[DISCONTINUED] The Soldiers Of Remnant - (RWBY + Star Wars Crossover)

Chapter 53 - Survivors

Bold Font - Time/Location

Italic Font - Thoughts

What was happening? Was he dead? The last thing Cross remembered was seeing Yang and her father standing in front of him before blacking out. He tried to remember why he was there until a rough tapping on his face and shoulder woke him up from his unconscious state. He groaned and tried to swat whatever was tapping him away until a sudden burst of pain filled his chest resulting in him shouting out and waking up faster. He also felt a damp room temperature object on his forehead. The Clone captain squinted his brown eyes to try and see who it was standing next to him. Said person gently pushed him back down onto whatever he was laying on.

Yang: "Easy, you're not okay to move just yet."

Cross: "I...I recognize that voice..."

He was able to identify her once his vision adjusted itself to a reasonable level.

Cross: "Yang? What...what am I doing here?"

Taiyang: "We were hoping you could answer that."

The injured soldier attempted to locate the source of the new voice until his eyes finally landed upon Taiyang standing in the doorway with his helmet in his hands. He further looked around the room and guessed that he was currently in their home. His mind then went back to what Yang said and looked down at his body in response. He was resting on a white bed with a yellow pillow underneath him. A similar bed but with red pillows was to the left. One thing he immediately noticed was that he was still in his damaged armor.

Cross: "Blast..."

Yang removed the damp object from his forehead. Apparently he was bleeding and said object was a towel, now slightly red from the blood.

Cross: "That would explain the headache."

Trailing back to Taiyang's question, his eyes widened as he remembered the fateful situation the rest of the 204th got themselves into. He felt his heartbeat rise and as much as he hated to admit it, he choked up.

Cross: "W-we..."

Yang clearly noticed and sat next to him and patted his shoulder.

Cross: "We crashed...again. We were moving to investigate a strange reading behind the moon. We found out it...it was a Separatist warship. They hit us before we had time to get the shields up...we managed to hit them back, but our ships collided and sent us both down to the planet. The other ship burned up...our ship crashed and was destroyed. There was only three hundred and twenty one of us remaining..."

Something about using the past tense unnerved Taiyang. He walked over and put the helmet on the bed next to Cross.

Taiyang: "Was?"

Cross: "We were ambushed...Grimm attacked us...it lasted weeks...I took a gunship and crashed here...I'm the only survivor..."

He just stared into the wall in front of him. He didn't bother saying another word. He failed, and that's all there was to it. Neither Taiyang or his daughter could believe it. They were probably just as powerful as Atlas, but they were still overrun by Grimm. They were interrupted from their thoughts when Cross groaned out in pain and clutched the side of his left hip.

Taiyang: "If we can't get that armor off of you, we can't do anything about that."

Cross looked up at Taiyang and then back down at his wound. He grunted as he attempted to get up. Yang helped him and the Clone started to unbuckle the pieces of Phase 1 armor. He set the damaged pieces on the bed and laid back down in his slightly ripped black bodysuit as Yang and Taiyang treated his wounds the best they could. Outside their window, they were oblivious to two men in black and yellow armor watching them closely from the treeline. One of them tapped a communicator on their wrist that lit up a bright green color.

???: "Commander. We found them."

2 Days Later - Xiao Long Residence

Light danced through the windows and onto the sleeping Clone's face. As much as he wished he could sleep in more...or forever, he knew he had to get up and get on with his life. He let out a slight groan as he stretched his sore appendages now wrapped in bandages. He heard a knock on the door-frame and looked over to see Yang with a tray of assorted fruits and a few strips of toast and bacon. As he opened his mouth to speak, Yang stopped him.

Yang: "You haven't been eating since we found you...or since you found us I guess. I know what it's like to lose, believe me..."

She looked down at her prosthetic arm and then back to him.

Yang: "But now you gotta ask yourself what you're going to do. You gonna give up? Or are you going to keep moving on?"

She finished her little speech and set the tray down on the bed. Cross didn't care for optimism at the moment and frowned at her.

Cross: "You have no idea what it's like losing a family, do you?"

As she was leaving, she froze at his question. She slowly turned around, very slightly tearing up.

Yang: "I...I know exactly what it's like..."

Now he felt like a dirtbag.

Cross: "I...Yang, I didn't-"

Yang: "No, it's okay... Did Crane ever tell you what happened to my mom?"

Cross simply nodded his head no.

Yang: "My biological mother left shortly after I was born. Not long later, my dad married Ruby's mom and Ruby came along a few years later. Then one day she went out on a mission and never came back. Ruby was heartbroken...and I was too."

Yang wiped the tears from her eyes with her good arm. Cross leaned forward, put his head in his hands, and sighed in exhaustion.

Cross: "My men were the only family I knew. We were raised together from birth. All of us had mostly the same training, the same knowledge. More importantly, we were always there for each other. Crane was a brother to me more than anyone else, which is a little ironic since we're all, you know...Clones except for him."

Yang giggled a little and Cross soon followed with a light chuckle.

Yang: "Yeah, that makes sense...that reminds me, where is Crane? He's...he's not gone too, is he?"

Cross sighed in relief.

Cross: "No. He left me in charge of the rest of the 204th after blaming himself for crashing us here again. Last thing he told me was that he was going to see if he could find Ruby and protect Remnant without getting the rest of us caught in it. A supply ship was supposed to come to Remnant every two weeks, but it never came after we crashed. We were about to make our way to Atlas...until we were attacked by the Grimm. I was going to head there until I was attacked by some Grimm that fly. Closest place I could crash land was just off the shore of this island..."

Yang: "Crane is with Ruby? That...makes me feel slightly better about her chances."

Yang began to walk out of the room again.

Yang: "Well...I'm sorry about what happened. You'll be safe here with my dad and-"

Cross: "Yang. We both know you're going to try and find Ruby."

Her eyes widened. She calmed down however and refused to try and hide it.

Yang: "That obvious huh?"

Cross nodded.

Yang: "Well...then finish the food my dad made for you. We don't have all day."