The inside of the cabin looked much better on the inside than it did on the outside. A bright wooden floor covered the entire one story house. The living room and the kitchen each took a half of the moderately large room which the front doors lead into. Ruby and Blake noticed a musty red couch with a couple of white blankets on it, upon which Vegeta laid upon, facing away from them. Goku lead them over to a wooden table surrounded by chairs and offered them some ramen pots. Blake and Ruby both sat down and accepted.

"Make one for me, Kakarot!" Vegeta muttered, his voice muffled by the pillow that he had his face buried in.

"Don't mind him" Goku smiled as he whispered to the girls, "He gets cranky when he's hungry"

Ruby sat eagerly awaiting her food as Goku lit a fire on a large black stove with his finger and began to boil a copper kettle. Blake however, looked around the room, curious that humans still lived in these kinds of conditions these days. In her experience, all the senior citizen had moved to the larger cities within the four kingdoms. Living in the wilderness was extremely dangerous for old people because of the Grimm attacks. She decided to ask Goku why after she had eaten something.

The kettle started to whistle and Goku put out the flame and produced three ramen cups from a cabinet next to the stove. He placed the full ramen cups in front of the two girls and then turned to Vegeta.

"It's ready"

Vegeta grunted as he stood up and sat down at the table as well. He chose the seat furthest from the two huntresses and grabbed his food. He looked at Goku almost expectantly, as though he had forgotten to do something.

"What about you, where's yours"?

Goku sat down so that he and Vegeta were at opposite ends of the table with the two girls in between them, and frowned at his empty portion of the table.

"I'm not really hungry."

Vegeta nearly choked on a mouthful of noodles and gawked at Goku, an expression of bewildered surprise plastered across his face.

"What"? Goku looked embarrassed as if he had just said something extremely stupid. Vegeta stared at him like Goku was some kind of freak.

"You…are not hungry?" He managed to stammer out.

"Oh don't look so shocked, training was the reason I needed to eat…but now I don't so I'm not."

Vegeta mouthed a few silent words, obviously trying to think of a response to this, but fell back on eating silently, not looking at anyone. Ruby and Blake had exchanged looks and were about to dig in themselves, if they had not seen how Vegeta went about eating his food. To say that he ate like a pig would be unfair to pigs, he ate more like a duck. His chopsticks were more like a brownish blur as he shovelled the ramen down with an astonishing speed and consistency. It was completely finished in a mere few seconds and he was drinking down the dregs of the cup enthusiastically while the girls gaped at him with open mouths.

"Oh right, you aren't really used to this are you"? Goku laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. Vegeta suddenly looked up at the untouched food in front of the two girls.

"Are you going to eat that or what?!"

A squeak escaped Ruby's mouth as she hastily began to wolf down the ramen with all the speed she could muster (This was also quite an impressive feat). Blake began eating slowly and gracefully, but over time gave into her hunger and began scoffing the noodles in a similar fashion to Ruby. They had eaten ramen before, but this was nothing like anything they had ever experienced before. The pots were empty in a matter of seconds. Both girls looked into the depths of their empty meals almost crestfallen, but were too polite to ask for more.

Only when they looked up did they notice that both Goku and Vegeta were looking at them. Goku wore an odd sort of nostalgic smile, his eyes unfocused, as though Ruby was a mirror into the past, Blake even swore that she even saw a twitch in Vegeta's face that looked hauntingly like a warm smile.

"Umm…what"? Ruby inquired, uncomfortably shuffling in her seat.

"Sorry, it's just…you remind me of my granddaughter"

Ruby's face went slightly pink at this and she immediately began staring into her cup again. Blake smiled understandingly and finished off her dregs. The room became eerily quiet as they all finished their food. Blake knew that Goku had only offered them food, but she knew that Adam would be looking for them now; they couldn't go back to Beacon, not yet anyway. And then there was the case of this old guys amazing strength…if he some kind of secret that gave it to him, they could seriously use it.

"What happened to her?" Ruby asked tentatively. She had finished her cup and now looked at Goku with great interest.

Goku stopped smiling at this sudden question from the young huntress. He placed his hands on the table for a few seconds, not looking at her. He seemed to be trying to find the right words to explain. He spoke after a few moments, with a stoic mournful face and when he did speak, he spoke clearly and flatly. "She died… the anniversary was five years last week."

Ruby placed her hands over her mouth and looked at Blake. She also felt shocked, though it didn't translate as obviously on to her face as it did Ruby's. That was awful; nobody should have to outlive their children. She glanced at Ruby's pale face, all the paler for her empathy with this old man. Vegeta said nothing; he was finished with his food and therefore had nothing to do at the table but scowl into space.

The silence stretched out over the long minutes. Blake saw out of the window that the sun was a small crack of scarlet on the horizon. Morning had come, and she cherished the sight, for she had not expected to see it again. She knew that Adam was out there planning his next move; she knew that he was not the type to give up so easily. He'd find them again…eventually. She blinked for a long moment, tiredness beginning to close in. Blake looked down at Ruby, whose head had started to droop with exhaustion.

"Hey…would it be okay if I and my friend slept here?"

Blake was glad she said this, anything would have done to break that awful silence, but Goku's reaction was glowing. He jumped up, a big grin on his face and opened his arms in a sign of sincerity.

"Yeah, sure you can! Please stay as long as you need to!" Goku exclaimed joyfully, before quickly looking at Vegeta, almost apprehensively. He clearly regretted not asking him first.

Vegeta said nothing. Goku knew that expression and the crossed arms, combined with the lack of eye contact. He had seen it before on many an occasion. He knew that look said without words 'Well…if you must'. This small act seemed to electrify Ruby, who sat bolt upright, smiling adorably. It was nice to see her smiling again in earnest…after what happened, Blake wondered if she would ever be able to get over her worry. She was far tougher than she looked.

They were lead outside by Goku, to a small sort of paddock out to the back of the house. It had been blocked from view upon their arrival, by a huge tree that lay on its side before it. Goku rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment as the bemused expressions on the girls' faces.

"We needed the space for farmin'. This whole area used to be forest until me and Gete's cleared it." His smile widened as he gazed into the past once again. "He…he wanted to use his energy to blast them away, but I told him the animals would die too, and we needed them for huntin'."

'Energy'?

Blake was slightly shocked at how blasé Goku was talking about innocent creatures being either suffering genocide or driven from their homes to be murdered later, but Ruby looked like she had barely even registered what was said. She was looking tired again. And what the hell was this energy business about? Could it be the marvel that he had shown them in the alley?

"And this, Goku pointed to a stable in the paddock that was full of straw, - is where you'll be sleepin'."

Ruby and Blake stared at the dark rickety structure, with its splintery walls and damp straw with disgust when Goku saw their faces and his own went red again.

"Oh-no, not the straw, there are beds inside." He looked at the two huntresses apprehensively. "It's a nice place to rest; it's warm, dry and sturdy. I had it made and checked by King Ka-um…a friend-who is good at building."

Blake wanted to inquire further as to whom this 'King' was, but Ruby was yawning and she wanted some sleep herself.

"Thanks again" Blake murmured, as she steered Ruby into the barn, which was a good few feet away from where they were standing. Goku waved it aside.

"I have you two to thank, this is the least we can do. Stay for as long as you like." He nodded courteously and in a flash of speed, vanished completely. Blake almost jumped at seeing an old man move so fast, but the drowsiness was beginning to addle her now, and she passed it off as little more than a trick of the dying light. Exhausted, yawning, the two huntresses staggered into the barn and looked around for beds.

It was pretty well maintained given how it looked from the outside. The dark interior was indeed dry, but the chill still hung in the air, given the emptiness of the small pit fire that lay before two futons lying parallel on the dusty floor. It had been made for the company of animals, but small human accommodations had been added, so as to extend the stables use to a guest room. A table and two chairs had been put just to the side of a set of wooden barriers that would hold horses, if Goku and Vegeta owned any. There was even a door towards the back that looked to Blake like a bathroom.

Blake and Ruby got into their futons, still clothed and not talking, they were both thinking the same thing however. The thought rang in their heads like infinite amounts of jangling church bells: What had happened to Weiss and Yang. Blake prayed that they had escaped too. Yang was badly injured when they had last seen her. She couldn't get far on her own, lucky that Weiss was with her. But she was no match for Adam…and the white fang would be after her more than ever.

Blake rolled over as Ruby began to snore, and her thoughts turned to Adam. She had never dreamed that she would come to fear him like this. Adams ideas had always frightened her, but physically he had always seemed on par with her. But his strength seemed to have increased since they had parted. Blake had learned all that she needed to know in that one encounter. There was no way that she could take Adam out, there was no hope. He was too strong.

There was also the issue that, if given the chance to take his life…she didn't know if she'd have the stomach to snuff out another living person. Their differing philosophies regarding what constituted murder was the reason Blake had fled in the first place. If she sank to that level, to actually steal a life from this world for her own prejudice or hatred…she would not kill Adam, she would become him. The thought made her shudder, how had she ever loved that creature? Not a man, he had more in common with a monster. She'd find a way, she had to. He was never going to hurt her…family again.


Hi, sorry for the wait, I've been taking a break with my family and its taken a while to get back into this story. I hope the chapter length is not too annoying, as i intend to get them out a little faster from this chapter on. Thank you for reading.

Johnathan