Vague
-8 years Ago-
A young Neptune is sitting on his bed watching his older brother, Jupiter packing his materials, and his spear, De Nile. The distraught boy pleads to him not to leave after the loss of their eldest brother, Pluto, who died at the hands of an assassin hired to kill him.
"Please don't go, Jupiter." Neptune pleaded. But Jupiter did not look at him in the eye and kept packing. After overhearing him leaving for his own terms. Neptune cannot bear the fact of losing him. Jupiter was 17 at the time and Neptune was 11.
"Stop telling me what to do, you sounded like dad." Jupiter rebuffed, not stopping anytime soon. "But you might die, Pluto won't be happy is he...he..."
"Pluto is dead. It's not like I am next. I couldn't stand living with dad. Pluto this, Pluto that. All of this was just Dad's excuses to keep me here."
"Do you have any idea how much pain Dad was in after Pluto died?! Someone has to keep the family safe."
"See what I mean? You've been taking his side. It's his fault Pluto was dead. Had he had the guts to kill Marcus Black, maybe Pluto would've been alive." Jupiter retorted at his younger brother. Blaming his father for their brother's death.
"He just wasn't the type to be willing to kill."
"Whatever comes next, I am not afraid of death. Being sentimental can get you kill. That even made Dad a weaker huntsmen. His best friend died because of a Grimm in Kuroyuri. You on the other hand have his traits. You can't even touch the water. You're even weaker than Dad."
This however nearly enraged Neptune with the insults as he charged at him with his spear and points it at his brother's neck. Neptune was unwilling to strike his older brother and his wrist shakes. Jupiter smirked at his brother's unwillingness to kill. "See? You can't even kill a fly. Being a huntsmen, you became the wolf who hunts their prey. If you cannot act like a wolf, you become the prey. Your case, you're pathetic."
Shocked by Jupiter's words, Neptune's heart felt like a stab by the knife. Jupiter knows that Neptune was too pure-hearted to hurt someone. Jupiter did not mean to say those words. He only wants his little brother to fight rough. Just as he was about to walk out of their room. While Neptune watched helplessly. Jupiter looked back and smirked. "I'd let you come with me, but you might slow me down if you followed me."
After Jupiter left, Neptune was left all alone and crying. Afraid he might lose his second oldest brother. Was his brother leaving because of grief?
At the Argus Train Station, Jupiter makes his leave. Then a female assassin followed him. She flicks her hair and smiled at him while swaying her hips. While he places his bags in a compartment. "Hey there, handsome." She said smugly. But Jupiter wasn't persuaded and takes out a knife while no one is looking and rushed to her and pressed the knife against her neck. While wrapping his other arm around her. Gritting his teeth. "Don't even think about it. If you get any ideas of killing me or anyone, I will find you." Jupiter threatened. Scared, the woman handed him her weapons an ran off.
The female assassin ran to a man with a mustache. Dressed in casual clothing. Someone who hired her to observe his instincts. "Did you get him?"
"No, sir. He just figured me out too quickly on his instincts." She said. The man took an interest in the 17-year-old and walked over to him. "Just leave him to me. For now, he could be of great use to us." The man said.
"Yes, doctor." The woman replied before taking her leave. Then the man approached Jupiter and was about to speak to him. "Hello, young man. I saw how you fend off that young women. Normally she would take her prey by surprise. But you out of all men have managed to beat her."
"You were the one, weren't you?" Jupiter deduced as the person who sent the assassin after him. But the man calmly rubbed his mustache and tried to put an ease at the attempted rage that would eventually grow inside him.
"Ah, yes. I did send her. My apologies for the trouble. But this is actually a test for you. My name is Dr. Arthur Watts. I am a professor of Atlas Academy."
"Oh yeah, those guys. Sorry old man, but I don't cooperate with you Atlesian scumbags like you and the military, and if you're offering to transfer me to Atlas, forget it. I'm not becoming one of Ironwood's puppets." Jupiter scoffed before moving away to another seat. But Watts has another thing to offer.
"I know you don't trust me because of my origin in Atlas. But I can offer you what Ironwood refuses. Your bloodline descends from Uranus Vasilias, right?" Jupiter paused hearing that name of his grandfather. For some reason he knew who he was.
"That was my grandfather's name. How did you know him?" Jupiter asked. Puzzled that some genius knows about his bloodline. "Young man, I had lived as a youngling just like you to see his battles. Of course he was a student in Atlas turned rogue."
"Dad never told me about it, but I heard about it from the articles. Maybe Uranus was right to rebel. Atlas was the reason everything in this world is corrupted. Men, women and children slaughtered by the riches and yet, nothing was done."
"If only I could see it all again."
"So tell me, Doctor. what is this offer you wanted to tell me?"
"Simple, Mr. Vasilias. I am offering you the chance to take vengeance on your eldest brother's killer."
-19 Years Ago-
Tamaku Ayana has green hair and Jade eyes as he sat in the campfire alone. The huntsman closed his eyes as he sighed of tiredness for the hunts he has been paid for. But then he hears a ruckus in the bushes and readies his sword.
"Baby, it's been a long time." A female voice whispered loudly. It was someone he recognized. It was his estranged wife, Sai Tarayuki. She has lime eyes and orange hair color. "Sai, what are you doing here. Last I heard, you joined Salem."
"Oh come now. You know she raised me, Tamaku. Yet you never shared this with the others."
"Where have you been since after our wedding? You disappeared like a ghost." Tamaku demanded. The former huntress then knelt down to him and smiled sweetly. But at the same time it was a smug in front of his face. "Are you still angry? I came here to talk to you. Because Salem demands I come back to her. I am still your wife. Since I caught up with you, I have a favor to ask you."
"Spill it, I can't deal with this today." Sai then held a blanket that has a little bundle. She has yet to show it. "Salem was aware of you now and I told her that I failed to recruit you since we got married. But I hope she doesn't find you. I didn't want this for you or our son." She uncovers the blanket and reveals a baby in her arms who looks exactly like Tamaku, but with his mother's eyes.
The baby recoiled as he has yet to meet his father. And began to cry. Sai then calmed her son. Tamaku was shocked to hear he fathered a son he did not know. "Sh sh sh. It's okay, Sage. Don't you recognized your father?"
"Wait, we have a son?" Tamaku asked, his eyes widened directly at the baby. Sai smirked while bouncing their baby. "Sage Tamaku Ayana. And he needs you, his father." She then hands Sage to his father. "I was a fool to think Salem will keep her empty promises. Yet in the end, no one can escape her, and neither could I."
"There could be another way, we can find some place to hide." Tamaku suggested. But Sai shook her head and said, "As if we could forever. Even if we did, she can send her assassins to hunt us down anytime. The stories written in the books, it's all too real."
"Salem is anything but a myth. I suspected Raven had betrayed her team. How many more traitors we have to deal with?" Tamaku asked.
"Raven would do anything for survival over her own family. From what I heard from Qrow, her daughter is a loss to her. Poor Taiyang has to raise her on his own. Just after Sage was born, I feel like I have no choice but to give him up to you. After all, I would do anything for our son. And I know you would so the same." Tamaku is at silence, not wanting to admit it, looking at the baby in his arms. Then Sai disappeared twice. Tamaku then looks up and she is gone again.
He then looked back at the infant Sage as he was climbing onto his shoulders and pulling his spikey hair. and eyeing him fondly. "Looks like you're stuck with me, little guy. Sage huh? Wise choice for a name." He chuckled, "What am I going to do with you?" Sage then smiles cooing after grabbing his biological father's finger affectionately. Tamaku smiles at the face of innocence that will soon evolve into someone greater than now.
19 Years Later
Sage and his black wolf companion, Shoji, alongside his red-headed friend, Scarlet David were in Vale. Since Haven is closed for the time being. The two decided to investigate the destruction of Beacon Academy. Shoji is sniffing the ground. "Got something, boy?" Sage asked.
Shoji whimpered calmly, Sage stroked his head. Shoji had been more like a brother to him than a pet. He raised Shoji when he was just a pup. "Take your time, Shoji." He said.
"First Beacon is destroyed and now Haven is closed. Then Neptune went back to his home and Sun went missing?! This is just bloody crud!" Scarlet laments. Sage then turns to him while petting Shoji.
"Getting agitated won't help. However, this is the perfect time to find out more to find some motives for the Fall of Beacon. The reason was, why?"
"When I find the three bloody bastards who did this. I wanna make then experience the world of pain!" Scarlet said, pressing his knuckles, making cracking noises. Sage then shook his head and sighs. Shoji barks at something new. The pair then ran towards Shoji to find what appears to be a pit. "What is it, boy?!" Sage asked.
Only to see what was horrified to find. It was all blood and death. many piles of many fallen huntsmen and huntresses. Both Sage and Scarlet's eyes widened. What's worse, many loved ones would be looking for them and would not want to hear bad news of this. "So many huntsmen and huntresses." Sage said, his voice slightly trembled. Frozen at the sight of death.
"Whoever did this must pay for this." Scarlet snarled. His teeth gritted in anger.
Author's Note: This prologue is the beginning of Volume 4 Redux. Apologies if that chapter is too short, but this is only the beginning. I will write down the rest for the next week or less. Again, I am sorry for the deletion of Volume 5 Redux. I was just thinking things through. In the Redux Version, Sage has a pet wolf Companion named Shoji, who tracks down Grimm and criminals during their time in Haven.If you're wondering about his origin, he came from a family of survivalist, Sage was raised by his father after his mother left for mysterious reasons, as she has been connected to Salem before.