|Artorias Cerule|

What followed was an hour long conversation, with me introducing myself and explaining the history of Remnant and answering any questions asked of me. The theorized origin of the Grimm, The Great War that took place seventy-five years ago, the four kingdoms and their territories - I had retrieved my map for that topic, pointing out locations for the girl and where we were, a small mark on the south-east of Anima, on the coastline a good distance under Mistral - and the Huntsmen, along with Aura.

"Are you a Huntsman?" She'd asked, just after I had finished explaining everything. There was a sudden awe in her eyes, almost like she couldn't believe what I'd told her. I knew that look. It was the one I'd given my father almost endlessly when I was younger, before I even understood what it truly meant to be a Huntsman.

I furrowed my brow and offered a sad smile, "No, I am not. My father was." My smile regained a bit of joy at the thought as I prepared one of the rations packs, the dust-heater inside warming my hands as I spoke, "One of the best I have ever seen. Noble. Strong. Swift." I looked towards her, that same look in her eyes, though I didn't miss the way her stomach grumbled when she looked at the pack in my hands. Standing up, I walked over to where she sat on my mat and offered it to her.

"Are you sure?" she asked, though it was clear how badly she wanted it. Neither of us had any way of telling how long it had been since she'd last eaten, after all. With a nod from me, she reached out quickly, snatching both the ration and the fork in my hand away, digging into it with reckless abandon. It was some form of beans and meat, but she didn't seem to care, devouring it with gusto. I had learned to stop caring about the contents a while ago, all of it tended to taste bland to me anyway.

After watching her eat for a moment, her silver hair covering her features and making her look like a wild animal, I walked back to where I'd taken my pack off by the log and rummaged through it, pulling out another ration after a moment. Not bothering to read the label, I set about heating the meal, channeling a small amount of Aura into the pouch on the side and reveling in the warmth it brought. After watching the girl finish her meal, I continued, "Generally, to become a Huntsman, you must go through one of the four training academies located across Remnant. Haven, Beacon, Shade, or Atlas. To gain entry into those, though, training at a primary school is typically required, though that can be omitted if you have practical experience. As you can see," I motioned out towards the expanse of trees that surrounded us, "My father believed that practical experience was the greater option. I have been with him, traveling around Remnant ever since I was ten. Of course, we had spent most of my life beforehand training to do so. Still," I sighed and looked towards the ground, "A child can only do so much."

The girl's voice caught my attention again, and I looked back up at her as she spoke, "But… you're so young. How could your dad put you through that?" I stared at her for a moment, my brow furrowed as she squirmed under my gaze, before letting a dry laugh escape me. She seemed taken aback, "What? What's funny?"

I scoffed, "You are not exactly the pinnacle of age and wisdom either." For the first time since I'd met her, she seemed to look down at herself again in shock. Shakily she moved to stand, managing it with a little effort, and looked down at how tall she was, a clear expression of surprise on her features. 'I did not know amnesia could go this far. To forget even your own age…' I sighed. "Even your age left you? What do you remember?"

The girl scrunched up her face in thought, something that seemed to take an extreme amount of effort, "I…" she began, "I remember… falling? For a long time… and a loud noise, a tingly feeling across my entire body, and… a bright light," her eyes widened, a broad smile appearing on her face, "And my name! I remembered my name!" She turned to me excitedly, violet eyes glinting in the firelight, "My name is Elara. I think."

I stared for a moment, "Elara… what?"

Her smile disappeared almost instantly. It made me feel bad for asking, "I… don't know." She turned back to the fire, staring down at it sadly, "I-"

With only a twitch of her ears that I barely noticed, she snapped her head to look behind me, eyes wide, a glimmer of fear in them. I hadn't heard anything, but…

Then I noticed the small, cotton ball rabbit tail poking through her sweater on her lower back for the first time. 'A faunus? How did I not- Wait. That means she has better hearing than I do-!' As quietly as I could, leapt from my seat, the ration all but forgotten as I drew my longsword from my hip, the dull metal glinting in the light of the fire with the hiss of metal on metal, and spun on my heel. Surely enough, as I did, my eyes locked with the red-orange eyes of a large, midnight black, panther-like Grimm, bone spiking from its spine at awkward angles, along with a stark wite mask of bone on its face.. It had been charging, but had stopped with my sudden movement. I could feel the anger radiating from it, two yards between us at most.

I hadn't encountered a Kasha before, but I'd heard about them from my father. They were territorial Grimm, and they preferred to sneak up on their prey, just like this one had tried. Thankfully, this one seemed young.

Without turning, I spoke back to Elara, "Gather the mats and my pack. I will deal with this, and then we will leave. It is not safe here."

"...O-Okay," was all she offered before I heard rustling behind me. The Kasha seemed to notice her and took a testing step forward that I matched with my own. At my step, it began to emit a low growl, its similarly white teeth bared at me. I did my best to not fear it. I knew it would be able to tell.

That didn't make it any less terrifying.

The standoff didn't last very long. As Elara entered my view slowly, moving to grab the pack from the log with a small limp, the Kasha decided that it'd be a good time to strike. With barely a sound, it leapt forwards at Elara, upturning the dirt beneath its paws. With a terrified squeak, she froze in place, staring at the missile of fur and bone that quickly approached. With little time to spare, I shoved her roughly away with my left arm, my sword still in my hand, and swung a gauntleted fist at the Kasha's head as it rapidly approached. With a satisfying 'crunch,' I knocked the beast away back to where it'd leapt from. Rolling on its side as it landed, it took little time to leap back to its feet and charge once more, towards me this time. As is darted forward, though, I noted with a smile the spider-web cracks that'd appeared on its mask.

Bringing my blade back to both of my hands now that Elara was out of danger, I quietly moved to swing my longsword downwards, hoping to catch the Kasha down the middle. As I did, though, my eyes widened as the cat seemingly fell to the ground in a way that shouldn't have been possible and darted to my right as my blade came down to meet the solid dirt below. Before I could react, it leapt at me again, this time only two feet away, and all I could do was turn around and bring my armored right arm in front of me as it barreled into me, knocking my sword out of my hand and to the ground beside me.

As I fell, the Kasha atop me and pinning me to the ground, my royal blue Aura flaring as it attempted to make a meal of my arm in its mouth, I heard Elara scream from somewhere far away. 'That is not good,' I thought, my mind blurring, 'She will draw more of them at that rate.'

Doing my best to keep the Grimm on top of me at bay, I sent a few gauntleted blows into its side that hardly seemed to affect it. I wasn't surprised. Grimm couldn't feel pain, after all.

With a roar, I channeled a good amount of my Aura into my left hand and brought it crashing down onto the Kasha's head, the Aura on my right arm flaring even more intensely as the jaws clamping down on it grew even tighter for a moment before releasing altogether as I hit it away. With barely a sound, it crashed into the log in front of me, buying me barely enough time to leap up, knock Elara away from where she'd been standing in shock, pick up my blade from the ground, and pivot on my heel and swing my sword in a swift arc around me, catching the Kasha's shoulder with a swing and cleaving it in half.

The two large pieces of the Grimm fell to the ground beside me, already beginning to dissolve, and I stuck my sword in the ground and shut my eyes, doing my best to calm myself. 'Deep breaths. Come on, Arturias, deep breaths.'

"Deep breaths," my father said, scanning the treeline for any Grimm, "When you are in the field, it is of utmost importance that you remain calm. If you panic, what was once an easy battle could soon become the end of the line."

The memory ended and I opened my eyes, taking one final deep breath. As I stood and pulled my sword from the ground, I felt a light tapping on my left, and turned to look down at a teary-eyed Elara, who I'd just realized was almost a head shorter than my five feet and three inches. She spoke quietly, her voice wavering, "A-Are you okay, Arturias?"

I did my best to ignore the throbbing in my right arm, the Aura already set on numbing the pain, and offered her a confident smile, "I am fine. It will take more than a single Kasha to take me out, rest assured."

She, like I had asked, finished gathering what little we had at the camp and brought my, now full, rucksack to me. With little effort, I slung it around my shoulder, the deep blue cloth matching the fitting tunic underneath my chestplate, a little darker than the dress pants I wore. My armor covered most of my torso, hands, and forearms, but left my legs and shoulders free for the movement that was essential for my fighting style. My father had said there was an essential balance between protection and mobility. You could never rely on one over the other.

There was a brief silence as I looked about the area, my eyes narrowing. After a moment, Elara spoke, "What now? Where do we go?"

My thoughts raced in search of an answer for her. A quick look down at my scroll told me it was just past midnight, likely seven hours before sunrise. We would have to stop and rest at some point, three days without sleep in this forest would probably mean our deaths. We'd already seen that camping at night was dangerous, though, which would mean it'd probably be best to get a few hours of sleep in the morning and keep watch over each other in the meantime. Still, there came the problem of traveling in the da-

My thoughts stopped. 'I… cannot believe I forgot about that.' With a quick motion, I took off my rucksack and rummaged through it, only to bring out a sizable flashlight. A smile played on my lips, all the while Elara watched me curiously.

After I made sure it actually worked, I turned towards her, though my words weighed heavily on my shoulders. "We… must return to where I found you," I said, looking away from her.

I could almost feel the shock emanating from her, "Wh-What? Why!? That's a bad idea, isn't it?"

I sighed as I tossed my pack back onto my shoulders, "Yes, but it is our only option. Even if we make it to Senbonzakura, we can do little if we have no lien to our name," I turned back to look at her, her violet eyes as wide and in shock that I figured they would be, "My… My father has a card to his account in his pack. Our lifestyle is… meager, and it doesn't take much to get by. When you're paid as well as Huntsmen are, along with that," I smiled sadly, "It makes for quite the savings. We will be able to make it to Mistral, easily, with that money."

She stared at me for a moment, dumbfounded and afraid, before speaking up again, "But… What abou-?"

"There will be no danger there," I snapped suddenly, barely noticing the girl flinch as I did so, "Not after he…" I turned to look at the ground, lip quivering, despite how much I willed it not to, 'He cannot really… Not like that. I refuse to believe it.' I knew it was stupid to think like that. I knew what we'd likely find. That didn't change the fact that we needed that lien.

I felt a hand wrap around my left arm, and looked up to see Elara smiling softly at me. There was still fear in her words, but also a sort of resolve I'd yet to see on the young girl's features, "Okay. If you think it's important, then we can go back," She paused, looking more intently at me, "...Are you sure you wanna do this?"

For a twelve year old, she sounded strangely mature. I guess the same could go for me, though innocence isn't exactly something you hold onto in a life like the one I've led. Not with the company I've kept, anyway. No room for it when you travel with a man like my father.

I nodded, "There is not another option."

She nodded back to me and, with that, I turned and started towards the path I'd already walked twice today.

|Elara|

I followed Arturias as quickly as I could, doing my best to push past the pain that shot through my right leg with every step. I could tell he was walking slower for me, so I did my best to hide my winces. Luckily, it seemed to get easier as the time went on, somehow, even if it felt like injuries weren't supposed to work that way.

In the silence, my mind sped a million miles per hour. It was true that, before I'd woken up in the clearing with, apparently, Arturias' dad, I could only remember falling for some extreme amount of time. That tingling feeling was probably the most vivid memory in my head, even if I couldn't remember the context. Still, everything Arturias had said just felt… wrong somehow. Like it didn't really fit. I really didn't feel like a twelve year old, that was for damn sure.

The silence was starting to wear on me. Or, I guess, the lack of it. I could clearly hear the crunching of each of our steps, along with soft crunching from, what I hoped were, small animals. We'd been walking for about thirty minutes before I decided to speak up, "How much longer, do you think?"

My voice still sounded strange in my ears. And a little too loud, for some reason.

Arturias didn't let the silence come back, his voice surprisingly deep and coarse for someone his age. As much as it could be for a kid, at least, "Not much. Fifteen minutes, at most. Thankfully," he looked down at the map he'd pulled out when we'd started walking, and towards the trees around us, his flashlight illuminating a good portion of the area, even though it wasn't that dark to begin with. Especially for midnight, "It is also in the direction of the nearest village, Senbonzakura. We will walk until daybreak after we gather my father's belongings, and then you may rest. I will keep watch."

It broke my heart, the way he seemed so detached from his dad's death. Like he was denying it happened in the first place. 'I guess that is the first stage, after all.'

I furrowed my brow. The first stage of… what, exactly?

I shook my head, "What about you," I asked, looking at the back of his head, the great deal of ashen brown hair he had that was tied back into a small tail that didn't reach his back swaying a little in the wind, "When are you gonna sleep?"

He paused for a minute, going quiet as we walked. We'd gone a yard or two before he spoke again, "I will sleep when we are safe."

My eyes widened, "What? You can't be serious… Wait," my thoughts went to when he'd talked to me about the… Aura that most Huntsmen and Huntsmen-In-Training possessed, "Can you do that because of your Aura?" He'd said something about unique powers that most people with an unlocked Aura had, "Is that your sem… Sem-balance?"

He sighed, making me feel a little bad about asking even more questions, "It is called a Semblance. And no, that is not mine. I…" a slight twinge of sadness grew in his voice, "I do not know what my Semblance is. Nor is it something I can do because of Aura. It is the only option for us to get there safely."

I continued to stare at his back, mouth agape. 'He… can't be serious, can he? He'll never make it like that. We'll never make it like that.' I opened my mouth to argue before realizing that here, in the middle of, what was supposedly, a Grimm infested forest at midnight, might not be the best place for me to argue with him.

Deciding to bring it up when we had sunlight to work with, we continued onward, the silence joining us again. Every few minutes, I'd hear the rustling of a far off bush, and it'd send shivers down my spine. Otherwise, though, the walk was uneventful.

When we finally reached the small thicket of bushes and roots that obscured the way into the clearing, Arturias stopped, his hand resting on the foliage. I could've sworn that it almost… leapt towards his hand in the dark, though I blamed it on the strangeness of everything that was going on.

I walked up to his side and looked up at him, concern filled my head, "You okay?"

He glanced down at me, his forest-green eyes almost mirroring the leaves in his palm, before turning back towards the thicket, "Yes. Just… give me a minute."

I nodded and turned around, scanning the area mindlessly. True to his word, all it took was a minute of hesitation before his voice broke the silence again, "Alright. Let us go."

With that, I turned back around just as Arturias lifted the foliage to reveal a… strange sight.

Just like it had been when Arturias's dad, who's name he'd said was Aurelius, had been fighting the Grimm, there was a strange, thick, black smoke rising from the ground. Enough to be seen, but not enough to obscure the vision. More glaring than that, though, was the large greatsword that had been driven into the bolder I'd woken up on, half of its blade deep within the stone. Also apparent was the distinct lack of a Huntsman or his body.

Arturias spoke up before I did as he looked directly at the sword, eyes wide, "Wh-What?"

With little more than that, he ran forwards, quicker than I'd ever seen him go, and I followed as best as I could behind him. As I got closer, both he and I noticed a small chain hanging on the hilt of the sword. On the bottom of the chain was a small, silver circle that held a gleaming gem in the middle that shined brightly in the moonlight. 'A ring?'

Arturias took the ring in his hand, a tear falling into his palm. It was only then that I noticed the dried blood splattered on the sword, or the trail of it that led to the cliff just behind it…

"This was my mother's," Arturias said quietly, his voice softer and more sad than it'd been when he'd said goodbye to his dad, "She died when I was young, to a Grimm attack on our village in Sanus. I barely remember her, though her death was what inspired my father to train me and travel around the world." He looked up at me, tears in his eyes and a small smile on his face, "Father wore this around his neck every day. I never saw him without it." He paused for a minute and looked back at the sword, the same thing catching my eye. On the same part of the hilt that the necklace was, a small ray of moonlight reflected off another circular object. In a flash, Arturias picked it up and I edged closer, my eyes widening as it came into view.

A matching silver wedding band, a bit of blood dried on it.

Arturias shifted and I ran forwards, wrapping my arms around his body. With barely any restraint, he hugged me back and buried his head in my shoulder, letting out a choked sob.

We stood there for a long while, me holding him tightly. I barely knew him, but he'd already done so much for me. More than most others would, probably. I brought a hand up to stroke his hair, muttering soft hushes as he cried, his arms tight around me. He deserved this comfort.

Finally, after he'd let out what he could, I gave him a final squeeze and backed away. He offered me a soft nod of thanks, though he didn't look me in the eyes, instead moving to place the second ring on the necklace before putting it on and tucking it under his armor.

As he turned towards the sword, I spoke up, "What now?" Without his dad's body, we couldn't get any supplies that he'd had, "Without that card…"

"We stick to the plan," he said, his left hand moving to the handle of the sword alongside his right. He moved to plant his right foot on the stone, "Senbonzakura is still our best option to get out of this mess. With any luck, we will be able to gain access to his account through familial relation in Mistral. Thankfully, once we get to the village, the roads should be well kept, and traveling should be a breeze. I have a little lien on me, enough to get us enough supplies to make it to Mistral."

I nodded even though he couldn't see it, a habit I seemed to be forming. Just as I did, he pulled hard on the sword and, with a harsh grinding noise, it came free from the rock. Gingerly, he looked it up and down before nodding, apparently satisfied, and let it hang down at his side. It looked like it was as tall as he was, the metal shining brightly in the night. There was, what looked like, a trigger near the rightmost part of the hilt and a small hole near the tip of the blade on the same side. It was as thick as his forearm, but he still seemed to wave it around without much trouble.

"That was your dad's, right?"

He nodded, smiling at it, "It was. He called it Galatine. He has owned it for as long as I can remember." He ran his hand along the flat of the blade, his gauntleted fingers tracing the lettering in the furrow down the middle, that of which looked to be made of some sort of glazed wood that I couldn't quite make out from the way he was holding it. There were four letters spaced evenly among the blade, one on the top, two in the middle, and one on the bottom. He flipped it over and started to do the same on the other side, where it was mirrored perfectly.

"What's it say?"

He didn't even look up, "Hope."

Hey all, Awry again.

Like it says in the description, this story will make it to events of Volume 1 and onward, up until I can safely get to a logical ending. That being said, there are a few questions I have regarding how we get there.

Do you prefer this switching narrative, the back and forth, or would you rather the perspective be locked to a single person? I've enjoyed writing and reading both, but I know that might not be the case for everyone.

As for pairings, I've already got one in mind that plays a role in the story. Still, I'd appreciate any input you all have. Canon characters, original characters, it's all worth at least a mention.

Finally, how are the chapter lengths? I didn't want to make them super long because I know that it can dissuade potential readers, but so can chapters that are too short. I've bee aiming to stick around the 4k mark, but I could probably hit six or seven thousand without much trouble. It's all up to what is in demand.

Leave your reviews answers below! Again, any input is appreciated and will at least be considered. That, I swear to you.