And we're back. Sorry about the little break, had a lot of work and all that good stuff. I feel like I've been saying that a lot… no matter, we're back for another chapter of DFB and a part of my BIG plans are going to coming into play here. Remember as I said before, this story SHOULD be around 30+ chapters. I'm going to try to keep it that way because I honestly really don't want another monster of a several hundred thousand words story with dozens of chapters. Looking at you BH, TH, and AUH.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 15

And there I was, back to where it all started…

Neo wasted no time and while under the darkness of night she and Marcus were able to make their way to the Bullheads specifically for visitors and inhabitants of Beacon. On the way, Marcus had to watch as Neo flashed her clothes and entire appearance into that of a little teenage girl. That was another reason as to why she was so dangerous, she was able to put on a disguise in seconds. The pink, brown and white hair all faded to a shiny black color that was immediately tied up into pigtails that hung and swung from the sides of her head. The different colored eyes that she was known for was replaced for a bright green as well.

And that was just her physical appearance, her outfit went through an entire change as well. A cute little black and white dress that Marcus refrained from pointing out made her look like a maid. It was amusing in its own right, but he wasn't able to think about that for too long since they were about to infiltrate Beacon.

A thought came to him the same time a realization did. He told Cinder long ago that him infiltrating Beacon would be a bad idea because of how infamous he was, and especially when some of the staff would recognize him as well. The moment he was found out, the entire school would come crashing down on him. He wouldn't go down without a fight, but not even him could stand up against that many people and hope to come out as the winner. At the end of the day, Cinder always got what she wanted. Somehow, that rubbed him the wrong way.

If he had it his way, he'd be far away from Vale. If he'd known he'd be roped into this beforehand, he would have gladly moved to Vacuo. A vast hot and dehydrating desert was much more preferable than this shit.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked Neo as he pulled up his hood and made sure all of his white hair was hidden.

Neo rolled her eyes and didn't give him a definitive answer, which was something he probably should have expected. He was the master assassin, so he should have known what Neo has planned already. Supposedly.

"I'm guessing Grass is going to be helping us out here?" He asked after an annoying moment of silence.

Neo gave him a thumbs up and even went as far as to clap excitedly for his very impressive achievement. Honestly, what amused him more was the fact that she knew who he was talking about when he referred to Emerald as the nickname that he gave her around the first time that he met her.

"Okay, so which Bullhead did you two hijack?" Marcus asked next.

Neo responded this time by taking his hand, which was a risky maneuver in itself since Marcus could steal her semblance away right then because of the skin to skin contact. He realized that her misplaced trust was non-existent when he realized that Neo was still wearing some kind of soft leather gloves on her hands. Smart, he supposed. He'd have to hand it to her for thinking ahead just in case he decided to go ahead and try to kill her right away.

He felt a strange chilling feeling flow up and down his spine as he felt her aura wrap around his. He looked down and saw that ever so slightly, his skin color was darker, and after Neo flicked her chin toward a puddle of water just ahead of them, he was able to see that instead of the red and black shirt that he wore, and the makeshift hoodie that he had on as well were gone. His hair was no longer the snow-white of the Schnee's, but a pitch dark black that just about anyone could have. Even his eye color was different, a dark bloody red. Very similar to Emeralds. Along with a change in clothes that made him look like a cross between a huntsman and some guy wearing casual clothes, he looked like a completely different man.

"Well then," Marcus was impressed. Though his voice wasn't changed at all, he supposed that one could be handled on his end. "Your illusionary abilities know no end, huh?"

Neo smirked at his compliment and pulled him along with her, he let her, assuming that she had to keep touching him in order to keep his disguise up. They walked through crowds of people and no one gave them a second thought as they walked past. To some, they might have looked like father and daughter, to others an interesting age difference in a relationship that may or may not be romantic. Marcus couldn't care less about what they thought, and Neo clearly didn't either as she overexaggerated the way she swung her arms as she walked with her hand in his. As long as they didn't accuse him of being the infamous Marcus Black and call the police and huntsman, they could think whatever they wanted.

After wading through the crowd Neo pulled him toward one of the open Bullheads. Marcus smirked as he saw Emerald waiting for them at one of the ships, leaning against the open shuttle impatiently as they made their way to her. She spotted them and met them halfway.

"Hello, mentor!" She greeted him excitedly in a very Un-Emerald like way. "It's been so long, how have you been?"

Realizing that this had to be an act, Marcus played along.

"Alright I suppose, I'm glad you were able to meet me here. Your partner was kind enough to take me to you, though she seems to be pretty affectionate." He laughed as Neo bashfully fluttered her eyelashes. It almost looked real, but it didn't feel real as she attempted to crush his hand in hers as she yanked him by and into the Bullhead.

"How have things been?" He asked, keeping up the act as he sat in the Bullhead. Luckily, it didn't seem like anyone else was going to be boarding the ship as Emerald went on to pull the lever that lifted up the shuttle door and closed it behind her.

"Alright, I suppose," Emerald said, dropping the act. "Things have been as you can expect. Annoying, irritating, obnoxious."

"You know all those words mean the same thing, right?" Marcus smirked.

"Shut up Marcus," Emerald said as she pointed her gun which now had a suppressor on the barrel pointed toward the cockpit doors.

"Hey, why did you close the gate?" The pilot asked as the door began to open. "There's plenty of more-"

His voice cut off with a nasty squelch as a bullet hole made it's home in his skull. His helmet flew off his head and Neo caught it, letting go of him and therefore dropping the disguise. Before the pilot fell to the ground lifeless, Neo put on his helmet and with a white flash, used her semblance to transform into the man. With a smirk that didn't at all match the features of his face, Neo kicked aside the pilot's body and locked the cockpit doors behind her. The co-pilot met his end right before he could call for help, blood leaked through the bottom opening of the doors.

Marcus sighed. "I don't think that was entirely necessary, but alright."

"It's necessary," Emerald said as she holstered her weapon and sat down in the seat across from him. Her bruises and wounds that he gave her some weeks ago were mostly healed now, only the last remnants of a scar remained on her collarbone where he slashed her, and her nose still looked a little out of place. But other than that, she was completely better. "It's better to silence the mice before they can squeak. I expected that someone like you would understand that."

"Got that from Cinder, didn't you?" Marcus asked with a chuckle. Emerald glared at him in response. "Eh, I guess I understand." He said. "Probably would have been pretty hard for Neo to keep up that disguise for me the whole way there. Can she fly this thing on her own?"

"Yes," The way Emerald said it suggested that it wasn't the first time Neo did something like this. Marcus immediately noted that Neo was probably even more ruthless than he was when it came to taking the lives of others. "You better sit back and relax, the fly up to Beacon isn't nearly as fast as you might expect it to be."

"Hm," Marcus did just that and let himself rest against the cushions behind him. His body rewarded him as a pleasant warm feeling flowed through his entire body. He wasn't entirely truthful when he said that he was completely recovered from the surprise ambush Qrow, Winter, and their pals were good enough to gift him just a few days ago. Sure, his aura recovered completely but that didn't mean that he was going to get better instantly. It still took time, and rest. Two things he had very little of nowadays.

Closing his eyes and sighing through his nose after making sure he was strapped in, he allowed himself to drift off to sleep. Emerald wasn't stupid enough to try and attack him when Cinder still needed him, and Neo was currently flying the ship. This seemed like a great time to rest to him.

Unfortunately, she saw it that way as well.

/-/

It was raining outside when Summer lead him out of that bar. In his state of shock when she was crazy enough to hug him in front of all those other assassins, he let her pull him along until the brisk cold air and water struck his face and dampened his white hair. They didn't speak as they kept walking, Summer followed him as she always did, he didn't even mind it this time.

They kept walking until their feet her, which given the fact that they were both huntsman trained, they walked for several miles. Marcus sat down on a fallen tree and Summer took a seat beside him, sitting close to him instinctively to share body heat. He let it happen, she was the only one besides his woman, Olivia, who was allowed to do that to him. For the life of him, he wanted to tell her to leave, to leave him be and forget that he ever existed. But he couldn't. He's already done that once and stayed away from her for over ten years, and yet here she was, right back with him.

"You're still such a brood," Summer said with a light giggle as she nudged him in the side with her elbow. "Keep wearing that long face and Grimm are bound to be attracted to you,"

"Seems like they aren't the only ones," Marcus said flatly.

Summer hummed and bit her lip in nervousness. "It's funny," She said after a moment. "I've been looking for you for so long, but now that I've found you, I don't know what to say…"

Marcus hung his head and refused to look at her. "How long…?" He muttered quietly. Summer just barely managed to hear him.

"How long was I looking for you?" After waiting for him to nod, she answered. "Ever since you left, idiot." She scoffed. "You know how I am, I-"

"You never give up on your friends." Marcus finished for her. "Yeah, I remember. Though I hope my letter would have fixed that part."

"You're an assassin…" Summer fiddled in her seat as she reached into her white cloak. A sheet of crumpled paper was taken out. "I still have the letter."

The fact that she did didn't even surprise him, it was such a Summer thing to do.

"Are you here to arrest me then?" Marcus asked, standing up and sticking his hands in his pockets as he stood in front of her. "I'm an assassin, that's my confession right there. I've killed a lot of people you know, some you might have known-"

"No, I'm not going to arrest you." Summer declared. Standing up to face him. She was never afraid of him, not even now. To solidify her declaration, she reached up and pulled down her hood, revealing her black-red hair and face. She was as beautiful as ever, especially now that she was a full-grown woman. Taking his hands in hers, she continued. "I came to find you to bring you back to our friends, you can still be redeemed, I know it. I've seen the good in you, and I know for a fact that you don't really want to be an assassin."

Marcus sneered at her. "And how do you know that?" He asked. "Don't you know what the council did that day? Bombed the fucking tunnels while we were still in it! My brother was killed because of them, my entire team was torn apart because of them! I will never be a huntsman again if it means answering them."

"Then don't answer to them!" Summer exclaimed. "Trust me, I was pissed off too, and Roman took it to a whole other level!"

Marcus widened his eyes.

"That's right…" Summer realized what she just revealed and immediately felt bad for it. "Roman… became a criminal. He's been robbing every store in Vale and took over the entire criminal underground. No one has been able to catch him, but at least he isn't actually hurting anyone."

"Tch," Marcus ripped his hands out of Summer's and spat to the side. "What's it matter to me? I didn't ask."

"You can't hide your emotions from me, Marcus." Summer said as she forced him to look at her.

"I am not the same man you once knew."

"Anyone can be a good person," Summer proclaimed. "If they just try, you just stopped trying."

Marcus glared at her, and she stared back. With his years of training and experience in being an assassin, he was able to tell that Summer was being desperate. Emotional. Despite her preaching, she was nervous around him, sad, clinging to the past. That clouded her judgment, it was only because of his unwillingness to kill her right now that he allowed her to continue on this pointless endeavor. He may have been an assassin, but Summer wasn't a target, he wasn't just going to kill someone for no reason. Especially not her.

"This is not going to end the way you think it is, Summer," Marcus said darkly. "Turn around, walk away, and don't come back. This isn't worth it- I'm, not worth it."

Summer clearly considered it, but after a deep breath, she stood her ground and continued looking up at him with this bright silver eyes. With steadfast resolve, she refused her humanly instincts.

"What are you going to do about it if I don't?" She asked, taunting him by merely standing against him.

Marcus reached down to his gun and took it out, he didn't aim it at her but he did flick off the safety and cock a bullet into the chamber. The threat was clear to both parties, yet Summer didn't even spare a glance toward the weapon. Instead, she just kept staring at him, a smile slowly curving up from the corner of her lips. Her hands were also on the outside of her cloak, revealing to Marcus that she foolishly came to him unarmed. Her eyes started to become rimmed with red as tears began to form in her eyes. But the smile was still there.

Marcus tensed his grip on the handle of his gun, he kept a stone-cold expression but couldn't bring himself to raise his gun any higher to actually take aim at the woman. They were at a standstill, emotions running wild between the two.

"I have a daughter, you know," Summer finally broke the silence after what felt like hours of staring. "My little Ruby… I don't know if you know, but, Raven abandoned us after Yang was born. I've been taking care of both of them. I never thought I'd be a good mother, but they definitely proved me wrong." She laughed out of pure joy, the sun began to rise behind her. "Me and Tai are together now, Yang is seven and Ruby is five. They're my world."

"I…" Marcus' hand shook. "I have a son... and wife too."

Her smile became brighter as Marcus dropped his gun. The rain began to subside, but the water from Marcus' face did not cease to drip down to the ground beside his weapon.

"Well, you can meet mine if I can meet yours," Summer promised.

/-/

Marcus yelped as he felt his leg burn with soreness, only to glare daggers into Neo's disguised green eyes as she giggled silently into her hand at his expense. Marcus would have liked to continue being angry at her, but instead, he mentally thanked her for waking him up at just the perfect moment. Really, she chose really bad times to try and mess with his head by making him relive these mistakes of his past. The past was the past, and nothing would be able to change what happened. Not dreams, not nightmares, not anything.

"You really fell asleep?" Emerald laughed as she dragged two wrapped up bodies and slumped them down in the center of the Bullhead. "You really are getting old, old man."

"Piss off," Marcus said as he unstrapped himself from the seat. He stood up and cracked neck and stretched still sore muscles. He must've been asleep for less than an hour, cheeky bitch said it was going to take more than that. Then again, it wasn't like he could expect Neo to fly at the normal speed limit for Beacon and Vale airspace laws.

Moving over he looked out the window and felt something clench within his chest. They were at Beacon, the sight didn't look anything less than it had in the past. He hasn't been here in over twenty years and every brick looked as pristine as ever. The school itself almost looked like a modern palace, and he couldn't imagine what kind of tech they were using in order to train the next generation of huntsman and huntresses. It was a shame, the so-called dream of so many teenage boys and girls would only end up making them merely a statistic in the eyes of the council and Ozpin. They could paint them as the greatest heroes Remnant has ever seen, but the dark truth was only known to those so high up in the chain of command.

He stepped away from the window and forced himself to stop staring at his old home from once upon a time. Turning back around he saw Emerald waiting for him, and to his side, he saw Neo making sure that the bodies of the dead pilots were wrapped up and secured for disposal.

"How are you going to rid of those poor bastards?" He asked as he crossed his arms.

"Neo will take care of that," Emerald said as she nodded toward her Beacon partner. Neo nodded back and in a flash her and the bodies were gone. That answered that question plain and simple. "I'm afraid you are on your own for the most part after this, I am going to have to destroy the Bullhead here to get rid of any evidence which is going to double as a distraction for you to go out and find somewhere to hold up until the dance comes around."

"Okay, two questions for that." Marcus cleared his throat. "One, how big of a distraction can I expect?"

Emerald pulled her scroll out and typed in a few commands on an app that Marcus has never seen before.

"Self-destruct countdown initiated. Detonation in t-minus two minutes."

Marcus sighed through his nose.

"And two?" Emerald asked with a smug smirk.

"I was going to ask if you were going to be an idiot and blow up the Bullhead," Marcus said. "But you answered two questions with one action. So I guess I'll ask if you got a date to the dance yet?"

"The only reason I am in Beacon right now is because of what you did to me," Emerald sassily pointed out. "So no, I will not have a dance. Now go before I make this thing blow up now so I don't have to live longer to be in your presence."

"You really know how to flatter me," Marcus said as he crouched down and looked back out the window. It was the afternoon approximately, and the sun began to set. Soon enough, the red autumn sky will turn dark blue, giving him more cover for him to find a secluded spot in Beacon. He wanted to say that this was a stupid idea given the fact that there was absolutely no way that Beacon didn't have cameras or any way to survey the area, especially the one area where all the Bullheads land, but there was no time for that. Emerald wouldn't do this without a reason, and as much as he didn't want to, he was going to have to trust that Cinder and whoever this associate of hers that made this virus in Marcus' pocket had a contingency for something like this.

Using that as an excuse, he bolted out of the Bullhead at the speed of a bullet and sprinted while keeping a low profile. There weren't many places that Beacon didn't have surveyed, but there was some that he remembered during his time here. It was actually good he had the nightmares that he did these past couple of weeks, because if he didn't he might not have remembered the little secret that Raven and he had while they were having their tiebreaker fights.

There was a certain part of Beacon that very little people went to. While most would think the cliffs would be a decent spot to hide an intense no holds barred sparring match, there was somewhere the Raven took the time to search for herself. Somewhere beneath the cliffs.

It was a bit of a hike to get there, and he already heard the Bullhead burst into flames and explode behind him, but that was his best bet in finding a spot to hold out in until the student dance came around. If he was lucky, the little secret remained a secret, if not… then he'd have a nice long fight on his hands.

Blake scratched at her ear impatiently as her thoughts continued to haunt her mind. All she ever thought about ever since the night of the docks was that man, Marcus Black, and everything he has done to her team and many others. Never before has she seen a man so lethal, she doubted that even Adam could stand up against him for long. He was clearly on another level.

And it was all her fault that her team and Sun ended up the way they were right now.

She couldn't see her team after what happened, not and be forced to face what she's caused. Ruby lost her semblance and was depressed, Yang had a concussion so bad that she could barely speak, and Weiss lost her weapon and was injured as well. Somehow, she came out the least hurt out of it all. Simply exhaustion and some minor wounds were all the punishment that she got that night. She couldn't even help as Sun got shot and she was forced to watch as that man took Ruby's semblance right in front of her. The image was burned into her mind, Ruby's crimson red aura flashing and turning into a pale sickly peach color as her semblance was taken away. And the screaming…

She almost couldn't go see Sun-like she was now. After the explosion at the air pads which was deemed a White Fang terrorist attack by that Emerald girl that Ruby became friends with a few weeks ago, she managed to build up her resolve and go see the boy that risked his life to save hers.

The infirmary was easy to navigate, as it was the intent of the design, and after asking the first nurse she saw where Sun was she was given a temporary visitor pass and was lead to his room. When she walked in, she could see Sun's face light up with joy at the sight of her.

"Blake!" He exclaimed and waved at her. She tried to smile as she waved back. "Just in time, I was just coming in for a routine checkup."

"And you seem to be recovering nicely." The nurse who was making sure his bullet wound was healing properly said. It wasn't hard to locate the point of entry since Sun didn't wear a shirt most of the time, and the scar was very obvious to the naked eye. "Give it another two to three days and I'll give you the okay to start training with your team again, given that you promise not to go too hard on yourself." He instructed.

"Of course!" Sun laughed. "If you ever see me back in here, it'll be too soon."

"Sun…" Blake called to him with glassy eyes.

The nurse noticed. "I shall leave you two alone to your privacy. Mister Sun, you shall be informed on your next checkup soon."

"Yeah, sure," Sun said with a soft smile as the nurse stood up, nodded toward his patient and Blake, then walked out. Shutting the door softly behind him as he did so.

"So," Sun flicked his eyes up to above her head. "You're not wearing the bow anymore?"

"Everyone I care about already knows what I am," Blake said as she sat down on the edge of his hospital bed. "So there's no point in hiding it anymore, everyone would have seen me on the news anyway."

"Nice," Sun smiled. "So how have you been? I was wondering when you were going to come see me by the way."

"I've been…" Blake sighed harshly. "I've been terrible, honestly. All of this is my fault."

Sun frowned sadly. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself-"

"It's true Sun!" Blake cut him off. "I ran away because I was scared that my team and friends would judge me for once being a part of the White Fang and because I'm a faunus. I ran away and look what happened!" She gestured toward Sun's bullet wound. "You got shot, and my team is in shambles. All because I ran away from my problems like I always do."

"I made the choice to block the bullet for you," Sun stopped her. "I made the choice to follow you, the only reason I did it because I saw you crying and alone. I couldn't exactly leave you like that, and I couldn't leave you to attack the White Fang all on your own. You would have died if you fought that monster all on your own."

"I'd rather that then things be like this…" Blake choked back tears. "I'm so sorry Sun… I didn't mean for things to end up like this."

"Hey," Sun reached and placed a hand on her shoulder. His smile was contagious. "Don't be, I'd take a bullet for you a thousand times if it meant that you got to live."

Blake felt just the slightest bit better. "Thank you, Sun."

"Yup!" Sun smirked and took his hand away. "Have you gone to see your teammates yet? I heard that Ruby and Weiss have been looking for you."

And just like that, Blake no longer felt slightly better. She looked away from the blonde faunus and clammed up immediately. "No…" She replied in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Why not?" Sun asked stupidly.

"I can't," Blake hissed. "Not yet, I want to. But I can't right now, I can't face them and see everything that happened to them. I'd… I'd break down and wouldn't know what to say…"

"I think they'd build you back up," Sun tried and kept that soft smile on his face as always. "They don't seem like the unforgiving type, I mean, they went through all that to save you. If they hated you, they wouldn't have even bothered to leave their rooms after they found out you were a faunus if they really didn't care. You've got better friends than you think."

"I know," Blake smiled sadly. "Believe me Sun, I would want nothing more than to go back to them and make it up to them, but after what happened, I don't deserve their forgiveness yet. I have to do something in return."

"Blake," Sun felt worried all of a sudden. "I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking…"

"Someone has to stop him, Sun."

"Yeah?" Sun narrowed his eyes with anger. "And how did that go last time? That guy picked us all apart by himself. Huntsman has gone after him and died. What makes you think you can do anything about him?"

"I know some ways…"

"You're going to get yourself killed," Sun said, standing up and moving in front of her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Blake, tell me you're smart enough to not actually go through with this, tell me you're not going to do this and this is all bravado. If you don't, I am going straight to Ozpin for this."

Blake's eyes went wide with fury. "Don't be ridiculous," She said with obvious irritation. "All I said was that he needed to be stopped, never did I say that I was going to be the one to do it."

Sun visibly let out a sigh of relief at hearing those words. "Whew, okay. That makes me feel a little better." He took his hands away from her shoulders and smiled.

"Idiot," Blake said playfully as she looked away with a small smirk on her face. Sun didn't see or notice, but her hands were still balled into fists nervously.

"Well, since that is out of the way now, let's swap to a much more light-hearted topic of conversation."

"Such as?"

"Are you going to go to the upcoming dance that's coming up pretty soon?"

"The… dance?" Blake hasn't even thought about the dance, she honestly forgot that there was going to be one in the first place. Now that she thought about it, she knew that Team CFVY was supposed to set everything up, but once they had to go on a sudden training mission, her team was supposed to help set it up. But given that they were all currently indisposed and unable to focus on such a thing, Team JNPR were the ones that had to set everything up now. Yet another thing for her to feel guilty about, in their current conditions, Ruby, Weiss, and Yang may not even be able to attend the dance. At best Ruby and Weiss could, but she saw what happened to Yang after Marcus slammed her face into the container until her aura was out. It was not a pretty sight to behold, it was gruesome. "I'm not going to any stupid dance." She said harshly with a huff as she stood up.

Sun looked subtly hurt, which is something she expected. He was too easy to read and she knew that he had a silly childish crush on her from the moment they met. She really couldn't bring herself to care at the moment.

"O-okay," At least Sun knew where his boundaries ended. "Well, if you somehow change your mind, I'll be happy to be the one to hold your hand on the way in there."

"Noted," Blake said, far from flustered as she made her way to the exit to the room. She's doing what she went there to do, and now she had other things on her mental list to tick off next.

Sun wanted to try and stop her as she left his room, but he knew better than to chase her when she was in a mood like this. Despite only knowing her for a relatively short amount of time he was able to tell just how on edge she was. He honestly didn't know if she was telling the truth most of the time throughout their conversation. He wanted to believe her, he really did. But he knew what he'd do if it was his team that was torn apart after what happened at the docks. He'd do the same thing she was implicating before.

Sighing, he let her leave and sat back down on the bed, he wasn't a patient at Beacon's infirmary still, but he felt it would be awkward if he walked out and ended up walking in the same direction as Blake left in.

"Man… this is nothing how I thought my time at Beacon would play out…"

Qrow finished downing another flask-full of alcohol as soon as the whole mess with the Bullhead fire was over and done with. Of course, it had to be that girl that Marcus beat the shit out of and captured a few weeks ago that found it too. From what the very little amount of footage they were able to capture, she just got off of the ship a minute before the explosion went off. The pilots were missing of course, but given the fact that they were both faunus gave everyone the excuse to blame it all on the White Fang. There was a lot you could blame on those idiots, but there had to be something more to it that the students and clean up crew weren't able to find.

Winter was set upon that task the moment he brought it up to dear old Jimmy Ironwood. He could have suggested for his pal Seth to take a crack at it himself, but if Winter wanted to make more work for herself than more power to her.

In the meantime, he trained. Stuffing his flask into his shirt pocket and after sending Ruby back to her dorm, he trained harder than he has in years. He had to get back in as good a shape as he was in his prime, which proved difficult since he had very little time as it was and he was pretty far into his years. As much as he wanted to hold confidence within himself that he could beat Marcus in a one on one battle, he wasn't entirely sure he could. Back then in Beacon, he had a decent enough chance. Now though…

He had to get faster, stronger, and abuse the mechanics of aura as much as he could. A little trick that huntresses and huntsman could use was shutting off their aura to train, and then turning it back on to recover. Of course, that was much easier said than done, since one couldn't really simply shut off a passive instinctual defense system. By the time he would be done training his muscles would feel like they've been torn to pieces, and he would activate his aura and recover within the hour. Literally forcing his muscles to become more dense, flexible, and stronger.

It was a risky technique that could easily go very wrong, but it was something that needed to be done.

He was the one who had to bring that man in, for everything he's done. For Summer, for Tai, for Ruby and Yang, for himself. Even for his estranged sister Raven. Marcus has hurt every single one of them in more ways than one, and he had to face his many crimes before he would be allowed to die. Qrow swore that whatever Marcus was planning or doing, he would be the one to put an end to it.

Whatever Summer thought about him, she was wrong, and she paid the ultimate price for it. He wouldn't make the same mistake.

And there is the chapter. Sorry for the wait, but I will be back at it now! See you all next week!

P.S. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it.

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