Please excuse any cringyness or errors, this is my first time writing these kinds of stories. Will take a while for next chapter because of other stories I have. Enjoy.

June 6, 2543

Unknown planet

Three days. Three long days orbiting the planet. Three long days that the UNSC marine frigate Long Night was sent to recon this planet. The moon was similar in size of Earth's moon and same spherical shape untouched. To the captain of Long Night, he felt like there was more to this mission that the UNSC didn't tell him in the briefing. He felt something, something that doesn't belong in that world and is lurking. He didn't want to risk landing his ship.

"Bring me Fireteam Hellfire immediately".

In the cafeteria

"And that is how I lost my job that day."

All of the men around Fireteam Hellfire burst out laughing.

"Damn Daniel didn't you know that your boss didn't like her computer getting these 'viruses' as she calls it?"

Daniel was around his late twenties, brown hair, blue eyes.

"Well Josh, she deserved it because that bitch fired my older brother because 'she felt like it'. But... I'm pretty sure that the superintendent will think differently with her now."

Josh was around the same age as a Daniel with blonde hair and green eyes.

"I would pay to see that in person" Zachary replied.

Zachary was barely in his twenties with black eyes and jet black hair.

Daniel then turned to his teammate, Michael.

Michael was in his mid twenties. Pale face, blue eyes and reddish-orangey hair.

"Now you tell us a joke Mike."

"Fuck, why man?"

"'Cause you have to tell everyone about that joke"

Michael instantly remembered which one. "Oh if you want me to tell that one."

He clears his throat. "Ok there are three frogs in the park, ok?, they were arrested and was sent to the court. One frog came to the judge and the judge asked the frog for the name and what they were doing. The first frog said, 'My name is Frog and I was blowing bubbles in the park' the judge says you can go and the next frog cane. Now get this, the next one said 'My name is FrogFrog and I was blowing bubbles in the park. Now the judge brings the next frog and said, 'let me guess, your name is FrogFrogFrog and you were blowing bubbles in the park'. Now you expect the frog to say yes, but instead he said, 'No My name is Bubbles'!".

Everyone laughed very hard at this old, but funny and annoying joke.

Daniel wiped his tears of joy, "Fuck man it still got me."

A few minutes went by and everyone just started to calm down until the speakers came on, "Fireteam Hellfire please report to the deck".

Daniel got up from the table, "looks like it's our time to shine again boys. I bet William is waiting for us there already."

At the deck minutes later

The four guys entered the room and what Daniel thought was correct. "Come on leader you gotta tell us where you are going before you disappear like a ghost from us".

William was only twenty-seven with brown hair and grey eyes. Everyone on the ship likes him because he is an understanding kind of guy and shares his compassion with everyone.

"Says the person who goes on a rampage when he gets woken up from his beauty sleep."

"It's not a beauty sleep, it's a power nap two different things."

His team chuckled a bit.

It ended when the captain presented himself.

"Captain James on board!" Everyone stood up and saluted.

"At ease men. Hellfire, are you ready for your assignment?"

They replied, "yes sir!"

"Good because I need my best ODSTs ready for any situation."

Hellfire. One of the most elite units in the army. The previous members of the unit left them with a very good reputation to live up to. They were sometimes known as "The Devil's warriors".

"Our recon units have reported some ancient structures in a forest codename: Emerald Forest. You will help them investigate what is inside the structure but be careful of the wildlife. They are easy to take down with our weaponry but they always come in large numbers."

William replied, "Don't worry captain we can handle anything thrown at us that is why we are in Hellfire."

"Now go to your pods and get ready to drop in an hour." Then saluted, "I wish you all the best of luck."

They saluted back and walked out of the room.

Captain James then sighs. 'This is going to be our new home huh? I wish that the Covenant never came.'

He then heard a deep growl echoing, "Doom has come and you cannot stop what is to happen". James looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. All of a sudden he felt sick. "I am returning to my quarters to rest, for now Co-captain Yin will take control temporarily".

Fifty minutes later at the drop pod bay.

Hellfire prepares themselves for the operation. Zachary readied two magnums, four fragmentation grenades, and an SMG.

Michael pumped a shotgun and grabbed two grenades and an Assault Rifle.

Daniel prepared a sniper, magnum, a landmine and a machete. He gestured toward Michael with his machete in hand, "this baby is in case things get 'wild' don't you say?"

"The only thing that is going to get wild is you screaming like a five-year old girl when you get jump scared."

"It's not screaming dammit it's a tactical yell."

Michael chuckled, "sure whatever you like to call it."

"But it's true."

William walked towards the three with his Battle Rifle in hand and SMG. "Alright brothers this is it. Our time to shine. The captain Yin just gave us two weeks to complete the operation. Remember the fate of humanity rests in our hands."

Zachary questioned, "Captain Yin? I thought it was Captain James that was leading the operation."

Josh wondered the same thing.

William responded, "The Captain fell ill earlier and turned himself in for the day to rest. But don't worry about it, we have a mission to complete."

All members of Hellfire, prepare to drop over the designated coordinates

Everyone got in their pods. They checked every gadget to see no malfunction. After that they readied their minds.

Dropping in ten

William was deep in thought. Thinking about the possibilities he will encounter and hoping for the best.

Five

He hoped everything will go their way this time.

Two... one

Gives pods rapidly leaving the frigate at high velocities to the planet below.

Josh reported in, "we broke through the atmosphere men, so far so good".

The descent was smooth, without error. William felt like something was off and his suspicions were confirmed when Daniel broke the silence.

"Hey Will, we're going off course! What's going on with our steering!"

William tried to steer his pod, but oddly it stayed in it's own course as if it was hacked or moving on its own.

Zachary had the same issue, "Fuck, I can't move my pod."

William then realized they were only a few thousand feet from the ground, "Brace for impact!"

For William, the landing was a to go done. Once his pod hit the ground, it began to flip and turn crashing into every tree in the way. William was holding on to whatever he was able to grab onto.

After a minute of tossing, it finally stopped on the side. From the inside, William was bleeding from the face and a piece of shrapnel impaled his right leg. Thankfully for him, he felt numb. He heard chatter from outside the pod and soon recognized that the voices were from his fireteam.

He heard Daniel saying "hold on, we'll get you out there".

They finally managed to open the pod and take William out. Daniel held William in his arms. "Stay with me Will, we're going to find you help."

William was beginning to lose consciousness then it was all black.

"Will!"

One day later

Early in the morning

William woke up and looked around. He saw that his leg was covered with a wrap and he was in a place he was unfamiliar of. He whispered, "where am I?"

He was unexpected to hear a response, "you are in Patch and in the guest room."

William's vision was kind of blurry so he could only make out the yellow color of the man's hair.

"Who are you and what did you do to my men?" William asked with a bit of hostility in his voice.

"Relax William, your friends brought you here with the help of my daughters and wife. They are downstairs, come."

'Daniel must have told him my name' William thought.

He slowly got up from his bed. When he began to walk, he was unbalanced and fell on the floor.

'That's going to leave a mark'

He pushed himself up and continued towards the stairs.

As he came down, they guys went to hug William and surprisingly the one girl went up to William as well.

"Will! I knew you were going to make it."

"No you didn't Daniel, you were whining about how we are going to lose our 'fearless leader'."

"Fuck you Zach, it's not whining it was... oooh fuck it you won't listen."

"Language! Sir!"

Everyone looked to see a cute little girl who looked around five or six yell at Daniel.

"Mama told you not to say bad words to people."

Josh and Michael looked at Daniel and smacked him behind the head.

"Ow!"

William knelt down to the girl and patted her head, "what's your name little one?"

"I'm Ruby Rose, what's your name sir?" Ruby asked energetically.

"Well little one, My name is William Heinrich."

Ruby then pulled William's sleeve, "I wanna show you my mama."

"Okay then."

The four guys looked in amazement.

"Looks like William is a natural at making friends doing you say Mike?" Daniel asked.

Josh interfered, "At least he can make friends easily."

"What does that mean?"

Zachary replied, "he means that you mage more enemies than you make friends."

"T-that's not true!"

Micheal patted on Daniel's shoulder, "It's alright Daniel, the first stage of getting out of depression is acceptance."

"What are you talking about Zach who said I was depressed?"

The three chuckled.

With William

"Mama!" Ruby called out to her mother. The mother turned around, and surprisingly she looks almost the same as her daughter.

"Who did you bring with you honey?"

"This is my best friend and his name is William Hinrich!"

"It's Heinrich actually." William corrected.

The mother looked at him intently then smiled, "you know, if she befriends someone this quick, that means you guys must have something in common."

"Something in common, like what?"

Ruby yelled in joy, "Do you like weapons?!"

William's face turned from confused to a happy one.

"Huh, looks like we do have something in common after all."

Ruby squealed in delight, "SomedayWhenIGrowUpIAmGoibgToGetMyVeryOwnGunAndIWouldLikeYouToSeeItFirst!"

William chuckled, "Calm down little one, I'm pretty sure that your family should be the first one to see it. Speaking of, Ms..."

"Summer Rose"

"Ok, Ms. Rose I believe your husband said that you had 'daughters and not' daughter."

"My eldest daughter, Yang, is not a morning person, so she is still asleep."

"Oh I see."

Ruby tugged on William, "Come on, I wanna show you my room!"

Summer laughed at this interaction between the soldier and her daughter, 'This man is a special one'.

The day went on. Hellfire met Yang, who was cautious at first, then lightened up to them. The husband was named Tai and they found out about the family history. Ruby and William played around as heroes of some fantasy. For some odd reason they shared a bond, a bond that will be impossible to break.

As the sun sets, Zachary went to get William, "Hey William, the family wants to know about us."

William's face then turned to a serious one, "Alright, Ruby why won't you come with us downstairs?"

"Ok!"

Once everyone was downstairs and seated at their seats.

William then spoke, "Alright, you want to know about us?"

Tai was the first to respond, "yes. Summer and I are curious if why Atlas solders are here in Patch?"

William looked at his fireteam with his face saying, 'did you know where we were?'

They just shrugged their shoulders indicating they didn't know anything.

William had to 'exaggerate' the truth. "Well, I thought that this was another location we were supposed to be in because the coordinates we were sent told us the objective was here. Looks like there was some miscommunication. As for us, we are known as Fireteam Hellfire. Not many know of us."

Summer was the next to question, "so what was this mission about?"

William was quick to reply, "we were sent to recon an scientist structure not far from here, it would take a week to get there now and that leaves us with only a week to finish the job."

Tai's turn, "So Atlas change the uniform huh?"

The team deadpanned 'Oh Shit'.

William responded, "that's because... we are not from Atlas but from a... different faction from the others here."

Summer, "there are other kingdoms than the four we know?"

"Yes, ours isn't well known because we are fighting a war and haven't known that other kingdoms existed." William explained.

'So far so good, just keep on exaggerating with the information given and use it to your advantage.'

Ruby energetically asked, "Are you guys winning because surely you have heroes in your kingdom to help you!"

The team looked down with sadness in their faces.

This made Ruby cry a little.

William quickly tried cheering her up, "sadly no Ruby, but we do have heroes saving us from complete destruction and they are pushing our enemy back."

This made Ruby cheer up.

Yang wasn't so easily convinced, "Okay then why don't you show them to us?"

"Yang that's rude!" Summer said.

William still answered the question, "because they are busy sacrificing themselves for us all."

This made Yang quiet.

Tai then concluded this talk, "Alright, I think that's good enough. Are you guys staying here for the night?"

"I think it's best we leave because we have a mission to uphold."

Ruby whined, "Awwwww, but I want you to stay."

William bent down to her, "Don't cry little rose, we will meet again one day and when that day comes, we both will be the heroes we dreamt of in our little imaginary fight ok?"

Ruby sniffed a bit, "Ok I will promise to be a hero just like you."

William and the others stood up, "Well we best be going thank you for your hospitality."

Tai replied, "it was a pleasure."

Outside the house

Before Hellfire entered the woods, they heard a sound of small footsteps running towards them.

Daniel groaned, "Oh hell, it's that little kid again?"

Once again, Zachary and Josh smacked Daniel in the back of the head.

"Do you ever learn Daniel?" Michael asked.

"What, I was just stating my thoughts."

"Well no one cares about your thoughts so be quiet."

Daniel mumbled a bit.

Ruby ran towards William with something in her hand. Once she got to him, she handed the object to him.

"What's this Ruby?" William asked.

"It's a good luck charm. I made it just for you."

William took the necklace and put it over his head.

"Thank you Ruby, I will make sure to protect it."

What Ruby said next surprised him.

"You better come back because family always comes back."

He smiled and was touched by this. "I... I promise you."

Ruby ran back to her house after that with joy on her face.

Days had passed. A long few days. As they were close to the objective, they heard their comms go online.

"This is Sergeant Turner, my recon unit has almost been wiped out. We need reinforcements to keep these monsters from leaving the structure... What they're not native here? (Hears inhuman screeching in the background) oh god what are those things?! Fire, fire, fire (gun noises) please we need help please... oh god no please no!"

"Shit we gotta help them! Come on boys..." Michael stopped what he said and everyone readied their weapons. They heard twigs snapping not far from them and it got louder by the second.

"It could just be the wildlife you know?" Josh said.

William countered, "No, we are well equipped to face hordes of them, this is something worse."

"Guys I think I see something over there." Zachary said.

"Daniel, get a look with your sniper, see who is coming at us" William ordered.

Daniel looked down his scope and slowly lowered it with horror on his face.

This concerned William, "What is it"

Daniel turned around to face them and yelled, "Ruuunnn!"

The only sound one could hear was gunshots for an hour then silence.

Soon the inhuman screeches were heard through the night.

As the wind blows, an echo could be heard to only those with sharp ears.

Soon Doom will come, and when it does, all would sing, one choir, one voice, victory everlasting.