Hello again.

While I was making the next chapter I described to rewrite this one while taking advice from all the reviews.

If there's is still something you think is wrong and can be done better let me know.

Rwby and Warhammer 40k are owned by there respective companies (RoosterTeath and Games Workshop)

With that out of the way, I hope this is better than the last attempt.

————

The trench was full of muffled curses and the clang of flak armour plates bashing into each other.

As crowded as the trench was yet more guardsmen filed into the trench while a priest was yelling prayer over the sound of combat.

Estrus was a veteran. He had to have performed many great deeds in Emperor's name to end up in the platoon commanders personal retinue.

He had been a medical orderly before his promotion and had personally saved the officers life.

The junior officer looked down at his watch. It was nearly time.

The commander held his hand for silence and gradually all the sound in the trench died, save the sound of incoming fire.

As he held his first in the air and the guardsmen made themselves ready themselves to go over the top.

"Charge in the name of the Emperor" The platoon commander yelled through the crackle of lasfire. The wave of metal faces rushed forwards towards the enemy.

The Maccabian lines charged forwards disregarding their own casualties. They would all end up martyrs in the end as the great saint did.

Field medic Estrus of the 3rd platoon was at the head of the charge. His bolter was strapped over his back but his power sword faced the enemy, ready to take blood in the Emperor's name.

He stumbled slightly as he took a stubber round to the arm but it did not stop him in all his fanatic fury as he continued to hurl himself towards the heretics.

He only fell when a heretic removed most of his legs with a plasma weapon. He fell and his vision slowly faded as he was trampled by those who charged behind him. Blood was slowly filling up his mask.

The last thing he saw was the banner of the 64th Maccabian Janissaries fluttering in the breeze overhead.

He died content knowing he served his Emperor well.

—-

"Um.. hello?" He heard a voice childlike voice say.

"M-my liege?" He asked, his voice stuttering and course.

"What?" The voice said in surprise.

He tried to open his eyes but the light momentarily blinded him. Slowly he regained his vision and he realised he was not on an ethereal plane, but a forest of some kind.

His vision was suddenly blocked by a girl. She had black, red hair and looked a few years younger than himself. She looked at him with an inquisitive smile.

"What are doing sleeping in the forest?" she asked curiously.

"Where am I?" Estrus asked groggily.

"Duh... It's the Emerald forest, " The girl replied "How do you fall asleep out here with knowing where you are? Are you drunk?"

Suddenly all his memories returned to him. The battle, The charge and most importantly his death.

"No no no!" he yelled half crying on the inside.

"What?" Queried the red person

"I should be dead!" He yelled at her. "I give my life for you and this is what you do!" He said, continuing his rant at the sky. "Do you not want me dead?"

"Well, that's a strange reaction."

"Where is this?" Estrus asked

"I told you, The forest"

"No, the planet"

"Strange question" she replied "Remnant"

"Never heard of it. What segmentum?"

He was returned a look of confusion. "Segmentum?"

He got to his feet, dusted himself off. Estrus made weapons check, his laspistol was in its holster, his boltgun and pack where still on his back but his sword and sheath were missing.

"I assume this is yours," she said, holding out the power sword in its sheath. "Found it in the bushes over there, you seem to like old fashioned weapons. Like Janus."

Estrus pulled it out of its scabbard and click the on button. It stated shining blue and crackled as arcs of electricity zapped along it.

"Whoa..." The girl said in amazement "I didn't know it could do that, what happens if you…Oww." The power weapon had given a high voltage shock when she put her hand to close.

"Does it have a name?" She asked as she shook her hand trying to get rid of the feeling.

"What purpose does a name serve for a weapon?" He asked. Although he knew a few people named their weapons he saw no purpose to the practice.

"So no?" She stopped thoughtfully for a minute or so "How about electro-blade. Or maybe the Shocker."

This day had started strangely. Estrus had died, ended up on a different planet and now a girl was quite persistent on the fact that he named his sword.

"Do you have a name?" Estrus asked, trying to direct attention away from the power sword she seemed to obsess over.

"What?"

"Do YOU have a name?"

"Oh, My name is Ruby rose" She replied cheerfully. "And this is Crescent Rose," The girl said as she pulled out a ridiculously sized scythe.

"What… How?"

Estrus stepped back in shock pulling the laspistol out of its holster at the girl. What kind of witchcraft would allow anyone to wield something of the size?

"Are you a witch?"

"No, why do you say that?"

"How do you hold that!" He asked nervously, the laspistol shaking in his hands.

"What? This little thing?" The Scythe was far from little. It was bigger than her. "My uncle taught me how to use it. Nice gun. What does it shoot? Does it have a name?"

"Stop asking questions!" He yelled. Ruby was shocked by the sudden outburst. Although she could not see his face he was clearly annoyed. "Where can I get the next shuttle off-world?

"You mean space? Did you come from another planet? Are you an alien?"

He stepped forward putting the laspistol up to her eye level. "You will not compare a servant of the Emperor to any foul Xenos!" He yelled," But yes I am from off-world." he said a much calmer tone but not taking the pistol down.

"Sorry, you might be waiting for a while."

"So this is a world that has no access to space travel?

She paused thoughtfully for a second, "Yep."

The laspistol dropped slightly. "By the throne."

"Welcome to Remnant, I'll be your guide." She said cheerfully without any grasp of the situation.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?"

"Well, Ozpin might be able to help you." She replied with a frown crossing her face.

"Is he the governor of this world?" Estrus questioned.

"No, he is the principal of a school." Ruby replied.

He let out a shallow sigh. "How does a school teacher help me."

"If anyone can help you, it'll be him." For the first time, she actually looked serious.

He carefully weighed up his options. Accept help from Ruby or stay on square one. She seemed human enough to be trusted but if she was a heretic Estrus wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

Reluctantly, he holstered the laspistol.

"Fine, lead the way but if you betray my trust I will not hesitate to kill you." Estrus replied.

Ruby sped off faster than he thought possible leaving a trail of rose petals behind.

Don't see that every day he thought to himself but it didn't look like witchcraft. Once again he pondered the possibility of terminating her and finding his own way.

He concluded that it would mean to much time wasted when there was a clear shortcut. Promptly he marched after her.

————

"So you're from a different dimension?" Ozpin asked

"No" Estrus responded "Just a different planet."

"That should make things easier"

"Yes," Estrus said, "You don't need to explain breathing to me."

The metallic mask concealing the man's face left him unsure if he was just terrible at humour or mocking him.

"I have a small request," Estrus said.

Ozpin raised his eyebrows and peered over his glasses.

"Do you have a star map by any chance?" The guardsman asked. "I only wish to know where I am." He continued, struggling after Ozpin shot him a suspicious glance.

He thought about the request. Either he might be trying to give his location to a friend to get him out of here, or he was telling the truth. A space-age civilisation knowing of Remnants existence might mean that its independence wouldn't last much longer.

Little did he know that Esteus had no form of long-range communication.

Reluctantly, Ozpin made a motion with his hand and a hologram of the milky way lit up his desk.

Estrus looked at the map. Remnant was on the absolute fringe of the galaxy. No wonder nobody knew of its existence.

He looked back towards the segmentum solar and started naming planets.

"Valhalla, Mordian, Krieg, Holy Terra..." He went on making the symbol of the Aquila at the name of the blessed planet.

"Armageddon, Catachan, the eye of terra, Maccabeus and the place of my death."

"Can you give any explanation for you "death" but not death?" Ozpin

"I believe the Emperor is not done with me yet," Estrus said in a monotone voice that betrayed no emotion.

"He still has a purpose for me."

"And who is this Emperor character?"

Estrus was in felt a mix of horror and shock. A world in the outer rim of the galaxy that had no knowledge of his beloved Emperor or the power that he had! He made a mental note to change that.

"The Emperor is the god of humanity." He went on evoking the symbol of the Aquila, "He resides on the golden throne

on holy terra, he is the ruler of the Imperium of mankind, an empire that spans the whole galaxy."

"How old are you?"

It was an odd question if you regarded the previous one.

"18 in another 7 Sol months" he replied, confusion creeping into his voice.

"Can you take off your helmet?" Ozpin asked

He complied taking off his helmet. Estrus was a young man, pale skin, short unkempt hair and a (mostly) clean-shaven face.

What took Ozpin by surprise was his eyes.

They were silver.

Not the same bright shining silver like Ruby's. They were dark but still silver. Ozpin knew that this man had seen things. He refrained from mentioning that fact even though the boy almost certainly didn't know what it meant on Remnant.

Ozpin thought to himself for a moment before speaking.

"You see Estrus, that is your name?" The guardsmen nodded in confirmation as Ozpin continued "I am headmaster at this school"

"I have been told"

"Here a beacon, we train students to become defenders of this world. As it seems you are stuck here on Remnant, why don't you enrol in Beacon?"

Estrus thought about it. He had left his homeworld to protect people and smite enemies of the emperor. Was he going to give that up just because he was stuck here?

"I have one condition" he replied, "I require 10 standard planetary minutes set aside for prayer."

"These are agreeable terms." He replied after a little pondering. "Miss Goodwitch is outside, she will take to a temporary dorm."

With that, the guardsmen replaced his helmet and started walking towards the door.

"One more thing," Ozpin said.

He looked back, not stopping walking.

"Try not converting any of the students"

"No promises" Estrus replied as he closed the door.

————

"Ozpin said to give this to you," Goodwitch said as she passed Estrus a scroll.

He looked at it, his confused face hidden by his death mask.

He knew it was a cogitator of some form but how to use it was far beyond him.

"Here you go." He looked up from the device.

She waved the scroll in front of the door and it unlocked.

So its a key Estrus thought to himself.

The dorm was well above Imperial Barack standard.

It was well furnished with a bed, dresser and a bathroom.

"One of the students will show you around Beacon. I will also meet you here at 9:10 am to put you through the initiation exam" she went on.

"That gives you your 10 minutes for your... whatever you do."

"Understood" the guardsman replied.

With that Goodwitch turned and left.

Estrus found himself left in a room, alone with no orders to follow. It was a strange feeling, like a hole in his life. He put his backpack on his bed and reviewed the contents.

In it was his trench knife, corpse starch rations, a mechanical arm, an inactive servo-skull and enough meds to last a lifetime. He then sat down on his new bed and tasked himself with the chore of cleaning his boltgun.

————

A knock was heard at the door.

Estrus stopped reading the uplifting primer and placed it face down on his bed to save the page. It was Ruby was standing outside.

"Hello again, I was told you were spending some time at Beacon." Ruby said excitedly "I'm heading down to the forge to tune up crescent rose. Do you need to modify anything"

"No, that would be tech-heresy," He said bluntly "but a few bolter rounds wouldn't go amiss."

Estrus hung his bolter over his shoulder and followed the girl down the hall to the forge.

"Do your rounds contain any form of dust?" Ruby asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I haven't a clue what that is."

"Dust is like a power source and can also be used as a weapon. There are a few different kinds of dust that act differently" Ruby replied

"Sounds useful"

"It is, and this..." She said pointing in a room "is the forge, so let's get to work."

————

After some initial difficulty with the strange tools in the forge, Estrus managed to fabricate another clip of bolter ammunition. It was quite a hack job and most likely would miss fire when shot.

He continued to create a grenade. The case, detonator and primer where easy, but finding a suitable explosive was harder.

Eventually, he settled for some ice dust. If it failed, well at least he tried.

He clipped the grenade on to his belt and put the bolter magazine in his left pocket.

"Are you done?" said Ruby, who had finished a while ago and as now sitting on a bench.

"The task is completed."

"Well it's about time, I'm heading down to the canteen" Ruby hopped down from the bench and headed towards the door. Estrus turned to follow but faltered.

"You coming?" She asked.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea," Estrus said staring towards the floor.

"Why? Are you afraid of people seeing your face! Is that why you wear a mask?"

"To tell the truth, yes that's maybe part of it," Estrus replied seeing there was no point lying.

"I don't think people are that judgemental, except for Cardin" Ruby replied, "but he's a bully so he doesn't count."

Estrus exhaled slightly. "Fine, I'll go.." He said defeated "but I'll go, but I still don't think it's a good idea."

————

The dining hall was massive. Not as big as in a Galaxy-class troopship but still bigger than he expected in a school.

"Come on, the buffet is over here," said Ruby as she tried to drag Estrus towards the food.

"No offence, but I might stay away from your food for a while." The guardsmen said shyly, "I packed my own."

"Oh, Come on!" Ruby half shouted startling some of the other students.

After some convincing Estrus agreed to try the leg of a cooked bird known as "chicken" and a circular object simply called "cookie."

"Come to our table, I'm sure everyone would like to meet you," Said Ruby before stuffing multiple "cookie" in her mouth.

As Ruby led Estrus towards the designated table, he got quite a few stares from other students.

After all, a man in silver flak

armour with his face hidden behind his death mask was not an everyday sight.

"Estrus, meet Yang, Blake and Weiss." Ruby said, "Team, this is Estrus, he's new."

"The Emperor protects," Estrus said in greeting, forgetting these people had no knowledge of Imperial culture.

"Umm... Hi?" Replied Yang

He internally facepalmed as he made the connection.

"I apologize, I'm not so... knowledgeable about local customs. I'm not from around here"

"Are you from one of the other kingdoms as an exchange student?" The one Ruby called Weiss asked.

"No, I hail from the shrine world of Maccabeus within the Imperium of mankind."

"Wait, there are people on other planets?" Yang asked.

"The Imperium controls an estimated 94% of the known galaxy." Replied Estrus with a small rush of patriotic pride.

"Hey," said ruby while chewing a cookie, "Eat first, talk later"

None of the others could argue with that logic and went back to eating save Estrus who sat down and stared at his food.

His steel mask was concealing the conflict that was fighting within him. He eventually gave in. His helmet made a slight pop as it came off and he put it underneath the bench.

He picked up the chicken leg and took a bite. The taste took him by surprise. He had expected the starchy, bland textures that he had familiarised himself with at the guard academy.

Instead, it was juicy and tender, almost like a grox.

He quickly took another bite, almost like someone was about to try and take it.

"Told you it was good!" Ruby said in the "I told you so" voice.

"Mhh," He said cheerfully in agreement through his mouthful.

Blake looked at Estrus and saw something.

"Your eyes..."

The cheerful look saw sapped from his face and replaced with a mix of sadness and shame.

"There silver."

Estrus stared down at the half-eaten chicken leg. He felt like it was now mocking him.

"I apologize."

The sentence hit Ruby like a bucket of icy water. He was apologizing for have the same colour eyes as her, although he hadn't seemed to of worked that out.

"I am impure. I am worthy of no pity and only hate. I live knowing that I can never be a true human." The words the guardsmen said we're more depressing than his last.

Yang elbowed Blake in the ribs. She was given the expression of utter confusion.

"Hey... Uh, Estrus." Blake said trying to get his attention. "I wasn't trying to insult you."

"No, It is my fault for carrying my family's tainted genes."

"I don't think it's a problem." Yang stated, "Ruby has got silver eyes to."

Estrus look at the red girl and for the first time realised her eye where in fact silver too.

"How do you live so happily knowing you carry a taint?"

Ruby looked at his faded silver eyes. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

He reached underneath the bench for his helmet and fitted it on his head. The face that was not his own, that wept a single silver tear.

Ruby felt like the mask concealed more than one.

The guardsmen stood up holding the cookie, straightened his back and left.

"I'm pretty sure Blake just made a grown man cry." Stated Yang.

————

The guardsmen took off his helmet.

Estrus looked at the mirror and wiped the tears from his face. His eyes were the same faded silver as his flak armour.

He broke eye contact with the face that brought him shame and went and sat down on his bed.

He picked up the infantryman's uplifting primer from where he left it on the bed and flicked to the prayer section, kneeled and read a passage aloud.

"Love the Emperor.

For he is the salvation of mankind.

Obey His words.

For he will lead you into the light of the future.

Heed His wisdom.

For he will protect you from evil.

Whisper His prayers with devotion. For they will save your soul.

Honour His servants.

For they speak in His voice

Tremble before His majesty.

For we all walk in His immortal shadow."

He placed his helmet on his dresser and turned off the light.

He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling.

The whole time he didn't see that figure, dressed in black and perched on his window sill.

————

Team Ruby, Yang and Weiss where iI their dorm when blake entered through the window.

"Is he okay?" Yang asked.

"He sat down, did something weird with a book and then cried himself to sleep"

"Good work blake," Weiss commented. "The one time you open your mouth and you make a someone cry."

"I don't think she was trying to," Yang said.

The argument continued between the three but none of them seemed to notice ruby sitting on her bed.

She of all people was affected the most. The words Estrus had spoken had cut deep.

Ruby had never thought of her eye colour as a bad thing but Estrus seemed to be completely appalled by his own.

Was it really a taint?

————

The alarm on Estrus's data slate was going off. It had set itself to local time a now read 8:21. He was a full minute behind schedule.

He knelt in front of a makeshift shrine he made and found safety in the familiar prayer of the imperial creed.

He decided against eating in the cafeteria and retrieved a bowl of something called "Pumpkin-Pete."

It tasted a lot better than repurposed human corpse although it was extremely crunchy. He noted the food on this planet was much better in general.

After finishing he returned to sitting on his bed. Yet again he found the emptiness that came with having no orders.

After silently thinking he looked at his data-slate which now read 8:52. A knock was heard at the door, Goodwitch was early. He reattached his helmet and opened the door.

Outside was the yellow girl, Yang.

"Oh. It's you."

"Yep, just me." She replied, "were you expecting someone else?"

He hesitated for a moment unsure if he should continue. What implications would arise from telling her? She would find out anyway and seemed harmless enough.

"I'm waiting for someone to retrieve me for the entrance exam," Estrus replied.

"So you not just passing through?"

"It would seem not." He paused, "Do you have any reason for knocking on my door or just pleasantries?"

She looked at him for a good minute before answering.

"Your not really from another planet are you?" She asked.

"On the contrary, I stated that I was from the shrine world Maccabeus." He continued, "It is a shrine-world further towards the centre of the Galaxy."

"What's a shrine world" Yang seemed to be quite interested in the imperial cause and might even convert with some persecution.

"It is a whole planet dedicated to a religious cause. On my homeworld, a general called Drusus died and came back from the grave as a saint."

At that moment miss Goodwitch decided to walk around the corner.

"Estrus, can you come with me?" she asked.

"Talk later then," said Yang as she ran off like she was about to get in trouble. Maybe the students weren't supposed to talk to him now.

Estrus followed Goodwitch down the hall.

"Ozpin said not to convert any students." She commented, more in annoyance than anger.

"She asked" was his best defence he could come up with.