Chapter 6

The ocean breeze softly blew against his jacket as he neared his objective, a very aged and abandoned building; the start of where everything changed for him. Tapping his trusted cane on the ground, the young man eventually came to a stop in front of the building, the length of it spanning several metres either way.

"This is the place, kid."

Roman examined the worn out building with sharp eyes as a scowl slowly adorned his lips.

He fucking hated this place.

It's concretes walls were laced with odd stains and graffiti, making the building a sore to the eyes to look at. At the top, was its thin metal roof, slowly falling apart as rust spread over it from the lack of maintenance over several years. The door leading into the side of the building was gone as well, blast marks still present from when he blasted it off its hinges.

Returning back here made him feel sick and disgusted; this place really was a shithole. Overall, this place did not bring any fond or good memories to him over the past two weeks he stayed here, hiding beneath the caved in roof and the dirty floor like a cockroach or a rat.

He would've burnt the place to the ground already if he hadn't planned to visit this shithole again.

Beside him, Eri also stared at the building with a wary eye; it looks like she didn't like the place any much more than he did.

"Yep... just as shitty as I remembered it," Roman muttered to himself, barely above a whisper.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. C'mon, kid, we're going inside."

Roman took a step forward towards the entrance only to stop as he felt a tug on his right sleeve. Looking down to his side, he saw the brat looking at the entrance with a worried gaze. Rather than removing the girl's hand off his sleeve, Roman grunted as he tossed his cane towards his other hand and continued forward.

Walking in, he gingerly watched his step as to not step into anything disgusting on the ground as to not ruin his leather shoes. Before, he wouldn't have cared since he was rich enough to buy anything or steal anything he wanted, but now? He didn't have the budget to keep buying and cleaning his shoes every time they got dirt on them.

They were expensive goddammit!

"Um...?"

Roman kept walking as he heard the brat, examining his surroundings as he moved forward, though he still answered her, his eyes not leaving his surroundings at all.

"What is it, kid?"

"It's just... I don't like it here... Are we really just taking a look around this place?" She whispered, her nervousness clear in her voice as she stared into the darkness.

Smart brat. Roman thought to himself. It looks like she picked up on the fact that he wouldn't do this without a reason.

"Yep, nothing else at all, so don't worry about it."

Still, he couldn't tell her the truth of why they were really here.

Stopping at the centre of the warehouse, he stopped for a minute to examine his surroundings; the dim sun-rays that peaked through the roof didn't give much light he realized, squinting his eyes as he tried to examine his surroundings better.

Oh how the faunus one-upped him here.

Roman stopped as he felt a light tug on his sleeve, but he ignored it, only for it to be pulled on again harder. Slightly peeved, Roman turned his head towards his companion to ask her what her problem was, only to stop as she looked at him with a scared face.

"T-t-there's s-something moving over there!" She hissed out as held onto his arm tightly, pointing towards a dimly lit part of the room where a large piece of dirty white cloth was laid over something. Other than that though, there was nothing else there.

Roman blinked for a moment in surprise when he saw the cloth as he couldn't remember if he saw that here before, but ignored it as he shook his head in annoyance. There wasn't anything moving over there.

"Look, kid. I know you're scared of the dark and all that, but can you leave it until later, I'm kind of bu-?" Roman froze as he once again took a glace to where she was pointing, his eyes narrowing at what he saw.

The cloth moved.

There really was something or someone underneath the cloth.

"Well I'll be..." He muttered, surprised the kid actually found something.

"Good eye, kid."

A smile slowly formed onto Roman's face as he eyed the mound underneath the cloth; it was either an animal or a homeless bum, or it could be something that could lead back home.

"Follow me. Don't stray too far unless I tell you. You're much safer with me."

Taking the girl's hand off his sleeve, he quickly moved forward as he switched his cane towards his right hand. He needed both of his hands if it was something dangerous.

Finally making a stop at the mound's side, he realized that the cloth was actually a cloak of some sorts and whatever the cloak hid, it was definitely a person by how it formed around them.

Roman's smile turned into a grin as he possibly found something that could help him in his investigation.

Behind him, Eri quickly followed him, but was a bit scared as Roman made her let go of him, leaving her alone in the dark without him for a moment, though Roman didn't seem care about that right now.

He had bigger concerns now.

Eri could only watch in silent horror as Roman kicked whatever was underneath the mound, flipping it around and finally letting it see the light again.

Roman froze once again for the second time today as he eyed the figure, her eyes closed as she laid unconscious.

"Fuck..."

He knew that face.

And while the girl did have a different outfit and hairstyle, it was still the same face he remembered, a face he couldn't forget.

After all, it was the last face he saw before he was sent to this world.

"Hehehe..." Roman started laughed, he didn't know why, but he laughed.

"Ah... um... Roman, are you okay?" Eri asked worriedly as she saw Roman laugh, her fear slowly ebbing away as it was replaced with worry. The way that Roman laughed... It wasn't a normal laugh and Eri could tell by how cold and bitter it sounded. Colder than anything she had ever heard of him, yet... yet it also sounded... happy...

Roman stopped laughing as he heard Eri's question, finally calming down, though he still had a slight malicious glint in his eyes.

"I'm... fine, perfectly... fine. Just... I'm just so happy right now," Roman said, his eyes not leaving the unconscious girl at all, his eyes narrowed onto her unconscious form.

He didn't know what to think of this situation.

On one hand, he wanted revenge; and while the girl wasn't the cause for him being here – at least as far as he knew – he had many other reasons why he would gladly take his anger out on her. Especially since she was the one that had sent Neo flying away in Grimm infested skies.

"You... know her?" Eri asked, turning back to look at the girl. The girl... looked pretty. She had black hair with tips that ended in red, and an angular, yet soft face. She looked to be around Roman's age as well, though she was a lot shorter than him.

Roman didn't respond, keeping his eyes on the girl, a slight conflict in his mind.

While he did want revenge... and it would certainly make him feel better...

He needed her.

Sighing, Roman kneeled beside the girl and picked through her pockets, looking for any belongings or weapons. He then started to check her boots, skirt and corset, making sure there were no hidden weapons.

While he knew the girl wouldn't kill him if she had the chance judging from their previous interactions, he wasn't taking chances.

"Nothing," the edges Roman's lips rose ever so slightly as he looked at the girl. He finally found something that was from his world. And while he didn't find anything that did bring him here, he found someone that could possibly tell him what did.

He can get his revenge later, but for now, he and her were going to spend quite a bit of time together.

Smirking, Roman turned his head towards his companion.

"Kid, go get a very large bag; we'll be taking some trash home today."

o – o – o – o – o

Bang!

The door of the apartment flew open as Roman kicked it, walking in soon after with Eri on his trail. Eri, knowing that Roman was up to something important quickly closed the door behind them.

Opening the bag, he let the small body inside the trash bag drop unceremoniously with a thud, not caring if the victim got hurt or not. Walking over to one of the chairs in the room, he took a seat, letting out a heavy breath as he let himself relax on the chair.

Screw this small body... Roman groaned inside his head.

He had underestimated just how heavy carrying the girl was with his current body all the way across town, even if the girl only weighed around 90 pounds.

And while he would never admit it, that took quite a blow to his pride.

Roman watched as Eri walked over to the unconscious girl before hesitantly tapping her with her own finger, still apprehensive of the stranger he had just brought into their base, if you could even call it a base in the first place.

The room they were in right now was a single room apartment that had a small bathroom to the side. In the middle of the room was a cheap plastic table with a bunch of supplies and bags laid across it, ready for when they moved to Hosu. The rest of the room was bare.

While the room was very small and overall just bland, especially comparing it to his old bases and safe-houses, it worked well enough, especially since they were on a budget.

"Oi, brat; stop poking the girl. You might get a disease from her," Roman called out, making the little girl jump with a start.

Eri, having stopped poking the girl on the ground, turned to him.

"Who... is she?"

The girl looked at him in an almost worried way, confusing Roman for a moment, but answered nevertheless.

"This, my short companion... is a very dangerous murderer that attacks other little girls so that she can steal their souls," Roman said, face completely serious.

"Eep!"

The small brat instantly jumped to the other side of the room, far away as possible from the unconscious girl, looking at her with a horrified gaze. This however all soon stopped as Roman's laughter filled the room.

Roman watched as the small brat quickly shot up to her feet and scowled at him, though it came out more as a pout, making Roman laugh even more.

"Ah... don't worry about... who the girl is, she's... an old acquaintance of mine, nothing more," Roman said in between laughs.

"So... a friend?" Eri hesitantly asked.

"Oh, god no. I wouldn't be friends with her even if you paid me – actually scratch that, give me a few thousand Lien, then maybe," Roman flatly stated before gaining a thoughtful look at the last part. If he was getting paid, maybe he'll be friends with her, just long enough to find out where she kept her money though and her weaknesses. But, he somehow doubted the girl would even think of accepting his friendship in the first place.

"Lien?"

"Yen," Roman said, correcting his slight slip-up.

He needed to be more careful about what he says; he didn't want any more incidents like the dust store incident. He didn't think his pride can take the humiliation, especially when he couldn't make those bastards 'disappear.'

"Anyways, go get some rope from one of the bags. I'm gonna have her tied up before I can question her," he said nonchalantly, like he wasn't about to do something horrible.

"Question..." Eri muttered, before he eyes almost comically widened to saucers as she realized what he meant.

"Don't worry about it brat, I won't do anything too bad. After all, I don't want to make a mess here before we leave," Roman joked, not at all helping Eri's mood.

Getting up from his chair, he lazily walked over to the girl on the ground and picked her up, carrying her like a sack of potatoes under his arm.

As soon as Roman sat the girl's body onto one of the other empty chairs, he noticed that she was starting to stir, a soft moan coming from her lips as she gently opened her eyes; her silver eyes meeting his own dark-green eyes.

"Shit," he muttered under his breath, a slight panic in his voice. This was a horrible situation; he really didn't want to fight a Huntress-in-training right now, especially one that could go at super speeds that he wouldn't even be able to react in his current body.

And while he knew Little Red here had close to zero close combat ability, her semblance was enough to make her a thorn in his side.

Quickly straightening his body, he grabbed Melodic Cudgel with both hands and smacked the girl on the side of the head, knocking the girl back unconscious.

Or that's how it should have gone at least.

"AAHHHHHHH!"

The white-cloaked girl screamed in pain as she fell off the chair, clutching her head in pain, though that didn't last long as she quickly rolled up onto her feet, ready for a battle; the girl's battle-instincts as a Huntress quickly coming into effect.

As for Roman, he was clutching his head from the ear-piercing scream the girl had let out.

Quickly shaking his head out of his stupor, he was able to just in time block a punch that came straight to his face with the shaft of Melodic Cudgel. Swiftly, he quickly retaliated with a punch of his own, sending the young woman back with her arms crossed in front of her.

Roman groaned internally as he swiftly brought his cane in front of him into a fighting stance. This is not what he wanted.

"Have a nice sleep, Red?" He warily smirked.

Eri's screams went unheard as the criminal and Huntress charged at each other.