"I never thought we would find her already."
Red glanced back at Akairo but he didn't say anything.
"Are you still going to leave?" she asked.
"I think that would be best."
"That would mean you are leaving me behind too."
He ignored her and kept walking.
"Red Rose! I demand you answer me right now!" she screamed, "You promised me that you would never leave me! You promised Blake!"
Red whipped around, "I didn't want all this. I don't want to talk about this right now. We are going to end up attracting Grimm. Someone will end up having to rescuing us instead. Can we talk about this later?"
Akairo growled and nodded.
I wonder if this is even the right thing to do. We should've had Blake bring her to us unless he felt like he was being followed. I don't think he would really hurt her. He wouldn't do that but... He was pretty angry. I hope that... I hope we can fix things.
She stopped in her tracks and looked upward. The stars were out. It looked so pretty.
"You remember when we had sex for the first time?" she asked.
Red stopped in his tracks feeling his face heat up.
"Y-yea."
"It was pretty amazing for your first time. At least I think so."
"Why are you talking about that now?" he asked, "It's an odd thing to bring up."
She smiled evilly, "You were so passionate about it. You made me feel like the only woman in the world that mattered was me. I can say over time it hasn't changed much. There was one thing I did notice... You seemed more... reserved when it came to Scarlet joining the fun."
"What do you mean by that?" Red asked.
"Are you still hurt?" Akairo asked, "By the fact she dumped you?"
He shook his head.
"I'm tired of living in his shadow. Is that all I will ever be to anyone?" he asked with a pain filled voice.
"You two may have had the same feeling about innocent people but you aren't the same person. No one is asking you to step out of your huntsman dream."
"I guess you wouldn't understand," he said as he began walking again.
"You're wrong."
Red tried to ignore her but he could feel her anger rising.
"I had to live in the shadow of the ex leader of the White Fang. You forget who my father was at one point. When I took over... People were afraid. They expected me to be the same thing. I had my own problems but one of them wasn't being compared to him. I will and I am always going to be my own person. I hope one day his memory will fade and they will remember I always tried to do right by them."
"Hm."
"You don't have to erase the memory of some psycho path. The reason why Jazmin picked you was because you had the same beliefs as Crimson. You worried about people. You never wanted to hurt anyone. He envied you."
"I don't see why."
"You got under his skin a lot. I would have to listen to him complain about you constantly. He is another reason why you peaked my interest. It cracks me up thinking about it now. One reason he hated was because Scarlet was so obsessive about you. She rejected him numerous times. He hated you more when the only reason she went with him in the first place was because you wanted me."
Akairo slung her arm over her boyfriend's shoulder.
"The grass isn't always greener on the other side, Red. Remember that."
X
X
Blake was becoming frustrated with Blanche. The man was always in the next city they were headed for. It was like he knew which way he was going and he was teasing him or he was really good at guessing but either way it was pissing him off. Scarlet never called his name once while the man was close by. He found it odd.
Scarlet stayed quiet most of the time. She looked like she was waiting for the time to say something or she was waiting for someone to show up. Blake could smell the man miles away. He reeked off death and blood. It was enough to make his eyes water.
"I can't keep this up for a few more weeks."
Scarlet didn't say anything.
"You know... You can speak."
She let out a tired sigh and rolled her eyes.
"You don't like me so why would I want to speak?"
"How can you not smell him?" Blake asked rubbing his nose.
"I'm not a Faunus. I wouldn't be surprised if he smelled like money and alcohol to be honest."
"More like he reeks of death."
Scarlet frowned, "How odd."
"How is it odd?" Blake asked.
"I never once saw him kill anyone. He never hurt anyone when I was around."
"I don't see why you being around would stop him from hurting people."
Scarlet shrugged.
"Why don't you call out for him so I can fix this problem once and for all?" he asked giving her a cocky smirk.
"I don't think you would be fast enough."
"Really?"
"He's not anything compared to Red but he can move. He is able to predict movement like if you were playing a game of chess with him. I've seen him make plans and literally any possibility that could go wrong and what would go right. He's better than I am. He is not a stupid man."
"What the hell does he need from you?"
"I'm unpredictable."
"Not to me. I always knew you were an idiot."
Scarlet smiled as she stepped out a few branches on the ground.
"I never had sex with him..."
Blake arched an eyebrow.
"You made the assumption earlier. I am correcting you now. He's not the sexual type. He likes to give out forehead kisses."
"That isn't weird at all."
"Actually it is. I am not the type to marry... him."
"Then why stick around?"
"Because if I left for Red... Wouldn't that mean Red would have to kill him? I didn't want that for him."
"Spread out and search!"
Blake froze in his tracks. Scarlet looked slightly surprised to hear Blanche's voice out in the middle of no where.
"Fuck," Blake hissed.
He jerked on the chain and Scarlet fell into him. She looked up at his face to see worry and some traces of anger.
"Put your hands around my neck and hang on. You try anything funny and I will drop you."
Scarlet nodded.
"Understood."
Scarlet put her arms over his head and held onto his shirt. Blake wrapped the chain around her arm to stop it from rattling. He leaped into the air almost making her scream. She had no idea he could jump almost ten feet at a time. They had gotten lucky the trees around them were almost fifty feet tall.
Scarlet was shaking with fear being up so high. She had scaled buildings before but she trusted herself. Blake would drop her in an instant if he felt like it. She held onto his tight shaking so bad he even felt bad. He started patting her back trying to calm her down or they were going to end up getting caught.
X
X
"Grandma... Has Dad called you? It's been a week already."
Ash kicked the ashy ground where he had been practicing.
"No. It's been a couple days. Sometimes the towers don't connect with scrolls well when they're out in the middle of no where."
"Oh."
"They promised to be back. It takes time traveling by foot."
"Couldn't Dad just use his semblance?"
Terra smiled, "He could but he would tire out easily. It would be best if he saved it for the Grimm, don't you think?"
"I guess."
"Ash, things will be fine."
"Can I go and look through Mom's albums? Dad always said it was off limits but I want to look through it."
"I see no harm in it. I will warn you it probably contains pictures of your Mom's... other life before you."
"I know. Mom already told me a lot. She doesn't tell me everything but enough for me to know."
"Alright then. Wash your hands. I'm going to water the yard so it doesn't try catching on fire."
"Thank you Grandma!"
Ash ran into the house and washed his hands like Terra had instructed him to do. He ran upstairs and into the his parents' closet. He dragged out the red and black trunk. Ash always crept in there whenever he had the chance. Since no one was around to stop him, he could open it.
"Aw, man... It is locked."
He sighed and sat down on his bottom.
"Oh."
Ash reached out and grabbed the lock. His hand started to heat up and the pad lock started turning orange. It began melting on the floor and cooling off into the carpet.
"Well... no one will be here for a while so I won't get in trouble until then," he said with a smile.
Ash pulled out a few albums. The first three were Scarlet, Akairo and Red. One was all of him up until the time she left. He came to a few packs of sheets like she was going to make more pages. There was two blank albums. There was a bowler hat. He sat it on the side of the trunk.
"Oh. This one looks really, really old."
The photo album was fraying on the cover. He shrugged and opened it. His yellow eyes widened with shock when he saw the photos. They were really old. The first one was of a small girl with an older man. The little girl was surrounded by mechanical pieces.
"That must be Mom."
The picture was faded but he could see the orange hair.
"Mom is really smart."
The next few pages were the same old pictures of machines they made together. He frowned when he reached the next page. It was more recent pictures. There were a few pictures of her alone then one where she took one with a man and she was wearing that hat. He had the same yellow eyes and black hair.
"Hm... That must be Dad. I wonder why Mom never showed me this picture?"
He came across a few others of his Uncle Eton and a few of Aunt Jazmin. Ash flipped through to the middle of the album when he said a guy with pink and brown hair with eyes to match. Ash scratched his head. He had no idea who the guy was but there was a name at the bottom.
Neo.
"I wonder if that is her best friend?" Ash said aloud.
There were a lot of photos of them together dressed in black or holding beers. A few where they were out eating. He smiled. It seemed so weird to his Mom so happy. He hardly ever saw her smile like that. He came to the last page. It was a three pictures. One of him kissing Scarlet's cheek, then her kissing his cheek and them kissing on the lips.
The three pictures were surrounded by a big red heart.
"Oh."