Chapter 14: You can't save them all kid, not even yourself.
The halls of the academy were bustling with activity, ranging from students going to their classes to teachers making last minute preparations for the lessons ahead. Only a hand select individuals were casually walking to the mess hall to grab some lunch as they took the day off. It was one of the days that they enjoyed the most, relaxing after completing a mission successfully, and managing to keep themselves alive. All the Gears casually entered the mess hall and greeted the lunch lady as they received their food for the day and began to make conversations with one another, whether it be simple jokes or little competitions they would play with one another. Currently, they were all crowded around Walker as he played the knife game with Jaune, placing his hand over his and stabbing the knife in between the spaces quickly.
"I have all my fingers, the knife goes chop chop chop. If I miss between the spaces my fingers will come off. And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out. But in all the same I play this game cause that's what it's all about." He sang as he stabbed the spaces, then increased his speed. "Oh, chop chop chop chop chop chop. I'm picking up the speed. And if I hit my fingers then my hand will start to bleed!" He finished by stabbing a narrow gap. Jaune shakily looked down and raised his hand to see it perfectly fine then give a nervous laugh when he realized that none of his fingers were gone. Everyone clapped as Walker bowed and sat down to finish his meal.
"I want to play!" Nora shouted and grabbed Ren's hand.
"Nora, wait-" His plea fell on deaf ears as she started to do the same thing as Walker but at a slower pace, but instead of tapping the table she slammed it with his knife. Ren's eyes were wide as saucers as he watched the knife slam against the surface roughly. Everyone else sat on the edge of their seats as they watched it unfold in fascination and slight anxiety. Ren almost shouted when Nora sang loudly and slammed the knife on the table for the final time, sending it through the wood. He whipped his hand from her grasp and sent her a glare as she just flashed a smile at him. Everyone else laughed at the interaction before finishing their meals and heading back to their rooms for the next day. Walker walked alongside Blake while she just read a book and stepped over a fallen soda can, ignoring it and continuing to read.
"You ever going to read something else other than that book?" He asked.
"No, why are you heading to the public shower?" She asked.
"Public? Blake, this is my room." He said. She looked up and jumped in surprise when she indeed saw that this was his room, how long had they been walking?
"I thought this was the showers." She muttered.
"Nope... unless. You want to take a shower with me?" He asked, tilting his head. Her face flushed read and she blinked at him.
"W-what?!" She cried out with a red face.
"I don't believe I stuttered, I said do you want to take a shower with me?" He asked again, silently smirking behind his helmet.
"W-well, not really but uh..." She drawled, flinching when he let out a laugh and wrapped his hand around her shoulder.
"I'm just kidding Blake. But you are welcome to use my shower if you want, I'll just wait out in the hall." He said.
"No, it's okay. But uh... can you just keep this between us please? I don't want the others to get any assumptions." She said quietly.
"Yeah, there's a spare towel near the sink. Is there a reason why you aren't using yours?" He asked.
"Yang broke the faucet after Ruby used the hot water. She thought that if she used her semblance to heat up the water then it would work, turns out she ended up melting the knobs and made us go to the public showers instead." She replied while twitching her eyebrows in agitation.
"And why aren't you going there?" He asked.
"Because believe it or not, this school is full of perverts. Just the other day Gwen found out some guy was spying on her, which in turn made everyone else have second thoughts and hunt the guy down." She said.
"That was you all?! I had to explain to the General why one of his students was in the hospital, fucking hell if you told me that then I would have handled it." He sighed.
"We're big girls and boys Walker, we can handle it." She huffed.
"Alright, alright. If you say so." He chuckled and sat on the bed as she just rolled her eyes and entered the shower. Once she entered it she noticed that the bathroom was considered to be luxury compared to theirs; it had a rain fall shower head and with gleaming silver for the faucets and shower head. The walls were black and shiny, like an onyx color, and the sink was a smooth stony finish. In short, it made her jealous. Well, this was one of the perks for being the leader of highly trained individuals that were worth an entire squad of marines by themselves. Even more so since you're the one that had killed locust that probably went into the thousands by now and the scars on your body could prove that you were a survivor and ruthless fighter.
"Still though, this is a tad bit unfair." She pouted and turned on the hot water, breathing in relief when the warm water impacted her body. She scrubbed her hair with the shampoo for a minute then rinsed it. Her body was scrubbed clean for a few minutes before she turned the water off and opened the glass door to look in the mirror. Both of her cat ears flicked widely to rid themselves of water and smiled when she was finally free of her cloth restraints, it felt so good to finally show the world who she was. To prove that even a faunus can be someone. There was a knock on the door and she threw his towel around her body to open the door, seeing that it was her team standing there with towels in their hands.
"What are you guys doing?" She asked.
"Did you really think we wouldn't notice you not come back to the dorm? Think again Blakey." Yang said before Weiss pushed her out of the way.
"What the big oaf is trying to say, we've come to use the shower also because 'someone' decided to use her semblance in there and break the faucet." Weiss said sarcastically.
"Hey, I said I was sorry! Are you really still mad at me for that?" She asked.
"Yes, and I absolutely refuse to go near those public showers where that creep spied on Gwen. Seriously, how is it that Atlas allows these kind of actions? We're supposed to be the most strict in privacy." Weiss murmured.
"I don't know, but all I know is that I call first dibs on Walker's shower!" Yang exclaimed and pushed past everyone, much to Ruby and Weiss' chagrin, to enter the shower. The three were left in Walker's room in silence as they listened to the shower before Blake finally spoke up.
"Where's Walker?" She asked.
"He had to make a call to Rachel." Ruby said.
"Really?" Blake asked.
"Yeah, turns out she's been calling him every few days to a week whenever she has a problem. He said she sometimes calls him just to talk and see how he's doing, to which she views him as another older brother." Weiss said. Blake nodded and sat on his bed as did the other two, all three of them immediately noticed that it was much more comfy than theirs, it must have been memory foam because it wrapped around their bodies snugly. Yet another thing that signified that the General had specifically set up for him and not them, while their beds were soft they weren't compared to his at all. To them, his was like luxury.
"Why is everything in his room so much better than ours? I want beds like these." Weiss pouted.
"I don't know, but I'm sleeping here tonight." Ruby said and leaned back into the bed, shifting around as the foam wrapped around her body.
"Sorry girls, can't sleep here tonight. We have a lead on a possible locust weapons site." Walker said as he entered the room and put his scroll near the laptop before opening it and began typing on it. Ruby and Weiss gaped at him not even caring if Blake was half naked.
"You're not even going to give Blake the decency to change?" Weiss asked.
"Nothing I haven't seen before." He said nonchalantly and continued to type. They both looked at Blake's burning red face as she just hid it in her hands. "Not to mention I've seen Ruby in a towel already." He added, much to the young reaper's embarrassment.
"W-what? So you have no shame?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Weiss I've been naked in front of numerous people. I've lost my sense of shame the moment I got out of basic training; the only reason I didn't make you all do it is because I want you be huntsman and huntresses, not soldiers." He said and opened up a message that was from Roman, indicating that a storage of weapons and ammunition was prepped for the academy students.
"Oh, well I guess Yang and I are the only exceptions." Weiss said thankfully.
"Not anymore~" Yang said from the doorway. The others looked and widened their eyes when they saw her in one of his towels and a coy smile on her face while leaning on the door frame with her hair soaking wet.
"Yang! Where are your clothes?!" Ruby shouted then covered her face with her hood.
"Xiao Long! What is wrong with you?!" Weiss shouted.
"Oh come on girls, Blake's not wearing anything and you don't get on her case." Yang pointed towards Blake.
"That's because I wasn't thinking at the moment and didn't really expect to take a shower here, you on the other hand anticipated this and didn't bring your clothes on purpose." She said.
"That's where you're wrong kitty. I did bring my clothes, tada!" Yang cheered and revealed a set of clothes in her hand.
"Good, now put them on Yang. Turns out the General wants to speak with us." Walker said.
"Oh come on Walker, you aren't at least tempted to look at these puppies?" She flirted and crossed her arms. He didn't say anything and just stood up to look at her before walking up to her and ramming his helmet in her chest, making her eyes widen then her face heat up.
"There, now that I've proceeded to embarrass you get dressed and meet me in the planning room. That goes for all of you, don't keep me waiting or you'll receive the same treatment." He deadpanned and walked out of the room. Once he left the room the others looked at Yang and could swear they saw steam coming out of her ears before she fell on the bed and screamed in the mattress.
"You still want him to look at those 'puppies' Yang?" Blake smirked.
"Shut up!" She shouted with a muffled voice. Weiss and Ruby laughed loudly as they sat in Walker's room for a minute before taking turns in his shower, both of them internally pouting at the luxurious setting of his room compared to theirs and made it a goal to renovate theirs when they return home.
The Gears all entered the General's office and stood on either side with their combat gear on and their weapon's clamped to their backs. They had arrived ahead of time and were silently waiting for Walker to finally enter the elevator, once he arrived they turned their attention to General as he sat at his desk before looking at them.
"You wanted to see us sir." Walker said.
"That's right Lieutenant, as you know your influence has made itself known all over Atlas." Ironwood said as he pulled up numerous videos of the Gears fighting alongside soldiers, dragging wounded ones to safety, saving civilians, and taking out high value targets. But a couple of pictures caught the attention of everybody; it was a picture of Walker with a wounded faunus over his shoulder in a fireman's carry position with his lancer in his right hand and firing into a horde of wretches. Then there was another one where he was over a hill while other marines took cover but he stood up firing into the horde without fear. The final picture was taken of somebody at base of him with multiple marines gathered around him as he showed them a map.
"I understand that these are our achievements but what is this really about?" Walker asked politely, he didn't need to be praised for doing something he should be doing in the first place.
"The council had gotten word and seen the footage of your Gears in action and have taken an interest in you all. They wish you speak with you all later in the future and see if you are willing to spread your program to Atlas." Ironwood said. All of them stopped and looked at Walker as he stared at Ironwood and tapped his leg for a minute.
"I'll consider it but if I do this then I want full command over them, they answer to nobody but their designated commanding officers, you, Ozpin, and I." He said.
"We will discuss it once we meet but there is something that I must discuss with you and Ms. Schnee." Ironwood said.
"What is it sir?" She asked.
"It is sort of a private matter, one that I'm not comfortable discussing in front of everybody." He said, looking at them apologetically. Walker took this as a cue to send everyone out of the office.
"Relax, read, shower, do whatever you must do as of right now. We have a mission tonight alongside a few of the marines, you have your orders. Now carry them out." He instructed as they gave a unified salute and eventually left the room with the exception of Weiss and Walker. Both looked at the man and saw that he was breathing deeply while pressing his fingers against his temples.
"I'm going to give it to you straight. Jacques Schnee wishes you two to come to the manor. Weiss, for you to come home and Walker, for you to finally get antiquated with him." He said.
"What if I don't?" Walker asked.
"Then he won't fund your program nor provide Dust for the students." Ironwood said.
"So father is willing to deny countless huntsman and huntresses supplies if Walker doesn't show? That sounds highly unlikely of him." Weiss crossed her arms.
"Those are his words, not mine. He also wishes for you to come home because of your safety." He said.
"Okay I'll admit, that is bullshit." Walker said, not even flinching when Weiss slapped his arm glared at him.
"Care to elaborate?" She said.
"When was the last time he's called you? Never. From the time I've been here, I've never seen you stand up to take a call from your father or mother, only Winter. And from the way you described him and his attitude, he only cares about profit or reputation. If he or your mother really cared about you then they would try to contact you." He said. Weiss seemed to take that to offense and her face started to heat up.
"They do care about me Walker." She argued.
"No they don't, caring parents try to connect with their children and support them. The only thing your father had probably done was give you funding for tuition, and you've never mentioned your mother doing shit for you. Point is Weiss, they don't care about you. Going to this stupid manor is a complete waste of time and we're better off doing missions and helping end this war." He said.
"No it's not Walker! We can't just keep doing missions all the time! Just because you're comfortable with risking your life doesn't mean I am!" She shouted.
"It's better than going to that rich fuck's manor and wasting our time!" He shouted, not even caring if the General was right there at this point. Why couldn't she see that they didn't need that bastard, they had all the resources from the grubs. Weapons, ammunition, hell even resources if they were lucky enough.
"We're not wasting our time! If you had just tried to listen to us and not be so caught up in your own self pitying then you wouldn't have a problem with this!" She shouted, poking his chest.
"You think I want to be like this?! You think I wanted to be a violent depressing walking tower of shit?! News flash Weiss, I can't fucking help it! From the moment I've been on Remnant I've done nothing but fight! I had to leave my little brother behind with no family left to look up to! You have any idea what it's like to leave the only family you have left?! I fight this fucking war so I can get back to him!" He shouted in her face. Usually she would back down when he raised his voice but her time in training had taught her otherwise. He was disrespecting her father as if he knew the man personally and that irked her to no end.
"So you weren't fighting to rid the locust from Remnant! You were fighting to leave us behind!" She screamed.
"For fuck's sake Weiss! Why won't you listen!?" He asked.
"Because I don't want to take advice from someone who's lost himself because he can't get over his own father's death!" She shouted then clamped her mouth shut. All went silent as she said that, even Ironwood didn't dare say a word. He knew that talking about the boy's parents was a danger zone and Weiss had ran through it without a thought in the world.
"Walker-" Ironwood tried but stopped when Walker raised his hand.
"You think I'm giving you this advice because it's a joke? Then think again Schnee. I'm giving you this advice because I've had enough friends who's parents were like that; you want to know what they did to their kids once they saw the use of them gone?" He asked in a cold tone. She was afraid to answer and just shakily nodded her head. "They sent their children to war. If they came back alive then they saw use for them in the family and if they died... well you get the picture. Point is Schnee, I usually give advice to help people so they don't make the same mistakes but seeing as to how you don't need anymore because you know everything then I'll let you figure it out what's it's like to fall." He said harshly and began to walk past her but stopped and shoved a few COG tags in her chest. She shakily looked down and widened her eyes when she saw that there were over eight of them. She looked back at the elevator and saw it close before falling to the ground. If she would have just listened to him then he wouldn't have given up on her, he wouldn't have shown her these.
"I'm sorry." She said quietly and looked at each one carefully, noticing that each one was still in mint condition which indicated that he was keeping them clean to keep the memory of his friends alive. All Ironwood could do was sigh deeply and shake his head before standing up and walking in front of her, offering her a hand. She accepted it and wiped her tears as she stood up.
"Weiss... I'll admit that you crossed the line." He said which made her look down further in shame. "But you didn't know did you?" He asked her, to which she shook her head.
"I knew his father died." She murmured.
"His mother died also." He said and watched as she whirled her head around to look at him. "Ozpin sent me the video of all the recorded data that he had collected and let me tell you. The boy had experienced enough loss to make a veteran marine give up his life, he's made more mistakes and learned from them to make sure they don't happen in the future." He sighed.
"But why didn't he tell us?" She asked.
"Because we think he faces a mental block. He probably feels that if he tells people his problems then he'll get them killed and that's something he doesn't want to happen. We don't know much about him other than the footage he's given us, he's a complete enigma. Even some of our best psychiatrist tried to get him to crack a few weeks ago but all were met with dead ends as to why he shuts everybody off." He said.
"Why are you telling me this?" She asked.
"Because I want you to understand. There are some things you leave unsaid, the topic about his parents are one of them." He said.
"So how do I go about apologizing to him?" She asked.
"A simple apology won't work, you need to prove to him that you can be forgiven." He said. Weiss looked down at the tags and clenched them before looking back up at Ironwood and nodding then walking to the elevator. She had made a mistake and it was time to pay its dues.
Walker ignored everybody and entered the armory silently. He grabbed his lancer and tested the chainsaw before grabbing his longshot and placing it on his back the grabbed his boltok pistol and placed in on his hip, a One-shot was the next thing he grabbed. His knife was the last thing he grabbed and tested its sharpness before sheathing it and slamming the locker shut, not caring if it dented and proceeded to storm out, making the teams look at him. Jaune quickly ran up to him and proceeded to walk next to him.
"So what are we doing Walker?" He asked but received no answer in response. "Uh... Walker?" He asked again but got a quiet response this time but it was one that slightly haunted him.
"Tell the teams I'm going out for a while and that they should consider this lucky for them. If I don't come back in the next week then consider me dead and I'm placing you in charge of the Gears." He said in a hollow tone and entered the bullhead while Jaune just stood there befuddled. Eventually the others caught up to him and looked at his bewildered face.
"What is it?" Nebula asked.
"He uh... he said that he's going out for a while and if he isn't back in a week then consider him dead and that I'm in charge of the Gears." He said as he stared at the retreating dropship. All of them just stared at the retreating vehicle in confusion as to why their leader would say something like that and hesitantly walked back into the academy, they had faith he would come back; especially two girls. None of them knowing that their leader was delving into his darker side.
"You sure you want to do this kid?" Ash asked as he piloted the custom dropship. Atlas had given them the vehicle as a sort of token for helping out around the kingdom and customized it more than the standard issue one, not that the pilot was complaining.
"I'm sure. It helps blow off steam and I get to help out around the kingdom." He replied. That wasn't completely true, in truth he needed to kill something; feel the blood between his fingers, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the sound of gunfire echoing throughout the air, even the sound of flesh being torn from its bone was soothing to him at this point.
"I know it's not my business to pry but what happened? You're usually the first one to greet me when I drop you kids off." Ash asked.
"Shit happened... how long until the drop off point?" Walker asked, changing the subject in a tone that left no room for anymore questioning.
"About an hour, kid I really advise against you doing this. I mean a few days out in the dark zone is considered-" Ash informed.
"Suicide? I know, but I need something to get my blood pumping and being out in that hellhole is enough. So the moment you see me drop then take off and return back to the academy, that's an order." Walker interrupted. Ash glanced behind him and shook his head before continuing the flight course, he really didn't want to go in the dark zone. That place was described as hell itself; communications were scrambled, the locust roamed every street, countless other dangers lurked in the shadows and waited for their next victim, not to mention the countless corpses that littered the ground and drew numerous diseases. In short, it was a fucking nightmare. And the kid wanted to go in by himself for the next few days. One had to be brave, stupid or downright bat-shit insane to do this. Walker was all three in Ash's eyes.
"Coming up on the drop off point kid. Good luck kid and stay safe." Ash said.
"Luck won't get me shit, killing these fucking grubs will. Thanks for the concern though." Walker said as he threw the survival bag and the One-shot down then jumped off the ramp and rolled forward before quickly grabbing the bag and the One-shot and looking around for a building to camp in for the next few days. As he walked throughout the dark streets he couldn't help but notice the state it was in, skyscrapers were on fire, cars were overturned, power was out and left no heat, and bodies were sprawled out on the ground. This was just like his very first mission when he had to save the hospital. Only there was no saving civilians or gears, only his lonesome self and the storm that rages in his mind that prompts him to kill. If anything he should be thanking Weiss for pushing him to this point. It means he can truly let loose without anyone judging him by how brutal he's being.
"Finally able to let loose." He chuckled to himself as he eventually found an apartment building. It was two stories tall and had the entrance blocked by what seemed to be a mass of furniture in what looks like a barrier, it would have to do for now until he found a more stable place. Moving the furniture aside and his stuff inside, he placed it back and walked upstairs to find a room locked but that was solved by a quick kick to near the handle which sent it flying open. The apartment itself wasn't even that big but it wasn't too small either. Just big enough to where he could stay comfortably because he wasn't living here forever but staying here until either he or Weiss were ready to see one another, and judging by how Weiss was it was clear he wasn't ready to see her.
Enough thinking about her though, right now he needed to set traps just in case the locust discovered him. He went downstairs with his survival bag and set it down before taking out its contents. The first things were six glass bottles that were filled with fired dust, a ball of string, cigarettes, and matches. He then tied the string to either sides of the doorway and then tied knots around the bottles then hung them up before opening the cigarette package and cleaning one of them out of the tobacco, then proceeded to place a match inside the paper lining and placed the new concoction inside the rest of the match box. After he was finished with that he tied them on the string and watched as it dangled from the string strung across the entry way, relishing in the fact that it was hidden from the outside view. In all, he was proud that he managed to make a homemade bomb with a few grocery items and that it was hidden well enough.
"Now to get some shit done." He said to himself and brought the bag upstairs and pulled out his journal, writing a series of objectives for him to accomplish in the next few days. First, bring the power back online. Second, kill any locust between him and the closest radio tower. Third, send out an open channel indicating that the sector can be cleared. Finally, get back to his Gears and deal with them. The first three things were easy enough but the last one was a little bit difficult, no doubt some higher rank will try to take control of his Gears and use them as cannon fodders. They were his responsibility and he'd be damned if they died because of him and this situation. While he did feel slightly guilty about badmouthing Weiss' father someone had to do it. He was a tyrannical patriarch with no love for his family, only his company, that's not including the fact that he had forced labor on countless faunus citizens and profited off of them. But enough about that, he had objectives that needed to be done.
"Guess I better get going if I want to complete these." He muttered and equipped his weapons while heading downstairs, carefully avoiding the string near the foot of the entrance and walking out into the cold air. The streets were empty and dark as the snow seemed to be a dark color while it blew against him, it truly did seem hopeless as the sight of cars left cold, trash gathered around the streets, and bodies that littered the ground every so often. What truly made this situation worse was the fact that there didn't seem to be a soul around here, only the dead and him that remained silent as ever. He began to wander for a while as he kept a mental note where his current hideout was and kept his guard up as the sound of locust were in the distance. Eventually he found a map and finally pinpointed where he was at the moment, he was near the power plant which made his objective all the more closer. From what he was understanding the locust never destroyed the power plant but just shut it off somehow which meant he could just flip the breaker back on.
As he wandered more throughout the empty snow filled streets he finally came across the power plant and noticed it was silent. Too silent for his liking. Something was wrong, not a single locust in sight nor a soul. It made him uneasy as he walked inside the entrance of it but his uneasiness began to tenfold when he saw locust, human, and faunus bodies strung up by their feet while hanging from the ceiling and a message 'Oum has sent his devils' was written on the wall behind the bodies. As he continued to trek further into the dark power plant he began to notice that there was a massive blood trail leading further into the complex. He began to hear chanting and it began to get louder the longer he followed the trail until he reached a room that was caked in blood and organs and widened his eyes when he saw numerous individuals without shirts and had blood painted on them. A sudden thought came to his mind, a horrible one at that. These were crazies, people who had lost all sanity and found sheer enjoyment in basking themselves in blood of innocents.
This was bad, this was really bad. Not only were there crazies but they were right in front of the breaker room too, not to mention there were hostages that were terrified out of their minds, possibly due to the crazies about to torture them. If he could just get to the breaker room unnoticed then he could leave this hellhole alive and he was about to do that until he heard a cry... a toddler. Could he really be the cause of a child's death to a couple of insane fuckers? A thought like that twisted his stomach in a nasty knot and punched his heart.
"You always told me to keep the innocent safe dad. Looks like I need to man up." He whispered to himself before he started to give quiet breaths that eventually turned to grunts of preparation then finally a feral war cry as he peeked out of cover and fired into the crowd. He caught two of them by surprise and beamed in delight when the lancer rounds tore their skulls into bits before he ducked underneath a thrown butcher's knife and fired at the assailant. The others noticed him and gave crazed laughs before rushing at him with jagged weapons. One of them slashed at him but gagged when he sidestepped and sent his combat knife in their lower jaw, watching as it exited through the top of their skull. He jumped back when one with a sledgehammer swung at him and snarled as he ducked underneath a swing and drop kicked them in the chest before firing a couple rounds into their chest then eventually their skull. More started to advance on him but fell short when he started to fire into the knees and immobilizing them before finishing them off with a few rounds to the head.
"GET THE OUTSIDER!" One of them bellowed from the top balcony but found their head missing when Walker sent a sniper round whistling through the air and into their skull, making it rupture in a shower of bloody viscera. The toddler's cry rang out through the complex and prompted him to fight harder, he was sent sprawling across the ground when one of them managed to hit him in the helmet with a pipe and leaped at him. He rolled out of the way and kicked the pipe to the side before rolling backwards when it was sent to his stomach; his pistol was equipped and he fired a shot into the man's kneecap, making him howl in agony as it sent bone fragments and blood on the ground. The man screamed some more before he was silenced when Walker ran up to him and curb stomped his skull, sending even more blood on the ground.
"THAT'S FAR ENOUGH BOY!" A big crazy shouted, making Walker whirl around to see the large man carrying the infant with a knife up to its throat.
"Put the kid down!" Walker ordered while aiming his lancer at the crazy.
"I don't think so boy! You come here when we're preparing for our feast?! You done fucked up now! So I'll tell you what, I'll let this kid go if I can eat your organs and fuck your skull!" He laughed crazily. Was this man serious? Not only was he a psychotic person but he was also a cannibal also? None of this sat right with him, if anything it drove his inner demons to rip this bastard apart and tear his life away slowly.
"I'll tell you what fuck-o. You let the kid go and I won't have to proceed to gouge out your eyes and make you watch as I mutilate your corpse!" Walker shouted while gripping his lancer tightly. His anger skyrocketed when he saw the deranged man laugh some more before raising the knife and sending it plummeting down towards the infant. Time seemed to slow down for him as he raised his lancer and fired a single shot towards the man's sheen, hearing the bone snap from the bullet and watching as it exited through the back of his leg. He quickly rushed up to the screaming man and kicked him in the chest, the tiny infant was ripped from his grasp and into Walker's as he jumped back to gain distance while quickly scanning to see if the little newborn was injured. His eyes widened in absolute bloodlust when he saw a small incision near the infant's forehead and carefully set it down near the other hostages before throwing his weapons to the side and charging at the man. He was still recovering until he felt a bone crushing force slam into his chest and was carried through a door before being thrown across a desk.
"What kind of sick fuck are you!? You're willing to kill a toddler for your own sick desires?!" Walker shouted as he literally pounced on the man and sent a fist to his face. The man didn't even have to time to answer as he felt more fists impact his face and began to slowly cave it in. He began to scream in agony as Walker pressed his thumbs in his eye sockets and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground, not caring if a loud crack was heard. Walker then proceeded to grab his arm and slowly rip it off, eventually the arm was torn from its socket and he began to savagely beat the insane person to death with his own arm, not caring if the man's skull was already beginning to cave in. After a while all he was beating was the mushy pile of brain matter and skull fragments with the mutilated arm before he calmed down. His breathing was heavy as he just stared at the mutilated corpse then at his bloody hands before backing up and leaning against the wall, eventually sliding down it and slapping his head against it. Already seven months into the war and people were beginning to lose their fucking minds, not even Sera dipped down this far. His vision flickered and he saw Skorge's mutilated body in place of the psychotic man's instead.
"Heh...hehehe...ahahahahahahaha!" He began to laugh loudly while curling up in a ball. This was supposed to be a simple objective yet it turned into a fucking nightmare in half an hour, it couldn't be anymore humorous! But... something snapped him out of his laughing fit. It was the cry of that toddler again but it was also the muffled struggling of the hostages. He walked out of the office to see the infant swaddled up in the tiny bundle while one hostage was struggling to get to it, by the looks of it she was trying her damnedest to get free. She stopped when Walker stood in front of her and stared at her while she just did the same but clenched her eyes shut when he brought out his combat knife. As she waited for her death to come right now she couldn't help but feel nothing, eventually opening her eyes to see her hands cut free and turned to see Walker cut the rope from the other hostages and backing up. He watched as she wasted no time to snatch up the tiny child to calm it down by her cooing. The others warily looked at Walker as he stood a ways away.
"Who are you?" One of them asked.
"Someone just passing by." He replied.
"Why did you save us?" Another asked.
"Figured I'd do some good, plus I couldn't let you all be killed by these crazy fucks." He said. They seemed relieved that he wasn't another crazy trying to kill them.
"Well thank you. I thought that they were going to die." The woman with the infant breathed.
"Yeah. Do you all have a safe place you can relocate to?" He asked.
"Not anymore. It was raided by those fucking crazies before we were kidnapped... I can't believe I worked with them." A man muttered.
"So they worked here?" Walker asked.
"Yeah, good men too." The man muttered.
"Do you happen to know how to get this station back online?" Walker asked.
"Yeah, I just need a minute to get everything back online. They shut it down the moment those things popped up, figuring that if we shut this down then they wouldn't be able to see us." The man replied.
"Good, do it then. Is there any radio stations around here that I can use to send a broadcast?" Walker asked.
"No but if I get the power back online then we can send one from here. It should be able to reach the General." The man said.
"Do it." Walker said and the man nodded before heading around a corner and the sound of systems being rebooted was evident. The woman with the kid walked up to him.
"Why did you really save us?" She asked.
"Like I said before, I was just passing by to turn on the power." He replied.
"No one just passes by and decides to save us. By the looks of it, you're in the military." She said.
"Or a forgotten one." He muttered quietly before turning away from her then glancing back. "You should get some rest, I'll keep watch." He added while stepping out of the room and looking at his scroll. He saw that there were messages before he left from everyone, asking where he was and what he meant by leaving for a few days. As his fingers trailed over the touch pad a thought came to mind, he didn't have any service which meant he was left in the dark for now but not for long as the sound of everything up and running. Once the four bars near the top of the screen came up, he was literally flooded with messages. About seventy to be exact, which in turn made him sweat drop.
"Hey uh... kid?" A hostage asked.
"Yeah?" Walker asked back.
"Do you have any service in here? We want to get out of this hellhole." The hostage said tiredly. He looked and saw that there were four of them that looked absolutely haunted by the current events, one of them even looked close to ending it right here.
"Yeah, just let me contact the General." Walker said and looked at each one as they nodded. He turned around and clicked the side of his helmet. "General, this is Walker. I've managed to get some power restored in this district of the dark zone with the help of a few hostages." He informed.
"You do realize you've gone AWOL right lieutenant?" Ironwood asked.
"You gonna court martial me?" Walker asked back.
"By law I should. But you've managed to do something that we haven't been able to do in the past few months, and that's restore power in that district." Ironwood sighed.
"There's civilians also... they need psychiatric evaluation asap though." Walker said as he glanced back at the four.
"Understood, but Walker. You need to understand something. What you did goes against what you had promised us, you claimed that you wouldn't act against orders yet here you go on a suicidal mission all because of an argument." Ironwood said.
"You know more than anybody else that my parents are off limits. Yet Schnee used my dad as a tool against me." Walker said lowly.
"I would prefer you use her first name Walker." Ironwood said.
"She lost my respect for me to use her first name the moment she brought my dad into this. She wants to gain it back then she'll have to work for it." Walker said. He didn't hear anything for a minute before Ironwood sighed deeply and finally spoke.
"And she will Walker. But she regrets it more than anything." He said.
"..." Walker was silent for a while before he finally spoke, but in a cold calculating voice that sounded hollow. "What's the earliest you can get a evac bullhead here?" He asked.
"Two days near the entrance, four if the locust attack our transport. In the meantime see if you can dig anything else up in that district. There's no telling what went down when the zone fell." Ironwood said.
"Understood, see you in two days General." Walker said and cut the feed before Ironwood could reply. He turned back to the hostages and saw them looking at him.
"Can we finally leave?" A girl asked.
"Yeah, in two days if we're lucky. Four if there's a hindrance." He replied, checking the time to see it was getting late. "Alright we need to move. Stick close, don't fall behind, and whatever you do... do not make a sound." He warned them. They all nodded and followed him outside and into the cold ominous streets of the once great kingdom.
They had finally arrived at the safe house with some difficulty. Apparently one of them kicked a can in front of a locust patrol and forced him to fight them but a bullet grazed near his collar and tore off a small piece of flesh, it wasn't fatal but it needed to be treated to asap. As the hostages spread out around the apartment, he went into the bathroom with his bag and brought out the first aid kit. His chest armor was thrown to the side with a loud thunk and he took off his shirt then stared in the mirror. God his body was fucked. Bullet, stab, slash, burns, and bite wounds littered it. Making him look like a walking scarred mosaic.
He looked in the mirror as he cleaned both wounds, one of the crazies got lucky and stabbed him in the forearm but it didn't start hurting until his adrenaline started to fade away, after that it was almost unbearable. The grazed wound didn't take too long to tend to but his forearm? It needed stitching. Something he dreaded the most when he was getting fixed for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Alright Walker, nothing too bad. Just sticking some suture thread in your skin as if you were a loose button." He said to himself, biting his lip in pain as he began. This hadn't been done in a long time and he didn't have any anesthetics, so it was fucking horrible, every second of it. It took him seven minutes overall to complete it and he damn near shouted profanities when he could feel the stitches tug. The thing that made it worse was when he poured alcohol on it, just to be safe because you never know. He walked out of the bathroom and into the living room to see three of the civilians asleep while the mother was the only one awake, feeding her child. She noticed him after a while as he sat down in a nearby chair and leaned it back while muttering profanities.
"Thank you." She said after a few minutes of silence.
"Don't sweat it. It's my job as a Gear to do this kind of stuff." He said tiredly.
"So you're one those elites?" She asked.
"Elites?" He asked, not even bothering to look at her due to his fatigue.
"Yeah, when Atlas got word of your deed with the councilman's son they looked further into your program in Vale. So I was wondering if you were one of them." She said.
"Sure... you know who I am?" He asked.
"Walker Ronin, winner of the Vytal festival Grimm challenge." She said.
"Yep." He slurred.
"So are you one of the them?" She asked. It was silent for a minute until she looked and noticed him asleep in the chair, fighting for the past few hours really must have taken a toll on him. It wasn't the fighting that tired him out but the mental strain that had occurred in the past day, with Weiss and her disrespectful comment to the psychotic survivors that almost ate a couple of civilians, it was too much. Though he could handle it. He's handled worse... like Skorge.
.
.
.
Morning came and he woke up slowly to hear the sound of sizzling nearby, looking around to see the civilians near the kitchen eating some food. It took a minute for them to notice him but when they did they were surprised to see him up.
"Oh, you're up. You want some food?" One of them asked.
"I'm fine." He waved and walked near the bedroom to grab his bag, opening it and taking out a MRE. Silence basked over him as he clicked the side of his helmet and let out the compressed air before tilting his helmet up and eating silently, feeling the food fill his stomach and give him the necessary nutrients he needed. Honestly it didn't taste too bad in his opinion, but to others it was horrible. They just didn't know what it was truly like to go a few days without something to eat and will know soon enough, all it took was time. After eating for a few more minutes in silence he sighed and pushed his helmet back down before cleaning up and walking out of the room. The civilians greeted him with a wave while he just nodded and grabbed his weapons before walking to the door.
"What are you doing?" A girl asked.
"Going out to see if I can get some more info on what happened here. Stay here, lock the door, and keep quiet. I'll be back in a few hours." He said in a robotic tone.
"Wait! Let me come with you." She said.
"No. I'm not risking a civilian's life because she wants to tag along like a sidekick. This isn't a game nor a field trip, this is a combat zone and we're smack dead in the middle of it. Don't try and be a hero because there are none in wars." He countered and left without another word, leaving her gobsmacked before sighing and sitting down.
"I was just trying to help." She muttered.
"Don't blame him. He's just doing what it takes to keep us safe, if anything I'm glad he did tell you to stay." The man said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because it means he's a good soldier and is doing his job right." He said.
"But what about him? It's clear he doesn't need to go out there." She said.
"He has orders from the General. I heard the last bit of their conversation, so he really doesn't have a choice." He said.
"...I guess you're right." She sighed quietly and sat on the couch next to the mother, awaiting for Walker's return but they didn't hear the heavy breathing outside.
Walker roamed the streets in pure silence while blood caked the bottom of his boots and left a bloody trail in the snow. This was his fourth firefight of the day and it was only one in the afternoon, which meant he had three hours left until the evacuation bullhead arrived. Already he felt like shit after leaving the warm confines of the safe house. He had been investigating for the past few hours and discovered that the power in one district wasn't going to be up for a while due to it being infested with serapedes that decided to make their home there. Now he may be slightly insane, sometimes stupid, and incredibly brave but he knew when some things were better not dealt with alone, and a nest full of those huge centipedes was one such occasion.
There were a lot of things he wasn't afraid of, most of the things on Sera, but if there was one thing he hated and refused to go near were those creatures. Not only were they fifteen feet long but they could spit acid, had a nearly indestructible carapace, and discharged electricity from their pincers. Fuck that.
"I should head back to the safe house." He said and began to trek back, 'accidentally' stepping on a Drone's body and continued to walk. There were a lot less locust than what he had imagined to be honest, they must not think that this part of the city was important which worked out in his favor. He shook his head from those thoughts when a sense of dread washed over him which made him pick up the pace, then start to jog, before he began to quickly run as fast as his legs could carry him.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He shouted as he continued to run and skidded around the corner where the safe house was. Only to widen his eyes in horror when he saw the complex on fire and the sound of locust giving terrible roars as they retreated from the area. Flames licked the edges of the windows as the screams of the civilians were heard. He shouted in desperation as he entered the building and avoided the flames while rushing upstairs and kicked the door open. A part of the ceiling crashed down in front of him and made him back up. Looking around to see the flames devour everything, he saw in the corner of the room near the kitchen the mother and her toddler. She caught sight of Walker and gave him a panicked look as he looked around to find a way to get to her. Both were losing time and the child was beginning to cough from the smoke while the ceiling began to crack as the flames chewed away the material. He saw her look at him then at her child before giving the saddest smile he's ever seen before she threw her toddler towards him. He caught the toddler safely and tried to reach out to her but watched as the ceiling caved in and fell on her, burying her in a fiery grave.
"F-fuck." He muttered and quickly rushed out of the building before seeing it collapse from the flames. As he stood in the cold street while holding the soot covered toddler, he felt like shit. Not the I feel like shit for now but the kind that haunts you for the rest of your life. Because of him, three innocent people were killed, because of him a toddler would never grow up an orphan. All because he hadn't made sure the area was safe before leaving; HOW STUPID WAS HE TO LEAVE CIVILIANS IN A COMBAT ZONE WITH NO PROTECTION?!
"Pretty fucking stupid." He cursed to himself while holding the kid tight. The poor child was quivering while staring ahead blankly as his portholes reflected the burning inferno in front of them. Both stayed there for a couple of hours just staring at the cinders of the once blazing fire before Walker heard static and Ash's voice come up on the radio.
"Kid, we're here to pick you up. Your Gears are here and they don't seem very happy." He commented.
"...Be there in a minute." Walker replied quietly and began to slowly walk towards the place the bullhead was at. After a few minutes of walking in the cold he finally saw the ramp open and the Gears spread out in defensive positions, shooting him an agitated glance before entering it when he did. As he sat down in the corner and set the child down next to him, he set his lancer in a standing position and had his hands wrapped around the barrel while his forehead rested against it. He could just feel everyone's eyes on him but at the moment he couldn't care in the slightest nor did he want to look up.
"Walker, that wasn't cool. At all." Sun commented.
"..." He didn't reply and continued to have his head against the barrel.
"I have to agree with Sun on this one Walker. What you did made us think differently about you." Octavia said from the corner. They were met with silence and looked over to still see him in the same position, he wasn't sleeping since his porthole lights were still on but were extremely dim. One voice however struck a nerve in him.
"Walker... you shouldn't have gone alone in the first place. What were you thinking?" Blake asked while staring at him.
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" He asked stoically, surprising them.
"Yeah." Jaune said.
"I'm thinking that this world is fucked. That, what the hell is the point of fighting when we're just going to kill each other when times are at their worst." He answered.
"What do you mean? Things couldn't have been that bad in there-" Jaune started.
"Have any of you actually seen in there?" Walker interrupted before standing up. Watching as they shook their heads, which made him give a haunting laugh. It started out as a little mirthless laugh before it eventually turned to a full blown psychotic one which made them scoot back and widened their eyes when his porthole lights turned yellow.
"W-Walker?" Ruby asked.
"Let me fucking enlighten you then! It's horrific! My first few hours were immediately swarmed with enough blood to make the Grimm shit themselves! I went to go turn on the power and came across a bunch of psychos about to cannibalize some civilians! They were fucking killing people and eating their bodies! I smashed a man's skull in after he threatened this kid's life with a butcher's knife. Those civilians that helped me burned to death and I had the 'pleasure' of listening to them scream in agony. How many people died on your watch?!" He shouted at them and watched as they recoiled at the news. All of them noticed that the toddler was quivering in fear behind him and tried to stop him but he continued.
"Walker, you need to stop-" Sun tried.
"Shut it Wukong! I'm not finished! Here you all scold me for going in alone in there, yet I don't see any of you risking your lives to do anything for this war! All you've ever done is take orders from me and commanding officers at different bases, do any of you realize how much fucking stress that puts on me when I constantly have to think of a plan to execute without any help?!" He asked them and growled loudly when none of them answered. "FUCKING ANSWER ME!" He roared.
"You're scaring the kid!" Yang shouted as her eyes glowed red. He whirled around and saw the toddler quivering in fear while staring at him. It was silent for a while before his porthole lights turned blue, then eventually dimmed, before they shut off and his body slumped down like a puppet who had its strings cut then fell to the side. All of them looked at him then at each other before basking themselves in absolute silence as they waited for the ride to end, only Ruby was brave enough to sit next to the toddler and calm them down while keeping a wary eye on Walker's still form.
Ironwood sighed as he looked at Walker's sitting form in the dark room, it hadn't moved from his position for the last few hours. It had been four days since he was in the Dark zone and it was clear he was stressed beyond he let on because this was the first time he's let his anger out on his own soldiers. They had told him that his porthole lights were yellow and before that he started laughing in a way that made them wary. When he reported it to Ozpin and Glynda they decided that coming to Atlas was a good idea but how wrong were they when Walker shut them out. And so here they all stand, looking in the dark room at Walker's still form.
"He needs a break." She said.
"I tried to get him to take one and said that his Gears could handle themselves but he said without him they have no path paved for them." Ironwood said.
"What was he doing beforehand?" Ozpin asked.
"He and Weiss had gotten in an argument and she made a comment about his father then he decided to go into the Dark Zone alone." Ironwood informed, leaning forward when Walker removed his helmet but still had his back facing them.
"What exactly is the Dark Zone?" Glynda asked.
"A major part of the city we lost in the first few weeks of the war. Locust patrol every street, criminals run rampant, and we barely have enough manpower to take back that sector. That doesn't include the fact that the power is out which means communication is down. It's a no man's land out there and I fear that it's only going to get worse if we don't do something." He sighed. Both looked at him then heard a noise to see Walker stand up and suddenly punch the wall repeatedly, making them rush in.
"Walker stop!" Glynda shouted and tried to hold his arm. Ozpin joined in and held his arm but it seemed Walker was in a seemingly berserk mode and kept hitting the wall until the wall started to cave and his knuckle started to make a cracking noise. After a minute of struggling he calmed down and slowly sat down on the chair while looking down on the ground.
"Walker." She said. "Walker, Walker look at me." She said. It took a minute but he finally looked at her then looked down again.
"What were you thinking going in there alone?" She asked.
"I was thinking that the situation was better than what is was but clearly I was wrong. Being in there made me lose a lot of faith in humanity. Both man and Faunus kind." He answered after a minute of silence..
"What do you mean?" Ozpin asked.
"I mean that we're doomed. If it's barely a year into the war and people are already killing each other then who's to say that it won't get worse later?" Walker asked.
"To be fair, you were in a dangerous zone alone for two days. Didn't James inform you about it?" Ozpin asked.
"Yeah, he did. But he never told me that it was that bad. And if it's that bad why aren't we putting more manpower in there than out here where we know it's under control." Walker asked.
"Then the locust would see this as an opportunity to attack and we'd lose more soldiers in there." Ozpin replied.
"That's bullshit." Walker commented.
"Language." Glynda sighed.
"No! I'm not going to watch my fucking language! For the past two fucking days I've failed four innocent people and killed god knows how many psychos, yet everyone here is scolding me for trying to do something for the war!" He shouted and flung the chair across the room. Glynda was about to retort but Ozpin held his hand out as they watched Walker continue to let out his anger. It was clear he was bottling up his emotions for some time now since he's never been this vocal about this.
"When was the last time you've talked to somebody?" She asked.
"Hell if I know. Doesn't matter anyways." He huffed and roughly set the chair back down on the ground and sat on it.
"It does matter because it's clear you're suffering." She said.
"Like I said before. It doesn't matter... I'm either going to be insane or dead by the end of the war anyways." He muttered and walked out the door, ignoring Ironwood and walking towards his room. More of the academy students stared at him but could feel his killer intent roll off his shoulders and paved a path for him. Once he was in his hallway and near his door he saw the girls standing there.
"Walker we need to talk-" Ruby started but yelped when he pushed her out of the way and entered his room, slamming the door with enough force to sent a few splinters flying. They blinked in surprise and stood there for a minute until they heard Jaune and them approach them with SSSN behind.
"Have you guys seen Walker? We wanted to ask him about that final raid on the Theron." Jaune said.
"He's in his room. I would advise against going in there right now." Blake said as she could faintly hear him cursing.
"Why?" Nora asked.
"He's... not in the best of moods right now." She replied.
"I'm sure he's fine." Nora waved. They sweat dropped at her nonchalant attitude before jumping when the sound of crashing and items being broken was evident from the room, there were also loud profanities being thrown loudly that made them cringe. The door was opened when Yang kicked it open and when she did that she immediately regretted it. His room was an absolute mess; furniture flipped over, the light was in pieces on the ground, and he was sitting on the ground holding his bloody arm.
"Are you okay?" She asked.
"What do you care?" He asked back harshly, making her flinch.
"We heard shouting and stuff being thrown and came in." She replied.
"More like you burst in. But who cares? More shit to wreck." He chuckled mirthlessly. They all stepped back at his attitude and noticed something wrong.
"You're bleeding." Sun said.
"Holy shit Sun, you get a reward for pointing out the fucking obvious." Walker said sarcastically and stood up to get the first aid out of the bathroom before going back to the spot he was sitting at and began to sew it up. "What do you all want?" He asked suddenly, making them all throw a glance at each other before looking at him.
"We wanted to ask what's our play on the raid of that Theron." Jaune said.
"You all not going to throw those fucking whispers behind my back?" Walker asked.
"We don't know what you're talking about-" Sage started.
"Don't fucking bullshit me. I know for a fact that every single one of you have said something about me going in the Dark Zone." Walker said evenly, pulling at the needle and making his skin stretch grotesquely.
"Walker, we haven't said a thing." Blake said. She flinched when he looked at her then pulled out his scroll.
"What the hell is up with Walker?" Sun's voice rang out.
"I don't know man, but whatever it is I think we should leave him alone." Jaune's voice rang out.
"Leave him alone? Screw that, ever since he went in the Dark Zone he's been nothing but an asshole to us all. I mean he traumatized a little kid for Oum's sake." Neptune's voice said.
"But we don't know and he won't tell us so we should just leave it." Weiss' voice said surprisingly.
"Really Weiss? You're going to ignore the fact that he went alone in that place and didn't contact us? I don't know about you but he's acting like an asshole because of it not to mention-" Yang's voice was cut off when Walker shut the scroll recording off and set it down.
"There's plenty more where that came from." He said, looking at them.
"We're worried about you." Ruby said.
"..." He didn't say anything at first but then later replied. "Don't be. Because after the war, I'm either going to be in a psychiatric hospital or in the fucking dirt." He chuckled.
"Why would you say that?" Blake asked with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Because Blake, I'm fucked up and I'm tired. I've dealt with enough pain in my life to put a grown man down and I'm tired of it. Tired of the fighting, the killing, hell I'm even tired of losing people I've cared about because the universe decides that my life is a fucking toy to be played with." He said.
"We can help." She said.
"I highly doubt that... since you all wanted to know about the plan then I'll tell you. We're going to kill every single locust then finally kill it but I want to be the one to do it. The fucker is mine." He said.
"You're claiming kills now?" Scarlet asked.
"That going to be a problem?" He asked before suddenly cracking his neck loudly. Every one of them jumped at the sudden sound and shuddered when he continued to slowly crack it while tilting his head as he stared at them.
"N-nope." Scarlet stuttered.
"Good, now get out." He ordered and they left without hesitation except Blake. He sighed in annoyance as she stood there with narrowed eyes while tapping her foot.
"Why are you still here?" He asked.
"Why are you pushing us away? And don't tell me because you're preparing us." She said.
"It doesn't-" He started.
"Shut up. Stop saying it doesn't matter because it does Walker, why is it that everyone else can see that you're suffering but you?" She asked.
"Maybe because you all are always prying into my business and never leave me alone." He answered.
"Or it's because you can't stand the fact that you failed." She said making him stand up and glare at her.
"You're treading on some mighty thin ice Blake." He said lowly.
"Why, because I'm telling the truth? Weiss was right when she said she doesn't want to take advice from someone who can't get over his father's death." She said. The air around them went silent as she stared at him with an even expression while his face contorted into rage behind his helmet.
"Why is it that you two feel the need to bring him into this? Does it bring you satisfaction to use him as a weapon against me?" He practically snarled.
"No, we're doing it to bring you out of your stupid phase of 'I don't need help from anyone'. Throughout this entire time we've been here in Atlas, you've done nothing but shut us out and go off alone. When was the last time you've gone on a mission with us other than hunting the targeted locust?" She asked.
"I don't need to answer you." He huffed and turned away from her, flipping his mattress on the ground and lying down on it.
"I'm not leaving until you do." She said.
"Then I guess you'll be here all night." He said and set his head down. He felt the mattress bounce a bit and Blake's form lie next to him and turned to see her staring at the ceiling. A few minutes went past until he finally answered her question.
"Never and the reason why I go alone is so I can die with nobody to mourn for me." He answered.
"That's a stupid answer." She said.
"You wanted an answer, so there you go." He said.
"There's more." She said.
"What makes you say that?" He asked.
"You're twisting your thumb around your COG tag." She observed.
"Don't-" He started.
"You say don't worry about it one more time and I'll castrate you." She threatened.
"..." He went silent for a while before he answered. "I'm alone Blake." He said.
"You're not alone." She said.
"Yes I am. What do you, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and the others have to go back to after the war?" He asked.
"Our families." She answered after a thought.
"What do I have?" He asked. Then it dawned on her; his anger, his depression, his dwindling sanity, his constant need to push everybody away, it all made sense now. He had no one to go back to, not a single familiar face from Sera to welcome him back from open arms or even tell him thank you for your service. Throughout this entire time they've known him he's been the first person on Remnant from another planet but no way to get back, probably being forgotten as of now. He was merely a whisper that had disappeared in the wind.
"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" She asked.
"Because I don't like talking about it. I put myself in dangerous situations because it helps me cope, to focus on something else other than my mental pain. I'm alone and I have no one from Sera that I can relate to. Nash is gone, Fred and Kelly probably forgot about me by now, Amelia is with that fucking tool, and my family is either dead or missing. No one on Remnant had gone through what Sera had, you all went through a Great war and got over it and had eighty years of peace. Sera had went through almost a century of fighting each other and had five weeks of peace before being thrown into another war. Point is Blake, we're tired of fighting and me specifically." He said quietly.
"You have us." She said.
"You all will forget about me when I'm dead and gone. You'll find a man and have a few kids, as will the others, while me? I'm going to be in a straight jacket or in a grave somewhere." He sighed, frowning when he felt her slap him and force him to look at her. Her eyes were narrowed with agitation but showed signs of concern.
"Why do you think so low of yourself? You're more than that, we all look up to you Walker." She said. He looked at her unconvinced and sighed before looking around. He was too tired to deal with this at the moment, and sick of it.
"My room is a mess." He sighed.
"And you have only yourself to blame." She said.
"Right... reminds me of when Ajay would throw his toys around." He commented.
"How old was he when he did these types of things?" She asked.
"Two, a few months before Jacinto fell." He said.
"Jacinto?" She asked.
"My home." He replied.
"I thought your home was on the ship?" She asked.
"For the last two years it was. Jacinto fell because we had to sink it, I lost everything there. My home, my friends, even my damn cat." He said.
"You had a cat?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes I had a cat. There a problem?" He asked.
"No, no problem... just didn't see you as a cat person." She murmured.
"Yeah I am. If I wasn't then I wouldn't like your sexy ass." He jabbed while scratching behind her ear.
"S-shut... shut... shu..." She started to drawl before becoming a purring ball of fur the longer he scratched.
"You like this?" He asked quietly.
"Mhmm." She hummed and pushed her head into his hand, while he just looked at her amused.
"What if I stop?" He asked and retracted his hand, making her whine in protest.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because I wanted to." He said. She narrowed her eyes and climbed on top of him and straddled him while he just stared dumbly at her boldness.
"Keep going. Now." She said.
"And if I don't?" He asked cheekily.
"Then I'll get Nora in here to break your legs." She said.
"If Nora enjoys always being next to Ren then she won't." He replied.
"...Fine." She huffed and climbed off of him. "But I'm sleeping in here tonight." She claimed.
"As are we." Ruby said as the others walked in the room and closed the door. She was the first one to climb on the bed, then Yang, and finally Weiss but she hesitated to do so. All he could do was sigh in exasperation as they clung onto him tightly, Blake and Ruby seemed to do this the tightest. It was silent for a while before Weiss finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"I'll accept your apology but don't think this puts you on my good side anytime soon Weiss. That goes for the rest of you." He said.
"Why us?" Ruby asked.
"Every single one of you talked about my dad yet you knew that he was off limits." He replied, making them shrink.
"What were we supposed to do to get you out of your funk?" Yang asked.
"Anything but using my family. They are people yet here you all use them as if they were a tool. Never once had I talked shit about them and I've treated them with upmost respect, except Jacques. But you all, talked, spat, and even shit on my family's name as if we were lower than you. " He said evenly, making them shrink even more. If he was making them feel guilty then he was doing a damn good job at it. It began to get to the point where the guilt actually began to weigh them down and lower their heads in shame. They went quiet as time passed and just sat in the dark room with their breaths as the only noise.
"So... are the others in trouble too?" Ruby asked.
"Considering I heard all of you talk about them, yes. Every single one of you is getting smoked until your bodies are jelly." He said and smirked when they audibly gulped in unison.
"H-how long is that?" Weiss asked.
"Three hours, four if you decide to comment." He said. None of them commented on it due to them knowing he was serious and just nodded before falling asleep while he remained awake. As he was about to fall asleep he received a message from Neo, making him scowl.
"You up?" She asked.
"I am now thanks you to." He typed.
"Good, Roman and I have gotten those weapons you asked for." She said.
"Why couldn't he have told me himself?" He asked.
"He's been busy trying to drown himself in alcohol." She typed.
"Why are you texting me?" He asked, straight to the point.
"Because you're interesting ;)" She replied.
"Cool, now can you fuck off now?" He asked.
"Will you promise to meet me face to face?" She asked.
"There's no point in talking to you since you can't talk, so no. Now leave me the fuck alone before I found out where you are and rip out your eyes." He replied.
"I knew there was a reason I liked you. You're feisty, psychotic, and take shit from no one. I like a man who takes charge." She said.
"My psychosis is not something to be attracted to Neo. Now could you finally fuck off?" He asked.
"Give me one reason and I'll do it. Or don't we can just talk dirty to each other all night if you're up to the challenge." She challenged.
"I recently got back from the Dark Zone after killing grubs, psychos, getting innocent people killed, and to top it all off I probably traumatized a toddler because I can't control my fucking sanity. You happy Neo? Are you legitimately fucking happy?!" He asked heatedly. The scroll went still for a few minutes before he growled when he got another message, not expecting the response.
"I'm uh... I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, I didn't know you went there. I was teasing earlier, not about finding you interesting because I do, but about the talking dirty. So uh, sorry." She typed.
"...What time am I going to pick up the weapons tomorrow?" He asked.
"Don't worry about it, we'll deliver them. So uh... goodnight and bye." She said. He didn't bother replying back and threw his scroll on the messy ground, this week had been nothing but a cluster fuck; his Gears disrespecting him, People on Remnant were already killing each other, and to top it all off the war was just beginning. Times like these called for a drink, a strong one at that.
"You can't save them all kid. We're humans like everyone else, you're going to fail once in a while." He repeated what Nash told him before falling into a nightmare filled dream of his past deeds.
Hey everybody, been a minute huh? So here's another chapter that should suffice you all for a while so I can focus on my other stories and school. If you're wondering 'Where the fuck are the other stories Abyss?!' then chill because they should be up by Wednesday or Thursday, Saturday at latest. So fret not. But all in all, this has to be the darkest chapter I've written so far and I feel sort of proud I can steep this low but at the same time not. I've noticed a trend throughout the chapters that Walker's been able to save everyone and that's fine, cool and dandy but... I don't want him to seem like a superhero that can save everyone whenever he's around. He's going to fail every once in a while, because after all he's only human and it's common for us to make mistakes. If you're wondering about Gear deaths then don't bother asking because I have a special surprise in store for you guys next chapter, so without further adieu, let's roll on with the reviews.
Ronmr: Not yet but he's going to. Thanks for the review.
jkdelta38: Maybe they will, maybe they won't, you'll just have to wait until next chapter but thanks for the review.
Eher: Thank you.
Guest: Believe me, I will and thanks for reviewing.
Guest: Sorry but I already have a story requested from someone, so my hands are full. Plus I already have a story where Jaune goes missing then comes back but thanks for the review anyways.
Now that that shit is done and over with. I cannot stress this enough, if you guys are going to shit on my dick about something then please politely leave because I already have enough shit going wrong in my life and I don't need people bitching about my story. So please be respectful and have a goodnight everyone, take it easy.