Chapter 8: The New Generation.


US, California, San Francisco, Southern Police Station.

"So... Do you know her name and occupation?" asked the police officer behind the desk.

"Her name is Raven Branwen and she's a Huntress," Taiyang answered in a quite a worried tone.

"A Huntress eh, so one of those who come from the Kingdoms." The officer raised a brow.

"So I bet that you're from Vale."

Taiyang nodded before the officer checked into the computer with the new Windows 2003 operating system.

"Alright then, her identification?"

"Here's her picture."

The brawler pulled out his scroll and showed a picture of his wife. The officer took a good look before filling in the missing person registration. Moments later, the Huntsman was then asked a few questions.

"So, Mr. Xiao Long... I wonder where you got that Chinese name." Taiyang raised his brow in confusion, and then the officer made a small cough. "Sorry about that, didn't meant to offend you."

"None taken." Taiyang shrugged.

"Can you tell me what exactly happened to your wife and why?" he asked. "Was she... kidnapped for some reason?"

"No, but..." Tai shook his head. "After I found out that my wife was pregnant, we were fine for nine months, but after she gave birth to our daughter, she..."

"Go on." the officer made to encourage him further by making a circling gesture.

"Once we got to the patient room 117, she wasn't there," Taiyang continued. "We tried to find her, but me and the staff hadn't found a single trace. Even her belongings had vanished."

"So you don't know why she vanished?" he asked once more.

"No, that's everything."

Minutes passed and Taiyang walked out of the office and headed to the waiting room where Qrow and Summer were waiting. The white-cloaked huntress was in a cheery mood while stroking the hair of Taiyang's daughter. To her left side sat Qrow, who was asleep, snoring loudly while other people who sat near him moved away, disgusted by the smell of alcohol.

Summer saw the blonde brawler come into the waiting area, and kicked Qrow's right leg forcefully.

"Qrow, wake up!" she fumed.

"Jeez, what the hell Summer." Qrow groaned with irritation. "That was a great dream where I had cute girls and hot women in mini-skirts, and you've ruined it."

Summer just rolled her eyes and sighed. She stood up from her seat and skidded to Taiyang while holding the baby.

"So what do they say?" she asked. "Are they going to send some detectives?"

"Uh, those were crime investigators, not runaway investigators." Taiyang explained. "The police said that they would give us whatever they could to find the person that matches her identity."

"Things like this situation won't be too easy," Qrow said while stepping out of the waiting room. "Finding Raven would be extremely difficult... I know her too well, even better than you, Tai. She's always been an expert in hide and seek, even when we were kids."

"I don't know what's happening now, Qrow." Tai nervously shook his head with a trembling voice. "And I feel... worried about her."

"Tai, you don't need to worry," Summer encouraged him with a pat on his shoulder. He turned to his team leader and saw a bright, innocent smile plastered on her face. "We'll find her, no matter what."

Seconds to minutes, hours to days and weeks to months, time passed by. The remaining members of Team STRQ tried find Raven and failed. In the beginning, Taiyang often sat alone in his home with his daughter, deeply depressed, but Qrow and Summer came to cheer him up. Qrow tried to convince Tai to get away from his gloomy dark world, but that tended to end with them getting in trouble. On the other hand was Summer, she always scolded Taiyang and Qrow when they got into problems, but mostly stayed home while they searched. The leader of Team STRQ had a new job, taking care of Yang, like... a mother.

However, Summer's cheery personality and support had affected Taiyang's depression, making the world seem lighter again. As a result of her kindness, they fell for each other and developed a relationship. Their attempts to search for Raven in those weeks and months had all but been given up, and no one in Team STRQ knew Raven's fate.

And from months came years.


Year 2005, California, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital.

Taiyang and Qrow entered patient room 343. There they saw Summer sitting on her bed. She smiled to the two teammates. Her stepdaughter, the two-year-old toddler, Yang, was also happy to see her 'mother' once again. The nurse came in the room with a baby wrapped up in a bundle of cloth, and carefully put her into Summer's arms.

Qrow felt someone's trying to pulling down his pants and looked down at Yang.

"Uncle, I want. To see. Baby," she said innocently.

Qrow understood her butchered sentence and smiled.

"Here you go kiddo." Qrow picked her up and placed her on Summer's left side.

"Yang, I want you to meet your new little sister." Summer smiled when she showed the sleeping baby with black, red tinted hair.

After seeing her, Yang looked curious and asked, "Name. What her name?"

"Her name is Ruby," Summer said. "You're a big sister now, Yang. Once you grow up, make sure you must take good care of her, okay?"

"Okay." Yang nodded and looks back to the baby.

She lifted her arm and carefully touched Ruby's cheeks. They were soft, but the baby began to groan.

"No Yang, you'll wake her up," Summer cooed quietly while she carefully pushed Yang's arm away.

Meanwhile, Taiyang and Qrow were distracted by the events on television, Summer perked up while holding the kids to see the news.

"American Huntsmen- and Huntresses-in-Training from the California Huntsman Academy have won the Vytal Festival Tournament for the first time in history," said the reporter before the news narrator took over.

"The leaders of the United Nations last year announced that they would sponsor the Vytal Festival, which astonished nations all around the world. America, Canada, Japan, and Britain are the only nations that already had fully developed Huntsmen academies that signed up to participate in the Vytal Festival due to a huge surge of interest."

The next scene showed a large group of students cheering while a single team carried their teammate, a 17 year old teenage boy with a baseball cap, baseball jacket and urban clothes, who raised a golden trophy then confetti's rained from above. Meanwhile, Qrow quickly recognized the victor and smirked.

"Yo Qrow, isn't that the baseball boy was one of your students? His name was Ryan right?" Taiyang asked.

"Yeah, he's taken my advice so well," Qrow admitted while nodding. "That boy has improved, but... still makes some mistakes."

"The California Huntsmen Academy won in First Place, Iyoyama Academy from Japan got Second and Haven Academy from Mistral won the Third place."

"Wow, I never thought Earthen Huntsmen-in-training had such potential despite how recently those academies were founded," Taiyang wondered. "I mean really, these kids are in their first year and yet they managed to overcome students from all four kingdoms, who have the better academies."

"It's because they had dreams Tai," Qrow answered. "You know, since we first came here, most adults began see us as different due to our supernatural abilities, yet they were afraid us. However, kids nowadays look at us as superheroes and were inspired by our actions in the Grimm Wars, and boom, that changed everything. Their dreams suddenly became a reality when tourists unlocked the children's aura during the cultural exchange."

"And they want to become like us," Taiyang added.

"Exactly," the scythe wielder nodded.

'Huh... Well, it's a thing now.' Tai thought.


Year 2010, Oregon, City of Sandy.

"This house is amazing~!" said a blonde woman in a cheery tone. "And oh, honey, don't let those boxes fall off, they're fragile."

"Got it sweetie!" her husband replied while lending a helping hand to the moving company.

"Hey dad, can I help?" squeaked a voice.

The man turned his eyes downwards, only to see his seven-year-old son looking up at him innocently.

"No Jaune, these things might be heavy for your age and your older sisters have already gotten the lighter things in the house." his father said, sighing. "Why don't you go to the playground instead and make some friends?"

"Ohhh," Jaune groaned while looking down pathetically.

"Hey, cheer up son," Mr. Arc said. Jaune looked back and saw him smirking. "One day when you're older, you'll help me out."

"Thanks dad." Jaune sighed as he made his way to the playground.

Later on, Jaune found himself alone, sitting on a swing with no kids around. Despite that, he was trying to enjoy himself, but it wasn't good enough... Until two kids came along, in pink and green.

"Hey there, are you the new kid!?" yelled a happy voice. Jaune accidentally fell from his swing, startled by the yelling just behind his head.

"Nora, please don't do that, it's rude," said the other.

Jaune stood up and saw two kids in front of him, a boy and a girl the same age as him. The first one who was a girl with orange colored hair and turquoise eyes who wore pink clothes and a miniskirt. The next kid was a boy in green overalls who had black hair with a magenta streak on the left side.

"Who're you?" Jaune asked.

"I'm Nora and this is Ren!" she introduced herself and her friend with enthusiasm. "I heard that there's a new kid in the neighborhood... are you the new kid?"

"I... I guess that's me," Jaune replied shyly.

"Then that's great! Wanna be friends?" she asked. "It'll be boring when you play alone, play with me and Ren-Ren!"

"Well... I think having friends is quite fun."


United Kingdom, Scotland, Southend

"Milady Schnee, your dinner is served," said the butler in a polite manner.

"Why thank you for noticing me, Mr. Randall," said an elderly Schnee while she put down her magazine on the nearby table. "Oh, Mr. Randall, tell Miss Maria to notify my youngest daughter that dinner has yet to be served."

"As you wish, milady." The butler nodded and left.

Southend, a region in Scotland, was a part of the United Kingdom that lay south of Campbelt town. It wasn't very populated, and had a clearer but often gloomy nature.

But among the people who lived in this region was the Schnee family. Since the aftermath of the Atlesian crisis in 2003, Mr. Schnee knew that the Red Hand would rise from the shadows once more and would seek revenge. Therefore, he sent his wife to safety in the United Kingdom, where he ordered to build a villa. He and his eldest daughter decided to stay in Atlas to run the business and for Winter to begin her training, but after his wife had moved, she gave birth to a healthy daughter. However, the baby was not an Atlesian, but the first Altesian to be a citizen of the United Kingdom by birth.

"Hurry Weiss, don't make your mother wait so much."

"I know Miss Maria, I know." Weiss went hurriedly into the dining hall while carrying a blue teddy bear.


United States of America, City of New York.

"Alright, you're under arrest, pal." said an officer while putting handcuffs on the criminal's wrist. "Think you fuckers could run away from our cat? Bad move, that makes you a mouse then."

"Mike, enough with the cheesy talking." The officer looked around and saw a Panther Faunus in a SWAT uniform, bearing a patch on his shoulder. It had a bat on a yellow background, with a sign that said, "Silent Watch."

"Try to make a better speech with less vulgarity."

"Okay, okay, I'm trying," Mike replied nonchalantly.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Ghira Belladonna from the SWAT team Silent Watch?" asked a reporter as the TV Cameraman came along. "Can you tell us what happened few hours ago and what kinds of things the criminals did?"

"Well, I'm not good at media interviews, but I'll give it a try," Mr. Belladonna said nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

Meanwhile, in a certain apartment, two cat faunus watched the news.

"The criminals we've arrested are just amateurs, but one of them did really slip under our noses. Luckily, we managed to get him cornered."

"Look Blake, it's your daddy!" her mother said. "Isn't he great~!"

"But I heard from daddy that criminals are dangerous," Blake said with a worried expression. "I'm scared he might got hurt or worst."

"Don't worry Blake, daddy is a brave man." her mother cooed while stroking her daughter's head. "So, who wants sardines?"

"Oh! Me! Me!" The little girl raised her hand in joy.


US West Coast, Muir Beach, California.

Two years ago, Taiyang and his new wife, Summer, moved away from his old apartment, settling in a new home in Charlotte's Way, at the same town. Nowadays, his little daughters were having fun playing hide and seek somewhere outside, deep under the trees.

Meanwhile, in another neighborhood.

Two boys venture through the trees, as if it was their own secret playground. They played as superheroes based on their own favorite action figure.

"I am Captain America! The hero of the free people!" the boy yelled in enthusiasm. "Hydra is everywhere and we must act now!"

"Um, why don't we play soldiers?" the other boy asked. He was two years younger. "Or like going exploring for example or monster hunting!"

"Ugh, exploring is boring," the older boy groaned while rolling his eyes. "But monster hunting? Are there monsters in here?"

Suddenly, the cry broke the silence between the two young boys.

"Do you… hear that?"

"I dunno, it might be a ghost."

"There are no ghosts, dad told me that they aren't real."

"But dad told me about the Grimm."

"You mean those big black monsters?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

As the boys went deeper into the trees, heading for the source of the sound, they hid behind the trees and dashed next to bushes, trying to be sneaky. Once they reached the sound, the only thing they saw was a little girl crying while hugging her knees. The boys exchanged glances and went over to the girl to comfort her.

"Yaaaang!" she wailed. "I'm looost! Where are youuu!"

"Um, are you alright?" The girl suddenly stopped crying and slowly turned around to see a boy around her age. "Are you hurt?"

"Uhh... who are you?" she asked.

"My name's Richard," he introduced himself and then pointed next to his older friend.

"Over there is my pal Aiden."

"Hi," Aiden greeted her with a wave. "What's your name?"

"I'm Ruby." She sniffed. "I was playing hide and seek with my sister, but I went a bit far away from home."

"Woah, you're hurt." Richard pointed to Ruby's left knee, which was scraped. "Come on, my home's not far away."


Richard's Residence.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a lot," Richard's mom said as she sprayed disinfectant, then wiped out the blood and placed a bandage on Ruby's wound. "There we go, see? much better."

"Thank you." Ruby smiled as the woman smiled back. "Can you tell me your name?"

"You can call me Lila," she replied. "So tell me Ruby, where are you from?"

"From over there." Ruby pointed towards to the patio doors. "From the other side of those trees."

"Hmm...?" Lila thought of something, concerned. She had a realization. "Oh, so you're one of those new neighbors that moved in yesterday?"

Ruby nodded shyly. "Uhh, yes."

"So are we, we moved here three days ago." She smiled. "My friends, Aiden's parents, moved in next door a week ago."

"Honey, I'm home~!" Suddenly, from the entrance, a man came in with a bag of groceries. He placed them in the hall, then went to meet his wife, son and his son's friend, then spotted Ruby sitting on the couch.

"I didn't think we had another visitor."

"Ruby, this is Derrick, he's Richard's father, say hello to him."

"Hello," Ruby said, waving.

"Nice to meet you Ruby," Derrick replied back with a salute. Ruby looked at him with concern.

"Are you a soldier?"

"Well, yes." He nodded. "I'm from the United States Marine Corps, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit."

"Are you also a soldier too?" Ruby then asked Lila.

"Oh no, I'm not," she said. "I'm actually a Huntress."

Ruby suddenly looked up at her with wide-eyes. "You're a Huntress!?" she asked with glee. "My mommy is a Huntress too!"

"Ah, well isn't that a surprise." Lila was concerned. "Do you know your mommy's name?"

"Mommy's name is Summer," Ruby answered. "And our last name is Rose."

"Wait... Summer... Rose?" Lila's eyes went wide in realization. "Summer Rose, could it be..."

"Honey?" her husband asked, curiously. "You seemed to know her."

"Yes, I do know her." She stood up, placed her hands on her hips, then sighed. "She and I were once classmates at Beacon. An oddball, but an interesting one."

And then she looked over at the silver-eyed girl.

"Your mommy must be worried sick, thinking that you're lost."


Xiao Long-Rose Residence.

The seven-year-old Yang stood in front of her parents and her uncle in their front yard. After playing hide and seek, Ruby was nowhere to be seen, thus her father scolded her for not taking care of her little sister.

"Don't worry Yang, we'll find her," Summer comforted her. "She's still under those trees, right?"

"R-right." Yang sniffed while wiping off her tears. "I'm...sorry."

"Ruby, is that your house?"

"Yes, that's my house!"

Suddenly, the family looked up. From beyond the fence, three children came by, accompanied by a woman. One of them was Ruby, happy to be back home unharmed with her new friends.

"Mommy!"

"Ruby!"

Summer ran over and embraced Ruby, before looking up at the kids and to the woman.

"L-Lila…?" Summer stuttered. "I-I never expected to see you here."

"Long time no see Summer," Lila greeted with a smirk. "It's been eight years since graduation."

"Y-Yeah." Summer nodded nervously. "It's been... a long time."

"So Lila, how's life doing?" Qrow suddenly came up to her with Taiyang.

"It's all great, how're you boys doing?" Lila then looked left and right, as if something was off. "Odd, where's Raven? Is she still around?"

Qrow and Summer went silent as Tai glared down while clenching his fist.

"No, she's not with us anymore. She left."

"Oh... I'm very sorry to hear that." Lila was suddenly taken aback. "I didn't know what happened to you guys."

"She preferred it that way." Qrow sighed as he took a small sip from his flask. "So, are these your kids?"

"This kid here is my son." Lila then introduced Richard. "The other belongs to friends of my husband."

"I see, who's your husband by the way?" Qrow took another sip from his flask.

"His name's Derrick." She smiled. "A former member of the United States Marine Corps."

"The Marine Corps, huh." Qrow was unfazed. "It's been a long time. I haven't met those guys since after the Grimm War. From what I've learned, they're the toughest bunch in United States Military."

"So you married a soldier," Taiyang added.

"Then what kind of weapon did he have?" Summer beamed. "I've heard that Marines still keep their weapons at home."

"He owns a classical M16A2 Rifle with some modifications," Lila answered. "And yes, he still owns it at home while working with it in the Californian Desert Ranger Militia."

"Oohh~"

Meanwhile, Ruby introduced her older sister Yang to her new friends.

"Richard, Aiden, this is my big sister Yang."

"Hello." "Hi." They both greeted in unision.

Suddenly, Yang walked to Aiden, her lilac eyes scanning him curiously while he stood dumbfounded.

"We're both older!" Yang said with glee. "We can be friends!"

"Uh, yeah." Aiden replied with a nervous scratch behind his neck.

"Aww, you four look cute all together." Summer stood over the kids and smiled. "And since you boys are Ruby's new friends, who wants cookies?"

"Oh! We do! We do!" Ruby and Yang chanted in joy.

"Your mom can make cookies?" Aiden asked to Yang.

"Yeah! She's the slayer of monsters and maker of cookies!"

Lila saw the kids following Summer into their home and smiled. "Huh, I never expected that Summer would be well-liked by kids."

"Summer is pretty much a child at heart," Taiyang said. "But she's a good-natured mother and knows how to deal with kids when they get into trouble."

Life with Summer Rose was an enlightening time. The three families in near the cliffs of Muir Beach became good friends, and among the kids, they formed a strong bond of friendship.

They laughed, they cried, they fought and smiled once more. In this neighborhood is were the happiest times of their lives… until Summer left for a mission.

"Mommy, when are you coming back?" Ruby asked.

"After the mission my dear, why?"

"When you came back, please make cookies for all of us," Ruby responded with a blush. "Promise?"

Summer smiled and embraced Ruby in a tight hug.

"Don't worry Ruby, I promise."

Unbeknownst to Ruby, that was a final goodbye. In the evening, Ruby was still waiting for her mother, preparing milk, flour and eggs on the table. Yet as another hour passed by, Summer didn't come home.

The next day, Taiyang received a call from the Desert Ranger HQ.

After receiving a word about Summer, he hurriedly went to the Headquarters, leaving Qrow to take care of the girls.

"Uncle Qrow, is mommy coming back?" Ruby asked worriedly to her uncle.

"I'm... sure she is coming back." Qrow sighed. "I wish she would..."


California, Ruined City of Stockton.

Taiyang and the Californian Desert Rangers Militia tracked down where Summer had left off.

From what the information they'd heard about the mission they sent her was search and destroy a Grimm hive under the city ruins. What surprised Taiyang was that she was sent out on a solo mission, and it was her own decision to go without support.

'Dammit! How can you be so reckless?!' Taiyang clenched his fist. "Why..."

"Sir! We found something!" one of the Rangers called out while standing on some debris.

The nervous Taiyang suddenly rushed through and passed by some nearby debris to where he saw a group of Rangers gathering.

The brawler pushed his way through, only to see a large stain of dried blood on the ground and a tattered white cloth bearing Summer's insignia.

"No..."

Taiyang had lost another loved one.


Muir Beach.

"Daddy's back!"

Yang's call caused Ruby to erupt from her room and rush downstairs to see her father. She expected to finally see her mother once more, but unfortunately…

"Daddy! Is mommy with you?!"

Taiyang raised his eyebrows and then looked over to Qrow, who sighed.

"Qrow, didn't you tell her?"

"I told her... but she never listens."

Taiyang then kneeled down before Ruby, trying to convince her of reality.

"Ruby, you know why mommy isn't here... but, it's hard to say that she's... not with us anymore."

"What do you mean daddy?" Suddenly, tears started to stream down. "Mommy promised me to come home, she promised me to make cookies for all of us!"

"Please, I need you to understand-"

"No!" she yelled. "She promised me! *hic* Aahhh.. Why?!"

"Ruby!" Yang yelled as Ruby ran straight upstairs into her room while her older sister followed.

Yang rushed intk the room and began to comfort her as if it were alright and gave her a tight hug.

"Don't cry, we're still here," Yang cooed while rocking her back and forth.

Meanwhile, outside of the bedroom.

Qrow stood silently as Taiyang walked groggily to his room with a dark face. He locked himself in, completely isolating himself from anyone. The Uncle never spoke a word, but walked casually to the home's entrance, pulling out his flask and taking a sip of alcohol.

"You wouldn't have broken your promise to her." Qrow said while pulling out another object from his pocket, a picture of himself and the entire Team STRQ from their Beacon years.

"And you went into a mission without backup... Then why..."

As the storm calmed down, Qrow bid the family a farewell. After engraving Summer's grave on the cliff side of Muir Beach, Yang began to take care of Ruby, taking full responsibility for her. However, they were not alone. Despite the death of their mother, their friends Richard and Aiden were always there to cheer them up. Meanwhile, their father was slowly recovering from depression as his friends from the neighborhood helped to re-socialize him once more.

Many moons passed and things changed drastically around the world, yet darkness still lured around, until a certain person resurfaced from his cell.


Year 2020...

Nevada, Area 52, High-Security Prison Area.

Four cloaked figures appeared on the sandy hills of the desert. They looked around the area, where dozens of military buildings and barracks lay in the middle of nowhere, protected by watchtowers and iron fences.

"It doesn't look that big, is this what they called a prison?" One cloaked figure stared.

"Shut your mouth Mercury," the other groaned. "That's not the entire prison from that you're seeing, it's underground."

"Yeah Emerald, whatever you say." Mercury smirked as Emerald glared at him.

"Will you two please be quiet?" hissed the third cloaked figure to her assistants. "This is an important task we're doing, am I right, Buff?"

The tall cloaked figure growled demonically as he nodded. Cinder smiled when she saw his smirk under his hood.

Meanwhile, inside a high secured prison cell, a man in his thirties, with jet-black, messy hair was casually laying down in his bunk while swinging his legs back and forth and whistling. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times.

"Man, I'm bored... How many years has it been since I was locked in this boring place?"

Suddenly, an earthquake shook the entire cell. The prisoner looks up to the lights blaring red and sirens howling.

"Well, this is unexpected."

Inside the prison halls, soldiers and security guards confronted the mysterious trespassers who managed to bypass the security systems. They shot against the tall and a muscular cloaked figure with their submachine guns, but the low-caliber 9mm parabellum bullets bounced off of the trespasser's Aura as if they were mere pellets.

"Shit! That guy is a Berserker-class Huntsman!" cried one of the soldiers. "We need heavier arms, ASAP!"

Suddenly, the cloaked figure raised a muscular arm and knocked the smaller men aside, sending the guards flying towards the walls. More guards came in, this time armed with heavier calibers of 50. Cal Armor-Piercing Weaponry and Shotguns.

"Surprise motherfuckers!"

The guards were interrupted by two other cloaked figures that jumped down from above as one of the security guards was kicked to the ground, hard.

"Aw shucks-" the guard muttered in disbelief as he watched a metal boot fly straight towards his face.

Meanwhile, Cinder walked through the halls with Buff in her company. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at a large metallic door.

"This is it." Cinder smiled deviously. "Buff, you know what to do."

Buff cracked his knuckles and punched the thick 20cm door several times. The fourth punch manage to bore a hole in it and bend the door apart, making an entrance. The two criminals entered the cell and found a man in his orange prison uniform leaning against the wall.

"You must be the infamous Keith Morgan," she said in a seductive tone. "I am very pleased to meet you."

"I never thought that I would have visitors," Then Keith glanced to the mystery woman. "And it's been a long ten years since I last met anyone new," he said "So, what do you want with me?"

"A... little cooperation with my acquaintances," she said. "We'll give you a reward if you join us in our mission."

"And what would that be?" Keith raised a brow.

"Very much, Freedom and..." she smiled, which her mysterious final words caused Keith to widened his eyes in surprise.

Half an hour later, guards and soldiers came into the prison halls and found some unconscious guards and a few corpses lying around. None of the prison cells were open except one.

"This... ain't good," said a lion faunus Guard, looking at the opening in Keith's cell.

"...We must warn the authorities," said the Guard Captain. "...Shit."

In the deserts of Nevada, the group was already kilometers away.

"Ah, isn't nice to have a breath of freedom?" Keith chuckled.

Suddenly, clothes were tossed at him by Cinder.

"Good, now try these on," said Cinder. "And it's good to have you, Masked Tuxedo."

Keith's eyes went wide as he grabbed a black mask with an opening for one eye. He smirked.

"I miss the old days."


To be continued.

Next Chapter: An honest soul