Desertion Part Two: A Ghost's Beginning

by DatRtfantho

The Sequel to RWBY: Desertion. After their most recent battle, Gage Sim and Yang Xiao Long are left scarred. Gage physically, and Yang mentally, all while Blake Belladonna continues to hold her secret from them, however, the coming months ahead of them will test Gage and Team RWBY's strengths... as it seems like everything they've fought for will soon come crashing down around them

37. The Branwen Effect

Author's Note: Alright, I did it! The first chapter of the Two-Shot, is finally completed! So please, to all of you, if you truly love this story and want to know more about Gage's family, and a little bit more about his origins… then go read the first chapter of, Búcsú Testvér: Another Desertion Story, created by yours truly.

Also as a sort of… side note, we are three chapters away from hitting our 100TH CHAPTER IN THE SERIES. See, that's how much of a life I don't have! ONE-FUCKING-HUNDRED. So yeah, know that this thing up here ^^^ This is your reward in advance!

And hey, if you're still reading this, then you're also welcome for the double-chapter upload! ...Even though the second is for this specific fic XD, but besides that, back to Part Two! Got some dark stuff in this one btw, so… yeah.

Author's Fun Fact #7: Gage's name was inspired by a man with the same first name who appeared in the Halo book, Halo Evolutions. He was an ODST by the name of Sergeant Gage Yevgenny, and he died after telling his life story to The Rookie, who later went on to be the main protagonist In Halo 3: ODST.

Song: Losing Your Memory by Ryan Star

…

The Next Morning…

…

After telling his whole shattered love story to his new 'friends', Gage of course got some well needed rest not that long after he finished, and he could have honestly slept for the whole day… if Orin didn't already have a plan to get rid of him.

Now, the ghost was lying halfway in the fetal position on the same sleeping bag that he was sitting on the previous night, while everyone else that was there was already awake and ready. And, that time eventually came, as the Skinwalkers soon made their way into the second camp, with Gage's own gear being in their possession… though, they weren't planning on returning it to him, not yet…

"*snore*"

"Damn… out like a light, I presume?" Orin asked Alizarin, who was just next to Gage, and getting his stuff together as he glared up at the old man, and nearly growled his reply. "Yeah, no thanks your tormententin'. I was surprised the kid didn't have any nightmares… yet."

The man in chains chuckled at that, and promptly used his right foot to nudge at the ghost's back, "He's not a kid. Not after all that shit we saw him do yesterday…" And he managed to make him stir a bit in his sleep because of it.

"Orin, Trust me… he's still a kid under all that."

The whistler exhaled silently as he could hear his tone, thinking it sounded 'matter of fact'-ly, and just retaliated in his own sick sense. "Hmm… well, I guess you'd know more than me about that type of thing, now wouldn't you?" He asked, as he began to chuckle, but soon stopped and turned so he could look his subordinate straight in the eye,

"...Hehe. Or you did rather, 'least till i came along and fucked that u-"

However… what he implied was beyond a low blow for Alizarin. And yeah, maybe Orin was in control of everything he once took care of, including the old sheriff himself in a sense… but that wasn't enough to make Al sit back and let this monster speak about this.

...Not about Hannah.

Then out of absolutely nowhere, a dark shade seemed to cover his garnet eyes as he scowled with rage, made a fist, and decked Orin right across the cheek, making him cough and almost fall onto his side, if he wasn't able to stop himself.

That loud smack was enough to cause Gage to wake up, and turn his head back and look at Orin with his half closed red eyes in bewilderment, "...What the fuck?"

Owen and Greed instantly pulled their weapons on the old gunslinger, who just stared down at his leader, with his hand now also resting on his own holstered weapon.

Alizarin started to breath harder as he saw Ileana and Riley come out of the woods and stop right next to Gage… and once he saw all three of them, he began to sweat… and remember his past.

He was remembering his last moments… with his Hannah.

…

Five Years Ago…

…

"...Daddy..."

A whisper… it was all he heard before the one he was holding against his chest went silent, and it drove him mad within seconds. He knew her for being the opposite, so… he didn't think after her passing.

Alizarin embraced them, and they did the same to him before they fell limp, and their head just laid gently against his shoulder, while he held and hugged them like he always did. But… this instance, would be the last time.

"Hannah, come on baby, don't do this to me!"

"Come back to me… *sniffle* ...I can't lose both of you, please!"

He was in the middle of the same forest he would be in five years later as he recounted this moment in his life. The moment… he truly lost everything. The clearing he was in had smoke coming from it, with fallen trees surrounding him… and two people, that now ceased to be of this world. They… left him, but it wasn't their choice to.

One laid on the ground in front of the sheriff, with an open and bloody slash that went across his chest, while what looked like shrapnel had pierced his neck and stomach.

This person was a man, looking to be around the same age as Alizarin, and he wore torn grey jeans with a pistol holster attached to it, a blackened, dirty, and bloody white shirt that had a combat knife sheath on it, black fingerless gloves… with a few of the fingers blown off, and a light grey shemagh around his neck, that was also bloodstained.

He was barely in his mid-thirties, had light and pale skin with short light grey hair that looked akin to a crew cut, and yellow eyes that were now darkened, and staring ahead of whatever was in front of him. This man… was dead. His name was Aaron, and he was the father of the little girl that Alizarin was holding in his arms, and crying for. He… was also her father too.

"Don't do this to me, *gasp* ...Please, baby. Not like this! *sniffle* ...Not like…"

This girl, was Hannah. She was thirteen until her parents made the desperate idea of trying to escape from Keji, their village… that was taken over by Orin Sable, and the Skinwalkers. They didn't make it far though, only a few miles until the three got separated in a fight, and that… was when they found the girl and Aaron, and caused this tragedy.

Now, Al clutched his little girl, and rocked back and forth steadily as he was trying to wake up from this nightmare… but nothing happened. It continued, and played on while she passed, without him. It was every father's worst nightmare… and it wouldn't end. It never would for him… and it still wouldn't.

He choked and sobbed for a little while longer while he held onto his faded sunshine, and begged god and beyond for something to change, something to get him out of this. He never got an answer. The only person he got one from, was the one that caused all of this.

Orin. The head skinwalker, along with six of his other followers just lined up behind him, and stopped as the old man held his bat low, and looked back at everyone of his own with dissatisfaction.

This was because he specifically said not to hurt the girl, to show that they weren't monsters… but, obviously, they didn't listen… and monsters they became. "*sigh* ...Fuck it." Orin sighed.

He stood there for a while as Alizarin finally came to the realization… that his baby girl was actually gone. And Orin didn't want to be disrespectful. This was in the past though, and things would change later over time.

The sheriff continued to choke out every silent cry as he finally laid his daughter next to his partner… lying her head on her side so her blonde hair would slip in between in the blades of grass that were under her.

And when he saw that she looked to be at peace, with her blue eyes being closed, he crawled over to Aaron, and just shut his own eyes for him. That… was when his audible sniveling ceased, and everything else became silent as he sat there on his eyes and looked down at his family for the last time.

Orin did the same for a little bit, with a more serious look that was in between mad and sad, yet that went away as he finally walked over and behind the gunslinger, and put both of his hands on the bottom of his bat's grip, and pressed the top of it's blunt area into the dirt below him.

"I didn't want her to be gone like this… i told them not to, but they went ahead and did it anyway. If anything, i would rather have things the other way around, with… just you in the ground."

"...That makes two of us." Al said with a scarce and broken voice, while his bangs hung in front of his face and blocked his red eyes from being seen… even though the tear trails that went along his cheeks made everything more clear. "She wasn't mine, but she didn't deserve this, he didn't either!"

Orin kept his expression somber, since this time it actually was genuine… but he kept a straight face the whole time. "I know. That's why i'm going to find the one who against my orders, and hang him from a tree for you to watch." He said, as he looked over towards his group and soon saw one of them begin to tremble.

Everyone turned their attention towards that man except for the father, and all instantly became infatuated with the thought of killing him… but, that was until Alizarin just turned towards Orin, put his hand around the blunt end of his cricket bat, and just whispered four words to him…

"No… me instead." This… 'request' snapped the skinwalker out of his murderous attitude, and caused him to just smile down at Alizarin.

"No. Definitely a no can do situation, 'sir'."

"...But it's what you wanted… Ain't it?"

The skinwalker chuckled again, put his hand on Al's shoulder as he exhaled with excitement for some reason, and lowered himself so he was finally at his opponent's eye level. He looked the shattered man in his garnet eyes, and took off his hat for him before he placed it on the ground… and turned back to him with a grin, as a seemingly brilliant idea suddenly came to him just in that moment of time,

"Yeah… it was, but now i feel genuinely sorry for you. And frankly… i'm a sick person who wants to deny your happiness in whatever form it may come in… that's why i'm going to give an 'offer', for you to achieve it yourself."

The gunslinger was soon caught off guard when he turned to see the other five skinwalkers as they seemingly turned on the one that had been deemed responsible for Aaron and Hannah's death.

Alizarin didn't want that man slaughtered, since it seemed mostly like the blame had just been shifted to him. No, he wanted either the chance to kill their leader, or for the man to just end him.

However, what he didn't know… was that this man in chains was about to give him one of those to chances. "As much as that piece of unobedient shit over there is responsible, all of this is my fault. Clearly, right?" Orin asked him, receiving a small nod in response.

"Exactly… so. Just for you, i'm going to make sure to leave myself vulnerable during whatever time you're with me from this point on, if you don't kill yourself that is."

"The point is… if you really think i deserve to die, then i want to make sure that you're the reason i do. So… I want you, to wait, plan, and create an equation that results in me being put six feet underground. Doesn't matter how long it takes either."

The hell was this. Was he actually asking for a deathwish? Thoughts similar to this washed over ones that were about Alizarin's loss (barely,) very quickly, and it was enough to somehow enough to get a word out of him. "...Why the hell would you let me live if you know i'd try to kill you?"

"What's life without a little challenge?" Orin asked aloud, but not too soon for someone else to answer him. "Not one worth fighting for, as i always say. That's where you come in, being my obstacle. Well… if you want in, that is." He said ,with another smirk.

The sheriff looked back at his deceased loved ones for a few short seconds, and remembered that everyone else here could face the same tragedy, or one similar if he wasn't there to help.

...Also, he thought that by the way Orin was wording his challenge, that he would have immunity from being killed by their group… and that, was something he would have over the man, hopefully if he wouldn't go back on his word. So with all these ideas and possible loopholes forming in his mind, Al turned back to Orin, and slowly nodded 'yes' to him.

"Alright then, no backing out either. Then i'll make sure to cripple you and leave you to wither and die off. We clear?"

He just nodded a second time, and that was enough to make the head skinwalker smile again, before he finally stood up and gripped his bat normally.

Orin took a few steps back, and watched as Alizarin turn his body entirely towards him while still being on his knees. He was on his knees, ready to listen, and willing to obey anything that would come out of the not-faunus's mouth…

"Good!" He thought, as he soon pointed his cricket bat outwards, just enough so it would hover above Al's head, right as he was putting his hat back on. "Now, say this to me with the most sincerity, and we'll have our non existent contract." And soon enough, he instructed him to repeat the following.

"...'i'm going to kill you'."

"...'I'm going to kill you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but i will kill you. Nothing will change that'."

"...'If i may fail, then i will stand up and try again with my husband and child there in spirit to raise me'..."

"...'And when you're nothing but open flesh and shattered bones, i will prevail. I have won. I will win, for those you've slain'."

The gunslinger went right ahead and did what he was asked, but with more intensity, and more anger coming from his tone as he looked the man dead in the eye, and repeated each line like he himself had created it.

Orin now knew he was serious about this… and that was when he realized that he now had a nemesis, his challenge that would follow for the rest of his life… and he was absolutely exhilarated.

"Hahaha!" When he finally moved the bat away from him, he was already laughing, and was starting to show signs of his later self that would come to be. "*sigh* ...And that's a wrap, jack!"

He snapped his fingers, and all of his lackeys went on to drag their 'traitor' away, but not before Orin gave his final respects to the dead man's family, and rested his bat's upper half on his shoulder.

That wasn't before one of his skinwalkers threw a shovel down next to the two bodies though… and it of course brought Al's rage to a boiling point. "...I'll make sure you're laughing by the time your heart is pierced, don't you worry, inhuman piece of shit!" He growled, as his garnet colored eyes showed everyone the color he wanted to see...

And as for his new enemy, he just smiled again, "Oh, i'll make sure to love every second of it i can. But until then…" And finally waved goodbye… even though it wouldn't be long until they would see each other again.

"See you back home, 'neighbor'!"

All seven of them left after that, and soon left Alizarin all by himself to wallow in misery, and start to silently sob again… but with a smile, as he soon found himself crawling, and lying down next to his husband and daughter before he looked up into the sky, and asked himself the one thing he knew they would ask him if they were still alive...

"...What have i done?"

…

Present Day…

…

Gage finally opened his eyes, and looked behind himself to see that… Orin was on the ground with blood coming from his nostrils as Alizarin was yelling at him, while also being held back by both Riley and Ileana, "You inhuman piece of shit! Don't you ever her against me!"

"*cough* ...Oh yeah, i said i wouldn't… shit, heh... *cough*"

"...What the hell is going on?" The ghost asked everyone, and they all turned to look at him s, like he wouldn't wake up from this scuffle. "Shut the fuck up before i put you to bed permanently!" Greed said in reply.

He then aimed Mistletoe at Gage, who just put his prosthetic hand up in defense, backed up a bit, and sighed by how confusing this all was. "...Please don't kill me with my own gun."

The only thing he got in response was the sound of the weapon being cocked, and that was when he actually took it seriously and stood up, with his both of his hands up and his eyes wide open. "Alright alright!"

"Greed, calm yourself before a Manticore finds it's way here and opens us all up like some goddamn christmas presents!" Owen yelled as he was trying to help their leader back onto his feet.

"...What the fuck is a Manticore?" Gage thought to himself, curiously.

"Do as he says Greed." Orin commanded him,a s he finally stood up and wiped the blood away from his nostrils, and turned back to watch Ileana and Riley as they let go of Al. "Sorry about that, you know i have a fuckton of things wrong with me, i'm guessing memory loss is one of 'em."

"*sigh* ...I need a drink." The sheriff sighed as he walked off.

Ileana sighed as well, and glared over at their leader as Gage looked at them all, still very confuzzled by all of this. "So, should i just not ask about that?"

"Not unless you want to hate half of the people here even more..." Riley answered him, as Ileana exhaled again angrily, and looked back at Orin with a glare. "Ahem! Anyway, how long until we have to get moving Orin?"

"For you, an hour or two. For the kid over here… ten minutes."

"Wait what? We're not splitting up are we?"

He grinned again, and just nodded as Owen took a backpack off of his back, and threw the thing at Gage, but this wasn't the knapsack that he had taken with him to the Wisteria Penitentiary. Orin himself was wearing that one on his back instead.

The ghost caught the bag as it crashed into his stomach and knocked the wind out of him, which urged him to curse at the thing, and open it to see… that it was just filled to the brim with rocks. "*sigh* ...Really, dude?" He asked aloud, looking very annoyed.

Gage just thought Orin was being a troll at this point, and the man really was, but this was also when his 'detour idea' would finally come into play, much to the ghost's dismay,

"Yes we are Illie!" He replied as Gage looked up from the bag and openly glared at him with his red eyes. "We're taking our new fried wit us on a little trip into Tsüro, for some scavenging. And so we could actually give you three a break."

Riley then turned back towards the two, and squinted her brown eyes at Orin while she picked up and set down her bronze M249, obviously feeling surprised by this considering how close they were to Keji at this moment.

"Wait, but the Grimm tore down that place months ago. There's probably nothing left to scavenge unless you're planning on making bone-art decorations for your living room..."

"And if I am?" The man asked, as he was trying to put as much attitude in his voice to match her own, of course to mock her in a sense. "I mean it still can't hurt to look, and besides, it'll be a good way to test the kid's survival skills… if he can keep up with us, that is." This made Gage roll his eyes at the man from behind him, and Riley kind of smiled because of it.

" I mean… He's survived this long with us, hasn't he?" Ileana asked their leader

"Look, you can have him all to yourself once we get back, since you're so worried about him."

His response was enough to make the spider faunus cringe, and also sigh by how easy she could see that coming. "Jesus… *sigh* ...just, don't get killed scruffy." She then moved a little bit closer to Gage, and pointed back at Orin with her thumb before she just walked away again. "He already has enough dead kids under his belt…"

The ghost leaned his head back only a little bit because of the way she ended the conversation, but… it was still enough to creep him out. "That's… honestly not surprising to me, but uh... thanks for the heads up?" He replied nervously, with a thumbs up in return.

That was when Gage looked over at Riley again, since she was the only person out of his three friends that decided to stay.

She was laying on top of her sleeping bag, lying on her side as her legs were crossed, and was holding her head up with her left hand while her elbow was pressed against the ground… yet, she looked physically bothered by what Ileana had said.

He then remembered something about her he noticed about yesterday, how this seemingly rude, border-line tsundere girl was able to get emotional after staring at a dead faunus, whose head had been split open with Orin's cricket bat.

"Hehe, that remind you of anyone, Rye?"

That line made it's way into his thoughts again too, and tried to connect this to what was just implied by their friendly spider-faunus. Gage could obviously guess that Orin must've killed someone close to her, but how close was the question…

"Hey, are you… alright?" He asked her, quietly as he was currently standing almost only two feet away from where she was laying. "Question of my life…" She whispered, while looking away from him and up towards the rising sun.

"What?"

Her face reddened immediahimy once he caught her small comment, and it just caused her to slyly cover her face to not make it so apparent. "N-N… Nothing! Good luck on your run, or whatever it is! ...You're going to need it."

Before he could thank her awkwardly like he just did Ileana, Orin chuckled to himself, and just put his hand on Gage's right shoulder and pulled him closer towards himself, Owen and Greed, away from Riley while she just watched… with pity in her eyes. "C'mon killer, we don't got all day!"

The ghost turned away from the heavy, as she turned on her side so she could lay her head down, happy that this apparent scouting run could give her some extra time to sleep… and also think about herself.

When he finally exhaled, Greed was about to start walking ahead of everyone else… until Orin stopped him, with an expression that told everyone that he was not in the mood for any type of future argument because of a damn object, "And Greed… give him back his gun."

The dreaded haired man sighed internally, turned to face Gage on the spot, and looked him straight in the eyes before he smirked, aimed Mistletoe into the air, and fired it randomly.

Then, after all of that, he held the weapon with both of his hands as he tossed the shotgun back towards the ghost roughly, only for him to get on one knee and catch it delicately before standing back up again.

This was obviously enough to piss him off, simply because of how important the weapon was to him… but after he looked the thing up and down quickly, he saw that it didn't appear to be handled poorly, which was enough to cool him off.

Soon enough, Orin, Owen, and Greed all began to get their packs and weapons ready while their captive kept glancing back at them as he… started to breath a little more heavily, but completed his 'inspection' with a sigh of relief.

But, he only became sketched out even more as he cocked Mistletoe halfway, and looked inside of it's round chamber to see that it was... empty. Completely. Empty. Though, he didn't find it surprising.

"Yup, that's more like it..." He said to himself sarcastically.

Gage fully cocked it after that, and put it on his back with the rifle strap going across his chest, right as he saw the rest of his previously selected, 'group', turn and stare at him, waiting for him to come and follow.

So, he gulped down any insecure or troubling feelings that he had about this supply run, and started to walk to the three of them as they turned and creeped out into the brush, yet… Gage couldn't help but feel that there were a pair of unknown eyes staring down at him…

"*CAW!*"

The ghost heard a loud screech come from the tree branches above his head, and even though the sound scared him… he looked up, and laid eyes upon a black crow that was looking at him, and… had red eyes.

"*caw!* *caw!*"

It cawed two more times after that, and looked to be raising itself up and down as it was standing on a tree branch, and continued to yip and give out small little chitters that were aimed directly at him.

"Red eyes?" He thought. That single characteristic was the first thing he noticed about this bird, and it completely threw him for a loop. And the reason behind it? Well, somehow… he remembered something that Qrow had told him a long time ago, on the night of his birthday...

"If you see a black bird with a red eye looking at ya weirdly… then it may just be something else. So remember Gage, you need to keep BOTH eyes open."

The main reason why he was so focused on that specific trait… was because Qrow told him this after he asked for a way to try and telegraph Raven's presence, in a sense. That realization did indeed hit him… but it didn't have that great of an effect on the ghost.

Because if it was Qrow, he knew that he had been sent by Yang and Ruby, and if it was Raven… then he had to be hallucinating from dehydration, or something. Or, maybe it could have just been a regular Crow.

The animals of Remnant were weird in general anyway, so this wouldn't be an oddity either. So with that also being an option, Gage turned back around, and walked away, now fully unknowing of how this day could possibly go.

...However, this would turn out to be a crucial mistake of his to even notice and think about the bird. As everyone who really understood the shapeshifting drunk, knew that this Qrow was nothing more than a Bad Luck Charm.

"*sigh* ...Damn it Gage…"

…

Later...

…

The group of marauders, and their captive, walked for around twenty minutes on their way to the abandoned village of Tsuro. This was mostly because of how slow the older men were walking, and talking… and it was enough for Gage to try and block out their voices in his own head.

But who wouldn't, right? Anyway, as time passed, he was eventually given some charity by Orin and was given water as a fucked up kind of reward for wanting to get this hike over with.

It was honestly the best feeling Gage had during the past few days, that drink. So good even, that he secretly tried his best to drink less as to try and conserve this for himself, so he could keep on going.

He didn't say anything for a while either, mostly because his voice was scarce and dry, and also because he couldn't find anything to say. Soon enough though, Greed smiled at him, and nudged his prosthetic arm as he approached the ghost from behind,

"Hey, so tell me man… where you from?"

The lackey asked him this, as he rested his secondary weapon, an AK-74u, on top of his shoulder. "...Atlas" Gage answered, blankly.

He thought that being short and vague with his answers could destroy any potential conversation from continuing, but Greed still kept going… almost like he was intent on trying to dig up some type of dirt or something. "City, Academy, or just the kingdom?"

"Main city."

This all happened while Orin and Owen smiled and watched the haggler push and prod a little bit until he got that second answer, and somehow… that was enough for him to come up with an insult that perfectly pushed all of the wrong buttons.

"Pfft, no wonder. With an arm like that, i bet your daddy paid for it after cutting it off himself. Probably what gave you the edgy-white kid vibe i'm getting from you right now!"

He said this with enough sarcasm and the right amount of toxicity to make Gage stop in his tracks, and look down at the ground while he turned halfway towards him, and continued to hold Mistletoe with his hand of flesh.

"Alright…" And… even if the thug didn't know the truth about Gage and his father, something else strange happened that Greed didn't even think he could predict. The ghost simply chose to… smirked back at him. "Heh… Alright, i'll take that."

This reaction was the opposite of what he wanted, and it caused the lower-tier skinwalker to tilt his head and stare at him like he was crazy. "W… Why are you smiling?"

Despite his slightly visible and faded black eye and bruised face, Gage let out a tiny chuckle, walked even closer towards Greed, and raised his metal arm in a joking manner while his shotgun remained at his side,

"I just think it's funny that looking at shiny objects seem to get you riled up. If anything, i'd think they would distract you-" He was soon cut off however, as Greed punched him in the face so hard that some spit flew out of his mouth, and he almost toppled over as well.

"Ooohoho!" The joke and the response was enough to make Orin laugh outright while Owen hollered and did the same. "...What? *cough* ...Can't take a joke?" Gage coughed as he stood back up, and looked back at his assaulter with another smile.

Greed didn't think that this was funny at all, and sneered at Gage before he grabbed him by his collar, and pulled him close enough to the point where the ghost could smell the haggler's putrid breath, "Smug-ass kid, you better shut your goddamn mouth before i tear your other arm off and shove It down your-!"

That was until Orin bonked the back of his head with the tip of his chained cricket bat, though not hard enough to do some real damage. "G, don't get mad over a good comeback. It's your fault for starting it in the first place." He said, with an unfamiliar fatherly type of voice.

"*sigh* ...You better hope that you get to make the first move next time."

"I'll remember that."

"You two good now? Because i was actually enjoying our little walk." Orin then waited for some sort of reply from the two of them while they kept their eyes locked, and when Gage broke off his gaze, the old man smirked again, and continued onwards. "Good! Now, why don't you go on about yourself for once, kid?"

Gage stopped again, and stood there looking at the road in front of him once he heard this unexpected request, which ended up actually making him become a bit tense. "...Do i have to?"

His reaction was priceless and amusing in Orin's mind, so much so that he scratched his chin and tried to think carefully about his response, though it wasn't hard to guess what it would be,

"You know, i think i'm going to actually say yes this time." He chuckled, with yet another yellow- toothed smile aimed directly at his captive. "So… Yes Gage, go on, tell us something about yourself."

Gage only got quieter after that, and stumbled with his words a bit, more with forming them than speaking them. He just couldn't think of what to give away…. But he knew which one would be the better option.

"Trust me, if this was a road trip, i'd have the radio blaring. But it ain't and talkin' is all we got, and i'm sure you wouldn't rather sing a little song for us, now would you?"

He remembered what he thought yesterday, after he saw Riley begin to tear up at the sight of that bludgeoned faunus. That using someone's past against them was scummy, and the last thing he wanted to experience.

However… sometimes it's better to be emotionally beaten than physically… so he chose the latter, sighed, and hesitantly turned his head back halfway towards the old man again, "Fine, i…"

Gage chose to talk about his father and their time in Atlas together, since it was the only relevant subject to talk about. He already hated himself with a passion, and he figured that he could just hate himself even more later,

"...Yeah, i'm from Atlas. But i wasn't some 'rich white kid' either. I worked, and my dad worked all the time to put myself through some shitty community college, and keep our house standing."

When he first started off, he could hear himself soon begin to go off into a rant that pretty much expressed why he hated Atlas, Ironwood, and the Atlesian Military as a whole.

But of course, Gage had to get the conversation past his main obstacle if he was to truly be able to speak about everything passively. "Those Atlas elitists aren't just racist, they're cheap as hell. Heck, he might've work himself to death if he hadn't gotten blown up by The White Fang…"

That was when Orin let out a weird sigh that sounded like he relieved, but also had been holding it in for a very long time, "So that's why you hate them, eh?"

"...It took a lot more than just that."

Thankfully with the elephant in the room taken care of, it was enough for the ghost to become calm again, with the fact that he was able to change the subject so quickly holding him over, "Still though… his job planted a target on his back, and i could see it coming right before it did. I just… wished his higher ups actually gave a shit after he was gone."

"Who'd he work under?" Owen asked him.

"Ironwood, and Polendina. Those are the only ones that are still alive at least."

His voice was cold blank during this part of the convo, but it still was the sad truth about it. Death rates were always increasing every year for Atlas workers, which was a little known fact Orin was somehow unaware of, "Damn, i didn't think the White Fang were that thorough!"

"They wouldn't have if one of them didn't turn out to be a traitor, and compromised everything by spilling every military secret that they had… funny enough though, it's what got the traitor killed..."

"...Thanks to me…"

…

Meanwhile…

…

As the four of them continued to walk down the road towards Tsuro… Qrow remained nearby, and kept flapping from tree to tree in his bird form, tailing them the whole way since they began their small trek.

He was thankful that the road was covered on both sides by tall and thick trees, but after he scouted ahead and saw that it was at least two and a half more miles until the group would make it to the Grimm infested village. The old drunk cursed at himself once he realized that he didn't have a lot of time now before they reached it, and it just looked like a death trap.

He didn't come out here to watch his niece's lover get mauled to death, so he knew that he was out of time and options. Qrow knew he had to get his hands dirty, but it wasn't like it was beyond him, and like these thugs didn't look like anything special either. "*caw!*"

"*caw!* *caw!*"

Now, he was looking down at them all, as he had just landed on another tree branch, and made sure that the tree he had occupied was ahead of them, and it gave him just enough time to plan out his attack as well.

The drunk figured that two of them all seemed like heavy hitters, Orin and Owen, while Greed would be the first to go because of his smaller assault rifle, and since his first attack couldn't possibly be detected, he saw this as foolproof.

Just a swoop down, shift, and diagonal slice with the sword form of his scythe, and the rest he'd leave to his pure skill with his scythe form… even had a backup plan if Gage were to attack him too.

Everything seemed to be in place, so after he set his eyes on his first target… Qrow leaped off of his tree branch, spread his wings, and dove straight towards the group, with his red eyes traced on Greed's figure.

"...Gotcha."

He could see Gage standing there, still walking and entirely clueless of what was about to happen, and who was about to rescue him. The ghost moved out of Qrow's vision not that long after, and his target became his main focus as he moved lower and lower towards him, with the wind ruffling his feathers and the sound of it drowning out everything else.

The drunk eventually reached the amount of distance he needed for his reveal, so he slowed himself down, glared down at Greed once more, and was about to finally shift back into his physical form…

...Until he suddenly heard something loud and ear-piercing break it's way through the sounds of the wind, and he just turned his head to see yet another bird that was headed straight for him.

Strangely though… this one looked just like him. Black feathers, the red eyes, and that same amount of self awareness. The only thing different about it was how it was how its body was built/structured, but that didn't matter.

This bird still kept barreling towards him with no intent to stop, and obviously, this wasn't just another angry crow. Qrow knew this bird, and it was something different than himself... It was a Raven.

"SCREEECH!*

…

"And… I think that's all i have to say about that." Gage mumbled to himself, as Greed just rolled his eyes and walked ahead of him while Orin shook his head with a smile after he finished the story of how he killed Cordelia. "Damn, sure glad i made sure to wound right you before we met."

"Hmhm, for a doctor, he didn't seem all that smart." Owen said with a smirk.

"Hey, surviving is winning. Not my fault he was a sore loser..." A few seconds of silence then came after the ghost said that, and in that small amount of time, Gage heard a… wind chime out of all things, along with the sound of a few chirping birds.

"Wh..." He stopped and looked behind himself, only to realize that there was an absence of any chimes or sparrows in any of the nearby trees. It didn't even seem like anyone else heard it either.

The funny thing about it too, was that the noise seemed to have a small echo, and it managed to keep droning on until the echo faded… despite the fact that it was hot, the air was dry, and there weren't any wind currents that could be felt by anyone there.

So… was it in his head? Because right after, he felt the side of his skull randomly pound only once, causing him to grasp the area that hurt with a silent wince. "Pfft, what is it now? The heat too much for you kid?" Greed asked him, insultingly.

"*huff* ...NO." Gage replied as he glanced back at him, sighed once the pain quickly went away, and tried to think of some sort of excuse. "It's just… now that i think about it, there was this other guy that my dad knew."

"...His name was… 'Merlot', or something weird like that. But... he went crazy a long time ago, so yeah, he's probably dead too."

Orin's eyes opened up a little bit more, along with Greed's since that name became pretty well known over the last few years due to what... 'experiments' were associated with that same name.

However, Owen stopped as well and just squinted at Gage like he was the new face of crazy within their group, "Hey so… Is it weird that it looked like it hurt when you were trying to think-"

"*CAW!*"

"*SCREECH!*

"*POOF!*"

And somehow, something else managed to take all the attention off of the ghost as all four of them heard… what sounded like two birds screaming at each other until they were suddenly silenced, and disappeared.

An impact was heard as well, but it was kind of soft too… so it confused everyone, since they weren't actually able to see it.

Instead, Gage just looked up and saw that there was a bunch of black feathers in the air before he watched them as they slowly floated down onto the ground, with one of them landing on top of his head.

"...Excuse me, but did those two birds just crash into each other?" Orin laughed as Gage took the feather off of his head, and stared at it intently before he just looked off into the treeline to his right…

"*sigh* ...Let's just keep walking…"

…

Raven and Qrow did actually crash into each other, (with their aura protecting them) and luckily the sister managed to have so much momentum that they were thrown far into treeline together, still in their bird forms.

Eventually they hit the ground, and their small bodies began to tumble into a small ditch that wasn't that far away from the main treeline, with both of them making cute grunts as they continued to roll.

When they slowly reached the bottom of the ditch, the siblings both turned back into their normal physical forms before they both hit the ground, and collectively groaned in unison.

Qrow landed on his back, with his weapon landing with it's blade stuck into the ground right next to him, and he gripped his lower back in pain while Raven was lying face down into the leaf-covered ground next to him.

"Agh! Wh… What the hell was that?!" He tried his best to stay silent, but also screamed at his sister as quietly, and painfully as he possibly could. "Jesus christ, six months of nothing and this is how you greet me-?!"

"Brother!" Raven ignored his question however, and gasped as she leaned up off of the ground, and crawled over to her brother before she grasped the collar of his shirt, and pulled him up so she could be face to face with him, "*pant* *pant* ...I found him!"

Both of their red eyes were in line with each other, and it caused Qrow to just stare up at her like she had gone completely insane, "Y… Yeah, i found him too! Rrrgh, we both just saw him didn't we?!"

"*sigh* ...Qrow, I'm not talking about Yang's little ghost!" She hissed back at him, angry that it seemed like he had forgotten about the last conversation that they had… even though that was six months ago. "Then who the hell are you talking about?"

"...Who else have i been looking for all of this time?"

"W… Wait… Prodigy?" Her question confused him for a second… but then he actually remembered her personal objective, and his red eyes lit up like a traffic light instantly, but with a scowl to go along with it. "H-How? Where'd you find him? Buried in a graveyard?!"

"He. Is not. Dead!" She growled through gritted teeth as she pressed her brother back down onto the ground with the remaining strength she had left… which wasn't much. "I found him, and i saved him, but he won't last much longer without your help!"

That was when Qrow leaned back up, and could see that part of Raven's clothes were tattered, there were bruises on her arms and neck, and she looked visibly exhausted as well. "...What happened to you?"

"The White Fang have been tracking us for days, and i can't move far with him weighing me down!" She replied as she let go of him, stood up, and… looked away, feeling disappointed in herself. "I… I can't save him by myself."

"...So you came to me for help. Hehe, that's a first." Qrow chuckled as he just laid there on the ground, and put his hands behind his head with a smirk. "Get off your high horse Qrow, and just help me!"

"Why don't you get your future son-in-law to help you? He's right over there, and i'm sure he'll just love to be introduced to your walking corpse."

He said this, and just gestured over towards the main road with his thumb as he smiled, finally stood up, and stretched his back a little bit, which angered Raven even more by how calm he was because of everything that had just been said. "I can't, and you know exactly why!" She almost screamed.

"No, i don't actually…" That was when the old drunk shook his head, and peered up at her with one eye as he patted himself for his flask, and eventually found it. "...Not unless it's another one of your manipulation games."

This small comment caused Raven to become silent, and just stare at her sibling as her anger seemed to have dissipated, and was replaced with a very small expression of guilt, all while her brother took a small swig from his flask, and continued.

"You know you can't fool me. I know exactly why you were trying so hard to find Prodigy, and if he actually is alive… then it ain't so he can get his old life back." He said, with a smirk as he smiled too, and turned around to look off into the forest blankly. "It's because you want him to be your replacement, isn't it?"

His question irked her in an oh so very wrong way, and Raven was sure that he was aware of the gravity… and the reason behind it. But just in case he lost a few of his brain cells to his drinking since the last time they met, she chose to remind him of what that reason was.

"When Yang started to become closer and closer to finding out about the Collectors… i had to do this. " She then sighed and looked to her right, to where she thought Gage's current location was. "She just wouldn't see it as good of a reason for my absence from her life…" Her answer was still enough to get a laugh out of Qrow however, and he did just that.

"You mean as good of a reason for you abandoning her, and Tai? Hehe, Yeah, because co-founding a secret organization made to protect Remnant from Salem isn't a good enough reason either..." But even after that, he went for something that he knew would get a better reaction out of his sister. "Not to mention abandoning said organization for a tribe of killers-"

"ENOUGH!"

Raven actually yelled this, and she closed her eyes angrily and stared daggers deep into the back of Qrow's head. "The point of me being here is that i need you to help him, and if you don't… Prodigy will die. And if he does… EVERYTHING your ghost has lived for since Yang found him will be meaningless!" She continued, with her hand on the hilt of her sword.

"...Relax sis. I didn't say i wouldn't help you, now did i?" Qrow said with raised hands as he looked down, pulled his sword/scythe out of the dirt, and put it back on his back afterwards.

"So… you will?" His sister asked, feeling unsure about him being sincere. However, then came something that she had been expecting from her brother, as he nodded, and raised his flask with a smirk.

"Yeah… but on one condition."

There always had to be a catch with him, and considering he had to do this to her now frustrated her endlessly… yet, she still stayed silent as to listen to his demands, barely. Luckily enough for her although, Qrow knew that she would do anything but do… well, the obvious and confront Yang herself, and he did this because actually did need 'Prodigy', alive for… reasons.

So instead, he went for something that wasn't hard for her to do, and that was also still a very relevant subject. Gage's… second act of Desertion, in a sense.

"You have to stay behind and look out for Gage, since he's the reason i'm out here in the first place." He stated, as Raven sneered at her brother in response, and slowly picked up her grimm helmet while staring at him, "And why, would i, want to do that?"

"Because if you lose him, or he dies… then you'll be the reason why Yang won't' be getting the wedding that she deserves."

That was… a very new development to her, and she honestly couldn't have expected it… at least with what Qrow was implying, since Yang did actually spill the beans to him, and him only, right before he left Beacon.

But it still was burned into her mind, and caused her red eyes to enlarge to a very alarming size… at least for her. "Sh… She's engaged?" Raven thought to herself as she raised her helmet back up, and looked into its eyeholes with… some regret, out of all things.

She stared at it, and realized that this… this mask that she was holding really was her true self, and her own face… that was her true mask. Or, it would end up being it very soon.

This was because Raven knew that going to Yang's wedding, if it ever was going to actually happen, was her last chance if she was ever going to actually try and get back into her life. It was a scummy, and frankly shit plan of trying to reconnect with her daughter, and Raven knew it… but it was the only thing she could anticipate for ever since she knew Yang turned eighteen.

"So, that a fair deal Raven?"

Qrow asked her this, and watched as she stood up, unsheathed her odachi, and did one overhand downwards slash as she turned back towards her brother, and didn't appear to be in a talking mood anymore.

The drunk saw the slice as it generated a shockwave, and he took a step back right as it passed him, went ahead further, and formed a vertical cut in the trunk of a tree that wasn't that far away from him.

Then, the red outline that was accompanied with the slash stretched horizontally, until it became circular and flashed red, forming one of Raven's signature portals. This one however went exactly where she had left the prisoner,

"...Just go Qrow. And hope that your semblance hasn't affected him yet."

The drunk just stared back at the swirling red vortex, looking unimpressed by how easy it was to see that coming from her. "Hmph. *sip* ...So, where am i taking your friend's body?" He asked with a swig of his flask.

"*sigh* ...Our old safehouse." She sighed once again, and just watched as the drunk put his flask away, placed his hands behind his head, and started to walk backwards towards her portal. "And be quick about it. I don't want to spend the rest of my day stalking a teenager…"

"Aw, what? Coulda sworn that you were a professional at it-"

And that was when Raven decided she has had enough of her brother for one day, and she pretty much screamed at him as she pointed her odachi at Qrow, and her red eyes began to flare angrily… just like her daughter's would do every now and then,

"GO! NOW!"

Qrow chuckled once again, and simply gave her a small final wave as he walked into the portal, and made sure to smirk and utter his farewell as he did so, since he knew that it would be a while until he saw his sister again. "Nice seeing you too sis!"

Then, once he disappeared into the portal's blank, and dark red swirling nothingness… it collapsed in on itself and dissipated, thankfully leaving Raven all by herself yet again. "How could she… already?!" She asked herself, with a seething rage slowly washing over her already pissed off expression.

Her anger was shifted towards her daughter… and then Gage. Did he push it on her? Do they even know what they're getting into? Why did he have to be asking the question now, she's barely even an adult!

These thoughts ran through her head and made her become tense, angry, and… surprised with herself. Mostly, because the way she was thinking at the moment… was the way any other mother would think during a time like this.

But then, she realized that Qrow was out here to find Gage, and take him back to Vale. As to why he was out here by himself with the Skinwalkers, was a very odd question she'd like to ask him herself… but she couldn't.

Raven knew just as well as you guys, that if he was to see her again, Gage would immediately get into asking why she was here and why she had left Yang all those years ago. So… she of course decided against it.

Instead, as she sighed and put her Grimm helmet/mask back on again, the mother made up her mind and chose to just follow him in her other form to look out for him... like Yang, and Tai would want her to do.

...Gage was her future son-In-law, after all.

"*sigh* ...I'm running out of time."

…

One Hour Later…

…

After Raven changed into her bird form again, she went down the road that Gage was on, and in the direction that he was walking to later find, and watch as he, Orin, Greed, and Owen were all standing in front of the old and abandoned village of Tsuro.

She perched herself up into a tree, and rested as she watched the four of them take in the sight of the town… only for Gage to look kind of disappointed by the sight of it.

Tsuro, looked nothing more than a… average marketplace, not even a town or village really. It was pretty much just a single, two lane road that went down for a while, and it also had a row of multiple buildings on each side..

A grocery store, clothes store, trader shop, liquor store, two inns, a restaurant, and a few other things on the other side of the main road. With every building seemingly made from red brick.

None of them were more than a single story high though, and the whole place was surrounded by a crappy excuse for a wall, that looked like any Grimm could break down or jump over.

"Man… what a dump!" Gage said aloud, again looking disappointed by how bad everyone was talking about it earlier. "No wonder it got abandoned, people didn't want to stay for when it got breached by the Grimm… i mean, even a Boarbatusk could get in easily!"

"To be fair, it wasn't really meant for housing. Kind of a… rest stop type of place really." Orin replied, as he walked over towards what could be considered as the, 'front gate'. Which was just a bendable chain-linked fence with a door that had a lock on it. "And it had a pretty good guard system too… but still, shit happens."

"Clearly..."

Owen then walked towards the gate with Orin, and looked through the chain links to try and see if there were still any Grimm trapped on the inside… but before he could confirm anything, an… unfamiliar sound was heard. Unfamiliar to Gage at least.

First, there were the loud howls of Beowolves, but something else followed afterwards. It started off as a sort of… chitter at first, before the octive raised even higher, and the small noise turned into what could be described as a deranged woman screaming at the top of her lungs.

This… was the yowl of a Grimm that the ghost had yet to be told about in Professor Port's Grimm Study class, but just from the tone and delivery of the scream… Gage could tell that whatever it was, was between the size of a Beowulf and an Ursa.

"Yup. There's Grimm in there no doubt, but they ain't coming over to our side just yet… so maybe they're just becoming aware of us." The red-haired man whispered to everyone else.

"Well then, let's get in before they start swarming us." Orin nodded in response, and just looked over towards the lock on the door of the gate with his cricket bat still slung over his shoulder.

Then, right as he was about to grip the lock and start jiggling it, Gage quickly moved past him with Mistletoe in his arms, and he just slammed it's stock down onto the lock and made it disengage instantly, before he tore the chain off and kicked the door open for him.

Orin stood there with his hand still outstretched as he did this, and he just smirked again as Gage was the first to walk inside, and Owen and Greed went in afterwards.

The town was more open to them after that, and as soon as they started to look around for somewhere to go… the massive pack of Beowolves on the other side of the small town turned back and growled at the four of them intensely.

But… they didn't go and charge at them right as they made visual contact. Instead, four out of the nine pack members started to slowly saunter towards them with caution, and just continued to watch them from afar.

They were… waiting for them to make the first move, it seemed. And Gage looked back at them too, with his red eyes looking back into theirs as he put his hand on Javix… but before anything else could happen, Orin patted his shoulder and fast walked past him, to a building to their left.

"Kid, it's better to worry about the Grimm after the looting is done. Now come on, the gunsmith is right there!"

The ghost looked at the structure after that, and saw that it actually was standing right there to his left… and that the rest of the members of his group were already halfway inside of the building.

So he did make haste, and followed them inside as well… but couldn't shake the feeling that there was another reason why they came here, and that they purposely disregarded that odd Grimm scream from earlier…

…

After Gage got inside the gunsmith store, Owen shut the door behind him, locked it, and barricaded it with the security plank that was attached to the side of the door, throwing it down horizontally so that it would prevent it from being opened.

That, was when everyone laid their eyes on the inside of the store… which had a lack of weapons, but was still stocked to the brim with ammo and dust, both crystals and powder vials.

This made Orin chuckle with excitement as he walked over to the dusty glass counter, which the dust was stored in, and just ran one of his hands across it with a large smirk forming across his lips. "Boys, I think this going to be a very lucky day for us!"

Owen smiled at all the leftover riches just like their leader did… but Gage chose to shrugg them off and went into the two aisles in front of him, to look for some actual rounds, while his group proceeded to smash open the display case.

"Hey, you think they actually have normal ammo here?" The ghost asked the three of them, while he held Mistletoe with only one of his hands and used his metal one to push off any boxes of rounds that his weapons didn't take. "Or at least some slugs?"

The haggler then chimed in, and asked the most obvious question anyone else would in that moment. "Why don't you just take the dust kid? Regular rounds aren't gonna do shit these days." He also seemed generally baffled by this, but Gage of course had a reason behind this.

"Trust me, it still works well."

Orin then turned and squinted at the ghost as he held a burn, or fire dust round in his hand… looking at their captive like he was an idiot. "That may be, but… You still didn't answer his question." The old man noted, suspiciously.

Then, he threw the crystal at Gage's feet, only for him to nearly eat shit as he dove downwards onto the store's floor tiles, and barely managed to catch it with his prosthetic hand.

His reaction made both Owen and Greed laugh out loud, because that crystal obviously wouldn't have exploded unless it was shot directly, and ruptured… which is something Gage actually managed to forget.

Thankfully though, that kept him from screaming at Orin and calling him a psychopath, and he instead let go of the round and pressed his head downwards against the ground with a sigh of relief, and embarrassment.

He wasn't exactly that well acquainted with dust actually, as he wasn't taught to use it when he was younger… and was also told that it wasn't essential to a Huntsman's arsenal… despite the history behind dust, and he honestly regretted not learning about it more when he was still at Sanctum.

"Hehe, come on kid… you've got to have a reason behind not using it." Orin laughed as he leaned over the other side of the counter, and took out a box of twelve gauge shotgun shells. "It's what got us out of the dark ages for christ's sake!"

Gage's face was till pressed against the floor… so the man in chains just shook the box, and watched as he lifted his head up and looked at the small box with yearnul eyes.

Once he realized that he wasn't going to let go of the rounds until he confessed… the ghost looked away with a frown, and soon started to stand up again while he rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. "It's just…"

He stuttered, and only made Orin smile more after that while his two lackeys just watched in amusement. "Come on now, just spit it out. You're still a killing machine to me, doesn't matter the type of ammo you use." The old man reassured him.

"Well… it just doesn't cause anything game-changing for me."

"Um… what?"

All three of the marauders were now looking at him like he was mental, or had been shut out of society for a few years… which wasn't exactly false. But, it more or less confused them, but not to the point of laughter.

He expected this type of reaction though, which is another reason why he kept conversations about dust to a minimum when he was back at Beacon…. For a pretty big reason,

"The only thing it does to me is that it gives an elemental hue to my aura, and… that's pretty much it. It barely even affects my semblance too."

Now though, he didn't exactly need to keep it a secret. Because in reality… he didn't care that much about it, "It just... makes my targets dissipate after i'm finished with them." He revealed, as he raised his right hand up and used his semblance to make it partially invisible.

Yet… as he did this, the part of his hand that was half visible was also glowing red as it looked like his hand was slowly crumbling, or something close to that. And it did this because he still had the red burn dust round in his prosthetic hand.

Actually, the effect that the dust had on his hand of flesh looked more like… when a gust of wind would blow the petals off of a flower, or dandelion. "All that useless power for an extra price, since our world needs to use it sooo much, rather than trying to figure out a way to preserve it…"

He then sighed, and put the dust bullet in his pocket lazily before his right hand returned to normal, and he just walked over towards the back right corner of the store. "Man, he really is an idjit..." Owen said under his breath.

The ghost ignored that last comment since he knew that would be the general consensus for those who rely solely on dust for an ammo source, and just went on with looking around… until he went into that corner, and looked up.

There, he saw a small hatch in the roof, with a small ladder that was connected to it, so while everyone else still continued to look at him weirdly, he glanced back at them and signaled for them to follow him up there.

"Now come on, you guys can belittle me more when we're not being stalked by the Grimm."

…

The three older men still remained baffled and amazed by how stupid they thought he was, but still followed him up onto the roof in silence anyways. And there, they finally were able to see the desperation of the people who use to live here.

As Greed finally climbed up, and closed the hatch behind himself, he turned to see that Gage was standing front of… what looked to be a decomposed corpse, which was sitting in a lawn chair that had a bolt action rifle laying on the ground in front of it.

"*cough* ...Jesus christ." He covered his mouth and nose to block the smell of rotting flesh, and just looked away as he could hear the flies and maggots buzz in the air around him. "And you guys said you were here recently?"

Orin just patted his shoulder, smirked, and used his other hand to throw the lawn chair upwards… so he could knock the bone corpse off of its final resting place, and onto the ground, with its skull cracking apart immediately on impact. "Heh… I never said that we got in." He murmured.

The old man snickered, and just started to walk to the right side of the building, where there appear to be a… wide plank, that was set down on the edge of the store's roof, and created a path that connected the structure to the roof of the other one that was next to them, a general store.

The piece of wood also looked pretty durable to allow for all of them to cross, so Owen went ahead and did so as Greed followed… without noting of how easy it looked to knock the thing off, and down into the gap that was in between both buildings.

Gage didn't pay that much attention to it though, as he was currently looking down at the ground, and at what looked like a final sentiment from who use to be the pile of bones and flesh on the floor. It was one simple line of text that was engraved in the stone roof with a piece of white chalk, and it had a few splotches of blood splattered a cross it as well...

I may have died here, but this ain't my grave. Don't let it be yours either.

That was when the ghost thought back and… didn't even want to try and wonder if the body's skull had a hole in their forehead, he just shook his own head and walked away over towards the plank-bridge, as Orin rolled his eyes and stood on the thing while Owen and Greed made it across.

"Be glad kid, he was at least useful after he passed the torch!" And then he started to walk across the plank, and Gage followed with a blank stare, that soon turned into a scowl aimed towards his captor.

But before he could say anything or push the man off of the small bridge… he heard the same Grimm from earlier generate that heart-wrenching scream he had heard already, but this time it was a lot closer… and it made Orin smile.

That was because he looked at the building across from them on the other side of the village, which was a diner, and he grinned even more as he watched an unfamiliar Creature of Grimm slowly creep out of the shattered glass window in front of the restaurant.

"...Can someone tell me what's making that noise so i can shoot it?" Gage asked everyone, in a whisper as the head skinwalker made it across the plank, and he still stood on it. He obviously didn't see the creature, which soon started to make its way towards them.

Owen chuckled to himself, and leaned over the front right side of the building he, Greed, and Orin were standing on now so he could just point downwards at the beast, "See, that right there? THAT, is a Manticore. Lioness of the Grimm!"

"Wh… a Lion?"

"Look for yourself. It's right down there in front of you."Orin added as he pointed right below Gage, in the small gap between the buildings that they all had just crossed moments ago. "But… I'd back up first."

Right when heard heard the words, 'below you', the ghost's blood ran ice cold, and his heart began to beat faster and faster until he finally lowered his gaze… and laid eyes upon the Manticore, as it was now sitting right below the plank he was standing on… and was staring upwards, right at him.

It of course had the body of a lion, but it's fur was black with its tail being a mix between black and white, with a small dot pattern. However... the end of its tail looked like a ball, with spiky bones or quills sticking out of it, which resembled that of the ball of a morning star.

It also had a white colored mayne, and strangely… it had armor plates on its face and lips that were white, with red and yellow lines outlining it. And the plates on its lips were jagged and vertical, resembling that of a bear trap since it looked like it the plates could snap together, like intertwining fingers or teeth.

Yet, the strangest thing about it was the lack of its eyes. No eyes could be seen. They were absent, and it wasn't even staring at the ghost directly at the moment,so… it appeared to actually be a Grimm that relied on smell and hearing.

"Oh SHIT!" And since Gage didn't even hear the thing approach him or get a look at it's grotesque face beforehand, he jumped and nearly yelped as he aimed the still unloaded Mistletoe, but lowered it again once he remembered there wasn't any ammo. "Wh… Where's its eyes?!"

"Haha, relax man! She doesn't have any! Best part about these big fuckers!" Greed said, while he continued to laugh and look down at the Grimm like it was just some oversized alley cat. "Why do you think she was making that creepy noise earlier? Cuz' Echolocation, or some shit!"

Suddenly, the Manticore chittered again and began to sniffle a bit, sniffing the air around itself before it turned towards the wall of one of the buildings, stood on its hind legs, put its front paws against the brick wall, and slowly turned its head so it could just stare at Gage. Again.

This only made the hair on the ghost's neck raise, as it just gave him the feeling like he was trying to be hunted. "Christ, now I'm more creeped out than I was before. But… It still doesn't look that much like a lion to me." He whispered, while leaning down towards the creature for some reason.

He honestly felt really intrigued by its appearance. With the red and yellow colors on the armor plates looking like someone just painted fake eyes on there, and the spiked tail as well… but it didn't look that similar to the animal it was based on to him.

So much so, that Gage lowered his weapon, and squinted his eyes as he was trying to figure out what else it could resemble. "Without the mayne, 'she' would just look more like a Jaguar, or a Panther. Something like that." He mumbled.

"What? Like a Puma?" Orin asked.

"...Yeah man, there you go-"

Then without warning the Lion Grimm roared at the ghost before it just jumped onto the wall, embedded it's claws into the brick wall, and used it's position to launch itself towards Gage and Orin. Looks like it was just trying to get an accurate read on where they were.

"*YOWL!*

It screeched at them, and shocked them both so immensely that the ghost tensed up for a second before he could move... but for some strange reason, Orin grabbed onto Gage's metal arm and pulled him back hard until he fell backwards, and landed next to the old man's feet.

He was already on the roof of the other building the small bridge was connected to, so both ended up safe from the beast's sudden attack. However, it managed to grip the plank they used to get across, and it broke in half almost instantly.

Their pieces of wood fell into the gap between the buildings with the Manticore, and caused enough noise to draw the attention of the nearby Beowolves… and then the blind Grimm let out a loud whimper, alerting even more in the surrounding forest to come and join the party…

An orchestra of howls and grunts came from the front of the building the four men were standing on top of, and the only thing the three marauders could do was look down at Gage with a new-found anger now fueling them. "Aaaand just like that, we're all fucked!" Owen yelled as he unsheathed his red machete.

"It was an accident! And what do you mean 'we're fucked'? I honestly doubt you guys don't have enough ammo to kill all of these things. Not to mention the rounds you stole off of me!"

Gage shouted back at him, and huffed one more time as he stood back up, and took the small knapsack full of rocks off of his back before he turned the pack upside down and just started to pour them onto the floor.

"Also could have used all this space here if you really needed to, but no!" And yes, he had been carrying that thing with him, on his back the entire time just in spite of his humility. "You guys just had to go ahead and handicap me, after all the shit I dealt with yesterday!"

"Lock it down, both of you!" Orin commanded them both while grabbed Gage by the back of his neck, and pointed at Owen angrily. "You keep letting your anger get the better of you, then these Grimm are gonna get all riled up! So just… calm yourselves."

He then lifted the ghost up onto his feet and pushed him only a little bit while the red haired lackey exhaled heavily and just went to go look down off the front of the roof they were on. And soon enough, most of the Grimm within the small town began to creep their way over, and slowly began to surround the store they were on top of.

The beowolves were the ones to basically create a wall around the building, and they began to growl and bark at them as they also stood on their hind legs, and kept scraping their claws against all three sides of the store in a poor effort to try and climb up it.

These ones were tired, and haven't eaten in a long time thanks to the Manticore who looked down on and remained the head of the Grimm pack ever since the Tsuro fell.

...And now, they were very hungry.

Eventually, they even managed to fill up the medium sized alley on the left side of their building, which was where Gage ended up wandering over to, with his Mistletoe in one hand, and the rock filled backpack he was given in the other.

A few minutes of silence passed of him just throwing those rocks down at the Beowolves, with him occasionally hitting one on purpose, but not too close to their face to piss them off.

Orin kind of wandered, and stood next to him so he could watch the Grimm fuss and wine, but then he sat down on an AC unit that was on the roof… while Greed and Owen slowly started to move closer towards the ghost.

"You know, now that I think about it… this whole thing got me thinking about you, Gage." Orin said this completely out of the blue, and caused Gage to turn slightly towards him. "Even with after all of this shit, you could have ran away easily, especially with a semblance like yours… so why didn't you?"

All the ghost really did was just shrug and drop another stone into the beast filled alley, but honestly wondered the same exact thing. "Nowhere else for me to go really, and besides that… I don't know."

Although, it wasn't that hard to come up with some explanation… even if he didn't like it. "Maybe it's just that I can actually see myself sticking with you guys since I'm not really that different… not anymore at least." He said, with clear dissatisfaction with himself.

"And what got you thinking like that?"

Now that question… that made him think back, and a very long time ago as well, for me and you at least.. Specifically… three months ago, during Christmas morning after Yang had woke him up. "...There was this man that I knew. He was smart, old, caring, but realistic-"

"-And i I looked up to him, was even hoping to call him family... But then, one day he said something that made me think, a little too much."

He remembered having some… horrid dream, and waking up to have a sort of heart to heart talk with Taiyang that ended with the father telling him something that seemed kind of hard to grasp at the time… but still ended up doing some damage by saying it.

"He told me that… 'Ain't nobody's hands are clean in what's left of this world', and that 'We're all the same'. Something weird and soullish like that. But… I guess that I took it a little too seriously when I look back on it now..."

The Grimm below then became angrier, more rabid, and hungry as the ghost finished his sentiment. They wanted the fear and sadness that he could barely even hold back anymore… and Orin could see this as bright as day.

So since he already had a plan in motion before this little expedition, he saw this little situation of theirs as a… 'shortcut' in a sense that had the same outcome as what his intentions were. For their captive to be eaten alive.

Yet, how could that happen if the things that were to do the job for him were restless, tired, and too weak enough to fight for their next meal? By feeding them his own negative outlook on himself and life, of course...

"Yeah, well either way… you're still not the same as us." He boasted, with a serious but still also very fake glare slowly replacing his current expression. "You don't know what we've had to go through, or how fucked up we really are, and… honestly, you should have walked away the night we found you."

"...And why's that?" Gage questioned him, with a concerning stare that hid the fact that he was beginning to pick up on a red flag planted accidentally by the old man, who only went on to run his mouth even further. "Because us, the ones out here… we don't care who you are, who you were, or what you're going to be… it just doesn't matter."

The ghost turned to face him, and noticed that Greed moved next to him, and Owen seemed to be looking tense as well as his fingers moved and danced against the foregrip of him machete, almost anxiously.

As for Orin, "We'll hunt you. We'll find you. We'll try to use you… and then we'll try to kill you." Well… he made that statement, closed his eyes, and reopened them only to stare back into Gage's red orbs, which seemed to reflect some distress because of how close the three men were to him now.

"Hell, we measure you by what we can take… and that right there, that's why you should have killed us when you had the chance!" Then he chuckled yet again, and turned his back to their captive, but only enough so he could glance back at him with one of his faded green eyes,

"That doesn't mean I'm not above letting you go though. Just depends on what you can give."

"Oh… I get it." Gage laughed too, but sarcastically. He saw this coming, he really did. He just thought it would've taken a bit longer until they pulled that card on him, but Orin was desperate to give the ghost a false sense of security.

The whistler even went as far as to shrug his shoulders, raise his arms in defense, and give him a fake look of concern before he frowned, and lowered his bat so it was against his side, to make it appear that his own distress was genuine.

"Come on kid, i told you. I may be a sociopath but I also have people to protect, and nowadays… your own people are the only thing in this life that's still worth a damn."

"...You guys really want to know?" He asked them all as he put Mistletoe on his back so it's rifle strap was going across his chest diagonally, again.

The three of them nodded immediately, and Gage's reaction to it was very… different. Instead of denying it outright, or just turn invisible to start off some escape that would probably be a waste of breath… he exhaled.

Because the way he looked at it now… the Collectors were a thing of the past. He got what he wanted from them, to find out the truth about who killed his father. That's what Raven promised him when she gave him the invitation to become a member.

She told him that would be what he they would help him find, and the only reason he would decide to stay after he would find his answers… was to help Yang find her mother.

Now, that was… likely impossible to do now, or for a long time at least. Other than that, his one mission or reason to stay with the Collectors has been fulfilled, and he didn't think that keeping silent about what he's done with them was important anymore.

...So, in a way… he believed himself to be rogue, but only because it seemed like it wouldn't be too long from now until the rest of the world finds out what's really been going on. "...Alright, fine then." He replied, in a gruff, but quiet tone of voice.

"The White Fang aren't the only problem anymore. There's humans, the Chaos Syndicate, helping them, and for the last two years… the Huntsmen , Huntresses, and the people I work for, the Collectors… have been at war with them."

"Vale, the outer kingdoms, Patch… all of it's in danger, and what's going on now, is only the beginning." And then… he finally decided to lay the truth on them. Since he honestly didn't think that they had that long of a life left. "It's only a matter of time until Legends Scatter, and the world becomes filled with monsters worse than the Grimm… again."

Silence was the only thing that came after that, and Orin looked only a little unphased, but his two lackeys paced a few steps… yet still had their eyes locked on the ghost, or Owen did at least.

Greed simply sneered at him for a few seconds before awkwardly moved past Gage, and stood at the edge of the roof with his back turned, so he could just look down at all of the Grimm that were whining and moaning from below them.

"Kid-"

Eventually though, Orin looked looked down at the ground for a few seconds, lowered his cricket bat… and started to take Gage's knapsack off. Then, uncharacteristically, he took the pack off and threw it down right in front of their captive's feet, who looked up at the man feeling bewildered by this sudden change of heart. "-That was all i wanted to hear."

"...Wait, what?" Gage looked both absolutely confused and puzzled by this turn of events, but was quickly nudged by Greed, and took a step towards his pack with caution… like he thought it was about to explode or something. "Go on. Before he changes his mind!" The haggler whispered.

The ghost's eyes kept looking up at Orin and down at his knapsack for a few seconds afterwards, and when he thought that this whole thing wasn't some bullshit prank or trap… he slowly reached down, and picked it up, to feel that it was actually heavy for its size.

Soon enough the three marauders began to watch as he zipped it open, and rummaged through its contents to see if everything actually was there, and if there had been anything that he actually had forgotten about…

...But it was all there. Cynica, his throwing picks, a few grenades that he had kept after he and his friends had raided The Archive, his black Collector scroll that Orin had took… and even the two other pictures of himself and Yang that had been taken from him. All of it.

The old man wasn't lying for once, and it shocked the ghost to the point where his figure slouched as he saw all of his stuff, and he slowly closed the bag as he zipped the bag up, finally put it on his back next to Mistletoe, and looked back up at Orin, expecting him to pull something from behind his back.

"Should be all there." Yet, he didn't. The only thing he did after that was turn his back to his captive, and slung his cricket back over his shoulder once again… seemingly embarrassed by his act of kindness. "Well, all the stuff you didn't drop at least."

That was when Gage remembered Yang's ornament, and frowned again once he figured out that they hadn't taken it from him… but that expression went away as quickly as it came, because now he could go back and look for it all by himself. Or at least he thought so…

"Well… I guess there's only one last thing for me to say now."

Orin took his silence as a thanks, mostly because of how amazed Gage seemed based on the look of his eyes, and the whistler let out another small breath as his head lowered a bit, and he said one last thing to his captive… which would unknowingly create another spark in the ghost's subconscious, that would alert his mind's second occupant...

"Gage… Thank you."

"G-Gage... T-Thank -You-u."

"-ThAnK yOu!"

His red eyes went wide, his ears rang, his heart seemingly stopped… and something decided to come back to him. A distant, yet horrifying memory that he had since forgotten about, and wanted to keep buried deep inside of his mind so it would never see the light of day again.

And what it was… turned out to be the nightmare of himself and Yang that he had way back in December, during Christmas morning, and right before he had that talk with Taiyang as well.

Beacon was burning, the Amity Coliseum was in ruins, Atlesian ships were crowding the fiery night skies, and the Grimm had become an infestation… right as Gage listened to Yang's sobs, and showed him her own severed right arm.

She cried, and he did too… only for her to thank him, before darkness shrouded, surrounded, and consumed her whole, turning his beloved into a creature of darkness that would turn against and ultimately kill him.

But… that was when Gage opened his eyes again, and came to realize that the world of Remnant had stopped again… just like it did the night he fought against Doctor Cordelia, and discovered Blake's true secret.

The ground, buildings, and trees were white, the sky was bright red with the moon being a darker shade of the same color… and everyone in front of him looked to be of the same color they were portrayed to be on the inside. Owen was maroon, Greed was mint, and Orin… he was pure black.

Darkness looked to be emanating off of his body, and it looked even worse than the shade of the nearby Grimm, except the worst thing about his figure now… was that it had no face, or anything else recognizable.

No clothes, skin, facial features, indications of a build, none of it. All it looked to be was a dark mass of nothingness that was in the shape of a man… that was now aiming a weapon right at Gage.

This was when the ghost realized that his dream wasn't indicating that Yang was going to turn against him… it was telling him that whoever this black mass turned out to be, would come kill him and cause the events he had foreseen in the dream.

He wouldn't be there to try and prevent it, he wouldn't be there to save his Taiyo-chan, he wouldn't even be there to make a decision on what to save and sacrifice. All he would be… was dead. Torn to bits by the Grimm and eaten alive. Nothing more than flesh by the end of today.

...Only if he would lose to this person however, Orin Sable. And thankfully… he had Summer to give him a second chance to be ready, like he knew she was doing right now at this very moment. He just hoped that her efforts would not turn out to be for nothing.

So when the colors faded from the world of his trance, and Remnant returned to its natural shade, Gage finally had control of his own body again, became reacquainted with his surroundings, and realized that the one that would save him was currently standing right beside him, looking clueless as ever. It was Greed.

"gAgE-tHank you."

The moment Orin finished his sentence, he turned around to face the ghost, kept one hand on his cricket bat, and transformed the huge stick into a boom-stick, as it turned into its double barreled shotgun form right as he tried to aim it at his captive's head.

However, Gage had already started moving before the old man could turn completely around, and in that amount of time… he managed to wrap his metal arm around Greed's upper back, and used his other hand to sock him right in the groin, to stun him of course. "AAGH!"

The ghost then roared at them all and since Greed was facing Gage at this point, it looked like he was pulling the haggler in for what seemed to be a one armed embrace… but would soon turn out to be a death hug. "WAIT, NO-NO-NO!-" Owen screamed this as he went to forcibly lower the barrel of Orin's double barreled shotgun.

He was still too slow enough to save his friend although, as the old man pulled the trigger, and sent TWO rounds of buckshot through his lackey's aura, and into his lower back with a thunderous discharge for all things living and dead to hear,

"*BANG!*"

The force of the blasts pushed them both back a little… to the point where Gage's feet were beginning to brush the edge of the roof. He also had blood on his neck and cheek, as Greed started to cough up some… but somehow, was able to smile and try his best to push the ghost back.

And why he did this, was because below their captive was the alley filled with all of the Beowolves they had angered from earlier, who were now barking and jumping just to try and grab the ankles of their long-awaited meal.

The fact that the ghost's human shield was taller than him didn't help him either… but he was still able to hold him back from knocking him off of the roof, barely. "*cough!* ...If I'm going down, then I'm at least taking your smug-ass with me!" The half-dead haggler managed to croak out, through small breaths.

A struggle did go on for a few seconds after this, one that Gage looked to be winning at first, and right when Orin realized that he had shot Greed instead of their well established target, something other worldly happened. A little something called…

…'The Branwen Effect'.

The edge of the roof that Gage's feet were on suddenly cracked, and after a few brief moments of silent breaths coming from both men in the deadly embrace… the old stone shattered from beneath them and both of them tripped and fell backwards, separated, and landed right smack dab into the horde of Grimm.

The ghost's wide and frightened red eyes met with Orin's one last time before he went over and felt his body as it slowly became a victim of gravity, and fell for a few brief second before he put one of his hands under him to break his fall.

Then, Gage hit the ground and felt something snap or… disconnect itself from him as he landed on his back, and watched Greed as he fell on top of his lap… but it wouldn't take long until the Beowolves got to them.

There was no way out. Nowhere to go, and no more aura left for the ghost to use his semblance with. All he could do was try and crawl away as he watched the Grimm pounce on top of him and his victimized enemy, who lunged towards Gage and tried to shake him, screaming, 'get me out of here!' As frantically as humanly possible.

But… it didn't matter, as one of the wolf's claws dug into one of Greed's legs, and two nails from another paw got inside of his mouth as a third wolf just used its teeth to bite down on his shoulder before he let out a muffled scream… and all three of them pulled him apart.

They literally tore him to pieces, and ate him off of Gage. Limb from limb, tendon from tendon, with some of the dark creatures fighting over certain parts that had more flesh left on them while the ghost screamed, felt blood begin to stain his body again, and let tears run down his cheeks for the first time since he left Yang…

...And then he started to think about her, in his desperation. He simply cried out, and laid his head back against the ground so he could look up at the bright and yellow sun above him one last time… right as he felt the Beowolves as their claws rubbed against his skin, and began to tear at his clothes.

He… simply kept his eyes planted on the one thing he wanted while his expression became blank again with his tears continuously running down from the sides of his eyes, and came to rest on the concrete his head was laid on.

That was until the Grimm swarmed, and eventually stood over him as they descended onto his body with growls and munching heard all around him, and they soon blocked anything else from being seen by his now silver eyes. The sun grew smaller and smaller until it looked like a light at the end of a tunnel, and then it was blocked out completely. It just disappeared.

The light faded and died, and now the only thing that was left for Gage to witness, was the darkness… again.