"Are you sure you want to go through with it?" the tall, white-haired man asked. He reached a hand out to stroke the head of his massive lion, its mane luxurious. The lion was not completely…normal, but much like lots of things that came from the syndicate, he was enhanced in many ways.

"I have severed all ties with the clan. No doubt permanently," the other man said coldly.

Turning in his chair, the white-haired man looked the strange person up and down. In his mid to late thirties, around six feet tall and slightly gaunt, the pale-more like pallid-man stood in his black robes, his equally black eyes as cold as flint. His jet-black hair was long-exceedingly so-coming down toward his knees and braided. Gray and black robes hung loosely on his body. He did not look frail, per se, but he looked like someone who had put a lot of themselves into their abilities and said abilities may have started to eat at them, for lack of a better term.

"Why did you take it so far?"

"To show I would not be returning. Their ways are…old."

He sat back, crossing one leg over the other as he stroked Glaugan's head. The big cat rumbled, though his red eyes stayed fixed on the man across from them.

"Yet your clansmen will come after you."

"And with the power I get from you, coupled with my own, I should surpass them." He paused. "At least, the ones not of my blood."

"You abandoned your children."

"Any who wish are welcome to follow."

"How do I know you will not betray us?" the man called Zero asked plainly.

"Because I have cut my own ties," Ron replied. "And I do not fear a typical clanmate." While he technically didn't fear any of them, his eldest son could…possibly cause problems. "Besides. You are an entire syndicate."

"This is true." He wasn't sure where Misty and Igniz found this one. Strange, he was-part of an ancient clan of assassins who apparently had great power. From what he had heard, he grew tired of not being able to push higher, seemingly reaching his bodily limits. He was a fairly good judge of someone; from what he could tell, his abilities-tied to necromancy-were actually turning his own body.

It could be that he wished for some sort of augmentations to help stop, or at least slow this, possibly while allowing him to amplify them.

"I am aware of what I am asking," Ron said, stepping forward. Glaugan eyed him warily and growled; silenced by a single hand, he sat calmly by his master. The dark ninja paid the beast no mind, or at least pretended not to. "But I am ready. My body has gone through far worse."

Hizoku-ones specialized in the death realm, anyway-went two ways. While undeath was inevitable after a long time of practicing such things, they either grew strong, like a vampire or revenant-or they began to falter, the energies becoming too much for the body to handle. His eldest son, he could already tell, would likely grow strong…he could see it already.

But his own body, he knew, was at risk. He could slow down and take his time…but he was already touched by the madness of the other world. He needed more. He could either go fast, risking himself falling apart…or he could supplement his body with what was needed. His clan didn't understand. He tried to push some new training methods, but they deemed them too dangerous.

They simply didn't know how to evolve.

After a moment of silence, Zero stood, walking over to him. The mask hung around the lower half of Ron's face; his slightly blue-tinted lips and cool skin told him that the man was likely half living, half dead as it was.

This man has little humanity left in him. He may be a perfect recipient of the augmentations. Igniz and Misty may have been right. He didn't trust the man completely yet, but he felt there was perhaps...something there.

"Follow me, then, Ron," he said.

Turning, he walked off to the metal doors that hissed open as he pressed a button; he turned for a moment to motion to Glaugan, and the lion followed.

Ron-who had already irrevocably walked out of his old life-looked around the room for a moment, pulled his mask back up over his face, and walked into his new one.

A/N: I have no idea what would have gone down at first between Ron and Zero, but I just pulled something out for 'Evil.' I had never written Zero at all, and Ron I had only written before his turn. (The game itself being vague on Ron's reasonings for betrayal doesn't help this-I just sort of assumed it was for power, that he started to waver, and then potentially Misty and maybe even Igniz did the rest and 'lured' the already wavering man.)

A few notes here-it is unknown in the lore if Ron actually killed any of his sons, and if he did, when-so I'm leaving that vague for now. Given the fact Zero cares for children, I'm not sure the two would have been that friendly right away if that had been the case (can be interesting to explore later, however.) In the source material, it describes the sons as "Missing," but it ALSO describes Hizoku training as being sent away to train. Given there's really no actual hard confirmation, so I decided to leave it vague, as well (using vague lines like "any who wish").

We do at least know Ron's betrayal came somewhat soon before 2000, and that by the look he got his augmentations from NESTS before the ending (Lin was a bit surprised to see him in the state he was.) I like the idea that the augmentations are what turned his eyes that creepy red. (Also, SNK tells us extremely little about the Hizoku. I do a LOT Of making stuff up here. If you want, please read my series I nicknamed 'Blood-Stained Hands' to see more of what I did with the clan and their powers.)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, as always, and see you next time!