Sandstorm over Remnant
Who are you, that you don't know your history?
"Death from above!" Ruby ignored the headliners as she scrolled through her scroll. The past thirty minutes or so had been utter chaos, even now she could hear the reporters outside new beacon trying to get an audience with Glynda for a comment on what had happened. The massive wave of Grimm had been annihilated in less than a minute, this had never happened in the history of Remnant.
But at the same time, Ruby knew that the people were scared, who was to say that the giant laser of doom would not be used to wipe out an entire city when it felt like it? Ruby shuddered at the thought and returned to look at her scroll, she noticed how a message popped in her screen " You okay sis? Need me and dad to go get you?"
"Yang…"
No, she did not want to go back home just yet. Something was going on here and she wanted to get to the bottom of this right now "No, we are all safe. Six's laser took care of all the Grimm"
She waited for a response, her sister took her time replying "Dad says that he understands but that we will be going anyways. He is worried about what is happening on Vale, uncle Qrow also dropped by the other day and said something like that too. Just keep safe ok?"
Ruby simply replied with a thumbs up and let out a sigh she stood up as she decided to walk with no destination. Just to take her mind off things and maybe try to sort out how she was feeling, as she walked through the new facilities offered by RobCo she noticed how blocky everything was. Brutalist and with all the statues it almost felt oppressive but now that she really thought about she had seen this type of building before, she remembered the ruins… the dead world.
"Ruby what are you doing here?" a soft voice made her turn her head towards the fountain. Pyrrah waved at her from the spot she was sitting, Ruby smiled at her as she zipped to her side "Hello! What are you doing?" the red head smiled at her friend as she motioned her to come closer.
Ruby sat down next to her as she noticed what Pyrrah was staring at "I was reading the plaque, Begin Again by Michael Angelo. I wondered why the placed this here… it seems like a sad statue don't you think?"
A woman in a dress, a gold bar on her hands "Almost looks like real gold over there… but why do you say its sad?" Pyrrah simply shook her head as she let out a sigh "I don't know maybe I'm projecting, but she looks sad to me" Ruby looked at her face and noticed how the line in her lips inclined slightly downwards. Was it her imagination?
"I think… I think I see it too"
Pyrrah stood up with some effort as she held her side "Does it still hurt?" Ruby helped her up as she frowned at the state of her friend.
"A little, I just need to be out of action for some more time and I should be back to normal. Honestly my pride is more hurt than anything" there was so much that Ruby wanted to say to her friend but to her surprise Six entered the large room as he carefully avoided the flowers and just stared at the fountain, Pyrrah stumbled a bit as she walked towards him making Six alerted to the fact that they where there with him "Oh hey there kids! Sorry to intrude I was just thinking"
Ruby nodded as she stood next to him for a moment "This fountain… you made it right?" Six let out a loud laugh as he shook his head "Oh hell no, I have never had an artistic bone in my body. This one was made by a friend, why did you think it was mine?"
Ruby blushed a bit as she pulled her hood up "I-I mean I just assumed because it has the same logo as your canteen and… no yeah that makes no sense" Six chuckled as he brought out his canteen "Its fine, this is the logo of company… it has been dead for a long time in my world but it somehow always manages to rear its head in my life" Six noticed how he captured the attention of the two so he decided to elaborate a bit more "Vault-Tech, bunch of cruel bastards but they did make sure that you were prepared for the future with their vaults and all that jazz"-"Vaults?" Pyrrah inquired as she tilted her head to the side. Six lost his smile as he turned to look at the gold bar that was held by the statue, water dropped softly into the fountain as if tears descended from the heavens "Places to keep humanity safe when the world ended. Underground vaults buried beneath miles of steel and stone… they lied, they weren't safe"
Ruby frowned "Then why… why do you keep that memory around?" Six looked at his canteen and then at the statue "Some of us got lucky, Angelo was raised in vault and he loved it so much that he feared the outside world but even now his work carries the love for his vault here"
"And you?" Pyrrah asked the two teens noticed a million emotions passed trough the face of the courier in the fraction of a second "I don't have such a high opinion of them, but I guess I just cant let go of the memories right now… maybe I never was able to let go" Six downed the contents of his canteen and then turned to them "Glynda was looking for you, she wants all the students to be ready in case more Grimm show up"
Ruby nodded as she zipped towards the headmistress office, Pyrrah remained by his side for some time "Something on your mind kid?"
"I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life" Pyrrah commented as they fell into a comfortable silence "Don't mention it, I'm happy to see you recovering so fast. How's Jaune?" the redhead giggled a bit as she covered her face to hide the small blush that spread across her cheeks "Seems like everyone has noticed the change in our… relationship, he's fine"
Six smiled as he watched the fearsome warrior blush at the mention of her boyfriend "That's what I wanted to hear, go on kid don't keep your boyfriend waiting" Six was left alone as he watched the statue of Vera Keyes. It had been gift from the Vault Hotel, Sarah and her brother had wanted to speak with him about the future of the hotel and the workshop, it took some drinks and some promises to have them in Vega's pockets once more.
Liberty to restore some of the vault and some pictures from the wasteland to assist on Angelo's creativity problem and between all that was needed to complete the negotiations, once all that was done Six got to tell the tale of the Sierra Madre. It had been a long time since he had such a captive audience so he tried to paint a picture to the siblings, Michael was so taken with the story that he got to work on the statue as soon as he finished the story and before Six knew it, the large statue was gifted to the shadow man of Vegas.
"Begin again" caught off guard Six jumped to the side but relaxed when Winter watched the statue, she opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. There was much that she wanted to say but her emotions threatened to get the best of her, they shared a look as Six approached her "I'm sorry"
Winter gritted her teeth "So you DO know what this means right?! War, you just declared war against whatever the hell is commanding the Grimm" Six raised an eyebrow "You know about that?"
"I-I… subtleties have gone out of the window nowadays thanks to someone" she gave him a glare but her eyes turned to worry as she looked at his eye "I don't know what is out there, I just know that there is something bigger than both of us pulling the strings. Does it not scare you?"
There was a pause as Six nodded slowly, the soft sound of the fountain sounding like tears falling into the floor bellow "I feel scared… but not because I might die… I don't want to lose you… I don't want you to hate me" for the first time since they had met Six let all his walls crumble around him, Winter held his hand and for the briefest of seconds she saw the green eyes that she had missed so much, the eyes that had been robbed from on the Sierra Madre.
"You don't have to do this, we could run. We could settle down on Zion Valley, far away from all of this… just give the tools t-these weapons to people like Ironwood, he can end this it's what he has trained for all his life!"
Run from all of this.
Six felt his hand sweat as he paled, there was a way out. To stop doing this to himself over and over again, he was tired of repeating history "Could I be that selfish?" he had set up all the pieces, someone like Ironwood could take over and no one would be none the wiser.
But he knew his history, he had been at the mercy of generals that just followed orders from up top and did what was good for the Republic for the greater picture of "civilization" and "progress" so he knew what he had to do.
Six lifted his hand and gently passed his thumb over Winters cheek "I love you… more than you could ever know" her skin was so soft, pure. He wanted to keep her safe, free from the wasteland back home and free from the horrible war that was to come, but he could not ensure that he could protect that which he cared about if he ran with her.
"The Witch of Vegas"
Their peace was cut in half as a massive symbol of the Legion strolled into the garden, Winter felt her blood run cold as Legate Lanius galred at her from beneath his mask. Jumping back she brought out her sword and looked at Six surprised. The courier simply lowered his head and let out a long sigh "Lanius?! What is he doing here?!"
Weiss was in this building! If any of the legion brutes got their hands on her she would not be able to live with herself.
The legate strolled next to the courier and closed his hands "Vegas has extended its hand to the Legion in our time of need. The arch-traitor, Vulpes, has defiled Caesars memory and committed heresy, women fighting in the legion… deceit and terrorism as far as the eye can see, even striking at the cities of the legion our civil war threatens to destroy all that we have worked for. And in our time of need Mars sends an envoy, a messenger to help me deliver the head of the traitor to my war table"
Winter could not believe her eyes. They had worked so hard, they had bleed buckets of blood to keep them out of Vegas "I know this is…" Six never got to finish that sentence as Winter punched him so hard on the nose that it broke it "THEY TOOK YOUR EYE! THEY TRIED TO KILL ME!"
"I know… but they are the blunt weapon that we need. We will come down on this old Witch like a hammer and free this world, Lanius will get Vulpe's head on a platter and protection from the NCR. They will not kill the bull while it licks its wounds" Lanius crossed his arms as he nodded, satisfied with the agreement.
The ground rumbled before Winter could say more as the las piece of Six's puzzle arrived, a massive truck arrived and with it a foul stench that Winter could not forget "The Sierra Madre, the Divide… all of them picked clean for the new war to come" Ulysses jumped down from the truck as he looked at Winter briefly and then back at Six, he handed him a control that looked like the one Elijah had used for the holograms and another one that looked like a detonator.
"The ghosts have woken up, the time has come… are you ready to repeat your history?" Ulysses did not wait for a reply as he walked towards the balcony and took in the view, it was beautiful unlike anything else, Lanius did not move he stuck to the shadows and ignored everything around him.
It did not make sense to him, and he could not conquer it, so to Lanius it did not matter where he was all he cared about was the resources he was promised that he would get for aiding the Man from Vegas and the death of Vulpes. Keeping the NCR away was just a nice bonus he got from all of this.
"W-what are you doing?" Six looked towards the forest and smiled "Your world its so beautiful. This evil that has been haunting you is threatening to take all that away, to make it this paradise into a wasteland like mine" six closed his fist as his red eye glowed with rage. "I wont let that happen, that thing thinks that we will wait for it to strike us, that we will cross our arms and rest on our laurels… I say no"
Six pointed at the truck "I will rain down nuclear Armageddon on the Grimm, release the cloud and choke them all out. The holograms will destroy what is left and my army will march and take whatever the hell is on the other side to its knees, nothing will escape… Lanius will crush the retreating forces and then you will all be safe." Winter could not believe what she was hearing. Ironwood said that Six wanted war but she never thought that he would take the hunters and the military out of the equation.
"T-the general will not tolerate this"-"I know" Six smiled sadly as he looked at her with quiet resolve "I will be sent to stop you" she felt tears roll down her cheeks as she desperately wanted to reach out to him and stop him.
Heartbroken at causing her pain Six turned on his heel as he took the first steps into damnation "I will wait for you…" Winter took a step towards him but Old Glory stopped her Ulysses glared at her.
"You fail to see… you fail to understand what he sees thought the shattered eye. Something greater than both the bear and the bull… you will not stop what's to come… War has come to your planet… be thankful that it is not your hands that will covered in blood at the end of this road"
Alarms blared above as New Beacon trembled as the portal between worlds was used to its max capacity, Winter faintly heard Weiss and her friends run to her side as from bellow the school a massive army of steel walked flanked by Legionnaires. The shattered moon hung above them all.
Red as blood, an omen of what was to come.
A/N: War… war never changes. Thanks for reading!