Ch. 37
"Long time no see Abaddon," said Carolina.
"What are you two doing here?" Abaddon asked.
York smiled. "You get an assignment in our territory and expect us not to tag along? You've been gone for three and a half years. We missed ya buddy."
"And she must be your partner," Carolina surmised.
"Kathleen Silenyaa. Pleased to meet you." She shook hands with both York and Carolina. "How do you guys know my boyfriend, if you don't mind me asking?"
York chuckled, then knocked on the carriage wall behind him, telling Eon that they were ready to leave. "We work for his grandfather. Right now, we're headed to a rendezvous point. That's about all we can say for now."
Kathleen huffed and gave Abaddon a side glare. "Looks like everyone knows how to keep secrets."
"Hey, don't give me that," Abaddon told her. "I didn't want anyone to know except those involved, my mom and dad managed to find out by chance, and she made me quit and go home."
"He's not lying. She barged in and told us off," Carolina added. "Xahnara is one scary woman."
"No kidding. Wash still gets a bit scared whenever she comes around," said York.
As the group continued to talk, they traveled through part of Pasiphae and were able to see some of its beautiful architecture and red gardens. It took them thirty minutes to reach the west gate of the city marked by a large marble archway. The scenery changed from the urban landscape to the lush red vegetation of Forever Fall. They were now on a wide manmade trail through the forest, not far from the coastline. They traveled for quite some time before reaching a wooden archway signaling the entrance to a large town. The carriage stopped, allowing the four passengers to step out with their belongings.
"Here we are. The town of Alenyonne," said Eon as he stepped down from the reigns. "Follow me please."
As they followed Eon through the town, the group was able to get a good look at how the residents lived. The houses were one or two story urban wooden houses. Adults were working on household chores or sitting on their porches while children ran about on the cobblestone roads. The group made it to the other side of town where the coastline lay. The beach was largely barren save for a large shipping walkway connected to two landing pads. It was already close to sunset and the light glistened on the water.
"I don't know when your ride will be here, but in the meantime you four can stay at my home."
Eon gestured towards a hill to their right with a trail that led up to a family house overlooking the ocean. Higher up above it built into a nearby cliff was another smaller home, connected to Eon's by a wooden bridge also built into the cliff.
The group followed Eon into the front door of his home.
"Noriko! I'm back," Eon called out. Although, there was no reply. "Honey?"
A pile of wet laundry suddenly dropped down from the floor above.
"That's what happens when you leave the clothes in the dryer without starting it."
As Eon freed himself of the wet clothing, his wife jumped down from the 2nd floor, landing gracefully next to him.
"Everyone! This is my wife, Noriko Evergreen."
Noriko was a slender woman with long dark red hair, and brown eyes, wearing a red and yellow scarf, black short sleeve black form fitting top adorned with a grey corset exposing some of her midriff. She had black elbow length fingerless gloves, a pack on her left thigh, form fitting black pants, dark boots, and a band tied on her right thigh.
"Good evening to you alll," Noriko said with a smile. "Sorry about the sudden small mess. My husband left the house without drying our clothes."
"I was about to be late," Eon huffed.
"Suuurrrrreeee honey. Suuurrreee," his wife replied. "Anyway, feel free to place your belongings wherever is convenient. I was also just getting ready to cook if you guys are staying for dinner."
Carolina shook her hand. "Thank you Ms. Evergreen. Hopefully we won't be intruding that long."
"It's fine. Just call me by my first name."
"Also, where might Raiku and Anise be?" Eon asked.
"Oh, those two are training out on the beach," Anise said. "They wanted to be ready for Beacon Academy."
Hearing that got Abaddon's undivided attention. "Oh really? I gotta check them out then."
He dropped his bag and began walking back outside.
"Of course he has to," Kathleen thought.
She dropped her bag next to his and followed suit. She caught up with him and grabbed his hand.
"Checking out the competition are we?" Kathleen asked.
Abaddon smiled. "Maybe. I mainly just wanna see what these kids can do."
Kathleen and Abaddon walked a bit along the beach until they could see two people, a boy and a girl, sparring on the beach. Their weapons, a sword with a large red and black bat wing shaped blade and a pair of silver daggers, lay on the ground nearby.
"They must be Eon's children," Kathleen thought.
"Hello there," Abaddon said as they approached, causing the duo on the beach to halt. "You two are Raiku and Anise right?"
"Correct. And you are?" The boy, Raiku, asked. He was fairly tall with white hair like Eon's except it was long and spiky. He had blue eyes and wore a sleeveless black shirt under a tan button vest, baggy blue violet pants, and grey and black steel toed shoes. He also had a silver vambrace on his left arm.
"You don't have to be so rude," said his sister, Anise. She was somewhat short, about the same height as Ruby. She had straight red hair like Noriko's that was shoulder length. She had brown eyes and wore a sleeveless white top under a sleeveless partially zipped black and blue hooded jacket with metal buttons, a brown belt, white shorts with blue borders, black leggings, and blue, black, and white high-top sneakers. She also had fingerless gloves with slightly studded knuckles, blue vambraces on her arms, a dagger strap on her right thigh and a black travel pack secured to her left hip, sporting a red ornament.
"You must be the special guests Dad said would be coming today," Anise surmised.
"Yep. I'm Abaddon Rizer and this is my partner Kathleen Silenyaa."
"Nice to meet you. Raiku and I were just practicing to get ready for Beacon next year. Would you like to join us? It would be very helpful. Our father said you two are Beacon students."
"We don't mind," Kathleen said.
"I don't know Anise," Raiku interjected playfully. "We might be too tough for them."
"Kathleen. I'm taking Raiku," Abaddon said rather bluntly.
Kathleen shook her head. "Nope. He's mine. I wish to rid him of that little bit of confidence he's got."
Abaddon wanted to say something, but thought against it as he could tell that Kathleen was hell bent on fighting Raiku.
"Then I'll spar with Abaddon after you guys," said Anise.
Abaddon and Anise sat on the sidelines while Raiku and Kathleen faced one another.
"Show 'em who's boss bro!" Anise cheered.
"Thanks sis!"
Abaddon just stayed silent and smiled. He was always confident whenever he watched Kathleen fight. This was no different than most other times: she was clearly going to win.
Kathleen smiled. "You first."
"My pleasure!" Raiku exclaimed.
He flew forward at high speed, a straight kick aimed for Kathleen's face. She stepped to right to avoid contact. Raiku landed on his feet, then twisted around to elbow his opponent in the back. However, Kathleen swiftly caught his elbow in her left hand, then struck him in the chin with her right elbow. As if that wasn't enough, Kathleen grabbed Raiku's arm and proceeded to throw him over her. The boy reacted by righting himself and landing on his feet. He attempted to counterattack, but Kathleen refused to let up. She turned Raiku towards her and kneed him in the gut, hard. Raiku gasped and lashed out with his fist, but Kathleen dodged it and did three jabs to his torso before knocking him to the ground with a round house kick to the head.
"Ugghh! Alright, I yield." Raiku slowly got to his feet smiled. "Damn, your one hell of a fighter. Although, I wonder if this would've been different if I had a weapon."
"Nope. It would've been worse," Kathleen told him.
"Wow, she's stronger than I thought," Anise said to Abaddon. "What should I expect from you then?"
Abaddon wasn't listening, he was staring at Kathleen and Raiku, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Abaddon? You listening?"
The boy shook his head, released from his stupor.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine."
"Okay. You ready to spar?"
"Actually, I don't feel so confident today. Maybe another time."
Anise was curious as to why Abaddon would decline, even after he looked so excited to spar. But she decided to leave it be and went to attend to her brother.
"Hey Raiku, lets go home," she said.
"Wait, isn't it your turn?"
"I don't feel like doing it anymore. There's too much sand in my shoes and its irritating me. It should be time for dinner anyway. Come ooonnn, lets go."
Anise walked away with Raiku right behind her, leaving Kathleen and Abaddon alone.
"Did you chicken out on purpose?" Kathleen asked.
Abaddon shook his head. "No. I'm just not feeling up to it."
Kathleen took his face in her hands and looked at his eyes. "Hey, what's with you? Why're you crying?
Abaddon kept his mouth shut.
"You know you can tell me anything, just as I can with you. No hiding remember."
Abaddon hesitated, then spoke. "Some time ago, when Bantus kidnapped Neo, he took her to an abandoned factory, like the one we went to on our first mission. Except it was actually an old concentration camp for faunus, in the guise of a factory. After Cinder and I stormed in, with help from Carolina, York, and a few others, and then after mortally wounding Bantus himself, I found Neo. She was in a large room, alone, surrounded by the dead bodies of those that he had played with. She was covered in bloody smudges and her eyes red with tears. Although, that's not the only thing I saw. I had a vision, I think, of another place, but the same kind of scene. In Neo's place…was a young faunus girl, I think, with long white hair, wolf ears, and a tail. She was naked and covered in blood, sitting in a snow covered forest surrounded by the bodies of dead white wolves. She howled…and my vision ended with me crying and taking Neo out of there. After that we destroyed the entire facility with explosives."
"And what about today?"
"When you were standing over Raiku after defeating him, I saw the same scene with the beach and the sun setting but when you looked at me I saw another female wolf faunus. This time she was an adult and had black hair. She had these….golden eeye….that seemed to speak to me, but her face briefly filled me with turmoil, rage….and grief."
Kathleen looked at him, still silent from what he said.
"Heh, I'm…sorry. I don't know why its hard for me to talk about it. I don't even like thinking about them. Like, I really don't. Don't worry though, this doesn't mean I'm thinking of another women. They're just visions. I promise."
A quick peck on the lips kept the boy from saying anymore.
"I can tell. You don't have to apologize," Kathleen told him. "Maybe we can figure this out later, together, 'kay?"
Abaddon smiled. "Yes ma'am."
"For now, well, we could explore the town a bit more," she suggested.
"I don't know. I'm feeling a bit sleepy from watching you fight," said Abaddon.
"You can take a nap later, sleepy head," Kathleen said as they walked from the beach.
Before they went any further, Abaddon spotted Raiku's sword still laying on the ground. He picked it up and swung it a few times.
"Strong. Has some weight to it. Nice grip too. Although, I'm not very fond of the blade design."
He clipped the sword to his belt and kept walking with Kathleen.
As they strolled through Alenyonne, it reminded them of Marrowshin, only a little livelier and a lot bigger. The red flora of Forever Fall littered the place with different shades of crimson, thanks to the sunlight. Children ran about while the adults were attending to other things like household chores and the like.
I like this, Abaddon thought. These people are able to live peacefully despite living in Forever Fall with its Grimm population.
As they were strolling, Abaddon caught sight if the little boy he saw on the train. He was sitting on a bench by himself, his knees tucked to his chest. Abaddon pulled Kathleen over to the boy to check on him.
He knelt down in front of the child. "Hey tiny, where's your ball?"
The boy looked up, small tears sliding down his cheeks. "I…lost it."
"On the train?"
"Mhm."
"How did you get here? On your own?"
"No. My friends helped me. We were on as field trip."
"And you got lost didn't you?"
"Mhmm." The boy's tears started again.
"Awww, poor baby." Kathleen picked up the child and held him in her arms.
"How old are you little man? And what's your name?" Kathleen asked.
"I'm Darby, and I'm six years old," the little boy told them.
"And where are your parents Darby?"
"My mommy is flying around at work. I don't know where big brother is."
"Big brother?"
"Yeah. My big brother Dillan. Maybe he's home now."
"Okay. Where is home?"
"We live next to Anus and Reeku."
Kathleen pinched Darby's nose while Abaddon laughed.
"You mean Anise and Raiku?" Abaddon asked.
"Yep. My brother loves Anus. He leaves the house at night to go watch her sometimes. I followed him once, and he was watching Anus take a shower."
"Oh reeeaalllyy," said Kathleen. "I wonder what his mother would say about this."
"Greeat!" Abaddon began marching back down the street they came from. "Off we go to snitch on your brother!"
