Ken Amada stood before the Ursa, the monstrous bear let out a roar and charged towards the child. He gritted his teeth and tightened the grip on the shaft of his spear as he held it over his right shoulder. His feet dug into the ground as the beast grew closer.
When the Ursa got within range of his weapon he acted. With a mighty cry he swung the spear like a bat, the metal tip slicing into the cheek of the Grimm. It didn't do much, but it managed to knock the bear off course and instead of barrelling into him the Ursa stumbled to the side before it fell to the floor.
Quickly he backed away from the beast and once again hefted the spear over his shoulder. He let out an exhausted sigh before he readjusted his stance. The bear got back on its feet and turned to towards him with a furious snarl showing the sharp fangs that it possessed. Ken gulped at the sight but remained where he was.
The bear had numerous cut over its body most of them were thin and shallow, courtesy of his spear. Ken himself wasn't in perfect condition, the jacket over his orange hoodie was torn to shreds while his main article of clothing had three jagged line running across it. His weapon was also starting to show some battle damage with the chips on the blade and the shaft.
But even then Ken wouldn't back down, he was strong enough to take down other Grimm before and he wasn't going to back down to this Ursa. He had to shake his head when he felt his vision grow dim as his body grew more and more strained from the fighting.
Once more the Ursa roared and charged forward, while Ken stood his ground. He waited for the Grimm to get in range again before swinging his weapon again. Unfortunately he swung too high this time and winced as the spear bounced off the Grimm's white plating. He was defenceless when the Ursa swiped at him with its large claws.
He screamed as he tossed to the side. He rolled against the ground twice before landing on his side. A wave of pain flowed through his body as he felt warm liquid run down his stomach. He knew this meant that his aura had run out, and that meant he was easy picking for the Ursa.
Despite this he got back up and gave a hard glare to the bear, he glanced at where his weapon lay and grimaced when he saw it broken and useless. Inhaling painfully and letting out a sick wheeze he held his fist out and gave a defiant glare even as unconsciousness was growing closer and closer as darkness was creeping over his vision.
He saw the Ursa charge towards him and he was ready to face it head on even if it killed him. A small push sent him on his back and the last thing he saw was a red cloak before he went unconscious to the sound of a blade cutting flesh.
When he awoke it was to the sound of beeping and to the smell of sterilised air. Sluggishly he opened his eyes and was met with the white tiles of a hospital ceiling. Slowly he sat up and winced, placing a hand over his stomach he found it bandaged. He found that he was in a hospital bed with a black haired man sitting by it.
"So the sleeping beauty finally wakes up." Bored red eyes met with his brown ones which were wide with surprise. "Was wondering if you were gonna wake up, you were out of it for so long I thought you were dead" The man stated bluntly before he reached for a flask by his belt. He looked at him for a second before retracting his hand.
"W-who are you?" He asked, before coughing.
"The name's Qrow" the man answered handing him a glass of water "I'm the guy who saved you from becoming Ursa chow."
"How?" Ken asked after he had taken a small sip from the offered drink.
"I killed the damn thing how else?" Qrow answered with a sarcastic tone.
"No" Ken shook his head "How did you find me?" He asked again, this time his voice held a dangerous edge.
"By following the Grimm you left behind kid, it wasn't exactly a hard trail to follow" Qrow answered, not even noticing the hostile tone. "By the way that raises a question, why were you fighting the Grimm anyway?" Qrow asked the child.
Ken averted his gaze from the adult and stared at his bed sheets "I needed to get stronger" he answered.
"Why would kid like you need to get stronger for?" Qrow gave him a stern look "You're what nine years old?"
"I'm ten" Ken muttered under his breath "And I need to get stronger so that I can…" Ken trailed off mumbling his words under his breath.
"So that you can what, be a hero?" Qrow joked chuckling slightly.
"So that I can kill the man who murdered my mother" Ken hissed out at the man's joking tone.
"Oh." Qrow's smile dropped from his face.
Silence stretched between the two before the older man let out a long sigh, running his hand across his face "Look kid, I can see why you're doing this but why don't you just let the grownups handle the man you're after."
"I did" Ken told him "They called her murder an accident, even after I told them about the man that killed her." His voice cracked as he stared harder into the bed sheets.
"They did huh?" Qrow drawled out.
"Yes!" Ken cried out before turning his head towards him with an angry glare "I saw him attack her and I saw him kill her with some kind of power, I told them but they didn't believe me. I saw him summon some sort of creature but they didn't listen an-"
His rant was cut off when Qrow placed a hand over his mouth, much to his surprise.
Giving the child an annoyed glare he spoke his mind "All right kid I get it, the government screwed you over, your life stinks and you have a tragic backstory with a dead mother." The man leaned forward and stared him right in his eyes "Do you really think just going out there and killing Grimm will make you strong enough to kill whoever you're after?"
Ken swatted the hand away "What else can I do?!" He questioned angrily. "Whenever I try to get an adult to help me they would just brush me off as some annoying kid, any combat school I try to enter they wouldn't let me because I don't have my orphanage's approval because I'm too young. I TRIED but I can't do anything about it because I'm 'just a kid'" Ken spat out those last words angrily. He turned away from the red eyed man to face his bed sheet again, he tried to ignore the wet spots forming on them as he spoke bitterly "At least the Grimm don't treat me any less because of my age."
"Don't you think the reason they like a kid is because you're kid?" Qrow told him in annoyed tone. He grabbed Ken's head and turned his head so that he can face him "Look I get that you hate that you can't do anything but you're still young, ten like you said, you have your whole life in front of you. But if you just keep going down this path you're going to die, and get eaten if you keep going after the Grimm." Qrow let out a sigh and released his hold on Ken's head "What I'm telling you kid is to act your age and enjoy it while you can."
"How can I enjoy my age if It won't even let do what I need to do?" Ken asked in response.
"I told you kid, you keep going down this road you're going to die" Qrow repeated his warning, this time with a growl.
"I not afraid of dying."
At soon as those words were uttered Ken found himself staring down the barrel of a gun pointed between his eyes. Behind it was Qrow who held an empty expression on his face "You sure kid?"
Ken did not hesitate, he did not even blink, when he grabbed the gun and placed it against his forehead "If you gonna kill than that's fine, I was gonna do it after avenging my mom anyways" he whispered out the words emotionlessly.
Qrow kept the gun pointed, he did not move his eyes away from Ken. After seeing how the child didn't even trembling at the weapon pointed his way he pulled it from his grasp with an annoyed click of his tongue, he reformed it into a sword and held by his side.
Then for a moment he saw the child's eyes widened, not in fear but by amazement by the weapon in his grasp. It resembled how his weapon nut of a niece would react to when she saw something cool, it resembled how a child should act when the see something cool.
Qrow stood up and walked out of the room, but not before saying his final words to the child "You're one messed up kid."
When he closed the door Qrow heard the child sigh before he muttered "Yeah, I am."