A/N: Okay, here's the next chapter.
I'd like to thank Jawaswar Jenkins for what is easily the longest review for this story so far.
Right now I've averaging one review per chapter. Not great, but they have been generally positive. At the least, they haven't been negative. So I take that as a this is just a middle of the road story. Which I'm good with, better than being out right bad.
But I do want to improve, so if you're reading this far, I'd like to know what I'm doing that is keeping you reading, and what is maybe not being done so well. So far most of the critical reviews were mentions of missed mistakes rather than writing style or ability.
But that aside, here's the next chapter.
Chapter 6
As they packed to leave the cabin, Thor couldn't help but feel sorry for leaving the place. He'd only been there for a long weekend, but it held some powerful memories for him. His injuries healing, his sight returning, and of course, him and Yang.
But he knew they'd have to leave, too much work to be done. They needed to get their prosthetics, then there was the adjustment period. He still needed to make a new weapon as well, and he'd learned his lesson, he wasn't going to be nearly as ambitious as last time. No, he was going from much simpler, maybe quite a bit less powerful, but less likely to blow up in his face.
He felt like a bum as Yang loaded the bags while he watched. He'd of like to help her, but they both knew that if he tried, it would just take longer and cause more delays, and as much as they would have liked to stay, they knew it was time to leave.
He sat in the front this time, with the window rolled down, admiring the area and surrounding wilderness, he'd obviously missed it on the journey here, but it was a pleasant little-secluded area.
He knew it was partially fabricated on the part of the cabin's owners of course. The other cabins in the area weren't all that far, but the geography and landscaping gave the illusion of real isolation, instead of being able to walk an hour at most to your nearest neighbor.
Not a total fabrication, but definitely an enhancement of seclusion.
Yang climbed into the driver side and turned to him "Ready to go?"
He looked at her and nodded "Let's hit the road, we have work to do if we're going to find your sister."
Yang smiled at this comment, not because he was right, though he was. But because he reminded her of what Ruby had tried on several occasions to do with them. Funny, that they'd only hooked up after she had left.
But that thought, in turn, made her stomach turn, she was worried about her sister. She knew she wasn't alone, the other's would look out for her, and she'd look out for them. But the worrying didn't dissipate at this thought. She started the car and pulled out of the driveway.
Neither spoke for a few minutes, but then Thor broke the silence "After we get all of this, what ever the whole ordeal is, squared away, what to come back here?"
Yang glances at him, but only for a moment so she could keep her eye's on the road. "Yeah, I'd like that, maybe longer than just a long weekend next time."
Thor nodded, and silence came back. There was a real conversation to be had, and Thor had just touched on it, but she hadn't talked to him about it, thinking first of his recovery and didn't want to stress him out. But he was healing quickly now, and she'd dare say he was going to be as good as he was ever likely to get now in the couple days.
"What do you think all this is anyway? The secrets, the attacks, the Whitefang, all of it?" she asked him, keeping her eye's forward on the road.
"I don't have a damn clue. Is something bigger than a terrorist group, of that I'm certain, but who they really are, what they want, I'm just as in the dark as you."
She didn't know why, but that disappointed her a bit, she'd felt he would have been keyed in on some of the detail, in some way. She didn't have any logical reason for feeling this way, she just did.
But there was no point in talking more on the issue, she didn't know any more than he did. They' find out together it looked like when they found her sister, they'd start to solve this mystery.
But she didn't want to stop talking, long silences were never something she enjoyed. "So, you said you weren't going to remake your old weapons, I mean I get why you'd be hesitant to, but you have to admit that it was a powerful combination."
He looked at her with his good eye. "Well, you're right in the area of me being hesitant, the failure was catastrophic." He waved his hand in a gesture over himself, as if to indicate the damage. "This was mostly my own doing, granted Adam took my leg and damaged my weapons system causing the final failure, but I had been told something like that could happen, but I never really thought it would, and look at me now."
She didn't want to look, not because she found his injuries repulsive or his appearance made her uncountable. But she didn't want to give the impression of gawking. But he didn't push that part of the issue and continued.
"But aside from that, I doubt I could if I wanted to. The material components would be too hard to find right now, with every kingdom isolating itself, and Dust becoming more scares. It's simply not efficient to do so."
Well, that made sense to her. After the fall of Beacon and CCT tower, things like dust were getting rarer. It wasn't exactly scarce yet, but with the world biggest supplier of dust no longer shipping it, it was only a matter of time.
"So what did you have in mind then, if you're going to make a new weapon."
He didn't answer right away, just stared out the window at the scenery, then spoke: "You'll have to wait and see."
"You tease." She laughed as the speed back towards her home. Which she realized, would have her father waiting for their return.
Guess she was bringing home her new boyfriend to meet dad actually quickly.
As they pulled in Thor noticed for the first time what the home he'd been staying in looked like. It wasn't remarkable in any way, a pretty standard home. But it filled him with queer sensation to realize he was only now just seeing a place he'd spent weeks in.
As Yang parked the car, she climbed out to help him. He put up with it because he knew soon he'd be able to function on his own.
"Let's get you inside, and then you can have a look at the prosthetic Ironwood sent you. I've seen mine already, I don't know what you're is gonna look like though."
He nodded at this as he got his crutch under him and started towards the house. It didn't seem like Taiyang was home, and he found himself wondering when he'd be home. He found he was curious to know what he looked like if his daughters took after him or their mothers.
As he made his way into the Living room, he sat himself down on the couch.
"Hold on, I'll bring you the boxes."
So he sat there, waiting patiently. Thinking of what he needed to do now. He absentmindedly ran his hand over the sacred right side of his face. That was a disturbing sight, even to him when he'd first seen it. He'd have to do something about it at some point. Cover it up, at the very least he should do it to keep dust and dirt from getting into it.
But that was a matter for another time. He watched Yang, carrying in one long box, but what he noticed more than that was she was using two arms. She was wearing her new arm.
Setting the box down she did a little flex of the new arm. "What do you think? Pretty cool right? Not bulky or anything right?"
He nodded, "Yes, much slimmer than I thought it would be. I hope it can take a hit."
"Oh, don't you worry about that!" She said punching her new hand into her palm.
He smiled at this and opened the box or crate was more accurate. Inside was and prosthetic arm and leg, which both aesthetically looked like Yangs. The only real difference was they were larger and bulkier for his frame.
"No time like the present to try them I suppose."
The prosthetic was incredibly odd. Not because they didn't feel right, but because they felt to right. He didn't think robotic replacements would feel like this, like the real thing. Granted he was still wobbling when he walked, but he still felt everything he would have with his organic limbs. Right now he just felt like they were the real things, but had atrophied from disuse, which he supposed was right in a way.
"I wished I was taking to this thing like you are Yang, it's almost like…" he trailed off and gave her a questioning look. "Have you been practicing with your replacement while I was recovering?"
Her expression told him all he needed to know. "Why would you think you needed to hide that?"
Her face relaxed, "I just didn't want you to think I was making progress when you were…Well, sort stuck in a rut."
He sighed at this, did people really think he was that sensitive or petty? Well, given the attitude he'd had over the past months, maybe it wasn't unlikely for them to draw that conclusion.
"Well, I wish you hadn't hidden it." He started grinning at her "Would have made the little trip we took a lot easier, you wouldn't have needed to do everything one-handed."
She looked relieved and returned the smile. "Well, since I've got a head start on the learning curve, I'll give you a few days to adjust before he tries these things out for real."
"Is that a challenge?" He knew it was, but he enjoyed egging her on.
"Sure as hell it is!"
Just then the door swung open as Tiayang entered the house.
He knew his little ruse had worked the moment he walked in. Thor was looking much better and was even wearing the prosthetic Ironwood had sent him.
"Well, looks like you've gotten better, guess those spring were the real deal?" He didn't want to reveal his deception so soon after the healing process, it might make his regress. He'd tell them both eventually, but for now, there was no harm in letting think the hot spring had triggered his healing.
But he felt something was different in the air, and it wasn't just Thor's recovery.
"You two okay?"
Yang didn't like the idea of just telling her dad about how she and Thor had hooked up, but putting it off wasn't going to do any good. So she might as well get it over with.
"Yeah, Thor and I decided to start dating each other, no big deal, let's move on from it."
"Oh, okay, just make sure to use protection okay?" Her father replied.
That took her off guard. His response was so blase she thought he might not have heard her. But his comment about protection seemed to oppose that idea.
Her confusion must have read on her face because her father responded "You've both legal adults, and I think you're both responsible enough to be dating, I'm not gonna be the stereotypical over protective dad with you Yang. With Ruby…Maybe, she'd be still a little too young. But you can make your own choices, I'm not gonna step in unless I think you're really screwing up." He stopped and looked for a moment at Thor. "And I don't believe you have, in this regard anyway."
With that, he went into the kitchen to fix himself some lunch.
Thor raised his eyebrows and looked at Yang "That went better than I would have expected." He said lightly.
He hadn't planned on hiding the relationship, but Yang's desire to get it out front was almost funny. Like she was scared of what her father might do. But he'd taken it pretty well, in stride in fact.
Most father's hated it when their daughters dated. He also knew from experience that mothers didn't like it when their son's started to go out. But Taiyang was handling it all in stride. Actually, he seemed at peace with it.
Well, he wasn't going to complain. He had work to do, especially now if Yang wanted to challenge him to a fight in a few days. He needed a weapon, and he needed a forge.
"Yang, do you know if any of my equipment was salvaged from the fight?"
She looked at him quizzically for a moment before answering "Yeah, some of it the doctors pulled out of you, some were collected by the search team. I even have the handle of your hammer, it came in the mail from someone…" she trailed off at that. "It didn't have a note, but I took it to mean you were dead…" her eye's fogged over as if reliving the memory. "Thor, I want you to promise me…" she didn't seem to know what she wanted him to promise her.
But after stalling for a few minutes, she fished "You'll never die so long as me…Or Ruby is alive to see it happen."
Thor was taken back by this statement. But felt the need to reassure her " Of course, why do you think I lived through what I did? I couldn't …."
She cut him off "Thor, that bravado stuff is perfect for Ruby, and I'm glad to see you have it back, but come on, I'm not my sister, I need the promise to be sincere."
He hadn't even realized he was putting up his show, it just felt so natural to him. But she was right, in this respect, he had to be genuine.
"Okay, Yang I promise that I won't ever leave you…or your sister, I'll always be there for you." This felt weak as a response so he continued "I may not be…indestructible…but as long as someone I care about needs me to be there, I will be."
He still felt this was a shallow response, but it was the best he could think of.
But she smiled at this, "I'll take that for now, but you better mean it."
"I do." Was all he could say in response.
Thor needed to work on his equipment. Yang had understood that, and her father had agreed to help in that regard. He was being allowed to use the Signal forge to make his new weapon.
He had all the pieces of his old equipment that had been saved from the hospital and other sources. The regulators from his belt were totally fried, completely worthless now except as scrap. The disks that contained the dust batteries he'd mixed with his semblance in the vest had burst and exploded.
All in all, he only had the raw metal to work with. If he wanted to develop any new systems, they'd have to be developed from scratch. He'd need metal and what dust he could find to make this work the way he wanted, but if could find the right parts and ingredients, he could get this to where he wanted.
First was the metal, he needed to melt it down into the shape he wanted. He would probably need to add more raw material for it to work. He didn't have all the pieces of his previous equipment.
This wasn't going to be as easy as his first weapon. Despite the fact what he planned was far simpler, he didn't have the instinctive blue prints in his head for this. This was going to be much more challenging than he'd thought.
To his surprise, the dust system was much easier to figure out than would have suspected. He supposed that it was because it was only slighty modified from his old system. But this was contained solely in his weapon, with a regulator in his prosthetic arm.
This was based on the gravity dust system on his old weapon, but far less complicated. This system only made him able to throw and recall the weapon and increase the weight of his strikes. But the safety system that kept anyone else from using it was gone. Also, the other dust systems that let him mix dust with his semblance was also gone.
He could throw it, and call hit back, that was it. None of the other systems were present.
But he was having problems with the physical aspect of the weapon.
He was trying to make this weapon hardier than the last. He'd ignored that last time, and it had come back to haunt him.
He'd found a rare dust that may help in that regard. Well, rare in the fact it wasn't widely requested by private weapon builders.
It was more often used by ammunition manufacturers. Adamantine dust, it was just the hardened and in general made what ever it was mixed with stronger. It was mostly used to make armor piercing round and shells.
Its use on a private level was rare, and as such, he'd found it hard to come by. But he'd managed to vile of the stuff, at the cost of all his personal funds.
It wasn't much, but he had plans to use it in a much more permanent way than normal.
As he thought this, he heated up the forge, and placed he metal he planned to utilize in the mold. He was going to allow his old weapons remains with some new metal from Atlas, supposedly the strongest ever.
He knew it wasn't, he'd seen several metals stronger, but as far as this world went, they may be right. Probably were in fact.
But as he cast the metal, he knew in a general sense what he needed to do.
As the metal cooled into the shape he desired, he readied the new equipment for the job at hand. Once the metal had set and cooled, he took it out and took it to the grinder.
He was putting the finest edge he could in it, sharper than a razor, as sharp and edge could get on it.
After hours of a grinding and honing, he took the dust he'd saved for this occasion and poured half of it into an oil solution. The other half he poured on the fire of the forge.
After that, he put the blade into the fire and tempered it.
Once it was glowing hot, he quenched it in the oil solution.
Once it cooled he pulled the blade out and examined it.
He hadn't named it old weapon like many others did, the only name that made sense seem like a mockery to him.
But this one, he'd had a name for this type of weapon before, and he decided to name this weapon, in honor of this first weapon "Jarnbjorn," he muttered as he ran his thumb over the blade that was now sharper than any blade he'd ever felt before.
The blade was finished, and the mechanical commenters had been implemented. Jarnbjorn was finished, and the great ax was an excellent weapon if he did say so himself.
He could throw and recall it like his hammer, but other than that, it was just an ax. Granted it was sharper than any edge he knew thanks to his use of adamantine dust, but still a relatively simple weapon overall.
It was a single edge battle ax, granted the one edge was large and it still carried a spear point on the shaft for thrust and stabs. But the beard was meant for hooking and pulling, and the flaring tip was good for stabs as well.
Still, though, it wasn't as versatile his previous weapon system, but far less likely to hurt the user.
He'd be using this one from now on, once he'd finished putting in the components for the electric system in the head and haft that would link it to his arm, but that wasn't much more to do.
It didn't take long, it was a far less complicated system than the old one, only a slightly modified ax. But he'd need something to carry it in, that was next.
Grabbing some leather, he went back to his work bench, sewing and punching holes in the leather, making a sling for the ax. It would go on his back when he was traveling, but he'd designed it so he could pull his weapon out quickly if he had to.
Throwing it over his shoulder, he grabbed Jarnbjorn and slid it into the sling. It fit pretty good, and rested easily on his back, some modifications would be needed, but that wasn't a primary concern right now.
Looking outside, he noticed the sun was setting. This was the third day of this project, and while it had been fun in its own way, he was glad it was done, he could get back to work.
The few days had let him properly acclimate to his new limbs, and he felt his movement were much smoother than they had been on the first day.
As he planned to leave, he caught is a reflection in a polished piece of steel. The scars were as prominent as ever, and in the low light, they looked even deeper. Looking back at the table where he'd made his harness, he grabbed one of the strips of leather he'd cut to make the harness.
Doing so quick modification and putting some fastening clips on it, he pulled it up and placed the patch over his mangled eye and fastened the ends behind his head.
Looking at the metal again, he couldn't help but think he was starting to look more and more like his father.
Yang was outside practicing her foot work, shadow boxing the air. Her dad had been training her, and she was still incorporating what Thor had taught her, and as she threw a punch, she pulled back and kicked at an invisible opponent.
Mixing it up was the key, she needed to keep the enemy on their toes, guessing what she'd do next. That was something both her dad and Thor agreed on, misdirection was sometimes more efficient than brute force.
It was funny coming from Thor, given his usual approach to a problem was to beat it into the ground.
Speaking of the devil, Thor came walking down the road, and if she wasn't mistaken, his new weapon strapped to his back.
"Hey big guy, care to whip it out and show me?" She said with a smirk gracing her lips. As he got close, she noticed he had an eyepatch over his right eye. Guess he finally got that squared away. She didn't mind the scars, but it was disturbing to other people. An eyepatch would draw curiosity, the scars would cause discomfort.
Thor pulled out a giant axe and pointed it towards her so she could get a better look at it. The blade was really broad and heavily curved, she ran her mechanical hand over the flat of the blade and ran the thumb over the edge, without even thinking of it.
At first, she didn't know what was happening. Then she thought she'd rolled the edge of the blade and was about to apologize to Thor for it. But has he pulled her thumb away, the blade looked fine.
Confused she looked at her thumb and saw a small cut into the metal.
"Holy crap, what is that thing made of!" He said as she examined for anything more than cosmetic damage. The sensors that gave her feeling weren't as sophisticated as biological ones, and of the little nature of the cut, she wasn't surprised it hadn't registered. Luckily it didn't look like she'd have to use any of her already rare replacements parts, it had just cut along the surface.
"The metal of my old gear, and some other ingredients,"
"Like what? I mean for that thing to be that sharp and not lose its edge…"
He smiled at her "I added Adaminitine dust to the fire and quenching oil, to make it tougher."
"Adamantine dust? Isn't that the stuff they use to make armor piercing round, tank armor and fall out shelters?"
"Indeed, I thought that would make the blade hard enough to hold the edge I needed."
Yang got the line of thought, but she'd heard some thing about this dust "But won't that make the blade more brittle?"
"The edge, yes, but the rest is a softer metal composition, that will help prevent damage to the edge."
"I'll take your word for it. But does it have a ranged option? I mean I know your semblance is good for that, but still."
Thor smiled and threw the axe. As the tumbled end over end, it cut through a tree like butter and boomeranged back to him, and he caught it with his prosthetic hand.
"Okay, that's cool, but what do you do while you're waiting for it to come back?"
"I can handle myself, don't you worry." He said as he replaced it in the sling on his back.
"You got a name for this one?"
"Yes, Jarnbjorn."
The name was a bit odd to her, but then again, Thor wasn't exactly normal, so she just accepted it and moved on to her final question. "Want to spar a bit be we head in for the night?"
"Weapons or hand to hand?" he asked.
"Let's just do hand to hand, for now, give you a chance to get your legs with you…leg." That sounded so stupid. She hadn't meant to say it, it had just sort of come out that way, thankfully, Thor either hadn't noticed or just didn't care.
"Alright." He took the sling over his shoulder off and walked further out into the yard.
She followed him, and they took stances opposite each other. Yang was in her boxing stance, Thor wasn't taking any position she immediately recognized, he just kept his arms at his side. He looked completely open.
But she knew, from what she'd been told, and now what she had experienced herself, that you shouldn't assume an opponent is unaware, open or beaten. Sometimes it was just trick.
She charged him, and once she closes the distance, she raised her fist as if to throw a punch, and Thor raised his guard and stepped forward, apparently to body check her.
But she was ready, and dropped to the ground, and slid between his legs. Rolling to her feet, she came around his blind side and threw four heavy punched into his ribcage.
He felt the strikes to the torso and was taken by surprise. Yang had always been a straight forward fight, even after their lessons, she still favored the direct approach. What was more, she took advantage of his blindside to get in her attack.
"Clever girl." He muttered and tried a back hand strike, but she danced back out of his reach. Taking the initiative, he lunged forward and threw a haymaker with his right arm, which she side stepped.
She was grinning, thinking she had him on the ropes. But at the moment he threw his elbow back and caught her in the temple, sending her rolling on the ground.
She almost instantly bounced to her feet and came at him again, this time running around his right side again. He turned to follow her, but she was already on him, this time, she'd jumped to bring her knee into his chin.
She was fighting differently, and she'd caught him off guard again. As he shook the cobwebs from the hit, she rained punched on his, and the best he could do was to cover up.
She was much better than the last time he'd seen her in action. Not just physically, but her mindset was much more tactical.
She went him to the ground with a ringing haymaker. As he rolled on the ground, she was on him, as she mounted him, she raining punches on his face which he guarded, but damn, she'd thrown him through a loop.
The punches stopped for a moment, and he uncovered and saw she'd raised her hand to bring them down simultaneously, presumably on the side of his head.
That was all the opening he needed, and he grabbed her wrists firmly.
She may be strong, but his sheer size overpowered her, and with her mounting him, she couldn't leverage any power from her legs.
He brought his head up quickly and smashed his forehead into the bridge of her nose. Her eye's glassed over as she was stunned, and he flipped her. Pinning her arms above her head.
"Looks like I win." He panted in her ear.
She didn't seem to think so because she struggled to get free, but he was too heavy and too strong. She eventually signed and said, "Fine you win."
He let her go and sat back, letting her out from under him. That spar had gotten pretty intense there for a minute, and frankly, if she had just kept the pressure on him with her punches while she had him mounted, she probably would have won.
But as it stood, he'd seized his chance and taken it. He didn't know if it was she was that much better than before, or if he'd actually fallen that far, but he was aware that this fight never would have gone this far before the fall.
He felt it was more her progress than his atrophy, and that was good to know. She was advancing quickly now, much faster than she had while he was teaching her at school.
"So you want to head in now? Dinner is probably ready." She said to him smiling.
"Yeah sounds good, it'll be nice be able to eat with two hands now."
Yang hadn't felt like she'd sat a family dinner table in months. Ever since Ruby had left, the dinner table was quiet, and it felt like ice some nights. But with her and Thor recovered, and the search for his sister imminent, well, she was feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time.
They talked, laughed and joked as they ate. What was surprising to her was how normal this all felt. The fact she was now dating Thor didn't make the conversation with her dad weird and uncomfortable. He seemed to have accepted the idea with absolute grace.
She'd thought he might have been upset, but here he was treating Thor like one of her old friends. She also realized that this was really the first time she'd brought someone home to meet her dad.
She'd dated a little bit before Beacon, but it never got serious. She wasn't sure how serious it really was with Thor, but he'd been staying with them and sleeping in her sister's room, sort of made the introductions unavoidable.
"So, when do you two think you're heading out?" Taiyang asked between bites of his meatloaf.
"I thought if Thor was ready, tomorrow," Yang said looking at her father, but glancing at Thor.
"I'm fine with that, sitting around here isn't doing me any good, I need to be in the field."
"Well, if you're planning on leaving that soon, I'd suggest packing tonight. Get your supplies ready and all that." He took another bite of his meatloaf.
They didn't need to be told that, they would have done that anyway. But he was her father, she supposed him wanting them to be prepared was normal.
That night, Thor packed what little he owned into a single bag. He never has much the whole time he was here in the world. But what few changes of clothes he had were there, the money he'd saved up, and what little dust he still had.
He places the bag by the door to Ruby's room so he'd pick it up in the morning. He climbed into bed and removed his prosthetics. IT was easier to sleep with them off, but he knew that he'd have to get used to sleeping with them on. He didn't doubt he could, but this was his last night here, and he wanted to sleep well.
Pulling the covers over him, he drifted off to sleep.
Again, the dreams came.
This time he dreamt of the long bridge over a bottomless void. He felt cold and heat rising from the void, and he was certain something was waiting in the darkness to attack him. It was watching him, and sometimes he thought he saw the shadows move.
Yang dreamt that night was well, of being on an ocean, with only a raft to keep her afloat. Something was disturbing the water, something alive.
She woke up and still felt the spray from the water on her face. Running her hand over her face and to the back of her head to wake herself up, she knew what this was.
This one was different from before though. The pain wasn't present, but she still felt like it wasn't good.
She wanted to talk to Thor about it, even if he never was much help in this regard.
Getting up she went to Ruby's room and found him awake on the side of the bed.
"You have one too?" he asked.
"Yup, this one about a sea monster, you?"
"Bottomless pit, with maybe a monster hiding in it."
They looked at each other for a moment, before Yang said: "Let's go, it's almost morning, might as well get going now."
Thor didn't respond but started to put his prosthetics on.
They came down the stairs, and to their surprise found Taiyang waiting for them. "Thought you too might be leaving early. Just wanted to see you off."
Yang put her bag down and went to hug her father. "Thanks for everything dad, I'm gonna bring her home soon."
"I know you will honey, just make sure to look after yourself." They broke the embrace, and Yang kissed him on the cheek.
Taiyang smiled at this but turned to Thor. "I'm trusting you make sure she doesn't get in over her head, she can look after herself, but she's reckless."
"We'll be looking after each other, don't worry about that."
"Here take this." He said tossing a box to Thor. Expecting to see maybe some sort of dust vile or a map, he instead saw a box of condoms.
"Ah, thank you." He said and put them in his bag, smirking as Taiyang's face fell. Apparently, he was hoping to get a rise out him, but that hadn't worked.
Yang, however, blushed furiously "Dad, come on!"
"What?! I know what teens do, especially while camping and without adults around, I just want to make sure you're protected!"
The good natured bickering continued for a few moments while the goodbyes finished, but soon enough, it was time to go.
Thor and Yang walked out the front door, and down the driveway.
"So, how are we going to travel?"
Thor asked as Yang lead the way.
"That right up there." She said pointing the long driveway
Her motorcycle sat there, waiting for them.
"A bit small, isn't it?" Thor said as they got up to it.
"It'll be fine, it's the fastest way to get where we're going."
Thor looked it over and then to her. "I'm taking the back seat?"
"You sure are Big guy."
"You know what they call it right?"
"Yup, the bitch seat, guess that makes you my bitch, huh?" she said slapping him on the ass.
"Okay, I just wanted to be sure we understood our relationship." He said this and started to mount the rear seat while she took the front and started the bike.
They were off at full speed, cutting through the early morning fog, the cold air whipping at their faces and ruffling their hair.
Their journey had begun, and they were confident they would find Ruby and the rest of her new team. Then, together, they'd solve this mystery.
After a day of riding and wind blowing in his ear, Thor was glad when Yang pulled off to the side to make camp for the night.
"We can't ride all day like that again, I'm so stiff." He said starching his back and rolling his shoulders.
"Yeah, might not be the best idea, just wanted to make up for lost time." She said as she stretched.
Thor dropped his bag and pulled out his bed roll. "I'm going to get some wood for a fire. If you want to set up the pit, I'll be right back."
She didn't protest the idea and started clearing the area for the fire.
Going off to get the wood, he was picking through kindling and heavier wood for the fire.
He found a deadfall which offered plenty of bark for starters, and the rest of the wood he'd need to keep a decent fire going in the night. The nights were still cold so it would have to at least stay as embers until the sun came up.
Once he had enough wood, he headed back and found Yang had cleared the fire pit and set the sleeping area.
Dropping the forest, he started to set about making the fire. He was an old hand at this, and it wasn't long before he got it going.
"So what did you bring for food?" He asked her as he pulled his bag toward himself, ready to pull out his own supplied.
"Pork and Beans, Chili…ummm." She said as she fuffle through her bag "More chile. You know stuff I can cook in the can, you?"
"Same." He said pulling out a can of pork and beans. "I'm got some dried food, but I'm not in the mood for that." He popped the top of the can off and placed in on a stone near the edge of the flames.
Yang mirrored him, opening her can and putting near the fire.
Thor watched the beans started to steam. "We should do some hunting and gathering." He said out loud.
"Why? We have food." Yang said a bit confused.
"This stuff will last forever, we can save it, but fresh meat, fish or fruit will be better for us."
"Okay…well we can try that tomorrow. Tonight, I brought something for our first night out." She reached into her bag and pulled out two large 24-ounce beers, tossing one to him and popping the top on her's "Cheers" she said making the gesture to him.
He opened his and repeated the gesture and started to drink. It was warm. Frankly, he liked it better that way. He wasn't going to be getting a beer or even alcohol like he'd been getting, so he'd decided to savor this one.
They sat as they waited for the food to cook, or more accurately, warm up, it was already cooked, they could have eaten it cold if they had to.
But it tasted better warm, and as the dug in. It wasn't very good, but it wasn't bad either. As they finished, they took their boots off to get ready for bed as the sun started to go down.
The sleeping rolls were not exactly comfortable, but better than the cold ground. The fire was pleasantly warm now, but they would have to feed it at least one more time before they turned in for the night. The mornings were still cold, and it was hard to get moving if your body wasn't warm.
The tree line would keep them covered from the morning rays so it wouldn't be an early warming either. Keeping the fire going was going to be the only way to get them going in the morning.
After Thor there one more sizeable piece of wood onto the fire, they both crawled into their sleeping bag and settle down for the night.
Yang wasn't sure at the moment what had woken her up, but she knew it wasn't morning yet.
She felt like she hadn't fallen asleep, but she must have, it was the middle of the night, and the last thing she remembered was the fading rays of twilight.
"Yang get up," Thor whispered to her, shaking her shoulder. He was holding his axe and not looking at her, but scanning the tree line for something.
She rolled out of her sleeping bag, scared that maybe she'd woken up too late to adequately defend herself.
Readying her weapons, she got to her feet and crouched next to Thor. "What is it? Did you see something?"
He shook his head, still not looking at her "Heard something, some kind of a cry, but I've never heard anything like it, animal or Grimm."
"What did" She started but was cut off by it. It was shrill cry, it sounded almost like a woman being brutally murdered, but it was so much louder than what any person could produce. The scream finished off with a warbling gutter that sounds almost like a bird calls.
But she'd never neared anything like that either, and it scared her. It seemed close, but it looked like it was coming from multiple directions, and the dim light of the dying fire only barely reached the tree line, if something was lurking out there, it could almost certainly see them, and they couldn't see it.
Thor knelt down and threw another log on the fire, and just as he did, what ever it was let out the shrieking cry again, causing him to jump back up.
"Could just be an animal." She suggested with no real conviction.
"I don't think so." He said as he scanned the area. "look," he points to the tree line and fog was starting to pour through. As the light from the fire hit it, she thought she saw what looked like a snake swimming through it.
The fog seemed to circle them, leaving a circular area about twenty feet in diameter, with the fire at the center. But it rose up over them, blocking out the sky. The light from the fire light of the walls of fog, giving them an orange/yellow glow.
"Thor, what the hell is this?" She didn't think he would know, but she needed to speak.
"This mist is alive, or something else is controlling it, look there." He pointed the mist wall, and again she saw a black shape swimming in it.
"New Grimm type maybe?"
"Probably, somehow it generates this mist to blind its targets."
"Well can't you use your semblance to just blow this away?" His face hardened at that "Thor? Can't you do it?"
"I'm keeping this area clear right now, but I can't do the larger scale weather control anymore, my old weapon amplified that ability, with them gone, it's much harder for me to do anything on a larger scale without depleting my aura."
"Okay, new plan, then." She reeled back and fired a shot into the mist.
"You're wasting ammunition, don't…"
"Hold up." She said, and the screaming started again. Suddenly a long black shape came flying out of the mist.
It missed both of them and bit the camp fire, which exploded into sparks as the creature rocketed back into the mist.
The fire was dying now that the wood had been scattered, and only a few embers were left.
"Did it do that on purpose?" Yang asked Thor, who shrugged at the question.
"I don't know, it could be trying to reduce our visibility."
As he finished, the creature came flying back out, only this time Thor swung his axe, cutting it into two pieces.
They both ran over to look at it because the smoke rising from it was a sure indication it was a Grimm, but not one either of them had ever seen.
It was the size of a medium sized dog, and the bone plating on his head from a large broad beak, but that a body like a snake, only much thicker and shorter compared to its over all size. But most interesting was it had no eyes that either of them could see.
Looking up, Yang noted the mist hadn't cleared yet. "Shouldn't it start to clear now that It's dead?"
Before Thor could answer her, the Shriek rang out from the mist again, and she spotted another black shape, then another, then two more.
"It's pack a hunter," Thor said, readying his axe.
Not a second after he finished, another came flying out, and Yang caught this one, blowing a hole through it.
"At least they.'re not as so tough individually. " She muttered as two more flew at Thor, he ducked under one and implied the other with his axe. She shot the other one.
But more and more were coming, flying at a speed that almost boggled the mind. They were killing them quickly, but for every one they killed, two more seemed to attack. They were all shrieking, and the noise was not only alarming but distracting.
Yang couldn't help but appreciate how tougher this would be if Thor weren't keeping them a clear area to fight in. But it was getting harder with the nearly dead fire's light fading quickly.
But just as she killed one more of the Grimm, the shrieking stopped. The fog started to clear, and she was able to start to glimpse the sky again.
"This is bad." She said as Thor used his semblance to help disperse the fading fog.
"Clearly, that creature would have killed us we hadn't been able to keep a clearing."
"No, Thor I mean Grimm are rare on Patch, but these, I've never even read of them, something is very wrong, new species of Grimm are rare, but for them to be here out of the blue.."
"Hopefully, we'll figure this out, but we can't do anything about it right now." He was looking around and then suddenly stopped, and muttered "shit."
Looking where he was, she repeated his word. "Shit."
Her bike had been chewed into scrap.
"Why the hell would they do this?" She lamented as she looked to see if anything salvageable, which it was apparent it was not.
"I don't know, but I fear this species of Grimm is very intelligent, remeber when that one hit the fire? It was like it was trying to reduce our visibility because of the area I cleared."
She nodded in agreement. She'd been thinking the same thing, these Grimm were craftier than others. They tried to blind them and destroyed they're best means of escape. But how did they know what to attack?
"But they don't have eye's, how did they know what was what?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." He muttered, looking at her bike. "Guess we're walking to the port now."
They started on the road before the sun had even come up, they couldn't get back to sleep anyway, but they didn't want another encounter with those new Grimm again, and if more were in the area, they didn't want to have to tangle with them again.
The Port they were heading too would have been only maybe an hour away on the bike, but it would be at least an all day hike on foot. Yang was muttering they should have just gone to the port straight away, not bothered to rest. They would be on the boat by now, and her bike would be in one piece.
But, as he kept reminding her, it couldn't be undone. He knew she was aware of the reality of the situation, but needed to vent her frustration.
"So…what do you think we should name those new Grimm?" He said hoping to change the subject.
"What?"
"I mean, we discovered them, we could get to name them."
"Uuuh, okay." She began, rubbing her chin "How about…Shadow Strikes?"
Thor shrugged "That seemed more like a Grimm who hides in darkness, these things hide in mist, what about. 'Vapor trails'?"
Yang snorted a laugh "That's what you see a plane leave behind, doesn't really do them justice."
"I guess you're right." He said he faces crunching with concentration.
"Maybe something like 'Death Seekers'" she suggested.
"Hmm, better, but sound too much like 'Death Stalker' might be a bit confusing."
This was harder than either of them had originally thought "Well, let's list their traits. They're fairly small, quick, hunt in a pack, smart, and conjure mist to hide in."
They both thought on these traits for a while.
Then Yang snapped her fingers "Mist Mauraders. It's perfect, they come in the fog, attacks in groups and in sneak attacks, just like a group of bandits!"
Thor thought this over, it was pretty good he thought, better than anything he could come up with "Alright, 'Mist Marauders' it is, but I'm going to use 'Marauders' for short."
She punched him lighting in the arm "Okay, but you have to use the full name when ever I'm around."
"Why?"
"Uhhh…I'm your girlfriend, and I said so."
Thor nodded, unable to deny this logic "Alright if you insist."
After that, they covered old subjects, the mystery behind the attack, who was responsible, and where they were.
They covered old topics just to keep talking, because of both hated silence. But after the old topics were exhausted, they needed to move onto something new.
"So." Thor began, his tone serious "What are your plans for Adam?"
Yang stopped and looked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Are you going to go after him? He hurt you, and he hurt me. What I would be lying if I said I didn't want to even the score."
She looked confused, but responded "Thor, I want…to get him, he hurt me, you…Blake. I want him to pay, but I want to find my sister more." She finished this statement, but asked her own "Why, are you planning on hunting him down."
"No, I'm staying with you, and I'm gonna find Ruby, after that, I'm going do everything in my power to keep you two safe."
Yang rolled her eyes at this, but smiled at the sentiment "We can look after ourselves Thor, we don't need to be protected."
"I know that." He said in a whisper "It's selfish, but it's for my own peace of mind, to know you two are safe, protected, out of harm's way…"
"Thor…" she began but didn't know how to continue. "I mean, it's really sweet that you want to help us…"
"Yang, I know it's not needed, but I think you better get used to the idea…because I'm your boyfriend, and I said so."
Yang was taken aback by this for a moment, then she started to laugh, and punched him in the shoulder "Okay, smart-ass, fair enough."
After that short exchange, they continued on their way.
The Port came into view as the reached the top of a hill, and the sun was low in the sky. Had they not been close as they were, they might have set up camp for the night at this point.
But they soldiered on and got into the port town, and by this point, it was well into the night. Even this late at night it was busy, but the type of person who was to be seen at this point were dock workers or men on leave from their ships.
"We probably aren't going to get a ship that takes passengers tonight." Yang said, "We better find a place to sleep for the night."
"Indeed, I think I see a tavern up ahead." He said gesturing at a sign. "Let's see if they have rooms."
As it turned out they did and were surprisingly cheap. Once they were in the room, it was apparent why.
It had a single bed, no shower, and one sink.
"We could share the bed," Thor said as he put his bag down.
Yang walked over the radiator and examined it, and if she was going to guess, it hadn't worked in months. "Might be the best way to keep warm tonight, this thing hasn't worked in ages." She said kicking it for emphasis.
She turned and looked at Thor, who was already getting ready for bed.
Neither had eaten yet for the night, but she was so tired, that she didn't care. They could eat in the morning. She started to change herself.
This brought back vague memories of her time at Beacon, where Thor would change in full view of her team. She missed Weiss's reactions, Blake's pretended indifference, even he she snuck glances, and Ruby's oblivious nature to the attractive nature of their roommate.
She found herself missing those days, despite the fact they weren't that long ago.
She climbed into bed with Thor and felt his warm body against her's. "I miss them you know."
Thor looked at her confused, and she should clarify "My team, not just my sister, Blake, and Weiss too. Weiss might have been a little stuck up, and Blake was a little distant, but they were like a second family to me."
"I get that, sometimes the bonds formed by warriors are as strong as those of family."
Yang wondered if he was speaking from personal experience, but decided that was a question for another day. Right now, being this close to him, feeling his body heat, she felt a desired wash over her.
"Thor, let's stop talking, I'm…" she didn't know how to express the feeling she had in words, but she wanted them out. "I want to…" she was blushing at what she was implying.
This was because despite the flirty attitude she put forward, she had not ever really had a real relationship before this. She was still a virgin, and despite the physical intimacy they had before this, it hadn't ever progressed to the point of actual sex. But she wanted it now, all of a sudden.
"This isn't the place for that Yang, a cheap room in a tavern." He said kindly while rubbing her shoulder.
That was true, but that didn't shake the feeling or the desire. "Can't we do…something?"
She felt more embarrassed asking this than asking for actual sex, which was ridiculous, but it was still there.
She wondered if he even knew what she meant by it, but his expression on his face told her he did.
He didn't say anything, but she felt his hand slid down her stomach…and make its way lower.
The next morning, they woke up in each other arms and could tell that it was cold, but were warm in each other embrace.
"Yang, it's time to get up."
"It's too warm, let me stay here."
"Sorry.." he said and stood up pulled the blanket off her.
"Hey, asshole!" She shouted, and she wrapped her arms around herself to stay warm.
"Time to go, can't wait too long here. It could take us all day to find a charter to brings us to Mistral."
"Yeah, Yeah, just let me brush my teeth, no shower, damn I feel grody, haven't had a proper shower in a couple days."
"Well, you better get used to it, because we're going to go through periods of time where it will be even longer."
"I know, I know, geez, we'll go in a minute."
As it turned out, finding a charter ship hadn't been hard. But none were going directly where they wanted. Grimm activity in the open ocean had become far too common, and all ships were hugging the coast.
But they had found one that would get them close. They bought passage and boarded the boat.
They had a cabin to themselves, but it was hardly better than the room they shared the night in the port town. But they were only sleeping in there, they spent most of the day on the deck, talking, training in some manner or another, or tinkering with their weapons.
When Yang had a desire of the flesh, she could deal with it herself, or Thor helped her. They hadn't had actual sex yet. He didn't want that to happen in a crappy boat cabin or cheap tavern room, and she was in some ways thankful that he didn't want for it to happen in a place that was…cheap.
But she didn't know why this sudden feeling of…Of let's call it what it was, lust had come over her.
She supposed it was the need for affection, and in the lack of all other people she was close to that she was feeling the need for closeness more than ever.
But, she respected that he wanted to have their first time be special, or at least better than in a slum room.
She wanted it, but at the same time, she was glad she hadn't had it yet.
Yang was particularly aggressive regarding sex lately. Thor didn't know the workings of the human mind all that well, or any mind really. But he suspected that the idea they weren't assured tomorrow had pushed her over the edge in this regard.
He had experienced sex before, not in this body, but he didn't feel a desire to experience it like her.
But they had been intimate in other ways, and the seemed to keep her happy for now.
But he realized more and more with each passing day, he was becoming attached to her in ways he couldn't remember experiencing recently in his life. He, of course, had loved and loved mortals. But this was the first time he felt the same level of connection to one as they felt to him, or so he assumed.
That was because, before this, he knew he'd outlive any mortal he grew attached to. He felt he was mortal now, for real and permanently. That had changed his whole view on his relationship with mortals. Their lives were short, and he didn't know what waited on the other side for them.
Gods didn't experience death the same way mortals did, and it was scary for him to think about it in a new context. He was in new territory here, and it was making his bond with the mortals of this world differently than he had in the past.
But it wasn't all bad. He felt he could bond with the humans for the first time in his entire long life. He was incredibly close indeed to Ruby, and he and Yang had bonded in a relationship he would have thought were impossible for him to experience.
Set backs aside, he was pretty happy here. In some ways, he wished he didn't know what he was before, just that he'd been reborn here as a mortal, and left to develop here like an average person.
But his father moved in ways unknown to him, and his plan would reveal itself in do time, he knew from experience.
So until then, he'd enjoy being a mortal.
They departed the ship, this was a close as they'd get to their destination from it.
They'd gathered had they arrived a few weeks sooner they probably could have found a passage to any location they wanted, but the Grimm activity had been growing so badly, that travel by ship was severely limited, with Captain's unwilling to bring their ships into dangerous waters.
They had heard tales of Grimm activity growing, yet had not heard of anyone encountering the "Mist Mauraders," which made them both think it was some or of an intentional attack on them.
Yang had sent a message to her father detailing the event, with all the details she or Thor could remember, and the name they had given the Grimm.
They hadn't heard back, and as they traveled further out, they doubted they would. The CCT was gone, and short range communication was the only option left.
As they journeyed of the the port town, they wondered what awaited them.
"How far away do you think we are?" Yang said as they humped it along with an old dirt road.
"I'd say at least two weeks out, given where he got off the boat, maybe more."
"Figures, guess we better just keep trecking on."
"That's the best we can do for now," Thor said in response. "We'll get there, soon enough, and we'll find Ruby."
She smiled at this, and he smiled back.
On the third day of their travels, they came upon a shell of a town. It had been sacked recently, and judging by the signs of human inflicted damage, by bandits.
Grimm had come after that, drawn in by the negative emotions.
It was clear they were several days too late to offer any level of help. Survivors would have left or been dead by now.
"This is what happens when the world loses order," Yang muttered.
"What?" Thor said turning to look at her.
"Without proper communication, order falls apart, and then chaos reigns." She said somberly.
Thor still didn't understand what exactly she was getting at. But he felt he got jist, the failure of wide spread communication had resulted in an increase in this bandit activity.
"We need to move on Yang, this area will keep attracting Grimm,"
She didn't respond immediately but eventually followed him out of the town.
"Tell me about your dad," Yang said as they got outside of the decimated town.
The request caught him off guard, this was not a topic she'd ever approached before. He could only guess something about the village had sparked this, although, in what way, he could only guess.
But at any rate, he decided to answer, at least a bit.
"He is…Strong, but stoic. He knows things other's can't understand and is…distant because of it. But he cares about his children, even if it's not apparent at first."
Yang didn't answer right away, but eventually did "Sounds like a good dad."
Thor laughed at his "Not exactly, he is a near perfect leader, but as far as a father goes, he is lacking in some areas," he paused for a moment after this comment before asking. "What about your mother?"
Yang knew this question was likely to be coming, but that didn't make her want to answer it anymore.
"I never knew my biological mother, Summer was my real mother in most respects. From what I've been able to gather, she's not exactly mother material. She left my dad right after I was born." She hesitated at this point. "I've wanted to find her for a long time, but now, I'm not so sure I even want to. She didn't care to be there for me growing up, or at any other point in my life, I don' think I want a relationship with her."
Thor couldn't help but feel sympathy for her at her description of her mother, but he felt a bit of a connection at this point as well, his own mother wasn't involved in his life either, and he'd only just learned her identity.
Their situations weren't the same, but he still felt a sense of kinship with her over the issue.
"Yang, good or bad, you deserve to know why your mother decided to leave you behind. After this ordeal is resolved, I will help you continue your search."
She smiled at this. "Thank you, Thor, I still want to know why, even if it's bad, I feel the need to know."
They didn't talk much for the rest of the day after that, but they didn't feel' the need to, they had reached an unspoken understanding of each other in this regard.
That night, they made camp and set up there sleeping bags and rolls next to each other.
They had tended to avoid larger camp fires recently and opted to keep each other warm during most nights. They knew that keeping smaller fire was less likely to attract attention from Grimm or bandits.
But there was also the fact that they wanted to be close to each other physically, not sexually, but just having another living person close to them, was comfortable in a way that neither fully understood, or cared to. They found comfort in it, and that was good enough for them.
They had also been following Thor's idea of hunting and fishing, mostly fishing, as tonight they were cooking a few fish over the low flame of their campfire.
Yang had to admit this was helpful in keeping their long lasting supplies for a longer period of time, and she did appreciate the fresher food, even if she didn't really like fish.
But she knew they'd be in Minsteal within the week, so it wasn't hard for her to cope with.
The thought or reuniting with her sister pushed any thought of discomfort out of her mind, and allowed her to deal with any hardship or distress,
Not that she thought of eating fish as such, but she'd been through some distressful situations on this journey, like finding the "Mist Mauraders."
But she'd face Adam and army of Whitfang extremist to find her sister. She hadn't been ready to go with her when she left, and she regretted it.
She was going to make up for it, by being there for her for everything else.
A/N: Okay, so here is the next chapter. I'd like for a few reviews this chapter if you could.
I want to improve and need feed back to do so.