Sandstorm over Remnant

Chapter 7

Different faces, same places

Weiss screamed as she fell, she felt dizzy as she twirled downwards. It took all her effort to stabilize herself into an appropriate landing strategy, out of instinct she repeated the one she had used in her initiation in Beacon.

Her aura gave away as the force of the impact shattered it, but she managed to stabilize herself enough to look around. "What?"

It was rubble, nothing but broken down buildings and vegetation. "But I was in…" a large crash next to her made her jump in fright as Six groaned as he dusted himself off "so that's how it feels like, jumping blind is a pain in the ass" Weiss ran to him and looked around.

"Where's Ruby?" Six was not listening to her, instead he was looking around the place with a frown. Weiss jumped as a large fly from her nightmares floated towards them, it spat at the young Schnee and she yelped as it burned through her clothes and skin, the Courier reached over and slapped the creature killing it.

She wanted to thank him but Weiss stopped herself before she talked, he was livid "Of course… out of all the places it had to be here, it had to be FUCKING Pinehaven, FUCK we are in California just my luck" he slammed his fist against the wall and let out a long sigh.

"Hey everyone! Look at what I found!" an exited yell came from somewhere and Weiss felt her worries evaporate somewhat. "Ruby! Over here!" the speedster appeared in the blink of an eye next to her friend holding a large robot head "Look at this! It's so cool but I have no idea why it was thrown in the garbage like that I mean cant they rebuild this thing?"

Six grumbled as he looked at the robot, a familiar caliber of bullet on the machine. 10mm, Colt N99 10mm pistol to be precise.

'Listen here, every single second counts kid. You don't feel for them, you don't hesitate. Anyone that is not your fucking friend is a threat understood?' a faint echo from a name that he did not remember whispered in his ear. But that did not matter he had to get this kids to safety "Right! Welcome to earth Ruby and Weiss I would have preferred to show you somewhere that is actually nice and fun but here we are in… California, yay" Six said as he looked down at himself and then at the two girls.

Weiss was doing all right except for the acid on her arm, Ruby was just fine but neither of them had a weapon, looking at the horizon he recognized a place where he might get something for them "Come on, I know somewhere we can go while I figure out what to do. The main mission is to get you four back home, everything else can wait" Six commented as both girls nodded. A soft smile made its way to his lips "So please follow the tour guide at all times and do not interact with the animals" they began to walk up the cliff Six looking at the rusted cars with nostalgia while Ruby and Weiss lagged behind for a bit.

"Weiss"

"Yes Ruby"

"We are in another world!"

"… yes Ruby"

"Do you think they have cool weapons here?"

Weiss looked at the horizon where it was nothing but destroyed houses and vegetation "I highly doubt that"

Six had stopped walking passing his hands over a small wooden sign, the sign read 'Black Bear lodge' and behind it a small cabin that had definitely seen better days, Weiss could see the emotions play before Six's eyes as he tried to come to terms with something but he shook his head and pressed on "I… there should be weapons here if prospectors rand raiders left this place alone" he said as he entered the place followed by the duo. Ruby picked up an empty rocket shell and turned to Six "Jeez what happened here? Looks like there was a big fight" Six chuckled softly.

Inside the lodge Six stood still for a couple of seconds as he tried to remember where everything was "Is something wrong Mr. Six"

"Hehe Mr. Six, no no don't worry everything is fine. I just need to remember where he put everything" Six opened the lockers and smiled "Bingo, ok pick everything that you like and don't forget the ammo" Weiss looked at the weapons as she picked up a small rifle "What kind of ammo does this rifle use?"

Six hummed "Oh that, that's not a rifle that's a hunting shotgun. See the slugs? Use those and Ruby please do not point that thing at your face it's a laser rifle"

"Sorry"

Six on the other hand picked up a small handgun and rusted fire-axe "This will do for now, I think there should be a bag pack around here. You girls are going to have to change into something else"- "What?!"

"Your casual clothes are way too flashy and clean people will think that we're either rich or dangerous, best to not take that risk now. This part of California is crawling with raiders" Six said as he grabbed a dusty long-coat and tossed it at Weiss.

The young Schnee looked at the option and frowned, looking at the other clothes she felt her frown deepen "What even is all this? What is vault 18?" Six placed a cowboy hat on the girls head and handed Ruby a sunhat "A radioactive hole in the ground, don't use those by the way. If you really don't find anything just wear something over your clothes"

Six grabbed one of the guns and inspected it, Colt N99 10mm. Useless in all honesty but it was better than nothing, but the duster that it was next to was more than welcome. Grabbing a desperado cowboy hat Six felt comfortable even if it was only in the looks department.

"You know I was kind of expecting a very different place when you said that your world was destroyed. It looks kind of like a forest in Vale, if you don't pay attention to the destroyed building and the ruined cars" Ruby said as she stared at the valley. Weiss still a bit miffed about having to cover her hair only grumbled something inaudible as she waited for them to begin to walk, Six emerged from the cabin ready as he smiled at the kid.

Ruby gave him a thumbs up "You look like a pirate cowboy"

"Thanks Ruby, so here's the plan. Winter should also be somewhere around the wasteland but the main issue is that we cannot know for sure. So our best bet is to meet back in Vegas, it should take us a couple of weeks to walk there"

Weiss felt her eyes widen "Weeks?!"

"Yes, I have done some work around here before so I know some shortcuts" Six began to walk as the two teens quickly began to follow. The area was too quiet for his taste, there should be something.

It had been so long, the area should be infested with raiders, prospectors, farmers or something. The fact that the weapons and clothes had been left undisturbed for so long made him scared but the kids didn't need to know that, something on this valley was wrong and the sooner they got out of here the better. Ruby looked at her weapon and tried to get used to holding it "What did you say this was Six?"

Giving a brief glance towards the girl and quickly looking back to the road Six extended his hand asking for the weapon "This is a hunting rifle, it's slow as shit but it packs quite the punch kind like the hunting shotgun that Weiss is holding but that one works better at close range, you can even use the hunting rifle as a sniper if you are brave and stealthy enough"

Stopping for a second Six grinned "How would you like to try it?" titling his head to the side, a group of mole rats approached them with aggression snarling at them. Ruby looked at him with a frown.

"They are just animals"

Six nodded "Yes they are, but the moment that you turn around they will try to kill you. It's in their nature to protect their home and they would do so very aggressively, so you two get ready" Weiss nodded slowly as the rodent like creature snarled at her. It was faster than she expected, the creature tried to bit down on her leg but a quick shot from the shotgun did the work.

As blood pooled beneath the creature Weiss looked away in disgust, not used to the creatures not fading away into dust. As for Ruby the speedy girl dodged out of the way and pulled the trigger, decapitating the creature with one bullet. Six nodded satisfied as with a quick shot he took care of the smaller creatures "Not bad at all, just remember to keep track of your ammo this older guns tend to take quite some time to reload"

Ruby inspected the gun, she wished she could take apart and rebuild it just to see what made it click "It could be improved, if only I had my things with me. Maybe when I get home, but that's for later as for now I will name you…" Ruby pondered as she began to list names on her head.

Weiss simply put in on her back, not something she planned on using for long after all. The rest of their walk was surprisingly uneventful Weiss spotted here and there signs that once upon a time humanity used to live on this place. Beneath her feet she spotted pictures and signs that showed the greatness of what was the Old World, unlike the mostly uninhabited Remnant there was little to nothing her only vegetation and the ghosts.

Six for his part was more than happy to simply keep walking, his mind on autopilot as it retraced his steps out of Pinehaven, if he was a different man he would have stopped to reminisce, to stare at the world he had walked along those he had grown to love, those that became closer to him than family, but Six was not that man and he was glad he was not. Whatever remained was burned away on the fires of the Divide… twice.

He was Courier Six, and he was born on Goodsprings with two bullets to the head. And right now he had a responsibility to get this two kids to their home.

"Someone is following us, behind me" Six said as he took out his gun and put a gas mask on his face, alerting Ruby and Weiss who did as they were told "I don't see anyone" Ruby frowned as the air grew tense on the lone road.

Weiss narrowed her eyes "They are hiding in the rocks, camouflage?"

"Not bad, but now that they know that we noticed them it shouldn't take them all that long to show up" Six commented as he holstered his weapon and raised his arms "We mean no harm, we're just travelers"

Ruby gulped as she watched six people come out of their hiding spots and smiled cruely at them, their faces covered in grime and powder, armor built with trash and metal. Raiders would be too kind of a word to describe. "Don't want no trouble huh? Then why are you walking the wasteland with such… pretty ladies behind ya? But I am feeling nice hand them over to us and you get to keep your life. Don't worry they will look with a collar on their necks"

Six looked at the group and then back to the girls "I have a better idea, why don't you crawl back to whatever sorry hole in the ground you came out off? Because like you I am feeling nice today, but my mood can quickly change. If you don't fuck off I will not kill you I will cut your limbs and eyes, I will leave you to die under the sun as the birds eat you alive"

Some of the group took a step back, the leader of the group reached for his weapon "And who the fuck do you think you are? We are the Survivalists! We outlasted everyone here! You are dead meat!" Six fired faster than the man could react the bullet destroying the hand holding the rifle, Ruby winced as the scream of the man pierced the air and Weiss looked away in disgust "FUCK! Get them!"

The other five tried to react but the three outlanders did quick work of them, Ruby opted to run fast and kick them while Weiss used her semblance to great effect, as for Six he simply removed the fire axe from his back and began to swing. It was over faster than anything the raiders had ever seen, the leader of the raiders tried to run away but Ruby quickly caught up to him "Nope" tripping him to the ground the leader turned to stare at them in fear.

"What the- monsters! Mutants!" he tried to crawl away but Six put his boot on his destroyed hand. Removing his gas mask slowly the courier kneeled down and gave him a smile, his red eye making the man even more nervous "Now, there's two ways this can end. You tell me what I want and you get to see another day or you don't and I make good on my promise from earlier. What will it be?"

The raider began to panic "He will kill me… I c-can't…"-"You have ten seconds" to emphasize his point Six did practice swings with his axe towards the wounded arm. The raider stared in horror as he mentally kept track of the time "W-wait… I can talk sure!"

"Good, now who are you and why are you here?" the raider nodded his head "Like I said I am part of the raider gang called the survivalist, we used to be under Elsdragon but when he died one of his top guys took control. We were just looking for more slaves, that's it I swear"

Slaver, out of everything it had to be slavers. Ruby and Weiss looked at him horrified and disgusted "Just looking?! You guys are monsters" Weiss yelled down at him. The raider did not seem to be sorry but he did apologize, Six figured that it was because his fire axe was still above his wounded arm. A loud shattering sound disrupted their small talk as from behind them one of the raiders had stood up, a small puddle of blood behind him. Winter stared at the pieces of ice on his skin in shock, he had ripped his own skin off to get at them, with one strike he had shattered Ruby's aura and had a gun at her head "No one fucking move or I kill the little bitch!" Six frowned as the man refused to move his gaze from him, seems like he forgot that Weiss existed.

"Stay back man! I just want to leave" an opening, he could talk him down. Six was about to open his mouth when a loud BANG echoed as the raider fell to the ground screaming. Weiss felt her hands shake as she held the shotgun, she dropped it and placed her hands on her mouth. Six grabbed Ruby and looked at her "You okay?"

The girl managed a weak nod making the Courier let out a sigh of relief, turning his attention to Weiss who was having a crisis. Disgusted with herself and what she had done "I killed him" Six turned to the man that was still screaming and noticed how the life began to fade "No you didn't"

A shot to his head ended the life as the 10mm pistol came into view "I did, don't worry you just hurt him" Weiss looked at him and felt her tear begin to drop down her cheeks "No you dint i… shouldn't have… I am supposed" Six pulled her into a small hug.

"It's ok, no need to cry. He doesn't deserve it anyway, you put down a monster no different than a Grimm" Weiss managed a weak nod as she looked at Ruby who was slowly pushing herself to stand up "How did… he shattered my aura with one rusty pipe?"

Weiss looked at the weapon and then at Ruby, her team leader was no weakling she knew that how on earth. Wiping some of her tears Weiss shook her head "No no, that's impossible it probably had an explosive or something"

"No Ruby is right, he used that. Winter was surprised by that too, she could shrug off bullets just fine but your auras are very weak to melee. Don't get close enough to anyone even a well landed punch can do the job" Six commented as he returned his attention to the leader of the group "Go" shattering the ice with his hands Six grabbed the man by the collar and made him stand up. For good measure he stabbed the man on the back as an incentive to make him run. Not deep enough to kill but enough to make him run.

And run he did, with a scream the man darted towards the wasteland leaving a small trail of blood behind. For his part Six turned to loot the unconscious and the dead, Ruby groaned as the headache began to get worse now that adrenaline was gone "Weiss, can you make ice for my head" the Schnee quietly got to work as she did as she was told, Ruby looked at her in worry "You didn't kill him Weiss"

"I… I know but I helped. And I don't know how I feel about that, I forgot that people here don't have aura and when he grabbed you and I saw an opening I- I messed up, a huntress should be more careful"

Ruby nodded as she rested her head against her taller friend's shoulder "It's ok, and even if you killed wich again you didn't he was a slave-SLAVES! Six!" the courier looked up from the weapons he had gathered.

"What?"

The leader of team RWBY walked up to him with wobbly knees "They said they have other slaves we have to help them!" Six frowned and shook his head "Like I said priority number one is to get you girls home we don't have the time to play hero"

Ruby stood her ground "Yes we do! If we don't stop them they are going to get more people! Its not about being a hero is about doing the right thing Six!" the courier simply frowned and shook his head again "No"

"T-then, I will go alone" that made the Courier stand up as he grabbed the last piece of useful ammo. Looking at the girl he noticed that she was serious, it was cute honestly but playing hero got you nowhere "I could simply carry you all the way back to Vegas you know. Tie you to my back"

Ruby blinked as she looked at Weiss for support who simply looked away "I am not taking sides here"-"But Weiss we cant just… is not ok… please Six" a soft plea pierced the Courier's heart as he let out a long sigh "… let me see something"

Kicking awake one of the unconscious raiders he grabbed him by the neck "You, what good loot do you guys have back in your shitty hideout?"

"G-guns, armor, some girls and… a highwayman that the boss fixed" that made the courier grin, so there was something of worth then "Thank you, goodnight" Six slammed him to the ground as his head bounced on the ground and consciousness faded again. Ruby looked at him with curiosity as Six began to track the trail of blood. "Judgung by their pockets their hideout should not be that far away, come on then"

Weiss's eyes widened "You mean…"-"Yes, Ruby gets her wish. But this is the only time you get that got that red? And I am only doing this because of the highwayman!" Six said as the small girl cheered "Thank you! I promise I won't ask for anything else!"

Somehow Six highly doubted that.

Winter groaned as her aura shattered as she hit the ground. "Not again" was all she could mutter as the rocks below her threatened to pierce her skin, pushing herself off the ground she wanted to slap herself. She had not being careful enough, she should have used more of her abilities to stop this. but now there was no time to berate herself, she needed to find her sister's teammates.

The coordination was not put properly, but if she was correct it had been narrowed down to the correct coast at least, looking around there was little she recognized. Not the sand of the Mojave nor the red of the Utah, this was somewhere she had never been before looking down at her PipBoy she was glad to see that the small machine was rebooting after not having signal for some time and was connecting to the satellites outside of the planet.

"Find the blonde, find the goth" Winter said as she ran towards one of the cliffs so she could get a better view of everything, at the distance she could hear some yelling and struggle. As she reached the top Winter felt her heart jump to her throat as she came face to face with a familiar view. Spears, faces covered in masks, and the insignia of the bull, her PipBoy emited a short beep as it made connection and displayed the map.

Arizona.

The Legionnaires struggled to keep Yang still as they tied her up "Enough wastrel!" a slap across her face made Yan's cheek bleed "Where is Blake! What did you do to her?"

The legion soldiers made a face "And why would I tell you anything?"

"Because if you don't you are going to have to deal with me" Winter said as she appeared behind them, the soldiers glared at her as they prepared their spears but a frumentarii stopped them.

Looking at her up and down the frumentarii frowned "The Witch of Vegas, heroine of the NCR and… apparently a fool. How dare you step into our lands?!" Winter glared back "It is I who should be offended, I come here looking to help and this is how you treat me and my assistants? Vegas wants to extend its hand to the Legion and you bite it?"

This made a myriad of murmurs spread across the Legion only stopping when a Decanus made his presence known. Reaching for his machete he untied Yang and pushed her towards Winter "Bring the mutant" the legionnaires did as they were told and from one of the cages they brought out Blake, pushing her towards Winter with barely disguised disgust.

"Only profligates would even consider having a mutant as a companion, now speak. You say that Vegas wishes to extend its hand to the Legion, why should we believe you? and why should I not have you killed, after all despite their mutant powers they did not kill even one of us"

Winter knelt down and helped the girls to their feet "Because they were not trying to kill you, look at your soldiers. Bloodied in places that would mean certain death to anyone, they held back and you know it and as for killing me you know what we did in Hoover Dam we pushed back not only you but the NCR with an army of robots, what's stopping us from doing it on your home? Kill me and my PipBoy will let everyone know that it's hunting season"

The decanus seemed to hum at that, a brief glance at his injured was all he needed to confirm the accusation "You speak the truth, fine I shall take you to Caesar so that you may… discuss"

Yang glared "Bastards, they are lucky they didn't cut my hair. You okay Blake?" the faunus girl managed to make a small nod "Fine" her eyes not leaving the soldier, the legionnaires looked at them expectantly and Winter wondered if maybe running was a better idea.

A/N: Writing simultaneous stories is very fun. I really like how the chapter of the other one ends in Pinehaven and in this story it starts with the place. Next chapter is going to solve Winter's part of the tale, I am going to save Ruby's and Weiss's part for later and don't worry this small detour on the Old World should only take the two chapters that I have planned and then it's back to Remnant.

I have read the comments and while not originally planned I think now that you guys mention it I could see why the appearance of a large patriotic robot could be fun. See you soon!