Roy limped back into the town square, his coat draped over his shoulders in place of the blanket. It was still early, the sun having just cleared the horizon and the white walls of Akichi were stained a ruddy pink. He saw Dahlia standing by the Dusty Daydream, a crisp white bandage on her upper forearm.
The girl was currently shouting orders to a group of villagers, pointing to several spots on the ship as he walked up. "No! I said untie it, not cut it! Oh, hey Roy!"

The faunus nodded to her, "How's everything holding up?" he asked.

"Okay so far," the smaller girl replied, "we don't think any grimm will be coming back for a while, but we patched the barricade all the same."

Dahlia's eyes suddenly focused behind Roy and she turned pale, "Uh...You might want to turn around."

Roy turned to see the Veisses approaching him from across the village square. Edel was trailing back slightly, her eyes red from crying. Argent and his brother were both stone faced, both men doing their best to remain stoic. Roy resisted the strong desire to run and stayed where he was as the bandits came to a stop in front of him.

Argent cleared his throat, regarding the faunus with stern eyes, "if I recall correctly, you said that you'd present yourself for any punishment I saw fit."

Roy felt his heart thud against his ribs. Regardless, he made sure to keep his tone steady as he replied, "I did. And I will. The deaths today are on my head." He handed Μόνος to Dahlia, giving the smaller girl a reassuring nod. "I'll accept whatever punishment you think is right," he continued, turning back to face Argent.

The bandit chieftain nodded and struck without warning, his fist crashing into Roy's cheek. The punch sent Roy to the ground, the rough cobblestones tearing the skin on his hands.

"Get up!" Argent barked and Roy scrambled up, just in time for the bandit's fist to hit him again.

Four more times, the faunus was knocked to the ground and four more times, he was ordered back to his feet. Each blow felt like a hammer blow and Roy felt his consciousness flicker with ever strike. After the fifth hit, Argent finally stepped back.

"That was one blow for everyone we lost today." he growled, "Your debt is settled."

Roy fought to stay upright, blood dripping down his chin from a cracked lip. His cheek was slowly turning a mottled shade of purple and his eye refused to focus.

"I deserve worse," he forced out, spitting blood into the dirt.

Argent sighed, rubbing his eyes, "There has been enough death today. I've been told that you fought tooth and nail for Akichi, even when it looked hopeless."

Roy looked away, wiping the blood off of his face, "I only did what was right."

Argent grunted, "I would advise you to stay out of our way for the time being. We must be given time to grieve our loss."

Roy shot a covert glance to where Edel was leaning against the wall of the town hall. The bandit matriarch seemed smaller, as if the weight of grief had pressed her lower to the ground. He felt his ears droop and turned back the Argent, "I know it means nothing coming from me, but I'm sorry for your loss."

Argent paused, his eyes softening ever so slightly as he met the faunus's gaze. With a curt nod, he continued leading the other bandits into the town hall. Roy watched them go, before turning to find Aster holding Dahlia by her arms.

He raised an eyebrow at the pilot, who sheepishly let the smaller girl go, "She almost lept on Argent after the third punch."

Dahlia stalked over to Roy and shoved Μόνος back into his arms, "I know you deserved it, but the way your head snapped back after each punch...I thought he was going to kill you."

Roy nodded wearily, feeling a painful twinge in his neck. "how did Morado die?" he asked.

Aster played with her ponytail, obviously displeased with the change of subject, "Edel was trying to use her silver eyes but they weren't working. The wyrm charged, Morado pushed her out of the way and got trampled. The way Edel wailed…" the pilot shivered, rubbing her arms as if suddenly cold, "I hope I never hear another sound like it. It was the final push she needed and her silver eyes activated. Everything went white and by the time we could see again, she'd reduced the wyrm to dust."

Dahlia cocked an eyebrow, "what's so special about silver eyes?"

Aster grew slightly more chipper, "Well allow me to tell you!..."

Roy raised a hand, "I'll pass. I'm going to go lay down before I vomit." The two girls shot him concerned glances and he gave them a slightly lopsided smile, "Don't worry, I'm not dying. I just need to sleep those punches off."

Roy turned and walked toward the Daydream. After Argent's warning, he didn't want to chance running into the bandits again. So, rather than heading back to his room in the town hall, he climbed aboard the ship and made his way to the crew quarters. As he entered the hold, he felt his hopes of quickly falling asleep swiftly evaporate. The crash had caused everything in the crew quarters to relocate, violently. The metal crates had survived the impact, but the wooden crates had all been smashed to kindling; their contents spread all over the hold. The beds were no better, with the mattress pads and bed clothes scattered far and wide.

The faunus gave a tired sigh and set about cleaning the crew quarters. He remade the beds, reorganized the crates he could lift and slid the foot lockers back underneath the bunks. He didn't have anywhere to place the wooden debris, so he took one of the wooden crates that was still partially intact and placed the fragments inside. The crates had held spices from Menagerie and while the smell was lovely, Roy could feel his nose growing irritated. He hunted around until he found a broom and limped around, sweeping up what he could. After emptying the dust pan into his makeshift garbage can, Roy allowed himself to collapse down onto the bed. His leg had begun to hurt while he worked, but now the pain had developed into a nauseating burning sensation.

Must've damaged it when the beowolf landed on me, he thought.

He lay completely still for several moments as he caught his breath and tried to ignore the pain in his leg. He went to slide his scroll from his pocket, his heart leaping into his throat as he felt one of the two halves crumble under his touch. Afraid of what was waiting for him inside, Roy slid the device open and felt his heart drop into his toes. One of the white covers was cracked and fractured into several pieces, while the side with the charging port was spared most of the damage. What remained of the display was a glitched, cracked mess and right in the middle was a giant hole that almost severed the screen into two halves.

I must have landed on it when I fell. He pressed the power button and could almost feel his heart break to match the screen as the screen remained lifeless. All my pictures from Beacon were on here, he thought, tears beginning to blur his vision, All of those memories, all of those moments…Gone! Snapping the device shut, he threw the scroll against the inside wall of the wall of the ship.

Ignoring the pain in his back and leg, Roy curled up into a ball and let several hot tears drip onto the comforter. I shouldn't cry over this, he thought, angrily swinging his fist into the metal bed frame, The Viesses lost their son! A scroll is nothing compared to that.

Dragging himself back to his feet, he began to limp over to retrieve his scroll. As he put his full weight on his right leg, something finally snapped and the burning ache became an inferno of pain that completely engulfed his leg. He crumpled to the floor with a whimper of pain, his body hitting the metal floor with a muffled thump.

Propping himself up with one hand, his other hand felt for his leg. An odd lump had appeared below his kneecap, a firestorm of nerves igniting every time he touched it. His sadness turned to anger and he slammed his fist into the floor.

"I get it!" he cried, glaring upwards, "Everything that happened is my fault! I don't know what else you want me to do!"

He heard the thudding of footsteps on the stairs and a few moments later, Aster came running down the stairs into the hold. She quickly knelt by his side, gently touching his arm, "Roy! Are you okay?"

Roy roughly shoved her comforting hand away, "I'm fine! Better than fine! My heart is still beating and my loved ones are all safe. Why wouldn't I be fine?!"

Aster's eyes softened and she gently took Roy in her arms, hugging him tightly. Roy tried to push her away, but the pilot's strong arms quickly ended any resistance he offered.

"H-how can everyone just be fine with me?" he stammered, "I put everyone here in danger! I…" he swallowed, trying to get the words past the lump in his throat, "I got Morado killed."

Aster held him at arm's length, and looked him in the eye, "You didn't kill Morado, the wyrm did."

Roy looked away, unable to bear the kind look in her eyes, "Who provoked the wyrm? Who said it had to be killed? I did!"

The pilot gently placed her hand on the top of Roy's head, between his cat ears. "That might be true, but Morado went along willingly. He wanted to fight and his parents let him. He died saving his mom and I know he didn't have any regrets."

She was silent for several moments, letting what she said sink in, "Look at me," Roy obeyed and Aster's tone became slightly stern, "You need to be there for your team now. Everyone is fine with you because you gave your all to defend the village. They may have been in trouble because of you, but they're also safe now because of you."

Roy nodded and Aster smiled, "Good boy, Now lets…" she trailed off as she noticed Roy's scroll sitting by the wall. "Why is your scroll over there?"

Roy shifted awkwardly, "It's broken. It had all of my pictures from Beacon on it and I...lost my temper."

Aster got up and walked over to the device, sweeping it up to give it an appraising look, "Well throwing it won't help. The data ports seem to be intact. We should be able to save your pictures."

A spark of hope rekindled inside of Roy and he tried to stand, but his leg sent a jolt of pain through him and he slumped back down. "Ah! Can we really?"

Aster nodded, "I should have an old aux cable and a memory stick laying around somewhere." She gave him a concerned look, "Is your leg okay? Should I grab someone to help?"

Roy shook his head, ignoring the pain in his leg, "No, I want to do this first. Can you lift me?"

Aster grinned and gently lifted Roy into her arms once more, "I did it once, I can do it again."

A bit of a shorter chapter here. I forgot I had a chapter that was almost 8 pages in length and I didn't want to bore you guys. The next chapter is a bit of a jog down memory lane and I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Until Next we meet,

-Ar3mRising