SLVR

by saundersmarcelo

If you watch RWBY, then chances are you are familiar or have heard of the popular fan made team known as Team SLVR, created by Mark Zhang. In my first ever fanfiction (which is set in the main series/timeline of RWBY), this story will follow the lives of Simin Megistus and his team (Lycan Arcadia, Vella Moisia, and Ragora Cinarum).

8. Volume I: Ch VIII: And Then I Snapped:

WARNING: Strong language and Graphic Violence (no seriously. this will probably be the most graphic chapter in the series)

Volume I: Chapter VIII: "...And Then I Snapped.":

"You ready, Bruno?" I ask with a bit of eagerness in my voice as we prepare to head out to our next destination. Bruno responds with a resounding bark that I assumed meant "yes" given the enthusiasm he put in it. I then check myself to make sure I have everything I need on me before I set off: sais? Check! Mom's knife? Check! Bruno (even though I'm literally looking right at him)? Check!

"Alright then! Let's get going!"

Before we head out, I take one last look at the empty, abandoned streets of the once promising Oniyuri before turning and leave them behind, with Bruno right by my side. It's saddening to see that this village will just end up rotting into a dilapidated ghost town. But perhaps, without me realizing it, Oniyuri wasn't my actual destination, but rather a "checkpoint" of sorts to my true destination. I will clarify what I mean by that in a bit, but for now I will say that recently, I found something in Oniyuri that restored a bit of hope in me.

As for right now, it is now mid-September (the 15th to be exact). After the fight with the beowolf, I decided that it would be best for Bruno and I to stay in Oniyuri for a couple weeks and rest so that we could heal a bit from the injuries we sustained during our encounter with the beowolf. My ribs were still hurting a lot though- especially whenever I took a breath- due to the damage I took. That beowolf definitely did some extra damage to my already damaged ribs from my fight with the colossus. I hope they're not broken.

For the past couple weeks, I've been practicing my breathing while making my breaths gradually get deeper and longer each day as well as rehearsing certain movements and stretches to try and help my recovery as a sort of rehabilitation. To an extent I would say it helped. I also found some bandages and some disinfectant medical supplies left behind in a small pharmacy in the village that I used to treat my wounds and my ribs, as well as Bruno's gash, which is now wrapped in a bandage and no longer his now bloody bandana, which now sits in its rightful place around his neck.

Another thing I would like to bring up is that my nightmares have significantly lessened since Oniyuri. I wouldn't say they're gone, but they are very rare now. I don't know why though. Maybe it has to do with Bruno? Or maybe it has to do with me killing the beowolf? Or maybe it's both? Either way, they've seem to have subsided for now... and hopefully forever.

Now back to that thing I brought up earlier. A few days ago, when I was looking around the abandoned Oniyuri to find some sort of clue as to where the residents may have disappeared to, I found a note in one of the main buildings that said the following:

"If you have come here expecting a proud village flourishing with people, then I am afraid that you will not find any signs of that here, as I am sure you have seen when you walked in. We have recently heard news of a large horde of grimm that had sacked a village named Dorado that was not too from our location. We were at first very skeptical of these warnings until the deliverer of said news proved to us the validity of said claims. Because of this sudden and tragic development, we had no choice but to evacuate the village to avoid the possible oncoming horde in order to avoid attracting them to our location. We had not even established our comm lines yet, which meant calling support from a huntsman would have been an impossibility. We had also discussed the possibility of fortifying the village to defend the village ourselves, but we simply lacked the proper resources to do so. After much consideration, we all concluded that it would be too much of a risk to stay where we are. There was a man who was aiding us in the construction of Oniyuri who was with us when the news hit . He hails from another village named Kuroyuri. I have been speaking with him and he (along with a team) agreed to aid us in relocating to their village.

"Though I am grateful the wellbeing of the residents of what would have been Oniyuri has been preserved, I cannot help but be heavily saddened and filled with much disappointment. It appears Oniyuri was finished before it even started. If we are to make it to Kuroyuri before the potential horde, we need to move quickly and efficiently. Hopefully, the evacuation of Oniyuri will be for the better. It was a childish dream to think this would become its own kingdom one day. It is now nothing more than the corpse of a dream. Oniyuri will not be remembered as a dream made into reality, but as a final resting place- a tomb- of what could have been."

The letter pretty much ended there. Unfortunately, it didn't say who signed it. It also made me wonder how they were able to get the news. When Dorado was destroyed, as far as I know, I was the only survivor. So it made me wonder who they could have gotten the news from. Anyway, after finding that note, I did some more digging and I did manage to find a small note that was stuck to a tree near the exit gates a couple days ago when Bruno and I were scouting the perimeter. It read the following:

"If you came expecting to see Oniyuri, I regret to tell you that the residents were forced to evacuate due to an attack on another nearby village by a large horde of grimm, as that is the news I have been told. I am currently aiding in their final steps of relocation to my home village named Kuroyuri as it is the nearest village to Oniyuri. If you wish to find us, there is a map on the back that highlights the trail you will need to take. You should be able to arrive within a few days so long as you don't stray. Safe travels, stranger."

-Li Ren

Finding this note managed to rekindle a little bit of my hopes that maybe not everything was lost just yet. This is essentially my last resort- our last resort. We just need to keep on pushing. Just a little more and we'll finally have our lives back. I just need to follow this map and also find this Li Ren guy who signed this since he is the only one whose identity I even remotely know. All I need to do is follow this map and I should be there in a few days.

. . .

I think it's time we call it a day here. Bruno and I have been walking for pretty much the entire day—a pretty uneventful day I might add. Don't get me wrong. I'm honestly relieved that we are now walking on a road, but nothing really happens here. But I can't complain though. It's just that given everything that's happened lately, I guess I'm just not used to not having to fight for my life in some way, shape, or form on a regular basis. It still definitely beats almost dying... or actually dying. I take a look behind me as the sun was starting to set as it slowly descended behind the trees, giving the sky a fiery pinkish look as if it had been ignited. Just the sight of it makes me feel warm despite the weather feeling slightly cool. Is that weird?

Anyway, I'm surprised my body is holding up this well, as well as Bruno's leg. Yeah my breathing is still a bit labored and my ribs still hurt, but nowhere near as much as they did a couple weeks ago. Bruno also seems to be walking a bit better. He still has a bit of a limp though, but that's about it. That beowolf threw him pretty hard, but we made it pay. No one—and I mean no one—harms Bruno and gets away with it, let alone lives long enough to regret it. We'll get his leg looked at once we reach Kuroyuri in a few days and then hopefully it'll all get better from there. I've also noticed he's gotten a little bit of his frame back. He still looks skinnier than his normal self, but he's certainly no longer that bag of bones I encountered on that beach. It makes me happy to see him getting better.

My thoughts were then interrupted when I started hearing a high-pitched buzzing really close to my ear. I turn and see a mosquito flying close and trying to land on me to drink from my body like the parasite it is. As I raise my hand to take a swipe at it, a small, black, winged figure swoops by and intercepts the thing in midair, catching me by surprise, but not in a "Woah!" kind of surprise, but more like a "Did that just happen?" kind of surprise. That bat really came out of nowhere. It made me think back to the first time I saw a bat. I think I was 3 or 4 at the time. I called it a "bird-mouse" and my mom and dad chuckled, amused at the name I had given the nocturnal dweller. Even I chuckle a bit when I think back to that. A small, minor memory, but more than enough to bring a smile to my face.

I look up at the sky and notice it is quickly being occupied by the stars and the moon as it begins to get darker and darker outside. I think it's time for us to camp for the night. We step off the trail a bit and head into the woods (but not far—just enough to be able to see the road). The reason why we do this is because even though I like walking on roads, sleeping on them is a different story. I prefer to sleep on soft soil and grass over the hard, cold, stone.

I do my usual nightly routine and gather some sticks, stones, and dead leaves (which weren't too hard for me to find due to the Fall quickly starting to set in). It's noticeably gotten a lot colder out here. Even in the warm glow of the fire, I can start to see my own breath and feel a slight chill in the air. I really hope I'll be able to reach Kuroyuri soon before I (though I doubt it) end up freezing to death out here. Anyway, I prepare Bruno's food that we caught earlier today and set it down for him and then do the same for myself.

Before digging into my food, I open the cartridge in the gun part of my sai and stare at the lone bullet sitting in the chamber.

"One bullet huh?..." I thought to myself. "What situation (whatever kind that may be) will I use this lonesome bullet? One thing is for sure, if that situation does come, I'll make it count. I won't let it go to waste. Whatever I fire this bullet at, it will hit its mark."

I then close up the cartridge and put my weapon away and start eating my food before it gets cold. I hate cold food. Specifically cold food that's meant to be served warm. I get that from my mom. My dad likes cold food and my mom and I always thought he was weird for it.

Anyway, in time, Bruno and I finish our food and I put the fire out before we go to sleep. I rest my back against a nearby tree and Bruno walks up to me and lays his head on my lap. A slight breeze begins to rush through the woods, filling it with the sounds of rustling leaves and causing me to shiver a bit due to the cold that accompanied it. Bruno seemed to take notice of my bodily reaction and proceed to get up and rest his entire body on my lap, leaning onto my torso and arms as if he were some kind lap-dog (while being careful not to irritate my ribs). This is the first time Bruno has ever done this. I assume this is his attempt at making me feel warm. What would I do without you, Bruno?

"Goodnight, Bruno." I say as I wrap my arms around his warm body, taking in the warmth of his soft fur coat. He's so lucky he doesn't have to worry about the cold due to his pelt. Meanwhile, I shiver at even the slightest breeze. I envy him sometimes. I then hold Bruno a bit closer to my body as I close my eyes and fall asleep.

. . .

I suddenly open my eyes in response to the sound of rustling nearby. As I opened my eyes, I could see that it was also much brighter too- so bright, you could see the sun's rays shining through the leaves as if they were nothing but a screen. Expecting to get into a battle, I quickly look to my right to see what might be coming at me and I see a pair of antlers sitting atop the head of a fairly sized stag before it disappears behind a large bush and darts off into the wilderness. Everything appears pretty normal, but it doesn't feel normal (if that makes any sense). Maybe it's because the brightness is just so disorienting. I look to my left and see that Bruno was still sleeping (no longer on my lap), so I decided to leave him be for a bit and hunt down this stag for us to eat. So long as I follow it's tracks, I should be able to use them to make my way back.

I track the thing down for a few minutes by following its prints to a mildly dense, hilly area. But it wasn't long until the tracks started to lose their visibility, which meant I had to be more careful not to lose my way. Because of this, I decided to adapt to a more sentry role by resting myself on top of a small piece of rock that was jutting out from the base of a hill. As I look around and patiently wait for my prey to reemerge, I eventually see the stag, slowly walk out into the open as I quickly get down so it doesn't notice me. It slowly makes its way over to where I'm hiding and I posture myself so I can pounce on the thing and sink my weapons into the nape of its neck and hopefully quickly kill it. As I am about to pounce a rock falls off where I am and hits the ground, startling the stag as it started to take off.

"DAMMIT!"

If this thing gets away, it's gone for good. There's no way I can catch up to it and I don't want to have to go too far, so I'm going to have to kill it now. I guess that means I'm going to have to use my final bullet. I quickly leap off the rock and pull out my weapon as the stag was running away. I then raise my weapon and look down the sights as I aim toward the head of the fleeing mammal, hoping to get an instant kill. Here goes nothing!

I steady my breath and focus my sight as I grip the weapon and begin to curl my finger around the trigger. Just one bullet. I add a little of pressure and-

[BANG!]

"Huh?!" I am suddenly jolted awake by a loud bang that echoed and traveled throughout the woods. I look around and I see that I am still in the same spot I was last night, still leaning on the tree.

"So that was a dream then." I thought to myself.

I wonder what that bang that woke me up was. I then quickly pull out my weapon to check and see it didn't discharge and fire on its own. The barrel isn't smoking, so that's a good sign. But I should still check more thoroughly just to be safe. I open the cartridge and am once again greeted by the sight of the lone bullet sitting there in its chamber, patiently waiting to be fired.

As I was checking my weapon, it had just dawned on me that I was missing something—something very important. Where's Bruno? I quickly jumped to my feet and turned my head frantically as a slight breeze blew by, causing all the leaves to rustle in unison as it gave me a chill while I wondered where my companion went. Since we've been out here, Bruno usually gets up late at night or early in the morning to relieve himself behind a tree or a large rock or a bush or something. But the coldness on my body tells me that he's been gone longer than he normally would. Something's not right. I need to go look for him.

"Bruno? Bruno? Where are you?" I say as I look around for Bruno, sometimes letting out a whistle to hopefully attract him.

I then notice some pawprints on the soil. They're fresh. They couldn't have been made too long ago. I would say they were left about 5-10 minutes ago. I also see that there is another smaller pair of pawprints mixed in as well. Upon closer inspection, I could see they were rabbit prints. I guess Bruno saw a rabbit and chased it so he could bring it back so we could eat something, which means he definitely wasn't taken by anything or attacked.

(Sigh.)

Oh, Bruno. Why do you have to worry me like this and put me through this stress? I walk deeper into the woods, following the tracks and call out a little louder so I could find him.

"Bruno?! Where did you go?!" I struggle to shout as I let out another whistle. Leaning on that tree was not very good for my ribs. It makes it a bit uncomfortable to yell.

A few minutes of walking passed until I began to hear something in the distance. They were voices—too faint for me to make out. It's been so long since I've come into contact with another person. I wonder who they are. Maybe they can help me find Bruno (assuming they even saw him)? I can't really tell what the voices are saying, but I can tell that it sounds like they are having a conversation of sorts. I can't make out the tone of the conversation but it sounds like it's somewhere between 3-7 people- don't know exactly how many yet though. I walk a bit closer and I could now make them out a bit better. There are about 6 voices about 30 feet (9.1 meters) away. Now that I'm a bit closer, the tone sounds like they are mad or annoyed at someone (perhaps one of their own?). I probably should proceed with caution and observe a bit before deciding what to do exactly. As I got closer, I could hear their conversation more easily:

"You are such a dumbass, you know that?" A low, rough, authoritative male voice says with an irritated tone.

"Oh fuck you! If you got startled and had a gun in your hand what would be your initial reaction?!" Another, slightly higher, male voice (probably belonging to someone about 18-20 years old from the sounds of it).

"Oh, I don't know. How about turn my head and make sure whatever it is isn't trying to kill us so I don't end up WASTING A FUCKING BULLET!" The first voice responded in a mocking way. "And because of your dumb ass, that is exactly what you didn't do and you wasted a bullet! I was made leader of this expedition for a reason and I can't have you wasting ammo like that! For everything we do, whether it's a bullet fired or a person killed, I am responsible for it all."

Man, whoever their leader is, they are a real stickler when it comes to conserving ammunition. And I thought I was bad.

"Well maybe we can take it with us." Another voice- a female voice- interjects, trying to break the tension between the first two.

"Take it with us?! Are you fucking with me right now?!" The leader replies. "Just look at it! It's worthless. Not even the buzzards would waste their time with it."

"Hey!" A fourth (also female) voice chimes in, sounding about as old as the owner of the voice who was just being grilled. "We're a hunting party aren't we? We hunt for food so we can all ensure our survival and feed everyone back home. We were very close to coming back empty-handed, but lo and behold, here comes our saving grace just waltzing into the open and by pulling the trigger, he just saved our asses from heading back empty-handed."

"Hunting party?" I thought to myself.

Are these people from Kuroyuri? Maybe this is a hunting party heading back to the village. I should go out and talk to them. They can help me find Bruno and help bring us to their village. I can't believe we're actually about to make it! I didn't think we would be this close. I guess this is just our luck then. Although, to my surprise, they are a bit... vulgar- especially for a village hunting party in terms of how they speak.

"Thank you, sis." The 18-20 year old voice responded. So that's his sister then.

"So, what? Does that make him a... uh- what do you call it? An idiot savant?" The leader says.

"Again: fuck... you." The brother's voice responds.

As I get closer, I can see through the tree line, huddled together in a small clearing, 6 people: 4 men and 2 women. I get a good look at them and I immediately get a strange feeling about them. They don't look like they're from a village just from how they're dressed, which makes them appear a bit dirty and ragged and caused a little bit of a voice in my head to tell me not to step out in the open just yet. I decide to hide behind a tree and observe them some more before I decide to "jump the gun" and walk over to them.

Some of them had pants that were torn up to the knee and their shirts and jackets looked a bit ragged as well with some of them even missing sleeves (which I couldn't tell was either a style or because their sleeves got torn off in some kind of encounter or if it was just the best they had). The leader of the small group was a tall, pale man with short brown hair and pale skin with a scar on his cheek. There was another guy with a blue rag hanging from his pocket (which I assume was used to wipe sweat off his head), who was completely bald and tan-skinned. He also had a bit of a goatee hanging from his chin that looked to be graying a bit. Next to him was a woman with brown eyes and brown hair tied into a ponytail. If it were let down, her hair would probably drop down to her shoulder blades. She looked to be around 18-20 years old. There was another man who looked about as old as the woman, who also had brown eyes and long brown hair let down to just above his shoulders. I assume those two are the siblings I was hearing. There was also a dark-skinned man with short, curly hair, wearing a dark blue jacket without sleeves. He also had on his face a full beard and by far had the most facial hair out of everyone there. And lastly, another woman, with short, blondish hair wrapped into a bun. She also had slightly lighter skin than the guy with the blue rag and the goatee.

After getting a good look at them, they definitely don't look like the type you'd see come from a village or even a kingdom.

"Well assuming we do take this..." The guy with the blue rag joins in. "Do you even think this will be enough? I mean look at it!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." The woman with the blonde bun responds.

"It'll have to be." Said the man with the beard. "Look, it's either that or nothing. And I don't think she would be very pleased if we return with nothing. So I opt that we take this back and we could just divide and combine it with the rations we have left over. And besides..." He continues. "We've encountered nothing but grimm throughout this entire thing and have been relying on her to save our asses every time. If this is the best thing to come out of this, then by all means, let's take what we can get. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you make a good point." Said the man with the blue rag. "That reminds me: where is she anyway?"

"She said she was going to scout ahead a bit and check to see if there was any more grimm on our way back." Answered the woman with the bun.

"And how long ago was that?" Asked the female twin.

"I don't know. 15-20 minutes?" She answered back.

"Damn! What could be taking her so long?" Yelled the leader.

"Hey! Show some respect!" Snapped the guy with the beard, elbowing him in the gut while doing so and slightly winding him. "Maybe she just encountered some and is clearing a path for us."

"Right. Sorry. My bad... Bootlicker." The leader muttered.

"What was that?!" The bearded man responded.

"Hey, guys?" Interrupted the male twin. "I'm gonna go shoot it again."

"What did I just tell you about ammo?!" Snapped the leader.

"Look." The twin responded as he pointed to the ground in the middle of their huddle.

"Oh... oh shit." The leader said immediately, changing his tone to a slightly somber one. "Yeah, I'll make an exception this time. Put it down. - especially if we're actually gonna take this thing back with us."

"Sure thing." The twin says before pointing the barrel of his gun to the ground in the center of them and pulling the trigger.

[BANG!]

Was that the bang that woke me up earlier?

"So anyway..." Says the man with the blue rag. "Before we make our decision final, I think what's best now is to see if she thinks this is good enough to take."

"Alright." Says the leader, readopting his authoritative voice. "The three of us will go ahead and call her over here and she'll give us her final verdict? Sound good?...Okay then. You three will wait here and the twins will come with me."

With that, the man with the blue rag, the woman with her hair in a bun, and bearded man all stayed behind while the leader, and the twins went ahead. As half of the group started to disperse I could now see what it was they were huddled around. As I leaned my head closer and squinted my eyes a bit, I could see that it was...-

(Gasp!)

I then quickly hid the rest of myself completely behind the tree, crouched down with my back pressed against it, hoping they didn't hear me or catch a glimpse of me. I then use my hands covering my mouth to prevent them from possibly hearing my breathing.

"No. It can't be! That had to have been my imagination. Right? I probably just haven't fully woken up yet and imagined that." I thought to myself as my heart immediately started racing at the thought of what I might have seen being another horrible reality.

I don't want to, but I need to take another look just to confirm that I just imagined that. Making sure they don't see me, I carefully peek my head past the tree and look again. And just like in Dorado, I could only instead confirm the worst as my heart began to plummet into a deep, dark abyss. There, in the middle of those three people, was Bruno's lifeless body with two bullet holes- one in the body and another in the center of his head.

This can't be happening! W-we were supposed to be together. We were supposed to take care of each other. We were supposed to make it to Kuroyuri together and get our lives back. This can't be happening! Not again, not again, not again!

How many more people am I going to lose?! How much more will I lose?! How much more will this world take from me?! This world just keeps taking and taking and taking and I've just about had it!

I just looked at Bruno's corpse with a thousand yard stare as not a wave of grief, anguish, or sadness came over me like in Dorado, but a whirlwind of anger, frustration, and pure, unadulterated rage. Bruno was the one thing holding me together- the last thing that prevented me from tipping- and they took him away from me. I don't know who they are or where they're from. But right now, I don't fucking care! They killed Bruno! Those bastards killed my best friend! They killed my family! They took the last thing I had left in this world from me! And now they are going to pay!

And just like that, the camel's back has been broken- no, shattered into millions of pieces. The mosaic is now gone as all the pieces are now scattered everywhere with nothing left to hold them together, making me no longer able to see the brighter future I had so desperately hoped for. Eventually I couldn't even hold myself back anymore as my mind and body willingly submitted to the raging whirlwind, giving it full control. Before whatever was left of me "disappeared", I could only utter 5 more words before allowing the whirlwind to take control.

"I'm going to kill them."

Mom, dad, Bruno, if you're still looking, now would be a good time to stop.

And then... I snapped.

I finally snapped.

. . .

Without even thinking or uttering a sound, I charge at top speed out from behind the tree in a blind rage, holding my mother's knife in my left hand. The way the three bandits that stayed behind were standing was in a bit of a triangle formation. The one to my right (and the closest one to me) was the woman her hair tied in a bun. Just beyond her by a few feet and to my left was the man with the blue rag and just beyond him was the guy with the beard. I was running so fast, they didn't even notice me nor did it fully process in their heads the situation they were about to be put into until it was already too late. As I quickly closed my distance, before they could react in the final split-second that the three could notice me and do anything about, it I tossed one of my sais in the air above the trio in a way that when it would come back down, it would fall in front of the guy with the full beard. The reason why I tossed the sai in the air was because it would serve as a very brief distraction for me to pull off what I am about to do. As the sai flew in the air and briefly caught the attention of the trio, I also quickly pull the gun out of the holster from the lady who had her back turned before immediately planting my foot on her leg and bouncing off of it. As I bounced off her leg, I leapt upward toward the man with the blue rag and held my mother's knife against his throat and wrapped my right arm, gun in hand, around the back his neck and aimed it toward the woman with the hair bun. While my body was still airborne, without any hesitation, I pulled the trigger of the gun I just took, causing the following three things to happen simultaneously:

1. Upon pulling the trigger, the bullet went straight through the woman's head instantly killing her before she had any time to even move.

2. Due to the (surprisingly) strong recoil of the gun, it caused my body to turn almost as if on an axis, causing the knife to slit the throat of the guy with the blue rag.

3. Lastly, the recoil of the gun combined with how my arms were wrapped around the neck of the guy who got his throat slit, his neck basically served as an axis and caused my body to whip around and catch the sai with the back of my foot that I had tossed less than a second prior as it was coming back down, kicking the spiked end straight into the bearded man's chest (as well as through his hand since he was the only one who had any time at all (though not enough) to react). The sai ended up piercing his heart and killed him too. He was the only one to even get a word out as he barely managed to let out a startled "SHIT!" before I had pulled the trigger that ended the three of them in fell swoop.

Though it seems like these people had the world's slowest reaction time and absolutely no reflexes, it was actually because this all happened way faster than they could have possibly anticipated. By the time they even noticed me, the rest unfolded in just a single second. In just 1 second, I killed half of them with one move.

The sound of the gunshot definitely got the attention of the leader and the twins as they both sharply turned around in unison, shocked and confused as to what just happened and how fast it happened. I can understand their confusion though. They literally turned around for a few seconds and walked a good amount of yards before suddenly turning back around only to see that the three people they had just left are now all dead.

"W-what the fuck!?" The leader shouted, shocked at the fact that three of his own were just killed in the matter of a second while his back was turned.

As they all stood there motionless, still in shock at the events that had just unfolded, I look over behind the leader and see the one who shot Bruno, the male twin. Just the sight of the still smoking barrel of his gun made me even more angry. I'm going to save him for last. I then drop the gun I had just used, opting to not use it again since the recoil was a bit too much for me to handle. I then pulled my sai out of the bearded man's chest, planting my foot on his corpse to do so. The female twin, the only one with enough sense (or not shocked enough) to react, pulls out a gun of her own, a nervous expression written all over her face.

I then looked back down at Bruno's lifeless corpse.

"This is for you, Bruno!"

"Stay the fuck away! I'll kill you, you hear me?!" She shouts with a bit of a quiver in her voice as she attempts to put on an aggressive front. I could see the gun shaking in her hand from here.

I was so driven by the whirlwind inside me, I completely ignored her words as they fell upon deaf ears as I took a step forward and charged again. As I rush toward the second trio, she fires two shots at me, one bullet whizzing right by my head and the other just grazing my right shoulder. The pain made me wince a bit and grit my teeth, but I ignored it as I was too livid to let it faze me, determined to avenge my fallen companion. As soon as I got close enough to her to be at point blank range (which only took about a couple seconds), I immediately bring up my hand and knocked her wrist upward, causing her to barely miss her third shot, which would have hit me in between the eyes and killed me if I hadn't done so).

I then stepped on her leg and, using it as a boost, jumped and swiftly kneed her in the chin with my right knee before she could do anything else, stunning her in the process. Before I landed, I threw one of my sais at the leader (who was about 10 feet (3 meters) to her left) as he turned to come at me. The sai went through his foot and ended up pinning him in place as he screamed from the pain. Once I landed, I noticed the male twin had already pulled out his gun and was pointing his still smoking barrel at me.

With less than a second to spare, I barely dodge the bullet by moving toward the leader so I could use him as a shield, who was currently trying to dislodge the sai from his foot and unpin himself. He noticed me coming toward him and he hastily struggled to get to his feet, clearly unsteady from his wound, and pulled out his knife. He attempts to slash my throat or face (Or at least I think he was. I couldn't tell where he was aiming exactly. In all honesty, it was a pretty wild slash). I respond by leaning back as I drop kick the sai in his foot on my way down, bringing him down to a knee as I rolled behind him, putting him between me and the male twin. Literally the second I had done so and brought him to a knee, the male twin had pulled the trigger again, attempting to shoot me like he shot Bruno. But instead, the bullet (that was meant for me) went straight through the leader's temple and out the other side, instantly killing him as he fell in the way. But unfortunately for me, as my mind was clouded by my unyielding rage, I didn't take into account the bullet going all the way through the leader's skull and I paid dearly for it as it hit me through my left side, wounding me- but not mortally... or at least I hope.

Because of that, I lost all my momentum and couldn't capitalize as a red wet spot began to form and grow around the area I was shot, allowing the female twin to recover. In an instant, I went from putting their backs against the ropes to now being severely injured and stuck in a 2 vs 1 situation.

"You okay, sis?" The male twin asks his sibling. She responds with a nod of reassurance despite having a clearly broken nose, blood pouring out as if it were a faucet and getting all over her shirt like paint on a canvas. I guess I hit more than just her chin with that knee strike. I then noticed the male twin was still pointing the barrel of his gun to me.

"Who the fuck is this kid? And just who the fuck does he think he is?!" He asks.

"I don't know... and I don't care!" She says in a way that could only be passed off as absolutely livid. "The little shit just killed 4 of us in a matter of seconds and he'll kill us too if we don't take care of him now!" She says holding her gun back up, ready to pull the trigger and end me and my deadly rampage.

"No, wait a minute." He responded in a sort of calm, yet cold voice. His sister gave a confused look upon hearing that.

"What do you mean 'wait a-'"

"I say we take our time with him. You said it yourself, sis. He just killed four of us. You really want to give him an easy way out- especially after pulling that stunt? A bullet to the head or a knife to neck would be too good for him. Besides, what more can he do anyway? I mean look at him." He says gesturing to my bullet wound.

"Yeah. You know what? You got a point there. Let's make this brat pay!" The sister says after a couple seconds of thinking, going along with his idea.

During their little chit-chat, I was on the ground, on my hand knees, hunched over and groaning in pain, as well was pressing my hand against the wound as my blue shirt quickly grew more and more damp as I was trying to stop the bleeding.

What am I going to do? I need to do something before they kill me. I refuse to die without at least taking those bastards with me first.

"Come on! Get up! FIGHT!"

"So you think you can just walk up and fuck with us? Our tribe? Our family? Huh?!" The man says as he kicks me in the gut around the area I was shot, sending me backward a few feet as I convulsed and writhed in pain as my wounded body hit the ground. I barely had enough ability to let out a sound as the pain was almost unbearable.

"Come on, little boy!" The sister spoke up in a mocking voice. "Where's all that fight in you from earlier?! You tuckered yourself out already?"

If I weren't injured right now, I'd have ended them already.

"I hope you know you're going to pay for what you just did. I don't care if you're a kid! We're gonna show you what happens when you fuck with people like us!" The sister continued. "You're about to know what a slow, painful death feels like when we beat the shit out of you!" As I'm getting to my feet, she walks up to me and cracks me in the head with a vicious pistol whip, causing a bit of a ringing sensation in my ears as the crown of my head opened up with a small red stream flowing from the gash.

I need to get up and fight through the pain. I have to keep fighting. I have to avenge Bruno. But I don't have anyone to bail me out this time.

So far, with almost every encounter I've had, I've survived by either mere luck or because someone saved me at the last minute. On that fateful night I had my mother and my father. During the fall of Dorado, I had Aaron. During my fight with the colossus, I got lucky when that rock fell and severed its arm and freed me. And in Oniyuri, I had Bruno. I don't have any of that anymore. I have nothing. I have nobody. The only person I can truly rely on now is myself.

No mom.

No dad.

No Aaron.

No Bruno.

I am all I have left now.

As she moves toward me again for another pistol whip to the left side of my head, I duck and move to the outside to her right side. As I do this, before she has a chance to react, I pull out my mother's knife and plunge it into her thigh, causing her let out a sharp cry of pain. In the split second opening I had before she regained her senses, I grab her left hand and wrist- the hand that had the gun in it- and I squeezed as hard as I could and dug my thumb into the space between her thumb and forefinger (since I once heard there was a pressure point in that part of the hand) and caused her grip to slightly open and loosen a bit, which was just enough for me to wrestle her gun away.

No more than a second after I get the gun out of her hand, she attempts a back hand on me on the same side of my head I got pistol whipped on. I duck under it and quickly aim the gun between her legs with my right hand and shoot the gun out her brother's hand (who had his gun up) before he could fire it at me again.

As that was happening, she pulled out her own knife and tried to bring it down on my back. Luckily for me, I had anticipated that and pulled out one of my sais and used it to block the attempted stab by holding it behind me. Because of that, the sai ended up catching and going straight through her forearm due to the force she was bringing the knife down. I immediately took another shot with her gun, the bullet this time connecting with and going through the brother's knee and causing him to fall down as all kinds of swears started spilling from his mouth. I then quickly jump upward, head-butting his sister in the gut, briefly stunning her again before she could pull the sai impaling her arm out to try and stab me. This whole sequence from when I lodged the knife in her leg to the headbutt I just gave her took place in about 4 seconds.

I then began to move toward him, abandoning his sister for a few moments, who was pretty much floored at this point. I saw that he was limping toward his other gun, so I (powering through my injury) did a running sweep, targeting the injured leg and causing him to fall to the ground after a sharp cry. As he struggles to get up, I then throw my sai (the unloaded one) into his other leg and run up to him, using the sai as a sort of boost and hit him with a knee strike just like I did with his sister moments ago, causing him to fall on the ground again as he yelled swears through his gritted teeth, clearly in a lot of pain (I also made sure that I positioned myself between him and his gun as a precaution). The move also caused a lot of pain in my side too, but that's to be expected given the limitations this bullet wound has just given me. I then look and see the sister is still on the ground, wounded and winded. I then look back and see the brother is still trying to get back up as he was now at eye level with me, staring at me with an angered look and breathing heavily.

I aim his sister's weapon at his foot and fire again, this time really crippling him and causing him to scream in pain. Her gun has no more bullets left so I just toss it away. I decided not to shoot his sister because I can easily handle her with the playing field now leveled, so I just used the last bullet on the brother to prevent him from getting away or getting his gun back. Before I go over to the sister, who was still sharply breathing from the pain her impaled arm caused her. I grab the handle of the sai I had tossed into the brother's leg and quickly yank it out of his leg, causing him to yelp as I put it away. He won't be going anywhere. I then pick up his gun and move back toward the sister to finish her off, who was unaware of me approaching. She was still hunched over as I walked up to her side. I then held up the weapon used to kill Bruno and pointed the barrel toward her head.

Next thing you know, right before I pull the trigger, I feel a force hit me in my wound, instantly hunching me over. In a desperate attempt at survival, she swiftly elbowed me in the side where I was shot. She then basically tackled me to the ground, causing me to randomly fire the last shot of the gun into nothing. She then straddled my midsection to pin me, resting her weight on my wound, while also blocking off access to my weapons as they were just beyond her legs. She then once again pulled out her knife with the same arm I had impaled with the sai earlier, which she clearly managed to dislodge as I saw the bloody weapon lying on the ground where she was hunched down.

"End the kid! End that little shit! Make him feel all of it!" The brother yelled in a pained voice.

"I think this is it for me. I think I'm done. I'm sorry I couldn't avenge you, Bruno. I should've been there to protect you. I'm sorry." These were the thoughts that went through my mind as I saw the knife raised above my chest about to be plunged into my heart. I'd tried my best to squirm free, but it was all in vain. I know if it was from the exhaustion, the blood loss, or both, but I feel so tired and weak. I...I think this is it for me. I think I'm finally done.

Before she attempted to finish me, the sister decided to leave me with some closing words of her own.

"Where are your parents, kid? Did they toss you out? Was that it? Or maybe they kicked the bucket? Yeah, that's probably it. Probably grimm fodder, I bet. If that's the case, when you get to the afterlife, be sure to look them in the eyes when you tell them who sent you there!" She yelled before bringing the knife down on me, aimed at my heart.

And just like that, the whirlwind within me had regained its strength. Before the knife could connect with my now raging heart, as a last ditch effort, I put my right forearm in the way, the knife treating my arm as if it were a pin cushion as it went through. The pain in my arm felt like a surge of electricity coursing through me, but I didn't have time to waste. As I used whatever energy I could in this position, I palm struck my mother's knife that was still stuck in her thigh causing her to let out another cry and slightly let up a bit, giving me a brief window to act. I then pulled the knife out and plunged it back in her leg multiple times until I could push her off me. At that point she was in so much pain, she forgot about the knife still lodged in my arm and was completely defenseless as she let go. I then headbutted her broken nose, causing my head to hurt even more and knocking her on her back as I got on top of her.

In my revived rage, I climbed on top of her and repeatedly plunged my mother's knife into her chest over and over and over again, releasing a pained and anguished cry with each blow, until the area I was stabbing was nothing more than an open chest cavity with nothing but a puddle of blood and minced flesh inside. I was taking everything out on this one person. My anger, my rage, my loss, my grief, my sadness, my anguish, my hatred. Everything that I've endured for the past month and a half was all being let out and directed toward this one person. She was probably dead after the first few stabs, but I kept on going. The only things that were being let out of me were my blood and my emotions as the tears that were now falling down my face that was now twisted and contorted in anguish as I was just letting it all out.

"YOU KILLED HIM! TOOK HIM FROM ME! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!" These were the words I was screaming at the top of my lungs. Though she was the one I was looking at when I was letting everything out on her, it was really the world itself I was screaming at that these words were directed toward—this cruel and merciless world.

Just as my father predicted, the world has pushed me. It has knocked me around. And now it has finally broken me.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE— AGH" Suddenly, I felt another, even harder, blunt force hit me in my wounded area again so hard that it knocked me off of her with ease and sent me flying as I crashed into a tree that ended my short midair journey. My body was screaming in pain as whatever hit me felt like a lightning fast gut punch, but if the punch was accompanied by a pair of brass knuckles. Judging from where that hit me, that must have come from where the brother was lying.

That wasn't him was it?

Right after whatever it was that hit me struck, I saw out of my peripheral vision that the object was red and long with a short black tip (possibly a hilt, assuming it was a blade) just as it connected with me and bounced off. As I clutch my wound and cough up a bit of blood, I could see out of my slightly fading vision that made me question what was in front of me because either a.) that shot hit me harder than I thought and is causing me to hallucinate or b.) there is another person standing there beside the downed brother. As I regained my senses a bit, I can confirm that it was indeed the latter.

It is a woman. She looked to be about 5'6 (1.67 meters) and she had long, black hair. She was wearing a red and black dress with a red band of cloth that wrapped around her midsection as well as what looks like a pair of small black shorts poking out from underneath. On her forearms she had red gauntlets that protruded outward at the elbows with black gloves underneath. For her legs she wore leggings that stopped at her midthigh and a pair of black heels for footwear. Around her neck were multiple beaded necklaces and covering her face was a strange-looking white mask with red markings that resembled the face of a grimm. Around her waist she also wore some kind of belt that appeared to be for holding up a large black sheath she had resting on her left hip. And in her hands, she held a long, red sword with a black hilt. I then look over to the brother and judging from the look on his face, he looked like he just met his saving grace. He seems to know who she is. But just who is she though and what connection does she have? Is she their actual leader? If so, I'm going for her too.

"Ra-Raven!" The brother said, still with pain in his voice.

So that's her name huh? "Raven".

"P-please help me, Raven!" The brother pleaded. "That thing- he came out of nowhere and he... he killed all of us! Every single fucking one of us! That kid's not human! He's a monster!"

A monster? No, I'm human alright- a human with nothing left to lose (except for my last bullet that is). In fact, I think I know what to do with it now.

"Please kill him, Ra-"

"I want you to get up and go on ahead. Get back to the camp, okay?" She says as she looks down to him while cutting him off in a calm, sort of comforting yet, authoritative voice.

"I... I can't walk! That thing..." He says pointing at me. "It-"

"Take this branch and use it as a crutch." She says as she cut off a branch from a nearby tree and handing it to him. The brother takes the branch and uses it to pick himself up.

"Th-thank you, Raven." The brother says, graciously.

"Now go." She orders. "I'll handle-"

[BANG!]

Cutting her off mid-sentence, I fired the last bullet of my gun as it found its destination, briefly visiting the interior of the man's skull before exiting the other side, killing him the same way he killed Bruno. Now there's only one person left.

This Raven person slowly turned her head to me and looked over to me as I was still holding the weapon up, the barrel still smoking. As she was now facing me completely, I could see that there were now more red markings on her mask than what I saw a couple seconds ago. Probably due to the blood spatter.

"Do you want to try that on me as well?" Raven dares. I then decide to lower my weapon mainly because that was my last bullet and because I'm hoping this might lure her into a false sense of security and allow me to catch my breath a bit. "Smart. You must be a pretty strong kid to have been able to take them on with those injuries."

"And judging from how you look," She continued. "...you must have been wandering outside of any kind of civilization for a while, haven't you? I have to hand it to you for lasting as long as you have. Most people your age wouldn't have lasted a day. I can tell just from looking at you that you're something else. You are unlike anyone, I've ever come across."

I wasn't on my own... not entirely. I had Bruno. Until your people killed him!

"In fact, because of that, I almost don't want to kill you." She continues.

What?! What is she talking about?

"Judging from... well... all of this, something tells me you might be of some use to us."

"What?!" I thought to myself, surprised and confused by her words.

Her goons killed my best friend and I just killed all 6 of them with the last one being right in front of her and she's trying to negotiate with me into joining her?! Either she's terrified and desperate to live, completely delusional, or she has one fucked up sense of humor! Either way, I've heard enough.

"So what will it b-" I didn't let her finish as I then rushed her with my weapons out. But as I did so, just like in Oniyuri, I felt that same surge of energy course through me as my blood was rushing throughout my body (as well as rushing out of my body), allowing my body to zoom toward her like a rocket. The force was so strong, it felt like I was going to tear all the muscles in my body, reminiscent to how my arm felt when I threw the sai at that beowolf in Oniyuri.

Anyway, it seems we were both surprised by my sudden burst of energy as Raven barely side-stepped out of the way, causing me to barely miss her. As I was moving past her due to the momentum, I didn't have time to turn my head toward her as I felt her bring the hilt of her sword to my head, instantly and effortlessly knocking me to the ground and causing me to drop my weapons. As I tried to crawl and retrieve them I then felt something firmly press down on my back and pin me to the ground, causing me to release an exhausted and pained cry. As I turned my head to look up at her, I could see that she had her foot resting on my back, using her weight to keep me down as she stared me down through her mask. Due to the immense strain on my body that burst of energy caused me, I couldn't move a finger. I was completely at her mercy.

After a few seconds of examining me, Raven then crouches down, her foot still sitting on my back and leans her masked face close to mine.

"I'll let you sleep on it."

She then brought the hilt of her sword back to my head again and tapped my temple, making my sight instantly go to black as I was knocked unconscious.

*CHAPTER END*

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Hey everyone!

So uh... yeah... that happened.

I feel like I was taking a bit of a big risk here by having Simin snap because I was/am very worried how this one will be received because of that. I'm worried people might see this as a full on heel turn and turn on Simin rather than a kid who was just pushed over the edge and lost all hope after seeing the last remnant of his old life that he clung to get ripped away from him before going absolutely ballistic on the people who killed him. I'm still unsure as to how I handled it because I'm worried there might be areas where I might have made him almost feel like a bit of a sadistic killing machine because in the end, Simin wanted those bandits (more specifically the last guy) to suffer for killing Bruno and I was worried I may have overdone it in parts like when he straight up destroyed the last guy's legs to pretty much immobilize him before shooting him right in front of Raven. Not to mention this is the chapter where Simin kills a person for the first time so I had to figure out how I was going to handle it.

There were other versions of the scene that I had but I didn't think they would have made as much logical sense or they just didn't flow as well or it just created too many roadblocks for future chapters. (Chapter 11 is another chapter I'm also really nervous about, but I'll talk about that when we get there).

Not to mention there was also the violence in this chapter I was a bit worried about as well. But I did say it was going to be graphic. But don't worry, though. I don't think any other chapter in this whole series will be as graphic as this one. The only one that really comes close is chapter 4. I was honestly debating turning down the violence for this chapter, but I decided to keep it the way it was given the nature of it due to Simin reaching his breaking point.

Speaking of which, it is now official. Simin has officially hit rock bottom and has now reached his lowest point as he is now broken by the cruelties of the world and losing everyone and everything he holds dear. Simin right now, could care less about anything and in the next chapter, we will sort of see just how low of a point Simin has reached. How will he bounce back from this? Well that's what Act 3 is mostly going to be dedicated toward and will essentially be the first step in "rebuilding" him.

And now we will move onto Act 3. Act 3, is pretty much going to be dedicated to essentially "rebuilding" his character and getting him to bounce back from this. At this point Simin does not care anymore and is absolutely pissed at the world, but there is going to be a character that sort of serves as his moral compass for Act 3 that pulls him back from the deep end and helps him get back on his feet. And as I said in last chapter's ending statement, Act 3 is going to have a lot of dialogue and was probably the most difficult act for me to write due to the fact that I hadn't written much dialogue in this volume so far (in regards to the chapters I have posted) and I needed to get more comfortable with it since I was going to be having more character interactions. As of now, I think I'm more comfortable than I was then.

Also Raven is officially the first canon character to make an appearance in this fanfiction. After 8 chapters, we have finally met our first canon character! I'm going to be honest, of all the chapters I've written so far, Raven is definitely a character I had the most fun handling in this fanfic. I think you all might like how I handle her (or at least I hope). We will also be meeting some new original characters this Volume that I created mainly just to add some range to the cast. For example, there is one character that I hope you might like who is kind of a comedic character in a way. She's pretty much a compulsive gambler, who is terrible at card games, and also likes to call Simin by a nickname she made up for him. I hope you will like them and if there is anything you think I could do better with those original characters then please don't hesitate to tell me.

Anyway, I think that's pretty much it for my closing thoughts/statements for this chapter. But before I leave you with fun fact #8, I wanted make a quick little announcement:

In regards to where I am right now in Volume 1, I have finished all 5 of the anthology chapters and now have chapters 16-20 and the epilogue to work on. And I am currently very, very close to finishing 16. (There's a fight scene in that chapter that I honestly a lot of fun writing).

Fun Fact #8: The only reason why I had the bandit shoot Bruno again was because I didn't like the idea of having another offscreen kill (because originally, Simin was just going to walk up and see him dead just like with his dad) so I had the bandit shoot Bruno again to make the kill at least sort of semi-offscreen while still a bit onscreen.