The first thing Ruby noticed when she woke up was that everything hurt.

It felt like her muscles had been frozen stiff and then stretched to the breaking point, like her bones had been broken and replaced with concrete, like steak knives had been stabbed into her eye sockets, like her brain was on fire, like her stomach was filled with acid. If everything hadn't hurt so much, if she weren't so tired, she would've screamed or made at least some small noise to express her discomfort. Even then, she was a Spartan; she wasn't supposed to let something as insignificant as excruciating pain distract her.

The next thing she noticed was that she was freezing.

Slowly and reluctantly, she opened her eyes, only to be blinded by the light over her bed, which glowed brighter than it should've. Once her vision recovered, she pushed against the firm bed with her elbows, intending to prop herself up. She immediately regretted this decision, as she misjudged her new strength and found her upper body propelled into an upright position.

Even as her back and hips protested this new posture, her eyes swept the room, lingering on each familiar face she found. Blake-251 and Weiss-191, two of the members of her fireteam, were sitting up as well; they slightly nodded when they made eye contact with Ruby. Her sister – that word hadn't sounded quite right since reprogramming – Yang-241, ever the bold one, was perched on the edge of her bed, gingerly testing the cold tile floor with her feet. Pyrrha-142, the top Spartan in the program, was doing likewise, even as two members of her fireteam, Ren-129 and Nora-221, propped themselves up. In fact, almost every child in the room was awake now, except for Jaune-118, who looked as though he had been flash-frozen in his sleep. He suddenly stirred and tried to sit up, only for his eyes to roll back in his head and his arms to fall out from under him. Clearly concerned for her teammate, Pyrrha pulled herself back across her bed so she was facing him. She glided across the small gap between their beds and sat down on his bed to coax him back to consciousness.

The stillness of the large infirmary was broken when the PA system blared to life as Colonel Ozpin's voice announced, "Good morning, Spartans. Please be ready to report to the armory for armor fitting when you are called." Forgetting their pain, the children began to buzz with excitement. They had eagerly anticipated the day when they could wear their own set of MJOLNIR armor. After a moment's pause, Ozpin continued.

"Fireteam RWBY."

The four girls glanced at each other and quickly headed for the doorway, their speed half due to excitement and half due to the very cold tile floor. As the facility guards escorted them to the armory, the girls' faces betrayed no emotion, but their minds raced as they dreamed of what their armors would look like. Once they reached the armory, they were promptly directed to put on curious, heavy, padded black bodysuits and were strapped into scaffolding that began to attach pieces of olive-green armor plating to the suit. Yang, Weiss, and Blake were distracted watching this new process, but Ruby's eyes wandered to a large observation window where Ozpin stood with a strange woman about the same age as the colonel, who wore a scientist's nonreactive clothing and a white lab smock. Ruby was a little surprised to see that the woman looked proud of the sight before her. The scaffolding released the girls and some lab techs handed each girl an identical helmet, which they quickly dawned. As the HUD inside the helmet switched on, the lady scientist smiled and warmly said, "Welcome to the ranks of the new Spartan-IIs, my children."

ENDNOTES:

*Changed the dates from the preliminary bio I released on /r/RWBY. This prologue takes place in 2546. The actual story will occur in late 2551, so that the characters can receive MJOLNIR Mk V armor, which is a little more varied than the Mk IV.

*This is my first time writing a fanfic, so I earnestly hope you enjoy it! Please favorite, follow, review, and leave feedback.

*RWBY and Halo are owned by their respective companies.