Sandstorm over Remnant

Choice or Fate:

Willow was a woman that thought she knew everything there was to know of their children and their personalities. Weiss was the responsible one if a little bratty, Winter was the no nonsense eldest sibling and Whitley was a calculating young man (and as much as it pained her to admit it he was the one she knew the least about, him being his fathers favorite) so she had already a picture on her mind when her Winter told her she was seeing someone.

A military type, that was for certain.

An Atlas military higher up, she had prayed that he was one of those office type of guy because she really would not want a muscle bound brute for her precious daughter, but as the shadow of the man fell over her she wondered if she would have preferred the dumb brute.

Tall, dark hair, tanned skin and handsome the man with the red eye smiled politely at her "Nice to meet you, Winter has told me all about you" the man outstretched his gloved hand. He looked like he was ready for war, maybe he was one of those special agents from Atlas? It would certainly explain why he looked like he came out of an action movie.

"A pleasure. And your name?"

This made Weiss and Winter look nervous all of the sudden as Whitley leaned in to see what information he could gather, the man smiled for a bit "Ah, sure my name is Six. Like the number"

"Oh? Not a common name that's for sure" the youngest of the Schnee said as he took a seat in the large table "There is a story there, but for now… yeah my name is Six" Willow saw something flicker in that eye, it gave off an eerie glow now that she looked at him more closely.

Weiss took her seat "Ah story, I thought you said… ah well never mid, is good to see you again Six" this made Willow raise an eyebrow "You two already know each other?" the middle child nodded as her eyes filled with sadness "Yes… in Beacon. He helped my team with some things"

Winter and Six sat next to one another as the food was served, Whitley looked at Six and then he snapped his fingers "You are the man was talking with! He told he had a new business partner" there was a nod as Six wondered what the hell to pick first, everything looked so good and there was so many food. They could genuinely feed an entire settlement with all they had here.

As small talk filled the room, Winter smiled as Six remained polite and amicable. Willow excused herself after some time but to Winter relief smiled at both of them "It was nice to meet you, hopefully we will see you again soon" now that only the siblings remained Six looked over to Weiss. "Do you remember what room your team was in Weiss? I could have assaultrons and some of the protectrons gather your stuff and ship it" Weiss shook her head "Nothing that mattered in all honestly, right now they are just painful memories"

Whitley coughed into his fist "But maybe your former teammates would want it sister, don't be so selfish" a small grin from the boy as Weiss glared, Six frowned a bit but it quickly disappeared as he looked at Weiss "You could talk to them, I have not moved a thing… other than the dead Grimm. Maybe even come get it yourself"

"I don't even know if we can call ourselves a team anymore. Everyone went their different ways and after what happened with Yang… I don't know" Six nodded slowly. Winter let out a sigh "Things are not ideal Weiss, but you cant let go of a dream now. All of us are strong, if not in will in mind. Just… rest for some time and then we will figure out what to do. Whitley" startled that he was being talked to looked at his older sister. "Y-yeah"

Winter smiled, if there was one thing she had realized back in the wasteland it was that she wanted to spend more time with her family "What about you? What plans do you have?" Whitley was serious for a moment but he did let his guard down a bit "Father wants me to assist some meetings and set up some things around the house… it is boring but I suppose I have to"

"So you're the one who is going to inherit the keys to the kingdom huh boy?" Six muttered to himself as he got lost in his own thoughts as the siblings talked, bickered and simply existed. A small smile formed on his lips as he closed his eyes "Are you okay Six?" Winter asked as she noticed her lover seem to be lost in memory "Yes, more than fine. You guys just reminded me of something, I used to… well my family and I we used to have this"

Weiss's eyes widened "You remember your family now!" Whitley raised an eyebrow at the word "now" but he just decided to listen

A small nod followed "Yes, I had a brother and a sister" Six leaned back in his chair as a sad look clouded his face "The nerds, I remember they bothered the hell out of me with their stupid games or bickering about biology, medicine or some other nonsense. They where good kids"

"And what happened to them?" Whitley asked as Weiss and Winter could see in his eye the answer. "They died an explosion took their lives" Six simplified as Whitley coughed into his fist "Sorry I didn't mean to…"-"Its fine kid, it was a very long time ago. I was about your age when it happened I think"

Weiss looked at Winter as the specialist frowned. They finished their meal and they all went on their own, as Six with no idea where he would be staying simply followed Winter around as he checked the mansion, it needed to be more fortified in his humble opinion and maybe have like a secret passage like the ones from La Fantoma, those where a good time.

Winter led him to a small garden as she sat down and motioned for him to follow "Tell me"

"Tell you?"-"Your past, I want to know… if you don't mind"

Six smiled as he sat down and caressed her hand "Well, it all started in a little Vault back in California"

"This is NCR territory state your name and business here!" rain poured down on the plains of California as Cinder raised her hands up in the air "Easy there, I am just a humble trader passing by. I brought water and some stims" the mission she had been given was an odd one. Walk all the way from Big MT to an area in California, and infiltrate a mine deep near a dense forest "Well… move along we have all we need citizen, Athens Mine is off limits!"

Cinder simply nodded and moved back into the road, it was a shame really, she had wanted to play at the trader for a little longer. Launching a tornado of fire, behind her she burned the men to nothing but ash faster that they could scream. The sniper stationed in one of the broken-down buildings tried to sound the alarm but his arm exploded with a well placed shot from Cinder's brand new weapon a 10mm submachine gun.

Using her maiden powers and her natural agility she ascended towards the man and grinned "M-MUTAaa-ARGH" his windpipe was crushed by her hand as Cinder watched with disinterest as the life faded from him. His weapon was neat, so she took it with her and scouted the area ahead. A small battalion was stationed here and most of them looked bored out of their minds, that would make it easier for her to simply get to her objective he could faintly see that the mine was sealed off, but she did not need to head on down the mine to achieve her objective she only needed to get close enough to activate a device. So she undressed the man and disguised herself as an NCR soldier, to make it more realistic she smeared the blood from the fallen man on herself and began to sprint towards the mine, Cinder remembered what she had been called by the guard

Deepening her voice she creamed at the top of her lungs the word "MUTANT!"

The NCR snapped out of their boredom and ran to the gate leaving the mine unguarded. Pressing the machine close to the entrance she felt her frown deepen "Empty, no uranium" that definitely threw a small wrench into their plan but it would delay not stop the manufacturing of the super cell for their latest project ditching the disguise she continued to walk towards her new destination, Helios One.

It was now empty after the NCR had moved back into their territory and it was guarded by the securitrons from time to time just to keep prospectors and scavengers out, or that was Six told her and if she was honest no amount of brainwashing could not make her think that the man was a bit of a disorganized mess.

As she walked Cinder allowed herself to relax a bit, it was weird. She knew she had been partially lobotomized and that her actions and wants where not what she would originally want and yet she did not feel all that interested in reclaiming her individuality it was almost comical considering how much she once valued her independence. To her surprise as she neared the Mojave a blinding light she recognized appeared in the sky near the drive in.

Using the teleporter that had been assigned to her she returned to Big MT and walked in on Six beating a man to a pulp "Oh hey there Cinder"-"That mine you sent me to is empty, the NCR had a few men stationed for some reason."

Six grabbed the Faunus by its fox ears and slammed him against the wall "Not very surprising in all honesty, that place is more a memory than anything else. But the machinery might be useful or they simply fear some old bastard might want to reclaim it for old times sake" cinder grabbed a cup of coffee as she glared down at the faunus dressed in white fang regalia "Brought a souvenir?"

"A spy, seems like the White Fang has taken interest in little ol' me. This sneaky fox got past the first line of defense" he leaned down and smiled at him "of ten, now are you going to sing or do I have to beat you up some more?"

Blood was spat on his face making frown "Charming"-"We do not answer to your kind human!" Six grabbed him by the throat and began to drag him to Dalla "I'm going to give one of the brains a new teddy bear to play with, you need to check Helios One and gather all the information you can about that place. We are not going to touch the energy in the region, lord knows that Freeside and the rest of the region need it"

"And what exactly am I looking there" Cinder asked with a raised eyebrow "Archimedes II, Remnant is mistaken if they think that Grimm and all this" Six chocked the spy "are going to be delt with just nuclear weapons. I saw what I wanted for the future Cinder, a world of hope. With no fear of being exterminated by man or monster, but to get there we need to get rid of the pests and we have the biggest exterminator to ever be made staring right at us. No need to thread all ground after all the bombs… they are not the best tool"

Cinder smirked at him "You're afraid… you don't want to keep using the nuclear bombs. You almost sounded relived that there was no Uranium in the mine" Six glared at her "Who knows, but for now just go to Helios I have a biology lesson to attend to."

The fox faunus extended his hand pleading at her to help, Cinder smiled cruelly and waved as the door closed.

"Ruby…" crushed trees, green blood and a the corpses of thousands of Gimm surrounded her. The young huntress ran as fast as she could to see what was going on she could hear the screams of someone as she reached the edge of the mountain and there she saw it, large mushroom clouds littered the land as from the Heavens light pierced the sky shattering mountains. "Ruby… this is not how its supposed to be" the voice was familiar, she knew who was calling out to her.

"Mom?" Summer Rose face was distorted barely visible, her daughter extended her hand towards her as the air around her began to grow colder and colder. Summer changed as she could see how she shone with a like the one she had seen that cruel woman use "No Ruby, I am more" from the clouds lightning erupted and large storm formed from the center of it all an eye looked down on her.

Ruby woke up with a gasp as she held a hand over her chest, as she felt cold sweat run down her forehead. Letting her body drop against the bed again she rubbed her eyes as she looked at the alarm clock. It was early, too early for having dreams like this. Trying to distract herself she reached for her scroll and she decided to check the messages that she had not seen, she hated to admit it but she had been avoiding everything since that day, as she scrolled to the list and answered some of them halfheartedly she spotted two that actually mattered, Weiss and Pyrrah had sent her a message.

"Pyrrah" the young huntress muttered to herself as she opened the message, she had not heard from her since… well since she thought she had died, she faintly remembered the doctors saying that Six (somehow) had managed to stabilize her enough. The message was short and simple, letting her know that her recovery was going along fine and that she hoped that they could speak soon.

Ruby bit her lip as she thought what to reply, this was all new to her.

A message like "Hey I'm glad you're not dead!" did not sound like it was the best idea at the moment if she was being honest with herself, so she decided to think about it for a moment and set her scroll down. She wondered if Pyrrah had nightmares too, could she talk to her about that?

They where friends right?

It was odd, she felt like she could not reach out to anyone about what she felt, her dad was too preoccupied and poor Yang was going to so much more than her. Her two rocks where not there and she felt alone, maybe that was why she kept dreaming about her mom, she missed having someone like that in her life.

Taking the scroll once more, Ruby wrote a small message saying that she hoped that Pyrrah recovered quickly and if she wanted to talk she was here for her. Now the next person on the list was a different story, Weiss and her relationship was weird it started explosive turned cold and now they where friends in a way, or that was what she hoped maybe she had just sent her a bill or something like that. Giggling to herself she opened the message.

IceQueen: Hello Ruby, I hope you're doing fine. I recently had a meeting with Courier Six he says that we can retrieve our belongings from Beacon. I can fly over to Patch and then see where we go from there, if you would like that is.

Six? He had Beacon? that was weird, but she did leave a lot of things there. And it will be good to take her mind off things.

"Hey Weiss! :D Yes! Just let me know when you'll be here and I will give you the grand tour of Patch!" To her surprise Weiss was awake and began to write her reply and it was about what she expected from her.

IceQueen: I will… now go to sleep dork.

Smiling to herself Ruby turned to one of her stuffed animals "See, she is my friend and she does care" placing down the scroll she decided that her teammate was right, she needed to rest some more.

Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine a better world, one with no Grimm. What would a world with no monsters look like, she wondered. As she turned in her bed a sad thought hit her as she remembered that she already knew the answer and it had not been a pretty one, she had walked the irradiated land and it had made her hope that they could be different.

"We will be, I won't let it be like that" she muttered to herself as sleep took her once again.

A/N: thank you for reading! I hope you like how the story is going and as the lines begin to blur and the ideas of what's best for Remnant collide with one another I hope you choose which side you like the most.

As for Six's story, I don't think I want to spend that much time explaining it. His origin is being written in my other story Blood from Vault 18, so if you are curious about itt just go check out that story. It is fun to write them simultaneously, one where he is this naïve boy from a Vault and in this one… well just wait and see.

Again thank you for your support and I hope to see you soon!