A/N: Huge thanks to my two beta readers for helping clean this chapter up.
"Hey Jess, you still on for that dinner party on Saturday?" My friend Natalie asked me. She was a consultant for a big law firm whom I had gotten many clients from. My first few cases had been great successes, and I was feeling confident about my future in law.
"Sure, usual spot at seven?" I asked as I got into the driver seat of my Camry. This was my first big purchase after my career had taken off. I saved up enough money to buy it outright and it was worth it. It had great gas mileage, was low maintenance, and it looked cool too. I had the color changed from a gold to a deep, almost maroon red after I bought it, red being my favourite color.
"Yep, see you then. Bye." With a click, I hung up my phone and dropped it back into my purse. My Camry started up as easily as it always did, and I backed out of the spot. A couple of minutes later I was out of the parking garage and on the main road heading back to my apartment. It was rather late at night, meaning that there wasn't much traffic. I passed no more than three cars by the time I came to the intersection that I needed to turn. I glanced at my watch and it read 10:24 P.M., much later than I normally got off work. The light turned green and I began to turn. Suddenly I saw bright headlights coming from the direction I was about to turn. It was like the world slowed to a crawl. Acting on instinct, I hastily threw the car into reverse and floored it. My Camry screeched across the pavement, narrowly avoiding the bellowing tractor trailer that had run the red light. Already, I heard police sirens coming from the direction that the truck had come from.
My heart threatened to leap right out of my chest. That was fucking close! I took a few deep, ineffective calming breaths before shifting back into drive and heading down the street, passing by a pair of police cars speeding after the runaway truck. Eventually, my mind calmed down enough to where I could think about something other than driving. With practiced ease, I blindly fished my phone out of my purse and placed it on the hands-free dock mounted just above my radio. "Call Nat." I vocalized slowly and clearly, so the voice recognition would pick it up. The phone chirped once, and almost immediately it began calling my friend.
"Hey, what's up? Change your mind about the party?" Her light and easygoing voice calmed my frazzled nerves.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I pulled into my designated parking spot. I was home. Safe. "You're not gonna believe what just happened."
The lavender colored ceiling greeted me when I opened my eyes. That dream had told me that there was more going on than my waning memory of my old life was telling me. I grabbed my scroll and opened the Sword app. I had not received any messages from the stranger since the one about Amber, though it appears that I missed one, since there was an unread message in it sent almost four hours ago. It was another set of coordinates, along with a time and date. Three days from now at 9 AM. I plugged the coordinates in to a map app and it pointed to a spot in Vale near the place where the industrial, the commercial, and the residential districts came together, practically at the center of the city. No words this time. I asked what this was for and all that they said was 'You'll know what to do when you get here.' I took a moment to write this down on the second page of my journal, and returned to the app.
Despite my increasingly peculiar interactions with the stranger, there was one thing gnawing at me, something that I needed an answer to: 'Where is Yang?'
'You are Yang.' was its reply. I grumbled in frustration before sending another message.
'Where is the original Yang?' But instead of a fast reply, I was only met with silence. This was a first. Usually if it couldn't tell me something then it would say so. After a solid minute, I got a reply.
'Gone.'
'Where?' was my answer.
'I don't know.'
How could it not know? From what I've been able to glean, the thing that brought me here is essentially a god. Power over the multiverse, the ability to play with souls like they were children's toys, and seeming omniscience to name a few. 'How can you not know?' This time the reply took much longer than any other, and after a solid five minutes I was ready to give up. Just when I had started to leave the room, my scroll chimed. 'I can't sense her on Remnant nor on Earth. I suspect that she has passed on. Your arrival here was messy. Enough so that I don't know where the real Yang went.' I was stunned. This was the message that it had sent, and it actually told me the truth. Or at least I'm pretty sure it did.
'How did I get here, and don't lie to me.' I sent, and like before, received a reply instantly.
'I brought you here.'
I growled in frustration, sending back a 'who are you?'. As soon as my finger touched the send button, my scroll chirped.
'A friend. If you need a name, call me Izanami.' Was its reply. Before I could touch any other keys, another message came. 'I can't tell you.' I had been about to send 'how did I die?', which was really fucking creepy that whatever brought me here could allegedly read my mind.
'What can you tell me?' I sent instead. This time the reply took a few seconds, as if whatever was sending it had to think about the answer.
'Beware the Locksmith.' I would have yelled at my scroll, if I believed it would do any good. Hating this stupid cryptic nonsense, I closed the scroll with far more force than necessary and tossed it onto the bed. 'Beware the Locksmith.' What the Hell did that mean? It was capitalized, so clearly it was someone's title.
Well, there was nothing I could do about it now. My head hurt, and I felt the beginnings of a migraine coming on. The wall clock in the hallway said it was nearly dinnertime. I found Ruby sitting on the couch, a tired expression on her face. I sat down next to her and wrapped her in a hug.
"What's wrong, Rubes?" I asked curiously as she leaned into the embrace.
She yawned sleepily, "We started physical training today. It was way harder than training with Uncle Qrow." It's always hard to adjust to an intense workout regimen, but I figured that Qrow would go easy on her during their training, at least at first. I recalled Ruby saying that she had just started training with him over the summer, when Yang was injured.
After a while Ruby perked up and was back to her usual chipper self. She apparently had some homework that one of her teachers gave her. We had a brief conversation about her weapon, which she was calling 'Super Awesome Scythe of Awesomeness', hey eyes gleaming excitedly as she told me about the ridiculous name. Although, she admitted that it was a temporary name when I asked her about it. I wanted to see if she came up with the name for her weapon on her own or if someone else suggested it. For now, though, I would wait. I had been meticulously reading through my notes on future events, making absolute sure that I hadn't missed anything important when my scroll chimed. It was a message from Qrow. It read 'Everything's okay. Coming home in a couple days.' I had planned to leave a day early to get a lay of the land, so it appeared that I would be unable to talk with him until after I got back. Whenever that was.
As it had already been close to the end of the day when I returned from my trip into the forest, dinner and then sleep passed quickly and without much social interaction. The next two days were much of the same, and I managed to finish all the rudimentary school work fairly easily and take a good chunk out of the Remnant-specific work.
On the day I was supposed to go to Vale, however, something unexpected happened. Tinkering with Yang's semblance in the woods again, I had spent several hours of the last two days training with it and doing my best to fine tune its usage. I had managed to bring out the strength aspect of it without many traces of the tells. I was, physically, equal to the strength that I had the first time I had truly tapped into the semblance. Visually, I looked almost exactly like normal Yang, save for a slight reddening of the eyes. They were a deep almost plum-like color instead of lilac that was the norm or red when fully using her semblance. I had no idea if I had achieved something unprecedented or if Yang had never had an opportunity to showcase this particular skill. The heat that normally permeated the area around my body when I was using Yang's semblance was not present. All that said, my attacks still had the ability to shatter stone with ease. The unexpected thing that happened was a beowolf stumbling upon my little battleground. I knew from my coursework that they usually travelled in packs of up to a dozen, possibly more, so I deployed Ember Celica and got ready for a fight. I pulled on Yang's semblance, the familiar heat welling up inside me.
It was a lot uglier and brutal looking than was depicted in the show. I could see every gruesome detail as if it was in high definition; the spittle dripping from its maw, the repeated flexing of its front claws digging into the dirt in anticipation of a potential kill, its eyes fixed on me, burning red that seemed to glow with an ethereal light. Just looking at the creature of Grimm made a pit of uneasiness form in my chest. Knowing that at the very least I could run from it if things turned south, I brushed the emotion aside. I presumed that its friends were probably moving in position to surround me given that in the show, beowolves always traveled in packs. The decision to strike first was an easy one.
Time seemed to pass in slow motion, and in the time it took me to reach the beowolf, it had not moved at all. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I delivered a cross right into its sternum, feeling the bones crack under its thick hide. Knowing that that wouldn't even be close to a killing blow, I lashed out with my other fist, catching it just behind its jawbone. The Grimm crumpled like a sack of bricks after that hit and was sent sliding across the grassy clearing about a dozen feet, tearing up the already ruined ground as it went. It didn't get up. My eyes raced around and confirmed that there were no more beowolves around. Odd, but then again, I didn't really know much about the Grimm aside from what I had read about and seen on the show. I would have to do more research after I got back.
With little as a thought, I released my control over Yang's semblance. Using it now had become as second nature as breathing to me, but i didn't know if it was because I technically was Yang, or some other reason that I had yet to figure out. The imprint that the beowolf made as it slid across the ground was just one of many changes to the area that I had come to call my training grounds. Craters, broken boulders, and smashed trees littered the area profusely. I glanced at the new wristwatch that Tai had picked up for me on his last trip into the nearby town of Arial. In my free time, I had taken the time to meticulously study a map of Patch and Vale last night and now knew the name and location of pretty much every important spot. It was nearly lunchtime, so I set off home at a light run. Qrow was due back sometime today. When that was, however, was up in the air. Hopefully after I had already left for Vale. I had already gotten permission from Tai, citing a sleepover at a friend's house, which I also confirmed with said friend to have a place to stay overnight, as I had no idea how long I would be in Vale for.
I reached home in record time. The front door was open slightly, something that hadn't happened in the five days that I had lived here. I deployed Ember Celica easily and crept through the open door, careful not to move it. Tai was pacing back and forth in front of the TV, talking on his scroll to someone. I collapsed my weapons back to their stored form and closed the door. Tai didn't even hear me enter, it seemed.
"We'll see you then," He whispered, his voice projecting a tone that I hadn't heard since the hospital: worry. "Alright, thank you doctor." The scroll beeped once, signaling the end of a call. He pocketed the device and turned towards me. He froze momentarily. "Oh, you're home." He sounded nervous, which set me on edge.
"Is everything alright?" I asked tentatively.
"Come sit down, honey." He spoke, his voice soft and comforting, as he gestured to the couch. I had a deep sense of foreboding, but I couldn't let it show.
"If it's alright, I'd rather stand. I'm still pumped up on adrenaline from my workout." A lie, but passable as the truth. He frowned at my reply.
"The doctor wanted me to let you know to take it easy for a little while. He said that it would take some time before your aura returned to normal levels and doesn't want you to exert yourself." He frowned again, clearly apprehensive after the phone call. I let out an internal sigh of relief. It wasn't serious.
"Well, don't worry. I've been practicing, and I've got a pretty good handle on aura control." I nearly activated my semblance, before I remembered that I was standing in a very flammable building. Instead, I channeled the feeling of my aura. The two were similar, in the way that identical twins of the same gender were, but there were subtle differences that I had learned to pick up on in my brief period of training. Foremost, the fire that I felt when I activated my semblance was hot, burning almost. Like stepping into a sauna. My aura was much more muted. Like a warm hug or wearing clothes fresh from the dryer on a cool, autumn day. I had practiced substantially with both aura and semblance over the last few days. I grasped that comforting warmth and opened the floodgates. My aura quickly bled into the visible spectrum, cascading across my skin in varying shades of yellow. After a couple seconds, I released my hold on my aura and let it fade back to invisibility. Tai appeared dumbstruck.
"Well," He started, but trailed off as the words slipped from his grasp. He floundered for a few seconds more, before shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts. "That's unexpected. The doctor told me that it would take you several months to regain the same control you previously had on your aura, but here it seems that you've already managed to catch up in only a few days." He paused for a moment, before adding. "I was gonna have Qrow teach you how to improve your control over aura, but it seems a moot point now. If I didn't already know the answer, I'd ask if you'd been practicing your semblance as well."
"Yes, I have." I replied simply, allowing myself a small, knowing grin. Tai motioned for me to follow him outside, and I was led to a small clearing next to the house. I vaguely remember seeing this from season four when Yang and Tai were sparring out here before she left to go find Ruby.
"Show me." He stood still, his stance relaxed, yet alert. He was about to make a move, signaling the start of this impromptu spar, but I held up a hand to warn him. He paused, confused, but relented nonetheless. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. This time heat filled my body. The air around me heated up considerably, to the point where it was being distorted by the fire enveloping my body. I opened my eyes and saw Tai's expression. Instead of the apprehension he showed when I displayed my prowess with aura, I saw pride. He was proud of me. No, not of me. Of Yang. His daughter. In an instant the flames extinguished themselves as the despair deep in my heart overpowered my focus. He must have noticed my sudden change in mood, because he approached and wrapped me in a hug.
"What's wrong?" He asked in a voice that did nothing to ease my thoughts. Tai thought he was comforting his daughter, instead of a stranger possessing her body. Despite my self-loathing, I leaned into the embrace. I knew I had to say something, so I went with one of the excuses that I had been using a lot these past few days.
"Nothing, I just got thinking about the accident again." I spoke dismissively, my voice partially muffled by his chest.
"You can't keep focusing on it, or it'll eat you up inside. The best you can do is learn from it and try to do better next time." He was right. I couldn't dwell on it. I had to focus on the here and now, but every time I looked at Tai, those feelings threatened to resurface.
"I think-" I started, but I couldn't get the words out. Taking a deep breath, I continued "I need to be alone for a little while." Tai seemed reluctant to leave, but wordlessly agreed nonetheless and headed back into the house, leaving me alone outside. After about ten seconds to make sure he wasn't coming back out, I walked to the tree line and sat down against one of the oaks. A cold feeling of despair settled into my chest. It seemed like all my repressed emotions were wanting to erupt right now. The pained look on Tai's face at the mere mention of the accident that took Yang's life was heartbreaking. And he didn't even know that I wasn't Yang. He could never know. They could never know. It was a hard truth, but it was the only truth that was acceptable. I could never do that to the two remaining members of the Xiao Long-Rose family. It would destroy them. I would have to step in to fill Yang's metaphorical shoes and then some. There would be time for self-loathing later. It was nearing the time for me to head to the ferry to mainland Vale, so I decided to head inside.
As I walked, I took a moment to collect my thoughts in preparation for tonight. Several things were at the forefront of my mind. Foremost of which was that I had to go somewhere and find something, which would supposedly help me out. The location was in Vale, the commercial district. I had plugged the coordinates into my scroll's map app and it couldn't give me a direct address. It was a seemingly random street corner near the line where the commercial district and the industrial district touched. The fact that it couldn't give me a specific place was sketchy. I doubted that I would be intentionally mislead by Izanami, given how much they had invested in my success, but I would still be careful regardless. My thoughtful wanderings led me back inside Yang's room. With only a couple hours left, I went to work.
According to the clock, it was less than an hour later when Tai poked his head in through the door. I was in the process of memorizing important landmarks around the meeting point. "Hey kiddo, I made us some sandwiches, if you wanna come get one."
"I'll be right down." I called out halfheartedly. With a sigh, I closed my scroll and left the room. Ruby wouldn't be home for another few hours, meaning that it was only Tai and myself here at home unless Qrow had come back early. I had finished most of the school work, save for part of Grimm studies and everything on Dust. I wanted to get a firmer grasp on how Dust was used and crafted before I did that section of my work, not to mention that it was a completely foreign topic. Going down the stairs two at a time, I arrived in the living room to an unfamiliar sight. Well, it was unfamiliar to Yang. The last time I had seen this particular person, Cinder had shot an arrow through her chest.
Amber, snoozing softly on the sofa, practically identical to how I remembered her from the brief amount of screen time she had when she fought Cinder and her two lackeys, and again when she was murdered. Brown hair that came down to just above her shoulders, mocha colored skin, modest clothing. She was practically covered in bruises and cuts, and she looked like she had gone through the ringer a couple times. In the corner near the door was her staff, exactly how it was pictured in the show. It was in its collapsed form at the moment, measuring less than two feet across. A red gem at one end, and an identically cut white gem at the other. I'm thankful that no one was here besides Amber, or else they would have seen me freaking out. Had she been here this entire time? No, she had to have come in when I was still out back, or perhaps in my room. If she was here, then that meant that Qrow was here too. After taking a moment to compose myself, I headed into the kitchen where Tai was talking with Qrow. Half a dozen sandwiches were resting on a plate in the middle of the table. Tai had one in his hand, and the remains of one was on a plate in front of Qrow. I grabbed one up and took a huge bite. Ham, tomato, lettuce, pickles, mustard, mayonnaise. It was perfect.
"Who's that in the living room?" I asked after swallowing the first bite, feigning ignorance. Qrow glanced at me, seemingly only to acknowledge my presence, before turning back to Tai.
"That's Amber. She's a friend of Qrow's." Tai spoke with more than a little disdain. Evidently Tai knew what she was too.
"Oh, she was the reason you left in such a hurry." I feigned realization as best I could. When neither of them responded, I took that as my queue to leave. I figured that they were talking important business about Amber and didn't want me hearing. Oh well. As I started up the stairs, ragged coughing drew my attention. When I turned back, the person in question was awake, and staring at me.
"Where am I?" She asked, her voice slightly hoarse from what I presumed minor dehydration.
I swallowed my nervousness and responded. "You're at the Xiao Long house, on Patch. Q- my Uncle Qrow brought you here." That was close.
"Could you tell me where the kitchen is please? I'd love a glass of water right about now." Amber cleared her throat once. I pointed to the doorway across the room where the faint din of conversation could be heard. She started to get up, but barely got halfway before she clutched her knee and collapsed backwards. I could see an angry purple bruise on the upper part of her exposed calf. I motioned for her to stay seated.
"I can get it, don't worry about getting up." I offered. Amber gave a short laugh and leaned back onto the couch.
"Thank you," Her voice had a slight soothing quality to it, even as exhausted as she was. Perhaps it was something to do with the Maidens. I entered the kitchen once more, the conversation stopping just as abruptly as it had the first time.
"Amber wanted a glass of water." They didn't reply. It took only about thirty seconds to find a suitable glass, fill it up, and return to Amber. She had not moved in the intervening time and looked like she was about to fall asleep again. I cleared my throat to gain her attention. Her reaction wasn't something that I was expecting, however. Her arm shot out, as if reaching for something, before her gaze softened. Paranoia? Human attackers? She perked up once she remembered where she was and took the glass of water from me.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked tentatively. Amber waved me off.
"I'll be fine, I just had a rough couple of days. Qrow got the worst of it." Amber gulped down around half of the glass of water in one go, letting out a sigh of relief afterward. "Thank you, uh," She trailed off.
"Yang." I replied curtly. She nodded in acknowledgement and took another drink of her water. Hoping that that was the end of the conversation, I grabbed the rest of my sandwich and started upstairs. I took one last look at the Fall Maiden out of curiosity. The glass of water was emptied, and she had reclined back against the couch, fast asleep once more. Whatever had happened to her had done a number. I finally reached my room, which seemed further away than it had ever been and closed the door. My bed creaked as I flopped down on it, exasperated at the social ambush by the Fall Maiden. She had caught me completely off guard, and I prayed to whatever god or gods that existed on Remnant that she hadn't noticed anything odd about me.
After changing into a pair of jeans, a light-yellow top, and a steel grey pullover hoodie, I tucked Ember Celica underneath the sleeves to conceal them. I didn't want Tai knowing that I was going into a situation that required me to have my weapons. Once that was all said and done, I spent the rest of the time until I had to leave researching the area around my friend Olive's house, the area around the meeting point, and every nook and cranny in between. Olive was sixteen, and an orphan. By some obscure law in regards to Hunters in training, she was given a small house by the government and allowed to live there rent free by herself until she got into Beacon. She would be home tonight but was due to leave in the morning to Siren, another small Hunter academy in the southern part of Vale. The time that Izanami gave me was after Olive was due back from Siren, but I told her not to expect me back until late, if at all. The plan was to spend the night there chatting and 'catching up', then when she would leave to go to Siren, I would go ahead to the meeting point and scope out the area. I had around 3000Ł, or roughly the equivalent to $250. It was the sum of all the money I found in Yang's room, though she may have had more stashed somewhere.
It was time. The alarm on my scroll went off and about thirty seconds later I got a text from Olive saying that she was leaving for the docks right now. I grabbed the pack that I had loaded with spare clothes, shells for Ember Celica, and the Lien that I wouldn't need for the ferry or some form of refreshment if I was feeling puckish. I headed downstairs, noting the absence of Amber and Qrow. It was just Tai sitting on the couch watching television. I descended the stairs, Tai not noticing until I reached the last one.
"Olive just messaged me saying that she's on her way to the docks." I told him. He wordlessly got up and I followed him out the front door. A five-minute car ride later and we arrived at the docks. He pulled into a spot and put the car into park. I reached over and gave him a firm hug.
"Stay safe, Sunny. Call me if you need anything." He gave me one extra firm squeeze and handed me my backpack. The sky was gloomy and foreboding. "Love you." He called out as I was walking away.
"Love you too." With that I was on my own. Thunder crackled in the distance, giving me a start. I silently hoped that wasn't an omen as I made my way to the ferry.
The ride to Vale from Patch was short, taking far less time than I remember. Though that may have been because I was still coping with the gravity of the situation that had been thrust onto me. Olive's car was the same as her namesake; a dark brownish-green. There were only a few cars in the parking lot, most people having gone indoors to avoid the storm. The greenette waved me over. Lightning split the sky overhead followed almost immediately by the sound of thunder. It wouldn't be long before it started raining. I hopped into Olive's car and off we went.
"Long time no see," She spoke once we finally got onto a main road. "How's the homeschool life going?"
"It's boring. If I couldn't leave the house, I think I'd go crazy." I leaned back in the comfortable seat as we reached a stoplight. "How's life living by yourself?"
"Eh, it can get kind of boring sometimes. No Grimm to fight, so I have to rely on the Sim Center in the Commercial District. It's not the same." Sim Center, huh? If that was anything like it sounded, then I would definitely have to check it out. "Well, we're here." She pulled into a small parking lot off to the side of a multi-story apartment building painted in a mauve color.
The rain waited until we arrived at Olive's place, thankfully. Right as the door closed we heard the din of rain hitting the roof. I placed my pack down next to the couch and plopped down on the couch while Olive turned on the lights. Now that I could actually get a good look at the interior of her apartment, I was impressed. It was as fancy as any modern apartment back on Earth, complete with a modest yet engaging color scheme. It was a mix of deep purple colored furniture with light magenta painted walls. It worked in a way that belied words.
We spent the time left until she had to go to bed watching movies and chatting. There was even one that detailed the Faunus Rights Revolution - more specifically, the Battle at Fort Castle – from the perspective of the Faunus. I had a feeling that this particular movie was made by Faunus, or Faunus sympathizers, since it painted the human army in a bad light. I very much doubted that General Lagune ate babies. The couch was a pull out, thankfully, and Olive had an extra set of beddings stashed away. It was almost like sleeping in a bed.
My alarm woke me up at 7 AM. The rain had stopped sometime last night as the sun was shining through the window. There was a text from Olive on my scroll sent just over 45 minutes ago.
'Sorry I missed you, but I slept through my alarm and didn't have time to do anything other than get ready. There's a spare key to my apartment under the potted plant near the door so you can lock up when you leave. I won't be back until late tonight. I have a meeting with the Headmaster at Siren to start my preparations for going into Beacon next year. Hope everything goes well with that lead.'
My official story for her was that I was following up on a lead about Raven. Something I, or rather Yang, had done before and stayed at Olive's apartment, if the string of text messages taking place over nearly two years was any indication. The most recent of which was over the summer, right after school ended. I put on a change of clothes – a yellow t-shirt and a different, more black than blue colored, pair of jeans – and headed out. I slipped the spare key into my pocket and headed towards where the meeting place would be. The city of Vale was expansive, to say the least. Nearly 1,000 square miles and still growing. I opted to walk there, rather than take any form of public or private transportation. Partly so I could see the city at my own pace and partly so there wouldn't be a direct paper trail leading back to it. I glanced down at my wrists both to confirm that Ember Celica were still there and make sure that they didn't stick out too much. They could easily pass casual scrutiny, but anything further would reveal their true nature.
I had been exploring for around twenty minutes when my scroll chimed. It was a text from Ruby. More accurately it was a picture of her smiling broadly with her scythe at what looked like a work station. The words below it read 'CRESENT ROSE' in all capitals. I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. 'It's spelled Crescent, but I'm glad you finally found a name for your weapon.' I replied back.
A few moments later she sent another text - 'shaddup :(' – to which I couldn't help but laugh. I put my scroll away and headed for a quaint looking restaurant that looked to be serving breakfast. It wouldn't hurt to stop for a quick meal. A sign posted on the window made me reconsider my choice. It read 'No Faunus allowed'. With a huff of disappointment, I continued on. I wandered around for a while, taking the scenic route to my end destination. Eventually, I stumbled upon a small park. It was a beautiful area, lush with trees, flowerbeds, and colorful playground equipment. A glance at my scroll told me I still had just over an hour until I had to be at Izanami's coordinates. They had said 'You'll know what to do when you get there', but that was about as nonspecific as telling someone to do something could get. Would it be a moral choice? Someone getting hurt, or robbed? Would the culprits be human or Faunus? I had no way of knowing short of asking, and I doubted that Izanami was in a talkative mood.
My stomach rumbled, and there was no way I was potentially going into a fight while hungry. There looked to be an open-air restaurant named the 'Wolf's Den' nearby. While it was indeed a Faunus run business, they weren't bigoted like the other restaurant I had passed. The food was delicious and fairly cheap, costing only around 75 Lien. I left a tip that rounded the total to an even hundred, and headed back out. Thanks to the rain, I wasn't able to get nearly as much scouting done as I wanted. Hopefully I could work it out as I went.
It was fifteen minutes from nine AM, and I had arrived at the coordinates. On one side of the road was a line of miscellaneous businesses. Clothing, jewelry, shoes, and many other vanity stores lined one side of the road. On the other was a huge apartment building that stood several stories high. All in all, it seemed like any other average neighborhood. I was pacing around, getting a feel for the area, when it happened.
"Help!" A small voice cried out. I was alert in an instant, eyes darting around looking for the source. Another, decidedly pained cry gave me a better idea of where it was coming from. I had the source narrowed down to a small alleyway between two of the fancier stores. About fifty feet down, I could see a trio of dark clothed people surrounding something.
"Hey!" I yelled out as I slowly walked over towards them. I had no idea if they were armed, or even if they had aura. I had read horror stories about new Hunters accidentally killing a criminal without aura. That was something I wanted to avoid at all costs, though the thought of standing there and doing nothing was infinitely worse. The three turned around and I got a good look at them. All adult males, heights around six feet and weighing in at what looked like 200 plus pounds. Were this happening back on Earth, I would have been screwed. Another thing I was glad for. Yang's body was a powerhouse when fueled by her semblance.
"Oh, it's just some kid. I thought for a minute we found another animal to put down." The tallest man spoke, an amused tone to his voice. Now that they had spread apart somewhat, I could barely see the small figure of a child, no more than eight or nine years old. Unmoving. Anger boiled within me and without hesitation, I flicked my wrists and deployed Ember Celica and got into a stance that I had found myself unintentionally falling into during my training. My gut told me it was Yang's fighting style.
"You have one chance." I spoke slowly, fury oozing from every word. "Leave." I cocked the shotgun part of my right gauntlet to let them know I wasn't bluffing. Which I wasn't. I was fully prepared to cripple these men here and now if it came to that. The tallest of the trio laughed sinisterly, and pulled out a short sword from his belt. The other two followed suit and took up flanking positions on either side of him. He appeared to be the leader of the group. A small burst of movement from the child behind them caught my attention for just long enough to give the ringleader an opening. He lunged forward, bringing his sword down towards my neck. Instinctively, Yang's semblance activated, and I blocked the sword with my left gauntlet. Simultaneously, I hit him with a gut punch. He stumbled backwards, but otherwise appeared unharmed. They had aura. This was both good and bad. Good, in that I didn't have to worry about killing them accidentally, and bad, in that it would be that much harder of a fight. The other two cronies weren't content to simply watch, and advanced on me at the same time. I distracted One with a shot to the face, and Two with a kick at his knees. He was forced backwards, but the ringleader had recovered by then and was swinging his sword at a frighteningly fast pace. Enough that I almost wasn't able to keep up.
"You're good kid, but I'm better." Ringleader taunted. I suddenly found my left foot unable to move. A glance down revealed that the ground had seemingly turned into a thick paste, swallowing my foot whole. I paid for my inattentiveness with a slash across my shoulder, drawing a thin line of blood. My aura had absorbed most of the blow, but it could only do so much. This was looking bad. After a moment I managed to free my foot, sacrificing my shoe in the process. That had to have been the Ringleader's semblance. At least I hoped so, because if that was something he did with Dust, then I was really in trouble. I took a moment to get my breathing under control and rein in my emotions, so Yang's semblance didn't go into overdrive. It wouldn't do me any good to run out of energy before this fight was over.
"That remains to be seen," I shot back and lunged forward. He went for another jab at my injured shoulder, so I countered his telegraphed blow. I managed to get a nice hook in on his face before he retreated and let One and Two back into the fight. Ringleader was the most skilled of the trio, that much was obvious. I wouldn't underestimate his underlings however. One swung high and Two went low. I fired a pair of shots at them, sending me backwards about ten feet. That was another thing I had practiced. Yang used her gauntlets for extra mobility in addition to weapons – a switch on the inside of the wrist guard switched between blanks and slugs. The mooks recoiled from the blanks instinctively and didn't see me coming in just as fast as I had retreated. I caught Two in the chin with a shot empowered punch, definitely feeling something crack, and sent him flying backwards. He landed in a heap, unmoving but still breathing.
One looked backwards at his friend, a hesitant look on his face. Ringleader seemed to still be reeling from my blow, so I pressed the attack. One turned around just in time to catch a haymaker to the nose. He was sent backwards and landed on Two. He rolled off of the other and clutched his bloody, broken nose. Ringleader growled at the loss of his backup, and charged me once more. His swipes were wild and unpredictable, but I still couldn't find an opening to exploit. I was forced backwards, something that I knew was bad. A moment later, I was proven right as my foot hit the still wet pool of goop that Ringleader had created. I was falling. The next moment, Ringleader was poised to stab his sword into me.
Time seemed to slow down, allowing me to take in every little detail – the crazed look in Ringleader's eyes, the individual drops of sweat pouring off of him, even the minute crack in his sword near the middle. Wait, that's it. The sword. I brought one of my gauntlets up and slammed it into the weakened part of his sword. Sure enough, it shattered. In slow motion, I saw the tiny shards of metal fly everywhere, even as his weapon was diverted off course and planted in the brick wall next to me. I primed my other gauntlet and fired a blank round, propelling me up and into point blank range with Ringleader. I shot again, this time with my other hand and not with a blank, straight into the tall man's abdomen.
He was sent backwards, landing in a heap five feet away. The hand I punched him with came away bloody. A gutshot. He clutched his stomach, practically wailing in pain. The two mooks were unconscious. I flicked the blood off my hands as quickly as I could and phoned the police. The fight was over. Between giving the police my statement, and getting patched up at the ambulance, it was over an hour later by the time I was finally free to go. A fact in itself which served to confuse me, but apparently the police could take the word of a Hunter, even one in training, as law. This was no doubt something that was exploited in some circles, but I had left nothing out when telling them my story. The surprising part was when they told me that Ringleader was Flax Briar, an ex-Hunter turned criminal after he was disgraced for his extreme views on Faunus. I asked them if they were going to phone Tai and they said they had no need to, since all the evidence was there. The paramedics matched the wound on my arm to the now shattered weapon that Ringleader was using, traces of my blood still on it. I got off completely scot free. Well, almost. The wound on my shoulder had been disinfected and covered with gauze. They told me that it wasn't very deep, but I should keep it covered regardless.
In the chaos of the fight, the child had disappeared. The paramedics and police had left around five minutes ago. I headed deeper into the alley, now wearing my reclaimed shoe from the already hardening concrete. Eventually I found the child, curled up in a ball underneath a dumpster.
"It's safe to come out now." I called out softly. "The bad guys are gone." He hesitantly began to crawl out. Now that I could get a good look at the child, correction boy, he looked mostly alright, save for a large bruise on the side of his face. One thing that stood out were his Faunus features. Horns, like a bull. The left one had the tip chipped off.
I prayed I wasn't right. "I'm Yang. What's your name?"
"Aster Taurus. My big brother was supposed to come pick me up, but he didn't show." He replied in a dazed voice.
Fuck.