Classes had ended earlier than usual so ROXA was using the sparing room to practice their team attacks. Olive was about to initiate her half of 7-Up, but as she fired a lightning bolt at one of Xanthic's plasmic plates his scroll rang causing his concentration to falter, the green energy to fizzle out, and the lighting to hit the ceiling. "Xan~" Olive whined. "We almost had it that time!"
"I'm- I'm sorry but I need to ta-take this." The three girls watched Xanthic hop off the stage and answer the call. Riliane could make out his half of the conversation as mostly "Yes sir's" and he also asked about an address and if he had to leave right away. After hanging up he sighed, "S-sorry, I need to go."
"What do you mean?" Riliane asked. "Who was that?"
"It was the manager of Picto Corporation's Vale office. They wanted to meet with me to get my opinion on a possible venture to create more support for the White Fang because they can't get ahold of my parents."
"That sounds like a good idea," Amelia thought out loud. "Why would they have to debate it?"
"Because despite being so heavily involved in politics, we are a business first and need to think about meeting quotas before making charities." He explained while changing his weapons into gun form and storing them in their holsters.
"It's kind of sad when you put it that way…"
"Why are they asking you for help?" Riliane asked, "Not that i'm trying to sound rude but um, I mean as of right now you don't hold a position in the company, do you?"
"No, but as the heir my parents made sure I learned as much as possible as soon as possible. So I have a better understanding of our financials than the branch leaders and I have a better idea of how my mom would react to their ideas."
"I guess that does make sense then…"
"Ye-yeah, umm… Sorry again about this. I'll see you guys later." He left before the conversation could drag on any further.
A short while later, Xanthic had been walking by himself in Vale until he stopped in front of a fairly unimpressive office building. He was instructed to meet with an informant inside. In order to avoid being seen by any receptionists and having to explain his reasonings for being there he went around to the back, but as he rounded the corner he froze in fear. A young girl with clothes matching her pink hair was standing at the door and turned when she heard him gasp. "Picto?" The familiar voice chilled Xanthic to his very core and he darted off. "Wait!" Yukina chased after him. He ran at full speed past countless buildings and by some miracle was able to avoid hitting anyone. With his semblance he hid his breathing and ducked into an alley hoping to be able to catch his breath. After a short moment of peace Xanthic kneeled on the ground and peeked his head around the corner to see if he was still being followed. With nothing out of the ordinary he gave a sigh of relief and brushed himself off while standing up and turning around to head back towards his original objective. Still looking down he saw a pair of stained white boots with little blue bows on them. He stepped back while moving his head up to look at the very person he was trying to avoid. "Please wait?"
"Wh-what d-do you want!?" He said as he backed all the way up to the wall.
"I just want to talk" Yukina responded holding up her hands in a gesture of peace.
Her gesture did nothing to soothe him, "T-talk..? Ab-bout what?"
"Well I-" before Yukina could finish her stomach let out a loud growl.
Along with the tension of the scene, the tension in his shoulders suddenly released, "D-do you um… want so-something to eat?"
"I uh-" another growl interrupted her. "...I have no money," Yukina finished with a slightly dejected tone.
"A-at all?" She nodded and Xanthic apologised. "I, um, I wouldn't mind b-buying you something…"
Yukina's eyes lit up in an innocent expression seeming entirely different from the girl Xanthic had encountered in the factory. "You would do that?!" She asked excitedly.
"Ye-yeah, it's just one m-meal." Xanthic insisted, "I-it's not really a-a big deal. I um," He looked out the alley and recognised a few buildings, "I thi-think I know a nice pl-place around here."
Yukina nodded, "It can be payback for the factory!"
"Oh, ri-right…" The images of blood from that night and from thirteen years ago returned to the front of his mind causing him to shudder.
"Whatever they had planned for you couldn't have been good… never was for faunus," Yukina said quietly looking away before turning back with a big smile, "But you're free now!"
"Right… Th-thanks…" Xanthic shifted awkwardly and rubbed his arm. "Umm… E-eve told us p-part of what happened, but I-I'm sorry about…" His hand went up towards his hat, "About th-that. W-would you mind me a-asking, um, what w-was it they took?"
Yukina's smile quickly turned into a frown. "You know Eve?" She said as her previously joyful tone turned to ice. After staring at him for a second a look of realization crossed her face, "You're the one they were looking for." A dark laugh followed her statement, "Eve making friends with another faunus… she really has changed." Turning to walk out of the alley she tapped on the side of her head, "To answer your question, they took my horns."
"Um…" Xanthic hesitated as he tried to imagine what type of horns she had. "Eve d-doesn't know, n-none of them do actually…"
"Oh really? And why not?" The girl asked turning back and tilting her head quizzically.
"I-I just… It wasn't i-intentional at first, but th-then I saw how faunus were treated and… I had fi-finally found a warm place to stay, I-I didn't want to lo-lose it."
"Might as well be a part of Humanity with that attitude," Yukina responded with a dark chuckle. "So about that food…"
"Ah, ri-right…" Xanthic lead the way while actively trying to avoid looking down at Yukina. It was a short walk, only lasting about seven minutes. "Th-this is it," Xanthic said stopping in front of a pale stone building with dark wooden accents. Yukina couldn't read the name on it due to the fancy script it was written in, but even she knew what the four golden stars underneath it meant. "Oh, um… you do eat meat, right?" He asked after seeing her unsure expression and realising that the only animals he could think of with horns were herbivores.
Looking away from the sign Yukina responded, "No it's fine, being picky has never really been an option but…" She looked up at the sign again and then down to her pink tinged outfit, "Isn't this one of those fancy expensive restaurants?"
"Huh? Oh… I, uh, guess it is… I n-never really think about th-that kind of stuff anymore…" Before she could protest more Yukina's stomach growled even louder, prompting them to walk in.
A young man in a waiter's uniform greeted them at the door, "Ah, good afternoon Mr. Picto. I'm glad to see you here again." His eyes carefully took in the casual outfits of the two teens in front of him, "Would you like a more secluded seat today?"
"Ah, yes. Thank you." Xanthic and Yukina followed the man towards the back of the restaurant to a booth that could be covered by curtains. As they walked by Yukina noted that the clothes the other customers wore were almost as beautiful as how delicious the food smelled. They were both seated and handed a menu.
"Is there anything I can do for you right away?"
Despite wearing his combat attire, Xanthic was somehow able to blend into the atmosphere perfectly, "I'd just like to have my usual order, please."
"Of course, sir." He never took out a notepad to write anything down. "And you, miss?"
"I um…" Yukina was still trying to decipher the laminated text.
"Feel free to take your time. I'll be back shortly." He took Xanthic's menu before walking away.
Tilting down her menu Yukina looked over at Xanthic, "So you eat at places like this often?" She asked with a hint of both awe and contempt in her voice.
"Yeah, we usually go here when my family comes to Vale." Xanthic said still in a rather relaxed and dignified manner.
"I see…" Yukina responded looking back at the menu, "I take it you and your family are… not exactly hurting for money."
He stared back blankly at her, "You… You don't know my family?"
Returning his blank stare Yukina responded, "Should I?"
"Well… I kinda fi-figured you did since you call me Pi-Picto…"
"And that matters because… … …" She responded tilting her head quizzically once again.
"Be-because the only ones that ref-fer to me like that are people that h-hate my parents."
As Xanthic spoke a look of realization crossed Yukina's face, "Oooh, I guess that does makes sense considering what you thought of…"
The mentioning of the hallucination flooded him with memories again and he covered his mouth. Xanthic looked away from Yukina and spoke just above a whisper, "Ri-right…"
"If it makes you feel any better, others are much worse than yours," Yukina assured him with a faint smile. "Some of the worst are enough to keep one up at night… gods forbid for the ones that let you sleep first though"
"Ca-can't be as bad as having li-lived through it already," He mumbled near inaudible. Xanthic cleared his throat, "Um, a-anyway my name is Xa-Xanthic."
Nodding in acknowledgment Yukina extended her hand over the table. "Yukina Freesis," she replied with a smile. Being taught never to refuse a handshake Xanthic returned her gesture and shuddered as he felt the chill of metal with his fingertips.
"Everything alright over here, sir?" The two looked over to see their waiter had returned already and placed a wicker basket of breadsticks near the center of the table. Xanthic nodded with a forced smile and he filled their glasses with an almost golden liquid from a glass bottle. "Have you decided yet, miss?"
Yukina looked nervously between the waiter and the menu, "I'll just have uh… whatever he ordered." She finally said offering the menu to the waiter.
"Of course," He still didn't write anything down. "It'll be right out." He bowed his head slightly before leaving. After he left Yukina picked up her glass with both hands and after staring at it for a few seconds she took a cautious sip. As she did so one of her sleeves slipped down revealing a red glint from the metal Xanthic had felt earlier.
"That's blood. You're currently on a date with a murderer." Nivens' usual sarcasm didn't falter even though he was feeling a similar sense of fear in addition to his own anger.
"I-I know," Xanthic muttered aloud in response.
"Hmm?" Yukina responded to the muttering while putting down her now partially empty glass.
"Oh, uh, n-nothing. I um… Was just won-wondering about," he activated his semblance around the table. "Wh-what's your a-actual plan for fighting Humanity?"
"Hmmm..." Yukina pondered the question while grabbing a breadstick. "Just follow the list and tear through em one by one I suppose. Eventually I'll reach whoever is responsible for all of this… and make them pay." As she finished her statement Yukina broke the breadstick in half discarding the unwanted end and eating the other.
"You pl-plan to just murder everyone a-s-sociated with Humanity..?" Xanthic was honestly a bit more surprised than scared, that's not to say he wasn't terrified though.
"They deserve it, every single one."
His mind initially went to his father and Mic Jay, which almost made him agree with her sentiment, but he then thought of Basil raising his 7-year old son by himself. "Wh-what if they have a fa-family?"
"I had a family," Yukina stated with her face emotionless. "They didn't seem to care much about that."
"S-sorry… But, um, d-do you really think ki-killing is the best way to go ab-bout it..?"
"It has been so far."
"I just, um…" Xanthic sighed lightly and the faint light around them faded. Yukina's stomach rumbled again when she caught a whiff of their food as it was brought to them.
"I'm terribly sorry for keeping you two waiting." He said and placed both identical plates of food down in front of the two. "Please let me know if there is anything at all that I can do for you two." The man left again.
Staring down at the meat on the plate Yukina only took a few seconds to admire the layout before grabbing her utensils and taking a chunk out of the meal. As she swallowed the first bite her eyes widened and she quickly started ripping and tearing pieces of the meat off, "This- Is- So good!" She managed to get off in between mouthfuls.
"Ye- yeah…" Xanthic was put off by her desperate style of eating and lost his appetite for steak. Instead he moved the meat off of its bed of braised chard and carefully ate the vegetables leaving the honey-ginger glazed carrots for last. After allowing Yukina to take his portion of meat Xanthic waited for her to finish before asking, "S-so you said y-you wanted to talk about so-something?"
"Oh, I uh…" Yukina put down her utensils before continuing and folded her hands together in a fidgeting motion, "I just saw you and you know… I didn't really think of where you went after the factory so… I wanted to just… talk I suppose… not many people I know nowadays..."
"Oh… W-well I just went ba-back to Beacon with my te-team…"
"Back with Eve," Yukina responded bluntly with her previous nervous behavior having completely faded away.
"I g-guess so…" Xanthic avoided her gaze by drinking from his wine stem. "Oh, um…" He looked out and waved over their waiter.
"Yes sir?"
"Might I have a piece of paper and a pencil?"
"Of course," He took a small notepad out from his belt and a pen from his shirt pocket and handed them over.
"Thank you," Xanthic tore out the last page after checking to make sure it was blank and wrote a series of digits on it. He handed the pad and pen back with a thank you and passed the slip to Yukina who looked back and forth between it and Xanthic before putting it in her pocket without a word.
The waiter was slightly confused, but didn't comment on it, "Can I get any dessert for the two of you?"
"Carrot cake please," Xanthic answered without hesitation.
As they exited the restaurant the sky had started to turn dark, the streets were mostly empty as they walked along with its few inhabitants hurrying home from a long day's work. Watching the street lights flicker on Xanthic turned to Yukina, "Um… Do you w-want me to walk you home?" She looked at him with a fairly confused expression and Xanthic began rambling, "C-cause like even V-vale gets pretty cr-creepy at night. N-not that I do-don't think you can ha-handle yourself, b-but um, it's be-better to not be alo-lone right?"
Staring at him for a few more seconds Yukina quietly responded, "I don't exactly… live here"
"Huh? Y-you must be staying somewhere though, ri-right?" Xanthic asked causing Yukina to shake her head no in response. "Wh-what do you- Oh! You-you're like… I'm s-so sorry…" He turned away from her.
"It's fine I've gotten used to finding places to spend the night." Yukina laughed, "At least I can do it on a full stomach for once." After a pause she continued quietly, "Th-thanks for that again…"
"Ah… d-don't worry about that, re-really…" Xanthic said rubbing the back of his neck. "But um… I-if you want ma-maybe I could pay for a hotel room f-for you. I mean it'd ju-just be for a few days pro-probably and you could pick one you would be co-comfortable with…"
"Really?" Yukina asked with a look of confusion even greater than before on her face, "The food as payback was one thing but… You would do this for someone you don't even know? Even when you know what they do… even when they attacked your friends?"
"Oo! That is a good question. Why are you so desperately trying to help a serial killer? A serial killer that wants to murder dear old dad and that you almost had a heart attack just from seeing, at that," Nivens taunted.
"I um… Well I c-can't just let somebody sleep i-in the cold…" It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't his whole reasoning either.
Nivens groaned, "Oh please. Don't try and make pity sound heroic. You know you're only offering because of when we were homeless."
"Hmmm… you're pretty strange you know that?" Yukina stated with a tilt of her head. "But if you really would do that for me…"
"I- ye-yeah, I know… But um, yeah, th-though I only know the u-upscale places in town…"
"Well it's your money," Yukina said gesturing forward with a flourish. "Do what you want with it."
"Er, right… You wouldn't be um… uncomfortable with that? I, uh, I know a lot of pe-people get kinda intimida-dated by it…"
"I'm sure I'll be fine"
"Oh, al-alright then…" Xanthic looked around again to remember the way from here. "There's one ju-just a few blocks thi-this way."
"Lead the way" Yukina responded with a smile.
"Ri-right…" They walked side by side as Xanthic never let Yukina stand behind him.
After they had walked for a few minutes Xanthic suddenly stopped and looked around. His eyes scanned the buildings around them and the nearby allies. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but he would've sworn he heard something. Looking over he could see Yukina had stopped as well and was curiously staring at him "Something wrong?" she asked.
"You didn't he-hear that?" He asked earnestly, he could never tell when it was only thanks to his rabbit ears that he was able to hear things.
"Hear what?"
"Um… Li-like a clattering I-I guess?" As Xanthic spoke a dark clothed man started to move towards the two with his arm concealing something at his side.
Slowly and carefully closing distance he suddenly leaped forward and wrapped an arm around Yukina's shoulders and pressed the muzzle of his gun into her side. "Drop whatever you've got and stand back."
"Uh, mi-mister I really th-think you should reco-consider that cause well… A-and I really don't carry a lot of lien on me a-anyway," Xanthic panicked with his hands near his face. "So you sh-should really just, um-" Xanthic was interrupted as a spray of blood flew past him accompanying the man's gun clattering to the ground with his arm still attached.
Staring at the space his arm use to be the man backed up in a panic, barely containing his urge to scream. As he moved Yukina turned holding the jagged blades of her weapon to the side letting the red slowly leak off of them. "Leaving so soon?" She asked with a dark smile "You seem to have forgotten something." Finally letting out his screams the man turned and ran causing Yukina to kick the severed limb in his direction before turning to face Xanthic again. As she did the look on her face suddenly vanished upon seeing his expression. Looking between him and her weapon she sheathed the blades and nervously turned away from him in a very poor attempt at hiding the newfound blood on her sleeve. Xanthic's hands were covering his mouth as his eyes revealed his complete horror and disgust at Yukina's display. His memory reminded him of the nightmare and he forced himself to break away from staring at her and instead his gaze landed on the severed arm just a few feet away that was quickly losing its normal color. In utter silence he stepped back from the young girl. Yukina stared back at him for a few seconds, "Um I… h-he was going to…" She quickly gave up her attempted justification and as her face turned to a look of sadness and disappointment she turned and started to slowly walk away.
Xanthic's legs gave out and he crouched down while holding himself, "W-wh-why did I th-think this was a-a good id-dea?" To anyone else on the street he looked insane, but they weren't exactly wrong as a voice did answer him.
"Who knows, you saw her brutally murder everyone in that factory." Nivens pointed out. "And yet you still decided to go on a date with her."
"I-it's not like I co-could've really ba-backed out of it after I o-offered…"
"You very easily could have, you let this happen because she's still just a child."
"A-a child..?"
Yukina had almost walked a full block before a loud voice resounded through the street, "Hold on!" She turned to see Xanthic running towards her. He grabbed her arm and lead her down the same alleyway as before, clearly avoiding the now cold arm as much as possible. "Let's see here," he mumbled to himself and looked up at the buildings surrounding them. "Got it." Nivens dragged her along crossing backstreets and alleyways until finally stopping near a small building that looked like it was about ready to collapse on itself. "Here we go," Mocking a gentleman he opened the door and ushered for her to go in first.
The inside was surprisingly bright and clean with a single older man sitting at a small desk, "What do ya want?"
"We ended up running into a bit of trouble a little earlier and this one apparently is kind of a sadist." A hurt expression crossed Yukina's face but she remained silent as Nivens pointed at the fresh stains on Yukina's hoodie. "This is your specialty isn't it?"
"Something like that…" The man beckoned for her to come closer so he could properly inspect the deep discoloration. She hesitantly obeyed and walked up to the desk. He reached out and attempted to touch it causing her to jump back quickly. "Do you want it cleaned or not?" He didn't have any patience for her.
Avoiding the gaze of both the man and Nivens, Yukina quietly responded, "I-I can do it…" she looked around the room before settling her gaze on a hand wash station "I-Is that ok?"
"Still the same fee for materials," He said plainly while looking at Nivens.
"That's fine," Nivens shrugged but started trying to haggle with the shopkeep. As the two argued Nivens clearly wasn't gaining any ground so when he heard the water turn on he turned away to look and froze at the sight. As Yukina was hunched over rubbing on the sleeve of her removed hoodie, her weapons were exposed for all to see. The dust mechanism and rails were attached lining up Yukina's arms, and Nivens couldn't miss the fact that they were stained with deep shades of unnatural brown and black across the length. Trying not to imagine how much and how old what covered them was his eyes were drawn down her arm to the blades that were almost immaculately clean in comparison. He walked a bit closer to Yukina and cleared his throat, "Don't you think you should clean these once in awhile too?" His usual tone faltered slightly.
As she turned to look at him Nivens noticed that she was only attempting to clean the newest stains on the sleeve, and doing a poor job judging by the ever present pink tinge. "They're fine," she responded quietly. "They do the same either way." She then turned back and continued scrubbing the sleeve fruitlessly.
"Don't you care about them though? I mean, they're your weapons."
"They hurt, they maim… they kill." Looking down at one of the weapons and back to her sleeve she continued, "Why should they try to hide their appearance or their nature."
"They don't do anything," Nivens said sternly. "You're the one who made them bloodied."
"Exactly," Yukina responded with a somber tone. "They can't help it… not even if they want to… no matter how much they wish they could stop… they keep on working, watching as their prayers go unanswered. As they drown in the joy they never asked for… they just can't help it…"
"Right…" Nivens folded his hands behind his neck, "You're quite the poet, you know; drawn on, depressing, and always avoiding a direct answer." Waiting for another response he knew he wouldn't receive Nivens looked away from the girl's weapons and found his eyes settled on the familiar sight of the Guardians of Humanity symbol etched with ink in her upper arm, but with two digits placed underneath, 42. "Don't suppose you've got another speech about this thing too?" He asked nodding at it.
"They like to mark what is theirs"
Nivens chuckled and thought to himself, "Old man's possessive like always." He then shrugged and replied casually, "What a bunch of creeps."
"Not all of them were," Yukina stated barely above a whisper as she held up her hoodie and stared at it sadly before putting it back on and heading for the door. Causing the man at the desk to turn and look at Nivens expectantly.
"Yeah, yeah," Nivens sauntered over. "Don't have a stroke." He paid in lien cards that proved Xanthic a liar earlier. "Just saying, you might wanna work on your customer service," He waved goodbye while following Yukina back outside.
A few minutes of Xanthic leading the way again and they were standing in front of another building, unlike the last this one a was grand design decorated with marble and gold.
"Can I help you two?" A tall mall in an indigo uniform asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I um, I'd like to g-get a room please?" He had never had opposition at the door before.
"I think it'd be best for you to go somewhere else."
Xanthic quickly realised what the issue was and sighed as he pulled out his scroll, "I'd really rather not go somewhere else as my family always stays at this hotel." His ID was brought up on the small screen and the doorman instantly changed.
"Mr. Picto? I'm so sorry for not recognizing you." He bowed his head and opened the door for them.
"Don't worry about it, I know I don't really look the part today." Xanthic said calmly and lead the way through the grand lobby. Walking up to the front desk the clerk recognised him immediately from their previous encounters.
"Good evening, Mr. Picto. Your parents checked in just a few hours ago, would you like me to call their room for you?"
"N-no!" His heart jumped. "I-I mean I wouldn't want t-to bother them. I'm sure they're both quite busy at the moment."
"Very well then, what can I do for you today?"
"I'd just like to get a room for my friend here, however long she'd like. Please just bill me when she checks out."
Nodding in response the clerk typed something into her computer before pulling out a keycard and handing it to Yukina and speaking with a smile, "Your room number is on the card, have a nice stay."
"Thank you, miss," Xanthic said and lead Yukina to the elevator. As the elevator went up Xanthic avoided looking directly at Yukina as she idly stared around the small enclosure with a look of amusement. His problem was solved when the elevator stopped and opened with a loud "ding" letting him exit and head to the numbered room indicated on Yukina's card. After Yukina unlocked the door the two entered the most lavish room she had ever stepped in. A queen sized bed stood against the far wall just next to the french doors leading to a small balcony. Facing a dark blue couch was a large tv. She inspected the full bathroom and found it was decorated just as elegantly as the rest of the building.
"Um… I-if you need a-anything else, you- you can just message me. I- I should g-get going…"
"And what are you going to do?" Yukina asked turning away from the impressive room to face Xanthic.
"Wh-what do you mean? I'm ju-just gonna go b-back to Beacon."
"Good, It's not safe around here… for now."
"Huh? Wha- what do you mean?"
"She's probably the second most dangerous person in the building," Nivens scoffed.
"No need to worry about it," Yukina responded. "But um, if you see Eve… would you tell her I… that…" abruptly looking down in an attempt to hide the hurt expression on her face she quietly finished with a simple, "Nevermind."
With Nivens telling him to avoid that time bomb, Xanthic rewinded the conversation a bit, "Um… whe-when you say f-for now… wha-what do you mean? You-you're not gonna d-do anything… are you?"
"I said don't worry about it"
"So-sorry, I um…" he shuddered as his mind went back to the man with a newly severed arm. "Pl-ple-please don't do anythi-thing like be-before…" His barely understandable and pleading voice only got a silent stare in response. Xanthic cowered from her gaze, "I me-mean could you, um, ju-just maybe only f-for tonight even, just cou-could you please n-not hurt anyone else..?"
"And why should I do that?"
"You… need a reason t-to not kill somebody?"
"Why does it matter to you what I do?" Yukina questioned as a scowl started to form on her face, "I saw the way you looked at me… you know what I am."
Xanthic was backing away from her slowly towards the closed door, "Bu-but… I mean we-well I um, I gu-guess it's really n-not my business to tell you wha-what to do, b-but um, don't you… d-don't you ever wa-wanna be I… I d-don't know… No-norma-mal?"
In response the expression on her face once again slowly started changing into a look of sadness, "You just don't understand…" Yukina stated quietly.
"Well… I-if you mean losing people you care about a-and not having any idea what t-to do, bec-cause there's nothing you can do, th-then I understand a l-lot better than you'd think…"
Yukina shook her head, "The problem isn't that I didn't know what to do… the problem is I knew exactly what I wanted to do and there was only so long I could help not doing it."
"What… I-I don't understand…"
"Of course you don't, you still think I want to be doing this… you think I want to enjoy it… you think I can help it."
"N-no, of cour-course not! I just… I don't u-understand at all… Whe-when I first saw, um, th-that… it's just… disgu-gusting…" His hand raised over his mouth.
Yukina smiled weakly, "And that's exactly how it should be… As long as it is you know you aren't a monster."
Xanthic took a deep breath and forced himself to step closer to Yukina. Careful to avoid her blades he took one of her hands in his own and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it only showed his own regret. "Well, your hands are warm, so you're still less of a monster than someone else I know…"
After a few seconds of silence Yukina pulled her hand away. "...thanks…" she mumbled quietly before turning to look at the clock near the bed, "You should go."
"Ah, ri-right… S-sorry if I was be-being weird…" He quickly took the chance to retreat, "Go-good night, Yukina."
"Good night," she responded closing the door as he walked out.
Once he heard the click of the door Xanthic doubled his speed. "Oo, how are you gonna explain this one to the old man if you already missed him?"
"I-I'll make it in time," Xanthic tried to believe his own words as he headed to his original destination, the office building across town, that was the cause of this eventful day.
Having had only slowed down while crossing the hotel's lobby Xanthic leaned against the multistoried building and breathed heavily. He looked up and saw that the stars were beginning to shine. The sound of a door signalled that he had barely been fast enough before his contact had left for home. "Ah, s-sir?"
The older man turned and looked down at Xanthic, "What is it?"
"I um," his breath still wasn't fully caught up with him. "I'm new with the- with the Guardians I was su-supposed to meet with you earlier about some documents."
"Weren't you supposed to be here around five?"
"S-sorry about that, something important came up…" Xanthic bowed his head apologetically. "I-is there any chance you have the files on you now?"
"Yeah, I didn't trust to leave them in the office." He was about to hand a small binder over to Xanthic but hesitated, "You understand how important these are, right kid?"
"Yes sir." The two had started parting ways after the documents traded owners but Xanthic suddenly grabbed his sleeve, "S-sir, um… I-I think somebody knows about you, so pl-please be careful."
"I always have been," he said and continued on his journey home. Xanthic sighed and returned to Beacon Academy, he would review the file tonight before passing them on to Basil the next day.
The following morning Xanthic woke as usual before everyone. By the time he came back from getting dressed all three girls were up. Gathering his things, he avoided looking directly at any of them and said, "I'll be back in about an hour or so, I just have a few things I need to finish from yesterday." Not caring about their responses he left the room before they could say anything.
He made record time to Basil's shop in avoid being seen by anybody, Xanthic went around the back and knocked on the door. Basil opened the it a moment later and took off the dirty apron tied around his waist. Staring down at the young student he leaned against the door to close it. "What happened yesterday?" He asked holding his hand out to take the files from Xanthic.
"We-well something really imp-portant came up suddenly and I ne-needed to take care of it…" He mumbled an apology while giving Basil the small binder.
Basil sighed, "At least you got these before whoever it was got him."
"Wha-what do you mean?"
"He's dead. They found his body shredded at about three." Basil tapped his shoulder with the binder, "I don't know how you managed to survive that night, but if you're assisting them in any way then I wouldn't count on your father hesitating."
"You-you're pr-probably right about that, sir…" Xanthic meekly cleared his throat, "I-is there anything else I can do, Mr. Winchester?"
"Be prepared for something big to happen soon."
"Li-like what?"
Basil shrugged, "Orelon hasn't told me what he's planning yet. But he's personally overseeing it." He put his apron back on, "You should get back to Beacon, I've heard Glynda has only gotten worse over the years."
Xanthic knew better by now not to ask for him to explain his past further and bowed his head, "I'll wait for your next order then. Go-goodbye." He turned and left quickly, hearing the shop door slam shut behind him. Stopping a short ways away he looked back and sighed before continuing on to the academy.
