Outcasts and Outlaws
Volume 2, Chapter 11
Return of an Old Mentor
Okay, here's where things start getting explained. The backstory of the Outlaws is shown in it's entirety in a side story I haven't written yet, but this chapter looks at the basics. Also, one of my favourite characters has finally arrived!
Opening Music: http/youtu.be/iOsN2FP3-l4
(Shows Connor with his back to the camera)
Masshiro na keshiki
(He raises his arm into the air)
ni ima
(He clenches his metal hand into a fist)
saso
(Shows Kane)
warete!
(Shows Connor in front of beacon with his arm reaching up)
Boku wa yuku yo mada minu sekai e!
OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS. (Shows the silver bear pendant around Connor's neck swinging) Maigo no mama
(Shows Connor's eyepatch in his hand)
tabi shiteta!
(Shows Connor and Kane sitting back to back in the ruins of Connor's hometown)
Nezumi iro no sora no shita! (Connor and Kane stand up as light hits the ruins)
Hikariwari ohizu ikutsumo no yume ga nijinde ita!
(Shows Ruby smiling with her hands held together)
Itsuka wa sa!
(Shows Jim stood on the Beacon Balcony)
Chippoke na boku no kono hohaba demo!
(Shows Yang)
Ano
(Shows Ren)
Kumo
(Shows Nora) no mukou
(Shows Pyrhaa)
made
(Shows Doctor Brian)
yukeru (Shows Ozpin)
ka na!
(Shows Connor)
Tsugyotte
(Shows Mars)
kizu tsu ita!
(Shows Connor and Mars outside Beacon)
Kokoro sukashita you ni!
(Shows Connor getting dragged away by Murlough's dark clouds) Furidashita
(Shows Ruby sitting next to Connor's hospital bed)
amastu
(Shows Murlough in front of the bodies of Connor's parents) butachi ga!
(Shows Brook and Damien holding the Kalos Crystal)
Ranh
(Shows Murlough covered in dark clouds)
ansha
(Shows Damien pull out his guns) kurikaesu!
(Shows Connor hit the ground with light on his hands and cause a tremor)
Massugu na
(Brook runs across the tremor) hikari
(Connor starts fighting Brook)
ga kousashite!
(Shows Kane fire off a barrage of dark clouds)
Yukusaki mo
(Shows Murlough run through the clouds)
tsugenu mama!
(Shows Jim fighting off Grimm with his boomerang)
Doko made mo tsukinukeru! (Shows Mars in a sword fight with Damien)
Awai zanzou ryoume ni yakitsukete! (Shows Murlough lunging forward with his blade covered in black clouds)
Kono sora no shita
(Shows Connor lunging forward with his metal hand glowing with light)
donna toko ni ite mo!
(Connor and Murlough hit each other, creating a flash of light) (Connor puts his eyepatch on) Toduku hazu nan
(Shows Connor and Ruby walking into Beacon)
da minu sekai e!
OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS V2
"MARS?!" Connor shouted at the top of his voice in complete and utter shock at the sight before him. His old mentor was stood looking at him, in his old green coat, which was now paling. He even had the same green hair, which was also becoming pale. Connor couldn't believe his eyes, someone he thought was dead was standing right before him.
"Hey not so loud, you juvenile!" Mars replied calmly and quietly, not even slightly phased by Connor's reaction. "This is an infirmary, people are trying to rest!"
"But you're alive!" Connor yelled back, completely ignoring his mentors order, and he payed the price for it. Mars stepped over before Connor had even finished his sentence and whacked him on the head then put a hand on the back of his head and pushes down, keeping it locked there forcefully.
"I told you to be quiet!" Mars ordered once again, remembering his students impatient and oblivious attitude from years ago. "If you promise to stay quiet, I'll let go, or do I need to bring out the dunce cuffs?!"
"No please, anything but that!" Connor responded, being reminded of the strict punishments he had endured under the hand of his mentor. Connor then immediately stopped struggling and calmed down, then whimpered, "I'll be good..."
Mars then let go, letting Connor's head spring back to an upright position. Mars stepped away from the side of Connor's bed as he rubbed the back of his neck, but stayed close by. Ruby briefly looked at Connor, making sure he was okay, and then turned to look at Mars. "Excuse me, but who are you?" She asked politely.
"Who am I?" Mars teasingly gasped back, as if shocked Ruby didn't know him. "I'm surprised you don't know about me from Connor, but even more surprised you don't know me from my reputation." Mars then flapped his coat behind him dramatically, showing off, and announced, "I am Mars of the Satellite Seven! The third member of the Grand Remnant Council! The sole inheritor of the secrets of the Tele-Creation Semblance! I am Mars, the most handsome hunter in the land!" He then paused as if expecting applause, and then after silence added, "Oh, and I'm also Connor's old mentor."
As Connor pouted sulkily, his thoughts a mixture of trying to figure out why Mars has left him until last on that list, and how he was even alive to begin with, Ruby came to a realisation and said, "Oh you're that Mars? The one that took Connor in after his village was destroyed?"
"Well who else do you know called Mars? It's a pretty unique name!" Mars replied, slightly boasting once again.
Before Connor could earn Mars about speaking to Ruby like that, Kane spoke up, after having been silent for a while. "Since when have you been a member of the Grand Council?"
"Oh, ever since I resurfaced after getting separated from you and Connor." Mars boasted even more, his ego starting to annoy Connor. "Ozpin recommended me for the position as soon as an empty seat appeared!"
"I remember that day well." Said a new voice, making Mars look around in confusion for the source of the sound. He quickly found it, and grinned at his old friend.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear, drinking coffee no less." Mars exclaimed as Ozpin himself walked into the room, with a trademark cup of coffee in hand. "How've you been?" Mars asked him, chummily shaking his hand.
"Oh, I've been just fine." Mars responded after taking a sip of his piping hot beverage. "But there are some on the council these days who think I should step down as headmaster of Beacon. They say I'm letting too many students get injured." Ozpin then stared at Connor over his mug, and Mars turned and stared as well. Soon, all four of the others were staring at Connor, which he found to be quite uncomfortable.
"You hear that Connor?" Mars scolded, breaking the awkward silence. "Ozpin's job is in jeopardy because you keep getting injured! You juvenile, I thought you would've gotten better since I last saw you."
"I haven't exactly been facing off against gangs and bandits like we used to!" Connor protested. "The guys I've been fighting are a lot tougher than that!"
"Well I heard you rushed into battle head first against Murlough! Are you stupid?" Mars scolded once again, knocking the shamed Connor on his head. "I taught you to take your time in battles to analyse your enemies fighting style, then pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses and use that information against them! What were you thinking being so reckless?!"
Connor hung his head, refusing to look at his mentor, and muttered, "You wouldn't understand...he killed my parents."
"I wouldn't understand?!" Mars yelled, getting angrier by the second. "I was there as well damn it! I know what he did, but that doesn't mean you get to be reckless!" There was then another very awkward silence as everyone else in the room looked upon the two, the student and the mentor, arguing so fiercely upon seeing each other for the first time in eight years. They'd both completely forgotten about being quiet at this point. "Is he the one who did that to your eye?" Mars asked, trying to calm himself down a little, telling himself Connor wasn't his pupil anymore.
Connor immediately held his hand over the spot where his right eye had once been, now replaced by only skin, hiding it defensively. "That wasn't him..." He replied solemnly. "It was someone else."
"Who?" Mars immediately questioned, eager to know who had injured his pupil.
Connor was silent for a moment, as if he didn't want to answer, but then he spoke, "It was a man called Brook Phobos."
Mars stepped back out of mere shock, recognising the name. Both Ruby and Connor noted his reaction and stared at him, wondering what had warranted it. Ozpin and Kane on the other hand were completely calm, as if they knew something. "Brook Phobos..." Mars muttered, looking a mixture of worried and enraged. "That man...he's a member of the Satellite Seven, just like me."
"Just what are the Satellite Seven?" Connor asked curiously, Ruby also listening closely. "You always used to boast about being a member but never told me anything about it."
Mars sighed, supposing he now didn't have much choice but to tell his story. "The Satellite Seven are a group of seven hunters, with the mentality of preserving peace and order in the world." Mars explained. "They eventually became better known as the Outlaws."
"You were with the Outlaws?!" Connor exclaimed, surprised by this revelation. Mars however, shook his head in denial.
"I left long before that started, about a year into the civil war." He continued. "But the others stayed, my claims that they had forgotten why we started the war ignored. At that point they didn't care that we started the war for peace and order, they only wanted revenge for their fallen allies and that filled them with bloodlust. It even drove some of them insane, namely Murlough and Brook Phobos."
"Does this have anything do to with to do with why you're called Mars? It's not you're real name is it?" Connor asked after taking in all the new information.
"The reason we called ourselves the Satellite Seven at first was because our codenames corresponded with planets and moons." Mars answered. "My code name is Mars obviously, but the other members also incorporated codenames into their actual names."
Mars then took a breath, the excessive talking almost too much for his ageing windpipe to handle, then continued. "The other six members were Brook Phobos, Murlough Mercury, and Damien Titan, those ones whom you know of. The other three haven't been seen in a while and are suspected dead. Their names are Isabella Charon, Wolf Saturn and Michael Hydra."
"Those seven were also the leaders of the Outlaws at the start of the war." Ozpin added. "But times changed. First Mars left, seeing that the purpose of the war had been forgotten. Then Damien took absolute leadership over the Outlaw army."
"This is bigger than I thought..." Connor mumbled and then spoke directly to Mars. "Before he killed them, Damien and Brook kept saying they wanted Kane for revenge because he betrayed the Outlaws and stole the Kalos Crystal."
"You say Kane killed them?" Mars responded, already aware of Kane's bounty. "How'd he manage that?"
"I blew up the building they were in with my semblance." Kane answered, proud of his work. "There's no way they survived those flames."
"You blew them up?" Mars repeated, then sighed and shook his head. "That wouldn't have been enough I'm afraid. Damien's semblance allows him to repulse gunfire, and even explosions."
"So you're saying he's alive?!" Connor exclaimed, becoming riled up at the mere thought of fighting Damien again.
"I'd say at least he's still kicking, but probably Brook as well." Mars answered.
"Then why haven't they come back and attacked yet?" Ruby asked Mars, after having stayed silent for a while, feeling a little out of place among the other four.
"They've probably been planning and preparing, which is bad news for us." Mars told her. "If they've got a well thought out attack plan, they'll have the advantage and I'll bet you anything Murlough is still on their side."
Connor took a moment to absorb all of the information. Damien and Brook were still alive and would probably come after Kane at some point some, and they'd also probably go after Connor for the trouble. On top of that, they had Murlough on their side, whose true strength was unknown. Ruby saw him looking worried and held his hand tightly, and he looked up to her, about to say something.
Before he did however, Mars reached a hand into his inner coat pocket and spoke. "With that in mind, I think it's time I told you why I didn't come back sooner." He stated. "I was looking for something, the very same thing we spent all those years together searching for, only to find dead ends and fakes."
Connor's eyes widened as Mars began to take the thing out of his pocket, trying to get a good look at it. "It that what I think it is?" Connor thought to himself, his heart racing in his chest from anticipation.
Mars then swiftly pulled out the object and held it in front of him proudly. Held in between his finger and thumb shined a small purple object, it's sides rough edges like diamonds.
"I found the Kalos Crystal." Mars announced.
Ending Music: http/youtu.be/XHy8bnVVpo4
(Shows a cherry blossom tree)
(Flickers between Ruby raising her arm, and cherry blossom leaves falling)
Seijaku wa
(Shows Ruby with her hand held out in front of herself)
kirisaku you!
(Zooms in on Ruby's face) Otuzuretta no wa!
(Shows Yang walking across) Hitsuzen to shite no kaikou!
(Shows Jim walking behind her) Bokura no tame ni!
(Zooms in on a tear falling from Ruby's eye)
Koukai wa nagaku me
(Shows Connor walking from behind)
ni utsuru kimi no soul!
(Shows Ruby's skirt flapping in the wind)
Rainbow
(Shows Ruby clenching her hand) wo tootte!
(Back to Ruby standing with her arm out in front of her)
Utsukushika saita!
(Shows Connor's silhouette walking across)
Dareka no seimei ni tokeru hana. (Shows Ruby holding a branch of the cherry blossom tree)
Nee
(Zooms in on Ruby's face again) kimi ni mo mieru darou!
(Shows Ruby shed another tear) Kitto!
(Ruby lets go of the branch)
(Back to Ruby with her arm held out)
Kasaneta
(Zooms in on Ruby's face again) ayamachi
(Shows Ruby from behind) nurikaeyou!
(Shows everyone's silhouette walking across)
Nando
(Shows someone's feet in the crowd)
demo ii sa
(Shows Kane in the crowd)
Kurikae
(Shows Mars in the crowd)
shiteku
(Shows Ruby from behind as cherry blossom leaves fly past her on the wind)
sa try!
(Shows Ruby from side view as the leaves fly past her)
Kako to wa chigau asu wo!
(Shows one side of Connor's body as he walks)
Fubari
(Shows Ruby's hand reaching out) dake no
(Shows the cherry blossom branch flinging back)
kibou
(Shows Ruby looking up at the tree) egaku sa try!
(Ruby looks back down and sees someone, then smiles)
I never say goodbye!
(Shows Ruby standing with Connor opposite her, both looking at each other)
Itsudatte sou sa!
(Shows Connor looking at Ruby as the sunlight shines on him)
(Shows Ruby looking at Connor as the sunlight shines on her)
(Connor smiles and raises his hand, then holds Ruby's hand)
END