouldn't be surprised if Cade had done it himself with a knife. Nonetheless, the engraving was clear as she read it. 'For Those We Cherish.'

Ruby stood fully, ignoring the buzz of a round whizzing past her ear, autopistol still in hand. She looked over the wall to see a torrent of enemies charging again, driven by some unknown need to engage the guardsmen at close range. She slowly walked over to Cade and crouched by him as he ducked back down behind the wall, the ferrocrete radiated heat from both incoming fire and the reside from Grandy's flamer.

Ruby looked up at Cade and nodded. "Yeah…" She looked back at the engraved words, feeling them with her delicate fingers and repeated the phrase, "'For those we cherish.' I like that."

As Ruby went to hand the autopistol back to Cade, he shook his head, placing his hand over hers and pressed her fingers to the grip. "You keep it. I learned that lesson a long time ago." She slowly pulled the weapon back into her lap, gripping it tightly with both hands. Cade rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, "I think you'll need it more than I do."

Ruby's lips twitched into a smile as she muttered heartfelt thanks, again rubbing the engraving on the side.

"Skirts?!" He shouted over the volume of battle, "You alright? Get shooting!"

Ruby knelt closer to him and pulled out the autopistol, she could hear the sounds of boots and naked feet on the other side of the wall drawing closer once more. "Cade, you were right. It wasn't easy, but I can do it. 'For Those We Cherish.'"

Cade was busy swapping out a charge pack for his lasgun, "Skirts- "An explosion shook the wall, small chunks rained down on the two of them and they ducked their heads protectively. "Skirts, this really isn't the best time for a talk!"

He made to stand back up but Ruby grabbed his arm and held him in place. "No, it is! Listen." She glared at him as she spoke, daring him to interrupt again, regardless of his reasoning of impending death. "You've been training me to be a Guardsman, but that isn't who I am. I need to be who I am." She reached behind her and pulled out Crescent Rose.

Cade eyed the melee weapon incredulously and glanced back upward at the air above them that was alight with red lasbeams and autogun fire, "Skirts are you cr-"

"Shut up! We don't have time!" She yelled at him, cutting him off. "I don't have much ammo for this so I'll need your help. I need to you to get everyone away from this section to help somewhere else. We aren't going to hold if we don't do something! I just need you to cover me. Can you do that?"

"What!? Why?!"

She shook his arm and shouted again, "Can you do it!"

His nostrils flared as he stared at her in frustration, "Yeah, I can do it. But I won't let you. I won't let you go out there and die!"

Ruby smiled as she cradled Crescent Rose's compact form. "You don't get it Cade-" A wild-eyed man hurdled the wall, he was midflight as Ruby snapped the autopistol up and fired, hitting the man in the throat. He hit the ground where blood seemed from his mouth and neck where the round had pierced through to his spine. Ruby's smile faded as she viewed the corpse but her eyes remained in determined slits as she looked away from the body and back to Cade, "If we don't do this, we'll all die." She gripped his sleeve tightly and pulled him slightly closer, "And in case you have forgotten, I'm not just a Guardswoman. I'm a Huntress."

She didn't wait for his response as she extended Crescent Rose and stepped back from the wall. The weapon moved in graceful sweeping motions as she played it back and forth. She hummed in contentment as she held it. A graceful weapon of war so unlike the lasgun she had been using for months.

Satisfied with Crescent Rose in hand, Ruby looked to see Cade moving. He ran Grandy and Trunks still near Lovelock and gesture about as he yelled orders to them. Ruby could see the confusion on their faces as well. Grandy even shot Ruby a look that sat somewhere between loathing and admiration, but they did as ordered. Trunks pulled Lovelock over his shoulder and ran along the wall while Grandy ran the other way.

Cade ran past Ruby, his head set low to the ground as he sprinted to the charred husk of a Sentinel Loader. He stooped further and grabbed a dropped lasgun as he ran by. He set himself behind the Sentinel and propped his weapon on the hull. He nodded to Ruby who returned the nod. She faced the wall which, from her position combined with her short height, kept her mostly obscured. Before long, a man took advantage of the sudden absence of fire at their location. He made it to the wall and was mid jump only to have his skull meet a beam of excited photons and explode. His body landed awkwardly, propelled forward from him momentum over the wall.

With no one still yet in sight, Ruby pulled out the autopistol once more to view the engraving. For Those We Cherish. Ruby thought of all of those here. She may not know all their names, all the people of this world. She may not know their stories and they may not even care if Ruby lived or died. But Ruby would not stand by while others were hurt. No matter the cost.

A half-dozen men clambered or leapt over the short wall, one held a truncated shotgun and leveled it at Ruby. Before he could fire, a single shot to his skull pitched him back over the wall. The rest made for Ruby, whirling primitive weapons that in happier days would have had Ruby laughing. But a few of them, seeing a lone girl, made for her recklessly, oblivious to the massive weapon she held, a weapon long held synonymous with Death. Ruby met their wild charge with one of her own. She was a blur as she met the first, the second, the third. Each falling within moments of each other with deep gashes or missing limbs.

The fourth man, wearing the armour of a PDF trooper, held a revving chainsword which he swung wildly, screaming as he did so. Sparks showered from his weapon as Ruby deftly twisted around the man with a simple parry. Their backs now almost touching, Ruby now had Crescent Rose over her shoulder with the blade in the front of the man. She dropped to a knee and pulled, trying her best to ignore the short scream and the feeling of cutting through flesh and bone. She stood and made for the last man, the sound of two separate thuds on the ground behind her.

She grit her teeth as she made her way forward. One more to kill.

A thousand more behind that.

There is something about imminent death that tends to change a man. For better or worse he will have some realization about himself, his predicament, his killer... Ukah was had a realization about all three.

As he ran from the girl with the massive scythe, he realized that he had made a terrible mistake. He was wrong to turn from the Emperor. Wrong to listen to the words of depravity. Wrong to come here and fight. Now, the Emperor saw fit to punish him with His avenging angel. Ukah was going to die, and there was no stopping it, but it didn't prevent him from trying. He had only one goal in mind, get away from this girl who ripped through his friends in seconds.

He made it to the wall, placed his hands down to hurdle over the chest high structure, when he felt himself stuck fast. He looked down to see blood pooling on the ferrocrete, and the silver glint of metal between his breast and the wall. A fraction of a second later, he was released and he slumped to the ground on his back. The last view he had as his world darkened, was the red-haired girl, her scythe drinking greedily of his blood.

Deep down, he felt that he deserved it.

Trooper Valean, a devout Guardsman, was scared. It was only the knowledge that for all the terror in front of him, there was something scarier behind him that kept him going. A handful of Commissars, swift to ensure discipline, were holding the line together against the overwhelming numbers before them. But it wouldn't take much for Valean to throw down his weapon and flee, even as a Commissar joined the melee with them. The Commissar drew his chainsword and carved bloody furrows in flesh of the foe. Valean did what he felt he could and took token shots, trying his best to not get shot or stabbed, but too fearful to do much more.

He knew he was going to die and he just wanted to shut his eyes, and let it happen.

Then the Commissar fell, a trio of traitors popped over the wall and sprayed the Commissar with autogun fire. With rapid thunks, the morale officer jerked and spasmed as solid slugs perforated his carapace armour and he fell to the ground with stiff legs. With the death of the Commissar, Valean was a broken man. He dropped his weapon and covered his head with his hands even as a blossom of flame covered the wall, pushing back the tide of humanity with the stench of cooking flesh.

He covered his face against the rush of heat, he looked to see a tall woman with a shorn head and blazing flamer. She reached down and grabbed him by his flak jacket, pulling him to his feet with one arm. "Look at this little milksop. Miss your mommy?" She guffawed at him as he pushed himself away from her.

Cheeks burning Valean stuttered out the most pressing though in his mind. "Ar- are you th-the reinforcements?"

The grizzled woman reached down and grabbed his lasgun, shoving it into his chest, "Nuh, nuh, no," She said, mocking his stutter. "I'm gonna die just like you. But we have a little more time to kill." She snorted in amusement at her own pun.

"Where'd you come from then?" Valean asked. He received a sharp point in response before the woman grabbed a dead Guardsman's lasgun from the ground and ran forward, already firing. He looked where she had pointed down the line to the left about fifty meters. There, a woman wielding a massive red scythe, danced with numerous foes. Weaving in and out of them and leaving bloody rivers in her stead. Lasbolts shot from behind her with unerring precision, felling armed men as they made to shoot the woman.

"By the Emperor…" Valean watched in awe as the duo held a stretch of line on their own. Doing what an entire platoon could not. He was amazed. He was inspired. He was emboldened. With a prayer to the Emperor he stood from his hiding place and made for the wall. Screaming against the fear that gripped his chest as he ran forward.

As he ran, a lasbolt struck him in the neck. He died instantly.

The story of inspiration did not end with Valean. Similar stories played out. Guardsmen and Guardswomen seeing what could only be a blessing from the Emperor. The word spread like an infection of hope, spreading from one man to the next. It rallied the terrified Cadians who were too disciplined to flee, but too deep in despair to win. So inspired, they did their best to match the skill with valor and they surged forward, renewed and determined to die or conquer. Many died as they pressed back, throwing the foe from their positions with numbers, steel, and crackling energy weapons.

The lone Leman Russ, Holy Intent, the sole survivor of their local armour, pressed forward in a dangerous duel with the enemy cavalry. The only entity to match the duo in audacity and skill, pressed forward to join them, shattering the enemy armour that dared to close. With final shell, the traitorous Leman Russ erupted like a makeshift grenade, laying waste to scores of men around it. With a final collective shove, spearheaded by the Leman Russ, the guardsmen retook their wall and drove the enemy back. The enemy fled only for guardsmen to fire into their exposed backs. Broken, they ran. Ran from the Guardsmen. Ran from the Holy Intent. Ran from a lone man and woman who did the impossible.

The Guardsmen cheered the two, while some prayed in thanks to the glinting and bloodied scythe that stood as a banner, reflecting the light of fires and the electric lights far overhead. A symbol of hope in their darkest moment.

So... yeah. Did ya likes? It's my first ever battle scene which I found EXTREMELY hard to write. Did I do good Boss?