Author's Note: *sigh* ...Again sorry about these late updates. I just finished school and i'm slacking since i'm trying to do all i can before I have to go to summer school. It's like an opposite for me, cuz I usually post more during the school year. Weird. Anyway, again, sorry. Hopefully this chapter will make up for my absence… and the basic filler I posted before this. Anyway, read, hopefully enjoy, and leave a review!

Song: Heroes by Alesso feat. Tove Lo

…

Gage, Yang, Ruby and Zwei were all waiting on an airship that was currently on its way to The island of Patch that was off the coast of Vale.

Ruby was almost asleep, along with Gage, as he was just relaxed and happy that he was stress free for once this month, since he managed to turn in all his missing work to Professor Oobleck and his other teachers, and he was also happy that Velvet asked to take care of Green Bean for him while he was gone.

However, Yang was just wide awake, and had rested her head on her boyfriend's shoulder as Zwei slept on Ruby's lap.

"I'm so glad this is happening….. I can finally introduce you to my dad!"

He just put his arms around her and yawned as he closed his eyes slowly, "*yawn* ...Mmhm… and I get to actually celebrate Christmas again for the first time in three years…."

Ruby then perked up, and rubbed her eyes too. "Hmm? What do you mean? Didn't you spend it before you….. left Mantle or whatever?"

"i was really depressed because I was alone… so not like... to the fullest extent..."

Yang thought he was about to let out a heavy sigh, so she jumped and decided to ask him another question. "Oh. Well…. Then when was the last time you celebrated Christmas anyway?"

His eyes fluttered, as he finally woke himself by trying to remember that day. "Hmm…. About three years ago. When I was still in college."

Ruby suddenly laughed at him, "What! Almost my age and you were in college? That's crazy!"

"Eh… i got educational privileges thanks to my dad's job since he worked under Ironwood… but it didn't help me much."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

Gage just smiled as reminisced about those days… but soon he just rolled his eyes as the smile quickly went away. "I wasn't that special. Hell there were even people younger than me back then… and I mean sure I had good grades… but I honestly hated it."

Ruby scooted up a bit as she looked over at him, and soon glanced back down at the ground after, "Oh yeah… you told us how you'd deal with bullies… and mean girls…"

"It wasn't just that." He said as he scooted to the edge of his seat as well. "It was just boring… and… it may have not seemed like it back then… but, I really just wanted to do something more exciting with my life."

Then Yang laughed too, and looked over at her boyfriend with a bright smile. "Now why wouldn't you seem like someone who wanted some excitement?"

"*sigh* ...Because…. I was just that one kid in the back of class listening to music..."

(*Lover Alot by Aerosmith begins to play*)

…

Three Years Ago…

…

~Ah! Don't you know that she loves you alot?! Why don't you know, don't you know what you've got?! I even know that she loves you alot! Why don't you know, don't you know- don't ya... ~

That song was Lover Alot by Aerosmith, and it was the song that Gage was listening to through his crappy half-broken convenience store earbuds as he walked down the halls of his school.

He was wearing a black shirt, a dark green cargo jacket over that, some black jeans with his sage bandana in his back pocket, and a pair of grey skate shoes, and he was wearing a pair of black reading glasses as well.

And to top it off, his face was shaved clean, and he wasn't his normal 195 pounds, almost six foot tall self from the present. Instead, back then at this time, he was 140 pounds and 5'8, so rather slim compared to his present self.

"Remind me never to show you any pictures of myself when I was sixteen Yang…"

He walked down the halls slowly, trying not to bump into anyone else around him as he looked down at the ground… and sighed as he saw that he was approaching his classroom, since he really just wanted to go home already.

"*sigh* ...One more class then i'm finally out of here…. might as well just not give a shit and sleep through it…"

~Ah there's a chill... in the summer time air!
You get a thrill... from the smell of her hair!
You get a high…. from the taste of her wits
It's certified, but but, but you ain't getting there yet!~

This was his usual attitude, since besides studying and his job as a tech guy back at Atlas's CCT would always cut in with spending some time with his father, who was about to get off work as the same time Gage was going to leave… and he was sort of excited, but chose not to show it.

So, he walked quietly into his next classroom, and the students in there just greeted him with a flurry of low chuckles that he knew were somehow aimed at him… but he just chose to ignore them as he glared down at the ground.

"Another reason to just sleep…."

Gage thought that, and walked all the way to the seat in the back left side of the room, that was next to the window.

So, he took off his dark green single-strap backpack that had two straps on the front, which was holding his old Rooster Teeth branded Skateboard, and set it down next to the desk's legs as he sat down, and heard the song he was listening to come to an end.

~Ah! Don't you know that she loves you alot?! Why don't you know, don't you know what you've got?! I even to know that she loves you alot! Why don't you know, don't you know, don't you know what ya- DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU GOT! ~

He began to get settled… but he noticed some of the girls in the front of the class were looking back at him and whispering to each other… and even some guys looked back too and laughed quietly.

However…. There were two other guys who both looked at him weirdly. One, who was sitting next to the girls, was a man named Osiri Abyss. He was twenty one, was the tallest person that Gage had ever seen, and he was covered in Tattoos and Piercings that were all over his body….. and he was also the person that Gage despised the most in that class.

He had red and golden hair, which Gage was sure was dyed, and he also had eyes that were red and gold as well, and was believed to be just eye contacts by the Ghost of Christmas past as well. But the man also apparently loved to wear the color black, as it was all that he was wearing.

(Yeah I just called Gage that…)

And the other boy… was a complete opposite. He was a smaller, slimmer, and younger teen that was fourteen, had purple hair that was lightly gelled to the side, lilac colored eyes, and was recognized as a canine faunus thanks to the purple colored wolf tail that was sticking out from his rear end.

He also wore black glasses, always wore really good blouses, and shirts to school, and had a New Yorker-Esque accent along with his slightly high-pitched voice, but he was also known as being called cute by the older girls in the school despite the racism that was regularly prominent in Mantle and Atlas at that time.

His name was Malice Mauve. But people mostly just called him Mal for short.

Osiri was smirking at Gage… but Mal just had a very sorrowful look in his eyes… almost like he felt bad for him in that moment… but Gage just glared back at them and rolled his eyes as he looked down at his scroll.

The next song on his current playlist, was Go All The Way by The Raspberries which started up as he laid his head on the desk, put his hood up, and strangely began to hear the earbuds cut out…

~I… never knew how complete love could be… Till she kissed me and said, 'Baby, please… Go All The Way… It feels so right
Being with you here to-... -night'….-~

Then, they cut out completely, and suddenly the song began to play out loud in the classroom at full volume from Gage's own scroll!

~-Please…. Go All The Way! Just hold me close… Don't ever let… me go….~

That, made him lift his head up, and become a little scared as he jumped and scrambled for his scroll as the volume increased… and the class soon took noticed of what was going on, so they laughed. Very loudly.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he muttered to himself.

"Hahahahahaha!"

A few of the girl's faces became bright red as they heard the lyrics become more clear to them, but that was right as he opened his lock screen and turned off the music with a loud growl that was aimed towards everyone else in the room. "Grrr!"

Although, Osiri stood up from his chair and appeared to be laughing the most out of everyone… and then, he looked at Gage and yelled out at him.

"Oh my god, do you even have a Y-Chromosome? Haha, seriously! Because it looks like you don't, so grow a pair and start listening to some better music like metal!"

He just continued to glare at the older student, clearly ticked off for making fun of his taste in music. "Yeah… Yeah I'll do that when I decide that I want to go deaf when i'm older…"

"Sure is alot better than that shit either way..."

He turned back around…. And Gage just growled as he picked up his broken earphones and threw them and hit Osiri in the back of the head with them.

"I thought you'd be into like classic rock songs, but not the ones that talk about love Care-Bear. That's so sweet!" Yang said, in present time.

And present Gage smiled at her. "Yeah i love em. And not just the rock ones. Also, that's one way I learned how to try and become a romantic. Sort of. But anyway…" And then he continued with the story...

At first, Osiri let out an annoyed sigh as he picked up the headphones… but then he laughed and turned back around while he chuckled and looked at the earbuds right as their professor walked inside of the room

"Ninety-Nine cent store earbuds! Nice dude. But I thought you and your dad both have jobs Gage?"

Gage rolled his eyes and just kept staring daggers at the older man. "Its called making your single parent's life easier. I give him all my money to help pay for our groceries and other crap. Now can you please stop talking about my family?" He asked him.

"Yeah i think that it'd be better to end the conversation right here." Mal said to them, joining in on their conversation.

"Aww come on Mr. Pretty boy. Don't be a buzzkill! It'll ward off all the chicks that are in your little entourage!"

The wolf faunus just shrugged and kept an eye on Gage…. But he was having none of it, as he just rubbed the bridge of his nose in an irritated manner.

Osiri saw this and just started to push further, and with a grin of course. "You know... I think that it's kinda weird that he hasn't showed up here after all the black eyes you've gotten over the past three years."

That was Gage's breaking point, as he suddenly raised his head back up and sneered at him angrily. "I try not to make him worry about me alright?! Jesus…." He nearly yelled.

The professor just sighed as he entered, and sat down at his desk, not looking at either of the two men yet. "Settle down everyone…"

Yet they still both ignored him. "A parent that doesn't worry about their children? Really? Some dad that would be…" Osiri said sarcastically.

But then…. Gage looked to his right, outside of the window and into the snowstorm that was raging outside as he growled… and muttered something that he knew…. Well, that everyone knew was sensitive towards his opponent.

"Whatever. At least my dad is still around…"

And in that one instant, everyone in the room turned to Gage in less than a second as some 'Oooh!'s' were whispered, and a lot of the students gasped. Even Mal turned, and covered his mouth with a fist as he was so baffled by those words that he was blowing air out of his mouth.

"P-Pffff…."

It took Osiri a second to process what he said… but when he finally figured it out, he jumped out of his chair, flung it to the side, and gave him a red-eyed death stare.

"W...What did you just say?!"

Gage just snickered a bit, and looked up at him with another grin. "Oh you heard me? No wait of course you did. Those stretched ear lobes of yours probably helped you too." He fired back.

"You FUCKING CUN-"

That was when the professor finally stepped in however, and slammed his hand down onto his own desktop.

"Okay thats enough! You're both in College! Not kindergarten! So can you please both try and settle this like men on your own time so you won't interrupt us any further?!"

Osiri looked like steam was about to erupt from his mouth, ears, and nostrils as he growled and took a step back towards his desk, and Gage just smiled at the professor and gave him a salute along with a wink at the same time.

"Yessir!" He said.

"Thank you! Now, if Mr. Abyss can sit down, then we can finally begin our lesson. So can you all please take out your notebooks at this time?"

The older student growled again…. But eventually sat back down in his desks… although, Mal simply leaned over to Osiri and whispered to him as everyone else got out their school supplies,

"T-To be fair…. You did kind of drag it out longer than it should have been… so… instant karma maybe?" He suggested.

"*sigh* ...Fuck off Pretty boy."

And now at this time, Gage was in the back of the room writing, but he kept mentally repeating a few words inside his head at the same time.

"Run when the bell rings! Run when the bell rings! Run when the bell rings! Run when the bell rings!"

…

Later…

…

And sure enough, Gage did just that as he put his scroll and pencil in his pocket, immediately grabbed onto his backpack and put the single strap around his chest and he started to sprint out of the room as the bell rang.

"Okay okay… gotta head to the subway entrance and then I should be all good. Just gotta hurry."

At first he just smirked and ran out of the room, nearly knocking a few people over as he ran out of the room…. And Osiri started to push some people out of the way in an attempt to follow.

This happened as Mal watched and sighed… since he knew Gage couldn't be able to outrun a tankish person like Osiri. Because if Mal couldn't, then he wouldn't be able to either.

"*sigh* ...My mom's gonna kill me…."

So he sighed, and started to follow, but distanced himself from them both on purpose to try and make sure that they'd never see him coming.

Meanwhile, Gage just kept running. He turned to the left and was thankful that the classroom was so close to the entrance of the school, so he turned the corner and kept running until he saw the front doors of the building, and used his shoulder to bash them open.

He could hear some really loud and angry footsteps coming from behind him, so as he reached the top level of the steps that went down all the way down to the public sidewalk, he jumped, and started to carefully run down the railing until he was able to jump again, and land on the sidewalk.

"Come on! *pant* *pant* ...i'm just getting started Ossy!"

Gage said that as he landed and rolled, quickly darting to the left again and running down the sidewalk as he ran and Osiri followed.

"Don't you fucking call me that!"

He let out another tired chuckle and continued to sprint down the sidewalk and across the snowy concrete, passing through a lot of other people and students along the way.

Every time he heard someone yell at him, he turned around to make sure that it was Osiri, and It just entertained him as he stopped at the edge of the block and looked back, quickly giving the older student the middle finger.

"Bitch! I'll call you what I want as long as you can't touch me!"

They just stared at each other for a brief moment as they both remained idle on the sidewalk… but then suddenly, Osiri turned to his right and just ran down into a random alley way, which made Gage smile once again as he turned and ran down to the corner of the sidewalk until he was able to turn the corner one last time.

"That ally is like a maze…. So I should have enough time to make it to the subway entrance!"

His plan was to stall his pursuer by running around in the underground station until his train would start to depart, and then, he would board it last second by using his semblance, and that felt nearly foolproof as he made his way around the corner and could the subway entrance, which had a lot of people going down it's main staircase.

"Fuck! Nevermind! Home stretch here I come!"

That was when he just took in another deep breath and started to sprint as fast as he could towards the descending steps, preparing to just jump and run down the middle railing again.

However…. As he was approaching it…. He ran past an opening to the alleyway…. And then Osiri suddenly charged out of it, his golden eyes and hair glowing as he just completely demolished Gage with his force, slamming into him with a massive shoulder charge and causing him to crash into the side of a taxi cab that was parked along the sidewalk, leaving the door dented and the window glass completely shattered as well.

"RRRAGH!"

He cried out as he felt some of the vertebrae in his back crack and he fell down onto the hard concrete ground, hitting his head against the pavement.

"Got you now you cocksucker…."

Osiri then grabbed Gage by the back of his head as he felt glass plunged into the side of his arm, but then the older student threw him into the alleyway along with his backpack.

He fell back and rolled onto the snow, feeling pain across his entire body as he tried to stand up and look at his attacker…. But then Osiri started to… speak to someone, as he turned to his right and appeared to be speaking to no one.

"Why? You heard what he said! He deserves this… *sigh* ...Fine Reaper. I promise I won't kill him this time since he's 'too innocent'."

He was even making hand gestures as he looked frustrated with whoever he was speaking to… but Gage just groaned in pain as he stood back up, taking his glasses off before he just looked at him.

"*sigh* Just my luck…. The one dude I decide to fuck with turns out to be a total nutjob!"

That made Osiri turn and stomp towards him, pointing his finger at him as he balled his other hand into a fist. "Hey! Don't call us a nutjob! This is a semblance defect!"

Gage just stood there and put his glasses away as he growled and clutched his bleeding arm tightly. "Yeah… definitely a defect…"

The red and gold hair man huffed and yelled at him once again. "Shut the fuck up you green shrimp! This wouldn't have to happen if you kept your mouth shut!"

"*pant* ...Or if you didn't have such a shitty temper-AGH!" Gage tried to make some sort of remark, but it was cut off almost instantly by the impact of Osiri's fist smashing against the right side of his face, knocking him back.

He spun and nearly fell onto the snowy ground, but he used his hands to stop himself last second… but he still was on the ground with his back turned to his pursuer.

But then, he suddenly pushed himselg upwards and turned as fast as he could with a hard fist that was aimed towards the man in black's chest.

The blow did make contact with his chest…. But the punch barely even moved Osiri. At best it was only a few steps back, yet he soon grabbed Gage's fist before smirked and threw him back, against a brick wall that was behind them.

He hit it and winced, but opened his eyes as he immediately ducked under another punch that was sent his way, and the dodge caused Osiri's hand to collide with the brick wall, cracking the bricks. And it also made Gage stutter.

"...Oh S-Shit…"

After that mumble, Gage quickly rolled to the side and sent a quick jab into his enemy's side… but it was useless. Because all it did was make him growl and kick him back in the shoulder.

"Don't fucking bother trying!"

"Ugh!"

He was pushed back down onto the snow covered cement and next to his backpack, and that was when he noticed that the strap that was holding has skateboard had opened… and it gave him an idea.

Gage had it forming in his head… and he even started to lift himself back up from the ground yet again… making Osiri collectively sigh.

"*sigh* ...Come on dude… just stand down and take your beating like a man. There's no shame in it."

His words didn't phase the 'ghost' at all… he just stood straight up on his own two feet as the taller man sighed and made a fist with his hands again.

"Gage. Stay down. Final warning."

Gage just shook his head, and stared straight back at him with a bleeding nose before he also wiped the blood from his lip…. And held his fists out in front of his face as he just huffed out his reply.

"*pant* *pant* ...I can do this all day."

Then, he threw a punch but withdrew it immediately, faking out Osiri so he could roll to the right, grab the deck of his skateboard, and slam one of its rugged edges into his stomach!

"Rrrrgh!"

The older student coughed and gagged from the blow, so Gage knocked the boards trucks into face soon after, making him grow and hold back a yell as his nose now began to bleed as well.

"Grrr! Fucking cheap shot!"

Osiri saw that the board was going to come back towards his face again, so he barely roared out loud as he turned and caught it, yanking it out of Gage's hands before he chucked it aimlessly into the snow behind them.

The ghost huffed quietly and took a step back in response. Holding his arm and looking at his opponent with a tired glare as he looked him in the eye…. But that's when he noticed something strange.

And that, was the fact that both Gage and Osiri didn't hear the skateboard hit the ground.

"Hey buddy I think you lost this!"

Then suddenly, it came back to them and landed next to Gage, so they both turned and saw that Mal was standing there behind them. Staring at Osiri mainly. But… he just sighed.

"*sigh* ...What? Did you get lost or something Pretty boy?"

Mal sighed back in response…. And took a step towards him as he took his glasses off and put them in his jacket's front pocket, "*sigh* No. I'm probably making a bad decision right now, but i'm gonna help end this anyway." He said.

Gage also quickly noticed that as Mal was walking towards them… he was raising his hand up…. And his fingernails weirdly grew a tiny bit. Their edges becoming more sharper and jagged.

"Fine by me…. Now I have an excuse to kick your ass for once!"

So, he closed his hand and turned his back to Gage and he thrusted himself forwards as he turned, send what seemed like a devastating punch towards the canine faunus's way. And he didn't even go to dodge it.

Instead, it looked like he had predicted it, as he stopped, lurched his hand forward until he suddenly caught the man's fist, and stopped his attack!

Gage had to pause and watch in awe, because then after that, Mal bent and twisted Osiri's left arm down and to the left, to the point where it felt like his wrist was wrist be broken.

"Agh! ...What the hell? How can you even move my arm!"

Here they were. An average built fourteen year old gentleman facing off a nineteen year old gothic brute. But somehow the struggle appeared to be within the younger man's favor.

"...Let's just say I don't play well when i'm a little steamed." Mal replied with a glare.

He said that, and continued to twist his opponent's arm until he started to bring him down to ground, and held one of the sharpened fingernails that were on his other hand against Osiri' chin.

"Yo…. Can you end this here and take the good guy route? Just this once? It'd be real nice of you."

"N...No way!"

He tried to push the younger man's hand back further since he was still holding his fist, but that urged Mal to pull it forward.

Then, he suddenly turned, looking away from Osiri as he a his elbow into his face, and turned yet again, smashing his other arm against the back of his head, making him fall onto the snowy ground and roll onto his back.

And finally, Gage saw an opportunity and finished him off, as he sprinted towards him, put two fingers in the air, and simulated a football field kick, which went right into Osiris nose.

"Rrrrgh! Fucking Metal head!"

"G….Gage!"

Mal immediately pulled Gage back and got in between him and the man on the ground, and his grip was really hard as well. "Hey! Chill!" He yelled.

His interference made Osiri attempt to get back up…. But behind him, at the entrance to the alleyway… some people on the street were looking at them, so, that made Mal get even more angry since he heard Gage growl as this happened.

"Rrrgh…. *pant* *pant* ...Get out of the way!"

So…. That's when Mal looked down, covered his eyes….. and growled back as he turned towards Gage and yelled at him.

"NO. YOU. STAY DOWN. Both of you!"

He immediately took a step back…. Because he saw that Faunus's wolf tail was bent slightly downwards and that the hairs were frayed as well….. but the thing that caught his attention the most? Was that Mal's arm and body muscles appeared to have grown quite a bit… along with his fangs and fingernails, which looked sharper than usual.

"Gage, Osiri, You forget a thousand things everyday! So how about we make this one em? HUH?!" He huffed.

Both of the men tried to move a few feet away from him… but Osiri held his ground ground he stood up and sneered at both Mal and Gage,

"You're defending him after what he said about my dad? …*huff* ...What the hell is wrong with you Mal?!"

His outburst just made Mal's veins begin to appear on his arm, so he took a step forwards and pushed the older student away towards the alley's exit.

"if Gage's dad was dead instead of yours then you probably would have said the same thing! So don't deny that you'd be a hypocrite!"

Osiri grunted and took another step back, and chose not to say anything, even thought Gage was smiling a little bit as he was behind Mal.

"*pant* … *pant* ….Grrr…."

"Osiri… Keep Walking."

All three of them just fell silent for a few moments so the citizens watching could leave… and after that, Osiri simply huffed one more time and started to walk back out into the street, pointing at Gage as he grasped his bloody and now broken nose,

"*Huff* ...Fine…. But this isn't over Gage. This will never be over. *pant* ...You hear me?!"

The only thing the ghost did was smirk and spit a clot of blood onto the snow, and then he watched as his opponent finally walked away and left.

And after he finally calmed down and returned to his normal non-muscular and passive state, Mal turned to Gage and just sighed as he put his glasses on.

"*sigh* ...So…. That was a thing."

"Damn right it was. You had to use your semblance. That's what the muscle and claw shit was right? Gage asked him.

And he nodded. "Yup... *exhale* ...Hooray for genetic semblances… anyway, you're welcome for that." Mal replied as he picked up Gage's skateboard and handed it to him.

"Eh… I could have handled him….."

That Mal laugh, and just walk towards the sidewalk as Gage picked up his backpack and joined him. "Pfft! Seriously? Dude that fight was like an Andrew Garfield Peter Parker Plushie going against a vicious three-headed dog. That's insane. And on fire."

He just waved the faunus off and took his skateboard from him as they both exited the alley and started to walk to the subway entrance. "A few more minutes and I probably would have gotten some sort of plan going in my head….. probably."

The faunus shook his head and picked up his knapsack that he took off and put against the corner that they were turning.

"Sure you woulda…" He muttered.

"Mmhm… but yeah, why did you help me anyway Mal?" Gage asked him as he put his skateboard under his arm.

"*sigh* ...Because you said something wrong…. And you thought you were in the right. So I thought that if I helped you then you'd listen to what I had to say."

They then both walked and stopped at the staircase that went down into the station, which was where Gage wiped his lips of any blood and sighed again.

"*sigh* ...That the only reason why?" he asked him.

"*sigh* ...No. The other reason…. Its because I always see you alone and by yourself outside of class…."

That made the ghost laugh, and put his hands in his pockets as he leaned against the stairs railing. "Hehe…. Younger and more popular kid wants to be my friend… that's a first."

"Yeah, well, I was thinking that you didn't have to do this whole 'college thing' solo, cuz I mean….. you're a nerd with glasses, i'm a nerd with glasses. We could work together pretty easily-"

At this point Gage had an expression that showed that he was clearly weirded out, so he raised his hand, signaling Mal to stop his rambling. "Alright you're making it sound like a job now Mal, which is no fun." He said coldly.

"Oh uh…. Heh. Sorry…"

The faunus tried to laugh it off, but his now sort of new found friend stayed completely silent. "Well…. Then…. Uh…. Wanna like…. Go do something Gage?"

That made Gage's smile widen as he looked at the younger and apparently more awkward man, and he finally just laughed at him.

"Hehe… hell no! It's Christmas day remember? I gotta head home and say hi to my dad!"

"Oh…. O-Oh you're right!" Mal said as he looked away and pushed his glasses back up. "Yeah that means I have to go see my mom too…. Almost forgot.."

Gage smiled again, and looked down before he nodded at Mal and just started to walk down into the subway without him, "Well… you go do that, and I'll start thinking about your little offer of friendship… so see you later."

However, Mall suddenly jumped and started to follow Gage again. "Oh Shit! Wait! Hold up a second!"

"Ugh… what is it Mal?" He asked as he turned back around.

Mal sighed, and for some reason, reached into his pic and took out what looked like a circular container…. Of… make up.

"Make up?" Gage asked him.

The purple haired boy then pointed at his face and gave him a somber look at the same time. "It's concealer. And i'm giving it to you because your face is bruised." He told him.

That's when the ghost decided to touch one of his cheeks, and it did indeed hurt. So, he flinched and look up at Mal. But just… stared at him before he went on,

"It'll help your dad relax easier if he doesn't know that you're getting into fights…. And that stuff really works on hiding the marks….. trust me…"

He said that, and just smiled as he took a step back, up back onto the top of the steps before he turned and looked away. "So uh…. Yeah…. That should help…. But… A-Anyway, I'll uh… see you around Gage."

And that was when he finally turned around, and started to walk back down the snowy sidewalk and further into the city… but not before he turned back and said one last thing….

"Oh and uh…. Merry Christmas."

Then he waved, and walked away. Leaving Gage to wave back at him, turn around, and walk down into the subway… but not before he strapped his skateboard back onto the front of his backpack.

But as he stepped down into the station and eventually made his way onto waiting platform… he looked at the container of concealer and just smiled.

"...Smart kid….. *sigh* ….if only I wasn't too much of an asshole….."

…

Later...

...

After catching his train, figuring out how to put on the concealer, and skating all the way back to his suburban home in the outskirts of the city, Gage eventually wound up at the doorstep of his old home.

And, he was very excited, since he saw that his dad's Tesla was parked out in front of their garage.

So, he smiled, took out his house keys, and unlocked the door before he burst the door opened and yelled,

"Dad i'm home!"

Their home was a mostly modern type of style besides the Christmas decoration that Gage's dad had set up.

Gage entered and placed his backpack on the floor before he walked past their den and made his way to the living room and that's when he saw his father Gaigus

But… strangely, he saw Gaigus as he was lying down face first on the carpet… while their vacuum cleaner was next to him.

"Uh… dad?" Gage asked him.

He stayed idle on the floor for a few seconds, but then Gaigus suddenly looked up at his son with a huge sparkle in his eyes as he tried to raise himself off of the ground.

"Oh shit. M-Merry Christmas Cub!"

Gage then laughed at him. "Merry Christmas… Um…. what are you doing? I kinda thought you had a heart attack or something." He asked him.

Gaigus then turned and looked back at their couch before he used his hand to reach out, and make a pulling motion with it, and then suddenly, his body dissipated.

Gage watched with a sigh as his father disappeared from sight, and reappeared on their couch in a bright flash, which allowed him to get a better look of his senior.

Gaigus had bright green eyes and long light brown hair that went down past his shoulders, and he also had a matching mustache and connecting bushy beard that surrounded the bottom of his lips, and ended at the bottom of his chin.

And, he was wearing a black beanie, a crappy dark green ugly Christmas sweater, and a pair of dark grey jeans.

"Nope. Was just admiring the fucking magnificent job I did of vacuuming the carpet!" Gaigus admitted.

And It made him sigh, since Gaigus appeared to be lazy mostly because he just wasted his semblance, which was teleportation. "*sigh* ...You're weird dad."

But, the older man laughed it off and slouched further into the couch as he reached to his left and took a sip from a carton of eggnog,

"No. *sip* ...You're weird."

"We're both weird…."

Gage rolled his eyes along with his closing statement, and strolled onto their kitchen, which was behind their living room couch, and just chuckled as he saw that his dad already had made him and himself a steak dinner along with some turkey and cranberries.

But what made him laugh? Was the sight of only two plates being set this year. Again.

"So…. You're not gonna introduce me to that blonde girlfriend of yours that you've been telling me about?" Gage asked.

Gaigus just groaned and tried to move Gage's presents away from under their Christmas tree, which was next to their couch, as he answered the question,

"Eh…. Couldn't work out that well. She had to move back to Vale. Something about her going back to her teaching job at Beacon…"

His son smirked and just shook his head as he tried to get some glasses out from one of their cupboards, "So she's a Huntress too? Heh… Mom always said you were a guy looking for excitement…."

"Yeah well…. You know who I am."

Gaigus's smiled faded at that statement. As he looked at the plasma screen tv in front of him along with the stack of Christmas movies that were on the on the coffee that was in front of him… but…. Then he looked up.

And what was up there, was a plaque. A wooden plaque, that was made for his late wife Miriam. A.K.A., Gage's mother.

On the plaque, was her name, and small picture of her, along with the pull-action Model 1887 shotgun that she used throughout her career as a Huntress. Named Mistletoe.

That sight made him look down, sip his eggnog, and turn back to look at Gage since he was preparing to sit down at their kitchen table,

"*sigh* ...Gage. Come here."

He then paused as he stopped pulling his chair out from under the dinner table, and walked back to the couch with curious look aimed towards his dad.

"Yeah?"

He was afraid that his dad was gonna give him one of his slightly buzzed eulogies once again like he would always use to give him when around the holidays…. But his fear was soon put to rest…

"...I know who you are too. And I know that you're impatient… so… here "

Gaigus smiled at him, and handed Gage two presents. One, was what looked like a shoe box, and the second was what clearly looked like a new skateboard deck. Which were both wrapped in red and green wrapping paper.

"Holy crap…"

Gage immediately opened up the deck, and was filled with joy once he saw the green star and joystick that was accompanied with the logo of Achievement Hunter!

"I saw some cracks show up on that old thing of yours… so I decided to get you a new one to see how long it'd take for you to scratch it up!"

"Thanks Da-"

"Dont thank me till you're done." His father blurted out, still pointing at the box that was under the deck.

"Alright…"

So as his dad watched, Gage put the skateboard deck down and ripped the paper off of the box…. But first, of course he had to ask…

"Wait… are these shoes?"

Yet his guess just made Gaigus roll his eyes and smile. "*sigh* ...Gage. you sound like you're nine years old again." He teased him.

"H-Hey! I'm just curious!"

So, that urged Gage to remove the lid of the box… and he was greeted with the sight of about ten tiny plastic boxes that all had a brand new pair of earbuds inside of them.

"And uh… heh… wow. That's so ironic." He said, remembering his encounter with Osiri from earlier.

His dad just smiled and patted his shoulder with a smile, "Well I know how much you like music… and how annoying some people can get, so go wild with these things!"

Gage laughed as he reached in and began to pull out one of the many pairs….. but then he noticed that there was also a small envelope at the bottom of the box.

"Cool…. Wait… what's that?"

"That…. That is a note from your mother. From when you were just a baby… but before you open that… I have something else to tell you."

His son's face froze completely… and his smile too faded… so, Gaigus let out a deep breath as he took another folded piece of paper out from his pocket.

"Remember how you were telling me that you wanted to quit school and try and become a Huntsman again? Well... look at this."

Gage took the sheet from his father and unfolded it.. and noticed immediately that it was one of his training academy transcripts. Which he's seen before.

"It's just my sanctum transcript. What about it?"

"Look at the bottom of the page."

He squinted at his father before he looked back down at the paper… and had to get a closer look to make sure what he was seeing was actually real… Because, at the bottom of the sheet, it said,

Gage Sim

Academy Entrance Exam Status: Eligible

And that, made him look up at Gaigus with yet another cheerful grin upon his face as he nearly crushed the paper by accident,

"W...Wait a second... I'm… i'm eligible to take the Huntsmen academy entrance exam?!"

"Yeah." Gaigus said with a nod. "And I talked about it with your Boss and guidance counselors. They said you can take the test once you're seventeen."

"Oh... well… least I can take it eventually. Right Dad?"

"Mmhm." He answered and he took the letter out from the bottom of the shoe box. "And she wanted you to read that letter whenever you needed a little confidence boost…"

Gage just looked down at the letter for a few seconds, thinking about how wonderful his mother Miriam was…. And how much she was willing to teach him so he could become a Huntsman/Huntress like herself… but... then he sighed, and lowered the envelope… thinking about how hard the journey there would be...

"Well… then I think i'm gonna wait to open this until i'm actually there." He said as he put the letter back into the box. "Because once i'm enrolled... i'm gonna need that boost to keep on going."

At first, his father paused for a few seconds… be then he just smiled, and put his arm around Gage. "Heh… you really are a smart kid…"

"Yeah. But you're a smart dad too."

They both then laughed at each other, and held the embrace for a good fifteen seconds… unit Gaigus patted his back and took another sip of his eggnog...

"...So…. What did you get me for my present Gage?"

"U-UH-...Um…. Well…. I...I-It's uh, coming in the mail…. Soon… i think..."

…

Present Day

...

As Gage told his story to the two sisters and their dog, they managed to kill the entire time of the flight to Patch, and he finished just as they grabbed their stuff and started to walk out of the Airstation.

And outside, was a small snowy countryside road, which had what looked like an endless amount of white trees that went up and over the distant mountains.

Yang, smiled at Gage while Ruby and Zwei followed, and the three eventually stopped at the side of the road as they exited the building and put their stuff down as they began to anxiously wait for Taiyang to pick them up.

"Well… that was a good story Care-Bear! Your dad sounded a real cool person." She said as she held his hand.

"Yeah… He was…"

Gage just stopped at the road, and squeezed his girlfriend's hand as he looked down at his sage ugly Christmas sweater…. And smiled once again.

"Hehe…. So, did he get mad at you for not buying him a present?" Ruby asked him with a giggle.

"Nope! He said he didn't need one since I came home to him. And that was all that he wanted…" Gage answered with enthusiasm.

"Awww. That's cute!"

"Yeah…."

Then they all stayed silent for a few more moments afterwards in the snow as it continued to gently fall onto the top of their heads… but that was until Yang broke the awkward silence…. Since she had just noticed something,

"Hey Gage wait… when you got home in your story, your dad called you a cub…. But… why?"

Gage stood in place, unmoved for a few moments as he thought about that one instance… but… then, it made him laugh… as he thought about Yang's iconic nickname for himself. Care-Bear.

"Because his parents were Bear faunus… and they adopted him, so… he'd always tease me with that name."

And then, his smile widened even more as he turned to his lover, and kissed her on the cheek.

"*smooch* ...I guess the world works in strange ways."

The Blonde stared at him for a few seconds… and simply rested her head on his shoulder as she closed her eyes with a cute smile across her lips… but then…

Ruby suddenly heard her scroll beep, so she took it out of her pocket and nearly screamed as she looked over at her older sister and her boyfriend, "*gasp* …Yang! Dad said he's here!" She yelled.

Her shout made Yang let go of Gage and look to the left, trying to see through the snowy mist to try and see her dad's car… while he was honestly trying to hold his breath at this point.

"What? Where?!"

"*HONK!*"

And that… was when Taiyang's truck came into full view, charging through the snow as he honked again and appeared to be approaching them in slow motion…. In Gage's eyes at least.

The Ghost felt nervous as he saw the truck... mostly because it was a huge Ford F650, and it was armored as well, and colored black. But also had yellow skirts, along with two yellow smokestack exhaust tubes pointing upwards from behind the roof of the truck's interior. And it was puffing black smoke as well.

Gage gulped as his eyes widened…. And for some reason heard the sound of church bells inside of his head along with the opening to the song For Whom the Bell Tolls by the band Metallica as the truck came closer and the engine continued to growl like a tiger. Which definitely made him become even more afraid.

"Hi Dad!" Yang said as Ruby waved.

The truck eventually came to a stop in front of the three, and Gage almost felt his body tighten as he let go of Yang's hand, and her and her sister both stood in front of him. And then…. The passenger door flew open, and Taiyang stuck his blonde and scruffy head out as he looked at his daughters… and his eldest girl's boyfriend.

"Hey Everyone!"

Yang and Ruby both climbed into the l seat and gave their dad a massive and heartfelt hug… but at the same time… Taiyang smirked, and looked down at Gage. Making eye contact with him at the same time as well.

And now, as he looked his possible future father-in-law in the eyes… Gage had only one sentence that he could think of in that small amount of time that could give himself one last small ounce of courage before he would have to meet the overprotective Huntsman. Which was,

"Gage. F-Fuck this up... and you're fucked…"

…...

Author's Note #2: Annnd that's a wrap! But, before this is finished, i'd like to thank my friend here on the site, Artorias Abyss, for letting me use his OC, Osiri Abyss in my story. And i'd also like to thank you guys for waiting for each update. You guys give me the courage to publish, so I'll make sure to keep making the story better and better from here on out! I promise! So until then, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!