Yeah we're just gonna continue moving on here, I'm not gonna end a chapter like that other one and then waste your time with a big ass author's note. Go. Read. Flourish.

Chapter 44

Jackpot

"How'd he even figure it out?!" Noctus shouted, sprinting to catch up with Link.

"His network runs too deep, I should have known!" Link shouted, vaulting over a large root as he ran back towards the camp. "Worry about the details later, we can't waste any more time!"

"I'll take your word for it..." Noctus muttered, really wanting more information. He had just woken up to see a man having been killed by a man a literal continent away, and he knew of their plans without any form of global communications active. It didn't exactly put his mind at ease to be told not to worry about how he did it.

Considering they ran the whole way there, they got back to the mercenary camp rather quickly, Link sliding to a halt in the center of the clearing.

"Hey, Knight!" White cheered, waving at him as he looked around the camp. "How'd the mission go?"

"I need to talk to Carmine," Link said, walking past her towards Carmine's tent.

"Did something happen?" White asked, taking note that Noctus wasn't with Link. "W-where's Midnight?"

"I'm here too, don't worry," Noctus said, running into camp and slowing down next to White. "But yeah, you could say something happened."

White then turned to Noctus, only then seeing that he had yet to clean himself off, and as such still was covered in Leoan's blood. She of course didn't know that, and thus was worried for him.

"Midnight, what happened?!" she shouted, Noctus looking at her weird. "Look at yourself, you're covered in blood! We need to get you to Doc, right now!"

"Huh?" he said, only now realizing he was still covered in Leoan's blood. "Oh. OH. Ok, no this isn't mine. Last job just got... dirtier than we'd thought it'd be."

"Oh..." White muttered, understanding what Noctus meant. "I... I see..."

"What's wrong?" Noctus asked. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to calm her down.

"I just..." she sighed, looking away from Noctus. "I know we can't always detain bad people, but that doesn't mean I'm okay with... doing that..."

"Hey, I know it's rough. I don't like it either, but sometimes it needs to be done. If it's you or them, or they're going after people you care about, they'd better know you're not going down without a fight," Noctus said, hoping to cheer her up. "But sometimes they're not going without that fight either. It's a hard world we live in, but it's our world anyway."

"Yeah, I know..." White sighed, meeting Noctus' gaze once more. "But that's why I'm here. I'm trying to make it better."

"That's the right idea," Noctus said with a smile.

"Midnight," Link said, walking out of Carmine's tent. "Carmine isn't here."

"What?" Noctus said, White thinking for a moment.

"Oh, right, he's off training," she said to herself, though Link and Noctus overheard her. "Wait, yeah, you'll want to know where. Hehe, sorry, he usually goes to a waterfall nearby to do some kind of resistance training or something. I think my brother went with him, actually..."

"Nearby waterfall, got it," Link said, nodding. "I think I remember where it is. Let's go."

"Right behind you," Noctus said, moving to follow Link.

"Wait, what happened?" White asked, though Link merely shook his head.

"You don't want to know."

With that, Link and Noctus left the camp in order to head towards where Carmine was apparently training at.

OOO

As White had said, Carmine was busy training under a waterfall, using the weight of the water to provide extra resistance as he went through a set of motions in order to hone his body further. Black sat on a nearby rock out of the river, looking decidedly bored.

"Not to rush you, but how much longer?" he asked, stretching his legs out a bit. He'd really been sitting there for a while.

"You know my routine takes time, Black, so just wait," Carmine retorted, taking a deep breath and cycling through another form.

"Yeah yeah, I just wanna get back to camp," Black muttered, laying back and propping his head up with his hands. Looking back, he was greeted by the upside down forms of Link and Noctus coming towards them, hopping to his feet and turning to face them. "What happened to you two?"

"That's the question of the day, huh?" Noctus said, Link walking past them and looking at Carmine in the water.

"Carmine," he said, getting his attention as the mercenary leader turned to him and opened his eyes to see him standing there.

"Ah! Knight, Midnight, you're back! I trust this means your mission went well!" he cheered, though Link's face remained emotionless.

"We need to talk. Alone. Now," he said, Carmine feeling the weight of his words as he said them. Sighing, he stepped out of the water and dried himself off, gathering his clothes and turning to head back to camp.

"I see. Very well, come. Black, we're done here," he said, Black looking at him incredulously as he walked past him.

"Why are you letting these guys interrupt your training? They're good, yeah, but what makes them that important?" he asked, though Carmine shook his head.

"Don't worry yourself with things that don't concern you, Black. You're dismissed for the time being," Carmine commanded, Black sighing and following after him. "Knight, Midnight, meet me in my tent. Get yourselves cleaned up first though, you're covered in blood, and that won't do."

"I actually do wanna clean up, this stuff is getting really crusty," Noctus said, lifting his arm with the crunching of dried blood accompanying the motion.

"Fine, just be quick," Link said, turning to head back towards camp. "I'll do the same. Meet me in front of Carmine's tent."

"Gotcha," Noctus said, turning to the water and removing his bloodstained clothes, getting to work washing the blood off, thankful it hadn't permanently stained his gear. It was still rather hard to get out, though.

As for Link, he made his way back into his tent, going around and gathering all of his loose gear, like ammo and tools, pocketing them before turning to leave, seeing Black standing there.

"What are you up to?" he asked inquisitively, purposely blocking the way.

"You don't need to worry about it," Link said, attempting to move around Black. He moved to keep him inside though, glaring at Link. "Do you mind?"

"I might move when you tell me what's going on here," Black said, glaring at Link. "You and that other guy have been acting weird since you got here, keeping to yourselves and dodging questions. It's made some of the others uneasy, especially since the two of you can fight like that. Two guys who no one knows show up out of no where, never talk to anyone, and stay away on missions. And most recently, you come back covered in blood demanding to talk to Carmine, dodging anyone's questions. So, I'll ask again; what are you up to?"

"Trust me, you'd rather not know," Link said, attempting to sidestep Black once more, being blocked again. Not having time for this, he decided to simply use his Semblance to move past him and get outside, stopping as he pushed past the flaps. Black, clearly not expecting Link to just appear behind him, stood back, having been a little startled by this change of events.

"The hell was that?" he asked, Link merely ignoring him and walking over to Carmine's tent, sitting in one of the chairs in front.

"Black, what are you doing in Knight and Midnight's tent?" White asked, walking up to Black and placing her hands on her hips.

"Come on, Sis, you know something is up with those two!" Black shouted, White stepping forward and pointing right at his face.

"Nope, don't care, Carmine said to leave it be," she said, glaring at her brother. "They've been a huge help, so stop poking around."

"But-" he said, White wagging her finger.

"Ah ah ah, no buts!" she said, silencing Black once more. "We're here to help people, not be nosy!"

"Yeah fine, whatever," Black groaned, rolling his eyes and turning to head back to his own tent.

"And stop being such a downer!" White shouted, Black throwing his hands up in exasperation as he walked into his tent. "Sourpuss."

It didn't take much longer, but Noctus came back, his clothes now free of dried blood, though he definitely looked a little damp. Oh well, at least he was clean.

"You done?" Link asked, seeing Noctus' approach.

"If we had the luxury of more free time I'd wanna dry off first, but we really don't so yeah I guess I'm done," Noctus said, Link closing his eye and nodding to himself.

"Alright, let's head in then," he said, rising from his seat and heading into Carmine's tent.

"So, what's so important so as to demand my isolated attention?" Carmine asked, Noctus tossing his scroll onto the table with a picture he'd taken of whatever Oni had done to Kyrin.

"He knows we're on our way to stop him," Link explained, gesturing to the bloodied text on the ground. "So we've run out of time. We can't stay any longer."

"We want you to do your little sparring match, see if coming out here was worth it," Noctus said while Carmine looked over the picture.

"Who is this man? What happened to him?" he asked, clearly confused.

"That would be Kyrin Rex, one of Oni's soldiers. He had sent both him and his brother to kill local Huntsmen and soldiers to draw us out in the hopes of killing us," he said, looking Carmine in the eye. "It didn't work. But he figured out that we're aware of his position."

"Not exactly the best turn of events, but we've gotta take the hits as they come," Noctus sighed.

"So, he's somewhere here in Vale?" Carmine asked. It was a logical deduction since he'd apparently killed a man in Vale, but as you know that assumption is wrong.

"No. Mistral," Noctus said, crossing his arms.

"Impossible," Carmine said in disbelief. "No one can move between Kingdoms that quickly."

"That man makes the impossible possible as he sees fit," Link said, glaring at Carmine. "And now that he knows we're aware of his plans, things will only get worse. We need to move quickly. So you and I have some business to take care of."

"Right..." Carmine said, looking at the picture once more before Noctus reclaimed his scroll and pocketed it. "Yes, your sparring match. I suppose you've earned it, you two have severely weakened Grimm numbers in the area, so I should be able to focus on this for a time."

"That's what we needed to hear," Link said, turning to the entrance of the tent. "I'll clear the area. Make whatever preparations you need, but be quick."

With that, he and Noctus left, Carmine sitting there for a moment in thought. He was truly going to do this.

"So soon..." he muttered, looking up and rising from his chair. "No matter. I must do my duty, no matter what."

Turning to a large case in the tent, he opened it to reveal a large golden gauntlet with heavy armor plating and a sort of mechanism connected to a handle portion. This was in truth Carmine's weapon of choice known as the Golden Fleece.

Donning the weapon and making whatever adjustments he saw fit, he turned to a mirror he had inside, looking himself over.

"This is exactly what I've prepared for."

OOO

It took longer than last time to clear the camp, as few seemed to believe that Link was to fight Carmine, even knowing how effective they were in the field. They eventually relented and made way, setting up chairs as they had for when Link and Noctus first fought. And like that first time, they fully expected a disappointment due to a one-sided slaughter in Carmine's favor.

Many scouts also returned from fruitless info gathering missions to this as well, being more careful regarding their placement, heeding what had happened with Link and Noctus' fight. They figured that even if he couldn't win, Link would certainly put up a fight.

White and Black seemed to be rather late to the party, seeing Link standing alone in the clearing with the others gathering around like last time.

"You and Midnight gonna throw hands again?" Black shouted, Link shaking his head.

"No," he said, throwing Noctus his cloak this time.

"Then who are you sparring with?" White asked, turning to see Carmine leave his tent with his weapon at the ready.

"Him," Link said, drawing his own sword.

"What?" White shouted, looking between the two of them. "Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa, why?"

"You don't need to worry about why," Link said as he watched Carmine step into the clearing. White then turned to Noctus to see if he would give her a different answer.

"Come on, why is he fighting Carmine? He's gonna get hurt!" she shouted, apparently worried for his safety.

"Don't worry about him," Noctus said as he leaned against a tree. "Just watch."

"So, are you ready?" Link asked, Carmine looking to him and fidgeting with his weapon.

"I'm always ready. Are you?" he said, immediately punching forward, a large blade extending forth as it also proceeded to segment, blasting towards Link with incredible speed. Link simply swung his sword to the side, hitting the segmented blade away and causing it to veer off to the side and bury itself in the ground.

"You could say I am, yes," Link said. "That was a rather cheap shot, Carmine. But I can't fault you, this is a rather important fight."

"I'm aware," Carmine said as he pulled his arm back, the blade retracting and collapsing back down into an ornate golden blade. "I just wanted to gauge your skill to see how hard I should try."

"Are you done gauging then?" Link asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Very much so," Carmine said, charging in and taking a few swings that Link blocked or parried, being forced to duck a few as Carmine continued his assault. Attempting to block another, Link was surprised when Carmine retracted the blade to bypass his sword, extending it once he was in position. Link slipped just past the blade, additionally winding up for a kick aimed at Carmine's torso. Lifting his leg, he was able to block it with his shin, though he took note that such a kick would have likely hurt a fair amount.

Off balance, Carmine was forced to take the full brunt of a sword swing from Link, though he was lucky enough to absorb most of the damage through his weapon. Regardless, he was pushed back, bringing forth a serious of surprised gasps from those around the camp.

"Did he just...?" muttered some of the veteran mercenaries, a bit taken aback since they'd written off his ability to do... well, anything against Carmine.

"No way, no one here can keep up with Carmine..." White muttered, Noctus chuckling beside her.

"I told you, just watch," he said, crossing his arms as he smirked.

Meanwhile, Carmine was regaining his footing after having slid away from Link, nodding to him in approval before firing off his segmented blade, Link responding by throwing his sword in turn. The two met and got tangled together, the two now trying to pull their respective weapons back to themselves. Carmine had a bit of an advantage in this regard, as he still had full use of both of his arms, attempting to pull back with both as hard as he could. Link struggled for a moment before activating his gauntlet and flooding them with earth dust. His strength bolstered, he started pulling Carmine towards himself as the Huntsman came to the realization that he couldn't simply brute force his way through this. Pulling a trigger hidden in the handle of his weapon, he channeled electricity dust through the blade and into Link. Though it seemed to hurt him, he didn't let it hinder him, pulling in Carmine all the same. This didn't sit well with him, as he figured he needed to do something before Link caught him.

Thinking, he decided to stop fighting against Link and instead charge him. This succeeded in throwing him off balance as he flew in landing a punch across his face. Link brushed it off and reclaimed his sword, attempting to turn around and slash Carmine. Carmine responded instead with a kick to Link's face before trying to follow through with a stab from his blade, though Link pushed it off to the side with his right arm before spinning around and landing a solid hit with a backhanded slash on Carmine. This knocked him away once more, the Huntsman being forced to skid to a stop, looking up and huffing as he rose back to his feet.

"Not really what I was expecting of him here..." Noctus muttered, White looking at him and sighing.

"People tend to fall short against Carmine," she said, Noctus shaking his head.

"I'm not talking about my partner, I'm talking about Carmine," Noctus explained, putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "Knight hasn't really been trying yet, just pushing hard enough to gauge Carmine's strength."

"What?" White asked, a bit taken off guard.

"There's no way, Carmine should have this in the bag," Black muttered, glaring at the fight in front of them.

"He's gonna have to try harder than this if he wants this one," Noctus said. "That Knight is one stubborn bastard."

Blowing his hair out of his eyes, Carmine rolled his shoulders while nodding approvingly, seemingly impressed by what Link was pushing him to do. He wasn't quite done yet, however, and fiddled with his gauntlet as Link approached him. Hitting another trigger, he forced the large shield portion of the Golden Fleece to start spinning. It continued to accelerate until the blade was naught but a threatening blur, Carmine taking care not to let it touch anything he cared about.

Link didn't really seem to care and instead opted to attempt to simply stab past the spinning blade, only to find that it moved at such speed that he couldn't get through, the tip of his blade instead grinding against Carmine's defense. Pushing harder, he tried to get through, though Carmine held fast and hit the dust trigger once more, sending a painful shock through Link's body. He pressed through as he did before, deciding to press through with his right arm as well, finally getting through the spinning fleece and hitting Carmine in the chest. Carmine was able to anticipate such move and move to mitigate as much damage as possible before retracting his blade once more and extending it right into Link's chest, the force of which pushed him back.

Regaining his footing, Link looked up to see Carmine swinging around the extended blade, dodging each attack before throwing his own sword at Carmine. He was able to dodge, whipping his blade at Link as he did, though Link surprised him when he caught the wire between the segments with his right arm, pulling in as hard as he could and tearing Carmine from his feet towards him. Retracting his sword at the same time, he was able to catch in and perform a quick spin to catch Carmine midair, knocking him away onto his back.

"This truly isn't what I was hoping for, Carmine," Link lamented, shaking his head. "You were so promising. Number 2 of Vale! But you haven't lived up to our expectations. You aren't what we've been looking for. This was a waste of our time..."

Noctus heard this and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers and shaking his head. "For fuck's sake, all of this and we're leaving empty handed..."

"Now now, just a moment," Carmine said, rising and dusting himself off. "I do believe I have plenty of aura left. Besides, I've yet to use my Semblance, after all."

Before Link could try to brush him off, he saw Carmine's eyes go from gold to red, noticing that his own vision went red as they did. In other words, Carmine had blinded him. Judging by Noctus questioning what was going on and why he couldn't see, he figured all present suffered this same fate.

"Now, let's finish this up and move on, shall we?" Carmine said, Link hearing that gauntlet of his revving up once more, furthermore hearing footsteps approaching before swinging in the direction they came from, catching nothing but air.

This is better, Link thought to himself, turning and slashing at more footsteps, missing entirely once more. Holding his sword up defensively he slowly turned and listened carefully, thankful for his half-Faunus heritage and the heightened hearing that came with it. It didn't seem to be helping him though, as Carmine's footsteps were very light, likely on purpose to benefit his Semblance. For a moment though the steps grew louder, sounding closer and closer until they were upon him. Reacting, he quickly turned and rose his sword, taking a very substantial hit and being forced back, nearly falling to his feet.

This is much better, Link thought to himself, widening his stance, he started turning once more, noting the heavier footsteps once again, trying to block and once again being all but blown away, this time being forced to drive his sword in the ground in order to halt his momentum. Rising once more, he started to think about whatever Carmine was doing to him, another thought crossing him mind. I was able to use my Semblance to cancel out Kyrin's... Could I maybe do the same with Carmine's? he pondered, listening for the footsteps once more. Sure enough, they came once more, Link using his Semblance right before he thought the blow would come. As he'd thought, his vision slowly returned to his, the red draining from the world as it was replaced with its normal color. However, he was met by a rather surprising sight.

In front of him, mid swing, was the scout he knew as Black, in his hands a massive scythe that was aimed at Link.

"What the hell...?" he muttered, turning to see Carmine standing nearby, a determined look on his face. Ignoring Black for now, he made his way to Carmine and did as he had with Kyrin, hitting him as hard as he could and draining his aura. To his credit, Link needed to hit him more than once to get through his aura, something that wasn't an issue with Kyrin. Turning back to Black, he made his way back to him and slammed the pommel of his sword into the insides of his elbows and kicking him in the backs of the knees before standing back in front of him, fully bracing himself as he deactivated his Semblance. As he'd hoped, Carmine's aura shattered and Black stumbled, making blocking monumentally easier and allowing him to throw him over himself while prying the impressive scythe from his hands, sheathing his own sword and inspecting the scythe more closely.

"Carmine, I think you have some explaining to do," Link said, placing the dull edge of the scythe Black was carrying on the ground. "Black as well."

Opening his eyes due to the punishment he'd taken, Carmine was met by the sight of Black lifting himself off the ground, and Link standing there holding Black's scythe.

"Oh dear..." he mumbled to himself, the sight of the others returning and gazing upon the scene before them.

"What the hell happened?" Noctus asked, making his way towards Link in the center of the clearing, examining the scythe himself. "This is some serious hardware..."

"Yes Carmine, what happened?" Link said, turning to Carmine.

"I-" he began, looking around to see the confused faces of his scouts and mercenaries around him. "*Sigh* I suppose I've been caught. Yes, you weren't fighting me alone. Black aided me."

"And why would one of your scouts be helping you, a certified Huntsman, in combat?" Link inquired, turning to White after he accepted his cloak from Noctus. "Were you aware of what your brother has been up to?"

"Oh, uh, I-" she began, though Carmine cut her off.

"No no, this is my burden. I ask that the two of you join me in my tent so I may explain myself," Carmine said, Link shaking his head.

"I want White and Black to join us. I have questions for the two of them as well," Link said, holding up the scythe and taking another look over it.

"Yeah, whatever, give it back," Black groaned, looking away and holding his hand out for the scythe.

"Sure," Link said dropping the scythe into his hand and turning towards Carmine's tent, Noctus shrugging to himself and following after.

"I'll be back in a moment, everyone," Carmine said, brushing his hair out of his face. "I won't leave you in the dark anymore."

On that note, he turned to head back to his tent, motioning for White and Black to follow him. They all made their way into the tent, Black leaning the scythe up against the side of the tent before dropping into a seat on the side, White sitting next to him. Link and Noctus sat at the usual seats, and Carmine came in to finish the picture, taking a seat across from the two of them across the desk.

"So," Link said, glaring at Carmine from his seat, "what's going on?"

"Yes, that would seem to be the question of the hour, wouldn't it?" Carmine sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I found Black and White a few years back, orphaned. Sadly, that story rings true for most of our scouts, but I digress. As I had done with others, I took them in such to keep them safe. But I found that they were unnaturally skilled fighters. Rarely did they end up in any real danger, as even the strongest of Grimm were dispatched by the two of them with ease."

"And you never thought to tell us about this?" Link pressed, Noctus rolling his eyes.

"Come on, dude, we specifically came in here asking about above average fighters. That's exactly what we're looking for!" Noctus shouted, Carmine closing his eyes and sighing once more.

"That's because," he said, looking the two in the eye, "I wasn't sure what exactly your goals were. One day, out of nowhere, you show up asking to spar in the hopes of testing my ability to assist you."

"Assist them with what?" White asked.

"Yeah, that's what I wanna know," Black added, leaning forward.

"I must defer to them on whether or not we are to speak on this matter," Carmine said, Link nodding to himself.

"I suppose that's fair, especially if you two are what we've been looking for," he said, grabbing his scroll and pulling up a picture of his uncle. "This man is Oni Strife, my uncle. He is currently the strongest Huntsman alive, and a serious threat to the safety of all mankind."

"He doesn't look too tough," Black said, shrugging. "I bet I could take him."

"He's a pure-blooded Strife," Link said, shaking his head. "I know that doesn't mean much, but it's incredibly important."

"Strifes are some pretty neat people," Noctus added, crossing his arms and legs. "They get two Semblances if they're pure enough. This man got so lucky that one of his lets him copy others. So forgive me if I don't believe you."

"They can use two Semblances?" White asked, clearly surprised. "But, that doesn't make sense! A Semblance is the power of the soul, a tangible manifestation of your life force. Having two implies he has two souls!"

"Trust me, I'm trying to figure it out myself, with no luck so far," Link said, putting his scroll away. "But I can assure you, the Strife Semblance phenomenon is real. Regardless, I want to know more about you two. There's a lot riding on who exactly you two are, and we need to know."

"Oh, right, about us..." White mumbled. "Yeah, my brother and I were orphaned a long time ago and had to more or less fend for ourselves. We did so until Carmine took us in. He didn't necessarily adopt us, but he at least took care of us."

"He kept doing Huntsman work though, so we saw plenty of Grimm," Black added. "We didn't really have any trouble with them."

"Truth be told," Carmine admitted, "I wouldn't be surprised had their abilities assisted in my Huntsman ranking. I was mayhaps number 10 or 12 when I'd first taken them in."

"So, a pair of kids ended up rocketing number 10 to number 2?" Noctus asked, nodding his head. "I think we may have found what we're looking for."

"I think you may be right," Link said in agreement. "What do you currently know of your Semblances? I'd imagine Carmine would have helped you get that far."

"We can both use them rather easily," White explained. "Mine lets me enhance those around me. I can pick and choose who."

"I can turn off Semblances or make myself immune to them, either or," Black said.

"Salvation and Damnation," Carmine said, nodding to himself. "You saw the effects of both of those today. Black made himself immune to my Semblance while White strengthened the two of us."

"Strife or no, those would help us. Like, a lot," Noctus said, leaning towards Link. "Plus, they could do stuff that made Carmine look like rank 2 material while trying to go under the radar. Who knows what they could do when they aren't trying to hide."

"You're right, regardless of who they are exactly, they would be powerful assets. Especially since we could help train them further," Link said, nodding. "And if they do end up being Strifes, we could try to figure out their second Semblances."

"We're right here you know, you can talk to us rather than about us," Black said, glaring at Link and Noctus.

"Well, I think that settles that," Noctus said as he stood from his chair. "I think these two gotta come with us."

"What?!" Black and White shouted in tandem, turning to Carmine in the hopes of a different answer. However troubled he seemed with the statement, he shook his head and relented.

"No, no he's right. You two need to help them stop this man before it's too late. You saw what Knight alone can do, and these two deem this Oni such a threat to find more like him in the hopes of stopping him," Carmine said, the two looking at him in shock. "Don't worry, all will be well here. Grimm are still naught but Grimm, and the most serious threats seemed to have been handled by these two."

"But, but...!" White started, though Link cut her off.

"Look, I know you may be worried for him, but you need to remember that this camp is only as successful as it is due to Carmine's efforts," Link said, Noctus nodding along.

"That, and he doesn't really do any of the fighting himself," Noctus added with a shrug. "So he's gonna be fine."

"I agree," Carmine said, turning to Black and White. "You two are meant for greater things than this. These two may lead you to what you're meant for, and I won't keep you. But should you desire to return once you've done that which you are needed to do, then I will be waiting for you."

"If you really think we should go with them, then I guess we will," White said, nodding to herself.

"I'll follow your lead I guess," Black said, rolling his eyes. "Someone needs to keep an eye on you, and I don't exactly trust these two yet."

"I'm sure we'll warm up to each other in time," Link said, rising from his seat. "But we welcome you all the same."

"Giving us your real names wouldn't exactly be a bad place to start," Black said, he and his sister rising from their seats.

"I suppose that's fair," Link said, offering Black his hand. "Link Valion."

"And you?" he asked, turning to Noctus after shaking Link's hand.

"Yeah yeah, Noctus Hale," he said, shaking Black's hand as well. "How about you two?"

"Kuroi," Black said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"He means Kuroi Sakashima," White said, quickly shaking Link and Noctus' hands. "I'm Shira. Same last name, since we're twins and all."

"You'd be surprised, I know sisters with different last names," Link said with a chuckle, remembering who exactly he was talking about and silencing his chuckle. "But that doesn't matter, we need to get going. Gather whatever you need for a long trip, we're heading to Mistral."

"Mistral, huh? That's a long walk," Kuroi said, grabbing that scythe of his and strapping it to his back.

"We've got our motorcycles, there's no way we're gonna walk the whole way," Noctus said, shaking his head. "That would be dumb."

"I've never been outside of Vale, is there anything I'll need specifically?" Shira asked, looking between Link and Noctus.

"I've taken jobs out there, the weather isn't so bad that you'll need special clothes or anything," Noctus said, thinking to his stints in Mistral. "But it should go without saying that we're expecting a fight. Arm yourselves."

"Yep," Kuroi said as he walked out of the tent, making his way over to his own.

"He's fun," Noctus said sarcastically.

"He just takes time warming up to people is all," Shira sighed. "It didn't help that you were always out on missions."

"I'm sure our true motives had something to do with that, he doesn't seem to like us much already," Link said, thinking about Kuroi trying to interrogate him.

"He was probably just worried about me and the others, now that we know you're trying to help he'll be more forthcoming," Shira said, turning to leave as well. "We should be ready to leave soon. I'll have Jade let the others know we're all leaving, it'll make our exit easier since no one will be asking what we're doing."

"That's a good idea," Noctus said with an agreeing nod.

"She's always been more of an intellectual than her brother," Carmine said with a proud smile. "Expect great things from her. Kuroi as well, what he lacks in academic persuasions he makes up for in combat ability."

"An empty head can definitely be useful if it's a hard head too," Link said, nodding to himself. "We should get moving too, it probably won't take them long to get ready."

"You're probably right, I'm gonna grab our bikes," Noctus said, leaving to do just that. Link did the same, turning to Carmine and nodding to him before leaving the tent.

Outside, Link took a deep breath, realizing he'd finally, FINALLY, made some real progress.

"Two potential Strifes... this is huge," he said, feeling a weight off of his shoulders. Truly, he needed something to validate that year's worth of failures, something to tell him that what he'd sacrificed was worth it in the end. "Now, we make our way to Mistral."

Taking another cautious breath, he returned to his tent, gathering what he needed and pocketing it, coming outside to see Shira and Kuroi, now out of their scout uniforms and dressed in their own personal garments. Kuroi had decided to forgo a shirt entirely for some reason, revealing a series of severe scars resembling claw wounds. He also removed his hat, revealing long black hair that fell down past his shoulders and covered his right eye, something Link noted to be rather odd since his left eye was scarred, not his right. Additionally, despite his hair being black, every strand also ended with white, and Link had the feeling he never had the time to dye it. The rest of his clothes were rather simple; baggy black pants tucked into heavy duty leather boots, a set of waist wraps held up by a sturdy belt, a pair of thick compression sleeves held on by several straps, and a large black chain wrapped around his chest to hold up his scythe. He also wore a little bit of jewelry, namely a pair of black earrings and a black necklace with a sort of pendant on it.

Shira was dressed similarly simply, specifically a pair of black pants tucked into heeled boots, a large brown sweater with brighter trim and a loose collar, and underneath that a sleeveless black shirt. Like her brother, her hair was also rather odd, being predominantly white with a thick black braid above her left sideburn, her bangs covering her right eye the same way Kuroi's did. She also wore jewelry, such as a small pair of gold earrings, a gold hair clip, and a necklace of her own with a cross upon it. She also had a long bag strapped to her back, something long within. The pair of them also had small bags with other personal belongings within them.

"You two got ready faster than I'd thought," Link said, a little surprised.

"I've been wanting to get out of those scout clothes for so long, they're really uncomfortable," Kuroi groaned as he rolled his shoulders.

Shira rolled her eyes, putting her hands on her hips. "Oh please, you just don't like wearing shirts. Though I do admit the hats were a bit much at times, it messed up my hair a lot."

"Well, whatever your reasons may be, they don't exactly matter," Link said, shrugging. "I'm just glad you're willing to come with us."

"You're trying to help people, right?" Shira asked, Link nodding. "That's all I want to do. This is giving me a chance to go and help more people than I've ever been able to, and I'd love to take it."

"Don't forget all those times you've told me how much you wanna travel and see the world," Kuroi said, Shira smiling and cupping her face.

"Yeah, that too, but helping people comes first!" she cheered, still smiling and thinking about everything she would see in the days to come.

"We'll be sure to take the scenic routes," Link said as Noctus returned, both motorcycles in tow.

"I got bikes," he said, Kuroi looking them over and thinking for a second.

"We're not gonna fit on one of those," he deduced.

"Yep, two person max, you're gonna have to split," Noctus said as Link came over to begin securing his weapons in place, aside from his sword at least. It seemed he was being more cautious now. "Plus, I'm not letting anyone drive this but me. Gift from the girlfriend."

"Likewise. No one drives Epona but me, it's a memento from my father," Link said as he finished mounting his shield and rifle. "So, decide who goes with who."

"Who's driving in front?" Kuroi asked, Noctus pointing his thumb to Link. "Ok. I'm riding with you then, Midnight."

"So, I'm with Knight?" Shira asked, Kuroi nodding.

"Makes it easier to keep an eye on you," he said as he approached Noctus' bike, Shira sighing and heading over to Link's.

"That all settled then?" Link asked, doing his final checks on Epona. It'd been a while since he'd driven her, so he wanted to make sure nothing had happened that would be an issue.

"Yep, I'm with you, Kuroi's with Midnight," Shira explained.

"You asked for our real names, you may as well use them," Link said as he stood back up, dusting his hands off.

"Sorry, sorry!" Shira quickly said, rubbing the back of her head. "We're just so used to your codenames that swapping to your real ones will take some time."

"It's no problem, honestly I still see you as White, not Shira," Link said as he got on and started the engine. "Now hop on, we've got a long way to go until we can take a ship to Mistral. And from there, who knows?"

"Are you leaving then?"

Those present turned to see Jade walking up cautiously, Shira meeting her halfway and embracing her, a sad smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess we are," she said, holding on for a moment before pulling back. "I'll be sure to write! Though we don't exactly have a mailing address here..."

"Just pick a town, the scouts will find them soon enough," Jade giggled. "Gosh, I forgot how pretty your hair was! Always crammed into these hats."

Jade took a moment to run a hand through Shira's hair, Shira laughing with her. "Yours too! Girl lemme see it again before I leave, I love the color."

"Any excuse to take these hats off I will take, you don't have to tell me twice," Jade said as she removed her had revealing shoulder length jade green hair. No wonder they called her Jade, her hair and eyes were the very same color she was named after. "It's too warm here for all of this stuff."

"Something we can definitely agree on," Kuroi said.

"Oh hush, you're always warm," Shira said, turning and shooting her brother a playful glare. "Anyway, I'll do my best to keep in contact and keep everyone up to date on how we're doing."

"You better," Jade said, jabbing her in the arm. "I'll be angry if you go silent. Stay safe out there, okay?"

"She's got nothing to worry about when it comes to safety," Noctus said as he started his own engine. "No one's getting past us."

"Anyone who touches her is gonna regret it," Kuroi said as he got on Noctus' motorcycle, awkwardly trying to figure out how exactly he should hang on.

"She'll be safe with us, you have my word," Link finished, gesturing to his motorcycle. "We need to get going, no time to waste."

"Okay, I know," Shira said, hugging Jade one more time. "We'll keep in touch."

"I look forward to hearing from you," Jade said as Shira hopped onto Link's motorcycle, grabbing on as he started to pull away. Many had gathered outside to see them off, waving as they watched the quartet leave.

"So, off to Mistral?" Shira asked, Link nodding in return.

"Yep, off to Mistral."

Yeah Jackpot means they found 2 Strifes. Plot twists and all that. Shira and Kuroi Sakashima. Fun folks, lemme tell you. Their names do follow the CNR, their names meaning white and black respectively.

Carmine's Semblance is specifically called Seeing Red. When his eyes go red, those around him can't see since their vision is entirely painted red. His name was actually a hint, as carmine is also a general term for deep red colors with a little bit of purple, though tend to be more red than crimson. Nothing special beyond that.

And don't worry, I'm not quite finished with this Volume yet. I've still got more ideas on where to go from here. (Plus I wanna try to match Volume 4's chapter length, but I'm not gonna purposely drag it out to get there, I'll let it flow naturally and end it when it needs to end)

Yep, that should about cover what I wanted to talk about here. Anything else I wanna go in more detail about can wait until later. Oh well.

OniHelix out!