AN: Hey there everybody and welcome back to another chapter of Evolution. Thanks for sticking with this story if you're an active reader or welcome if you're new here; anyways review time.
GrimmKingOfAtlas: I was going to go the boring route of them discovering he was a monster and do the rest of the chapter where everyone else finds out, but decided against it. As for the grimm decomposition rate... think of it as the regular grimm class taking a tens of minutes to disappear while the older and bigger takes up to a couple hours at most to disappear. I also wanted the transformation to be somewhat like the game where they evolve; I just couldn't have them turn into a puff of smoke and then bam! They're monsters. Anyways thans for the review and #DicksOutForLarryTheGrimm.
hornig3: You're welcome man.
XCOMHEAVY12: Damn dude, that's a long ass review. I'm impressed though that you actually typed all of that and made a scenario. Anyways thanks for the review and keep up on those long ass reviews, I enjoy reading them.
dracohalo117: Thanks man, appreciate it.
Holy moly: Not an entire civilization but... somewhat of a group. I don't really think they would have an aura like everyone else on Remnant. One, because I want to make the story kind of unique and two, I feel as if you have to be a native of Remnant to have one. Anyways, thanks for reviewing.
Sasha37: Thank you for the encouragement. I had the same thoughts about Ruby too, I felt as if I portrayed her character somewhat poorly. In all honesty I actually meant to make her conflicted about Ares' little wake up call on life, but I never meant to make her seem depressed. Sorry about that and thanks for pointing out my flaw.
Now that all the reviews are over, I only have one thing to say... Let's roll on with the fucking story!"
Ares groaned a bit and slowly opened his eyes before slowly looking around with hazy vision. He tried to sit up but growled in pain when he did; he waited till his vision cleared and brought his hands up to his face and noticed he was back in his hybrid form. He snarled in anger and sat up slowly before looking around to see he was in a type of room made out of stone, he looked down and saw he was on a bed made out of various furs and padding. Slowly getting up and standing with some difficulty, Ares walked towards the door and opened it slowly while looking out. He entered the hallways and walked towards a large area that looked like it was the main hall, he noticed that there was numerous rooms that was just a hole in the wall but no doors. Each room had a small bed and numerous decorations made from different plants, rocks, shells, and pelts from small animals. Ares was to busy looking at the different rooms he didn't notice someone hit him until the said person was knocked over. He looked down to see a child that looked to be around Rei and Ken's age staring up at him, he also noticed this child staring at him with wide eyes and scrambled to get up but stopped when Ares grabbed their tail and hoisted them up.
"EEP!" The child yelped with wide eyes as they hung upside down. He stared at their features and noticed that the child was a girl, had spikes on her back like him, had brown hair and a scar running down the side of her right cheek.
"Who the hell are you? Where am I? Where's my little siblings?" Ares interrogated making the small girl in his hands tremble terribly. She stood stock still as Ares lifted her so she was closer to his face making her eyes widen a bit. "Now I'm going to ask nicely, one time. Where am I?" He asked as smoke poured out of his mouth.
"You're in Tushwarha keep!" The girl screamed making Ares look at her weirdly and look around before he looked at her again.
"Where?" He asked.
"Tushwarha keep." The girl repeated making Ares frown.
"I got that part. I want to know where it's-" Ares was interrupted when a fist impacted his face, making him fly into a wall and shake his head. He slowly stood up and glared at the one who attacked him, he noticed it was a female that had blue hair and eyes, spikes on her back, a barbed tail that was missing a spike or two, pale skin, a long scar that ran from her right eyebrow to the right side of her mouth and had a scowl on her face. She looked to be around his age, maybe a year younger. The younger girl stood behind the older girls leg and stared up at Ares with a scared expression on her face.
"You mind explaining to me what you're doing harassing the young one?" She asked with a scowl that put Weiss' to shame.
"Yeah, trying to figure out where the fuck I am." Ares said as he glared at her while she did the same.
"First language, and second you're in-" She started.
"I know where the fuck I am. I want to know what part of Emerald Forest I'm in." Ares interrupted making the other Goliath scowl.
"Fine, you're in the deepest part of Emerald forest. Far away from that hunter school and a couple of hours from Vale; we're in a dug out hill that holds other inhabitants. Happy?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I'm not. Where's my siblings?" Ares asked with a clenched fist.
"You mean those two sweet kids? They're with Brock outside with the others." She answered. Ares raised an eyebrow before clutching his side and growling, he ripped off the bandage and threw it to the side.
"Who the hell is Brock?" Ares said as he knelt down to catch his breath.
"He's the one that choked you out to save those kids from you. I've got to say, he actually had to hold you for a minute before you decided to give up." She said nonchalantly.
"He's the one that stopped me from killing those fuckers?! Why?!" Ares snarled making the younger Goliath hide back further. Ares looked at her before taking a few calming breaths and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Because if you would have killed them, then we would have been found. Let me tell you, I was about to castrate him for bringing you here and kill you for picking a fight with them." She scowled making Ares snarl and step closer to her; she didn't back up but actually got closer.
"You were going to take me away from my siblings?" Ares growled.
"If we were discovered then yes." She growled back. The two were close to each other and glaring with pure murder in their eyes, the tension between them grew so much that the little Goliath in the hall had to intervene.
"U-um? C-can I go outside now?" The little Goliath asked timidly. The female Goliath's look softened before she looked at the younger one.
"Yes, Mimi. You can go outside now; tell Ken and Rei that their brother is awake too." She said softly and watched as the younger girl quickly ran out of the cave before her look hardened and she glared at Ares making him snarl at her.
"Now, listen here and listen good." She said as she poked his chest. "We live in peace here and the moment you threaten that very peace, I will be there to take you down." She said as she glared at him.
"Just show me where my fucking family is." Ares said as he waited for her to stop looking at him. She huffed at him and turned away, leading him in the direction of his family. He gazed around and took in the gaze of the interior of the cave system, he would be lying if he said it wasn't beautiful. The whole setting just felt like home to him and it made him reminisce about one of the cave he found on Shear; he sighed when he thought about his home world then growled at his final moments on it. They arrived outside and he was immediately blinded by the light, but quickly adjusted and heard laughter emit from in front of him. He saw his siblings playing with numerous other little ones and laughing while three older ones watched with smiles on their faces; none of them noticed them until the Goliath next to him spoke up.
"He's awake." She said making everyone look at them; Rei and Ken stared wide eyed before running over to him.
"Ares!" They both shouted in unison as they hugged him. He knelt down and hugged them back tightly before picking them up and letting them rest on his back, much to the wonder of the younger ones.
"What?" He asked them.
"Nothing, just never seen two younger ones do that before." A muscular man with sandy skin tone answered. He was around Ares' height give or take a few inches taller, had white eyes that glowed a bit, hardened skin that seemed to be made out of pure rock, and a short stubby tail that would occasionally sway back and forth. He walked up to Ares and stuck his hand out.
"Hey man, I'm Brock." He introduced.
"I'm guessing you're the one who choked me out." Ares deadpanned making Brock rub the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Heh, heh, yeah... couldn't think of any other way to stop you." He said sheepishly. Ares rolled his eyes and turned to see a pale skinned woman walk up to him; she had green hair, was slightly skinny (not overly skinny... think of her as fit), skinny razor sharp claws, a green eye and a milky white eye that had a scar running through it that signified some sort of physical trauma.
"Hello~" She said in a sing-song voice making Ares scowl at her. "I am Arachne! The divine spider goddess and persistent predator of the depths~" She sang making Rei and Ken laugh at her antics.
"That's quite enough child; I think he would like to catch up with his younger siblings now." An old voice said calmly, making Arachnee give a small pout before going back to play with the other young ones. Ares took in the old man's features and raised an eyebrow before returning with his neutral look. The old man had black hair that was slicked back with some red streaks in it, fair skin tone, glowing blue eyes that seemed to leave a trail of energy when he moved around, grey beard, wings that cackled with red electricity, and appeared to be using a stick for support. Ares knew the stick was for show as the older man didn't appear to have trouble walking, it appeared to be a sentimental thing.
"Where are my manners? I'm Mathias, but most of the children around here call me father for some reason." The older man greeted with a smile and stuck his hand out to Ares, who looked at it for a second before shaking it in a firm grip. Mathias let go of Ares hand and gestured for him to follow.
"Come, I have much to show you around here. Especially if this is your new home." Mathias said making Ares stop in his tracks.
"What do you mean our new home?" Ares questioned making Mathias look at him before laughing a bit.
"Forgive me for not telling you earlier; you're younger siblings established this their new home already and we couldn't just throw you three out." Mathias said making Ares look at Ken and Rei, who sheepishly sunk further behind his back. Ares just sighed and gestured for Mathias to continue, the older man just laughed and continued to walk towards one of the many entrances of the dug out hill, passing by the female Goliath who eventually tagged along.
"Michelle, did you show him the main hall?" Mathias asked.
"No, but we did pass by it. I was to busy trying to get him to stop harassing a little one." Michelle answered.
"By sending me into a fucking wall." Ares said making Michelle glare at him from the corner of her eye.
"Because you were harassing a little one." Michelle argued and began getting closer to Ares and poking his chest, making him scowl.
"I was asking her a series of questions." Ares just said and glared at her shorter figure, despite her being at least a foot shorter than him, she still managed to make him recoil a bit when she poked him.
"You were being an asshole." She said.
"I was not." Ares replied.
"Was too." She said.
"Children..." Mathias tried as he tried to stop them from arguing, he looked at Ken and Rei before gesturing them to stand behind him while the two Goliaths argued.
"Well maybe if you let me finish then I wouldn't be such an asshole." Ares growled.
"I highly doubt that. You'd still be an asshole even if you were done, your siblings described you while you were out." Michelle growled back.
"Don't fucking bring them into this." Ares said as he got closer to her.
"Well I wouldn't have to if you didn't harass Mimi." She snarled.
"Children..." Mathias said a little more forcibly.
"For the last time, I wasn't fucking harassing her. So stop saying it." Ares snarled back.
"You were too, I saw it with my own eyes." Michelle said as she gestured to her eyes.
"Well maybe your eyes are going bad." Ares said.
"You trying to start something, huh? Because we can duke it out right here, right now" Michelle said as she slammed her fist to her palm.
"So what if I am?! I'll gladly whoop your ass to get you to shut up." Ares said as he raised his fist but stopped when Mathias slammed the stick into the ground.
"Enough!" He shouted, making his voice boom throughout the cave walls and startling the children outside. He breathed heavily and looked at Ares and Michelle before huffing and straightening himself.
"If this is what I must deal with from now on then I'll happily take my spot in the grave. You two are near adulthood and you're acting like children." He said as he looked at Michelle, who looked to the side "I thought I taught you to control your anger and act like an adult when the time comes, but all I see is a child again." He said then looked at Ares. "I don't know much about you but I can already tell you have trust issues, so drop them or we won't be getting along anytime soon." He added with force making Ares look in another direction. The five eventually began their tour again with no interruptions or arguments, needless to say it was a bit uncomfortable with the whole silence thing.
Later on:
Nightfall quickly fell upon the large group everyone sat with the exception of Ares, who sat on the circled ledge of dining hall and watched over everyone. He kept a close eye on Rei and Ken as they talked with Mathias and laughed when he told them a joke, his eyes narrowed when a young Goliath threw his bone at Rei and laughed but later growled a bit when Ken threw his bone and snarled at the young Goliath. His smile eventually faded as he watched the younger ones eat happily and the four older occupants watch over them and eat while making small talk, they all seemed... happy. He slowly got up and backed up until he was out of the room and entered one of the hallways, he ventured around for a bit and exited the hallways and into the night. Ares walked over to the cliff's edge and sat on it, staring up at the shattered moon that always seemed to fill him with wonder. The cool breeze tickled his skin while the crickets chirped into the night sky, making him relax and sigh out of relief. He leaned back and lied down on the soft grass while closing his eyes and began to fall asleep until he heard that one person's voice he already had a hatred for.
"You know if you're going to fall asleep, you might as well do it inside." He head Michelle say and felt her sit next to him.
"What do you want Michelle?" He asked tiredly while still having his eyes closed.
"Wow, even after a stern talk from Mathias about your attitude. You still act like an asshole." Michelle said making Ares scowl and turn away from her.
"Don't you have some little ones to look after?" He asked.
"No, Arachnee and Brock are taking care of that." She said looking up at the moon. Silence enveloped them for a minute, eventually the minutes began to grow into an hour before Ares said something.
"Why are you really here Michelle?" Ares finally asked making her sigh.
"Mathias told me to apologize to you." She said making Ares snort. "So... sorry." She added.
"You don't mean it." Ares said sitting up and looking at the moon.
"What?!" Michelle said wide eyed.
"I'm not repeating myself. If you really meant you're sorry then you would have come to apologize to me willingly, not under Mathias' orders." Ares explained making Michelle growl at him.
"Are you going to accept it or not?" She asked.
"No, I'm not." Ares said said as he looked at her and snorted at her scowl directed towards him. Michelle sputtered an incoherent sentence before standing up and marching past him but not before smacking him in the back of his head with her tail.
"Tch, Asshole." She growled.
"You want to know something Michelle?" Ares asked making her turn in his direction.
"What?" She growled.
"The reason I'm not accepting it is because I knew you would do something like this, say you're sorry then insult me. It's been what... half a day? And you already treat me like shit. If this is what I'm going to be treated like then I'll take my siblings and go." Ares said as he stood up and stretched.
"Fine, see if I care." She said as she went back inside making Ares laugh.
"Oh, but you do care." Ares laughed and lied down on the ground and fell asleep.
The next morning:
"Ares wake up!" He heard Ken shout next to him, he then felt something soft impact his face making him furrow his brow before sitting up and look around. He saw Rei, Ken and some other younger monsters surround him and stare up at him in awe as he stood to his full height and look down at them. They all stared at one another before the children suddenly latched onto a different part of Ares' body; ranging from his neck down to his legs, one was even hanging onto his tail.
"You all mind explaining to me what it is you're doing?" Ares asked as he lifted his arm to come face to face with his little sister.
"We woke up early and wanted to play. Now play!" She suddenly shouted making him recoil back a bit at her sudden outburst, he slowly let his arm down and let Rei slide off of it and hit her but on the ground.
"Alright, what do you want to play?" Ares sighed making the children give cries of joy.
"T-tag." A young Goliath said with a timid voice.
"No, hide and seek!" A excited voice of a Wraith called.
"Duck, Duck, Goose!" Another Goliath said.
"Hunting." A Kraken said.
"That's not a game though." Another Wraith said.
"It can be if we make it." The Kraken retorted.
"I don't know why we're even up this early, we don't wake up for another hour." A slightly agitated tone of another Goliath said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. Ares immediately widened his eyes when he looked at the younger male Goliath, the one that threw his bone at Rei last night. He quietly went up to the young Goliath and stood in front of him while crossing his arms waiting for the younger one to finally notice him after rubbing his eyes. The younger Goliath looked up slowly and gulped when he saw Ares loom over him and give him a stern look while slightly tapping his left arm with all his right hand fingers.
"H-hi..." The younger Goliath gulped.
"You mind explaining to me what you were doing throwing bones at my little sister?" Ares asked sternly.
"I was uh... I was joking." The younger Goliath said quickly making Ares kneel down to his level and stare into his eyes.
"You wouldn't happen to be lying to me, would you?" Ares asked with an unblinking gaze making the younger Goliath shrink a bit.
"N-no I'm not. I was just joking around with her, right Rei?" The Goliath quickly asked, looking in Rei's direction.
"I don't know Andy, it would be a shame if I said you weren't" Rei said while picking at her fingernail
"Come on! I was just joking, I swear!" Andy cried. Ares looked at him a while longer before snorting in amusement and standing up.
"Relax kid, I was just messing with you." Ares said as he ruffled Andy's hair making everybody laugh. Andy's face turned red with embarrassment and he turned away from everybody with a huff. Ken climbed on Ares' back and climbed up to his neck so he was sitting on his shoulders.
"But in all seriousness, what are we going to do." He asked as he stood on Ares' shoulders with perfect balance and looked out into the distance.
"I don't know, I'm pretty sure Michelle and them wouldn't be to happy if I took you all out without permission." Ares said making the children groan and kick up dirt. Ares looked at the crestfallen children and sat down before an idea popped in his head making him perk up a bit.
"How about I tell you all a story?" Ares asked making the children face him with confusion except Rei and Ken, who cheered and sat in front of him. They got so excited they stopped using their human language and asked in their native.
"Oh, which one is it?!" Ken asked.
"Is it the one where you faced off against the tyrant?!" Rei asked.
"Or is the one where you beat that Crowbill Sloth?!" Ken asked.
"Ooh, ooh! Is it the one where you killed that pack of Trapjaws?!" Reis asked again. The other children looked at the two in confusion and began to shrink back when they started to stand up while asking questions and Ken grabbed Ares' face. Ares put his whole hand in Ken's face and slowly pushed him away and sat him down.
"What about that time I killed that Dune Beetle?" Ares asked with a raised eyebrow. Ken and Rei nodded vigorously and quickly sat down next to the others and listened intently as Ares began to tell the story.
Michelle groaned and cursed as she got up from her bed, she placed one arm behind the other one and stretched, drawing a sigh of relief from her. She looked around to see the hallways empty and no sign of the children anywhere, in fact it seemed no one was-
*SNORE*
It seemed there was at least one person was still in bed right now. She went over to Brock's sprawled out sleeping figure and stared at it with a deadpan expression before sighing and roaming the empty hallways. She eventually came across the exit and was blinded by the rising sun for a quick second; when her vision finally adjusted she saw the children all gathered around Ares and gave him their full attention. Michelle leaned at the cave entrance with a neutral expression as she watched Ares finish his story drawing gasp from the numerous children then a cheer as he finished the story.
"You know, this is the longest I've seen them sit still for something." Michelle said making everybody look at her, the children quickly got to their feet and rushed to hug her. She noticed that Ares just looked at her before turning to Rei and Ken who still sat down on the ground listening to their brother say something; they nodded and went inside, leaving him sitting alone on a rock.
"Why don't you all go inside and grab your things for the day." She said making the children nod and run past her. She looked at Ares and walked over to him before sitting a couple of feet away from him and staring at the cliff's waterfall; silence seemed to envelope them for a minute before Michelle decided to speak up.
"Are you ever going to talk or do I have to begin every conversation?" She asked him.
"..." He didn't reply and just stared at the rushing water from the waterfall with a neutral expression. Michelle just sighed and stared ahead.
"You all have it here." Ares said making her look at him. "Space, wildlife to hunt, a family, and a future." He said while still staring ahead.
"Yeah, so? We've always had it." She said. Ares didn't say anything back and just stared at the waterfall some more before looking at the lake below, he noticed it seemed to flow into a series of rocks before it connected with a river.
"Then you all live in heaven." Ares said making her look at him.
"In what way do we live in heaven?" She asked.
"I just described it earlier, apparently your ears are going bad too." Ares snorted making Michelle scowl.
"Never a dull moment with you. huh?" She deadpanned.
"Not really, can't afford to have one with Rei and Ken around me constantly." Ares answered.
"What's the deal with you three anyways?" She asked.
"I'll tell you when I trust you more." He said making Michelle look at him.
"You don't trust me?" She asked.
"I literally got here yesterday, it's going to take me a minute before I trust any of you." Ares said as he stood up.
"Well, you got here two days ago." Michelle said making him look at her. "Brock choked you out so hard that it put you in a deep sleep." She added making Ares roll his eyes and walk towards the forest.
"Where are you going?" She asked.
"Hunting." Ares said as he walked towards the forest.
"Why? We already have food here." She stated.
"It's a hobby for me, I enjoy a good hunt." Ares said as he walked into the forest and disappeared into the brush. Michelle stared at the brush for a second longer before scoffing and turning around.
"Tch, asshole didn't even apologize." She said and felt a pebble hit the back of her head making her whirl around to face the bushes.
"And I'm not going to!" She heard Ares yell from the bushes and threw a rock right back; flicking her tail ecstatically when she heard it connect with something that sounded like flesh and a loud curse from him.
"There's more where that came from!" She shouted into the bushes.
"From you or those curves?!" Ares shouted back making her stop for a second, her eye twitched before she cracked her knuckles and charged into the brush and chase after Ares.
"Get back here so I can castrate you!" She roared in her feral voice as she ran after him.
"The fuck is your problem with castrating people?!" Ares shouted as he ran from the pissed off female Goliath.
A three months later:
The last three months have been somewhat different for Ares, who was always used to being around his siblings and never anyone else. His bond with Michelle had grown some after she threatened to remove his manhood and beat him to death with it, although it was still strained a lot, they had grown. Brock and his relationship had grown also, he sees the older monster as someone he could talk to when he grew tired of watching the younger ones. Mathias had grown on him a lot, he saw the eldest monster in the group as a sort of fatherly figure who would do anything to keep the ones he cares about safe; he occasionally has talks with him every now and then. Then there was... Arachne. Never in his life would he be able to sit in the same room with her, she was just so... loud; her personality drove him crazy, her singing made him want to claw his ears off, and her sense of personal space was nonexistent. Mathias, Michelle, and Brock had to keep Ares from dismembering the spider monster of the group by tying him to a tree for a few hours until he calmed down. Right now Ares was sitting on a rock near the cliff's edge, sharpening a stick with his claws. He threw the stick into a nearby pile with other sticks that had been sharpened enough to pierce the hide of an Ursa; he grabbed another stick and began sharpening it with a good pace. He blew on the end of the stick to get rid of the wood chippings and threw it into the pile with the rest; he heard someone walking towards him and sighed.
"Ares, what are you doing?" Brock asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the sticks.
"Right now I'm sharpening sticks." Ares said as he put the sticks in a pile and picked them up.
"I got that part but what are you going to do with them?" Brock asked as he sat on a nearby rock.
"Originally I was planning on using them on Arachne because for the love of all fucking life itself I want to mutilate her." Ares snarled making Brock laugh.
"Oh come on, she's not that bad." Brock said making Ares scowl and point his finger to his right. Brock followed the finger and saw Arachne sitting on a rock humming to herself before she suddenly perked up and laughed a bit making Brock sweat drop.
"So, I'll admit. She's a little strange but that's besides the point, what were you going to do with those sticks?" Brock asked making Ares sigh.
"Fine, I'm using them as starting tools for the kids when we go hunting later on today." Ares said making Brock go wide eyed.
"Are you kidding Ares?! Michelle would eat you alive if she found out what you were about to do! What about Mathias is he-" Brock was silenced when Ares put his hands on his mouth and glared at him.
"Shut up! You know how close Arachne and Michelle are, if she told her what I was going to do with the kids she would eviscerate me. And Mathias is alright with it because he's the one who proposed the idea to me." Ares whispered and turned to see Arachne gone from her spot; he looked around to not see her anywhere but widened his eyes when she was sitting on Brock's shoulders with a sickly sweet smile.
"Hello boys~" She said as she leaned over Brock's head and placed her face close to Ares' making him back up a bit and scowl at her.
"What do you want Arachne?" He asked making her giggle.
"I want to know what my favorite monster friends are doing." She smiled as her thighs tightened around Brock's neck, making him wince and shift. Her playful smile eventually turned into a sadistic one as she peered closer at Ares making him scowl at her, the two were in a deadlock and weren't budging.
"You mind explaining to me what you want to do with the kids?" She said in a suddenly sadistic tone, and tightened her hold on Brock making him start to pry at her legs.
"Something that doesn't require your attention." Ares said in a serious tone.
"Is it dangerous for them?" Arachne asked, tilting her head while tapping the top of Brock's head with a finger.
"Can be if they don't listen to me." Ares replied.
"And that is?" She asked as her grip on Brock's neck tightened immensely making him desperately claw at her legs.
"Hunting." Ares just said with little emotion. Arachne's sadistic look dissipated and was replaced with her normal look as she let go of Brock and hopped off his shoulders, he quickly fell to his knees and gasped for air.
"Well why didn't you say so? I wouldn't be mad at that, hell it'd be good for them to learn, when we aren't here." Arachne said happily before suddenly zooming up to Ares' face in an instant. "Go easy on Mimi, she's kind of the runt of the group. Plus Michelle wouldn't be too happy if she found out something happened to her little sister." She added seriously before walking away while singing. Ares looked to see Brock still on the ground gasping for air and coughing violently.
"Why... the... fuck... did you... wait ... so long?" Brock gasped as he looked at Ares who had a neutral expression on his face.
"Count it as payback." Ares said.
"For what?!" Brock cried.
"Choking me out three weeks ago." Ares answered.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! You're still mad about that?!" Brock shouted.
"Hell yeah I am, you choked me out Brock! I was knocked out for two days!" Ares shouted.
"Whatever... when are we going hunting?" Brock asked as he rubbed his neck.
"Correction, I'm going hunting. You're telling Michelle." Ares said making Brock go wide-eyed.
"Bullshit! Why do I have to tell her?" Brock asked.
"Because I enjoy my manhood and you aren't doing anything." Ares said.
"I was going to go too, come on man." Brock begged as he gripped Ares' shoulders and shook him back and forth. Ares frowned more and more as Brock's shaking got more excessive, he finally broke when Brock got down on his knees.
"Alright! I'll take you hunting with us... and get up you look pathetic." Ares said making Brock jump up and cheer.
"Thank you man, you have no idea how much you saved me." Brock said.
"No, I don't and I don't care. Now hurry up before I change my mind, God I don't understand why you're so scared of Michelle. She isn't even that scary." Ares said as he picked up the numerous sticks and handed Brock a couple of them.
"You haven't experienced her during that season, same goes to Arachne. Mathias had to hide me from them until they got over their funk." Brock shuddered making Ares roll his eyes and scoff.
"Bullshit, you're just scared of her because she threatened to castrate you and that she's tougher than you." Ares said as he went inside.
"Say what you want, when Michelle is pissed she's a total monster." Brock said.
"Aren't we all monsters here?" Ares joked.
"Heh, I guess you're right." Brock laughed as he followed Ares inside.
The children were inside the main hall doing various activities, ranging from eating, to sleeping, and making little trinkets. Ken and Rei were making Bracelets made out of shells from the pond by the waterfall and put them in a pile of other bracelets. Some of the other children came over to the two siblings and peered over their shoulders and watched them make more of the bracelets, Mimi walked over and sat next to Rei as she made another bracelet and set it in the pile. Ken was making masks made out of smoothed stone and blue berries, he quietly hummed to himself as he took a plain stone mask and started painting it with the dye; he made a swirl design and placed it on the stone table to dry.
"What's this?" Mimi asked as she held up a bracelet.
"A bracelet." Rei answered while making another.
"Ohhh, so it's like the ones in all our rooms?" Mimi asked.
"Yep" Rei just said. The other children began to inspect the bracelets and masks that the two were making before they heard two people walk in, they turned and saw Ares and Brock carrying sharp sticks in their hands. Brock flashed his trademark smile at them while Ares just had a neutral expression before walking over to the table and dropping the sticks on the table.
"Each of you grab a stick and meet us outside." Ares said and left the room.
"Nice art." Brock complemented and dropped the sticks before leaving the room and following Ares. The children looked at the sticks then at each other before picking one up and leaving the cave but not before grabbing a mask and a bracelet on the way out. They saw Ares standing outside near the cliff's edge with his arms crossed while Brock just sat on a rock and stretched his arms before waving at the kids.
"Alright everyone, today is a special day." Ares said making them all look at him curiously.
"What are we doing Ares because I want to go back to making bracelets." Rei said.
"I'm going to teach you how to hunt." Ares said making the children look at him with wonder before jumping when Ken and Rei suddenly cheered.
"Yes, finally! So what are we hunting?! Those wolves?! The bears?! That big scorpion thing?!" Ken asked as he grabbed Ares' face once again.
"Ken, what is with you and grabbing my face?" Ares asked.
"I don't know! I'm just really excited!" He shouted.
"I can tell, we're not going to be hunting anything yet. First you all need to know the basics." Ares explained. Mimi tentatively raised her hand.
"Yeah?" Ares asked.
"Does Michelle know about this? Because she doesn't like me doing anything dangerous and she doesn't trust anybody except Mathias and Arachne." She said making Brock face her.
"What?! Why not me?" He asked.
"She said that you're to irresponsible, lazy, and dimwitted to actually do anything." Mimi said nervously making Brock sputter.
"I mean Michelle kind of does have a point, you are pretty dimwitted." Ares said.
"Shut up! I'm going to have a talk with her." Brock proclaimed.
"And by talk, you mean put your tail between you legs the moment she threatens to castrate you." Ares said.
"Dammit Ares! You're not supposed to say that in front of them!" Brock shouted making the children laugh at his outburst.
"Anyways, aside from Brock being scared of Michelle. We're going to teach you seven to hunt because sometimes we probably won't be able to and it's up to you kids to take up the mantle." Ares said making the children bounce around a bit. He began to lead everyone towards the forest and eventually found a good starting area to begin the lesson; he scowled when the kids began toying around with the sticks and using them to scratch their backs. Brock laughed at their antics making Ares face palm and drag his hand down his face, he then looked at Rei, Ken and Mimi who gave him their full attention before smiling at them.
"Hey, Ares? What's the first thing we need to learn about when hunting?" Rei asked as she spun the stick in her hands.
"Well I always start with getting to know the prey you're hunting. What they eat, where they sleep, how often do they move, their defense mechanism; is it fight or flight? Either of those can play a big part whether or not if you're ready to take on that prey. Next is the tracking; you have to know where the prey goes and how often and long they go to that place. Then there's the planning, do you plan on using stealth or go all out assault to try and overpower them. The final part is my favorite part, the killing. Know how you're going to kill your prey, that is probably the most important part in my opinion." Ares said making the children look at him with their full attention. Mimi raised her hand again with a little bit more confidence.
"Kid, you don't need to raise your hand to get my attention." Ares said making her rub the back of her neck.
"U-um isn't the killing part of planning thought?" She asked quietly making Ares stop for a minute before looking at her again.
"Damn, I guess you're right. Good job." Ares complemented and sat on a nearby rock before scratching the back of his neck. He looked at the children and saw that they put their full face stone masks on and a shell bracelet on one of their wrist, he raised an eyebrow when he saw Ken walk up with a mask in his hands.
"What's this?" Ares asked.
"It's your mask that we made." Ken said as he handed him the mask. Ares took the mask and gazed at it's features; it had a smooth texture to it with a black color to it, two eye holes, it had three vertical slash marks going down from the middle of the mask to the bottom of it, it was painted with a mixture of black with a red horizontal slash marks going down from the eyes to the bottom, giving it a look of bloody tears. Ares slowly rubbed the mask and felt its smooth texture before flipping it around and slowly placing it on his face. He noticed how clearly he could see despite the eye holes being somewhat small, he looked back and noticed everyone jump.
"What?" Ares asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing, you just look cool." Rei said as she grabbed her stick off the ground. Ares rotated his shoulder before signalling for Brock to come with him.
"Let's hunt." Ares said as he jumped ran into the bushes, followed by Brock and the rest of the children.
Three hours later:
The hunting party came back less than successful. Ares and the younger ones had cuts and scrapes on their bodies while Brock had a stab wound near his shoulder, something that didn't bother him in the slightest. While it wasn't a complete success it also wasn't a complete failure; Ares managed to capture a deer, Ken and Rei managed to capture a rabbit, and Mimi managed to catch a bird; everybody else didn't catch anything and walked slower than them while Brock took up the rear to prevent any surprise attacks from any grimm or other wildlife. Ares looked back and saw the children in solemn moods before heaving the deer over his shoulder.
"Don't look so down kids, you did good considering it was your first hunt." He said making everybody look at him.
"Easy for you to say. You, Rei, and Ken managed to capture something... even Mimi managed to catch something." Andy said agitated making Mimi look down a bit; Ares noticed this and scowled a bit.
"The reason I caught something is because I've been hunting a lot longer than you, Rei and Ken managed to catch something because they listened to me earlier. Mimi may be small but she used it to her advantage and she was rewarded for it. The rest of you weren't listening to me earlier and horsed around, so that's why you didn't catch anything so stop complaining because there's always next time." Ares explained as he kept walking back towards the keep. When they arrived at the keep he saw Michelle pacing back and forth frantically while Arachne stood to the side trying to calm her down, she finally noticed them and quickly rushed over to Mimi and picked her up, embracing her in a tight hug.
"Where were you?! Oh, I was worried!" Michelle said as she hugged Mimi. Ares and Brock stood to the side with different expressions, the former had a neutral one while the latter had a nervous one and constantly shifted around. Michelle finally let go of Mimi and looked her over, she noticed that she was covered in scrapes and cuts and had a mask on her face.
"Why are you covered in cuts and scrapes? What happened to you? Where did you go? Are you okay?" Michelle asked frantically as she looked over her sister, she looked up to see Ares and Brock standing there. Her mood took a turn for the worse and she gently pushed Mimi out of the way before marching up to the boys, she stopped in front of Ares and glared up at him with murder in her eyes. He merely smirked at her, making her rear her fist back and throw a punch to the side of his face. Ares swiftly dodged the punch and leaned back when she threw an uppercut before catching her fist when she sent a straight at his nose, he got close to her face and smirked a bit more when she scowled at him. Michelle sucked in air and blew a stream of blue fire at him, making him dodge at the last second before he rolled out of the way when she charged at him and barreled into a tree. He slowly stood up just in time to see her barrel out of the tree and tackle him to the ground, she began throwing punches at his face making him put his arms up in defense. Brock looked at the fighting duo before he saw that the children were still watching with worry.
"Eh... don't worry about them. I'm sure they'll start talking soon." Brock tried to reassure but sweat dropped when he saw Ares fly into a tree before sliding down onto the ground and charging at Michelle. Arachne walked up to Brock and leaned to whisper in his ear.
"You didn't tell her did you?" She whispered.
"...No I didn't." He replied and winced when Michelle elbowed Ares' ear.
"I don't know who she'll kill first, you or him." Arachne said as she placed an elbow on Brock's shoulder making him shudder.
"I don't really want to find out." Brock said as he saw Ares pick Michelle up and slam her onto the ground, he then slammed his fist towards Michelle's face and missed when she rolled out of the way. Ares used his forearms to block a slash that was directed towards his face and spun around to smack Michelle with his tail, sending her flying a few feet away. She picked up a rock out of the ground and threw it faster than Ares could react, sending him flying back a bit before charging at him and tackling him to the ground once again. She raised her hands in the air and was about to smash his head but a pair of arms wrapped around her stomach and pulled her off of Ares. She struggled and thrashed around while Brock held onto her tightly, preventing her from escaping; after a few minutes of thrashing she eventually calmed down.
"You calm?" Brock asked. Michelle didn't say anything and just glared at Ares, who slowly sat up and wiped the blood from his mouth before flashing her a smirk making her frown and growl at him. Brock slowly loosened his grip and let Michelle stand on her own and closely watching her to make sure she didn't do anything. Mimi walked up to Michelle and showed her the dead bird that was in her hands.
"Look what I caught!" Mimi said. Michelle looked at her then at the bird.
"That's cool. How did you catch it though?" Michelle asked as she looked at the dead bird.
"Ares took us all hunting. I was one of the only ones to catch something too." Mimi said confidently as she smiled. Michelle looked at Ares who just spat some blood from his mouth and slowly stood up, he dusted himself off and looked at her with a neutral expression before picking up the deer and walking into the cave. She then looked at Mimi and saw her confident expression before smiling and ruffling her hair and standing up. She then felt Brock pat her shoulder and give her a smile before following Ares into the cave, leaving her with Mimi. Mimi tugged on Michelle's hand and looked up at her.
"Why did you fight Ares?" She asked.
"I thought he did something to you." Michelle said as she knelt down. Michelle saw that Mimi had a bracelet made out of shells on her wrist and lifted Mimi's hand to look at it.
"That's a pretty bracelet. Where'd you get it?" Michelle asked.
"Rei made it for all of us." Mimi said as she looked at it. The two stared at the bracelet for a while in wonder, Michelle thought about Ares and his siblings; from what Brock told her, they had just shown up one day and made residence at that hunter school. Her thoughts drifted back to how they came here, she never really bothered asking Ares due to him always avoiding her and when she did try to talk to him he would always do something to piss her off. She hadn't ever really tried to talk to Rei or Ken either, they always stuck around Ares and when she did ask them about themselves they always made up some quick excuse to leave her presence and go find Ares. Mimi lifted the bird up a bit and handed it to Michelle.
"Can you turn it into bones? I want to keep it as a trophy like you do." Mimi said making Michelle smile. She took the dead bird out of Mimi's and and blew a stream of blue fire, burning the corpse until it was charred black. She then began to peel away at the burnt flesh and place the bones in a pile and throwing the charred meat over her shoulder; Mimi gently took the bones and gave her sister a hug before running inside.
"That's the most confident I've ever seen Mimi." Arachne said startling Michelle.
"Dammit Arachne, what did I tell you about sneaking up on me?!" Michelle said lightly glaring at the other monster, who just gave a playful smile.
"I wonder what he did to get her confidence up." Arachne said.
"Yeah, I wonder too but if it gets her to be more confident it's alright I guess." Michelle agreed. The two stood there in silence for a few minutes.
"Michelle... how do you really feel about Ares?" Arachne asked making Michelle look at her.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I mean how do you feel about him? Do you hate him or like him because every time I see you two together, you're always arguing." Arachne explained.
"I don't hate him, I just... he just pisses me off so much half the time. Everything he does is infuriating and rude, the only people he shows respect to is the young ones and Mathias. Everybody else he's an asshole to." Michelle explained.
"I think he's an asshole to everyone for a reason." Arachne said.
"Why's that?" Michelle asked.
"From what Mathias told me, he's always had trust issues. He and his siblings never really stay in one spot for very long and if they do, then they're always attacked. I think he thinks that if he pushes everybody except his siblings away then he won't have to deal with any sort of pain... and Michelle?" Arachne asked.
"Yeah?" Michelle asked back.
"Where do you think his parents are?" Arachne asked making Michelle stop. She never really stopped to think about that. Her parents were killed when she had arrived at Remnant, leaving her and Mimi alone for a few months before Mathias showed up and took them under his wing, Brock stated he had always been with Mathias not even remembering his, and Arachne had arrived shortly after she and Mimi arrived. Though Arachne's parents left her shortly after her birth on Shear like all Gorgons do to their children... but Ares and his siblings? Never once had she thought about their parents and where they were. She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when Arachne started poking the side of her head with her index claw.
"Hello? Remnant to Michelle the Goliath~" Arachne sang making Michelle's left eye twitch before she smacked Arachne's hand away.
"What did I tell you about poking me like that?" Michelle growled at Arachne who flashed another playful smile before wrapping an arm around Michelle's shoulders.
"Well, I had to get your attention one way or another silly." Arachne giggled. Michelle rolled her eyes before shrugging off Arachne but was stopped when she grabbed Michelle's shoulder, she saw that Arachne had a serious expression on her face which concerned her a little bit.
"Michelle, I know you sort of hate Ares right now but... try to at least get to know him. I feel that he never had what we have now." Arachne said.
"And that is?" Michelle asked with a raised eyebrow.
"A loving family and future... Michelle, I don't think Ares has had anyone else other than his younger siblings. I think he's like the way he is now is because he never had someone to look out for him since he's always looked out for them." Arachne said seriously.
"What makes you think I'm going to talk to him." Michelle asked.
"One, you have that look and two, you still need to apologize to him for punching him all those months ago." Arachne answered.
"Oh, come on! He's still mad about that?! It happened three fucking months ago." Michelle exclaimed, raising her arms.
"I mean he damn near let me strangle Brock, sooooo yeah. I still think he's mad about that." Arachne said as she stretched.
"Ugh, what a fucking baby. If he's still mad about that then I don't think I'll ever apologize." Michelle said.
"Eh, no skin off my back if you don't. Though I feel like you should if he's going to be living here from now on, plus he's really not that bad of a guy." Arachne said.
"But he doesn't even like you." Michelle said.
"I know, it's fun to toy with him though. He'd make an excellent playmate." Arachne shrugged.
"He doesn't even play though." Michelle retorted.
"That's not what I meant." Arachne winked. Michelle stared at her for a few moments before her eyes widened a bit and she blushed a bit.
"Ewwww! That's fucking gross, is that the only thing that goes on in your head?!" Michelle shouted making Arachne laugh.
"Not really, but it's one of them." Arachne winked making Michelle throw her arms in the air and storm away from the spider monster of the group. Arachne laughed at a thought in her head and entered the cave system along with the others.
Ares sat at the main hall table next to Mathias and Brock, the three were currently discussing the plan for the winter. The children were currently sleeping along with the girls.
"Child, I understand your concern about everyone's safety during the winter but I can assure you that everything will be alright." Mathias reassured.
"What about food, hmm? The wildlife is scarce during the winter." Ares said.
"The wildlife here isn't like the ones on Shear. Here, they scavenge beneath the snow and frost for food instead of migrating like most on Shear." Mathias said.
"Come on Ares, winter months may be stressed a bit but Mathias and I have been living here for years. We've been fine ever since." Brock smiled.
"What about defenses, are we sure the grimm won't attack?" Ares asked.
"The grimm usually don't attack during the winter months, most of them prefer to migrate to warmer areas. We've only had maybe three grimm attacks in all our years here." Mathias said.
"...What about those hunters?" Ares said making Mathias and Brock look at him.
"What about them?" Brock asked.
"Will they come?" Ares asked. Mathias exhaled slowly before looking at Ares.
"Sometimes they do come... usually to try and trade with us but mostly to try and get us to join them. We've usually denied their request to join them and send them on their way but every year or two a team of young ones try to come and 'help' us." Mathias said as he emphasized help.
"So you mean to say that they know where we are?" Ares asked, he then looked at Brock. "You told me a few weeks ago that nobody knew where we are." He added.
"Because they usually forget by then. We've never had the same group of hunters show up twice." Brock said. Ares didn't look convinced and was about to ask another question but Mathias raised his hand to stop him.
"Child... I know you are worried about us and I'm grateful, but trust me when I say we'll make it through. We were born as apex predators who survive no matter what, we will do what we do best." Mathias smiled making Ares calm down a bit. Ares got up slowly and nodded to them before leaving the room and heading to his.
"He worries to much." Brock said as he rotated his neck.
"It's good that he does, it means he cares about us." Mathias said.
"Except Michelle." Brock said making Mathias laugh.
"As much as they argue, they do care about each other. They're just to damn stubborn to realize it." Mathias said.
"Yeah well that's them I guess. Alright dad, I'll see you tomorrow... you still going to Vale in a few weeks?" Brock asked.
"Yes, why?" Mathias asked.
"I feel that we should take everybody to Vale for a few hours, just to make them relax a bit." Brock suggested.
"You just want to look at half the girls don't you?" Mathias asked with a raised eyebrow. Brock just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"No that's not it. Well, goodnight." He said quickly before running to his room. Mathias chuckled a bit before sighing and getting up, he slowly walked to his room and entered it before getting in his bed and falling asleep. Never in his life would he have thought he would have a family, granted he had one before but they're gone now. Only thing to do now is make sure this one survives and thrives to have a bright future.
AN: Well, hey there ladies and gentlemen. This chapter is sort of long, as will the future ones be; I'm going to start writing up to 10000-15000 words per chapter from now on. I don't have anything to say other than I need a name for 1 Goliath, 2 Wraiths, and 1 Kraken. I added the meteor Goliath because I've been grinding with it during my multiplayer matches and fucking people up, but that's besides the point. This is your only chance to add a name for an OC so you all had better create some names if you want them in the story. The next few chapters won't have RWBY or any of the other cast because I want to go more into the lives of the monsters, I also used the outpost from far cry primal because for some reason I just found that particular one so interesting. Anyways, you all know the golden rule about reviews so if it's rude don't put it and if you have a suggestion or request just drop it below. Other than that have a good day and have a good life, take it easy.