Chapter 9: Mockingbird

"Come on, we're moving out."

Ruby tried her hardest to look like she heard him the first time. Or rather heard him clearly. She quickly tried to sit up, but with the sleep still in her eyes she hit her forehead on the top of her small tent. It didn't hurt, but she felt stupid and hoped Death wasn't watching her.

"Y-yup! I'm on top of it! I was just-uh, making sure I got everything." The words fumbled out of her mouth.

She looked around and saw Death sitting on a tree trunk he had chopped down the night prior. He had been keeping watch while she slept.

"Ahehe…" she forced out a weak laugh.

She quickly got off her place on the ground and deconstructed the tent as quickly as she could, putting it back in her backpack when she was done. Putting it on, she stood up straight and turned to the horseman with a strong salute and a goofy smile.

It was faint but Ruby thought she heard something come from him that sounded like a laugh. Or maybe it was a scoff? She wasn't sure, but whatever it was, she didn't dislike.

The reaper walked over the small hill and back onto the main path, Ruby following close behind. In a cloud of green flames the Pale horse Rose from the ground at Death's side. Death held both of his hands low and locked fingers.

Ruby looked at him for just a moment before she realized what he was doing. She hastily walked up to him and put her right foot in the hold, and with a slight jump saddled onto the phantom horse.

Death slung himself over Despair before whipping the reigns, sending the horse into a charge.

"Alri-ah!" She hadn't expected to be taking off so soon, though in retrospect, she probably should have.

Her upper body jolted backwards and she quickly tried to recover herself but it didn't help much. Death had heard her and quickly grabbed one of her violently flailing arms, saving her from falling off.

"Thanks yo- you did that on purpose, didn't you!"

"What?"

"That! You just hit the reigns and nearly got me trampled."

"If I wanted to trample you I would've let go." Ruby thought she could pick up something smug.

"That's not the point."

"You're right. We've already lost a lot of time in the caves and resting for the night. We won't be making many stops from here."

"Sounds good to me. And, sorry if I've been dragging you behind… wait a minute don't try and change the subject!"

"Getting back together with you guys has been great, it really has. And I don't want not to seem like I was pretending or whatever, but I'm gonna quit playing nice and address the elephant in the room… where's my sister?"

Yang looked around the table.

They had all just finished dinner, with enough food to feed a party twice their size. The rest of RNJR's jaws dropped when they saw their old friends after half a year come out of nowhere. Most of them had put the extra food to work and treated the last hour and a half as though nothing else mattered. Except for Yang.

She looked around at her closest of friends and watched them all exchange nervous glances. She didn't like that.

"Well?"

Despite her best efforts, her eyes had shifted from her natural lilac to a bright red.

"Yeah, where is Ruby?" Weiss asked this time, though in much more benevolent fashion and barring a concerned face.

"Yang I think it's best you sit down." Qrow said getting up from his seat from across the room.

"I am sitting." She replied with a displeased expression.

"Right… Be patient with all of us, this is going to be hard to explain."

"Fine, just stop dodging the question." She continued to pressure, to everyone's dismay.

"Ruby, she uh… there was someone we came across a couple weeks ago. Whooped our butts. There's no good way to go about wording this, but he was lost and confused and he told us who he was and what he did. I explained to him and the rest of you kids what all of this is about. Before we know it he's rolling with us."

"And what is all this about?"

"I uh… I'm getting there. We have business here in Mistral, but we need something- someone first. We… need Raven."

Yang didn't like where this was going.

"What do you need Mom for?"

"Like I said, I'm getting there. The guy we found left to get her himself while we tried to get a fireteam together. And Ruby, she uh… went with him."

Yang's fists were clenched the hardest they have been since that night. Yang looked back around the table to see all of her friends looking awkwardly down at the table. Looking to Weiss she saw the heiress displaying a mixture of confusion and fear. At least in that regard Yang had someone to relate to in the moment.

"Why didn't you stop h-" Yang started, feeling just about ready to fight everyone in the room, but stopped herself when Weiss put her hand on her friend's shoulder. Weiss gave Yang a calming look before turning her head to Qrow.

"Start from the beginning." She asked, with a strong but very collected voice.

The drunk inhaled before letting out a very tired sigh.

"What's your favorite fairytale?"

"Why do you use a scythe? My uncle said that it's one of the most dangerous weapons known to man and all that when in the hands of a huntsman, but is just an average farming tool when used by just about anyone else. It makes sense I guess seeing as how anything can be used as a weapon if you're a huntsman, but you've been around longer than us right? So why'd you pick a scythe?" Ruby asked, trying not to keep bringing up personal questions.

"Well, it's not unlike you said. Most anything can be a weapon when in the right hands and scythes weren't intended to be weapons. There's a big separation between how most people fight and your huntsmen, yes?"

"U-huh."

"Take a sword. Someone with formal training with a sword can use it as it was intended at a proficient level. A huntsmen with the same training can use it more liberally, but not necessarily more innovatively. It will still function like a sword with all the same strengths and weaknesses. While a huntsman can expand upon its use, it's foundation doesn't change. The scythe's foundation isn't built for combat in the first place."

"Yeah, but wouldn't that make it worse?"

"In the hands of most, yes. But those like you and I know how to be more creative. Your Crescent Rose by design doesn't follow the conventional design of most scythes. It's made from tempered steel, the curve of the blade is designed to minimize the odds of an opponent evading, the tip of the blade is sharpened for piercing flesh not for keeping wheat in the belly. Small changes like those change the foundation towards one more suited for combat. Paired with a strong physique, or in your case, an aura, things like swing speed practically being dropped to instant shave off any lasting weaknesses the original scythe design had."

"I think I'm following. But couldn't all this be applied to any other weapon?"

"Yes, but unlike before, now the scythe can now be used as an actual weapon, giving it technical elements that couldn't be explored before. There's plenty of techniques that I could get into, but that's not new to you. But it is to everyone else. Since it hasn't been used as a weapon, few see it as one and don't know what to expect or how to properly combat you. While all of this could be applied to anything, chances are you'd just fall into a realm of what you can do rather than what you should. There's a degree of balance that's put into choosing a weapon, so most other options that weren't already conventionally used for combat turn more into gimmicks as opposed to viable options."

Ruby just whistled as the horseman finished.

"I just thought my uncle looked cool."

Death sighed in a tone that could only be described as defeated.

"Yes. I bet you did."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Were almost there."

"I thought I told you to stop changi- what?"

"We'll be coming up on the camp soon."

"How can you tell?"

"Dust is falling back."

The young huntress looked back the way they came, angling her head upwards towards the sky. She found the crow flying overhead, even noting the purple glow had died from what she had been seeing the past few days. Though that could be because this was the first bit of sunny blue skies she's seen since they left Mistral.

Looking back up ahead she could begin to make something out from behind the trees. It was hard to spot, but as she looked close should could see a more compact line of trees. Likely a barrier that enclosed the campsite.

Despair turned around a bend and to put the camp in a clear view. The walls made from tree trunks extended to at least twenty five feet up and we're sharpened to an uncomfortable degree. There was a large wooden door with metal bracers that horizontally ran across the door and connected to the hinges. A few un-lit torches lined the entrance, as did a group of guards. Four of them. Luckily they seemed to busy talking to notice them approaching.

"Stay quiet. Don't do anything until I say." Death commanded.

"Right." Ruby said, putting her good up and wrapping the rest of her cloak the best she could around her body.

As the phantom horse drew closer one of the guards finally took notice, though he was questioning what he was seeing.

"Cut me some slack, Goldilocks is stronger than she- yo, you listening?" One of the guards missing a tooth asked his friend who looked confused.

"Is… is that horse on fire?"

"Horse on fi- what are you smoking? No horse is… maybe I should've just taken the day off."

The horse approached the entrance. Death pulled back on the reigns as so Despair would be brought to a halt. The horse rose his front hooves into the air and realised a small torrent of green flames through his nose before dropping back to the ground. Each of the guards drew their makeshift weapons on the horse and looked just about ready to empty their magazines.

"Open the door." The horseman demanded.

All of the guards exchanged glances with one another. After a few seconds one of them walked towards the entrance but refused to turn his back to the rider. He kept his shaking assault rifle trained on the horse as slammed his fist against the door, ordering the person on the other side to open it.

"I swear, if we let every schmuck in what's the point at all with walls." A female voice came from the other side as it began to open

"This better be important or none of you are getting your ratio-" she stopped as she fully opened the gate to meet the pale horse.

She immediately turned around and ran further back into the camp. Death couldn't tell if it was because she was scared, or because she was smart. Either way the door was open.

Death lightly kicked the side of Despair to get the mount going at a walking pace. Ruby looked around the best she could while still keeping her head down. She couldn't see too much but from the looks of things, they were getting along well for living in the wilderness. The walls were lined with crates likely filled with supplies, and while just about everyone seemed to be living in tents, they were pretty large in comparison to what she had been used to as a kid. The people around her seemed to either be scared at the sight of Death's horse, angry that they were trespassing and getting away with it, or were too drunk to notice. Some of them seemed to be eyeing her.

"Don't be scared. They're trying to intimidate us."

She trusted that she could hold her own against them and that Death certainly would if things got out of hand. But that somehow didn't make her feel any more comfortable.

"How will we know when we find the maiden." Ruby whispered from under her hood.

"I can sense the magic coming off of her, though it's rather faint."

"But she's here right?"

"Yes."

They could now see the back wall of the campsite as the narrow path that they had been walking in had opened up into a large dusty yard. At the end was a larger tent than the others and was slightly elevated on a wooden platform as opposed to lying on the ground. It didn't take long for someone to come out.

The first one out was the girl who opened the gate, and she didn't look happy. But the one who followed looked downright furious. Ruby had only seen her in old pictures she found in her attic. But even then Tai took them as soon as he found out and hid them somewhere. She hadn't seemed to age much from what she remembered, mostly just subtle wrinkles around her eyes. Though she was also smiling in the pictures. She had thought she looked pretty in the pictures and made it seem hard to imagine her walking out on her dad and Yang. Now that seemed a bit more realistic.

"So. What exactly was your plan. You don't look the type to just waltz in and expect mercy. Maybe that you could beat me? Not to sound rude, but that's not much of a plan" Raven opened.

Just then Dust finally decided to rest, perching on Death's right shoulder.

"Oh right! It's you." She said in a sarcastic voice.

"Have we met?"

"Formally: no. But I know about you." She stepped down onto the ground and began to circle Despair.

"I know my conceded brother has got you thinking you stand a chance, and that's all I need." She pulled out a white and red helmet and slipped it over her head before bringing her hand to rest on the hilt of her sword.

"Oh! Is that you Ruby! You've gotten so tall! How's Tai been?" Her breath oozed with malice.

"Stop with the petty talk and give us the maiden."

Raven raised her hand into the air before quickly balling it into a fist. With that all of the bandits retreated into their tents with a unanimous grunt.

"You seem like good company, but if you've mistaken Ozpin's cause for one worth fighting for, you've got to leave now." Raven's grip on Omen tightened.

"You've mistaken this for a choice. Hand her over and I'll spare you the funerals." Death slightly angled his head towards Ruby.

"Go hide in the back, this won't take long." He whispered.

"I can help."

"I'll be fine. Go."

Ruby grunted but immediately zipped to the side of the yard and behind some crates using her semblance. She peeked over one of the crates and held Crescent Rose in her sniper form, ready to fire despite what the horseman said.

"It's hard to recall that night. Death, was it? Ignoring the arrogant title, I'll give you one more chance to turn down this comical endeavor you're after and save you a lot of trouble." She announced.

"You're wasting my time."

Death was about to banish Despair but in that time Raven had launched herself forwards, blade in hand. The horseman immediately jumped into the air and redirected the blow with a kick. Had he been any slower her sword would be somewhere between his calf and thigh. Death pulled his scythes from his sides and held them in a defensive position.

Raven quickly recovered and lead with an overhead strike. Death caught it with one scythe and moved it to the side, his other scythe coming down for an overhead of his own. Raven dropped Omen onto the ground to backstep from the blow, quickly following with a flip kick to the jaw. She followed with a tornado spin kick to his face, sending the rider back. With the grace period Raven quickly cartwheeled over her weapon, picking it up when her hands met the ground.

She was barely able to react in time to see Death retaliate by throwing his scythes like a giant saw in her direction. She was able to avoid the scythe, leaving it stuck in the ground, but couldn't catch Death lunging forwards, bringing his right heel over her head and slamming her into the ground. He clamped his hands together and tried to bring them down but Raven was able to roll to the side. While she was still down Raven took her sword and thrust it into the horseman's side as best she could. He let out a brief but audible grunt.

Not missing a beat Raven spun around and kicked the back of Death's knee, bringing him to a kneeling position. She flipped into the air and brought Omen across for a horizontal slash, aiming to sever head from body. But without even turning his head to look up Death caught the sword with one hand and quickly grabbed the still airborne Raven with the other. He threw her into the ground, leaving a small crater. Her aura had protected her, but she had a feeling she was going to feel that tomorrow.

She was about to get back up, expecting Death to go onto the offensive, but from what she could see, he had hardly made any movement. She swiftly recovered but didn't immediately go back to the fight. Death looked at her and held up the sword as though he was aligning it with her eye from where he stood, all the while pacing around her like a shark. He put his hand on the tip of the blade before bringing it down over his knee, snapping it in two.

"You're finished." He disregarded the two halves and tossed them aside.

She began to follow his example and paced opposite to him. Death grabbed his scythe from the ground and split them back into two, casually tossing one in the air and catching it. Raven stopped when she reached the handle of what was her sword. She was able to kick it up and catch it with one hand.

"Is that what you think?"

She pulled the trigger on the hilt of Omen and what was left of the dark red blade fell off the handle. She brought the hilt to her large scabbard and spun something from within it. With a click she quickly drew her sword again. There was a large gust of wind that followed that caught the horseman off guard, forcing him to bring an arm up to protect his face.

When he looked back up he saw that Raven's sword not only had a full length blade, but that it had also changed colors. Looking closer at her scabbard he saw multiple different colored blades. He guessed they all had different properties if the new green one was any indicator.

She brought Omen down, this time striking a more poised stance. A more prepared one with both hands on the handle and her dominant foot forwards. He was only able to see part of her eyes through her mask, but he could tell that she was trying to keep her cool. In that regard he liked her. He decided to engage the next round, this time around she seemed to want to keep things more… refined for both of them.

Ruby watched the two go at it from where she was crouching. It was strange how they had this weird ebb and flow between one another. One would lead with an attack, the other would dodge or block, and go back and forth like that for roughly three 'beats' before one would find an opening before landing a strike. She wouldn't have had expected Raven to keep pace the way she did. Death had been able to best anything she had seen thrown at him up until this point, and seeing someone that could at least match him for a while was astonishing. Though she had a feeling that Raven had intended for each blow to be a lethal one, but she couldn't say the same for Death. As weird as it sounded, out loud or in her head, she was hoping Death wouldn't kill Raven.

She began to notice Raven landing less blows than she was before, even with the help from the dust blade. It looked like she was getting winded. She thrusted her sword forwards but Death sidestepped it. He grabbed it before she could recover and elbowed the blade, breaking another one in two. Raven grunted before selecting her next blade. Drawing this one Ruby saw that it was black. Gravity dust.

"Rraaagh!" She mustered her strength before taking off past Death's side. She was only able to get a small cut in, but Death could immediately feel the difference. His entire side felt like it weighed an extra two tons. Looking back at her she quickly dashed towards him again, seemingly ditching the back and forth rhythm they had before in place of a more aggressive style. Before she hit him, she swiftly sent herself over his head, getting a few good slashes at his back. He did his best to keep form but he felt himself keel forwards, nearly putting a hand down for support.

He stood back up to resume the fight, but Raven was ahead of him and shoved Omen through his left shoulder, barely missing his heart. She went to hit Death with a left hook to the face but he managed to block it. Before she could do anything else Death grabbed her right arm still gripping her sword and punched her upper triceps, dislocating her arm. Contrary to popular belief, aura still had it's holes. While there still wasn't anything lethal that could be done, and things that could be accomplished were few, an experienced fighter could hit just the right buttons to cause some serious injuries, even if they had an aura. Raven let go of her weapon and held her limp arm before shoving it back into its socket.

Raven wanted to get back to the fight but wasn't given the chance when she was kicked in her stomach and was sent flying back. She didn't go far though, skidding to a halt on the ground, kicking up dirt. She stood up, almost dazed. She saw her sword coming towards her, fast. She was only able to move some of her upper body, and was able to turn her head to see Omen go flying past her before getting skewered into the dirt. She turned her head back to face the horseman, but was met with a fist.

She stumbled back down onto the ground. Feeling her face she noticed her mask wasn't on her face. Looking down she saw it in half a dozen pieces. Looking up Raven saw Death glaring back down at her. Regardless of what he meant of this, Raven had taken it as mockery. Normally she didn't let more petty things like this get to her. But normally, she wins.

"Are you done?"

Raven just bared her teeth as her response.

She flipped back towards Omen and pulled it from the earth. She dashed forwards and lead with slash down across his abdomen. She was beginning to feel like a broken record, because Death had caught the attack and twisted the blade around to weken her grip and create an opening that he used to strike her on the face.

She fell back for the nth-teenth time, and was about to get back up but her throat felt the touch of a blade before she could go any further. Seeing Death hold her own sword against her finally let the fact that she was fighting a losing battle become apparent. She exhaled and closed her eyes before letting her head droop down, feeling Omen gently touch her chin.

"No!" Someone shouted.

Ruby turned her head from the fight to see the girl from before emerge from Raven's tent, sprinting towards the two with two bladed guns in her hands. She brought them up and opened fire on Death's back. Ruby used her semblance to cover as much distance as she could and swung Crescent Rose to block the bullets sent their way.

She immediately found her footing and got into a defensive stance behind Death as fast as she could, pulling the bolt on her sniper to load a bullet into the chamber.

"Vernal! Stop!"

The girl stopped in her tracks at the sound of Raven's voice. She kept her guns trained on Death the best she could with Ruby in her way.

"And why should I?" 'Vernal' called back to her.

"I'm beat, and right now he's being so kind as to spare me."

"So?"

"Do you really think that you can win?"

"..."

"Good. Now let's all calm down and talk this out." Raven hated hearing those words come out of her mouth.

Death nudged Ruby's shoulder with his elbow. She looked up at him and saw him nod. Ruby looked back at Vernal, slightly less tense that just a moment ago, and turned Crescent Rose back into its resting form. Placing it on her lower back.

Death shoved Raven's sword into the ground and held out his hand to her. Taking it, Raven got back on her feet and immediately grabbed Omen, spinning it to get the dust off, then sheathing it. She looked back down at her broken mask. While she wondered what she'd do with it, she didn't ponder it too long. She had more important matters to tend to. She sighed at what she had gotten herself into.

"Come with me into my tent. It'll be more private in there." Raven said in a voice that was a cross between an invitation and an order.

Raven took the lead with Death on her tail. Ruby hesitantly followed, making sure to stay close to Death. Looking around, Ruby saw a bunch of the bandits in their tents, peering out from behind the curtains. It was hard to make out their faces from the shadows, but they didn't look too happy.

"Scared?" Ruby turned around to see Vernal walking next to her. She had a sly smirk on her face before she scoffed, her expressing turning neutral again.

Ruby really didn't like her.

"Not you two."

Ruby turned her head back to Raven. She was standing on the wooden platform above everyone else, though she only stood a few inches taller than Death.

"Just me and him." She said.

"Rose comes with me." Death rejected. Raven could only grunt in response. It's not like she could do much to stop him.

"Fine. Vernal, get everyone back to work."

Vernal gave a sarcastic salute. She looked down at Ruby with a glare before turning away. She clapped her hands in the air.

"Showtime's over everyone! Get back to it!" She called out to everyone.

Raven pushed the curtain to her tent aside and beckoned for the two to enter. Death went first, slightly tucking his head as to not hit the tent, with Ruby following afterwards. Before Raven walked in, she held her hand up to her throat. Feeling something wet, she pulled her hand back and looked at her fingers to be dabbed with blood. Her aura must've broken and she didn't even notice. She wiped the blood on a red part of her outfit before walking in.

"Is anyone home up there?" Watts broke the mostly silent room. Hazel opened his eyes from the other side of the table, assuming the jest was aimed towards him.

"What?" His tone definitely wasn't a pleasant one, but he kept it calm nonetheless.

"What's the hold up? We've been lazing around for nearly half an hour. If we can't even coordinate a simple get together I hardly believe we can accomplish global domination, or whatever she calls it."

"Don't be so short minded. The End Times are much more than that." Tyrian finally spoke. Up until now he had been sitting in his chair whispering to himself. The others usually just chose to ignore it.

"Irrelevant." Watt's did his best to dismiss the lunatic.

"Where's Cinder? Isn't she the one holding us up right now." He looked back to Hazel.

"...She's down in the training room with the kids. Upon Salem's request."

"Thank you Hazel for speaking for me, but we were in the training room. I wouldn't want you to make you a liar." All three of them moved their attention to the entrance at the sound of Salem's voice.

"Apologies. I felt Cinder needed some added motivation and I lost track of time." Her demeanor was calm and collected. If it weren't for her appearance, any one of them would have mistaken her for something as mundane as a business woman.

She appeared to glide along the floor as she walked to her throne, with Tyrian looking at her with wide eyes all the way there. Watts was more concerned with Cinder. They could get along well enough, but he found being passive aggressive with her to be too much fun. He watched as she practically hobbled to her seat with the rugrats at her side. From how hard she was sweating he guessed Salem must've really put her to work.

"What's the occasion?" Hazel spoke up, his tone a little aggressive. He didn't like having to come off as polite, but being blunt could be seen as disrespectful. And he didn't like his odds when around Salem.

"Watts. Two days ago some of the camera's you have set up around the lowermost entrance of Mistral were set off. If I'm not mistaken, they've supposedly identified identified the young huntress. For the sake of avoiding confusion, may you please pull up the footage for all of us to see." Salem gestured Watts.

He pulled out his scroll and pressed a few keys before lazily placing it on the table in front of him. In a few seconds a projection sparked to life in front of everyone at the table with the recordings from the aforementioned cameras. Though there was a strong static blue hue to the whole thing, the colors on screen were still clear enough for identification.

After a few seconds of the tapes rolling, Ruby came out from the edge of the screen. Her hood was over her head and the cloak surrounded her body. Though they couldn't see her face, they all had the girl on their radars after what she pulled at Beacon. That cloak alone was as much of a dead give away as seeing her face up close.

"While her presence in Mistral isn't new, what is concerning is that she was seen heading out of the kingdom. We also know that she's aware of the Spring Maiden's whereabouts. The likelihood that she's going after her is all but guaranteed." Salem explained.

"Now, I'm aware that she's more of a threat than she looks, but how is this inherently pressing? I doubt she could best that Branwen hooligan. In fact, I see this as a good thing. If she shows up, she'll be held hostage and we can pick her off from there, along with the Spring Maiden. Two birds with one stone." Watts' bias was for the most part sound.

"Who's that with her?" Hazel asked, narrowing his eyes.

"That, is why we're here. Focus the picture on the assailant." Watts sighed at Salem's request. He liked doing technical work, but pressing a few buttons felt like a waste of his time; not that he had a choice.

"Whoever he is, it is safe to assume that he is dangerous and is to be dealt with as a threat. Cinder, the White Fang's raid on Haven Academy is to be moved up to tomorrow night." She finished.

"All this fuss for one man?" Watt's questioned.

"I don't mean to doubt your judgement, but we've been planning this for years. And were losing our minds over one man, who might even prove to be little more than a minor inconvenience?"

"You question our queen?" Tyrian looked at the engineer with a glare, but he was hardly intimidated.

"Did you not hear what I just said."

"Hush now, both of you. The concern for our mission is appreciated Watts, but the odds of him being a substantial threat are too high, and there must be no room for error. If he's traveling with Ruby, then he too knows about the Spring Maiden. From what Tyrian has reported, he had not been traveling with the students until recently. If Qrow trusts him enough so late in the game, he is more likely a worthy adversary, and one foolish enough to defy us. The siege onto Haven will all be for naught if we simply allow him and the girl to get their hands on the relic of knowledge simply because of our complacency."

"...Will we be able to get the White Fang deployed and set up on time with such short notice?" Hazel spoke up.

"That's for Cinder to determine. Will they?" the witch looked at Cinder.

"...yes…" It was raspy, but her voice was definitely coming back to her.

"Then there is nothing to worry about." Salem spoke in an all too confident manner.

A/N: I kinda wanted to get more done with this chapter, but it's already pretty lengthy and I wrapped up all of the 'immediate stuff' if that makes any sense. I want to blast through everything that Mistral has to offer soon, because I want to keep a lot of the content here original. I mean that in a sense that I don't just want to recap the events of rwby vol.5 onwards, just with Death there. I'll try to include the important stuff, but I want to try and take it in my own direction, at least for a little bit, and see how that works out. I think you guys will like it.

Go ahead and comment anything you all are interested in or want to see. It let's me know what you guys want to see and how much time I should put in which areas.

I know my word is about as credible as a con artist's, but I am trying to incorporate writing this fic into my daily routine, so the next chapter won't be a six month wait or anything ridiculous like that. Though I won't lie, I've been watching Mob Psycho 100 and catching up on My Hero, and that shit's hard to walk away from. I know they're both pretty popular already, but I recommend both series for anyone that doesn't have anything else to do.

In other news, would you guys like to see a remaster of my earlier chapters? Looking back at them, I'm still somewhat proud since they were my first go's at writing anything. But if I'm being honest, they haven't aged well. Paragraph structure is very bad, dialogue needs work, and I kind of feel like interactions went a little too smoothly. These things can very easily be turn offs for people just starting this story, and I want as many people to enjoy this as possible.

If you guys do want me to do a remaster of those chapters, what I'd do is write everything the original said, but improved in the ways listed before, and keep all of the plot elements in tact so everything still lines up, aside from some extra stuff. I'd write all of that, and just underneath it put a bold disclaimer along the lines of "my original draft for this story years ago is below, you have just finished reading the revised version and won't be missing anything if you move onto the next chapter." and as it says, I'd leave the original, untouched version beneath it.

It's something I've been thinking about for a while now and I want to know if any of you would be interested, so please comment if you are. Alternatively, if you want me to focus on moving forward with the story for now, comment that. It's something really want to know from you guys, so be very vocal about it.