I did some updating to the first three chapters, mainly just fixed egregious errors to me and incorporated a bit of feedback. No major changes were made, so you don't need to go back and re-read.
Also, new Corridor of Time mission, and just as I expected, I was completely wrong on how we would (at least attempt to) save Saint-14, so I hope that doesn't bother you all too much.
Before anyone asks, no, Anna is not a love-interest.
Saint stomps down the quiet roads of Kuo Kuana, grumbling to himself about his screaming match with Ilia. The lavender light that runs down the center of his helm glows brighter, in sync with his emotions. His hands are in a constant state of tension as he desires to punch something, and hard. The tree to his right looks to be a perfect contender, and he starts to channel his anger to it.
He is about to throw a punch at it when he turns his attention to rapid footsteps from behind.
"Saint!" Anna's voice reaches his ears, and he lowers his arm. He sighs and closes his eyes for a few seconds. "I heard about what happened with Ilia, are you alright?"
He chortles. "You should be asking her, not me." He looks at his clenched hand and manages to loosen it. "She's angry, I presume?"
"Yeah, what you did and what you said ticked her off," Anna says, rolling her eyes. "She has a bit of a temper."
"I have dealt with…fanatics like her." Saint rolls his shoulders, humming once. "I hope she can understand me."
"Anyways, what are you doing here?" He asks, crossing his arms. "Do you need more help with your forge?"
"No, I wanted to check on you, make sure you didn't go on a…violent outburst."
Saint laughs at the answer. "Should have checked with Ilia first," he snarks, smirking to himself.
Anna has a small smile, that is barely visible when overshadowed by her half-mask. "That was terrible and you know it."
"I know it was, but I suppose it is better than hurting-"
"Help! Someone!" A higher-pitched voice cries out. A child's, maybe a developing teenager. Definitely male, though. "Hey! Can you help us!?"
Saint turns and kneels to the Faunus child, who is as tall as his waist and has dog ears sprouting from the top of his head. His specific details are obscured by the darkness, but the fear on his face is clear.
"What's wrong?" Saint asks, putting a firm hand on the boy's shoulder, applying enough pressure to still him.
"My-my friend, he's trapped in the forest!" They cry out, breathing rapidly between words. "It's some dead robot thing, we can't get him out!"
"Come on, let's go!"
"I'll ping the location to your Scroll, I gotta tell someone!"
"Didn't you just tell me?" Saint asks, incredulously. The child runs off. "Where are you going!?"
"To tell someone official!" He screams out in reply as he makes his way to a wooden post with a box nailed onto it.
He rolls his eyes and turns to Anna.
"Let's go," he says. "Do you have a weapon?"
"No, I didn't bring one, I'll go with the kid, you go on ahead-"
"You are coming with me!" The Valakadyn materializes in Saint's hand. "Take this!" He tosses it to her.
"How did you do that!?" Anna looks at the VEIST rifle in shock.
"I can explain later," Saint replies before setting off in a sprint to the location marked on his HUD.
"Hey, wait up!" He hears her say from a distance behind him.
The Perfect Paradox finds itself in his hands as he rushes to the direction of the trapped child. He runs into another running the opposite way, managing to grab them by the collar before they can get past him.
"Are you with the group that went into the forest?" He asks, almost calm as his eyes meet their fear-filled ones.
"Yeah! There are Grimm coming! Jaina said she would hold them off while we would-"
"And you LEFT her with them!?" He bellows.
"What else could I do!?" He can come up with at least one thing she could have done. Saint groans, then lets the juvenile go.
"Find help!" He cries out, watching them run and get smaller in the distance. He has never seen such cowardice from children, let alone teenagers! It should only be a few wolves, no? He shakes his head and pushes the thought out.
There is a child that is in danger, and he has to go save them, no use in complaining about who he's rescuing. The white diamond marker on his HUD points to a roughed-up path inside the forestry. He nearly trips over an outgrown root as he follows it. In the distance, there is faint gunfire, and he doesn't know if it's the gun that is weak or if he's still far away.
I have to move! He thinks as he barrels through the shrubbery, a few branches catching into the nooks in his armor. He turns, slides underneath a raised root, one that would not be compliant if he barrels through it.
Past a few trees, he can make out a few cracks of light, accompanied by small arms fire. A single source, meaning there's only one person fighting.
"Get the fuck away from us!" Two more bursts from a pistol. "Fucking Grimm!"
A wolf leaps at Saint from the side, and he smacks it with the butt of Perfect Paradox, knocking it down. His footsteps onto its belly, holding it still before he puts one shell into his snout. His foot collides with the ground when it turns into mist. He looks forward and notices another towering behind the armed teenager.
"Child!" He bellows, raising his weapon above the young girl's head. "Duck!"
She throws herself to the ground as a wolf leaps up, its teeth bared and its claws out. Saint doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger. "Eat this, beast!" He roars. The wolf flies backward into a tree from the impact and disappears into nothing.
A howl in the distance. More of them on their way. He has a few seconds of respite, though.
Saint makes his way to the trapped child.
"O-Oh god, I can't feel my legs!" He hears them say while struggling underneath the disk head of a Vex Goblin.
His artificial breath hitches. He pushes his arms out to the sides and clenches his eyes shut. His Light sings true as a purple Ward of Dawn envelops him, and everything in a few meters radius.
"Come on! Help me!" Saint doesn't need help lifting, but it's for the child to feel like they contributed. He grabs the Goblin and effortlessly throws it aside like a Fallen Dreg. "There we go! Can you walk?"
They shake their head. He fishes for the small pistol Anna gave him earlier. "Here, it has twelve rounds, use them well."
"I-I don't know how to-"
"No time for excuses, fight!" Saint turns away and scoops the Vex corpse up. He uses it as a bat to take down three of the dark wolves, tossing them aside with his swing. He looks at the still-on-the-floor teenager struggling to move their legs. "Ignore what I said, stay here!"
He steps outside of the Ward and readies his shotgun, pointing it towards the source of the howling. There are little pitter-patters that circle him. A volley of rounds from an assault rifle comes from beside him.
"Anna! You made it!" He has a slight smile on his face at the sight of the White Fang member with the Valakadyn. "Use the Ward to empower yourself!"
Anna looks at the purple dome, shrugs then runs inside. Saint looks for the other child that he saw, the one that was fighting. He finds them pressed against a tree, looking horrified at their pistol.
"You, do you still have bullets? We have to fight until help arrives." Saint walks up to her, standing a few feet in front. She shakes her head. "Go inside the Ward. It will protect you, but get ready to fight."
There is a stomping that shakes the ground.
"Oh no," Anna says, now beside him. "That sounds like an Ursa...Major."
"Finally, an interesting foe!" Saint slams his fist into his palm and rolls his neck, grinning. "I was getting tired of the wolves."
"Beowolves," Anna corrects. "They're called Beowolves."
"Good to know," Saint says. "Now about this Ursa…major."
Before Anna gets a chance to speak, a massive black bear breaks through the jungle forestry. It sports a bone mask, with visible red patterns coursing through it, meeting at the center of its head in a circle. Its orange and red eyes are perpetually glaring and its sharp fangs bared. Along its back are various rock-like spikes, with smaller ones all over its legs. It roars with all its might into the air, shaking the ground around it.
Saint-14 doesn't falter as he stands tall against the foe.
"Be ready to provide covering fire," he mumbles as he summons his Sentinel Shield. He waits for a second, to assess its movement before he charges with a battle cry, his shield facing it. His feet push off of the ground and his body puts all its weight into the shield as he bashes its face mask.
He hears a resounding crack! as he makes contact before being pushed off. He catches himself on his feet, and his boots dig into the dirt a bit. The Ursa roars and swipes at him with its front leg but he deflects the attack without much effort. It backs up, growling and its eyes of pure malice scan him.
"Smart one, are you?" Saint says, before throwing his shield, aiming for the crack he made with his opening charge. It hits, sending the Ursa further back. It roars at him once more, making the surrounding trees quake before it jumps up to lunge.
If it follows its current trajectory it will land on everyone!
Saint backs up and summons another Ward of Dawn overtop Anna and the two teenagers. He gasps as it takes considerable strength to support himself underneath the black bear.
"Run," is all he says to them. "Anna, carry the boy, GO!"
She quickly nods. "Come on, come on let's go, before it crushes us!" She ushers them while helping the other by carrying them underneath their shoulder. Once they're out, Saint rolls away and lets the Ward disappear, making the Ursa fall down.
A black blur zips by above him, and then a thick black ribbon wraps around its neck. A woman wearing a white jacket appears on top of its back, standing between its spikes. She holds the beast's head using the ribbon that strains underneath the tension.
"Hurry up and kill it!" she screams, snarling as it struggles to throw her off, and nearly falling off.
"Hold it still!" Saint says as he walks in front of the bear, dropping Perfect Paradox. His hands grab the two lower spikes at the edges of its mask.
He puts his Light together into his head and throws it forward, his helm making the first contact. He hears a resounding crunch of bone, but it's still alive, as assessed from its pained screech.
He goes for another.
And another.
And another.
With each successive headbutt, he roars louder and strikes harder than the previous.
By the time he feels he's done enough damage, its face is already a mass of dark flesh. It too whisks away into black, evil steam that eventually dissolves in the air.
Saint is panting by the time he is done.
"I feel so alive!" He says to himself, and feels his helmet for another dent, but doesn't find anything. He looks around, to find the person that held the monster down. He locates her standing behind him, her arms crossed. She is staring suspiciously at him.
"Blake!" He hears the very remarkable voice of Ghira Belladonna, the giant Faunus who is the mayor of Kuo Kuana. The man emerges from between trees. "Are you alright!?"
"Dad, I'm fine." The woman holds Ghira back from wrapping her in a bear hug. "You should ask him, though. His head went through a lot."
Ghira turns to Saint, confused. "Saint? Did you kill the Ursa?"
"I broke it with my head." Saint scoops his shotgun back up and slides it over his back. "These things are not worth the ammunition."
Ghira looks to Blake. "Do you know him?"
"No, but I recognize him as the person who cooperated with my attacker."
He takes a more angered look. "What?"
Saint backs up one step, and one hand reaches for Perfect Paradox. Perhaps he won't be done with it today. "I didn't hurt anyone."
"And you'd be right, but you let my friend get hurt. He's injured, and might die." Blake scowls and she tilts her head forward, anger flaring on her face.
"I can't control Ilia," Saint argues back. "Look, I'm not here to hurt anyone, we should discuss this at a more suitable location."
"I know what the White Fang are planning, and I'm not going to allow it!" She cries out to him, drawing her own weapon and pointing the blade at him.
"Blake!" Her father says. "Now is not the time to be starting a fight!"
Saint takes a liking to the man after hearing him. "Listen to your father, I don't want to hurt you, nor did I want your blonde-haired friend to get injured."
"Blake, darling, please put away your weapon, and we can talk like rational people," Ghira holds his hand on her shoulder. She tenses and snarls but eventually holsters her sword.
"Fine. I'll meet him back at the house."
Saint nods then turns around. "I will be there, I just need a moment." He kneels next to the Vex Goblin's long-dead corpse examining it with a skilled photoreceptor.
Ghira shrugs, and hums. A whoosh of air. "Well, alright." There is an awkward silence. "What are you looking at?" He asks, looking over the Titan's shoulder.
"This is a Vex," Saint says. "A machine that's supposed to be part of an army." He punches its empty core, where the Radiolaria is supposed to be. His fist only pierces through the hard glass and shatters it. He grunts. "It's odd that this one is separated unless there are more around. Then there would be a big problem."
"What do you mean by that? These are corpses, already dead centuries ago," Ghira says, crouching down next to him. He feels the metal frame of the machine with his fingers.
"How do you know it has been centuries?" Saint asks, looking to Ghira.
"Look at it, it's rusted and being reclaimed by nature. I'm sure those kids were digging it up and it just fell." Ghira stands up and gives the Goblin a light kick.
"That is true, but if there is a corpse, then there must be more."
. . .
When Saint-14 returns to Kuo Kuana, he receives a hero's welcome. Easily dozens of Faunus are crowd around the entrance to the jungle. Ghira's wife, Kali is closest to the entrance, her hands clasped together with a nervous expression on her face.
When the two emerge, they all cheer.
"I heard there was an Ursa! Did it die?" Saint hears one yell.
"Did the guy in the helmet headbutt an Ursa to death?" Another screams.
"How many Grimm did they have to fight off?"
Questions like that continue to be thrown out without an answer. Ghira calms them all down with a single clear of his throat. Once it's all quiet, he begins speaking.
"There has been an incursion with the Grimm, including an Ursa Major," he says with a calm and controlled voice. He looks to Saint, then back to the audience. "And I am happy to announce that there had been no further injuries thanks to the quick work by this Huntsman here, Saint-Fourteen." He gestures with an open palm to him.
Saint smiles underneath his helm and chortles. "Please, I don't deserve such flattery, it's my job as a…Huntsman."
There's a roaring cheer. "Did you headbutt the Ursa!?" Someone in the crowd asks, and they all go silent in response.
Saint pauses for a second. "There is no point in lying, yes, I did. Many times until it fell like the beast-"
The entire audience drowns his voice out. He manages to sneak away without anyone noticing.
He needs to talk to this Blake woman.
. . .
Once arrived at the front of the Belladonna household, he gets a ping from his device.
A message from a Blake Belladonna.
Open the door, it's unlocked. I'll meet you inside. Saint dismisses the message with a flicker of his photoreceptors. He pushes one door with surprising ease, considering its enormous size. A woman's head peeks out between the crack made.
"Get in," Blake whispers hurriedly, flicking her head inside. "Before anyone sees you."
Saint squeezes through the small crack, and the door shuts behind him. He turns around, crossing his arms as the Belladonna daughter lets out a breath. She regards him with a frown and furrowed eyebrows. She must be suspicious of him.
"Blake Belladonna, correct?" Saint asks. She nods curtly.
"Cut the crap, what are you doing in Menagerie?" She says, taking a small step forward. "I know you're not from around here. Did Adam bring you in?"
Saint hums. "I wasn't sent by anyone unless you count fate as a person." He tilts his head down slightly, so he can get eye contact with her. "The White Fang was my first contact here. I was walking a desert for miles, and only when I reached a jungle did I encounter Ilia."
"That must be near the camp the Scroll has saved," Blake says. "So, you're not working for Adam, right? Did Sienna send you?"
"…Who?"
"That must mean she didn't…are you even affiliated with the White Fang?" Saint can't tell if she's talking to herself or asking him a question. He stays silent. "Answer the question."
"My current affiliation is…confusing. I support the Fang's cause but…"
"You don't like their way?" Blake crosses her arms and smirks. "Guess that's something we can agree on."
"Indeed." He feels weird saying that. "From our skirmish hours ago, you know Ilia?"
Blake sighs. "Yes, we go pretty far back, back when I was still in the White Fang."
"You were in the White Fang?"
She begrudgingly nods. "I regret it."
"Path to change doesn't come without regrets," Saint muses. "What happened?"
"It was Adam that changed. I didn't like it, so I left for Beacon."
Beacon…where did that word come from? He takes a moment to remember. "The school? The one that was attacked?"
Blake's fist tightens. "Yeah, I lost friends there, and it's all my fault."
"I doubt it, but go on." Saint kneels down to her level and notices that she's producing tears that fall onto the floor in pairs. "Perhaps we should change the subject?"
"Yeah, I think that'd…that'd be good." She shakily nods and wipes her face. She takes a deep breath.
"So, the White Fang, I take it you are resentful of them?"
"I'm angry at Adam if that's what you mean, and he wants to take over, so he can wage war against humanity."
The air changes around Saint-14. "What?" He asks, gravely.
"Yeah, it's true. I haven't discovered yet if the chapter here supports him, but I'll find out soon." She gulps.
He takes a moment to think. "I will leave, keep me informed."
He doesn't return to camp that night.
/
Ilia Amitola observes Saint-14 walking down a street, being completely swamped by people.
He headbutted an Ursa? She wonders how true the statement is, and takes out her Scroll, a new one because she lost her original last night. She intends to find an answer from the man himself.
She taps a few times on the device and sends a message to Saint. A few seconds pass and he turns his head towards her. She doesn't know if she's being crazy but it feels like he's glaring at her under his mask.
Her Scroll vibrates. She picks it up and reads the notification.
Meet me here. The screen displays a set of coordinates corresponding to a rooftop a few houses away.
Her feet and arms are quick and she's quickly at the set location. Her ears pick up on a pshh as the air behind her is pushed by what sounds like a steam engine. A set of footfalls and she turns around.
"Saint," her face remains neutral. "You weren't at camp last night."
"I know," he says gruffly. "I was busy with something."
"Headbutting Ursa?" One side of her mouth curls upwards, and she snorts. "Saving teenagers? Being a hero?"
He takes an aggressive stance. "Do we have an issue?"
Ilia puts her hands in front of her, palms facing him. "I just want to talk." It's surprisingly hard to push out the lie, but she feels her acting is convincing enough to fool him.
Saint crosses his arms. "Yes, I killed a bear yesterday by headbutting it."
"I like it." She pauses for an uncomfortable amount of time, to her at least. "So…about the Scroll."
"What about it?"
"I just want to know where you stand in all of this." She takes her own stance and her hand inches to her weapon. "I want to know if I can trust you."
"Ilia." She sees a shred of that cursed purple shield materialize on his forearm. "I don't wish to harm anyone. I told you this already."
"You did say that," she mumbles. "Are you with the White Fang or not?"
"I'm with you, Ilia. White Fang…I have my reservations," he says, and the purple disappears. "I protect people, and if the Fang plans on hurting anyone, then I will fight them."
She has heard enough.
"So you're a sympathizer?"
"If you mean that I sympathize with everyone, then yes." His shotgun appears on his back, its stock protruding past his shoulder. "It's my job as a Titan to protect the people."
"I've heard enough." She closes her eyes. "You're just like the rest of them."
"So I am." He pauses. "Go, leave while you have the chance."
She turns and leaps to the edge of the roof. "You'll regret this when we take Kuo Kuana."
"I am not afraid to defend this beautiful village, and if it means killing every White Fang member, then so be it."
The seriousness in his voice makes her skin chill, and she departs.
Woo, can't wait to write the rest of this. Just finished season 6 and I have so many ideas right now.
Edit: Went over this one. If anyone wants to beta-read that'd be great.