It was truly laughable that at twenty-three years old Weiss Schnee had still held on to a delusion she had formed during her childhood. But she couldn't criticize herself for it because she wasn't mentally ready, and there was still a part of her that refused to believe the reality before her eyes.

Winter Schnee

Specialist 1st Class

Atlas Space Force

Extraterrestrial Mechanical Warfare Pilot

Valean War lll - Evernight ll - Ater Astra

Dec 21 844 Cosmic Voyage Columba - Aug 5 873 Cosmic Voyage Columba

Her sister, born before her by five years, was dead now.

Weiss stood in silence as her eyes read the white words engraved on a black plaque, her brain was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the situation. When she was young, she had never considered what fate would await her sister, who had joined the military. Winter had always been a symbol of strength to her, and she couldn't imagine anything stronger than her sister.

Winter had died, and this one fact had dismantled the delusion of invincibility that her younger sister had imagined. Every soldier willingly carried with them the same fate they had all sworn their lives to fight for, and to defend, the Atlas Empire. The fact that they were blood-related and shared warm memories did not give her sister any advantage in combat. A familial bond didn't exclude a soldier from death's grasp.

Tears didn't fall from her eyes, whether that was because she was in denial or shock, or maybe because she was just no longer capable of crying anymore, she truly didn't know. A man dressed in militaristic garb had appeared early one morning and they had informed her of Winter's death just a few hours after it happened, and in the two days that followed, she still couldn't come to terms with the reality of it.

Around five years ago, during a period when Weiss was secretly expelled and disowned, her sister Winter had simply been a soldier who interrogated her with frigid professionalism. That was the last time she saw her sister, and now it was also the final time; they would never interact again.

When the memory of herself from years ago rose in her mind, she found thoughts and emotions she had abandoned long ago. Weiss could easily picture her teenage self crying with despair as she knelt in front of the plaque, that young girl had been soft and unaware of the universe's uncaring cruelty.

"Well, well, seeing you here is certainly a surprise." An obnoxious voice spoke up behind her and even though she knew who it belonged to, no one else could match his jokingly false sincerity, she didn't turn around or show any signs of acknowledging him. "Were you hired to sing for us?"

"Whitley." Weiss didn't spit out his name; her bitter memories of him had mostly faded away already. "I find it hard to believe that father did not inform you of his reversed decision." She didn't bite the bait he had thrown regarding her current occupation since her career as a singer wasn't anything she really cared about, it had merely been a means she could financially support herself with.

A shadow approached from behind her with the light sounds of measured steps. "You got me, and what could I say? A single day after being informed of my dear and oh so brave sister's death, that role was filled up again, but this time with my shameful sister. It's deeply troubling to me." Whitley, a boy already twenty years old, whined as if he was a child.

His whine was something she could actually recall vividly; it had been his signature move when speaking of matters other people took seriously but he considered laughable. Which had been most things that were unrelated to himself.

Weiss lightly twisted her neck to look upon her brother. His height had appeared to be the only thing that had changed. He was still as scrawny as ever, so it was unlikely his views of physical strength being barbaric hadn't changed either. As her eyes scanned his body, she noticed he had shuffled his foot away.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry to cut this short, but the life of an heir keeps me busy." He said as he gave her an elaborate bow and then he fled.

She blinked at the retreating figure of her brother. If he died, then this would be their last conversation together, and it was as antagonistic as ever, no that was inaccurate. He had once been kind, or rather, there was a period were he hadn't yet been taught rudeness. Any warm memories between them had frozen over and faded away with time. She wouldn't miss him like she did Winter.

Her sister had been a pillar of her world growing up and she had been a role model. Their mother was a useless drunkard and their father was a shrewd businessman, and her maternal grandfather had been responsible for filling her head with nonsense. Winter had been everything, from the warm protector to the stern teacher and everything in between, she had contributed the most to shaping a young girl confused by reality.

And Winter was dead, the guiding starlight that had once led a lost girl forward had been snuffed out. And, according to the rhetoric riddled speeches that had filled her funeral a few hours ago, she had died with valor and honor in her heart.

Weiss couldn't picture what that looked like, unless they were trying to claim that adrenaline had made her sister act recklessly, which led to her demise. However it was only five years ago that she was a student in a military school, and they had given her a report of her sister's death, so it was quite easy to picture what had actually happened.

A hostile threat had extensively damaged her personalized mechanical Hunter with excessive force in combat, causing harm to the primary engine, secondary engine, battery and radiator.

With her engines down, the Albedo Drives must have shut off and then her shell was no longer cradled by zero gravity, and so tons of metal were no longer being controlled. Additionally since her radiator was no longer functioning, the extreme heat waste was likely building up.

Weiss had been told the horror stories of similar things happening before, and one lucky pilot had even managed to barely survive a complete system failure. With everything available to her, she could easily visualize her sister being boiled alive in her Hunter's shell as the g-force liquified her body.

And then what followed was something she couldn't even imagine. She didn't have the slightest clue as to what Winter felt as her body was destroyed inside herself, and since her battery was ruined, it wouldn't take long for her Logos System to shut down so she also had to be aware of her imminent mental death as well.

Then again, some soldiers accepted their death own death easily and her sister had always been resolute in her duties, so she probably didn't cause a malfunction or a Fusion Breakdown. And the chance of her having triggered a Nox Umbra Singularity was also low, and Weiss was sure that she would have known if her sister had caused massive casualties in her final moments.

Winter Schnee had accepted death without a fuss. Her sister had accomplished what she could and would leave this life satisfied. At least if Weiss thought along this line, she could let go of the worthless emotions clouding her mind. Loud steps echoed behind her and a wide shadow joined her own in front of the plaque dedicated to a fallen soldier.

"Miss …Schnee." A deep voice thick with hesitation called out. They paused briefly and then uncomfortably spoke her last name to gain her attention.

Weiss looked over and she saw a tall man, with short black and gray hair, dressed in a rather plain white suit adorned with medals, badges, silver stars on cloth board and the Star of Atlas on a sleeve. "…General Ironwood." Weiss had recognized him, since he had also been involved with her case. "They promoted you." She stated, she did realize he had one more silver star since she had last seen him.

He sighed lightly. "I did forward an official notice of apology to you, all relevant information regarding our mishap in the handling of your investigation should have been included. We simply couldn't fathom that Metamorphs could have avoided detection from our networks and infiltrated our societies. In fact, one could say that your case was instrumental in discovering their species." He said as if he was reciting something.

She recognized his words. They were a paraphrase of what his letter entailed, which was something she had read over and over. She also didn't know anything about shapeshifting aliens, but one had somehow stolen her credentials and used her personalized password to enter a restricted area and stole some confidential information.

She also couldn't fathom that, and what she could understand was that although Ironwood had mistakenly suspected her, and ruined her life in the process, he eventually uncovered the real culprit and prevented a conspiracy to overthrow the Empire, which earned him his promotion. "It hardly matters now, since everything has been resolved already." She told the general, this topic had already run through her mind enough times that it was simply a bother now.

"…I don't quite know how to do this. I usually left these matters in the hands of," he paused and she could see his gaze soften as he stared at the plaque, "Specialist Schnee." He said her last name with some fondness. "She was invaluable to Atlas for more than just her skills as a pilot. She truly embodied what it-"

"I heard your speech already." She interrupted him as he began repeating the same spiel he had spewed earlier. She had just accepted her sister's death, but she probably could never glorify it by labeling it a sacrifice. It was a death, and regardless of what happened, nothing would change that.

Ironwood coughed in a fist and took a deep breath in. "Spec… Winter had… in her final conscious moments, she had recorded something for you. One of my officers advised me against sharing it with you, he did so because I've never quite been able to operate on the same wavelength as most people, but… this is something she believed I could do because of who I am." The General spoke oddly, as if he was unfamiliar with speaking without any formalities.

Weiss blinked. Her sister's final moments alive were recorded, and it was for her, apparently. "I… would like to hear it." A surge of emotions flooded her skull. She wasn't quite sure she could handle it, but she knew that she would forever regret not hearing her sister's last words.

"Understood." General Ironwood said as he reached inside his suit jacket and retrieved a small device. He clicked one of the buttons on its side and it crackled with static.

"..Www-WEeisSss." A familiar voice struggled to enunciate. "Weeiss. Weiss, I'm s-s-sorry for-for ev-ev-everything." Her words stuttered mechanically. "Mistake. It wa-wa-wa- focus, focus, focus. I'm sorry… I should've believed you, but I didn't. I'm a terrible sister. You probably didn't ever want to see me again, but you were all I thought about. I kept telling myself to visit you someday, hoping I could apologize to you in person, but I feared the possibility of you hating me. I'm dying now, my body was destroyed and I'm almost out of energy, I… don't want to die with a regret this heavy."

Weiss listened to her sister's words and parts of her mind were divided by the knowledge of Winter's regret. She wanted to laugh at both of their inabilities to communicate and how easy that trouble could have been resolved. Another part of her that had frozen over began melting and she wanted to shout in frustration.

Winter continued to speak without pause, since she currently didn't have lungs or vocal cords. "Weiss, I hope you can forgive me, not just for what I've done, but also for what I'm about to do. Weiss Schnee, I leave to you my Hunter, Kaiserin Aus Eis, you must use it to defeat Ater Astra. If you've ever cared for me, then finish what I couldn't. General Ironwood will take care of all the obstacles that could stop you. There is no excuse for refusing." And then the faint static that had underlined her voice ended abruptly, and she didn't speak again.

"I…" Ironwood started, as he placed the device back into his jacket. "Have already taken care of everything, so if you accept, we'll be leaving soon."

Weiss absently stared at the general. She couldn't have ever imagined that this was how everything would go. Her brain almost shut down from the emotional overload she was struggling to process.

She could feel an itch from her neck, or more accurately, from the cerebral port installed in her neck. In order to pilot a Hunter one aspect involved a neural link that would be inserted into her port, and then by performing a self conceptual switch with the Mechanism Logos System, she could upload her consciousness directly into the machine.

The machine, a mechanical Hunter created for and piloted by Winter.

It wasn't uncommon for pilots to call their weapons their second body. Weiss was aware that higher ups considered the bond between pilots and their Hunters to be unnecessary. It was why they mainly used a mass produced type. And to them, a pilot was just another component to the machine. Personalized Hunters could only be operated at full power by a single pilot, and therefore, it was just a defective machine after its pilot died.

Winter no longer had a recognizable corpse, and it wouldn't take long before they harvested her Hunter and turned it into scrap metal.

"I'll do it." The stubborn part of her mind, that was beholden to her emotions, accepted, tempted by the desire to be connected with her sister and to protect her legacy.

"Excellent. If we depart on schedule then we should arrive just in time for the entrance ceremony at Vytal."

"…What?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, since matters regarding Ater Astra are strictly regulated and you currently don't meet any of the qualifications, I've enrolled you into the standard and specialist course at Vytal Military University. I would appreciate it if you could achieve results soon."

Her brain didn't register what she was hearing for a moment, and then she comprehended her situation. She was technically a high-school dropout. She hadn't finished her education before they expelled her at age seventeen and then she didn't find another academy to attend because she had been disowned and couldn't afford tuition. Now at twenty-three years old, she will return to the education system.

A heavy sigh escaped her mouth. She would probably have to cancel her upcoming concerts.

Oh hello, nice to see you here. Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review.

If you're reading this and you're awaiting my other stories to be updated, I'm sorry to say that I have some personal business to deal with this week.

It shouldn't take long.

So, it's basically Jaded Weiss as a Mecha Pilot, and minor spoiler for the plot but she's technically supposed to be the side character of a Mecha Anime starring Ruby.

Ruby had already been on a wild adventure since she accidentally fell into her father's Hunter during a surprise enemy attack and caught the attention of authorities who recognized her value. She eagerly accepted attending their school and she hopes to one day find her missing mother.

After the death of a woman she considered her mentor, a new girl entered in the new year at school. Weiss Schnee, who was a famous singer, is cold, distant and piloting Winter's Hunter!

Basically what I'm saying is that this is a fanfic that's technically the fanfic for an imaginary RWBY Mecha anime AU, but now Weiss is the main character of it.

For those too lazy to look it up, I'll explain names of things that wouldn't be explained in-universe. I'll probably also explain away any technobabble that is glossed over and won't be revisited again, so if I didn't explain right away then be patient because it'll come up eventually.

The title is Latin: Chaos Born From/Out/Of Cosmos. It's sort of a play on the usual terms regarding the matter. Think of it what you will, if you're familiar with the topic you'll probably guess what kind of story this is, if you're unfamiliar then just understand that chaos refers to before we understood the universe and cosmos is what people believe they understand the universe is. That should be enough to form an idea without spoiling anything.

Ater Astra. Latin for Dark Star.

Kaiserin Aus Eis. German for Empress (made) of (the) Ice. Aus could mean: made of, of, of the.

Cosmic Voyage. It's basically a journey from home world to outer space.

Columba. Latin for Dove. And it brings to mind Christopher Columbus(also means dove), so it's a nice hint for the meaning behind the words.

If anyone has reached the bottom, then thank you for reading all this.