The two of them stood beside the window, looking down at the road. In the middle of the street was Lacius and Harvey, as well as 3 other adults. Sable closed the blinds quietly as he backed into the darkness of the room.
"I could hear you from a mile away, trying to find me, calling out my name. I kept watch at the window in case you found your way here." Hazel shook her head as she knitted her eyebrows.
"Why didn't you tell us about this?" He looked away.
"I didn't want you to pity me." Hazel sighed tiredly.
Oh, Sable. This doesn't change anything. He looked up at her.
"Does it? What will the others say when they find out? I never worked to go to Beacon, I was just accepted." Hazel shook her head and took his hand into hers.
They won't care just as much as I don't. You're our leader and we respect you. He watched her warily.
"You seem much more accepting of my Semblance now." He said.
"Yes. I was wrong to send you away that night, I was just scared." He nodded.
"Scared of me, I know." She shook her head as she tried to get eye contact with him.
"Scared of what I thought you had heard." She looked out the window through the cracks in the blinds. "But after thinking about it, I don't care." He stared at her warily.
"You don't care." She nodded.
I don't care. He was staring at her in amazement. "Now, why don't you tell me about how you ended up here." She motioned her hand to their rudy surroundings. He stared for a moment before nodding. He motioned for her to sit next to him on the ground next to the window, just enough light to see each other.
"I've been here for as long as I can remember…"
Lacius finished up repairing the souls of his latest customer's boots. He quickly tied off the last stitch in the machine before placing them on the rack next to the door, ready for pick up. He then looked out the window to see the light of midday coming down outside. He watched the sky for a moment before he noticed the boy. He looked down at the road to see a small boy walking down the street. His hair was a mess, his clothes taters of what they used to be. There was a tourniquet around his left arm from his pant leg, holding blood from a scabbed up wound. He stumbled down the street, watching his surroundings carefully, but he didn't notice the man watching him from the large window.
He slowly continued down the street until he found himself at the doors of a large, old hotel. Lacius knew the place was abandoned years ago, so when he watched the boy walk inside, he didn't know what to think. Slowly, he walked out of his store and walked over to barbershop just across the street. When he opened the door, the woman behind the counter smiled happily.
"Lacius, what do you need?" The two of them had known each other for a long time, as well as the Mechanic nearby, Harvey. The couple running the convenience store had moved in about a year ago, but were accepted into the community all the same. He pointed out to the street.
"Veronica, Did you see that boy?" She knitted her eyebrows.
"A boy?" He nodded.
"Yes, a young homeless boy just walked down our street and went to the hotel." She joined him at the door to look at the large hotel at the end of the street. They were silent for a moment.
"What are we supposed to do?" He shook his head.
"I don't know, I never had kids!" She looked around the street to see that no potential customers were around before turning back to the man.
"Let's go talk to the Johnsons. They'll know what to do." He agreed, closing up the shop to go to the convenience store. When they walked in, they were greeted by a man stocking a shelf.
"Hey, guys. What can we do for you?" Veronica looked at Lacius, expecting him to speak.
"We were wondering if you two might know what to do if there was a small homeless boy that just took up residence in the old hotel?" The man raised his eyebrows.
"There's a-?" Lacius nodded. He turned behind him to the back of the store.
"Chelsea, could you come here for a second!" He yelled back. They heard a yell from the back of confirmation before a young woman walked out of the back and to the aisle. She was four months pregnant.
"Oh, we have visitors!" She walked over to join her husband. "What's up?" Jim, her husband, responded.
"Apparently a young boy just moved into the old hotel."
"What?" She asked. She turned to the cobbler. "How old was he?" He shrugged.
"Couldn't have been older than 7." She nodded.
"So what are we going to do? Call the police to find his parents?" Lucius turned to look at the hotel before shaking his head.
"No, I think we should talk to him first." He turned to the others as he started for the door. "Let me go and speak with him, I'll be right back." He walked out the door and headed straight for the old building. He opened the door slowly, hoping not to scare him.
"Hello?" He called into the large room. When he got no response, he treaded his way across the large room to the stairs, going up them slowly. "You can come out, I won't hurt you." When he got no response again, he opened up the door to the second floor, looking in carefully.
"Hello?" He turned when a small voice called out.
"What do you want?" He saw the boy sitting in the corner of the room, watching him with large eyes. He felt a wave of pity for this boy pass over him. He whimpered slightly, covering his ears.
"I just want to help you." He looked up slowly from his arm.
"Help me?" Lacius nodded slowly.
"And done!" The boy, now ten years old, was standing over his accomplishment in the mechanic's garage. Harvey looked up from the car he was working on to walk over to the boy. He looked over Sable's shoulder as he saw what he had created, to see blueprints. Normally these blueprints are for car models or parts, but on this one was a large sword. It was intricately designed and beautiful, despite only being drawn in pencil. What the hell?
"I know it's not what I was supposed to be planning, but when I saw it in my mind, I couldn't help but start working on it!"
"Working on it? This is a garage, my boy, not an blacksmithery." When the boy looked down in sadness, folding up the blueprints, Harvey bit his lip. He had been in the community for the past couple years of his life. Even though they couldn't find his parents, he refused to let anybody take care of him. The only way they could let him legally stay was if he had a guardian looking over him. Technically, that was Lucius, but the entire group took care of him. He stayed in that old apartment building, worked at the convenience store to get money, and was tutored from Harvey, Lacius, and Veronica on various subjects. Technically, Harvey was supposed to be teaching him life skills right then, but more often than not, their sessions turned into engineering lessons.
"How about this-" The boy looked up at him with curious eyes. "-I'll talk around in the city to see if I can find a good blacksmith to teach you what you need to learn in order to make that sword of yours." Sable scrunched up his nose.
"In the city? Why can't one of you guys teach me how to make the sword?" Harvey laughed.
"Because none of us know how to make swords either." The boy looked down in thought before nodding his head.
"Alright, I'd like to learn very much. Thank you." With that, he was out the door. Harvey walked to the open garage door to watch him quickly walk to his building, the blueprints in hand. The boy rarely asked anything of the group here, trying his hardest to live his own life, so it was strange to do something for him. Harvey slowly returned to the car he was working on. The Battery and muffler needed to be replaced, and the tires were completely balled out. He'd be here for hours before he could search for a Blacksmithery.
"I'm guessing you want the usual, honey?" Veronica stood behind Sable as he sat in the large chair in front of the mirror. She was playing with his hair, imagining the crazy things she could do to the long dark locks. He nodded.
"Just cut it up to my chin." She nodded, starting to work on the large mound. She spoke calmly as she started to water down the boy's head.
"You know, you'll probably need to start going to a real school pretty soon." He glanced up at her through the mirror.
"What for? I don't have a reason to go to public school, and I know enough from you guys." She shook her head.
"Have you been studying those textbooks?" He had gone into the city one day and returned with four large textbooks in his arms on various subjects. He tried to nod before she swat his head, telling him to keep still.
"Yes, I finished reading them about a month ago." She turned his chair around to look at her.
"You completely read four high school textbooks?" He shrugged.
"I got them last year." She turned him back to the mirror, returning to cutting his hair.
"You know that you're the only fourteen year old in Vale that would buy four textbooks just to read them all the way through, right?" He smiled lightly before pushing it back.
"Of course, Veronica. Just like I'm the only fourteen year old with enough weapons to fuel a small army in my room." She smiled and laughed.
"Yeah, just like that!" She cut back his bangs from falling into his eyes.
"You know what you're gonna want to do in the future, yet?" Sable stopped to think before answering.
"Not really. Why can't I just stay here, keep my job at Johnson's?"
"Because eventually you're going to have to move out of that building of yours and go to real school." He shook his head quickly.
"Out of the question. There's no way I'm going to some school full of people." Veronica frowned quietly. The people in the community had learned about Sable's Semblance a long while ago, and it had been a tense subject for everybody.
"Sable, you've trained yourself to control that with Lacius, right?" He started to shake his head before the women swatted the back of his head again.
"Well, we've been training, but I wouldn't say that I've controlled it yet." Sable only felt comfortable talking about his Semblance with Veronica and Lacius. He completely avoided the subject with everybody else. "It's hard, Veronica." She nodded her head.
"I know, Sable." He frowned.
"You don't though. You don't know what it's like having everybody else in your head." She frowned, continuing to snip at his hair in silence. She knew Sable knew that she felt sorry for him, so she didn't need to talk about it. After a couple more minutes, Veronica pulled back her scissors and stood at his side.
"So whaddaya think?" He looked in the mirror, shaking his head back and forth a bit to shake his hair.
"Good." He stood up from the chair after she pulled the sheet off of him. He wouldn't meet her eyes when he spoke. "Thank you."
She smiled at him. It had been harder and harder for him to thank people. He knew it just as well as everybody else did. "It's my job, Sable, but you're welcome." He nodded just before the bell at the door jingled.
"Sable!" He turned just as the seven year old girl flung herself to hug him. He smiled affectionately as he hugged her back. The two of them were close over the years since Beth was born. He had baby sitted for her countless times for the Johnsons so they could go out. He was practically her older brother.
"Hey, Beth. How've you been?" She pulled back and waved her finger at him accusingly.
"Where have you been for the past week?! I haven't even seen you!" He laughed comfortably.
"I've been busy with smithing." He looked over the steaming girls shoulder at her mother, who was standing in the doorway, smiling at them.
"Hello, Mrs. Johnson." She nodded at him.
"Hey, Sable." She looked past him at Veronica. "We just came by to get Elizabeth's hair cut." Veronica nodded, moving to the counter with the mother. Beth looked up at Sable happily.
"When is the next time you'll visit me?" She asked.
"When I have the time to stop by, which I promise is soon." He wasn't lying when he said he was busy. His blacksmithing tutor had been working him hard since their first lesson on firearms, and he actually had to be there in about an hour. Sable kneeled down next to her.
"How about when I get home tonight, I'll stop by and play with you?" She smiled happily before getting real serious, looking around suspiciously.
When will you get back? He laughed, looking at the adults quickly before responding.
"Around five. We'll have plenty of time." The girl thought of Sable's Semblance as their own personal secret code. It always enjoyed Sable to find a playful way to use his curse with the girl.
Alright, I'll see you then. He nodded happily at her.
"Alright, Beth. Are you ready?" The two of them looked at Veronica, who was standing at the chair ready for her. Sable turned to her, ruffling her the hair on her head before brushing past her.
"Five o'clock, alright?" She nodded at him as he left the store before running over to the chair.
"What do you mean, you signed me up?" Sable, now nearly 17, stood on the other side of the counter from Lacius in his shop. He pushed the letter to Sable across the counter happily.
"You needed to leave this little town of ours eventually, so I thought I'd put you on a worthy course. I sent in a letter of recommendation through an old friend, and you were accepted to be tested to train at Beacon Academy! This is HUGE Sable!" He frowned at him as he picked up the letter, pulling the contents from the already open envelope. The letter admitted him for the entrance exam in 4 months. He put the letter back down on the counter.
"What if I don't want to go. I live my own life-"
"And it's a fine life. But if you want to actually be someone important, then you'll go train." Sable turned to the window quietly.
"Lacius, I create these weapons, but I barely know how to use half of them. They're mainly for show." Sable couldn't see his guardians sly smile.
"So you're saying those lessons from you teacher never taught you to use this?" There was a loud clunk on the counter behind Sable, causing him to turn around curiously. On the table was a long package in brown packing paper. He slowly picked it up and unravelled the paper slowly.
You deserve this, accept the gift and train to hunt Grimm. Please, Sable, please. Sable ignored the thoughts nonchalantly as he opened the gift, revealing a longsword in a scabbard inside. He looked up at Lacius with a surprised look.
"How did you get this?" He looked the boy dead in the eye.
"I went in your home and took it. Many years ago, you created blueprints, and then later this magnificent weapon. After 3 years just sitting in dust on the shelf, I decided to send it to your teacher, who agreed to sharpen it and ready it for combat." He pointed at the sword expectantly. "Hunting with that sword was what you were born to do. You were always a fighter, even as a small child, you never gave up. Now instead of sitting in your broken tower, how about you stand up and fight?" Sable stared at the man silently. He was surprised to say the least. He's always been nagged about his future, but something so blunt like this was very strange to him.
Please take the sword, Sable. He bit his lip before nodding.
"I'll give it thought. In four months, if I don't change my mind by then, I'll go to this entrance exam, for you if for the others. And after I've become a Master Huntsman, I'll return to this little town of yours and show you what I've become." With that, he briskly turned to the door, his own creation newly remade in his hand. He stopped just at the door to look back at the man over his shoulder.
"Thank you, Lacius." He was out the door before the old man could even think about the words.
"And about 6 months later I went to Beacon, and then I came here." The two of them had been sitting there for what seemed to be hours. Sable just told his story as Hazel listened silently, and now that his story was over, he was looking at her expectedly. Hazel bit her lip as she stared back at him.
"Thank you, Sable. I just… Thank you." He nodded silently. For a few minutes neither of them said anything. It was broken when Sable stood up.
"I guess… I guess I should introduce you to everyone." Hazel stared at him before standing up hastily.
"Sable, you don't have to do that if you don't want to." He nodded.
"Yes, but you want to meet them, so I'll take you on the tour." Hazel watched him for a moment before nodding. He took her back down the stairs and outside. When she got outside, Hazel noticed that the sun was starting to fall in the sky, marking that it was around three or four o'clock. She followed Sable to the old shoemaker's shop and inside. When they walked in, they were greeted by five adults standing or sitting around the shop talking. There was also a young girl sitting at the counter with a book in her hand. The five men and women ceased their talking when they walked in, staring at them as they stood in the doorway. There was silence for a moment. The girl finally looked up from her book, noticing the silence to see the two of them. She was the one to break the silence.
"Sable?" She quickly jumped down from the stool she was sitting on, the book left on the counter as she walked over to him for a hug. He smiled awkwardly at her as he returned the hug.
"Hey, Beth." It was not long before the greetings were among the adults as well. They variously stood up to greet Hazel, until it was only the old man left. He stood up crookedly to walk over to Sable, to put out a hand with a smile. Sable returned the shake happily.
"Lacius, you were more than right." He glanced to his right at Hazel, who was standing awkwardly at the doorway still. "I've found where I was meant to be." The man gave Hazel another look before nodding happily.
"I knew you'd find your place." Sable released his grip on the man's hand to beckon Hazel over. The group was looking at her quietly as she joined Sable. He put his hand on her back as he greeted her to the group.
"This is Hazel, my Partner at Beacon. Hazel this is Veronica." She put up a hand to wave a greeting from where she was sitting in one of the waiting chairs. She was about as old as the cobbler. "Mr. and ." He directed his hand to a couple standing at the counter the girl was reading at. They were leaned up against it earlier, but were upright for the greeting. The woman put out a hand to her warmly.
"Hello, Hazel. It's nice to meet you." She returned the shake happily. Sable put his hand on the girl's shoulder, who was still standing beside him closely under his arm.
"And this is their daughter, Beth." The girl waved happily to her. She was around 10 years old, with blonde hair that went down to a little below her shoulders. He looked at Harvey, who was leaning back against the far wall, and Lacius, who had returned to his seat in a desk chair that was placed beside the mechanic.
"And you've already met Harvey and Lacius." Harvey smiled, moving forward to shake her hand.
"Briefly, before you dragged her away." After he shook her hand, he took a step back and smiled at Sable proudly. "Good to know you finally found a girlfriend." Sable looked down, embarrassed as they all laughed. Hazel quickly corrected the man, her face red.
"We're not together." Lacius raised his eyebrows.
"Really? Sable, I thought we taught you better." Sable quickly glared at him as they all laughed again.
"Alright, alright. I know about all the jokes, come on." He earned happy smiles from all the adults. They all seemed happy to have him here. He looked down at the girl clinging to his waist before looking at the others seriously.
"It was nice visiting all of you, but we should probably return to Beacon." He glanced at Hazel. "I'm guessing Reece and Paris are searching for me as well." Her eyes widened when she realized, but she couldn't respond before he nodded. "Yeah, I thought so." He turned back to the others. "We need to let them know that Hazel found me." He stepped back for the door, Hazel following him.
"Remember to visit me again, Sable!" Beth had separated from Sable, returning to her parents. He smiled down at her.
"I will." She shook her head quickly.
"No, promise!" After a second, he nodded.
"I promise I will come back to visit." His eyes swept over everybody before he left with Hazel.