(A/N) …Wow… the last chapter of this fic. Sorry to say, though, that V2C1 isn't quite ready yet, but should be next week. Also, I went back and added a few paragraphs to the ending of last chapter. You guys might want to go read those quick.

With that out of the way, let's round off this fic!

Chapter Nine – Burned and Turned to Glass

A duo of Banshees circled overhead as plasma storms erupted in the distance, the product of heavy bombardment by Covenant ships.

I stood upon a raised platform, Phantoms disgorging their troops into the ruined village before me.

I sighed. "Once more into the breach…" Just as the last word left my mouth, the first green bolts of plasma sailed over my head.

Barely sparing the offending Grunts a glance, I whipped out my pistol and put a round into each of their skulls.

In front of me, an Elite Minor approaches, weapon blazing. I sidestep every bolt it throws at me, still walking forward, as it sprints in my direction.

Just as it gets within knife-fight range, it rears up for a kick. I easily dodge just by turning to the side before bringing forth one of the most powerful punches I've ever thrown right into its unprotected throat.

I say 'into', because my fist passes right through the throat and breaks its spine. My foe was dead before it hit the ground.

"Gods…" Weiss let out.

"You weren't kidding when you said Brutal Ruby was coming out to play." Blake commented.

I sighed. "Oh, this is just the start…"

I swiped a pair of plasma grenades from its corpse before priming them both and immediately launching them behind me, where another pair of Elite Minors appeared.

They both exploded, their Grunts dying shortly after with a magnum-sized hole in their heads.

More Elites made their presence known as I worked my way across the battlefield, picking up a discarded MA37 off the corpse of a Trooper.

I sprayed into the nearest Elite, popping its shields, before using it as a meatshield against a torrent of incoming plasma.

Suddenly, they all had the idea of throwing their grenades at me. Fortunately, none stuck. Unfortunately, several did stick my meatshield. So, naturally, I sent it sailing right back at them, killing a number of Elites in a single shove.

I slammed a new mag into my AR before pulling out my pistol to use in my right hand. The rifle would drain their shields and then the pistol would finish them off with a neat headshot.

Several ended this way, but the horde had shifted from sending Minors to sending Ultras, suddenly, causing my shields to break.

I grit my teeth as the sting of plasma impacted my aura shortly before ducking to avoid the strike of an energy dagger. I threw myself backwards, knocking my would-be assailant off balance, before bashing it's face so hard, my rifle broke.

Not missing a beat, I scooped up its Plasma Rifle and made a fighting retreat towards the platform; now identified as a radio tower.

Wherever I ducked into, be it a building, behind a crumbling wall, or even an inflamed semi, trails of dead Covenant followed.

Eventually, my pistol clicked, signifying its lack of ammo, and I discarded it. Around the same time, the plasma rifle started misfiring due to lack of energy.

About that time, I turned around and booked it to the comms relay.

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Why did you go back there?" She asked.

I smirked. "You didn't see it, but there's two mounted turrets up there."

I bolted onto the structure, shields humming as they recharged, and immediately ripped one of the turrets off its mountings.

Just as I was about to face the enemies again, I paused, glancing back at the second turret, before experimentally hoisting my current weapon with one arm. I let out a satisfied hum as, though it was heavy, I could one-hand a turret.

Weiss facepalmed. "Don't tell me you're going to dual wield turrets…"

"Okay, I won't tell you that I'm gonna dual wield turrets." I replied, cheekily.

I dropped my currently-held weapon and ripped off the other turret, picking both up by their carrying handles, and charged back towards the enemy horde.

Apparently growing tired of only sending Elites to do their job, the offending aliens were now rejoined by Grunts in addition to the odd Brute in the mix.

The moment I came into visual range of the horde, I threw up the turrets and grabbed them by their triggers. The guns immediately announced their presence with a loud roar, their recoil helping me to support their weight.

"Why am I surprised?" Weiss let out.

I shrugged. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." I said. "I don't recommend doing that, though. Those things were heavy."

She just gave me a deadpan look before I resumed the video.

The heavy rounds tore through the horde like a hot knife through butter. Some were killed so quickly that their falling bodies served as temporary cover for their comrades behind them.

By the time my guns fell silent, dozens of Covenant lay sprawled out in various states of disassembly before me, the entire hillside painted purple.

"Gods, its like a horror film…" Blake let out.

"Wouldn't disagree with ya there…" I said.

Knowing my ammunition to be quite low, I scooped up a pair of plasma rifles from the corpse field before moving on.

"What were you even doing there, anyways?"

"I was trying to use the comms tower to signal any nearby UNSC ship for pickup." I shrugged. "Turns out, covvies shot it a few times and fried all the electronics inside."

Blake raised an eyebrow. "What was your backup plan?"

"Didn't have one." I answered. "Just fight 'til I die, I guess."

"That's a bit… defeatist…"

"Maybe, but it was the only option I had left. That or just lay down and die."

"But you obviously made it here." Weiss commented. "So there was, apparently, an option 'C'."

"Heh, yeah, I guess." I said. "Kinda interested to see what option 'C' was, though. 'Cause from my point of view, it was pretty much a Deus Ex Machina."

She blinked. "…A what?"

I paused. "Oh, right. Well, it means that god comes down and fixes everything." I shrugged. "I think the literal translation is 'God from the Machine'."

She hummed. "Well, let's get moving, then." She said.

A few seconds later, once the survivors had realized that I'd stopped firing, several aliens poked their heads, and guns, out of cover.

Plasma washed over my position, though I returned fire in equal amounts. Grunts dropped, plasma burned, and shields popped as the mass of Covenant infantry clambered over themselves to reach my position.

Though suffering heavy losses, some finally reached me. Namely, a pair of Elite Majors and a Brute Minor.

I dodged a few spikes from the Brute's weapon before loosing a few bolts at the hairy creature. Unluckily for it, the heat from the otherwise-non-lethal wounds caused its fur to ignite.

My foe tried to put itself out, but a swift kick to the crotch incapacitated it enough to where it forgot about the growing inferno momentarily.

Weiss looked at me, slightly horrified. "I honestly feel sorry for that thing…"

I shrugged. "I don't." Her expression grew even more horrified. "Weiss, I've seen them literally rip civilians limb from limb in front of their children… and then do the same thing to said children." I stated. "I will never feel sorry for a Brute, nor should anyone." I paused. "I mean, do you feel sympathy for the Grimm? Because covvies are our version of them."

She blinked. "Actually… that seems a fairly apt descriptor…" She muttered.

"Except the Covenant has space ships that can burn entire planets from orbit." Blake observed, her face betraying the shock at her own revelation.

I nodded. "Yeah…" I trailed off. "Let's just finish this thing."

Soon enough, the Brute no longer focused on me, allowing me to deal with the other two problems currently launching plasma at me.

The first approached quickly just as its plasma rifle overheated, drawing an energy dagger in the process. I dodged, leaping behind it, and grabbed right under its chestplate before suplexing it into a concrete wall behind us, making a sickening -CRUNCH- from the Elite's neck and burying it under several large chunks.

I quickly rolled to the side, avoiding a strike from the other Major, while using my rolling momentum to slam into its legs, knocking it to the ground with me.

In its moment of stunned stillness, I leaped atop it and buried my knife in its throat, killing it.

I wasn't spared a moment of respite, however, as I, again, had to roll to dodge a strike; this time from an energy sword-wielding Elite General.

I turned to my partner. "Some more rolling incoming."

She nodded and looked away.

I only had one place to go, and that was down the hillside. My roll ended with me kicking off the dirt and crushing a Jackal under the heel of my boot.

"Alright, you're good." I said.

"Thank you."

Its friends turned to me in shock as I grabbed its plasma pistol and unloaded into them, my shields recharging as the last one fell.

The General who'd chased me off my perch slid down the hillside, mock surfing with its sword held out to the side for balance.

I grabbed another plasma pistol and started blazing away at it. Just as it reached the bottom, a badly-aimed plasma mortar came crashing down atop it, vaporizing the Elite and sending its weapon flying.

The deactivated hilt skidded to a stop beside me and I scooped it up, clicking it into place on one of my thighs, before turning to face the Wraith that'd almost hit me.

Sure, there was only one Wraith, but it was also escorted by a pair of massive Hunters along with several Grunts.

"Those Hunters seem… bigger than the other ones we've seen." Blake commented.

I nodded. "Yeah, they're easily the biggest one's I've ever encountered."

"They have to be twice the size of regular Hunters!" Weiss exclaimed. "I mean, as if they normally weren't large enough!"

"No kidding." I said. "Hopefully these end up being the biggest ones I ever see."

"So that's how its gonna be…" I muttered under my breath.

I quickly started picking off the Grunts – albeit slowly, considering I only had a plasma pistol – while dodging the fuel rod guns from the Hunters as well as the plasma mortars from the Wraith.

Several close calls later, the escorts were dead, and I overcharged one of my weapons before firing it at the tank. As it fell to the ground, I quickly sprinted up to it with my semblance and planted a grenade in its exhaust.

By the time it exploded, I'd already whipped out my energy sword and charged one of the Hunters.

I ducked below a swing, missing by mere inches, before vaulting atop its leg and severing its arm. It recoiled in pain, but before it could recover, I'd already made quite the slash into its stomach.

Singed worms poked out of the armor, writhing in pain as the Hunter struggled to retreat.

"Ugh, that… that is just… disgusting…" Weiss got out.

"Agreed." Blake said.

Meanwhile, my sister just looked at the screen, a tinge of green on her cheeks.

I swung around my foe, outflanking its attempt at a one-handed shove, and buried my blade deep in its neck.

It let out a pained roar, but as it was in the process of slumping to the ground, I leaped off the beast and onto its bond brother.

It tried to shake me off, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Just as I was about to end it the same way as the other one, however, my blade was stopped by another energy sword.

Looking up, I saw an Elite Zealot standing over me, a snarl on its split-jawed face. Barely hesitating a moment, it activated an energy dagger and swung down at me, aiming for my torso.

It would end up embedding itself into the Hunter's shoulder after passing through a cloud of rose petals.

We stood opposite the Hunter's head, each on a shoulder, as our new battleground finally settled down for a moment.

It had an energy sword plus its dagger. I drew one of my knives to match it.

"Are you about to have a duel on top of a Hunter?" Weiss asked, incredulously. "Because that's what it looks like."

I nodded. "Yep. That's exactly what's going to happen."

It lunged forwards, blade bound for my torso while the dagger took up a more defensive position closer to its chest.

Trying to end this quickly, I deflected with my sword and aimed to plunge my dagger into its exposed elbow. Unfortunately, its half-commitment to the strike paid off, as I had to back off due to a swipe from the dagger.

Still at close range, I lashed out with a kick to the knee, hitting and stumbling it slightly. Before I could capitalize on its vulnerability, it plunged its sword into where my chest would've been had I not burst into rose petals and appeared behind it.

Still in shock, it only barely dodged my knife strike, still getting nicked on its neck.

Purple blood started to pour from its wound, though its resolve never wavered as it lunged forward again, this time both blades poised to strike.

I jumped over its attacks with my augmented strength, raking my sword down the middle of its skull in the process.

As the Zealot fell, so would I…

…had I not grabbed one of the Hunter's back spikes and catapulted myself back into position, plunging my sword into the nape of its neck in the process.

I kicked off the falling corpse of my enemy, launching myself away from the impact zone. Still airborne, yet more plasma tried to intercept me.

"Do they ever stop?" Blake asked.

I shook my head. "Not quite, no."

Looking at my HUD, I realized that my energy sword only had one charge left, so I threw it into the crowd and was rewarded with the pained yelp of a Grunt.

The moment I landed, I stuck my knife into the nearest enemy, also a Grunt, and took its weapon, a plasma pistol.

I groaned at my luck, still unloading into the enemies, but also retreating as my shields drained; popping just as I rounded a corner.

Instead of more Covenant, I was greeted by two fallen Troopers, one armed with a shotgun and the other, a sniper. I gave them a nod of appreciation as I took their weapons. Ironically enough, the shotgun-wielder had an entire ammo can of shells sitting right next to him.

I quickly magnetized that to my back, below the sniper, and pirouetted backwards, striking an Elite Minor in the jaw with the shotgun and knocking it to the ground.

It looked up at me, hatred in its eyes, as I curbstomped it.

My sister gave me a worried glance out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing.

Not wasting a moment, I re-rounded the corner, a Brute materializing in front of me. Before it could even react, I sent an 8-gauge shell into its head, killing it.

Behind it was an Elite Ultra. It received the same treatment, though its shields didn't break and instead, tried to plunge an energy dagger into my chest.

"Is that their go-to reaction for entering melee?" Weiss asked, eyebrow raised.

I shrugged. "Pretty much." I said. "Lower ranks tend not to think of it in time, but Ultras on up are almost guaranteed to pull a dagger on ya if you get into melee with 'em."

She hummed. "Good to know."

I sidestepped the strike, bodychecking the enemy while I pumped my shotgun, before putting a round through its now-unshielded skull.

A group of Grunts and Jackals rained fire down on me from a few dozen meters away. Unfortunately for them, I had grenades.

The slaughter continued for thirty minutes straight. Each wave of enemies fell to my fury, whether it be by shogun blast, grenade, knife, or even fist, the ruined town I was in just got covered in more bullet casings and covvie blood.

The last enemy, however, was unique.

It was an Elite Minor who saw the writing on the wall and decided to hide.

Unfortunately for it, I saw it duck behind a few breakable crates. Whipping out my sniper, I put a round through where I thought its head would be.

Through my scope, I saw a purple blood-splatter cover the walls behind it, confirming my kill. Sighing, I began walking away from the now-cleared battlefield.

"DEMON!" An Elite's voice roared.

"They can speak Valerian?!" Weiss practically shouted, echoing the thoughts of my teammates.

"Yeah, but they don't do it often." I said. "Also, anyone in UEG space would call this language 'English'."

"Why speak now?" Blake asked. "Surely it could've gotten the jump on you if it'd just stayed quiet."

I shrugged. 'I dunno. But I'm glad it did."

My leisurely walking pace halted instantly, and I turned around. "Hmm, a Field Marshal… Maybe you'll actually put up a fight, unlike your brethren…" I said, gesturing to the field of Covenant corpses we were standing in.

He growled and activated his dual energy knives. "YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"

"Eh, care to put your money where your mouth is?" I taunted, sheathing my sniper rifle, seeing as I wouldn't be needing it here.

"GRAAAA!" The Elite roared, finally losing its temper, as it charged me. I dodged at the last second in a flurry of rose petals, letting its momentum carry it just past me. I quickly climbed up onto its back and buried my combat knife into its skull, killing it.

"Disappointing…" I huffed as I wiped my blade clean before re-sheathing it. I glanced back at the body-stricken battlefield behind me for a moment before turning forwards once more, spying an abandoned house in the distance. Shrugging, I moved towards it.

"So… uhh… You said that you didn't have any plans beyond living…" My sister commented. "What now?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I was just wandering. I didn't really have a set destination in mind."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "And you did with the relay?"

"Yeah." I said. "It was the only nearby one I knew of outside of the shipbreaking yards."

Rather than knocking, I drew my shotgun from my back and kicked down the door, sweeping the area to make sure that no covvies were present. I methodically searched every room, but thankfully found no hostiles.

I came across a partially shattered mirror in what remained of the dining room, and only now did I notice how stained my armor was. My color scheme, a unique combination of a red front and a black back, was replaced almost entirely with blue alien blood, only a few, tiny, spots showed their intended color.

"…You look terrifying…" Blake commented.

I shrugged. "Wasn't what I did a bit terrifying?"

She winced. "Point."

I sighed before popping off my helmet and reaching into one of the many pockets on my recon chestplate, pulling out a silver rose emblem. "…Hey mom…" I started, rubbing the memento with my thumb.

"You talk to yours, too?" Yang asked.

I blinked. "Yeah, I suppose I do…" I trailed off.

She gave me a slight smile before leaning her head against my shoulder.

"Actually, you guys probably don't need to see what's next." I said, fast-forwarding a few hours.

I stopped running and sat down, pulling out mom's silver rose. "Well mom, looks like I was right…" I said. "I'm not gonna make it off Reach…" I paused. "It's gone… and there's a covvie battlecruiser that's gonna glass me any minute."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Yang shouted.

I shrugged. "Yeah, that was their solution to infantry not being able to kill me."

"How did you-"

"I don't know." I interrupted. "I kinda wanna see for myself, so let's keep moving."

I looked up to see the ship in question charging its glassing beam directly on top of me. "See ya soon, mom…" Suddenly, a blinding white light enveloped the space around me.

"Pause!" Weiss shouted, causing me to do so. "You said you didn't know what sent you?" She asked, receiving a nod. "Well, look here." She made a circle around a seemingly empty section of screen.

I blinked. "Wait a minute…" I said, noticing a faint blue circle in the screen. "Is that a portal?" I asked.

"Possibly." She said. "If anything, you're the expert, here."

"Huh…" I let out, dumbfounded. "Well, that's the last I saw of Reach, how much more do you guys wanna see?" I asked.

"When we met," Blake started. "you said you fell from orbit. Does that mean that you've seen Remnant from-"

I nodded. "Yeah."

Her bow twitched in curiosity. "Can we…?" She trailed off.

I looked to my other two teammates, who each adorned similar looks. "Alright." I said, fast-forwarding to a place where Remnant would be visible.

I was apparently still unconscious as Remnant slowly spun into view. The shattered moon was currently eclipsed by the planet, and not visible. A thick crescent of light showed the mountains of eastern Sanus, the west having disappeared below the horizon. On the dark side, a very small cluster of bright lights could be seen in one area of the world, Mistral, I assume.

"…Woah…" My sister let out, echoing everyone's thoughts.

I smiled. "Take a good long look, ladies." I said. "Because this is what you're fighting for."

They each stared for minutes at a time as the planet slowly rotated beneath them. Eventually, each adopted a look of determination.

"Over fifty-million people live down there." Yang observed.

"We won't let them down." Weiss said.

Blake stayed silent, though her face told of how she was behind them 100%.

(A/N) And that's the conclusion! Lone Wolf is done, and Ruby is one no longer. I'll address a few things about the actual chapter here, but if you wanna skip to the epilogue, it'll be below.

Obviously I modified the last level quite a bit, but after playing through it several times, I realized that it just devolved into Bungie throwing Elite Generals at you 'til you died. Not only does this make no sense in-universe, but it also makes for a pretty boring story.

Yeah, I get that some people might not like the fact that Ruby was dual wielding turrets for a minute there, but honestly, a Spartan should (lore-wise) be able to do that. Also, in the death cutscene, Six dual wields an AR and a pistol, something which cannot be done in game, meaning that particular argument is invalid. Plus, it's a reference to one of Monty's older works, so there's that.

About the flammable Brute… yeah, not sorry, lol. They're pretty combustible in Halo 3, so I figured "why not here, too?"

Also, the Giant Hunter is about as canonically possible as the giant Hunters from Halo Legends: The Duel. I was going to make it be a normal-sized one, but then I did a little testing on Reach and found out that there isn't enough room to have a sword fight on top of one. So yes, that Hunter exists solely to be fought atop.

Ruby B-312: The Fall of Reach

Epilogue

Months later; Patch Island

I sighed, looking at the pair of headstones standing in front of me.

Summer Rose

1542AE – 1571AE

Thus kindly, I scatter.

Ruby Rose

1566AE – 1571AE

A Rose plucked too soon.

Those two were there before we arrived, though mine now adorned a 'B312, Noble Six' etched below the epitaph. Looking to my left, I saw the new additions to the Rose graveyard.

Carter 'Bossman' Rose

2520CE – 2552CE

He lost brothers and sisters by the hundreds, gave his life so two may live.

A259, Noble One.

Catherine 'Kat' Rose

2530CE – 2552CE

Lost an arm and fought on, as deadly with a keystroke as she was with a pistol.

B320, Noble Two.

Jun 'Eagle Eye' Rose

2524CE – 2552CE

True fate unknown, likely deceased. Unseen on the battlefield, his rifle always announced the death of an enemy.

A266, Noble Three.

Emile 'Knifey' Rose

2524CE – 2552CE

Gave his life so Humanity could survive. Took his assailant with him.

A239, Noble Four.

Jorge 'Jorgie' Rose

2511CE – 2552CE

Sacrificed himself to save his home. Will always be remembered as the giant with a heart of gold.

052, Noble Five.

Each of their tombstones also adorned a stone replica of their helmets; Weiss's gift to them in her absence. I picked up the final headstone and placed it beside mine.

Lisette 'Red' Rose

2532CE – 2545CE

A child sent to war, she sacrificed herself so her sister may live.

B276, Honorary Noble Seven.

Her helmet was, unfortunately, less detailed than the rest of Noble Team's, as there was no footage to give to the sculptors. Though, like them, it adorned the same rose emblem that mine and mom's graves did. I gave a small smile that my adoptive sister finally had a place to rest after all these years.

I stepped back in line with Yang and Blake, who were both dressed in black, matching me, and wielding their rifles.

"Left face!" I ordered. After they obeyed, I continued. "Present arms!" They hoisted their weapons up and aimed them over the cliff. "Fire!"

-Bang-

"Fire!"

-Bang-

"Fire!"

-Bang-

I paused. "At ease." I said, causing them to readjust their grips to more comfortable positions. "Well, that's about all we can do with what we have." I said, giving my teammates a smile. "Thank you guys, this means a lot to me."

"No problem, Ruby." Blake said.

"Yeah, what she said." My sister responded. "But uhh… you think they'd be fine with you putting 'Rose' on their graves?"

"We're brothers and sisters in arms. I'd consider them as much my family as you or dad, and I'm sure they felt the same way."

Suddenly, my father burst through the treeline. "I heard gunshots, what's wrong?" He said, fists clenched.

"Nothing, dad…" I sighed. "Just… saying goodbye to some old friends…"

His eyes trailed behind me, spotting the graves. "Oh…" He said. "Do you need a minute?"

I shook my head. "No, we just got done."

He solemnly nodded. "Okay." He said. "Supper's almost ready by the way. And I was thinking we could play Remnant: The Game afterwards."

Yang threw me a, for once, confident grin. "Oh, I'm so gonna kick your butt, sis."

I smiled in return. "We'll see about that."

(A/N) I'd been trying to work a Noble Team funeral into the story for a while when I started FoR, but I never really got around to it. Now seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.

I know some people will be mad that I had Ruby posthumously adopt Noble Team as her family, but I think it fits with how I've described Spartans as a whole, aka, brothers and sisters to the end (or past it, in this case). And Ruby probably thinks that they deserve a place to rest, even if its only symbolic and doesn't actually contain their bodies.

Now its time for the last reviews of this fic! And boy were there a lot last chapter.

TheFishKing said – "You have still yet to explain who John-117 is to the rest of RWBY, the fact that he is the BEST SPATIAN can not be understated to the girls, also give 117 Agent Texas achievement of ripping out a skull and beating a man to death with it, but have it so Ruby was there and saw it"

…Yeah… not my brightest moment… Though I did go back and update that chapter with a few paragraphs at the end to fix this… …sans the Tex moment, though.

Guest 001 said – "There was an AI chip in the tube in the game!"

Actually, if you look at the in-game model… no there isn't… It's just a blue light. One very disappointing blue light.

Guest 002 asked – "Why did Ruby tell Weiss to look away from the screen they jumped from the Zpelican!?"

If you go all the way back to whatever chapter I did 'Tip of the Spear' in, you'll notice that Weiss gets VR sick. This was kind of a stupid flaw I gave her and probably won't be mentioned outside this fic… simply because when the fuck is it gonna come up again?

JimmyHall24 said – "So beautiful"

Thanks!

Guest 003 said – "Emile actually said "'Cruiser' to the east" not "'crevice' to the east"!"

Honestly, I have no idea where you got this idea. The transcripts say 'Crevice' and to me, that's exactly what it sounds like. So, no. He says: "Crevice to the east."

Guest 004 asked – "What happened at Skopje!?"

Yeah, probably should've answered that in the first iteration. That's part of the update I did to last chapter. Don't worry, its easy to find. Literally right above the (A/N).

Artyon-Dreizehn said – "So her ending willl be so badass that an orbital bombardment or Glassing beam is needed just to stop her. Man, that's what i'm always imagine or wish when you kill thousands of Covies in the game but the game doesn't tsk! or even in some fanfics."

Ikr? Sure, Six got a good death by fighting to the last ounce of strength he had, but that would've been so much cooler if you managed to survive for over, say, an hour or so. Good luck getting that far, though.

Shadow Walker of Fire said – "Great chapter. Yeah I realized that my last review was redundant and I forgot that scarab in 'Long Night of Solace' it didn't leave a big impression. I got game AI fail too: I was playing custom firefight with elites with UNSC weapons, last two, elite 1 had a shotgun and elite 2 had sniper, I used evade to get away from E1 just as E2 fired and killed E1, I was so busy laughing, E2 came up and kill me from behind. Luckily I had more lives."

Thanks! Its always funny to hear about random AI fails. Kinda reminds me of one of my more memorable ones that actually turned out to be an AI win. I'd gone into a bubble shield at some point and a Grunt decided to try and stick me with a grenade, only it bounced back and stuck itself. It then proceeded to run into the bubble shield and explode, killing me. This was years ago, but it was so memorable that it's actually stuck with me that long.

Irdchief said – "cortana did say stuff in the legendary endkmg, it goes something like this; Keys: what im saying Cortana, is did thy make it out? Cortana: oh i think we both know the answer to that, as the Autumn apporaches 04"

Yeah, I knew about that, I was more talking about doing something like I did and having Cortana give a 'thanks for the ride' or something to Six.

Herpaderp1028 said – "I see that sergeant Johnson refrence good on you good on you"

What can I say? He makes the covvies regret being alien bastards.

Spartastic 4 said – "Well now... only Lone Wolf left. Can't wait to see how it's done and everyones reaction to Ruby getting 'Glassed.' But will you finish ASH first before the second volume of B-312 or along side of it?"

Yeah hope you enjoyed! And, although it was my original plan to finish ASH before the main story resumed, I'll finish it while V2 is running.

Red october 700 said – "A Brutal Ruby huh, Some whare in hell a demon sits ram rod straight and looks at the doom slayers crypt wondering if he some how got lose and prays to God almighty on the poor bastards sole. Lol I honestly could not resist that little bit of DOOM. Think about it, She is going to be slaughtering all the things. Demon sertainly does fit but when demon is to light of a title, the only thing left aside from devil is the doom slayer which Satan himself is scared of. Again could not resist. Wait, Ruby met John at some point? Where and when and is thier going to be a short for this infoe? If not thier needs to be, if their is, you can count me exited and cant wait till it comes. And magic fence is magic.

Funnily enough with the Doom reference, after the Hunter scene, I started listening to "Hell to Pay" by Miracle of Sound while writing it. Not so much a short, and more of an edit to the previous chapter. I might do a flashback at some point in the main story, but not here. For a minute, I considered bringing it up in ASH, but I quickly realized that none of the Spartans would've been able to meet Ruby before the Spirit left for Arcadia. Indeed, magic fences are the best.

Dovah117 – "So Ruby met Cortana for a shot time, didnt expect it but its welcomed it, so WBY are finally going to see the Reaper of Draco? Man I really didnt survive a lot in that mission, i manage to do 6 or 10 minutea before dying, they really throw everything at you in that level, so with the next chapter the main history continue? Great! Am really expecting what its going to happen! And also waiting for the Mother and daugther reunion! I really hope for that, and Johnson will probably be in the same reasoning with Weiss about Spartans and their fallings, we have Halo 3 first scene to prove that"

Yeah, thought it'd be a nice little addition to the story. And yeah, they certainly met the Reaper, though she didn't use a scythe… yet. I'm about the same for survival length on that mission, I'd find it more enjoyable if they swarmed you with hordes of normal enemies instead of only Elite Generals at the end, but eh. V2C1 should be ready next week, It's not quite ready now, but its close. Glad you're excited, though!

And that's all for this fic! Thank you guys for reading, and I hope to see you all in Volume 2 of the main story as well as A Summer's Harvest!

GreenTheRyno, signing off.