The next chapter! Big shout out to DragonManMax and 7ima for editing this chapter!

Any and all feedback is welcome

(I do not own RWBY)

The Soldier's Battleground

ザー・ソールジュズ・バタルフィールド

Chapter II: Letters to Home

The sun beat down upon the earth with a comforting warmth and bathed the land with a soft glow as its rays glistened upon the ground. A young man slowly raised his arm to cover his eyes from the unrelenting glare as he gazed upon the place that would soon become his home for the foreseeable future. He felt a small bead of sweat gradually trickled down his sun-kissed cheek and roughly wiped his face across his sleeves.

After peace had finally been announced, the young man who had started his long journey from the war-torn cities that he had fought to free, turned his gaze behind him and noted the sign above him. Home sweet home.

While it was a fairly small town, it was heralded for its scrumptious stews and annual snow festival held every year. But nevertheless, it was home, the home he had left behind to go fight in a horrific war. But in the end, the tranquility and serenity of the quant town was preserved and that was all that mattered.

The young man leaned over and reached for the drawing board and his bag, before setting them over his shoulders. Putting both of his hands on the straps of his bag, he started the final leg of his journey. To his home.

'Finally some peace and quiet in my life.' The young man thought with a mellow sigh as the sun's light shined upon the lone man.

(A few weeks after Operation Ravenswood)

Jaune's pleasant dream abruptly ended when the shouts of soldiers scrambling for their shoes aroused him from his sleep. All traces of drowsiness vanished as the primal urge to survive kicked in and he quickly scrambled out of his dirty cot and reached for his rifle, raking the bolt back.

"Where's the attack coming from?!" He yelled at an ecstatic looking soldier running by him. The private stopped at the sudden yell and looked at Jaune confused. "What attack sir? The mail has just arrived from behind the lines!" The young lad bumbled exuberantly before dashing off.

"Mail?!" After hearing the exciting news, Jaune quickly shoved his feet into his boots, not even bothering to lace them up before running out of his tent and joining the throng of excited people. Mail on the front lines was a rare occurrence as getting the precious letters through all the mud, grim, and artillery rounds was a difficult task in of itself. For every letter that was received from their loved ones back home, having one or two being lost was not an uncommon event. Same could be said when the soldiers wrote back home, as the mail had to make the journey back through the quagmire and filth before being shipped back to their loved ones.

Therefore it could be anywhere from weeks to months before the next letter was received from the opposite side. Needless to say mail was a tremendous morale booster.

As the crowd around the mail truck grew bigger and more rambunctious with excitement, Jaune couldn't help but smile with the joyous atmosphere as he got closer to the crowd. A rather loud yell pierced the air making everyone look to where the sound originated. A rather short statured young woman was standing on top of the truck with her hands on her hips and a small scowl on her face.

"Alright everyone shut up so I can start handing out this mail! And if anyone of you makes too much noise so no can hear me, I will personally introduce you to the ground!"

Now having been witness to the short woman doing this a few weeks back to a few soldiers, Jaune wisely kept his mouth shut, as did everyone else who respected the diminutive woman.

Time seemed to fly as letters were thrown to ecstatic recipients and packages passed along to covetous hands, each wondering what goodies awaited inside the wrappings. In what seemed like a blink of an eye an entire morning and a fair portion of the afternoon was wasted before all the mail was successfully handed out.

As the crowd started to disperse, Jaune noticed a camera was being set-up on top of the truck and paused in his journey to his tent to hold up his mail and smile at the cameraman, his eyes crinkling. Everyone still in the area followed his example and posed with grins and laughter adorning their faces. A bright flash, followed by a short puff of smoke was seen as the camera immortalized the moment in history. The moment was captured just in time as what sounded like a piercing whistle was heard as experienced veterans dove for the ground, cradling their heads.

"Incoming fire! Everyone get down!" Jaune yelled, right before enemy artillery rounds smashed into the ground, sending mud and human debris flying into the air. On a battlefield, there was many things that soldiers feared, one of those being the deadly artillery rounds currently shredding ground and man apart. The only thing one could do was making yourself as small as possible and pray that death did not claim you as its victim. Jaune closed his eyes as fast as he could and put his arms over his head in a futile attempt to shield himself from the hell raining down from above.

'Mother if I survive this war, I'm going to give you the biggest bone crushing hug when I see you again.' Jaune's thoughts were abruptly interrupted as he felt himself get thrown into the air before gravity dragged him right back down. Even though his vision was swimming, a large smoking metal shell half buried in a small crater right next to him made all thoughts of dizziness disappear, as the call of death missed him in the form of a dud shell. Jaune quickly scrambled away from the potential danger and into a nearby artificial crater, compliments of another shell that had exploded.

'I really hate my life right now!'

Much to everyone's relief, the bombardment ceased soon after and slowly one by one the battered soldiers crawled out of their hiding places. Jaune surveyed the carnage around him and felt the bile rise in his throat. Remains of what used to be humans were scattered around the area and the stench of death hung heavily in the air. Shredded and burnt paper could be found firmly clenched in the hands of the dead, regardless of whether the appendage was attached or not. The gruesome task of finding some sort of identification on the mangled bodies began, and in just a few minutes a bundle of bloody, dented dog tags roughly the size of a baseball hung in Jaune's bloody hands. The dead had paid their price in blood, while the living had to pick up the pieces and move on through the hell that was war.

The cheerful atmosphere was now shattered and every so often one could hear sobbing coming from a soldier breaking down in tears. Wanting to find a distraction, Jaune pulled out the package he had received earlier in the morning and sat down on the cold, hard ground before carefully opening the wrapping. Inside, he found a small silver pendent with a picture of his siblings and his parents neatly tucked inside. Ever so gently he closed the lid and put the pendent over his head before letting it rest on his neck, taking comfort with the weight on his chest.

Jaune reached into the package and pulled out a pair of hand knitted wool gloves, of all sorts of colors. He slipped them on and felt his hands grow warm from the fabric. Before he could read the letter that his family sent, a siren started wailing in the cold atmosphere, signaling a ground attack was underway from the enemy. Speakers located right next to the sirens blared an ominous message.

"Enemy forces have broken through our front lines! I repeat enemy forces have broken through our front lines! All available personnel move out to reinforce the trenches!"

The sound of trucks starting up filled the air as soldiers started to pile into the back of the trucks. Jaune stuffed his letter quickly back into his pocket before locating a rifle and a belt of ammunition. After hefting himself up to a nearby truck, the vehicle started to rumble towards what was certain death.

Sitting in the back of the truck was anything but comfortable. The benches were nothing more than a thin piece of metal to sit on. Any little bump in the road would jar the occupants but it still beat walking by a long shot. The unswerving rattle of gunfire and artillery grew louder as time went by and before long, sporadic bullets could be heard ricocheting off the trucks, increasing the nerves of skittish recruits.

When danger is present, the human body will naturally start to pump more blood to its limbs, adrenaline will kick in, and the flight or fight instinct will rear its head. Sadly death doesn't care what choice or reaction you have, no one is safe from its clutches.

The whistling of a round pierced the air, only to be stopped by an unfortunate soldier's throat. Jaune felt blood and pieces of skin hit the side of his face when the soldier next to him crumpled from the wound, choking on his own blood. Even though the chances of dying for the wounded soldier was high, Jaune knelt down and tried to stop the blood gushing from his neck. Every soldier was equipped with a small pouch of basic medical equipment, ranging from small scissors to a few rolls of bandages. Jaune worked quickly and soon enough the bleeding had stopped, and the soldier while unconscious was still haggardly breathing. This small victory was interrupted when enemy artillery shells started landing all around. The truck next to Jaune's was blown apart from a direct hit and started to roll from the explosion. Nerves were now running high and he felt his hand slightly tremble from the stress going through his body. He clenched his hand and took a deep breath before turning to the rest of the occupants in the back of the truck.

"Alright lads this is it! Remember your training and you'll make it out of this just fine."

Fate deemed it necessary to mock this statement as an artillery shell landed right next to Jaune's truck, making it tip over from the force. Men and equipment who were thrown from the bed of truck landed into the mud were some unfortunately were killed by the stray bullet whistling by.

Jaune being one of the flung, found himself face down in the mud and detritus. Groggily raising his head, he felt his vision swim from the intense impact of slamming the ground. Shaking off the brief dizzy spell, he looked around his immediate surroundings to assess his situation. The sounds of gunfire and men could now be heard filling the dreary and overcast sky.

'I have to organize the men and reinforce our trenches from the enemy.'

Grabbing a rifle that lay a few feet from him he raised his right arm in the air, rallying the troops.

"Everyone on me! Let's go!" He turned to the sound of fighting and started to jog over the wet ground. Soon enough the telltale sight of raised ground and sandbags showed he had reached the rear of the allied trenches. Wasting no time in being exposed longer than needed, he jumped down into the trench with a dull thud. He paused shortly while he affixed his bayonet, before swiftly making his way to the frontline.

The sight that greeted him was many bodies littering the ground of the trench, some of them lacking the appropriate appendages. He scowled at the sight but still made his way to the raised ground so that he could level his rifle on the enemy crossing 'No Man's Land'. Lining up a shot he pulled the trigger, wincing as he saw a man fall to the ground – lifeless. He reached up and raked the bolt back, ejecting the spent cartridge, before shoving it back forward and chambering a new round. Gunfire was exchanged for a few more minutes before the two forces clashed. His breath caught and he quickly leaned to the left to avoid a bayonet about to skewer him in the face.

'I love my job…' He thought sarcastically before firing at the enemy soldier point blank, his face, impassive as blood splattered across it.

Jaune crudely wiped the blood from his eyes before refocusing his vision on the fight.

Said fight was not going well, the Imperial troops had pressed their attack and sooner rather than later the Atlesian soldiers would have to fall back if they wanted to stay alive. The sound of gunfire and metal meeting flesh saturated the air and the screams of the wounded created a song only found through violence and bloodshed.

Jaune felt his lungs and legs burn from the amount of energy he had expended in the ensuing fight but when each side was trying their hardest to kill the other person nobody really cared if you were tired or not, it just made for an easier target. Hearing a yell coming from his left, Jaune ducked just in time to miss a bayonet that would have more than likely hit him in the chest. Not one to miss an opening he threw out his left leg and made the enemy soldier lose his balance and fall to the floor in a heap. Jaune reached behind his back and felt the familiar weight of his knife's handle in his grip. He quickly pulled it out and speared the Imperial soldier in the gut once, followed up by a series of repetitive stabs as he ensured his kill.

Gunfire and blades crossed for a while longer before the last of the Imperial soldiers fell or retreated back to their own lines. A general sense of relief was felt by all the remaining Atlesian soldiers as some breathing room was finally given. This also meant that the majority of their friendly forces had also fallen giving a literary sense to the meaning.

Jaune took the small lull in violence to look down at the bloody knife in his hand. He frowned at the dirtied blade and wiped it off on his pants before looking at the inscription on the blade. "Crocea Mors" According to his parents, the knife was given as a gift to his great-great-grandfather for his valiant service on the battlefield, and as its possession was passed down from father to son, the craftsmanship showed how resilient the blade was. When Jaune left his parents house, he took the knife as it was a symbol of the Arc family. Still, looking back it probably wasn't the best idea considering if he died on a random piece of mud the blade would be lost for a very long time if not forever.

He was pulled out of his musings when an explosion went off showering everyone near it with shrapnel and mud. A searing pain bloomed on the right side of his chest. Looking down he saw that a piece of shrapnel had grazed his side leaving a small gash of blood and broken skin behind.

"Ah that's gonna leave a mark..." He grimaced painfully as he held his side to help stop the flow of blood. A primal yell made Jaune look up to see another wave of Imperial soldiers charging at the Atlesian trenches. He sheathed his knife before raising his rifle to his shoulder. The sounds of battle once again filled the air.

Even though the first wave of Imperial soldiers had been defeated, there was not enough Atlas soldiers left to properly defend against a second wave, despite the valiant efforts of the Atlesian soldiers, they were soon pushed back and Jaune found himself running down one of the trenches that lead to the rear of allied lines. Running on wood was easier than running on mud, but when it's wet and grimy, it can be quite slick and Jaune felt himself lose his balance. Landing rather heavily onto the floor he looked up to see the soldier that was in front of him get killed by a round.

"Damn that could have been me." He quickly stood up and continued running away from the overwhelming enemy force behind his back. He was no coward but neither was he suicidal, and staying to defend the trenches would only lead to a painful death. The general layout of a trench had a frontline trench with smaller trenches leading back towards either more trenches or friendly lines. Jaune stopped his running momentarily and took cover behind a bend in one of the smaller trenches to line up a shot. A few seconds later an Imperial soldier that was running down the smaller trench met his demise as Jaune fired his rifle right into the enemy's head making him crumple to the ground. Jaune reloaded his rifle before turning around and resuming his retreat to friendly lines. In between running for his life and keeping the soldiers around him moving, he paused every once and awhile to return fire to the advancing Imperial soldiers making their way through the now fallen Atlesian trenches.

After crawling out over the rear trench, Jaune rallied some soldiers to provide cover fire for the retreating army, and to give a chance to grab the wounded lying on the ground. The thin line of defense crumbled as enemy soldiers started to pour out over the trench walls, having his hand forced Jaune grabbed the soldier nearest him.

"Come on! We have to keep moving, everyone fall back!" A sudden heaviness made Jaune look back to see the soldier he had grabbed slump to the ground with multiple bullet holes covering his body. He let go of the unfortunate soul and continued to direct and defend the men around him as best he could.

Relief came when friendly artillery forced the enemy to fall back into the safety of the now taken over Atlas trenches. The battle had finally ended leaving a massive amount of dead and wounded on both sides to take care of. A small amount of peace had been achieved when medical personnel did their best to recover the wounded and gunfire ceased so that they could do their gruesome job.

Jaune slowly walked through a row of boxes and equipment and paused when he thought he heard someone sniffling behind a crate. Making his way over to the sound he found a young man huddled with his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs.

Even though he didn't want to startle the young man when he cleared his throat, the soldier jerked from the noise obviously surprised.

"You okay there private?" Jaune looked down to the scared gaze of the boy.

"Uh y-yes sir, just a bit cold is all." He gestured to a spot next the young boy and asked if he could sit down.

After sliding down, Jaune closed his eyes before opening his mouth. "What's your name private?"

The soldier looked over and said. "It's Taylor sir."

"How old are you if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm 17 years old."

'He's so young and yet he has to fight in this bloody war. Then again I'm not much older than he is.'

"Sir have you been in this war for some time?" Jaune nodded his assent, gesturing for the boy to continue. "How, how do you do it? Fight I mean, aren't you scared?"

"How do I do it? Hmm that's a hard question to answer, I guess it all boils down to me wanting to go home and the only way for that to happen is to kill the other person before they kill me. And everyone is scared, it's our first instinct to shy away from danger, but you learn how to control that fear, it's alright to feel it, but don't let it control you."

The young boy looked at the tired sergeant and wondered how anyone could survive in this hellish nightmare. Behind a row of boxes two young individuals sat, fighting their own mental demons. This quiet moment between them ended when the overhead PA system crackled to life, Jaune cracked open one of eyes and turned his head to the message being announced over their heads. Unsurprisingly it was decided by people above their pay-grade that losing the trenches was not an option and an attack would be made immediately to reclaim what was rightfully theirs.

Jaune leaned his head back against the box and gathered his thoughts. 'If someone told me a few years ago that I would be risking my life over a piece of mud, I would have laughed them off for such a stupid idea.' Jaune pushed himself up into a standing position and reached a hand towards the private. "We should get geared up, we've got a trench to take back."

Taylor looked at the outstretched hand offered to him and hesitated to grab it. After a few moments of silence Jaune gave a small smile to the boy. "Stick with me and I'll do my best to keep you safe." After hearing this, Taylor grabbed Jaune's hand and was pulled up. They both went and grabbed their gear before gathering were the main offensive force was assembling. Jaune's hand went up to the small necklace hanging off his chest and lightly touched it before letting his hand drop onto his rifle. Soon the command to fix bayonets was called and Jaune reached down to grab the long piece of metal from its sheath. After attaching the close quarter weapon to the end of his rifle, he looked over to find Taylor fumbling with attaching his bayonet. Reaching over he took the bayonet from the young boy's shaking hands and attached it to the end of the boy's rifle. Jaune put both of his hands on Taylor's shoulders and gently squeezed. "Focus, take a deep breath, follow me, and I'll get you through this." The young boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes momentarily before opening them and cast a look to Jaune. "Good, now remember feeling fear in a stressful situation is natural, but don't let it control you, a healthy amount of fear that is controlled will help keep you alive." Taylor was about to nod when the sounds of death filled the air.

"Move, move, move!"

"Keep the pressure on!"

"Stay low, pick your target's!"

"Medic!"

Jaune felt the rush of adrenaline coursing through his body as the sounds of battle filled the air, Command had asked an almost impossible task. They not only wanted to recapture the fallen Atlesian trenches but to continue and press the attack in the hopes of taking over the Imperial trench lines. A task easier said than done, A piece of weaponry that was supposed to help push back the enemy and break the stalemate was the machine gun, unfortunately Imperials had captured and reversed engineered their own version of the machine gun, making both sides unable to push the other side back without losing many personnel to the withering fire of the machine gun. Said creation was making Jaune and many soldiers around him question their survival as the Imperial soldiers were not about to give up the former Atlesian trenches.

Taking cover behind a broken wagon Jaune peered around the corner and located where one of the machine guns was, as it rained hellish fire upon the Atlesian soldiers. Continuing his search, he saw a crater about ten meters in front of him. That would be his next spot. He turned to the other soldier taking cover behind the wagon with him.

"There's a crater about ten meters in front of us! You and you!" He pointed at two of the soldiers. "When I give the signal, give us covering fire." Jaune looked at one of the boys and nodded.

"You ready Taylor?" The boy nodded. Jaune leaned around the wagon and popped off a round before taking cover as a few shots peppered the wood around him. "Now!" The two Atlas soldiers stood up and fired their weapons. Jaune motioned to Taylor to follow him. Ten meters is not a very far distance to cover, but when you add in the fact that people were trying to kill you, the distance could have been a mile away. Sliding the last few feet, Jaune rolled into the crater, moments later Taylor did the same thing and both found a new place to take cover in. The soldiers who had provided covering fire tried to do the same thing but both were cut down by enemy fire before they could reach the safety of the crater.

Jaune took a deep breath before looking over at the young boy. "Follow right behind me!" After saying this, Jaune scrambled out of the crater and started to run at the Imperial soldiers in the trench.

'Not one of my smartest ideas.' Seeing an enemy soldier aim right at him he rolled to avoid the incoming round. 'I am not dying today; this piece of mud is mine!' Jaune let out a yell as he thrust out his rifle. The bayonet pierced the Imperial soldiers uniform and sliced right through their body before sticking out the other side. With relatively nothing to stop his momentum Jaune fell into the trench atop the now dead Imperial soldier, once again the sides were joined in hand to hand combat. Not having enough room to pull out his rifle Jaune swung his right fist into the face of another Imperial soldier stunning them momentarily, it was enough time for Jaune to pull out Crocea Mors from its sheath, but the human's will to live flares when immediate danger is present. Before Crocea Mors could claim another person, two hands shot up and grabbed onto the blade stopping its downward path. Jaune and the enemy soldier struggled to overpower the other person in the brawl. With a burst of strength, the Imperial soldier redirected the knife to the side of their face and Jaune soon felt an elbow meet his face momentarily stunning him. That was all the time the Imperial soldier needed as they grabbed Crocea Mors and lunged at Jaune.

'This is it, I can't avoid the strike.' But the strike never came as a shot rang out and the Imperial soldier dropped the knife to look down at the pool of blood forming from his destroyed heart before falling over. Jaune looked up to see an Atlesian soldier rechambering his rifle. Not a second later the soldier fell over dead as a round tore through his head splattering Jaune with bits of blood and brain matter. He grimaced at the sight but pushed the image to the back of his mind as he located Crocea Mors, when he went to reach for his rifle that was still stuck in the enemy soldier, his shoulder felt like it was on fire and Jaune stumbled backwards as an enemy soldier had grazed his left shoulder with bayonet blade.

'What is it with you people and grazing me?' Time seemed to slow as Jaune raised Crocea Mors above his head and after flicking his wrist, the knife left his hand and spun a few times before sticking into the Imperial soldiers face with a sickening crunch. Jaune felt the bile rise in his throat but swallowed hard to push it back down. He reached over and pulled out Crocea Mors from the enemy's skull. After sheathing his knife in its sheath Jaune gave a quick glance around to locate his rifle. After locating and reloading the weapon Jaune noticed that the rear of the Atlesian trenches had been taken back from the Imperial forces and said enemy was steadily being pushed back to their own lines. The trench floor was soaked in the blood of the dead and mortally wounded as soldiers of both side fell in the blood bath. Atlas would reclaim their trenches back from the enemy but not without paying death its price for the piece of land.

After what seemed like hours of fighting, Jaune saw the last of the Imperial soldiers clamoring over the trench walls back to the safety of their own trenches. But getting a brief moment to rest was not an option as they had orders to not only retake their own trenches but to make an assault on the enemy's trench as well.

Jaune gripped his rifle in his hands and exhaled loudly before starting the longest climb a soldier didn't want to make. Climbing out of the protection of the trench and into 'No Man's Land'. Many soldiers on both sides would find their demise the second their heads were exposed and would fall back missing parts of their faces. The rest would find themselves taking no more than a few steps before being cut down, and if one were to avoid all of that, then the harrowing journey across a landscape of mud, craters, decaying bodies, and blistering enemy fire would surely take you down. One could consider themselves very lucky if they made it all the way to the other side, still you had to then charge into a thicket of bayonets, break through those and then start hand-to-hand combat. The survival rate for the average soldier was in the single percentile. Which meant if you survived a few battles, then you were either extremely lucky or you were on borrowed time.

Jaune scrambled quickly out over the safety of the Atlesian trench and saw a few bullets spray the ground around him.

He turned and raised his left arm up in the air. "Come on everyone! Move up!" He yelled at his fellow soldiers, many would answer his call, but few would survive the climb. Seeing some stragglers of the Imperial army still retreating over 'No Man's Land's' Jaune started opening fire and was able to hit a few of the retreating figures. Other Atlesian soldiers also started to open fire, and soon a loose sense of order was made as officers took control of the men around them.

The whistling of incoming shells made every Atlas soldier to try and seek shelter from the wrath that was headed their way.

"Stay low, find some cover and pick your targets!" Jaune was slowly making his was across the battlefield yelling out encouragement to the soldiers around him.

'If it's my time to die then there's no point in prolonging the inevitable.' If his rallying could keep some of these people motivated and alive then Jaune felt like getting killed by a shell wouldn't be the worst way to go, which is why he was standing and shouting out orders to those around him, nobody was about to stop Jaune being an idiot since he wasn't taking cover. His words alongside some other brave souls lead the charge towards the Imperial trenches. Jaune heard the whistling of rounds screaming past his ears but that was background noise as the screams of the wounded permeated the air.

"You! Grab that soldier and get him back to the aid station!" He yelled at an Atlesian soldier who was taking cover next to the wounded soldier. Scanning the area around him he saw a sergeant and a few privates taking cover in a crater.

"Sergeant get your men in order and move up!" Another yell made its way out Jaune's mouth.

Jaune saw a wounded soldier in front of him and he quickly pulled them behind an embankment to shield them from any further injuries. After patching up the soldier to the best of his abilities, he stood up and continued his way towards the Imperial trenches. An enemy artillery shell landed near him and he felt himself get knocked off his feet when a body slammed into him, both of them tumbled into a crater nearby and after recovering from the blow Jaune saw that it wasn't a body that slammed into him but a part of a mangled corpse. Once again, the bile threatened to spill out of his stomach but Jaune swallowed and forced himself to take a few deep breaths.

"Almost there, almost there, you can do it." Jaune felt like he needed some motivation before he brawled it out with the enemy. 'I'm going to find a nice place and puke to my heart's content when this is all over.'

"CHARGE!" Jaune looked up to see Imperial soldiers start pouring out of their trenches to meet the Atlesian soldiers head on. 'Fine, that's how you want it, bring it!' A modern-day rifle could accurately hit a target hundreds of meters away, but in this instance, soldiers discharged their rifles point blank into each other making the water on the ground turn into a sickly color of red filled with human debris and blood. Jaune fired his rifle's last round at an Imperial soldier a few meters to his left, only to see an enemy officer charge at him from his right. Not having enough time to reload, Jaune raised his rifle and knocked away the officer's sword before using the officer's own momentum to throw him over his shoulder. Jaune spun around and slashed the officer across the throat with Crocea Mors. Grabbing the officer's pistol from his holster, Jaune crouched and fired at another Imperial soldier coming his way. Lining up another shot Jaune pulled the trigger only to hear the hammer click signaling that the pistol was empty.

'Who in world goes into battle with one round in their gun!' Having no other option available, Jaune threw the pistol at the enemy soldier stunning them long enough for Jaune to slash them across the chest. Switching the knife in his hands, Jaune threw Crocea Mors at another Imperial soldier that was about to impale a fellow soldier. His victory was short lived as a yell from behind him made Jaune turn only to see the gleaming blade of a bayonet coming his way. Now the will to survive is strong and the human body will sacrifice parts of itself if it ensures its survival. And in this moment, Jaune threw up his left arm to block the incoming blade. He felt a burning pain as the bayonet pierced his left forearm, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment, even though his muscles screamed at him, Jaune moved his arm outwards and was able to redirect the bayonet that would have pierced his chest. Seeing an opening he threw a right hook at the soldier making the man's head snap back from the blow. Jaune moved his right leg forward and was able to trip the Imperial soldier making him fall to the ground. Jaune grabbed the helmet off the top of his head and knelt over the man. 'I'm sorry' He lifted the metal piece before slamming it down onto the man's face, he did this a few times before stopping and saw the bloodied remains of a human face.

Heaving a deep breath Jaune heard the whistle of the Imperial officers telling their forces to retreat. A loud cheer went up among the remaining Atlesian soldiers as they jumped down into the Imperial trenches and pursued the retreating enemy forces. Meanwhile Jaune was laying down on the ground too spent to continue the fight.

An Atlas medic soldier leaned down over his prone figure. "You alright there?" Jaune looked up to see a man with semi long hair that was divided by a streak of faded red. He nodded slowly before groaning as the adrenaline in his body started to wear off and soon all of his wounds started screaming at him to do something. The soldier saw the blood covering the prone man and quickly reached into his bag to pull out a roll of bandages. "You look pretty beaten up." He said in a calm voice. "Here let me help you up so I can treat those wounds." Jaune nodded once again before slowly being sat up by the rather calm man. "Well the good news is that none of your wounds are fatal but you should see the hospital to get a full treatment." Jaune closed his eyes for a brief second before looking at the medic. "What's your name soldier?" The medic helped Jaune to his feet.

"Corporal Lie Ren sir." The young man stated with a professional tone. Now, rising through the ranks wasn't a hard thing considering that many soldiers died every time an attack happened and you needed replacements to fill in the ranks above you that had been filled, but seeing how calm the young man seemed to be in such a hellish nightmare, he either had seen one too many battles and became desensitized, or he had balls of steel.

"Lieutenant Jaune Arc, thanks for the help." Jaune rasped, trying to gather his breath.

Ren shook his head. "Just doing my job sir. Now let's get you back to get properly treated."

Hearing how the sound of gunfire and artillery had all but stopped Jaune let out an exhausted exhale. "Sounds grand."

(Sometime later)

After making their way back to friendly lines, Jaune soon found his wounds properly treated and was released from the hospital. As he was making his way out the door he paused when remembered something and made his way back to the sign-in sheet. After skimming through a few pages he found the name he was looking for, and set out to find the young boy that had followed him in his last battle. After walking through some hallways, Jaune soon found himself in an older less taken care of wing in the hospital. Looking in to the room that should be housing the occupant he was looking for, Jaune saw Private Taylor laying in a hospital bed. Not wanting to startle the young boy he lightly knocked on the doorway. Hearing a sound coming from the doorway Taylor turned his gaze from the window and saw the Lieutenant that had led him into battle.

"Ah Lieutenant Arc! I'm so glad you're alive, I was afraid you had been killed after we had been separated."

Jaune bowed his head, "I'm sorry for leaving you, I told you I would look after you and I didn't do that."

Taylor raised his arms and shook them quickly. "No, it's fine sir! I was following right behind you but when an artillery shell landed near me I was flung away from you. I saw that you had your hands full with all those Imperial soldiers charging at you, so it's understandable your thoughts were elsewhere."

"Still, that's no excuse for me to leave you behind when I told you I would keep you safe." Jaune then noticed something for the first time, since at the time everyone was wearing helmets he failed to notice the two ears sticking out the top of Taylor's head. 'Huh he's a Faunus, never would have guessed with the helmet on.'

Now in this world there existed two types of people, Humans and Faunus. Faunus for all intents and purpose were identical to humans except that they had some animal traits separating them from Humans. 'Wait if Faunus have animal like traits does that mean they have night vision too...no wonder why my younger sister could always find me in the dark when we played hide and go seek, good grief it took me years to actual think on this subject, oops.'

While Jaune was the only son of Ichika and Charlotte Arc, he had seven sisters to keep him company when he was growing up. The town he had grown up in was populated by Humans and Faunus alike, so the racism that plagued Faunus most places was not as readily seen in his hometown, as it was the social norm to have Faunus neighbors. In fact, one of his younger siblings was an adopted fox Faunus, and no matter what people said, Jaune loved his little sister fiercely and would not accept any racism towards her on his watch. So, seeing how the human soldiers were housed in the newer wing of the hospital made his blood boil. But going about ranting was not the way to go, later when he got back to his quarters he would write a letter to his superiors letting them know of this unjust treatment.

Taylor's smile slowly fell and was replaced by a confused look as he saw the sergeant looking at him but the serious gaze made him wonder what the Lieutenant was thinking.

"Um sir?" Jaune was snapped out of his thoughts by the private giving him a confused look.

"Oh, sorry about that, I saw your ears and it made me reminisce about my hometown and little sister." Taylor tensed as soon as his heritage was brought to light. Did the man dislike Faunus? Would he be ashamed that he told a Faunus that he would protect him?

Jaune reached into shirt and pulled out his pendant with his family photo and walked over to the young boy to show him his family. "See this is my little sister here, she's a fox Faunus, a little ball of joy...and mischief, but she's still precious to everyone in my family." Taylor noted the pride in Jaune's voice and slightly relaxed. But he had to ask just to be sure.

"Sir what are your thoughts on Faunus?" Jaune's face turned into one of surprise. "What do I think of Faunus? Hmm... Well before I answer that question can you answer me this question, what did you feel when you were fighting?"

Taylor thought for few seconds before answering. "I felt fear, nervousness, pain when I got injured, and then relief when I was found by the medics."

Jaune smiled and nodded. "I see, well then to answer your question, I would have to say I don't care if you're Human or Faunus, besides what you just told me proved something I always thought. No matter if you're human or Faunus the emotions you felt were a person's natural reactions to a stressful environment. At the end of the day were all still people with needs and wants, does that answer your question?"

Any more thoughts of the Lieutenant being a racist was flung right out the window, and Taylor smiled. 'Too bad I couldn't have served underneath someone like him, my sergeant wasn't the nicest person to be around.'

"So Private what happens now?" Jaune looked down at the bed sheets and noticed something missing.

"Ah well, since I lost my leg to that shell I've been given an honorable discharge from the military, so I guess I'll be heading back to my home town Menagerie." Taylor said with a rather solemn voice.

Jaune reached over and grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Hey, don't be so down about it, you did your job as a soldier, and I'm proud to have served with someone like you."

Taylor looked up at the man beside him and nodded his head. "Thank you, Sir the honor was all mine, I wish you well."

Even though Jaune wanted to continue the conversation he did have other things he needed to attend too. He stood up from Taylor's bedside and bid him a farewell before making his way to the doorway. A sneeze stopped him in his tracks and he turned to see Taylor wipe his nose. A thought sprung into Jaune's mind as he fumbled with one of his pocket's before pulling out the woolen gloves his parents had sent him. He walked back over to Taylor and handed them to him. "Keep warm soldier."

"Ah thank you sir." Taylor slipped the gloves on and felt how warm they were, when he looked up to thank the Lieutenant once more he found the room empty.

"The guy's back in my hometown won't believe this." He said with a smile.

After taking care of few things Jaune finally found some time to sit down and read the letter his family sent him. After a few moments of smiling and a laugh or two, Jaune finished reading his family's letter and set about writing his own letter to tell his family how he met a young boy and ultimately gave his gloves away to help keep the boy warm. He finished the letter telling them all not to worry about him as he was doing fine on his cozy little trench. Jaune didn't want to worry his family so he only wrote home about the positive things he saw or could think of, to alleviate any unneeded stress that may occur if he wrote about the more gritter parts of his life. When he finished the letter, he looked over contents to make sure things were in order before he sealed it in an envelope and sent it on its long journey home.

'Hearing how my family is safe and my hometown is peaceful, makes this war seem a bit more meaningful, I will lay down my life so that my family will not come in harm's way.'

That night, Jaune Arc fell asleep with a peaceful smile on his face.

I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter!