Outcasts and Outlaws

Volume 5, Chapter 4

Kane, The Dark Child

Here's another chapter. This one goes into a previously unseen part of Kane's past.

Opening Music: https/youtu.be/zL6lJ3cP6kw

[The Pet Girl of Sakurasou OP 2]

OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS V3

(Cherry blossoms fly past the screen)

Harewataru sora wa aoku!

(Shows Connors feet running) Chikazuitekuru

(Shows Connor's while he's running)

ashioto!

(Shows Ruby in a cherry blossom tree)

(Ruby jumps down from the tree) Hikaridashita kaze

(She lands in front of Connor)

Ni osa

(Shows Ruby looking at Connor) Reru

(Shows Connor looking back at her)

you ni hora

(Shows them both looking at each other)

Deatteshimatta!

(Zooms on Connor and shows flashbacks of him)

Sorezore no yume!

(Zooms on Ruby and shows flashbacks of her)

Sorezore no mirai!

(Connor and Ruby turn around and see each other)

Makenai

(They walk towards each other) you ni hashiri!

(Shows Mars)

Kizuitara zutto

(Shows flashbacks of Mars)

issho ni itanda!

(Shows a young Connor smiling behind him)

Dare yori mo!

(Shows Jim and Yang eating together)

Nayande

(Shows Jim carrying Yangs shopping)

ochikande

(Shows Yang yelling at Connor) naite

(Yang gets Connor in a headlock) Waratte!

(Shows all of them at a table celebrating)

Kasokushiteku!

(Shows Kane)

Kimi ni todoke!

(Shows Irileth)

Sora wo kakete!

(Irileth tries to hug Kane but he moves)

Massugu na

(She tries again and he moves again)

omoi

(Stephane runs in between both of them)

gyutto dakishime!

(Shows Connor and Ruby together) Kitto

(Zooms on Connor's face when he smiles)

umaretate

(Ruby smiles back)

no tsuyosa

(Ruby runs over to Connor)

wa mune ni!

(Ruby hugs Connor)

Kono kimochi ga tsubasa

(Connor takes Ruby's hand)

ni nari!

(Connor and Ruby run to the Beacon entrance)

Watashi wa watashi wo tameteyuku!

(Connor and Ruby meet up with everyone else at the Beacon entrance)

END

Eight years old, the black haired boy played in the dirt outside his village home in Dust Canyon. He had already drawn a noughts and crosses grid in the ground, and now an x in one of the boxes. He then looked up to his opponent, a girl with hair just as black as his, but with a hint of purple.

"Kane...you never learn do you?" The girl teased, filling in a box with a circle and winning the game. Kane sighed disappointedly, then stood up and scrubbed out the grid with his foot. The girl also stood, and smiled and him.

"Irileth...when will my brother come home?" Kane shyly questioned. His older sibling had gone with a strange man one day, a man who claimed Murlough was of use to him. Neither Kane or Irileth had seen him since.

"Murlough will be back soon..." Irileth comforted, placing a hand on Kane's shoulder. "But it seemed like that man needed him for something really important. I heard him say Outlaws and Civil War, so it's a pretty big deal."

Kane raised his arm to rub tears away from his eyes with it and then sobbed, "I don't eat big bro to die in a war though..."

"He won't die, he's strong, even at his young age. He's a child prodigy, like you're becoming." Irileth told him. "But until he comes back, you've got me! We're the best of friends right?"

Kane wiped away the last of his welling tears and replied, smiling, "Yep, we're super best friends! I wanna be friends with you forever!"

Irileth smiled back and then said, "Hey, remember that time me, you and Murlough found a swamp rat near the river? Murlough picked it up out of the water and said 'This is mine now!'"

Kane giggled from the memory and then added, "Yeah and then it bit his finger!"

Irileth laughed as well, then continued, "And then you used your semblance for the first time, because you thought he was in serious danger, and shot a load of dark clouds at the it! He was so proud of you that day!"

Kane laughed again, then looked away from Irileth and became serious. "I'm gonna make him proud again someday...I'll become a child prodigy just like him and make him proud of me."

"I bet you will." Irileth said sternly, then looked out at the sun with Kane as it began to set, casting darkness upon the rocky village.

Suddenly two figures appeared over the horizon, one the size of a fully grown man, the other a tall, but still slightly shorter than the man, teenager. Coming into the light, Kane and Irileth saw that the taller man was dressed in a brown jacket and jeans with scraggy brown hair and a hard face covered in stubble. The boy with him wore a black jacket over a shirt just as dark, with very dark blue jeans.

"Murlough!" Irileth cried out, pushing Kane forward and walking behind him. "He's back! Look, your brother's back!"

Kane shyly stepped forward to meet his brother, excited to see him, but froze upon looking at the man. He was very messy looking, his hair was unkept and his stubble sharp. He had a hard look in his eyes, and Murlough was staying standing right next to him. "Hi bro..." He nervously greeted.

Murlough didn't answer, just stared coldly back. Kane didn't know what was wrong, but this wasn't how he remembered his brother. Something had changed him while he's been gone, he could already tell. He then looked back at the man, who was still glaring at him. "It's time you joined your brother Kane." The man said. "My name is Damien, and I hereby extend and invitation to join the Outlaws."

Not at all understanding what was going on, Kane mumbled, "I don't...I don't know...what..."

"Do what he says brother." Murlough advised, speaking for the first time since returning to the village. "You don't want to see what happens if you defy him."

Kane looked to his brother in confusion, then back to Damien and asked, "W-what will I be doing?"

"You are a special child, with immense talent and potential, but you are and Outcast because of your dark semblance." Damien answered somewhat cryptically. "As such you swear the Outlaws oath, and help us in our quest to obtain the Kalos Crystal."

Damien looked down at Kane menacingly, right in the eye and warned, "We will get your power, one way or another, so please just cooperate. I'd hate to have to order your dear brother to kill you."

Kane's eyes widened in fear in hearing that, sweat starting to drip down his face. He looked to his brother and saw his cold and emotionless eyes. Would he really kill his younger sibling if Damien ordered him to?

"All right, I'll come." Kane submitted, his voice shaking. "Just don't make him kill me, please!"

Damien didn't let out a smile at even at, he just grunted and turned around, expecting Kane to follow. As Damien left, Murlough loyally followed his heel, and Kane found himself taking steps after them, unaware of how much trouble it would land him in.

Irileth meanwhile, just stared clueless as her friend was taken away for reasons she did not know, and she didn't see his safe return for many years to come.

Years later, Kane had grown into a young teenager of immense skill in battle. It was on the eve of the new year that he found himself putting that skill to a good use, as he saw it at least. His comrades, The Outlaws, were not so convinced.

Dressed in simple black clothing, teenage Kane ran down, the Kalos Crystal in his pocket and his scythes in his hands. He could hear the banging of his pursuers behind him, but he was certain he had done the right thing. Damien wasn't in the right state of mind to wield such power, he might've killed a lot of people with it.

Suddenly a wall was smashed down behind Kane. He looked down the corridor of the underground facility and saw Damien in his brown combat cloak running down towards him furiously. "KANE!" He shouted, louder than any of the grinding machines in the facility. "Give me back what is mine! Give me back the Kalos Crystal, you traitor!" As he ran Damien pulled out his weapons, the flintlock pistols with katanas on the end, like lengthy bayonets. Kane knew he couldn't outrun Damien and in a fair fight couldn't beat him. He had power, but he was only a teenage boy, and his muscle could not outmatch that of a grown man. His only option was to use the Kalos Crystal he had stolen.

As if on cue, the crystal in his pocket started glowing and shooting out purple lightning around Kane's torso. He felt the energy pulsing through him and turned around to face Damien. The two of them clashes blades with a mighty bang of metal on metal, slicing and hacking at each other, one as skilled as the other in raw combat. Kane felt the crystal giving him a boost, and dark clouds shot out of his scythe, like a shadow of the blade and cut into Damien's left shoulder blade.

Damien fell back out of pain as blood spewed from his wound, landing on his arse. Kane took the opportunity to begin running again, sprinting down the metal corridor at top speed. As he ran, Murlough stepped through the whole in the wall and stopped next to Damien, who was still clutching his wound.

"What are waiting for?!" Damien yelled angrily at his loyal soldier. "Get that traitorous bastard! Kill him if you have to, if you get the chance, strike him down!"

Murlough obediently, but reluctantly obeyed, starting after his brother. He whipped out his weapons on the way and slides the bladed stumps over his hands. Kane realised he couldn't outrun this foe either and turned to face him, their weapons locking against each other in a competition of strength. The two pushed against each as they looked upon each other's faces, both raw with anger.

"Why are you doing this Kane?!" Murlough questioned, letting up a little in the push war to let Kane speak. "Why have you betrayed the Outlaws, why have you betrayed me?!"

"Damien gonna start a war!" Kane yelled back, desperate for his brother to see his point of view before it came to the worse. "I don't want to be a part of that! You don't have to be either!"

Snarling furiously, Murlough pushed harder again and replied, "We're fighting for what we've always been fighting for, to destroy the section of the government that have treated us like crap for years! If you have a problem with that, then you're not one of us!" Murlough then shot his cannons, knocking Kane backwards. He rushed forward with his blade, intent on ending his traitorous brothers life.

Kane reacted by throwing his hand forward, letting the blade sink deep into his palm. He then punched Murlough straight in the face as hard he could before he could attack with the other hand, breaking his nose and bloodying his face. Murlough fell to the ground, and Kane stomped his boot onto his chest, winding him and cracking one or two ribs.

Kane than ran again before his older sibling could get his breath back. Murlough rolled over to lay on his stomach, wanting to get a shot at Kane even though it didn't help his breathing. Before he could fire however, he heard a gun go off behind him and looked back to see Damien on the ground, pointing his flintlock pistol at Kane.

Kane slowed down his running when he felt intense pain shoot through his arm. Feeling numb, he looked down and saw that the shot from Damien had severed his arm from the elbow down. He figured Damien must have pumped some of his aura into the shot, just enough for the bullets to cut straight through his arm. He knew that his arm was bleeding profusely, and summoned up black clouds over the wound to stop it, but he couldn't last forever like that. As soon as his aura ran out, he'd start bleeding again.

Starting to run a little faster again, Kane spotted three figures in front moving towards him, blocking his way to the exit. Two of the figures rushed forward, gestured on by the third. As they came closer, Kane recognised his former allies. The first to reach him was Wolf Saturn, the leader of the stealth and infiltration division. Wearing the signature brown cloak of the Outlaw commanders, he sliced at Kane with his weapons, claw like blades attached to his fists.

Kane titled his head and body to dodge past the slashes, then cut at Wolf's side as he past, spilling blood. He may have once been a comrade, but now he was an enemy, and Kane knew he had to fight back.

The second enemy was Isabella Charon, one of the strongest members of the Outlaw army and leader of the main regiment. She charged at Kane with her mighty two blade, holding the handle in the middle with the two blades sticking out of either side. Kane knew she was stronger than he was, perhaps even stronger than Damien, and so began charging up his dark clouds. When she came near, he hit the floor with the clouds and created a massive smokescreen, giving him time to slip past.

The last obstacle between him and the way out was Michael Hydra, the Outlaws lead scientist. He stood still in his white lab coat, hoping Isabella had struck Kane down. When the man in question shot out of the darkness, he opened his mouth to call his allies and alert them of his location, but was quickly silenced by Kane placing a dark cloud covered hand on his chest. Michaels face contorted into a look of pain as the semblance scrambled his internal organs and threw him against the control panel, hitting the open door button. The metal door slid open, and Kane ran out of the side of the mountain in which the base was situated in, and fled with Damien yelling curses behind him.

Hours later, Kane trudged through an acre large field, a small village in the distance. If he could make it there, maybe they would have a doctor. His arm was freely bleeding again, and the only hope he had of surviving without medical help was to find someone to use as a host body for a while until he recovered. Someone he could share a body with...

Then his eyes rested on the child, Connor Hikaru-Kodomo, shaking in front of him.

Ending Music: https/youtu.be/URQJP9UbjdA

[Nisekoi OP 1]

(Shows tiny Grimm bird flying)

Kioku ga hiraku oto! Kikitai kara! (The tiny Grimm bird flies over young Connor's head)

Kimi ni sashidasou!

OUTCASTS AND OUTLAWS V3

(Shows Connor waking up)

Aa, konna ni mo!

(Connor leaves his room and starts running down the corridor) Taisetsu na omoi mo!

(Connor runs past Mars)

Toki no suna

(Connor runs past Kane)

ga ooikakushite!

(Shows Connor run past Team JNPR as they come out of their room)

Aimai ni shite shimau keredo! (Connor stops at the stairs and runs up them)

Unmei nante kotoba

(Shows Connor running to the top of the stairs)

wa chiipu da nante!

(Shows Connor run down the corridor to the other stairs)

Issho ni warai atteru kimi ga! (Connor jumps down the stairs) Sono hito datarri suru no ka na! (Shows Irileth, Stephane and Nora) Kitto!

(Shows Connor on his back and sitting up)

Minna daji na koto!

(Connor looks behind him)

Sokushi zutzu

(Jim, Yang and Ruby are behind him. Ruby seeing if he is okay) wasurete iku kara!

(Connor smiles back at them and stands up)

Kimi to no omoide wa!

(Connor stands with Jim, Yang and Ruby)

Wazuka dake demo

(Jim walks past Connor and pats his shoulder, and then Connor, Ruby and Yang follow him) takusasete yo!

(Shows the Kalos Crystal)

Sorou hazunai pazura!

(Shows Irileth from behind) Kakusheteta

(Shows Stephane from behind) Saigo no kakera!

(Shows Nora walking)

Kioku ga hiraku oto!

(Shows Ruby and Yang)

Kikitai kara! Kimi ni sashidasou! (Connor pops up)

(Jim appears next to him)

(Shows them walking into Beacon) END