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

38. Rise Up

Author's Note: Not going to say a thing about that last chapter, no siree, instead I'm just gonna give a shout out instead, which will be my last one for a while since I don't want to add a second A/N at the end of any upcoming chapters.

The author of this story has been a fan for while, and i honestly should have shared his story before i chose to temporarily stop doing shoutouts. But besides that, if y'all like OC & Team stories, then i'd highly suggest for you guys to go ahead and check out RWBY: ENRG by my friend. Arrekusu.

This story tells the adventures of Evan Attai, Neel Calfuray, Red Calfuray, and Grey Brenin-Llwyd, along with Team RWBY at their side. Btw, he has 15 chapters so far, so i'd go ahead and check him out before that number gets any bigger!

Oh, and not to pull away from that unexpectedly, but I have to say this too, and I know I'm late on doing this…

R.I.P. Chester Bennington.

I've been listening to your music throughout my years as a teenager, and I hope that whatever troubles you had before have been put to rest. You'll be truly missed by many others than just myself. Also just to bring more light to that, I've even hidden some of the lyrics to one of Linkin Park's songs throughout this specific story, as that same song is the chosen song for the final chapter of Desertion: Part Two.

Song: Through The Valley by Shawn James

…

~Where are those happy days, they seem so hard to find… I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind…~

Back at Beacon, Yang was in Gage's dorm, sleeping… in his bed, and on his own side too. She did this because she had just finished her classes for the day and didn't want to go back to an empty dorm that was usually full all the time, as the rest of her Team were out looking for him this very second…

She would of course be out there too if it weren't for the injuries she sustained, and the fact that General Ironwood's Atlesian Knights pretty much kept her from leaving the Academy.

So instead of doing that, the blonde chose to stay behind, compile all of her teammate's class assignments that they would be absent for, attend her own stressful classes with her injuries, and she of course had to keep on the whole, 'happy but still lonely' girlfriend act for everyone else who didn't know about her current situation.

It was unbelievably painful just to lay there and close her eyes without shedding a tear, but she also had to keep her reputation in tact… so she was happy she still had Gage's own dorm to herself for some private time, even if it did break her heart everytime she didn't see him in it there with her.

Now, she was of course still sleeping in Gage's bed, but she was also still fully dressed in her school outfit and was listening to S.O.S. by Abba on her lover's old scroll while a single metal crutch was leaned up against the bed frame… and the brown stuffed bear Gage got Yang for her birthday was laying right in front of her.

~Whatever happened to our love?! ...I wish I understood. It used to be so nice, it use to be so good…~

She had sat it down in front of her earlier on the opposite side of the bed, and just kept her eyes on it as she fell asleep to his own music while it blasted through her earbuds. Soon enough though… Yang began to wake up again, thanks to the music.

"Mmm…" she stirred a bit, and soon enough she found herself opening her eyes again to the sight of that same brown stuffed bear, which could probably be interpreted as her current, 'substitute' for you know who. "Damn it, why this song out of all things?"

The blonde was laying on her side with her arms in a position that pretty much made it look like she was trying to hug herself, while her legs were slightly bent and her shoes were off.

After her lilac eyes blinked one more time, she turned her attention towards the stuffed brown bear in front of her, reached over to it's small left arm, and gripped it gently as she let out a tired sigh.

Funny thing about the bear, was that Gage had decided to wrap it's left arm in duct tape, and just colored it with a dark green sharpie a few days before he had left her, saying that it 'looked more authentic' when Yang asked him why he chose to do it.

"...Why did you have to do this to me? First you die and come back to me… only to do this afterwards..."

He always did have a weird sense of humor when it came to his missing arm, but he was still able to take any insults about himself better than Yang ever did, and that was one thing that the blonde like about him so much.

Not that he was able to joke about himself freely, but that he was able to control his own actions better, and was also able to help her do the same. But, that fact made Yang very angry, a lot more than she would usually get too.

Because in that sense, him leaving her was something that he thought about, over and over again, in that small amount of time that he had, until he became certain that it was the right thing to do.

So he left her. He left his awestruck, scared, and injured girlfriend behind to try and cope with the aftermath of that night all by herself, while he went out on a soul-searching journey alone, or something just as equally stupid in her mind.

And now, because of what Gage did… her Care-bear was somewhere in the vastness of the Valean Countryside, alone with god knows who going after him along with her uncle Qrow, and both parties mostly likely had a bone to pick with him.

Yang covered her eyes then, and let out a small breath as she finally leaned up off the bed, and chose to sit criss crossed in front of the small smiling Care-bear… while it just kept looking ahead, absent of any type of consolation that she needed.

~So when you're near me, darling can't you hear me? S. O. S. ! The love you gave me, nothing else can save me-S. O. S. !~

The song fit her current feelings perfectly, too perfect in fact, and Yang hated every second that she had to listen to the thing… it making her think back to him, and all the things he did with her, and what she wanted to do with him after they were to come back from the Archive.

Maybe Gage would have finally given into her demands and decide to take a break for three months like she had asked him to back january, and thus opening endless possibilities for them both.

Their first Valentines Day, maybe a day at the beach and a potential beach chapter from me to go along with it, sleeping safely with him during the night, him possibly creating another at-home date for that wouldn't result in drunken escapades, or maybe even watching him as he went on to get that team he had been wanting for so long, or just… anything else that made them feel normal again.

That was all Yang wanted to do with him after their last mission, and there was still a lot more things that she had thought up since before she realized that they would most likely not happen… because he was gone.

Those lost potential memories filled her with rage as she sat there on his bed, with his present just sitting there in front of her and watched as the blonde's hair glowed, and it's ends looked like they had caught on fire, all while her lilac eyes turned red… and a growl started to emanate from deep within her lungs.

~When you're gone, how can i, even try to go on?! When you're gone, though i try, how can i carry on?!~

"Y… You're…" Yang shut her eyes, gripped her knees tightly as her hands rested on her own kneecaps, and soon just ripped out her earbuds before she gripped the stuffed bear's body tightly, "...YOU'RE SUCH AN ASSHOLE!" And then she threw it at Gage's closed closet doors.

She threw it over handedly with an unbelievable amount of force while her palm caught on fire thanks to her aura, and the stuffed animal eventually hit the closet with a loud, "*WHAM!*" echoing throughout the room.

Somehow, the toy managed to dent the metal closet door and fell onto the floor with the right side of it's body singed and slightly burned, with it being slightly on fire, but not at an alarming size. Though, what Yang didn't know was that the bear had a small voice box in it's stomach, which would play a recording that Gage had left for her to hear every time she squeezed it's belly,

"Love you!"

It said that back to her, in his voice of course… and it snapped the blonde out of her rampage instantly, causing her to open her eyes again and look down at the stuffed bear. "SHUT-"

And she lowered her voice right when she saw that the flame that was slowly burning the bear was starting to spread, which brought her red eyes to turn back to their normal shade before she quickly shuffled over to it, and picked it up off of the ground.

The blonde picked it up and held it like a baby while she used her other hand to frantically pat the flame before it went out, and she just sighed heavily and sniffled yet again as it faded. "*sniffle* ...Shut up…"

When the stuffed bear seemed to be safe again, Yang held it in both of her arms and looked down at it sadly as she frowned, and closed her eyes again as she hugged it for the first time. "Why did you have to do this to me? ...i can barely be without you for a week, and you know this!"

"...You don't have to be a hero for me." The blonde stood still there for a few moments afterwards despite the pain in her leg, and continued to hold her lover's now slightly- blackened present as she still held it against her chest tightly, "...I'm okay with it, because i know that you think that i'm one of the good things in this world, and that you need me to change you, but…

"...I just wish you could realize that you're one of the good things too. That's why I need you to come back, so you can be there in case I become anything different..."

"Agh! L… Love you!"

During her rambling, she managed to hug the thing hard enough to the point where it played another recording… but this one sounded different than the one that had played for Yang only moments before.

That, was because this one sounded like how the ghost would respond to one of the blonde's killer bear-hugs, with a caring, appreciative, but an also painful-sounding 'I love you', which… thankfully made her frown go away.

"Hmph…" She soon found herself holding the bear out in front of herself before she wiped one of her eyes, and just shook her head as she booped the stuffed bear's belly with the tip of her index finger, "...You're lucky that I think that's funny." She whispered to it again.

The toy still kept smiling at her, so Yang just pressed her finger against it's stomach one more time before she tossed the thing back onto her bed, crossed her arms as she looked over at Gage's closet, and felt… a new feeling wash over her.

It wasn't sadness, or guilt. No… it was something in between, like she knew that there was something alarming going on that was beyond serious, but it wasn't happening to her, she could only feel it's presence.

A few more minutes of this went by, and the feeling of paranoia went away as well, but she could still feel that presence… not of something, but someone. Someone, that she was very familiar with.

Whoever it was seemed to screw up her sense of direction as well, and soon enough the blonde found herself turned towards her lover's closest and staring at it only to see one thing, and one thing only hanging inside of it.

It was Gage's old sage leather jacket. The one he always use to wear before his accident, before he lost his arm at the hand of both the White Fang and the Chaos Syndicate. It was also the same one that he chose to stop wearing afterwards, even though Yang and Pyrrha tried their best to fix it up for him.

It just hung there, stiff thanks how long it had been without anyone to wear it over their body, even the blonde herself… but that was only because he had ceased to wear it ever again.

She remembered wondering why he had stopped doing such a thing when it was favorite color, and it could have been because of the cold weather if Gage hadn't worn his suede jacket out all the time right before his departure, when it was starting to become hot outside regularly.

It was weird to her, even now when she looked at it up and down. It looked perfectly fine to her, but only when it was in the closet, as after she took it out and held it in her arms… she could see a big reason as to why would choose not to wear it anymore.

There weren't any stains, burn marks, and it certainly wasn't completely rugged looking. But… it was almost missing its left sleeve entirely, since it had been ripped off and bloodied in the explosion that had blown Gage's arm off.

At the time Yang and Pyrrha had made the decision to not re-attach the sleeve because they thought it would be easier for him to tie up in case he wouldn't get a prosthetic from the Atlesian Military, but obviously that wasn't what happened.

So Yang thought about it for a little bit, and put on the jacket before she limped over to her lover's old desk and opened its bottom drawer, where she had put the piece of fabric after it was recovered and washed profusely.

But when she opened the drawer with her left hand… she saw that what remained of the left sleeve barely even covered her left shoulder, and it was uneven. It would look absolutely stupid on someone, like a half vest or something.

...And it would draw attention to that specific arm. Gage was also adamant about not drawing attention to his missing limb when he first got out of the hospital, so now… it was obvious as to why he didn't want to wear it anymore.

It would have shown everyone his prosthetic, nearly make it a highlight, or just a very noticeable feature on his figure, and on top of everything else… it was a constant reminder of his failure, and even his death. Who would want to remember such a thing every single day?

Yang realized this, and immediately took the thing off as she held that under her right arm, and the separated left sleeve in her left palm before she gripped it tightly, and looked around the room one last time before she spoke to it openly… like her lover was somewhere inside of it, hiding from her.

"...You're not even here and I'm still going out of my way to do this for you! So you better be damn appreciative of me when I find you!"

The blonde knew it would be a little bit until she would be able to go out and search again… but not that long, as she had Weiss look up and order something that would later help her if things were to escalate within the next week or two.

However, it has yet to arrive, so all Yang could do now was limp over to her single crutch and put it under her left arm as she looked over at Gage's stuffed bear one last time, and started to slowly make her way over towards the dorm's front door.

"*sigh* ...And you're welcome in advance, dumbo..."

If only she knew how much her lover was suffering at this moment…

…

Back In Tsūro...

…

"*BARK!* *BARK!*"

"*GROWL!*"

The sounds of the Grimm were still very audible to Orin and Owen as they both looked down at the creatures of darkness from the roof of the diner where Greed and Gage were also standing on top of only a few minutes ago.

Now, half of their group was down in that small alley and were absolutely silent as the Beowolves could be heard chewing away at open flesh and bare bones, feasting on the two meals they were given... Or at least one of them.

"He's… gone." Owen sighed as he looked down at the bloodied wolves, and was beginning to mourn Greed, while Orin did the same in his own way, "I mean, sure he deserved something like that… but not this soon."

"And it was an accident… *sigh*"

They both just stood there with their weapons held at their sides respectively for their fallen friend, not even thinking about Gage at all. Though, it wasn't like they were going to stay up there any longer.

Orin soon just exhaled, shrugged, and put his double barrel shotgun on his back as he turned towards the other side of the building, where there were no longer any grimm thanks to how much noise the Gage and Greed made during their fall, "Welp, time to make our escape!"

Strangely though, Owen didn't think about leaving. He wanted to stay and maybe take his frustration out on the beowolves, along with numerous other things for him to deal with personally….

"You go. I'm going to make use of that dust we took, and make sure that the kid still isn't in one piece!"

"Good luck 'O'." The head skinwalker smirked at his persistence, and just chuckled as he jumped back down in the middle of the small gap that was in between the diner and gunsmith, and started to lightly jog away towards the front gate of the small town, "And don't take too long, gotta get the others moving towards Keji the minute I get back there!'

Then once he was sure his voice couldn't be heard anymore, the old man busted through the gate and was headed back down the same road that they were on nearly half an hour ago, towards Ileana, Riley, and Alizarin's small camp so he could inform them of the 'bad news'.

As for Owen? Well, he just unsheathed his red machete once again, and jumped the gap between the two buildings so he could open the hatch on the top of the gun store's roof, and climb back down inside of it…

…

…

…

Gage's eyes flurried, but still couldn't see anything than the color black while his ears rang, and he stood absolutely still as it felt like the Beowolves were purposely playing with him… since he felt their claws graze against his right arm and face more than once, making small but not serious incisions.

He… was in shock, to put it lightly. He was hyperventilating with those dried tears in his eyes, and couldn't even bear to look down at himself, as he could feel something red soak into the lower half of his black shirt.

Hell, if he could last five more minutes in this state, he would probably begin to laendede tune to S.O.S. as well… but he didn't plan on it, as he couldn't feel any pain coming from his lower half.

He just couldn't move for some reason, even though he wanted to fight back this very minute. "H… Horror." He whispered, hoarsely with a slightly open mouth and wide silver eyes that… slowly let a small droplets of blood seep out of them again.

"...The horror..." Gage thought he was trying to say something different, or at least stay quiet before the Grimm could finish up with Greed's remains and move onto his body. He couldn't even control his own actions anymore.

All he could do was watch as the darkness seemed to slowly fade out, and he was finally able to see that there were only two of the wolves near him, but they were turned away and were nearly crouched on top of both his legs while they were peeling the flesh off of two separate bones…

...But that, and the loud noise that came afterwards, was enough for him to blink, lean his head back up, and snap him back into reality. "Sh...

"*YOWL!*"

The screech of the Manticore then echoed through the alleyway he was in, and the sound of it made him jump… along with the Beowolves, as they lowered their bits of Greed and roared back at their alpha at the same time.

It sounded like… they did it in protest. Like a child whining at an adult or ruining their fun. This caused the pack to stand up off of Gage, who immediately started to back away from the creatures of darkness once their backs were turned.

The ghost panicked, turned his body so his chest was against the ground, and was about to use both of his arms to push himself off of the ground… but he couldn't get up. His leg wasn't broken, and he hadn't been disemboweled either. Gage's upper and lower body were perfectly fine because the blood that had covered him wasn't even his.

The only thing that was wrong with him right now… was that his prosthetic was lying on the floor with his knapsack, right next to his feet. That was the thing he felt snap and disconnect from his body, so now he only had Javix, one hand, and a stump to fight these creatures off... Thanks Qrow.

"...SHIT!"

Once he realized this, Gage frantically planted his one arm on the concrete under him, and pushed back on it so he could be launched upwards and onto his knees as he turned his head around, and stared at the two Beowolves as they too looked back at him, and made eye contact.

Then, they watched each other intensely for a few moments, with the two pairs of eyes blinking twice before the two Grimm let out a loud roar… but were immediately interrupted, as Gage flinched, gritted his teeth, and let his silver eyes turn back to their red color as he put his hand on Javix's handle, and unsheathed it.

The one on the left went for the ghost as soon as he pulled his kukri out, with it swiping one set of it's claws towards his face… but he was ready for it, and turned his body to the right so he could dodge it, and cut the Beowulf's snout off with a downwards slash as it passed him.

"*GROWL!*" It yelped in pain and put its paws in front of its face before Gage huffed, changed his knife's position in his hand, and just stabbed it in the back of the head, killing it.

He didn't have time to stop and make sure that the previous blow was a killing one, and the ghost breathed heavily again as he turned towards the second Grimm and combat rolled under it as it tried to grab onto his shoulders.

Missing an arm made him a little bit harder to latch onto, but it also made it hard for him to keep his grip steady on Javix's hilt so it wouldn't fall out of his grasp by accident.

That didn't deter his adrenaline rush however, and once he passed under the beast's arms, the ghost turned and slashed it's ankle in half before it fell flat onto the ground in front of him, and he just finished it off with a downwards stab to the top of its skull.

After he pulled it back out, his two kills were already beginning to dissipate, so he exhaled and was about to start to feel at least some relief… until he looked up, and only saw MORE Grimm begin to spill into the alley.

Three more beowolves came in to be specific, with the rest of the pack waiting outside… like they wanted to watch rather than have a chance to try and catch their prey, and the sight of them only agitated Gage even further. "Rrrgh…"

Obviously, the Grimm didn't listen, as two more only came towards him while the third blocked the exit to the alley… so these ones were clearly smarter, and older than any of the dark creatures the ghost has encountered before.

But he still couldn't stop now. He had to keep fighting, even if the odds weren't in his favor. So Gage panted and shook his head with a narrowed brow, took one step forwards, and then another as he started to charge towards the two dark monsters, him now choosing to go on the offence.

The ghost moved closer with his Kukri at his side and just when he thought he was close enough to launch himself at the thing, he launched himself to the right of the creature on the same side, and somehow curved and planted his feet on the right side of the alley wall so he could run along it and push himself even closer.

He got an inch or two off of the ground before he felt the bottom of his shoes slide downwards against the brick wall, but that small amount of height was all that he needed.

Gage launched himself towards the beast, and sliced it's face horizontally as he passed it and… the suddenly creature stopped dead in its tracks, and leaned it's head to the side before the top half of it's skull looked like it was peeled backwards, and fell backwards onto the ground.

And once it's body titled and flopped onto the floor, Gage turned around so he could go for the other Beowulf… but was stopped as it pretty much backhanded his face with it's paw, and sent him flying back into the front of a dumpster that was located at the end of the alley.

He groaned in pain, and turned to lay down on his chest again as Javix landed on the ground next to him, and he just tiredly picked it before he lifted his head off of the ground, and looked up at the Grimm as it slowly moved towards him.

It probably thought that this was an easy meal, that the fight was already said and done… but that wasn't the case at all, as the Grimm only managed to get about half of the way towards Gage before he groaned in pain, changed Javix into it's revolver form, lazily raised it until it was leveled well with the wolf's head, and just blew it's brains out.

He knew he only had around eight revolver rounds left to use, but he couldn't let himself be out of commission for too long, or else more Grimm would come in without being noticed. Frankly, he just stopped caring about conserving.

The now brainless Beowulf fell forwards with a thud, and the ghost took in a deep breath to try and compose himself… but it didn't work, so he just used his one hand and pressed Javix's barrel against the ground so it could be easier to help himself get up again.

After he was able to get back on one knee, the ghost looked ahead at the entrance to the alley and could see the third wolf of the second wave waiting there, with it's two paws pressed against both sides of the alley, to block him from leaving.

This Grimm's head was exposed though, and Gage was feeling more than ready to waste another one of his rounds again… but before he could raise his revolver, another ear piercing screech was heard and then something strange happened not even a second later.

The final Beowulf turned it's head to it's left and barked rabidly at something for a few more seconds before another Grimm rushed, and used it's head to ram the wolf out of Gage's view, like a rhino would do to small boar.

But this Grimm was no rhino. It let out another screece as the wulf whimpered and was pushed away, and then… the bigger creature turned it's body towards the alley, and stared into it, it's eyes planted directly on the ghost. That, was when he saw that it was their alpha, the Manticore

Gage stood up completely and stayed absolutely still, almost as stiff as a board while his heart rate and breaths started to increase rapidly. It was so bad, that he moved and turned his hand so he could cover his mouth with the back of his one hand, while he still held Javix in it as well.

In his mind, if he stayed still then she wouldn't see him for a little bit, and he was still covered in Greed's blood so it would be harder to smell him too… but the lion could still sense Gage's grief and fear.

"...*chitter*..." The huge creature started to take slow steps towards the ghost, and he was about to cautiously aim his revolver towards her skull until he remembered that she had armor on the upper half of her head.

"I'm fucked… I-I'm so fucked!" He thought to himself as he tried to keep his mouth shut, and his teeth from chattering due to his anxiety.

Gage knew he could kill it… but not with Javix. Going for it's brain was pointless now, and slicing The Manticore's throat would be too risky, not to mention it would only die slower. The place he needed to go for was the back end of top of her mouth, right under the front of the brain.

To do that with his kukri though would be impossible. He would have to purposely allow for her to pounce on him, and use the beast's momentum to stab upwards into her mouth. That was too much effort for him right now… but it wouldn't be if he used Cynica, which… was still inside of his knapsack.

He looked down and to his right to see that it was next to his right foot, and he planted that on top of it so he could pull the pack closer towards himself, which he did… but not without attracting even more attention towards himself.

Javix was holstered briefly, and the ghost made sure that every single move of his was as quiet as possible while he crouched down and began to unzip the bag slowly.

When he got it partially open, he looked up and saw that the Manticore was still over by the mouth of the alley, and that it was still sniffing the air so he was safe for the next few seconds, which he used to slowly reach inside of the bag and… accidentally grasped Cynica by it's blades, cutting his palm deeply.

"RRGH, FUC- ...*sharp inhale* … *shaky breath*…" He whimpered.

The ghost bowed his head and became closer and closer to crying out in pain as he grasped the thing tighter, and slowly took it out of his knapsack as he got down on both of his knees now… however, he also managed to set his other foot right on top of his prosthetic right before he went to stand up.

It scraped backwards against the ground and made him stumble forwards, causing him to accidentally press his right arm down onto the ground to catch himself thanks to his muscle memory, and he pretty much slammed his hand back down onto the blades as a result. Again, thanks Qrow.

And that, was his breaking point. "AAAGH! FUCK!" He screamed this at the top of his lungs and nearly broke his voice as the blades cut his hand open, and blood started to pour down past his wrist. He couldn't even try to stop it either, because it was his ONLY. USABLE. HAND.

Gage honestly could have cracked his teeth because of how hard they were gritted, but he quickly realized that being stealthy would no longer help him, as the Manticore instantly caught onto where he was when he screamed.

"*SNARL!*"

The Grimm's bellow nearly made the brick walls surrounding them both shake and vibrate, and once its mouth closed… it started to charge him with both its teeth and claws bared. The ghost let out a few panicked gasps as he painfully drew Javix again and frantically managed to fire two shots off, even though he knew it would end up doing nothing.

As predicted, the two bullets were caught by the lion's boned face armor, and it just pounced at Gage ferociously as he took a step back and fell onto his back, with his fear finally beginning to take its toll on his body.

The back of his head landed right in front of the dumpster, and both of the Manticore's paws slammed down onto the top of the trash container, barely blocking it's claws from making any contact with the ghost's flesh. Thankfully, the sudden episodes of Bad Luck weren't restricted to just anyone.

That didn't deter the large beast either though, as she leaned her head down and started to rapidly snap her jaws at him in an attempt to rip his head straight off of his shoulders, but he wasn't going to let that happen, as he was now beyond scared straight. Straight back into action, that is.

He huffed, wrapped his thumb, pinky, and ring finger around his revolver's grip while his index and middle finger was pressed against the side of Javix's barrel. Then, he shouted back at the thing, and smashed the bottom of his pistol's metal frame against Grimm's armored fangs that were already protecting its mouth.

They were smashed into pieces, and bled all over the ghost, with some of the lion's slobber mixed in there. She was beyond angry now, but wasn't blinded by her rage entirely just yet, which allowed her to take note that this human was already injured, as it was already missing an arm... So why not go for the other one?

She roared at him with malice, blood, and spit spewing from her teeth, and waited until he swung Javix at her again. Then, she lifted her head up, and sunk her actual teeth deep into his forearm.

The manticore didn't just dig into his skin either, she shook her head while her teeth were still embedded within the flesh of his arm, and the Grimm also managed to get one of her paws free before she clawed at his chest, and scraped her nails lightly, and diagonally across him from his left shoulder and to the lower right side of his stomach.

"AAAAAH!"

Gage could feel the teeth inside of him, and the blood on his arm only became thicker as he clenched his fist and wrapped his legs around the beast's head before he squeezed and pushed it's head back with his thighs in a desperate attempt to pull it's fangs out of him.

Somehow it would actually work, but the Manticore retaliated by using it's other claws to dig into the ghost's right thigh, but at this point his adrenaline numbed him so he wouldn't feel it until later.

Still though, he got his arm free again, and the second the lion's teeth became unlatched from his skin the ghost growled loudly and blindly fired a second round from Javix, which turned out to be aimed right at the Manticore's chest.

This caused the Grimm to struggle her way out of the grasp of the ghost's legs before she took a few steps back from him as the monster looked away and tried to walk off that bullet by walking in a small circle while it just let out two small whimpers, that soon turned into loud and vicious snarls once again… like it was building itself up for one final attack.

However, Gage was able to get back onto his feet again the moment the large Grimm was able to break free, and he just stood there for a few seconds as he caught his breath, and stared down at Cynica and picked it up so he could place it on his one, blood stained arm.

And the gauntlet didn't look anything special either other than the two jagged,slightly curved and retractable spring-blades that laid on top the user's hand. It was pretty much just a frame of one with a small open top that went over the user's wrist and forearm, with it not even reaching halfway towards his elbow.

All it had other than that, was two small leather straps that would go under the user's arm and be tied over the top, like you would a belt. It also had four little rings at the front of the gauntlet that he would have to slide every finger into, aside from the thumb, and it's metal frame outlined his whole right hand since there were no armor plates whatsoever.

None of this mattered though, as Gage had it set and painfully locked in place on top of his wounds… but that wouldn't stop him from doing whatever had to. This was a battle for his life that was not that far away from ending, and he knew that if he's able to kill this one Grimm, then the rest of the nearby pack wouldn't dare to challenge him thanks to their age and intelligence.

Now, the two of them both just stood in line with each other at each end of the alleyway.

Gage was still standing at the back of the alley, slouched in his combat stance with a slightly ripped-open shirt while he was panting and felt exhausted as small droplets of blood fell from the fingertips of his one arm, and the Manticore just stood there on all fours at the alleyway's entrance… watching him.

"*pant* …Do it!" This small cease of action went on for longer than it seemed though, and it made the ghost angry again, thinking that the big dark dumb cat forgot where he was standing before. So he just glared and huffed at the Grimm so he could get her attention yet again,

"*pant* ...Come on! Kill me! Kill me right here, right fucking now! I died once already, and I'm not afraid to do it again!"

The beast subsequently let out another roar as her response, and that was when she scraped her front right paw against the pavement before she set it back in line, and began to charge the ghost with all of her might. Yet, this just urged Gage to tighten his jaw, and shout at the Grimm once again as he took a step back, "COME ON!"

"*ROAR!*"

The Manticore ran at him, with her teeth and claws bared yet again as he felt something wash over him, something that he had felt before, but only very recently. It was confidence, and clarity… but this time it wasn't his own, as he was feeling the exact opposite way before that instance.

He even began to feel rejuvenated, like his bleeding arm wasn't in absolute pain at all anymore. It was numb instead and the reason why this was happening… was because Summer's White aura was beginning to flow over and outline his body as that same white glow started to reflect off of him, the same one that consumed him right before he dismantled Cordelia's Atlesian Paladin.

The color white looked to have set him and his aura ablaze, and he didn't even notice it as his skin became pale and his red eyes glowed even brighter, all while he looked ahead and watched as The Manticore was now half the distance from him, and soon launched itself off of the ground so it could try and pounce on top of him again.

This was exactly what he had been waiting for. This was the angle he needed to deliver that killing blow that he had planned, and it seemed like his bad luck was finally beginning to fade, or it just rubbed off on this beast instead.

So… Gage's eyes enlarged, and he roared back at the beast as loudly as he possibly could before he stayed completely still, and clenched his fist. Then, the Manticore slammed into him, sinking it's right claw into his left shoulder and it's left into his back, but this didn't stop him from doing what he had to so this fight could finally come to an end.

Even if he would have to lose his other arm as a result of the battle, he didn't care. He just had to keep doing what he's been trying to do since the start of his new quest… survive. The Manticore had a tight grasp on his aching body, which was exactly what the lioness was trying to achieve after all of the intense few minutes of their struggle.

She was now face to face with the ghost as her nails dug into him like six small oversized needles, and she let out another loud screech aimed directly at him before her mouth opened even wider than that of a regular lion or person, like a something straight out of a nightmare, revealing her big pearly white fangs to Gage as she leaned in towards him closer.. and closer.

But, of course, this was what he had anticipated. It was exactly what he wanted from her, and she may have been smart about carefully stalking and wearing down her prey before killing it…

"RGH-" Yet, that choice would end up being the Manticore's one fatal flaw, as Gage soon just clenched his fist as hard as he could, and caused Cynica's two blades to extend outwards before he turned his arm, and went in for the killing blow by throwing his fist upwards in an uppercut type of motion, so it would be sent directly into the Grimm's mouth. "-GRAAAGH!"

The ghost sent his fist inside of the Manticore's oral cavity as far as he possibly could before Cynica's blades made contact with the roof of the creature's mouth, and they went right through the middle half of the lion's skull until the ends of the two bloody blades emerged out the top of her head, which was enough to breaking her face's armor plates and scramble the front part of her brain.

And the result took effect on the monster instantly, as Gage suddenly felt both of her paws go limp and release her grip on his body before they fell and he watched the Manticore stop moving completely. Then, he pushed his fist up higher until he could feel his knuckles touch the top of the Grimm's mouth, and only that was when he chose to retract the gauntlet's blades.

...The beast was slain, and the small fight was over. The Manticore just let out one tiny squeak before it fell and laid on it's side for a few seconds, allowing for the ghost to stare down at it and gasp tiredly with relief as it pretty much exploded into black smoke, and eventually dissipated from existence entirely.

It was dead… but Gage couldn't process it correctly at first. His head kept spinning and spinning, and it wasn't because of the fact that he had just survived an attempt on his life with literally one hand. The ghost just couldn't comprehend everything that he was experiencing right then and there.

He was scared only a few seconds prior, and now he was safe again, relieved that the thing was finally dead… but that was until he looked up from the ground and saw that the walls and floor had been coated with Greed's blood and guts, with some of his innards even sticking to the walls.

He wanted to throw up because of what he was seeing… yet, he also wanted to cry because of the shock, scream because of his pain, and lastly, he wanted to go and kill Orin for the hell he had just planned to put him through. But, Gage still continued to stand there within that bloody alleyway, shaking, panting, sweating, and bleeding from what felt like everywhere… until all of that created a boiling point from deep inside of his soul. "R-R… Rrrr…."

It even drew him to madness as he felt Summer's white aura flared blindingly and glowed like a dying star as Cynica was dropped onto the ground, and he just clenched his fist as hard as humanly possible before his red eyes reverted to their silver color again, and he let out one final cry of angst and anger as his pupils nearly outshined the sun.

"...ERRRAAAAAAAAGH!"

Some sort of blast followed this cry, echoing throughout the village, and all that could be seen by the ghost was a blinding white flash before he felt his body finally give out from stress, and soon enough... everything went black for him, yet again.

…

15 Minutes Later…

…

"Gage?! Gage, can you hear me?!"

Time passed while Gage remained unconscious, but eventually he heard Summer's voice make its way back into his mind, which caused him to hyperventilate with exasperation as he opened his eyes again and could see that he was still inside that same alleyway he was trapped in.

"*pant* …*pant*" He was laying in it, sat down with his back pressed against the dumpster while Cynica, Javix, his prosthetic, and his knapsack were all lying on the ground in front of his feet while his head was tilted a bit and his arm remained limp in a small pool of blood. "...Summer?"

"*sigh* ...Thank god." Him questioning her name earned a sigh of relief from the motherly phantom, and they both started to feel relieved as her courier's heartbeat started to become regulated once again, despite his injuries. "I thought I almost lost you to that… thing." She whispered to him.

Then, she took note of their surroundings, as Gage looked ahead and saw the bloody mess the Grimm had still left behind from earlier, which made her think about and reflect on the ghost's current amount of distress. Summer didn't even want to try and remember it herself, and she didn't even experience it.

"Whoa... Gage, what happened here?"

Gage felt groggy, and his eyes were feeling a lot more tired than they usually would when he would wake up from small cat naps, but he was still conscious enough to remember the horrors of what happened not that long ago, "I-I… I don't want to talk about it..." He replied shakily, sounding like he was close to have a panic attack by just thinking about it. "Okay..."

"...Where did you go?-" He asked this in return and tried to lean up from where he was sitting, but was immediately thrown off by how much damage his body had sustained. "-Agh!"

"I had to retreat, in a way. That whack to the head rattled you a little, and may have… knocked a few of my own screws loose too."

He thought back a little and did remember a few strange things come from her before her voice disappeared, like calling Raven a bitch, rambling about how their own debacle would affect Yang, and… her mentioning Ozpin as well.

"And here I was, thinking that I was the crazy one…" Gage mumbled audibly through small pants. That was when he finally looked down at himself, and was expecting some sort of bloody mess or that he was mortally wounded… but there was nothing of the sort. " F… *huff* ...Fuck!"

Most of his visible skin was stained with dirt and grime while his black short was pretty much one tug away from having the front of it opened completely, as there were three diagonal tears in it that had been made by the Manticore.

Besides that, the bottom of his right pant leg was ripped along with the left shoulder of his shirt, and it also looked like his prosthetic had some of the sage colored paint scratched off of it, revealing the faded silver color of it's metal casing. He also only figured that out after he fell onto his side and pretty much crawled so he could reach for it.

"Yeah well, you're also welcome for not bleeding to death due to the after-effects of your semblance." Summer replied, with her voice sounding like she would be crossing her arms at this moment if Gage could actually see her. "Because believe me when I say this, if I hadn't stepped in, then you would have died the night we met Orin."

That small sentence made the ghost stop in his tracks completely as he lifted his prosthetic arm off of the ground, and lowered it so he could look down at his right arm to see that it had somehow stopped bleeding. "W… Wait, you cured my semblance defect?" Gage asked her, feeling confused by her previous words.

"What? No! Instead I just… tried my best to let my astral form take your pain, even though that obviously wouldn't work well, or even at all. But hey, it still reduced the effects! ...Kind of."

This earned a sigh from him before he put his prosthetic arm once again, and winced as he could feel it make contact with his body's nerves like it had done numerous times before, though this time it hurt a lot more than usual.

"*huff* ...Sounds like you've been busy..."

"Not as busy as you."

The ghost went to raise himself off of the ground with his wounded hand, and nearly screamed again as it felt like the limb was one blow away from breaking due to how powerful the jaws of the Manticore were against his flesh. The wound may have stopped bleeding, but the bone had still been damaged by force of the beast's bite.

And when he felt it, he switched arms and got back onto his feet before he stood up straight and turned his right arm so he could just stare down at the open red bite mark on his arm, and the cut on his palm as well.

Gage didn't think it was anything serious on the outside, as the beast's two bottom fangs thankfully didn't actually sink into his arm, with them instead scraping some skin off the side of his forearm. And the Grimm weren't really known for transferring anything through the bites they would leave on their victims. (at least to my knowledge)

So he just grasped his wounded wrist tightly, and figured he'd need a cast and a rabies shot as soon as he got back to civilization, whenever that would be. However, that was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

"Hey… *exhale* ...What was that flash that happened before i passed out?"

What he didn't know though, was how… big that specific question would turn out being in the long run, for everyone. Me, you, him, all of them, it was unclear. "That… was the gift of the Silver Eyed Warriors." But Summer didn't care about this, and she answered without nearly any hesitation.

Silver eyes? He didn't have silver eyes, the only people he knew that did were Summer and Ruby, and even then he'd never heard anything similar about the trait, other than it was a very rare trait… though, Gage only heard about that through personal history lessons since he had a secret interest in the old-world legends and the supernatural.

Because of that however, he knew what the Silver Eyed Warriors were and who they use to be, at least from the old legends that were told about them.

Before the time of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, and the Great War, those born with silver eyes were always said to live the life of a warrior, a Silver Eyed Warrior, and that because of that trait… they would be the ones to help bring humanity out of Remnant's dark ages with the discovery of dust and the eventual formation of the four kingdoms and the Huntsman Academies.

They've been here since the beginning, and their numbers have been dwindling throughout the years, making their iconic trait become even more vast in its rarity… but that was all it was. A trait, something one was born with… so how did Gage have this now when he was one year away from being in his twenties?

"What?-then, how… I... I don't have silver eyes!"

"...You might want to check again."

Her response made Gage shake in place for a few seconds, feeling like he was being played with or that this was some bad joke that the phantom managed to pull on him… but what would be her reason for it, he thought. So the ghost did the only thing he could.

He painfully reached down for his pack and unzipped it, took out his black Collector's scroll, and wiped his screen clean from any dirt or dust so it was clear… and that was when he saw his his own eyes. His bright, partially glowing silver eyes. Hell, they almost looked white by how bright they were!

"G… G-Gage… w-why are your eyes like mine?!"

Gage could remember Ruby asking this the night he left them, right after he had his first out of body experience, but originally he just thought that the stress of the situation was screwing with her head, or his, or something of the sort. But now he knew what she was really talking about...

"F… Fuck…" His injured hand started to shake after he saw himself and he dropped his scroll back into his knapsack as he lowered it, and covered his eyes as they started to bleed again. "...Why are you doing this to me?! To Me and Ruby!"

Summer predicted this type of reaction already, and when his vision cleared from the redness, and he was able to see again… she was right there, and stood in front of him as she took a step forward and put a hand against his cheek. The cloak, red hair, silver eyes, pale skin, short stature, it was all there. "Shh…"

Her hands glowed brightly as they were pressed against his skin and scruff even though she wouldn't be able to feel him at all, with her own aura outlining her palm and fingers with a small fluorescent glow as she seemed to calm him. "I didn't have a choice with her, and it's my one regret. Her being cursed with my life, and the one she's destined to live through herself…"

"...But i need you to have this. You said you wanted to protect them, and the only way that you were going to do that was with this trait i gave you… I'm sorry Gage, but there was just no other way."

Gage's hand moved away from his eyes at this point, and moved his head so he could look up into her silver eyes while his pupil's shrunk, and went back to appear docile… and it felt like she was an angel with how fast she made him feel at peace.

However, when he became composed he let out a hard breath and stepped away from her as he zipped his pack and put it on before he reached down to grab Mistletoe, completely brushing off what Summer had said. Though she knew he couldn't unhear her.

"Gage, i wouldn't have done this if i didn't trust you to be able to uphold my own mantle. And so far… besides our current debacle, you haven't given me any doubt to go back on what i did. But like your friend, 'McCree' said to you… trust goes both ways."

"So i need you to trust me to get you through this, capisce?" She asked as he just put Mistletoe on his back next to where the knapsack would be, and picked Javix up off the ground with his right injured hand while he held onto his wrist with his prosthetic hand.

Gage didn't want to stick around long enough for the Grimm to try to come back to the alley and feast on him again, and he didn't really have a choice on whether he could keep Summer inside of his head or not… so he gave into her demands, but he still didn't like it. Not one bit,

"...Fine. But the next time I'm all screwed up, you better warn me before you go silent on me again!'

"You have my word." Summer replied with a smile before she lowered her hand, and soon dissipated from existence again, but only to begin talking inside of his own head right after. "And uh… just for the record, I'm sure that your silver eyes aren't as powerful as any other pair, since you weren't born with the trait." She added, a little soothingly.

That calmed Gage even further, and he just let out another sigh as he looked down and checked Javix's chamber so he could load in three more rounds, him now realizing that all he had left were those six that were in the chamber, and two more rounds. One extra I'd he included the round that Orin had tossed down onto the floor earlier before his betrayal.

"Heck, I'm even sure that their power will be nothing compared to what Ruby could do, even now at her age."

The ghost was pretty much half there when the phantom finished her sentiment, but her point was pretty clear. Ruby is a much bigger flight risk with those eyes of hers than he is, or ever will be, and he was fine with that… but now he was a lot more worried for the rose's future.

"Yeah… so if we ever do see her again, make sure to remind me to never to piss her off. Like... ever." He replied tiredly while he jerked Javix's chamber back into place, and pulled it's hammer back slowly as he started to head towards the exit of the alleyway. "...Have you done it before?"

"What? -N-No! I-I..." Her question was asked with a very 'momma-bear' type of tone, and it made him feel threatened since she pretty much had control of his senses… but thankfully, fate finally had his back after that earlier string of bad luck.

"...Jesus." As Gage made it out of the alleyway, a new scent made it's ways through his nostrils and blocked out the smell of flesh, replacing it with the scent of smoke and flames instead. When he made it out there, he saw that Tsuro had been set ablaze, probably by Orin and Owen.

A thick cloud of smoke passed by him, and he first looked to his left for the source of the fire, but was instead met with the sight of all the remaining Beowolves from the pack he fought as they retreated from the alleyway slowly, but not out of fear it.

Gage figured that they wouldn't attack him again unless they randomly built up some new found courage, which was highly unlikely considering he had just killed their pack leader. And these Grimm were old and smart too, so it was obvious that they knew better. "That's right, back away…"

Then, he turned to his right and walked into the smoke towards where he thought the main gate was when he came into town the first time, and he did so with Javix at his side, having one finger on the trigger, while his metal hand just wiped the sweat off of his brow.

However, when Gage thought he was already close enough to the end of the black cloud that engulfed the town… he started to hear footsteps coming front somewhere in front of him. Heavy ones, along with the scraping of a blade.

This made him stop dead in his tracks and stay completely still since he was already prepared enough for whatever ended up coming through the smoke… but what he wasn't prepared for, was who he saw make their way through the fog of cinders.

Two more heavy steps followed before an apparition of a body could be seen, and then the whole figure came through as the smoke parted with each other, like it was forming a passageway just for that socioeconomic person… and that was when Gage finally laid his eyes on him.

...Adam Taurus.

He was standing right in front of him, walking along the same path towards him gently as the bull had his shotgun-hilt Blush on his side, and his chokuto named Wilt in his left hand with it's blade pressed against the edge of a wall while sparks began to fly because of the friction of it's metal edge.

But… Adam wasn't wearing his respirator mask. Instead, he just had his regular mask on while the gaping, bleeding hole that the ghost had left him during their last encounter remained visible to the world, all while smirked, and let some more blood run down from his lips.

"...Did you forget about me?"

He croaked this out in a horrid, gurgly tone of voice while Gage just took two steps back and began to breathe heavily… but strangely, his eyes didn't remain their new silver color. Before he knew it they became red once again, and matched his inner rage as he watched his nemesis continue to take long strides towards himself.

The ghost's blood began to boil by the bull's presence, so much that fearing him was thrown out of the window almost as immediate as it came to him, and soon enough… Gage found himself raising Javix's barrel up towards Adam's head, and squeezing it's trigger before he could even think about choosing not to.

He fired two shots at him, and both instantly made contact. The first seemingly hit Adam's head, and caused him to crumple and fall backwards as the second hit him in the abdomen by mistake due to the ghost's shaking right hand.

Adam eventually came to lay flat on his back and stayed absolutely still, having dropped Wilt when the frost shot kit him, and that small pause was long enough for Gage to blink and think about if he should inspect him or not… which he did.

He let out another deep breath, and cautiously stepped towards him until the ghost stood over him, and was finally able to look down on the apparent corpse of his enemy. That, was until the smoke suddenly faded from his vision and kept it from obscuring him. Then… the corpse started to move again, and speak even!

"OH MY GOD! MY EAR!" Right when the black cloud faded, Adam's face, red hair, and body was replaced by none other than Owen, who had chosen to stay behind and keep their captive from leaving the now burning village alive. "Y… YOU CRAZY SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed loudly.

Gage jumped from this realization, and questioned how fucked up he really had to be on the inside for his mind to hallucinate and play these sick kind of tricks on him… and he also wondered how coincidental it was that Owen looked like a countrified version of his father's killer…

Owen writhed back and forth on the ground as he had one hand on his stomach, and moved the other to cover his right ear, which was looked to be blown off from Javix's first initial shot, just as his own red machete laid on the ground next to him, which the ghost looked down towards next.

"W… What was that?!" Summer asked as Gage growled angrily, and just kicked the red machete away from the Skinwalker as he looked up at the ghost like he was expect him to not shoot him. "Shut the fuck up! Shut your goddamn mouth right now or else I'm going to make sure that your body ends up worse than your friend back there!"

"D-Don't shoot!" Javix's barrel was then pressed against the lackey's temple before he could blink or protest, and the sight of the gun just made Owen shut his eyes and look away as he extended his hand outwards in a submissive type of gesture.

"...D-D-Don't shoot me please! I-I Just run with these assholes for protection and a chance at some pieces of tail! H-Hell i didn't even cut off my own tail myself! They had to hold me down-!"

"I said SHUT UP!" The pistol's hammer was pulled back again too, and Gage just covered the man's mouth as he looked behind him, and saw that the Beowolves were beginning to creep up on him again, though only slowly.

That was when he let go of Owen, and just looked around for a few seconds and soon just grabbed onto the back of his jacket's collar, and began to drag his body away from the alley.

However, the skinwalker began to struggle and protest in return, kicking his feet while screaming for the ghost to let go of him and to not hurt him at the same time, and now Gage was wondering if he was actually able to hear anymore.

After Gage managed to drag his own new captive all the way to Tsuro's front gate, he let go of him and flipped him onto his stomach, only to look up from the ground and stare down Javix's barrel yet again.

"Your 'pal' ...Where's he going?" The ghost asked him gruffly with yet another red-eyed scowl.

Owen was hesitant to answer at first given the consequences he could face if he came out alive but… he knew he wouldn't if he kept silent. "K… Keji! To finish what Al started!" And of course, he also needed a way to keep himself useful too. "B-But this time, we can stop him! I can help you! I-I swear i will!"

His pleads were near incomprehensible due to the minion's stuttering, but the ghost got a pretty good idea of what he could do to stop Orin. He had to get back to Alizarin's campsite before he did and take care of him.

The old man had already left thirty minutes ago, so intercepting him would be hard, but not impossible. He was older after all, and the whistler was probably so sure that his prisoner had died, that he most likely chose to walk back with ease.

But, Gage knew he had to leave right this second if he was to run and make it there in time. So with no other choice, he lowered his revolver and sneered downwards at the lesser skinwalker yet again. "...You want to help me?"

"Fuck it, whatever keeps my brain inside my head!"

"Alright." He blinked once, and just took a step back towards the gate behind him as he looked ahead and waved Javix's barrel back over towards the black cloud of smoke, "Look over there, close your eyes, and count to thirty. Slowly." Gage ordered.

Owen took a double take as soon as he heard the command, looking back and forth between the ghost and burning village while he looked both confused and scared for what his captor was planning. "...Why?"

His question didn't even have time to be processed before he saw an unfamiliar white aura consume the ghost, and ironically, once he could feel it's heat, the lackey felt shivers move all across his spine. "Why? Because i'm the one with the loaded gun!" Gage snarled back in response.

"Alright! Alright I'm closing them!" Owen finally complied with his demands and shut his eyes after that, and soon enough started to count up to thirty slowly with quivers being heard in between each number he could utter. "O-One… T-Two…"

Not that long after he started, Gage took two steps away and presumably started to work on… something at the gate. This was only figured out by the red-haired hostage after he began to hear the fence being shaken along with the rattling of some chains as well. "T-Thirteen… F-Fourteen…"

He tried his best to put his finger on it, and all he could think of was that their old prisoner was taking the chains off to the front gate so he could use them to either restrain Owen or choke him to death, with the second option being more likely

But the counting still went on, with the ghost's struggles becoming quieter by the time the red-haired man got to twenty five, and when he got to thirty… he still stopped and kept his eyes closed after he was done.

That was when he heard a small click, and another shaking of chains before he heard Gage's metal hand bang against the link fence twice, and he spoke again. "You can open your eyes now."

Owen jumped by the two bangs, but exhaled heavily as he opened his eyes, held his breath, and turned around, expecting to have a bullet lodge itself inside of his skull or be lunged at by the ghost… but he wasn't there.

Instead, he was standing there on the other side of Tsuro's gate (the side that was Grimm-free) while it's door had been completely sealed off from anyone who would be trying to get out from the inside.

It was held shut by the chains, and Gage even managed to use the same lock that he had knocked off earlier with Mistletoe again to keep the chains together, and it was just tight enough so that no one could shake them off of the gate.

Owen saw him and stood up immediately before he walked slowly over towards the gate… and suddenly processed what had happened as he slightly tugged at the gates door once. "Wh…"

The skinwalker pulled on it a second time, and when he figured out that it wouldn't budge, he started to shake it violently, with his arms thrashing back and forth as his old captive took a step back from the fence, and just stared back at him blankly.

"...W-Wh- What the hell?!"

He banged on the metal door twice and growled as he pressed himself against it in an attempt to use his body to get it open, but that didn't work either. All it ended up doing, was alerting his position to the remaining Grimm within the small village thanks to both his noise level, and the distress he was emitting.

Then, Owen screamed something inaudible and just pressed his hand and face against the chain link fence, so he could sneer and scowl at the ghost again. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" He shouted at him.

In reality, Gage knew exactly what he was doing. He did this because he knew he needed to hurry, and the presence of another person or some Grimm would only drag him down. So this, was the perfect answer for both problems. To feed the rest of the Beowulf pack himself…

"...You said you wanted to help me." The ghost then smirked, and turned his body partially towards his bait as he just holstered Javix again, and let his white aura's glowing cease. "And that's what you're doing, so… thank you."

He then waved at him with his injured hand, and watched as the lackey proceeded to curse at him with nearly every offensive term in his vocabulary that made sense, and also beat the crappy wall with his hands until his knuckles and palms began to bleed. "Y… YOU FUCKING CUCK!"

The moment he raised his voice and began to release his anger, the rest of the Beowolves crept out of the black smoke that had been left by the burning buildings, and soon every one of them began to crawl towards Owen on all fours, merely snarling at his presence.

"WE'LL ALL FIND YOU, AND YOUR LITTLE BLONDE WHORE TOO! WE'LL FIND EVERY ONE OF YOU AND MAKE YOU WATCH AS WE TEAR THEM ALL APART LIMB FROM LIMB WITH OUR BARE HANDS, AND THEN WE'LL MAKE YOU EAT THEM UNTIL YOU CHOKE UP THEIR INNARDS-"

"*GROWL!*"

The wolf pack's growls only increased Owen's frantic cursing, and he did pause for a few moments… but only when he looked up again and watched as Gage just turned around completely and looked into his eyes one last time, only saying one last thing before he chose to leave.

"...You should start running." And before Owen could begin to shout at him again, the ghost turned and just started to walk back down that old lonely road once again as the Grimm came from behind the skinwalker, and nearly surrounded him.

"NO! GET BACK!" He turned and tried his best to bolt past the Grimm only to make his way inside of the black smoke crowd once again while they pursued, and even more screaming could be heard as every other wolf disappeared into that dark fog as well. "GET BACK!-AAAH!"

However, Gage didn't stick around to watch him die or hear his final screams. He had already started walking away when he gave his last piece of advice to the man, and he just kept moving ahead, seemingly feeling unaffected by the loud cries and roars that came from the village behind him.

But that didn't mean that he wasn't thinking about it. Not about Owen specifically, but the person Gage had hallucinated him to be… Adam.

He closed his eyes, and just tried his best to imagine him to be the one that had been left to be eaten alive by those evil creatures. That was how bad he wanted the bull to be gone, and ridden from this world so that he wouldn't anyone the ghost loved like he had promised.

Daydreams and… cruel fantasies that he enjoyed began to form and linger deep within his thoughts. It was so bad now, that Gage was beginning to wonder... if he truly was starting to become the one person he wanted to kill more than everyone else he hated within this cruel world...

"Gage… Do you believe in Destiny?"

"...Fuck Destiny."

…

Later…

…

Riley was still laying on top of her sleeping bag with her eyes shut, but couldn't fall asleep because of the intolerable heat that was beating down on everyone else within that are.

She had even thought about stripping down a little… but being a half-naked teenager in the middle of the woods would mean certain death if a masked killer was to make their way through the surrounding brush. So the heavy chose not to.

But a killer still managed to make their way through the trees and to their camp, except this one wasn't masked. "Rye? Ah hell, the three of you get out here right now, we gotta get moving!" Orin yelled as his sudden presence made Riley jump with fright,

"Aah! Wait, what?!" She asked as Ileana and Alizarin both made their way out of their separate tents, with Al being the only one armed out of the three of them. "Orin? Wait, where's everyone else?"

"They're dead, and we will too if we don't get the hell out of here!" Ileana nearly dropped her bow as she exited her tent with it in hand, and Al's eyes just widened even more as he took a step towards the old man. "...D… Dead? H-How?!"

"The Grimm, what else?" Orin snapped back at him while just Riley growled, and stood up as she used her hands to grasp the sides of her head hard. "I told you it was a stupid idea to go to Tsuro!"

"Well, shit happens! Now hurry up and pack! We have to get back to Keji before the Grimm catch up with-"

"HEY!"

A loud and familiar voice came through the treeline, and a figure followed as well, limping through the brush that was located behind Orin until it stopped right at the entrance of their small camp.

It was Gage, and he looked a whole lot worse for wear than he did the last time Riley, Ileana, and Al saw him. His skin was pale, almost looking grey thanks to the dirt that had stained him during his struggle with the Manticore.

That wasn't even mentioning the blood that had stained him, with his injured arm being covered in it along with the patches of skin that could be seen through the two claw-shaped tears on his shirt.

"The hell!" Riley even began to crawl back once she saw him, and soon picked up her machine gun that was lying next to her in the dirt before she stood up, and aimed it at his head. "Gage, is… is that you?" He looked so weathered to her, that he looked as if he had died and been reanimated.

Like he was a zombie, and the way he paused and scowled after his single shout didn't help her think of him any differently either. Zombies wouldn't know how to use guns though, as Gage had his metal hand on Javix's revolver holster again, and eventually spoke again as he tilted his head at the blonde girl, looking beyond riled up.

"*pant* ...Shoot me again, i dare you!"

The ghost's voice made everyone there flinch, as if they all thought he was an actual reanimated corpse. Though, Orin was the only one who hoped that he was really dead.

He didn't ask how he got away, or try to shoot Gage the moment he saw him. No, the only thing he could do then was stare and let his eyes do the talking, as the ghost slowly walked towards him with death reflecting off of his red eyes,

"...What Orin? *pant* ...I know people call me a ghost, but you look like you're staring right at one."

His voice was threatening, exhausted, and cocky, all in on deep exasperated tone that meant business… even when he was in the vicinity of a foe he had yet to face or even witness in action, and that conviction just brought a wide smile to Orin's lips. "Hehe… man, you really are one stubborn little millennial now aren't ya?!" He chuckled.

"First you kill those White Fang puppies, and then my own boys after that…" The head skinwalker mumbled that to himself and turned his head towards the ghost slightly, revealing that he looked beyond pissed off, but also exhilarated at the exact same time. "...And now you just won't die."

"So you tell me, right here and now while everyone's here watching us-" Orin then shifted his cricket bat into it's double barrel shotgun form, and continued letting it rest on top of his shoulder as he turned towards his old prisoner completely, "-Just who in the hell do you think you are?!"

Gage didn't respond however. Not at first, because instead of doing that, he just used one of his metal fingers to flick Javix and make its bullet chamber spin before he switched hands with it, and holstered his revolver once again.

"...Son, don't do this." Alizarin knew exactly what was about to take place, everyone pretty much did, the signs were just all there… and he couldn't let the ghost get his body blown to bits because he decided to get up and fight back after all this time of obedience. "It won't end well for anyone!"

"Al… shut up." Orin said outright, as Ileana and Riley could only stand there and take a step back away from the gap that began to form between the two armed men. "The kid's trying to stand up to his daddy. So, you might as well grab a front row seat to watch him die." He boasted with yet another cruel smirk.

The old man's words filled the ghost with dread and angst, but it was still nothing that would bring him to his knees like he was when the two first met. It never would after this day... Not now, and not ever again. Not to this man made from darkness.

"Got nothing left to say? Heh, I guess it makes sense that way. You really are nothin' special."

"Gage…"

Gage's hand still shook with pain and instability, but a fire inside of him kept burning. One that he hoped to see again after this day, and for the rest of his life… but first he would have to find her all over again. And this man, was the last thing on Remnant that was going to keep him away.

Now they both stood in line, facing each other with their fingers only inches away from their respective fingers, and it seemed as if no other sounds could distract them from their stare down. Not even Raven's cawing from above them, as she had just perched herself up there on a branch so she could watch.

"*Caw!* *Caw!*"

The colors red and green were interlocked, with both men giving each other the blankest scowl ever seen by the world since Clint Eastwood started his acting career. But even then Orin couldn't keep his mouth shut, "So… any Last Words for you kid?" And was still met with silence.

This disappointed him, to the point where he let out a long exasperated sigh, and looked back at his three other followers while he gripped his shotgun tightly, pulled back both hammers for the two barrels, and gave them all one last final shrug, "Welp-"

Then, Gage suddenly drew Javix from his holster again, leaned back a bit, and held down his trigger as he fanned three loud and rapid shots off with his palm, right as Orin turned his body around and was hit by all of them before he could even pull the trigger.

"*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*"

Both of the first two rounds made contact with his body and shattered the man's black aura into pieces, and ended up clearing a straight path for the third shot as all three puffs of gunsmoke were blown away with the wind.

The third round went straight through the right side of the Skinwalker's chest and out his back, crippling his entire right side with pain… but the gunshot was only enough to make him scream his lungs out, and stumble a bit as reeled forwards in pain.

Orin somehow was able to stop himself from tumbling over, and that was when the ghost froze in place and watched his foe as he was still barely standing with his shotty in hand. But that was when he fired both rounds from its two barrels, and leaned to his side so he could finally fall onto his side.

"WATCH OUT!" Riley screamed.

Gage put his metal arm up in an attempt to block his face from being blown apart, and he closed eyes… only to hear the sound of the buckshot slowly clattering onto the surface of his shoes seconds later while something else around him made a... whirring noise of some sort.

He tried to lower his arms slowly, but strangely couldn't control them or his whole body, and since it felt like he was frozen in space the ghost just reopened his eyes slowly, only to see that Riley had taken a few extra steps forward… and she had both of her arms outstretched towards him.

The heavy's hands were open, and they were glowing her aura's cream, beige type of color. This, was because she chose to use her semblance on Gage's body. She used her own aura to rebuild his own and locked him in place with it, so she could take the bullets in a way, and prevent the shotgun shells from blowing him to bits.

When he came to realize this, Riley exhaled loudly and let her figure slouch as she released him from her semblance's grasp, allowing him to move again… but he didn't have time to question why she chose to save him.

Gage raised his head back up, and just looked over at Orin as he was lying on the ground, and clutched the right side of his chest as Alizarin suddenly sprang into action, and punted the old man's shotgun out of his hands.

Then, Ileana glanced at Gage as she put Riley's arm around her, and she just tilted her head slightly over towards where Orin was lying. It looked as if she was trying to tell him to get to the man before Al did something rash, but the ghost didn't have to be told to move.

With Javix still griped in his right hand, he sighed angrily as he took slow but loud steps towards the head Skinwalker before he stopped, sneered at his injured foe, and finally aimed his hand cannon's barrel downwards at Orin's head…

"Yours, not mine… asshole."

A click came from the revolver's hammer as it was pulled back, and Al just stood there opposite to his new friend, staring down towards their shared enemy as he put his foot on the old man's left shoulder, and pushed forwards so he would come to lie flat on his back.

But… even after his plan had failed, he had been humiliated and injured by the one person he took captive, and betrayed by the remaining people within his group… Orin looked right up at them both, and laughed in their faces painfully.

"Hehehe… Hahaha!" He raised his body upwards, and snickered once again before his laughter increased it's volume, and intensity. To the point where it was surely maniacal, and maddening."...HAHAHAHA!"

And as his laugh became ear-piercing, the old man's aura finally showed his true colors. His body glowed the color black and it consumed him whole, with the darkness being so resilient, that it began to branch out to whatever it could grab!

Small tentacle-looking tendrils spreaded from Orin's body and spread itself across the two men's feet, but only managed to crawl it's way up to their ankles before Gage pulled the trigger again, and Al yanked his foot free. "What the hell?!"

The bullet didn't even kill him either, because as soon as it made contact with the old man's forehead, his entire body burst into a black cloud of smoke and carried a loud demonic evil laughter with it as it rose from the ground, compacted together, and slithered through the air like a snake before it disappeared into the distant treeline.

"...I'll be back for you boy…~"

That was the last thing that came from the large black cloud before it faded away into the forest, and allowed the sun's bright light rays break through the trees above the four that remained.

"Man, I'm… not even going to try and question that." Gage, Riley, Ileana, and Alizarin all stood there, with Gage being the only one who looked absolutely horrified… well, that was actually a lie. "But... at least he's gone, right guys?" He asked the rest.

Al gave him a fake nod of comfort and he honestly tried to appear to be okay with what had just happened… but he clearly wasn't. None of them were, and Riley suddenly became absolutely livid. "You… You've killed us all!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"...What?"

"D… Dumbass-" The heavy eventually pushed herself away from Ileana, and stumbled towards their 'savior' for a few seconds before she lunged herself at him, and randomly chose to sock him across the face, hard. "-We needed him to get back in!"

"Riley!"

Both Ileana and Alizarin rushed to pull her back, and stop her from outright try to kill Gage, who had been pushed back onto the floor by her blow, "NO!" They both grabbed her by the arms and dragged her back, while she kicked her legs angrily in protest. Thankfully for them though, her shorter height made it a lot more easy to restrain her.

"HE JUST FUCKED US DRY!"

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Gage yelled back at her as he leaned back up and sat there on the ground while he covered his right eye gently, and glared back at her with his other red eye, "The fuck do you mean i fucked you?!"

"S-Shut up!" Riley's face became even redder due to both her anger with Gage and the embarrassment she felt with what he had accidentally shouted at her, "Yeah, I guess it's a bad time to tell you that none of the teams Orin takes with him are let back inside unless he's with them…" And since she was at a loss for words, Alizarin chose to explain for her.

"Well what was i supposed to do, let myself get shot? Again?!"

The heavy was eventually let go, and she just started to walk back over to her sleeping bag without even saying anything as Ileana turned to Gage and raised her palm at him, indicating that he should slow his roll.

"Gage, just… chill." She whispered softly as she approached him slowly, and extended her other hand to him so he could be pulled back onto his feet. "Why don't you tell her that-"

But before he could grasp her hand, his eyes widened once more, and Gage began to crawl away from the spider-faunus… but he wasn't looking at her anymore, as his eyes were now focused on something behind her instead.

"*CH-CH!*"

She tilted her head in an odd way, and heard a very… distinct sound as looked back, and just watched Riley as she armed herself with her M249, cocked it, and started to walk back towards Gage before she aimed it down at him, again.

He immediately panicked, and laid flat on his back as he quickly raised his two hands in the air, trying his best to back down before she could light him up with her SAW, "WHOA,WHOA, WHOA!-OKAY I'M 'CHILLIN!" He screamed with desperation.

That was when he was able to get a more… finer look at her machine gun. It was a silver, bronze, and golden-colored M249 SAW, but it also looked different than the standard military models, which could be assumed by its paint job.

Aside from that, it had a lighter appearance and looked less bulky, an extended barrel, a drum magazine, and lastly the most noticeable difference was that it's bipod was folded up, and it's two limbs were replaced with... golden, semicircle-shaped axe blades?

"Riley, don't!" However, Ileana soon jumped in front of Gage and blocked her best friend from turning the ghost's body into a hole-riddled corpse. "He's the Huntsman in training, remember? We can't afford to lose him right now!"

"And to be fair, out of all of us, he's the only one to come close to killing Orin." Alizarin added, as he was now just standing a little ways away while he leaned against a tree, and calmly lit another cigar to smoke.

Gage nervously nodded in agreement and pointed over towards the old sheriff as he looked back between him and the crazy machine-gun-wielding blonde… and that was when watched her lower the weapon slowly, and let another growl escape from her lips. "...Grrrgh!"

She closed her eyes and looked away with a clear rage beginning to pulsate throughout her body, as she began to shake with anger growing even more… but Ileana surprisingly sighed with relief, like she already knew that the heavy was done with her small outburst.

Then not even a few seconds later, Riley shut her eyes and lowered her weapon as she chose to hold it by the grip with her finger still on the trigger. After that she used her other hand to grasp her machine gun's stock as she pulled it back and it extended, causing a chain reaction which… began the weapon's shifting process

It's barrel extended while the parts surrounding it moved forwards along its muzzle, and flattened in place so it could form a thin rectangular box around the barrel as the golden bipod blades turned horizontally with one being pointed to the left and the other to the right, and then the two blades slowly began to travel upwards to where the gun's muzzle would have been.

Meanwhile, the rest of the weapon from the barrel down rotated once to the left as the the grip and trigger became one with the weapon stock, which soon extended outwards even more. Mechanical whirs could be heard generating from inside of the weapon's frame, and soon enough all the pieces shifted back together, connected magnetically, and formed a large rectangular axe grip that still had the weapon's drum magazine connected to the middle of it's large handle.

The two axe blades on both sides soon reached the peak of the large handle as well before they became centered, and finally shifted together completely along with the rest of the weapon, which ended up forming a large, silver, gold, and bronze colored medieval double-edged battle axe… which was named, Bronze Bess.

"-Rrrrgh… FUCK!"

Riley cursed at the ghost again not that long after her weapon's second form was revealed, and she quickly turned around so she could huff angrily before she swung her axe vertically towards the nearby treeline, and cut down five trees in her wake.

"A thing to remember about her, you're safe as long as she's loud. Whenever she's quiet is when you should watch out!" Ileana whispered this to Gage as she forcefully grabbed him by the wrist and finally pulled him up from the floor.

He didn't protest at all, mostly because he was still staring over at Riley as she lowered her axe and was panting, so he just looked back at his brunette friend and nodded, showing that he understood.

"So… what now?" Alizarin asked him that once he and Riley both calmed down a little bit. That wouldn't last long though, as Gage reaffirmed his own intentions. Which, were kind of surprising. "*sigh* ...We head to your village, and get your people out of there before we end up killing each other!"

"Really? Even after everything that just happened?" Even Illie was surprised by this, mostly because she didn't expect him to be wanting to get right into another battle right after he looked to have barely survived the last one,

"It's not like we're gonna forget about 'em. I know I'm not." Al mumbled this but made sure that it was loud enough for everyone else to hear… which prompted Riley to snap again, but only at him this time.

"Al, you're the most likely the smartest out of all of us, and you're still going to go follow this dipshit's lead?!"

"...Yeah, i am."

His answer was blunt, and gave off a 'no other choice' type of vibe as he lowered his cigar and exhaled before he looked back at the ghost and narrowed his eyes at him while remaining silent.

The sheriff was already pretty confident in the ghost's abilities because of how he was able to escape from one of Orin's evil plots, and he's never known anyone to fall victim to one of them and come out alive.

Also, he seemed to be the only one to remember that Gage was able to clear out an entire prison filled with White Fang soldiers with six teenagers. So Al was sure that the ghost, two other teenagers, and himself would be able to liberate a village protected by a gang of some racist wanna-be Hell's Angels.

"We're so dead…" Riley obviously wasn't happy with this, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't do it.

And once she facepalmed and stormed off, Ileana sighed before she changed her annoyed expression into a smile, and just watched Gage as he inspected his injured arm again,

"Well then, what's the plan scruffy?" She asked with a smirk while crossing her arms humorously, "You going to try and use your 'charm' on the guards?"

Her remark made him chuckle a little, and he soon turned to Alizarin again as they both made eye contact, "Not mine-" Which ended up making the older man look down and groan in annoyance of what the ghost implied. "Ah, hell…"

"-But… i'm sure we can still persuade them to let us in, since I honestly doubt the rest of these 'Skinwalkers' are as smart as Orin..."

"And if they keep us out of the place anyway?"

That, made him holster Javix again and stare at all three of his new companions with a very confused expression. He thought that what came next after that would have been obvious… they would have to fight.

Maybe it was because he was unsure of their skill, or they were still unsure of his own, but to him it still seemed like they hadn't been prepared for this type of conflict. Even when their intentions were to rid Keji of Orin's Skinwalkers. Though, it was most likely because they didn't want any harm to come to the innocent villagers.

But, he had to get his message across. Not all conflicts can be handled peacefully, and they had to be ready for that, and to be ready to conquer their enemy completely if need be. Doing this would be the only way that the four of them could survive the impending fight, and he knew that.

So he made sure to reinforce this idea to all of them, as he took Mistletoe off of his back with his right hand and flip-cocked it before he slung it over his shoulder, turned back to Riley, Ileana, and Alizarin one last time, and smirked as he gave the spider-faunus his one and simple answer…

"…Then we'll just take it from them."