A/N: I don't mind saying that I wrote this chapter before the last one

Chapter 35: For it is only

~Blake

We almost had him to the bullhead before he woke up again.

"You ok Soap?" I asked after we set him down against a wall.

"I'll be fine. Just what exactly happened?" He asked groggily.

"What do you remember?" Sarah asked.

"I remember talking to Niri and teleporting away. That's the last thing I remember."

"When I found you, your eyes and hair were pitch black. If I had to guess, I would say that the thing inside you tried to take over." Sarah said.

"Why do you say that?" Soap asked.

"Because you attacked me when I found you."

"Yeah, that's...that sounds like a pretty good indication." He responded, almost laughing.

"Soap, we're being serious." I said, concerned.

"I know, I know. Just trying to make a tense situation a little less tense."

Sarah and I sighed.

"Do you know why that happened?" I asked.

"It was more than likely a result of the emotional state talking to Niri left me in. If I remember correctly, I believe I was in a similar emotional condition when I stabbed myself with those black dust crystals." He said.

We were quiet for a bit while Soap regained some of his strength.

"Do we tell him now?" I asked Sarah in my head.

"Now's as good a time as any. Why not?" I heard her say back.

I cleared my throat to get his attention. "Since now's as good as ever, I want to tell you something."

"That being?"

"Apparently, a few days before the bounty mission we bonded." I said.

Soap didn't say anything for a moment. "That makes a little more sense."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I'll tell you later, but first I have a few questions."

"Alright."

"Are you bonded to Sarah as well?"

"Yes. We have already had full conversations in our heads."

"Alright. Then I guess that means that you are bonded to us separately as opposed to together."

I shook my head questioningly at him. "What are you talking about Soap?"

"Hmm? Oh, don't mind me. I'm just thinking of future things to research."

"What else did you want to ask?" I asked as I rolled my eyes at him.

"Can you use our semblances?"

I shook my head no. "I was originally supposed to get here by using Sarah's semblance but when I found that I couldn't I had to get Bucky to set up the bullhead for me."

"Hmm. That might mean that you'll have to let the bond mature before you can." Soap said to himself quizzically.

"Anything else?" Sarah asked.

"One more question." He said standing up on his own power. "Have you been poking around in my memories?"

"A little bit." I said.

"What were you looking for?"

"I was looking to see if you were lying to us." I said somewhat ashamed.

"About?"

"Anything." I said.

"And, what did you find?"

"I found that while you for the most part always told us the truth, it wasn't always the whole truth. When you didn't tell us something, it was usually to protect us from the pain behind the actual truth."

"That would be correct." He said as he started walking up the ramp into the bullhead. "Come on Blake, I want to show you something."

A little while later...

"Where are we going Soap?" I asked him over the roar of the bullhead's engines.

As we flew, I watched as the landscape changed from snowy mountain tops that lay to the far south of the kingdom to the rolling hillside to the west of the mountains.

Soap didn't respond for a moment, "You'll see."

"Are you sure about this Chris?" Sarah asked him.

"I'm sure. This is something she needs to see." He said. "And something I need to get over." I heard him say under his breath.

A few minutes later the sight of a long abandoned and destroyed village came into view.

Even from this distance I could tell that the village was covered in what looked like snow. But that didn't make any sense, it only snowed seasonally around where we were. It wasn't until we were almost there that I finally figured out that the village was covered in not snow, but ash.

As soon as the village was within walking range, Soap set the bullhead down.

"We're here." He said in a neutral tone, getting out.

As we approached the ruins, I could see misty apparitions wandering around. When we got closer, I could see that each one was a person.

I stopped when I saw them. "Ghosts?"

"Yep, but now is not the time. Come on Blake." Sarah said.

Without hesitating at the entrance - like most people would at a sight such as this - Soap entered the village.

"He really seems to know his way around here." I said to Sarah after a few minutes of following them around.

"Just keep up and don't get lost; believe me, getting lost around here is the last thing you want to do."

"Have you been here before?" I asked her.

"No. But I can feel the residual energy that stains the ground here; getting lost out here with this kind of residual energy lurking in the ground spells instant death for anyone that wanders. A death worse than any Grimm could give you." She responded.

"What? So Grimm aren't the cause of deaths out here?"

"No."

"Then what is?"

"Just keep up, you'll understand soon."

I followed Soap and Sarah through the maze of ruins until we came to a house that was more intact than the others; but intact was a relative term. At the house in front of me, the porch was still standing and had a few personal affects left on it.

Two black splotches were stained into the the wood at the base of the steps.

From my time in the White Fang, I didn't have to ask what the splotches were; they were dried pools of blood. Very, very old blood.

On the porch were two adult sized rocking chairs, two child sized rocking chairs, and a table in between the two bigger rocking chairs. The railing that went around the porch was also still intact as was the wall that it was connected to.

His hand on one of the railings, Soap walked up the stairs to the porch and slowly opened the front door.

Even from where I was standing, I could tell that the inside was completely destroyed and burned to ash.

Soap sighed heavily before he shut the door calmly and approached the rocking chairs. Quietly, he righted all of them and the table before approaching the top of the steps and turning to the railing next to the stairs.

Soap undid his holster and belts holding his katanna's. He placed his gun on top of the railing and leaned his swords next to the banister before sitting down on the top step.

"What is he doing?" I asked Sarah.

"Taking off his weapons."

"Didn't you tell me that this was not a place that you wander around in?"

"Yes, but even the Grimm know to respect the dead. At least at this village." She responded. Her answer only left me more confused though.

After Soap was sitting, he motioned for us to do the same.

Sarah was one step ahead of me and was already sitting next to him, her weapons next to his and her head on his shoulder.

I quietly followed suit and placed my weapon next to Sarah's and sat down next to her.

We sat there for a while before I spoke, "What are we waiting for Soap? What's going on?"

"You see the ghosts right?" He responded.

"Yeah?"

"Good. Now watch."

I focused on the ghosts that were moving around in front of me. I watched them for a while before a kid no older than five walked up the steps and sat down in one of the child sized rockers.

I stared at the kid for a moment; something about him seemed very familiar. The kid in question had brown hair and brown eyes.

I stared at him until our eyes happened to meet. The kid smiled and reached his hands up into the air as an apparition walked through me and knelt down before handing the kid a cookie and patting his head.

I spoke again. "This is a memory isn't it?"

Soap nodded his head, not removing his focus from the ghostly events happening before him.

"Is this a part of the General's life? Everything seems a little too modern for his time unless it was towards the end of his life." I asked as I continued to stare at the kid.

Soap however said nothing.

Finally it clicked; I knew why the kid seemed so familiar. He reminded me a lot of Soap. Curious, I spoke up, "Hey Soap?"

"Yeah?"

"Why does this little kid over here remind me of you?" I asked.

Soap didn't respond.

"Why doesn't this feel like the General's memories?"

"Because, that's not the General Blake. Although it is a Gunnel. Actually, these are his memories."

"Really? That little kid over there?" I asked, looking back at Soap.

"Yep." Soap responded.

"Who is it?" I asked.

As soon as the words left my mouth, the village began to rebuild itself. I watched as a masked person came from behind and snatched the child, swiftly putting a knife against his throat. The village around me was in flames now.

I watched as the child's parents were killed before his eyes and the child snapped. The child broke free from the thug's hold and turned on him with his own weapon. As his weapon finally went to deal a killing blow, I gasped and everything stopped.

I heard a voice behind me ask sadly, "You finally figure it out Blake? Figure out whose memory it is?"

I nodded my head as my eyes met Soap's. "Yours. This is your memory."

"That's right Blake. It's mine." He sighed before shedding a single tear. Quickly he wiped it away before continuing, "Welcome to my home Blake. Welcome to Valhalla."

"I always did want to ask."

"Ask what?"

"Why you showed Blake your past like that."

"Well, I wanted her to see things the way I saw them. Plus I wanted to finally be free of those haunting memories."

"Did it work?"

"Yes, or at least for a while anyways."

A/N: I don't think I been more excited for a chapter to come out.

Why you ask?

Because after this, we can stop using "I watched my entire village die in front of me" mentality for Soap. Well, almost. I think.

Keep in mind that I am writing this before chapter 34, so I don't know what happened in the last chapter.

I may have Soap, Sarah, and Blake be back before the end of the last chapter. Maybe some one will die (probably not.) Who knows what future me will do? I sure as hell don't.

With that out of the way, be sure to send me any questions or comments you might have as I am always happy to talk.

See ya guys next time.

Edit: 12-22-2016 (Before this chapter goes up.) No actual changes were done to this chapter, I just have a comment to add.

Lone Wolf of Shadows: Be patient. They will be showing up in the next chapter along with SLVR