I am Dust

Chapter I

Clyde Lynx

Vale. It's a lovely and homely little place full of tall buildings with flat little rooftops. The only problem I have with the city is the narrow little roads people expect us to walk through. They must be old traditional roads, which is probably why they haven't widened them out. Well, that's only one of the reasons why I am running on the rooftops, leaping over pipes and hopping from rooftop to rooftop. The other reason is that I'm now running with a bag full of groceries I just stole and I am now being pursued by the police. Now before you start to judge me, I want you to know that I didn't have a choice and I didn't want to do this. If only my little brother and I weren't homeless.

My name is Clyde Lynx. I'm seventeen years old and going on eighteen real soon. I come from a family of hunters, meaning that literally every relative member I met would be hunters. At least, that's what my parents told me. I never actually met any of my family members; I bet they wouldn't even know who I was if I tried to talk to them. But it never fazed me, for my parents were all that I needed. My father, a real "party guy," was the only person who could make my mother, a stoic and serious woman, laugh as hard as she can. It still amazes me how much they loved each other. I lived with both and my adopted brother Hans out near an old village outside of Vale. Well… that was until the incident that happened 3 years ago. It is something I do not wish to talk about, but the result was the death of my mother and father, along with me and my brother being banished from the village. This left us with a small survival kit, some food, water, and the clothes we were wearing that day. I only wear a worn gray hoodie jacket with a Beacon Academy emblem on the back and dark blue worn jeans. The hoodie was a gift from my father, who always talked about trying to get me into Beacon Academy, although I've decided to never use my Semblance ever again. And that's for a good reason, but I don't want to explain it now. Well, I guess that doesn't even matter anymore, does it?

Being left with no money and no hopes of finding the silver line in our predicament, we moved into the city, where our home is now nothing but an alleyway and a large green dumpster can that rests next to a museum. I would love more than anything to find help and sleep inside a warm, dry home, but I fear that if the Child Protection Services were to find us, they will separate me and Hans, the last family member I know. As a punishment for that, I always got the less amount of food, less amount of newspaper to cover me, the less amount of anything, because that other half always went to my little brother. It's a small price for my selfish wish.

So here I am now, a teenager running for my life over the wet concrete rooftops while being chased by two police officers. This is my first time being in a chase like this in my entire life, and I never felt more alive. I knew the rooftops like the back of my hands. For example, I knew about the fake rimming that is actually newspaper stuffed in a large triangular crack. The police officer however didn't know which resulted in him stepping on the newspaper mold, which then slipped away, making him lose his footing and fall down the alleyway below him.

I always make little traps on the rooftops, since I knew that a moment like this would happen. Thanks to living out in a village next to a forest, hunting and placing traps was my true form of entertainment. I guess I could count it as my Semblance. Anyways, just a few months ago, I decided to find as many resources that I could spare with to make some traps and little trinkets for when I have a run-in with the cops. I always find myself lucky to find my traps untouched as I move around. Either they never walk up here, or they don't ever notice it. Either way, I'm extremely lucky.

As I heard the cop scream as he plummeted down, I was too caught up in the small victory to notice another one of my traps, a small trip wire that is near the edge to my alleyway. I never missed that wire until now, tripping and falling over the edge. All I could see was the cop looking down at me as I plummet down. However, just when I thought I was going to die, I landed stomach first on top of a pile of garbage bags cluttered next to our garbage can. Unfortunately, the bag was still a bit hard, giving me an unpleasant landing. I lay there for a second, cringing in pain and letting out a soft groan, before seeing the cops look down. I knew that I was going to be busted; the moment I decide to take off into the streets, they would already surround me and cuff me. Surprisingly, this wasn't the case, for the cop pull out his radio and started talking into it. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but something else must be happening, as he walked away from the ledge and disappeared. I managed to escape.

I slowly get up with a smile and a light chuckle, trying to shake the grime of other people's filth off my hoodie. I look at the plastic bag full of our dinner and stood in front of the garbage can, giving the regular knock that I always give. "Hans, I found dinner. Looks like someone bought a deli tray! We're eating good tonight!" I grin as I say this, waiting for that curly brown hair to pop out from the can. Strangely, I got no response. "Hans…?" My smile faded as I looked inside, only to see it empty.

This isn't the first time Hans left to go by himself, since he's only 13 and learning to act more self-dependent, but he's always supposed to tell me if he plans on leaving from the can to explore. I hope he had a good reason to just run off and leave without a hint of telling me where he was going.

Just as I was ready to shout for him, there's a soft explosion, like a distant firework going off into the night. I turn my head to the far end of the alleyway to see what the sound was. My eyes widen as I see a large pillar of red smoke shoot up in the air, the smoke being left by a red gleaming light rocketing into the air. Someone just lit off a flare. I panic a bit and jump in the garbage can, moving the survival kit out of the corner and opening it. Sure enough, the flare gun and a flare were missing. Hans is in trouble.

I vaulted out of the and started sprinting down the alleyway fast as I could, stepping on the grocery bag and knocking a small garbage can over with my knee as I speed down. As soon as I exited the alleyway, I was instantly met with people walking down the small road, shouting "Watch it!" and "Hey man!" as I shoved and bumped them out of the way, throwing one man to the side as I ran straight for an apartment complex. I saw the ladder leading up to the apartment's fire escape and kept going. Before I hit the building, I leaped up, planting my foot on the brick wall, and pushed off, grabbing the ladder and scurrying up, running up the steps as soon as my feet hit the metal platform.

As soon as I climbed on top of the building, I ran across the roof, the words "Please be okay…!" were echoing through my brain. When I looked down at the scene unfolding below me, my mind instantly knew that Hans was not okay.

The White Fang are ravaging the city again. It looked like a group of a couple dozen henchmen, wearing their black suits and red ties, just walking into shops all around this district and doing their usual routine: robbing the Dust stores for more Dust and other essentials they need. Their SMGs and katanas were enough for most storekeepers to surrender and let them take all their Dust. The less cooperative ones… well, they were either gunned down or their stores were destroyed and torched. The Fang consider it treason if they don't "help their cause."

The scene was quickly pushed out of my mind as I see two henchmen looking into a dark alleyway. Sure enough, two more came out with Hans, dragging him by his arms into the street. It was quite hard for me to see them, but I could still recognize those brown bunny ears sticking out of his hair, his curly brown mop of hair shaking around as they threw him down.

The longer I stood there, watching them tower over him, the more this… feeling grew in me. This feeling wasn't a sickening pain, or a jittery nervousness caused by fear. No, it was a feeling that felt natural, yet distinctive only to me. It had a strange thumping feeling, as if there was a drum beat in my gut. There was also a burning feeling, as if I were about to spew fire any minute. That burning kept getting washed over by an unnaturally cool feeling, as if something was trying to put out the fire. I wanted to explode, but something was holding me back. The worst part about this feeling… was that it was familiar. I knew what this feeling was.

I had to drown it out. I couldn't let that fire grow anymore in my gut; it has to be put out. As I tried to ignore the feeling and snap back to reality, I realized that I was already in the alleyway as I ran down, my brother's angry look meeting the eyes of the five White Fang staring down at him as if they were bullies in a school yard, but much more sinister. I could hear Hans clearly as I almost passed through the alleyway, saying "When my brother gets here, he's gonna mess you up real good!"

"You mean…" I felt my foot get caught on something and trip me over, my forearms breaking my fall. Before I could get up, a hand grabbed my hair and yanked it up; forcing me to face my little brother's shocked face. "This guy?"

I felt myself get pulled up to my feet, my hands pinned behind my back. "Look, whatever my little brother did, please just forget about it and let us go. We don't have anything." I tried reasoning with him.

One of the henchmen from the circle slowly walked up to me with a cocky smirk and a katana resting against his shoulder as he held it in his hand. "Do I look like an idiot?" He asked, in a superior tone.

I didn't respond, trying to be extra careful with my words. I would usually have a smart mouthed comment for people like him, but in this case, my life isn't just on the line here. I decided not to say anything, not wanting him to give him the illusion I'm scared of him.

He started walking back to Hans and looked down at him. "Go ahead junior, show him what you got there in your pocket."

I could only watch as Hans put on a pained, guilty look and sit up on his knees, reaching into his coat pocket. I could only tense up in horror as I saw a fire dust crystal in his hand, giving off a soft glow.

The henchman looked back at me. "This ain't the only one he snatched from us. I got men back there trying to find the pile he pulled off of us. Just reached in the fucking crates and snatched it! Might as well change these bunny ears to monkey ears, huh?" He said this as he grabbed Hans' ears and started tugging on them, twisting and yanking them around. The other guys started chuckling as he kept going.

Hans let out a scream in pain. "Hey, let go of my ears!" he cried out, grabbing at them and trying to get out of his grip, but to no avail

He ignored Hans' shouts and screams as he kept on tugging them around as if he was a child tugging on his teddy bear. "Silly little monkey, stealing a banana~" He said it in a sing-song tone, followed by a little chuckle.

"Bastard!" I tried to shake the guy pinning my arm off, but he had a tight grip on my wrists, giving him the chance to slam his knee in my back and knock me on my knees. I looked up at henchman tugging at his ear with a look of resentment, but only to be responded with an amused yet evil stare.

The henchman set his foot on Hans' back and leaned back a bit, hands still on his ears. "I wonder when they'll rip…"

"No, stop!" I begged as I tried to struggle up, only to be pushed on my face by a foot in my back. My eyes stung with frustrated tears, letting out a pained growl as I stayed there, helplessly as he toyed with my little brother.

He looked ready to tug, but suddenly paused, a sudden look of boredom staining his face. "No, this is boring." He let go and put his feet off his back, taking a step back, watching as my little brother grab his ears and start sniffling softly.

There was that feeling again, but this time the coolness barely there. The thumping was more rapid and the burning in my gut hotter, the feeling gradually spreading through my body.

In a last attempt, I pushed myself up and knocked the henchman off-balance, popping up and making a break to Hans. I get close to him, only to have a hand grab my hoodie and throw me back away from him. As I stumbled and spun around to get my balance, the henchman that pinned me kicked me right in my guy, his heel hitting right in my center. I was immediately winded and dropped to the ground, letting out a guttural groan and a wheeze, trying to catch my breath again.

It felt like a whole minute before I could get my breath again, but just as I did, I heard the sound of the clicking of the hammer of a gun cocking back. The oxygen suddenly sucked back in my lungs and my senses focused, getting up on my knees and looking back at Hans.

This was probably the most horrendous sight I've ever seen: the man held a pistol in his hand, expecting it like he was inspecting it, and aimed the barrel down at Hans' head, his finger outside of the trigger guard.

I started crawling as fast as I can to Hans, hoping I could miraculously slip between them and get to Hans, but before I could even reach the ring, two henchmen grabbed my arm and pulled me up, pinning me back as I struggled and tried to shake out of their grasp. I screamed for help, looking around, begging for one brave soul to take action and do anything but stand there and watch. All I could see is guilty faces in windows as they closed it, trying to ignore the two people in trouble, along with the annoyed look of the other White Fang trying to move packages around, the quiet night being broken by the screaming, helpless voice shouting out for a savior.

The henchman moved his finger into the trigger guard and rested on the trigger, looking down at Hans with a crazed look. Hans looked back at him, a tear rolling down his scared face as he tried crawling back, only to be blocked by the ring of legs. His ears flopped down over his head, his entire body shaking.

"B-Big brother…" I could he him softly whimper as the gun barrel moved closer to his head, his entire body stiff and frozen with fear.

The henchman gave a soft snicker as he pulled the trigger, screaming out "POP!"

What was actually suppose to happen was that the gun was to fire off a blank and not do any harm. It was to just scare me and Hans. They were suppose to let us go with a warning. I could tell by their reaction to what actually. The next part is still so fictional and unrealistic in my mind, as if my brain can't process the horrible turn of events that occurred: The gun went off and fired a bullet straight down, hitting Hans' forehead and passing right through, the bullet flying out through the back of his head. His little thin body spasms for a second then went limp, his body falling back on his back and his legs shooting out stiff. The gun that was sitting loosely in the henchman's hand flew out from his grasp and landed right in front of me, the barrel aiming right at his body.

The henchman and I had a shocked expression. The only difference was that his was out of surprise. My shock was morphed by many feelings: The feeling of horror, as my worst fear, my true nightmare, unfolded right in front of me. It was out of disgust at how the rest of the White Fang that surrounded me, witnessing this disturbing scene, had such a mild form of surprised expressions, as if they only got scared by a weak jump scare. It was out of the realization that the last family member I know, the family member I helped raise and taken care of, the one that would've escaped this fate if I wasn't so selfish and decided get him some help, my little brother laid in his own red puddle as his life poured from the hole in his skull, the empty expression of his face slumped towards me as his head bobbed to the side, his blue eyes staring at me, frozen with the look of shock and horror.

I didn't scream, I didn't cry, and I didn't try to fight back anymore. I was stuck in this trance of paralysis, my body not my own, but my self being gone is just floating in my place, letting me stare at that corpse. All I could hear was a ringing in my ears and the henchman who shot my poor little brother turned to another one with a furious expression and started his tirade.

"What the fuck, Felix!? I said I wanted a fucking blank, not a real damn bullet!"

"I-I thought I had the right one! It was in my pouch of blanks!" Felix defended himself.

"Torchwick said no civilian casualties tonight! He said no bloodshed! Fuck, he's gonna kill me!"

It was as if those words just blew around my ears and faded away. All I could hear now as they fought was the inside of my body. The drum turned into ten drums, the fire burning as if it was spawned from the depths of Hell, and the cooling sensation now gone. My body suddenly felt relaxed, my muscles loose like a rag doll, and the feeling soon washing through my arms and legs, filling them and expanding them. The feeling only grew stronger, the drums now beating with my heart, which is now pumping faster and faster though me.

This feeling grew unbearable and intoxicating, my gut burning with a crippling pain. But no matter how bad it hurt, no matter how hot it burned, this pain is nothing compared to the pain in my heart. I never truly believed in your heart actually breaking until now. Hans, my sweet, adventurous little brother, who wanted more than nothing than for both of us to be happy, is now on the list of all the things I have lost. I now have nothing to hold on to. The last strand that held my heart together finally snapped and I swear my heart just fell into pieces.

The feeling soon took over my broken heart and my brain. And as if the expanding pain in my body wasn't enough, the force soon began to take effect outside my body, pushing down on me like heavy armor that only grew heavier. These combining forces began to pinch my entire body, my skin and my muscles tightening, my bones and my organs feeling as if they're being stretched out. I can't explain what was going on, but for a strange reason, I felt no fear. I felt absolutely nothing as the feeling began to take over me. I felt… calm. As if I know what is going to happen and I've completely accepted it. The pain was suddenly fading like my vision, my eyes being wrapped by shadows, cloaking me as if to say "I need to sleep."

I gave up. I knew what this feeling was, and I knew exactly what was going to happen. This was the exact thing that got my family killed, that made me an outsider from my village, what got me and my brother banned from the place we used to call home. I thought I finally found a way to lock it away forever, but it looks like it can only be stopped for so long. I lost my reason to hold it back. I was finally free.

So for now, I'll let slumber whisk me away. After the events that have happened to me in the past 3 years, I deserve the rest. I don't even care what's going to happen to those monsters. These guys were the cherry-on-top of my list of unfortunate events. Their entire organization deserves to collapse and be blown away into the dust. Their deaths are only the start of my rage.

So I'll go ahead and rest. I'll let these men know what a real monster looks like.