HART-TNG

Chapter 4

Moonlight Vigil

Oakley's overnight vigil will serve two purposes, if everything goes according to Hart's plan... she hopes!

The heavy doors creaked slightly as Hart pulled them open. The rounded building had started as an overly large gazebo when the house had been built. Someone had taken the time to build it to last using stout timbers. When the Faunas Huntress had acquired the house on its four acres of land, she'd added solid walls, sealing in the high dome. What once had been a comfortable place to look over a small garden had been repurposed to serve her own needs.

Picking up the small lantern, she led her prospective student to the center of the room. Oakley peered nervously at the myriad plaques lining the walls. Reaching almost to the roof, they filled the space with reflected silver light.

Hart deposited the lamp on a small circular stone in the center of the wooden floor. Turning to the boy, she lifted her hands towards the softly gleaming metal around them. "The Circle of Memories!" she announced. "Each of these is a memorial to a fallen Huntress or Hunter. They made the choice to defend the innocent, facing evil wherever it arose. Many here died defending Vale during the Fall, others went down when we re-took the city. As individuals, they were not perfect. None of us are. Yet they died as heroes, doing the job they chose in the best way they could."

Oakley turned slowly in place, wide eyes taking in the number of metal plates. One significantly larger than the others caught his attention. "Whoa! Why's that'n bigger?" he asked.

Hart led him to the wall, then sat down, patting the floor next to her. When he'd seated himself, she touched the name on the metal. "This was my mentor, my own Shield. His name was Edda Odson, a human who saved my life the day my mother was murdered." One finger traced the outline of the engraved sigil, three arms linked in a triangle. "He was a very brave man who saw the potential in me to be a Huntress. Like Hath sees in you, I think," she nodded at the solemn boy. "He saw to my training and taught me many things," she sighed deeply. "He died saving the city about the time you were born, just before I was accepted at Beacon Academy."

Oakley nodded soberly. "So, he'uz kinda like a daddy to you?" He stroke the limp left ear thoughtfully. "Kinda like Hath 'n me, I guess."

Hart grinned lopsidedly at the thought of the soldier being called a 'daddy'! "Not exactly. Hath is more like a big brother. He was asked to help with your training, and sort of took it a step further," she turned slightly to face the boy squarely. "I have someone in mind to be your Shield, but I need to have two things happen before making my decision," she held up a finger, "First, I want you to spend the night here standing a Vigil as people did in the days before the Academy's were founded, thinking about whether or not you really want to be a Hunter. It's not a decision to rush into!" A second finger was raised. "While you're doing that, I'm going to talk with the man I think might make a good Shield for you. I don't know if he'll agree to do it, yet. He may choose not to, or I may decide he won't be good for you," she warned.

The boy squeezed his hands between his knees, looking down miserably. "An' if he don't, I go be a pig farmer?" He winced as her finger tapped him sharply between his Faunas ears.

"None of that!" She lifted his chin. "If you decide you truly want to be a Hunter, I'll keep looking until I find someone to be your mentor," she promised earnestly. When he nodded in understanding, she released him and rose. Leading him back to where the lantern sat, she indicated a space on the floor near the pedestal. "Leave your weapon there. You may move around the room, but you can't leave until I come for you in the morning. You are not to sleep! If I find you asleep when I come back, then you don't have it in you to be dedicated to the task. Do you understand?"

He nodded sharply. "Yes'M! Don' worry 'bout me, Miz Dore! Ah'll do like you say!" Setting his axe on the floor in front of the light, he knelt down, looking up at her with a serious face. "Iffen he don't choose me, ah'll stick it out til someone do!"

Stepping outside, she closed the doors. She smiled fondly at the wood sealing him in. "I'll stick it out too, Persimmon Oakley!" Promise made, she patted the latch a final time before striding across the yard to the dimly lit porch of her home. Settling herself at the edge of the wooden deck, she pulled Oathblade from its sheath and set the blade across her knees, intent on keeping her own vigil through the night. There was still a second, possibly more difficult question to answer before sunrise.

The stars wheeled overhead as the hours passed. Hart settled into a light trance as the night progressed, letting her mind wander over the possibilities of the future. The moon was just about to set when the decking creaked slightly behind her. Her expanded senses hadn't sent her conscious mind a warning, so it must be...

"Hello Tan." She could almost feel him grinning at her back. Her left hand gestured towards the edge of the wood next to her. "Grab a seat."

She turned slightly to regard the man lowering himself to the boards. He was heavier now, more muscular than when they had met many years ago. A new scar gave his face a slightly sinister air, the once boyish looks now hardened by his many battles. Of the four members of Team HART, he was the only one to continuously seek out fights to get into, taking the hardest jobs offered. Even Yang, the eternal adrenalin junkie, couldn't keep up with his record. He was on the path to self-destruction if he didn't slow down. "I see Autumn found you."

He grunted noncommittally. "She knows me too well. I should find a new bar."

And that was another thing that hurt them all. He'd started the drinking when Ruby hadn't come back, it had gotten worse over the years. If he wasn't on a mission, he could be found at one of two bars near the docks. She'd heard a rumor that some of the city's new guards were running a betting pool over which would kill him first, Grim, Bandits, or Bottle. "I wish you'd find a coffee shop. Autumn doesn't need to be going into bars at her age!"

Tan raised his hands defensively. "I'm not the one who sent her!" he retorted. "You should have seen the look she gave the bartender when he told her to leave! It reminded me of you!" He leaned against a post and smiled at her scowl. "So, why send for me? She never gave a reason."

She ran a finger along the length of her blade, nodding towards the building on the far side of the lawn. "There's a young Faunas boy in the Circle of Memories who's deciding whether or not to be a Hunter. He's Hath's responsibility and needs a Shield to release his Aura."

Tan winced slightly as he looked at the short tower in the distance, hating the place for what it did to him every time he stepped inside. The last thing he wanted was to remember those days and all the friends who'd stayed the course and been lost in the end... and her! The woman who hadn't come back to him left a hole in his heart that he numbed with alcohol. "And so you called me?"

She nodded. "And so I called you," she agreed. "He needs someone to mentor him. He has a head full of stories and dreams, without any facts. And you..." she sighed, turning her head to look closely at her teammate. "You need someone to help you find your center again." She held up a hand to forestall his angry retort. "Please, Tan! Trust me, like you used to?" Her hand swept towards the Circle. "I don't want to add your name there. We... can't lose you just yet. You mean too much to me, to all of us!"

His hands clenched into fist as his face darkened, then suddenly relaxed. Drawing a deep breath, he looked across the grass. "Okay. I'll try not to get killed anytime soon." The promise was halfhearted. He scratched at the new scar thoughtfully. "So, this kid..."

"His name's Persimmon Oakley." she supplied.

"This... Persimmon. You think he's going to choose to be one of us?"

Hart pushed a strand of wayward hair back behind an ear. "Yeah, I do think so. But it's not going to be easy for him. He's got nobody left, his whole family's gone now. Hath is taking care of him until he graduates."

Tan laughed silently, right fist pounding his thigh. "Hath? Mister Bachelor? I never thought he'd do something like that!" he finally exclaimed.

"He's a very responsible man!" Hart said defensively.

The Hunter held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright! I know he is! I just never expected it." Lowering his hands, he nodded towards the building. "So... got a spot on the wall already picked out for me?"

She gave him a sad smile as he got to his feet. "Yep! All the way up, across from the door. Just about the last space that can be reached!" She clambered to her feet, pausing to sheathe the sword. "Right next to my spot."

"Optimist!" he said over his shoulder, heading towards the building. He paused as she called his name.

"He's a good kid!" she warned. "Bear that in mind!"

Tan stopped in midstride, his head sinking between his shoulders. "Yeah. That's the problem. They were all good kids." He raised his head and stared at the setting moon. "And then there's me." Glancing over his shoulder at the woman on the porch, he shrugged. "I hope you're right about this."

Persimmon lifted the stub of the pencil from the page. The small leather bound book was something he habitually carried, the neatly lettered sentences within at odds with the way people around him saw the son of a pig farmer. He'd never let anyone read it, lest they scoff at his attempts.

' Night,

the dark cotton

dimming the light of my soul'

He regarded the page critically, finally satisfied that the first part was saying what he felt. The pencil descended again, stopping just short of the page as a creak sounded from the doorway. He hastily closed the book, slipping it into his vest as a heavyset man stepped inside, gently pulling the door shut behind him. The boy cleared his throat nervously as the man approached.

"Ah.. Evenin' sir! I weren't spectin' nobody til mornin'. Miz Dore din' say nuthin' bout no visitor whilst I's supposed to be vigil'n'." He frowned as the man seated himself. "Y'all sure yer allowed ta be here?"

The scarred face looked pensively at the walls before turning to Persimmon. "It's like this, kid. I don't exactly take orders from "Miz Dore" anymore. She thinks you might have the potential to be a Hunter, but I don't always trust other people's feelings. I prefer to find out for myself." A calloused hand reached out, engulfing the boy's. "Tan Tyrson. How'dya do!"

"Persimmon Oakley! Please ta meet'cha Mister Teer-sun!"

And the kid meant it, thought Tan as he freed his hand. He waved it at the weapon on the floor. "That yours?" he asked.

Oakley patted the haft fondly. "Yeppers! Ma said Granpap left it to me when he passed. Guess mebbe he thought ah could take over fer'm when ah was growed." He lifted it up and passed it to the Hunter. "She's a good'un!"

The half-moon blade had a razor edge, Tan noted, with a straight haft long enough to get a two-handed swing. The poll was a solid hammer of polished metal and had seen a lot of use, judging from the dents. Flipping it end for end, he gauged the muzzle of the haft to be about the same as his Gunfas. A heavy hitter at close range. He nodded appreciatively. Blade, blunt, and gun all in one lethal package. "Very nice!" he commented, handing it back. "But can you use it?"

Oakley glanced down at the blade. "Ah don't rightly know yet," he admitted. "Ah ain't had much practice with'er. Wasn't much in the way a' time, what with the chores Uncle Peach laid on me all day long. Never got no proper trainin' neither. Granpap died fore I could learn what makes 'er tick!"

Tyrson nodded. "So you're pretty much starting from scratch, then." The boy nodded without looking up. Tan looked around the room, trying not to let himself get pulled into pity for the kid. His eyes wandered over the softly gleaming rectangles lining the walls. "Tell me something, Oakley. Do you have any idea what this place is?" he asked softly.

Persimmon looked up at the man, wondering what he meant. "Miz Dore says it's a 'Circle of Memory', but ah ain't rightly sure why it got named that. Seems a lotta folks she knew done got kilt, an' mayhap she's worryin' bout forgettin' em," he answered.

Tan snorted. "She's never going to forget them. We knew most of them pretty well from school, young kids just like us bent on becoming certified Hunters and Huntresses. Some we hardly knew at all, but those were mostly older people that had already made a name for themselves." He turned in place, palms up. "This is a memorial to what happens to all the people who become Hunters. We fight the darkness until it kills us!" he said bitterly.

Oakley scratched his good ear. "Well now! Beggin' yer pardon, but... Don't know 'bout you, but ah figger ever'body's gonna die sometime. I's thinkin' it's better ta go down fightin' than jes' lay down an' give up!"

Tan stood, cocking an eyebrow at the response. "You do, do you?" He turned to face the boy. "Tell me, Mister Oakley, do you think you're brave enough to be one of us?"

The boy nodded. "Yep! I legged it for six days ta git here'bouts by my lonesome!" He puffed out a skinny chest. "An' I tell you, thet were a long lonely road! Ain't a lot can skeer me!"

The new scar bent at an angle as Tan grinned at the boy's posturing. "Let's test the theory." Spreading his arms, he unleashed his Semblance.

The shout from across the field snapped Hart out of her trance, Oathblade upright in her right hand as she raced towards the building. Her left hand was on the latch before she realized that the blue light leaking under the door could only mean one thing.

She drew back, releasing the handle with a muttered curse. This wasn't something she had anticipated, but she had to trust in him. He wouldn't hurt an innocent, he couldn't! He might be at the lowest point in his life, but she would never think of him as being like that. She couldn't find it in her to doubt him, but...

Sheathing her sword, she laid an ear against the door panel.

"What in Tarnation is you?!" the boy demanded, hefting the axe over one shoulder. He shivered as the blue fire leaking from the eye slits in the golden helm looked at him from across the room, his mind numbed by the waves of anger that surged around the circle like a tidal pool of hatred.

The thing's voice rumbled like distant thunder. "We are the Joined, the Rage! We are that which hunts the darkness and kills it! We have hunted for a thousand years! A hundred times we have fallen, only to rise again with the coming of a new generation! Tell us, young one! Do you fear now?"

From his shared perspective with the Semblance, Tan studied the Faunas youngster. When he'd turned his Semblance loose, the boy had grabbed his weapon first before bounding backwards across the room in one prodigious leap. Now Oakley stood his ground, axe raised and ready to defend himself. Kid's got sand!, he thought. But let's see if he's got enough brains to think before acting.

The axe shook slightly as Persimmon's eyes narrowed. "Ah... ah ain't skeered'a you!" he shouted. The axe lowered slightly. "Ah's jes' taken unawares like!" He hefted the axe again. "But iffen you's dead set on fightin', I'd be pleased as punch to let y'all find out jes' how sharp ma' axe is!"

Coarse laughter came from within the metal helm as the creature seated itself cross-legged in front of the lantern. Both hands rose palms out, warding off the boy's challenge. "Peace... peace young one! Come! Sit with us and take my hand. We will talk of battles won, of courage shared, and what will become of you after the one who holds me releases your soul."

Hart blew out the breath she'd been holding, stepping away from the door and the murmuring voices behind the wood.

Tan, you sneaky bastard, she thought. I am gonna give you a hug, then smack you upside the head for pulling that trick! Now if Oakley could just provide the anchor her friend needed so much!

She glanced up at the lightening of the eastern sky, then turned towards the house. Coffee for three seemed to be in order, now that a new day was dawning.

"Persimmon Oakley. Do you wish to become a Hunter?"

Oakley forced his knees to be still. It was bad enough standing in front of Miss Goodwitch again, but being surrounded by people he'd barely met made him more nervous than he'd ever been before.

Behind the professor stood Hath along with several of the soldiers he'd been introduced to while staying with his teacher. Aldus, towering over them, gave him a wink and a smile. Next to the giant, the girl he'd seen in Miss D'Ore's class was watching the proceedings with unfeigned interest.

Looking back up at the woman, he nodded earnestly. "Yes'M! With all mah heart!" His chest pounded as he gazed into her eyes. "Taint nuthin' else in this world I want more."

"Very well, then." She looked to her left. "Mister Tyrson?"

Tan stepped forward as Glynda moved aside. "Let's see if I remember how this is done," he whispered to the boy, holding out his right hand.

"We'll do' er together, Mister Teersun!" Oakley whispered back, clasping the offered hand. "I trusts ya ta do right by me!"

Tan rolled his eyes. "Fine! Now shut it and let's get this over with" he muttered. Laying his left hand on the skinny shoulder, he closed his eyes.

"In the passing of a sacred duty, we achieve immortality. Our souls no longer bound by death, but instead becoming one with the living world!... " The Hunter's words rolled over the silent crowd.

Persimmon stiffened as Tan's body was surrounded by a deep blue glow, the shimmering force racing down the man's arm and diving into the skin of the hand he held. A sudden warmth appeared in the boy's chest and spread throughout his body. Oddly, he felt the limp Faunas ear rising up to stand straight alongside its twin. Somehow it just felt... right... now.

"... Through this choice you are destined to rise above all others as a symbol of virtue! And I choose to stand by your side, to aid and protect as your Shield!" His eyes opened, the blue fire of his Semblance reflected on the youngster's calm face. "And death shall not separate us." The fire dimmed as his hand was released. "Look at yourself, boy. This is your Aura," he whispered.

From the sidelines, Autumn let out an 'ooh' of appreciation as the new student stared at the grass green glow outlining his body. The words her Uncle had used were different from those her Aunt had spoken at her own ceremony, but the meaning behind them remained the same. A new Hunter had been born in that instant, one with the same future she had.

She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh as the boy threw his arms around the startled Hunter, a flustered look coming over the scarred face. 'This is gonna be an interesting four years!', she thought as the crowd moved forward to congratulate the boy. A sniff from the man next to her drew her attention. Wordlessly she handed Hath a handkerchief.

"I suppose you're going to tell your dad you saw me crying." he muttered after wiping his eyes and blowing his nose.

She looked up at him in exasperation. "You two are the biggest crybabies I know!" she huffed, leaving him standing in bafflement as she strode off to talk to Hart.

A/N : And then there were two.

Persimmon may be a 'hick from the sticks', but he's got what it takes to stand his ground in the face of his mentor's Semblance, something only one other person has ever done.

Now all he has to do is face his new teachers, four years of training, and a fellow student that expects him to keep up. What could go wrong?

Keep writing!

Vindictious