Fanfic / For Those We Cherish

Above the planet called Remnant, the Empyrean opens to reveal a Chapter in their darkest hour.

For Those We Cherish is a crossover between Warhammer 40,000 and RWBY written by The Crimson Lord, author of A Demon Among Devils.

Thrown from the warp during their penitent crusade, the Lamenters Space Marine chapter and the disparate regiments with them stumble upon Remnant. Isolated from all they know, they throw themselves into the familiar roles of protecting humanity in ways only the noble sons of Sanguinius can do.

The story follows Brother-Sergeant Aethon and his fireteam of space marines through the Chapter's first contact with Remnant's native population, among whom are teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY, as well as their contributions to humanity's war against the Grimm.

FFNet link here. It only has the first two chapters of the story

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For Those We Cherish contains the following tropes:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Venerable Dreadnaught Vaspasian laughs when Ruby gushes all over the weaponry he carries.
• And I Must Scream: Venerable Dreadnaught Vaspasian really doesn't like when he's forced to sleep. He also had a Freak Out when he was first entombed within his chassis.
• And Then What?: Vaspasian asks this to Aethon while the two are on watch at night: if the Imperium finally defeats all of the myriad horrors that assault it, then what will the Space Marines do, as they were created for warfare. Aethon is initially unable to answer, but eventually responds that the Astartes will find a new path, because they were made to excel at everything.

• Badass Creed: Half of which is also a Title Drop: For those we cherish, we die in glory!
  • Also, before the marines and Hunters hold a wall until reinforcements arrive the marines recite a quote from the Emperor about the Astartes to help get them in the right mindset.
• Black Knight: The entire Lamenters chapter has painted their armor black in penance for their role in the Badab War.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: As Dust-technology is theorized to not work outside of Remnant's atmosphere, Librarian Saphriel lends Eveline Magnolia an ancient pict caster (basically, a Polaroid camera), the likes of which Eveline hasn't used in years.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: The combined Astartes-Imperial Guard-Hunter deployment to eradicate the Grimm hordes attacking the villages they just secured. For the hunters, it was a grand scale military deployment the likes of which they'd only have been able to see from an Atlas fleet. For the Astartes, it's just another day.
• Carry a Big Stick: Sergeant Braellin owns a colossal Thunder hammer; mixed with him being an assault marine, he's more than enough of a match for his enemies. Jaune calls it the biggest hammer he has ever seen, while Nora squees just by looking at it and is overjoyed when she holds it for Braellin.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: A constant problem for a chapter that follows in Sanguinius' nobility:
  • Early in the story, Sergeant Aethon orders his squad to continue escorting a column of evacuating civilians while he returns for the stragglers because he believes that No One Gets Left Behind.
  • His squad goes back for him because they believe the same.
  • Captain Theosius mentions needing to berate a number of squad leaders for performing similar acts of heroism that risk their mission. He does not, however, ever consider said actions to be the wrong thing to do.
  • Chapter Master Malakim Phoros relates to Jaune how the Lamenters spent the lives of many marines extracting the chassis of a slain Imperial Knight because they felt that the enemy should not be allowed to defile the knight's memory.
• Comically Inept Healing: Apothecary Memnon is over a century out of practice in healing non-Astartes and it shows.
• Cool Horse of a Different Color: The Bosphorian Cataphracts, an Imperial Guard cavalry unit accompanying the Lamenters, ride a beast called a chai-rusid, which is described as what is basically an alien T-Rex. They've been known to eat Grimm, completely ignoring the supposed inedibility of Grimm flesh.
• Cool Old Guy: Ancient Vaspasian is an amazing combination of snarky, wise, and awesome.
• Cosmic Plaything: As the Lamenters themselves have noticed, there's bad luck and then there's Lamenters luck.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Two in quick succession. The Elder Beringel inflicts this on both Team RWBY and the space marines. It only gets hurt due to its own overconfidence and that only really ticked it off. Ancient Vaspasian, a Relic Contemptor Dreadnought, quickly returns the favor killing the Elder Grimm with ease.
  • Over 180 White Fang terrorists equipped with heavy weapons, hiding behind heavy barricades, and lead by Roman Torchwick try to stop a squad of Space Marines. The Astartes fall into the Thirst and slaughter them without taking a single casualty like only the sons of the Angel can do.
• Deadpan Snarker: The Space Marines normally have a bit of difficulty in understanding when others make jokes, but when they make their own attempts, it tends to be rather dry.
• Entendre Failure: Yang's puns and innuendos fly right over the heads of the asexual Space Marines, leaving them confused as to what she's trying to say.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first chapter is one of these for the Lamenters as a whole, with Aethon serving as their poster boy. Aethon's own moment comes during the evacuation of the village when he acknowledges that The Needs of the Many outweigh the needs of a single injured faunus woman... and then turns back to save her anyways.
  • The trope is also invoked at the end of the first chapter when a reporter hiding among the refugees covertly snaps a few pictures of Aethon. The first that most of Remnant sees of the Lamenters is a picture of a ten foot tall giant in jet-black power armor tenderly cradling an injured faunus woman.
• Expospeak Gag: How Space Marines normally talk about their stuff. Ruby usually gets it but the rest of her team and JNPR prefer it in Layman's Terms.
• Grumpy Old Man: Venerable Dreadnaught Vaspasian, years being stuck inside a dreadnought has left him very... irate.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Aethon carries a master-crafted Power Sword in battle.
• Heroic Lineage: Far more than most other chapters, the Lamenters are to a man extremely heroic. This is because of how close they are to the mindset of their Primarch, Sanguinius the Great Angel. The Black Rage, a kind of madness the Lamenters can be taken by, essentially transforms the afflicted into a shadow of Sanguinius complete with some of his memories and power.
  (Battle of Terra) Sanguinius facing a horde of daemons with civilians behind him: "These are the Emperor's people..."
  (Battle of Vale) Lamenter afflicted by Black Rage facing a horde of Grimm with civilians behind him: "...And you shall not have them!"
• Hope Bringer: To quote one of the posters, one thing the Space Marines do very well is to bring hope to the hopeless. An omake set during the Battle of Vale has a Chaplain rally the citizens of Vale and get them chomping at the bit to kill Grimm.
• Hypothetical Fight Debate: Taken completely seriously for once. Everyone involved hopes it remains strictly hypothetical, but Brother-Captain Theosius asks Aethon for his threat assessment of Teams RWBY, JNPR and CFVY after the second arc in the event that the (so far, highly positive) relations between the marines and the locals should take a turn for the worse. The results are inconclusive as they've found Aura and Semblances to be rather potent factors that weigh in the favor of the people of Remnant, but find that each side's perception of warfare shows that Imperium humans also have an edge.
• I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: Ruby's reaction to seeing Venerable Dreadnaught Vaspasian in his Ancient Contemptor Dreadnought chassis.
• Instant Web Hit: A reporter takes a pic of Aethon after he's just rescued a Faunus woman and her siblings. This becomes trending and makes him famous.
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: Jaune was about to give Pyrrha a Love Confession while under Astartes-grade anesthetic, but he conks out before getting even half the words out.
• King Mook: The Elder Beringel, which takes all of Team RWBY on at the same time, gives Aethon's squad a hard time as well, and could conceivably have killed them all if Ancient Vaspasian hadn't introduced it to his fist.
• Literal-Minded: Downplayed, but sometimes the metaphors used by the Hunters are taken too literally by the Marines.
• Mercy Kill: Subverted. When Aethon goes back for the faunus woman in chapter 1 he finds her too injured to keep running and the Grimm are seconds away from catching up with them. The narrative briefly misleads the reader into thinking Aethon is about to snap the woman's neck and give her a painless death but he has something completely different in mind.
• Mistaken Identity: In the throes of the Black Rage, Malakim Phoros momentarily mistakes Jaune for Rogal Dorn.
• Mook Horror Show: When the Lamenters, Oobleck, and Team RWBY are attacked by the White Fang after rescuing the survivors of Mt. Gleen, the Astartes fall into the Red Thirst and are butchering their way through their enemies with extreme prejudice.
• The Needs of the Many: It's Warhammer, so this trope could hardly not come into play. The Lamenters accept the logic of this trope but tend to disregard it and do the heroic thing anyways.
• Noble Bigot: Played with. For all that the Lamenters are pretty upright guys in general, they still have mixed opinions in regards to abhumans like the faunus. Aethon, for example, can't help but feel faintly disgusted when speaking to a man with deer antlers in the first chapter. However... simply because they are impurely human does not mean their lives are not worth saving.
  For that split second, he admires her. To be so fearless in the face of death. That is an entirely human quality.
  • Averted with the Imperial Guard. While normally just as xenophobic as the rest of the Imperium, the Guard units accompanying the Lamenters more or less shrug off the differences between humans and faunus. After fighting tooth and nail against the Tyranids, Orks, and other freakish alien horrors out to destroy humanity, a few ears in the wrong places just aren't worth raising a fuss over. It also helps that Abhumans like Ratlings and Felinid exists.
• Now, Let Me Carry You: After the Faunus woman who was carrying her younger siblings finally collapses because of her wounds, Aethon decides that rather than kill he decides to help her keep her promise towards her younger siblings. Obviously a reference to the events on Rynn's World.
• Patrick Stewart Speech: In chapter 4.4, Aethon explains why he went back for the faunus and her siblings at the start of the story even though it was not practical to do so.
  “If I die tomorrow, my soul will drift through the Empyrean as all lost souls will do. My spirit will be drawn to the light of the Astronomican and will continue its journey until it reaches the distant gates of Terra herself. I will kneel before the Golden Throne and I will behold the Emperor’s flawless visage as well as the perfect features of our Primarch. They will judge me as they will judge all souls. What will I say to them, my brothers? What will I say to them when they ask me why I left that woman and those children behind in that clearing? That because their bloodline was not one hundred percent pure, I abandoned them? That because of a technicality, I shirked my duty? That because these mortals, labelled as less human by other mortals, were somehow genetically inferior enough that they did not deserve protecting? As if humans could ever dictate to an Astartes what he should or should not protect. Do I do all those things, brothers? Explain to our liege-lords why I stared suffering in the face and did nothing to alleviate it. Or do I look them in the eye and tell them I lived as I died, proud, defiant, and knowing no fear. That I went back and saved that woman and those children because I thought they could be saved. That I performed this duty above and beyond what was expected of me because doing above and beyond is what we Astartes were made to do.”
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Parodied in one of the author's non-story posts on SB during a discussion of what the Adeptus Mechanicus would make of Penny.
  "Salutations! I'm the Warlord-class Titan, Penny Polendina, and I'm a real girl!"
• Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: At the start of the story the Lamenters have been chewed up and spat out by Hive Fleet Kraken and barely escaped with their battle barge intact. Their remaining forces include disparate elements from dozens of Imperial Guard units salvaged from planets devoured by the Tyranids, and the marines themselves aren't in great shape either on account of being in the middle of a penitent crusade (during which they are forbidden from recruiting new marines to replace their casualties).
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Brother-Captain Theosius, who takes Aethon to task for disobeying orders but ultimately lets him off with a slap on the wrist.
  "Sometimes I wish I commanded a chapter of soldiers instead of a chapter of heroes."
• Rousing Speech: With his confidence flagging following his injury in the second arc's mission, Jaune meets Chapter Master Malakim Phoros who shares with him his insights and gives a speech on what it means to be a leader.
  "A leader leads, Jaune Arc. Speed is useless without direction. Strength is wasted without purpose. And a champion is not a champion at all if she doesn’t believe in what she’s fighting for. That’s why they need you. To give them direction. To give them purpose. To give them a cause worth fighting for.”
• Shout-Out:
  • The events that happened with Aethon going back to save the Faunus Lady is way too similar to the events in the Warhammer 40,000 novel Rynn's World. Right down to making the audience believe that he'll put the Faunus lady out of her Misery, but insted do the same Now, Let Me Carry You moment.
  • Vespasian and Oobleck's discussion about the ailing veteran Huntsman leading a band of Mountain Glenn survivors is strongly reminiscent of a scene in the Gaunt's Ghosts novel Salvation's Reach. Namely: a Space Marine quoting the Emperor to compare a dying human to one of their own.
• Small Steps Hero: The Lamenters salute this trope. Although they don't hesitate to acknowledge that The Needs of the Many outweigh the needs of the few, they also won't hesitate to make themselves the few who are sacrificed if it means saving more innocents.
• Squee: Ruby is in a semi-permanent status of this as she keeps learning more and more about the weaponry the Astartes and Imperial Guard have brought.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: What Yang and Cyril the Bosphoran Cataphract think of seeing the other in action, which basically summarizes how the warriors of each setting see each other:
  Yang: "That's so freaking metal."
  Cyril: "That's so frakking adamantium."
• Supernatural Aid: As part of their attempt at fostering Imperium-Remnant relations, the Lamenters decide to give the Remnant hunters (Team RWBY being chosen for this) gifts. They let the girls have their pick of the Imperial Guard's wargear, considering that they have more gear than they do people to wield them. Astartes wargear, however, are off-limits.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Mostly since Space Marines don't really do Oh, Crap! reactions, but this is Aethon's reaction after looking the Elder Beringel in the eyes.
  The gleam in its eyes is what draws Aethon’s attention. This is not the feral glimmer of a beast scrounging for survival on the edges of civilization. It is far more insidious light, speaking of a deep, ancient malevolence that to the Lamenter’s practical sensibilities, can only mean one thing.

  It is self-aware. It is intelligent.

  Aethon knows no fear. But staring into the monster’s burning pupils, he feels unease stirring in his twin hearts.
• Truth Serums: A side effect of Astartes anesthetics. A variant of it is used by the Inquisition for their interrogations.
• The Unchosen One: The reason why a Knight Titan picked Jaune as his newest pilot. The machine doesn't seek someone able of honour, bravery or sacrifice, it seeks someone wanting to be this. Jaune was chosen because he really wanted to be a hero but didn't feel he had the capacities for it.
• Understatement: Yang finds the Emperor's quote on Space Marines to be catchy.
  • Roboute Guilliman is a swell guy. Says Nora.
• The World Is Just Awesome: Eveline, Oobleck, and Port can't help but tear up at the sight of Remnant from space.

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