The First Daughter (A RWBY Fanfic)

Intermission 3/3: Life Day Truce

~Thirty-two years ago, 2993 KE~

In Atlas Academy, it was quiet. Students and faculty were glued to screens and televisions as news reports were coming in. On the televisions were scenes of Atlas soldiers and airships invading the snow-covered islands between Solitas and Mimar known as the Lantis Islands. When the students were seeing that the Mimaran troops of the 26th Legion were being overrun and forced to retreat, there were cheers from the patriotic students of Atlas.

To them, Atlas was recovering its lost territory and their country's invasion of Mimaran-controlled territory was perfectly justified. A step towards Atlas's return as a major power in the world.

More than a few students would get swept up in the war fever, thinking they should fight for their kingdom and go on a grand adventure. Many will join up in the Atlas military.

.....

Many won't come home.

~Several months later. December 24th~

Aboard an Atlas airship heading towards the Lantis Islands, a young man with black hair, wearing an Atlas trooper uniform, steps into a locker room to grab his gear. He sees dozens of men and women doing the same. Many of them weren't much older than he was, ranging between the ages of 17 to 20 years of age, himself being 17.

As the young man approached his locker, labeled "J. Ironwood", he hears a familiar voice coming up to him.

Clay: James! Glad to see you are finally awake.

The young James Ironwood glances to see a young Bruno Clay walking up to him with a male and female teammates that they knew from the Academy, Azure and Ash. Ironwood smirks at Clay.

Ironwood: I appreciate you guys letting me have my beauty sleep for once. I think Basic made you go soft on me.

Clay: Pfft, as if. We were just feeling generous today.

Ironwood chuckles as he puts on his body armor and grabs his helmet.

Ironwood: I'm honored to experience your rare generosity, Bruno.

Clay: "Rare"?! I'm known far and wide for my generosity!

Ash: Yeah right, and I am the Queen of Mistral.

Clay flinches before crossing his arms as his teammates laugh. The group of friends that made up Team JAAB signed up into the Atlas military after war broke out between Atlas and Mimar, all thinking they were being patriotic heroes for the kingdom. They were all so excited to go to war because they didn't know better.

After the team's laughing ended, Azure clapped his hands together.

Azure: Oh! Did you guys hear there was going to be peppermint milkshakes and cookies in the mess hall today? Apparently the captain was doing something special for Life Day before we made it to the frontline.

Clay: You had me at cookies. Let's go guys!

Ironwood smirks before following his friends in celebrating the holiday. Life Day is a holiday where people celebrate life and the end of the year before New Year begins. It had a rather grim origin as it was to celebrate another year of being alive from the Grimm, but it became a rather wholesome holiday where family and friends come together.

(Basically, it's like Christmas but without a religious origin.)

~One year later. December 24th, 2994 KE~

Winter has fully set in on the Lantis Islands. Snow covered the grounds and trench lines made by both Atlas and Mimar as the two sides in this war dug in for the winter. In the Atlas trench, Ironwood was laying in the infirmary with bandages around his body. His right arm and leg were gone and his right torso was badly wounded. He had heard Doctor Watts saying that he will be needing prosthesis for his lost limbs and probably his right torso once he gets home.