Author's note: Sorry for the belated chapter update, fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses. I was extremely busy yesterday and could not find the time to update. Plus, I had to do quite a bit of research to ensure that this chapter was 100% accurate. Also, a small editing error: In the opening of Chapter 2, the header reads "4 years earlier". This should actually read "2 years earlier". I didn't notice it initially, and am terribly sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Also, for any of you with doubts, I know exactly where I'm going with this story, so have no fear, Huntsmen and Huntresses! Now, without further ado, I give you the fifth chapter of Velvet's tale.

Velvet and Hansel had already commenced to walking through the dense forest in the direction opposite of Valkryite and the cabin they had inhabited. They had elected to walk out of concern for rationing the limited amount of Dust they had for Hansel . Neither of them had wanted to risk expending it all via flight and leave themselves one Huntsman vulnerable to an ambush by the Nevermore or the pack of Beowulf that they had seen the night before. Not only that, but the physical strain that long amounts of Semblance use had on Velvet's body would leave her weak, as well.

"So where are we going now?" Velvet had inquired a few minutes into the trip.

"For now, we'll focus only on getting more and more distance between us and Valkryite. In order to do that, I suggest we continue hiking and stop for 2 meals." Hansel kept his eyes forward while he spoke, and threw up his index and middle finger at the end of his dialogue to give visual representation of the number of meals that he had specified.

Velvet's attention was momentarily grabbed by the capture of his sudden movement within her peripheral vision, which prompted to turn her head in the direction of Hansel. She soon realized that no more dialogue would be offered by Hansel on the subject, so she equally abdicated the conversation and turned her acute senses to the sky.

She did not see the large, black form of the Nevermore, and had not seen such a creature for several hours. Hansel did not seem the least bit worried of the apparent tracking actions being taken out against them by the pack of Beowulf. This was even more odd during their initial conversation about it.

"The Beowulf are...tracking us." She said with genuine concern.

"I know they're walking in the same direction as us, but it's not tracking. The Grimm aren't that cunning. If they see prey, they just attack with brute strength. They don't strategize. They don't coordinate with each other, at least not that I've seen. They just...kill."

"I don't know. I've never seen behavior like this either, but that doesn't mean we should immediately write it off as nothing. We could be witnessing history."

"Right, cuz that's what everyone wants to hear," Hansel said with a chuckle. "A scientific discovery made against two criminals on the run from the law."

Velvet laughed as well, and turned her back to the pack, as she had done now, keeping her ears on the prowl for any sound that could indicate a strike from behind. She consistently looked over her shoulder in the unlikely event that her superior hearing would forsake her.

Velvet did not realize how much she was doing this until she felt Hansel place his large hand on her shoulder, almost prompting her to stop. He looked over at her to gaze into his piercing blue eyes. The shadows of the trees in the mid-afternoon sunlight were partially cast down on his face, momentarily reminding Velvet of paintings of ancient warriors that she had seen in books and in school. He cocked an eyebrow to convey the concern that he felt.

"If they make you that nervous, we can take them out, here and now. That way we'll only have to worry about the Nevermore showing back up." He offered.

"What about our dust?" Velvet replied questioningly.

"We can spare enough until we get to the nearest village, if we take them out quickly and efficiently."

Velvet debated it for a minute, coming up with only a single pair of questions.

"How are we going to buy Dust if we don't have Lien? And how are we going to evade detection by doing it?"

Hansel smiled and momentarily looked through the woods ahead of them, taking his eyes away from Velvet's. It was as if he had previously rehearsed this exact conversation in his mind, and was recalling his next line in the script.

"I've actually been thinking about that a lot. We're gonna run out of supplies eventually, such as food and Dust. My guess is that the news stations have likely pegged you as the attacker, and that I'm your hostage. They've probably plastered our faces over every news station, on every computer and scroll, and on every street corner. Everyone in Vale probably knows what we look like by now. Plus, your bunny ears are a dead giveaway. Yeah, I'd imagine our faces have already been sent across the CCT to the other three kingdoms. Lien isn't a problem; I packed enough to last for at least a year if we use it wisely."

"How did you manage to get that much Lien? Your parents?" Velvet interjected.

Hansel cleared his throat and looked at Velvet with an expression she interpreted as fear. He quickly looked away and and took his hand off of Velvet's shoulder, using it to rub the back of his neck.

Velvet leaned in as they continued walking, studying the apprehensive Hansel's countenance. Velvet scowled and narrowed her eyes.

"Hansel?" She said firmly.

"Yes, Velvet?"

"Did you steal that Lien?"

"Did I steal it? Uh, yeah. Yeah I did."

Now it was Velvet's turn to face straight ahead, staring down the immense sea of trees. It was the first time all day that her mind was taken off of the Beowulf pack.

"I know that our situation is desperate, Hansel, but that is no excuse for thievery. I know that you don't see it as too big of a problem, but we can't put other people out simply because we're in a dire predicament."

Velvet, out of her peripheral vision, saw Hansel put his head down in what she perceived to be shame.

"I'm sorry, Velvet. But...I didn't know what else to do. We need Lien to survive, and I didn't have enough to support both of us."

"I forgive you. Just don't let yourself slip again. We don't need to act the part of hardened criminals simply because the media has branded us as such."

Hansel nodded and raised his head once more.

"So," he said. "Back to the topic of our unwanted stalkers."

"We make our cuts clean, quick, and efficient. Not only because we only have so much Dust left for you, but because we don't need to punish these beasts simply because they're acting in their nature."

Velvet turned to face the three Beowulf, watching Hansel follow suit. She looked over at him as his face scrunched in an inquisitive manner.

"Wait a minute. What do you mean, we only have so much Dust for me? Do you not need Dust?"

"No. I thought you knew that. I'm a mage. It runs in my family."

"Well, now. I kinda feel like an asshole for not asking about all of this earlier. Why didn't you say anything?"

"The answer to your question, Hansel, has already been provided by yourself." Velvet curtly replied as she slid her satchel off of her shoulder. Hansel saw this and did the same, likely seeing the tactical disadvantage that the swinging bag was liable to pose.

Velvet summoned a Hard-Light copy of Tierra's gloves as Hansel fitted his Wind-and-Fire Wheels in his hands. She lifted large 2 mounds of dirt with trees in them from each side of Hansel and herself and hurled them at the creatures of Grimm. As planned, the mounds stunned the creatures just long enough for Hansel and Velvet to execute a proper assault against them. Velvet's copy of Tierra's gloves disappeared, replaced by one of her classmate's rapier.

Velvet and Hansel dashed towards the Beowulf, who were coming out of their stunned states and becoming battle-ready once more. Velvet jumped high over the body of the Beowulf closest to her, and proceeded to land on it's back. Velvet rapidly slashed at the nape of its neck, leaving it open for her to transition to her copy of a Claymore that was equipped with Gravity Dust. Without missing a beat, she thrust the blade deep into the head of the beast, sliding it into the area underneath the hardened area of the Beowulf's head. The creature sunk to the ground, but still attempted to rise. Velvet held the Claymore high above her head, then swiftly brought it down over the area she was just on. Two such strikes severed the head of the Beowulf.

Her adversary defeated, Velvet turned her attention to the status of Hansel. He was furiously thrusting his blades into the undersides of his Beowulf's head, adding to its prevalent immobility as evidenced by the slash marks in its front legs. After several more seconds of such contact to the Beowulf's throat and jaw, it completely sank to the ground, dead.

As Hansel reveled in his victory over the creature, the third Beowulf, who had been waiting for the opportunity to pounce on its human prey, saw such a chance and attempted to take it. Velvet did not have the chance to warn Hansel of the danger. Taking initiative in order to save her companion's life, she dove over the disintegrating bodies of the two previous Beowulf and summoned a longsword.

The weapon's blade was 110 Centimeters in length, living up to it's name with it's extended, double-edged characteristics. An additional 28 Centimeters were added on to the dimensions of the massive sword by the cruciform hilt. The sword was so long, and summoned with such velocity that Velvet was required to wield it with both of her hands.

Upon her landing, Velvet slid onto her knees, pushed in the direction of her target. Velvet swung the longsword upwards as she came underneath the Beowulf's body. This feat required so much force from her that she cried out as a result of the strain. Velvet felt the Hard-Light copy of the weapon connect into the throat, prompting her to continue pushing upward and close her eyes, barely able to withstand the pain. She continued pushing until she felt no more resistance, then opened her eyes to look at her target.

The Beowulf's head had slid off of it's body and fallen to the ground. It's body had begun to disintegrate, as the others already had. Velvet chuckled at Hansel's and her hard-earned victory, not even noticing the disappearance of the longsword from her hands. An overwhelming feeling of exhaustion overcame Velvet, and she slid backwards until her back met the hard earth. Hansel rushed over to help her up, but was impeded upon by Velvet's waving him away.

"I'm fine." She said from her back, looking up at Hansel as he bent over her with his hands on his knees. "I just need a moment to rest here."

Hansel said nothing, but stuck out his lower lip and nodded. He knelt down and took a seat on the ground adjacent to Velvet. He dug around in his satchel after placing his Wind-and-Fire Wheels in their pouch,and removed two bottles of water. One of the bottles found it's way into Velvet's hand, for which she thanked Hansel.

Velvet propped herself on her elbows and allowed a generous swig of water to swish around in her mouth before allowing it to sink down her throat. She looked up at Hansel and smiled. Hansel returned it, then congratulated her with her spectacular performance.

"I would bow, but I'm kind of on my back at the moment." She said with a laugh.

"Perhaps we should get going, then. If you're ready, that is." Hansel said.

In lieu of a verbal reply, Velvet extended her arm. Hansel took the signal and stood up, grabbing Velvet by her wrist. He lifted Velvet up to her feet and slid his satchel back onto his shoulder. Velvet placed her hands on her back and stretched.

"So what now?" Hansel asked.

"Tell me more about your little plan to evade detection." Velvet said.

"Oh. That? Well, I was thinking of it going a little like this: I'm going to dye my hair jet-black, right? Then I'm going to go into towns with a cloak and sunglasses. You'll stay here in the woods, since I imagine tying your ears back would be unbearably irritating. Am I right?"

"You are. I would always have to do that when I was little to avoid being made fun of and picked on. After a while, I learned to stand up for myself and began fighting back. I hated doing that and am glad with staying behind while you go into villages for supplies. For now, however..." Velvet pulled four slices of bread along with a can of potted meat out of her satchel. Velvet chuckled with glee and pulled back the metal lid via the metal ring attached. Velvet summoned a Hard-Light copy of a butter knife, and began slicing into the soft meat into four sections. She pulled out two sections and laid them on a single slice of bread side-by-side. A second slice was placed on top of the meat-covered bread. With another small chuckle, Velvet handed the sandwich to Hansel.

Hansel eyed the sandwich suspiciously. Velvet suspected that he had never had the blessing of eating a potted meat sandwich, and had decided to ask him about it.

"My family never really fed me this type of stuff. We normally just ate unprocessed meats and vegetables, and fruits. My father called this stuff "the crap that people who weren't serious Huntsman contenders would shove down their loser gizzards".

Velvet had just finished making her sandwich in the same manner that she had done with Hansel's. When Hansel had finished giving his reason as to why he had never tried potted meat. The only initial reaction that Velvet gave Hansel was a blank, emotionless stare. She took a bite into her sandwich and offered the same stare.

"Your father's world view is depressing." Velvet took another bite, still offering an apathetic stare in Hansel's direction. He looked back her for as long as he could while keeping a straight face. Velvet was silently amused as she saw Hansel fail and begin to laugh uncontrollably. A small smile came across Velvet's face observing Hansel's antics. She realized that they allowed her to relax a small amount despite all of the stress surrounding them.

Speaking of...

"We should probably get going. We don't wanna stay in the same place for too long. Don't want to give our pursuers too much of a push. Plus, there's the Grimm to worry about. We don't want to make it too easy for our foes to find us." Velvet advised.

Hansel nodded and turned to begin walking. Velvet followed behind, still munching on her sandwich gleefully. Hansel, to Velvet's dismay, swallowed the rest of his sandwich in a single gulp, not bothering to savor it as Velvet wanted him to. She took care to munch small bites, like a small bird would.

"You know, I always imagined you'd had a thing for carrots."

Velvet sped in front of Hansel and stopped him dead in his tracks. She prodded a finger into his chest.

"And just why would you think that?" Velvet asked, punctuating her 'why' with an additional poke into his chest.

Hansel closed his eyes and nervously laughed.

"Oh, well. It's just because...you know..."

"No. I don't. Enlighten me." Velvet sarcastically requested.

"It was a stupid joke, is all. I'm sorry."

"I. Don't. Eat. Carrots...Rabbits eat carrots. I am NOT a rabbit!"

Hansel opened his eyes once more and darted them around.

"We should really get moving."

"Yeah. We should."

With that, the two continued to walk in silence for the next few miles, trudging(from Velvet's point of view) aimlessly through trees. After a while, the trees began to meld into a single entity. No two trees were different to Velvet's eyes. Her feet began to become sore, as well, but she did not dare complain. The last thing that Velvet wanted to do was appear as a burden on her companion. One of the first things that she was taught in her life was, in times of great trial, the worst thing that one could do to cripple their party was not pull their own weight.

"Where's the next safehouse? Assuming there is one?" Velvet asked.

Hansel closed his eyes as he had done before, like an actor who is blanking out on the set of a TV program. After several seconds of walking, he opened his eyes once more. Hansel looked over at Velvet, his eyes revealing to an extremely perceptive companion that he had an answer planned in his mind.

"There's an abandoned Dust mine that we can sleep in, if such accommodations will suit a Faunus of your stature." He said, softly chuckling at his own joke.

"It's fine," Velvet said, feeling the need to hurry to any resting place possible and get in however many hours of sleep she could until either dawn of the day after or her shift of watching while Hansel took a turn of sleeping.

"How many miles away is this place? Any idea?" Velvet inquired, partially out of genuine curiosity and partially out of the desire to hear something other than the blowing of the wind through the trees and birds singing while soaring overhead.

"If memory serves, then it's about a mile and a half. We shouldn't be there before too long."

Velvet grunted in acknowledgment and remained silent for a period.

The two walked into an open clearing, where the sun beat down upon Velvet's head without mercy. Velvet placed the hand that she did not have on the strap of her satchel over her eyes to shield them from the brightness of the sunlight. Hansel shoved his hands in pockets and squinted his eyes. His satchel swung freely while hanging off of his shoulder, moving with every step that Hansel took.

Velvet's eyes moved upwards to the blue sky out of habit. There was not a single cloud to be seen over them. To her silent relief, there was also no Nevermore either. However, that relief was short-lived as an Atlesian Military troop transport. The appearance of it's long,sleek silver body was the only thing that Velvet could possibly imagine that was worse than another Nevermore sighting.

"Oh..." Velvet trailed.

"Damn." Hansel finished.

As the transport's landing gears touched the grassy clearing, Velvet struggled to find a means for escape. A strong fight-or-flight dilemma overtook her, and she looked to Hansel for a solution. His face was oddly calm, as if he had been planning on what do in the event that an event such as the one now occurred. His eyes looked to Velvet, then to the nearby tree line. Velvet understood his signal perfectly.

The two stood perfectly stationary as the Atlesian troops disembarked their transport. These soldiers wore body armor that covered their upper bodies. It was a white-gray color, with several different highlights along the helmet and arms, varying based on the individual. Their helmets covered their faces entirely, barring their mouths. Their pants were black, with some gray areas on them,paired with a utility belt of sorts that was complete with a small number pouches with unknown contents. A black handgun was strapped to their hips along with a sword in a collapsed state that was fitted to their lower backs Just above these swords was a rifle, of which most of the troops immediately placed in their hands. Others, likely preparing for any possible contingency, extended their swords and held them firmly with two hands.

"You two! Stay where you are, and drop to your knees with your hands on your head! You are under arrest by order of the 4 Kings!" The closest soldier said, his rifle trained on Velvet from a distance of approximately 4 and a half meters. He was one of (based on Velvet's quick counting) 12 soldiers who slowly began to circle around Hansel and herself.

"Ok. On three, we make a break for the treeline at 8 o' clock. Got it?" Hansel whispered.

"Yeah. One..."

The Atlesian soldier who had previously addressed Velvet took note of Hansel's moving mouth.

"Stop talking! Do as we command or you will be shot!"

"Two..." Hansel whispered back.

"Last Warning!" The soldier said. "Get on your knees with your hands on your head!"

"Three!"

The pair ran away from the incoming soldiers, attracting their gunfire and commands to stop. Velvet made short work of dashing through the clearing in a zig-zag motion to avoid the gunfire. She dived behind one of the trees adjacent to the one that Hansel had taken shelter behind.

"Ok, we're here. What's next on your plan?"

Unlike before, Hansel's answer was quick .

"We have two choices here: either we run and cross our fingers that we lose them and don't attract any Grimm along the way. Or we take the better long-term, yet equally risky option."

"Which is?" Velvet asked, having a good idea already of what the answer would be.

"We stay and fight. Make sure there's no one to follow us." He said in a grim tone.

Velvet had a small moral objection to harming innocents who were only following orders, but she saw no other way to simultaneously keep themselves alive and free.

Then again, they are shooting as us.

Velvet felt the heat of the Dust bullets as they zipped past the edges of the tree she protected her person with. Small pieces of bark and wood were splintered off of the tree as the rounds dug themselves into it, evicting the splinters from their place on Velvet's makeshift cover. She risked a look around the trunk and quickly took note of the defensive positions that the Atlesian soldiers had taken, both in and behind their transport as well as in the wavy green grass in crouching and prone positions. Velvet quickly ducked back behind the battered tree as the soldiers put her head in their crosshairs.

"There's eight in the field and four more in the transport. I say we only use nonlethal methods, such as my Hard-Light Bo and your Wind Wheel. We don't need to kill these people for simply doing their jobs."

Hansel put his satchel in his lap and opened the pouch that carried his Wind-and-Fire Wheels. He pulled out his Wind wheel and turned it, his hand firmly grasping the grip. The Atlesian soldiers had ceased firing, likely waiting to see if Hansel and herself would surrender.

"There's nowhere for you to run! Surrender and the 4 Kingdoms may spare you the death penalty for the attempted murder of a member of the royal family!" The Atlas guard from before shouted. Velvet fought the urge to laugh at the sound of the guard's voice cracking as he struggled to project his voice from his position. It was then that Velvet processed the guard's last statement, but did not fully understand. She turned to Hansel to see if he had noticed

"Wait. What did he mean by 'Royal Family'? Icarina was the Cabinet member's mistress, not his wife." Velvet said.

Hansel curled his index finger and placed it to his lips, furrowing his brow in deep concentration. Then he snapped his fingers, giving visual confirmation that he had indeed found a potential answer to Velvet's question.

"That's it. The other 3 Kingdoms wouldn't have aided Mistral with finding us if you had been accused of trying to hurt a Cabinet member's mistress. Not unless that mistress was his wife."

"No. You don't think so?"

"If he didn't, then he would look highly suspicious pushing for a manhunt in a separate Kingdom over some teenage girl in an obscure village. All the right powerful people would ask all the right questions with all the right incentives to get the right answer. That would lead to a scandal that would put all of Mistral in a bad light. To avoid that, this Cabinet member likely had a quickie marriage with Icarina to validate the push for the manhunt. The other Kingdoms likely had bleeding hearts for Icarina's plight, had no problem with trying to apprehend the 'terrorists' who hurt the newest member of Mistral's Royal family. All the right people won't care enough to ask questions out of risk of appearing to be apathetic to the Cabinet member's plight and/or terrorist sympathizers. It's more convenient this way. Apparently, I was wrong about them seeing me as a hostage of yours, to top off. So, we gonna take care of the problem?"

"Of course, but I have an idea of how we should go about it." Velvet said with a smirk, the kind that gave away the moment when a small light-bulb went off inside of someone's brain.

"By all means, enlighten me." He said with a smile, momentarily looking into the trees facing them.

Velvet and Hansel stepped out of the treeline with their hands on their head, as the Atlas soldiers had commanded. They walked slowly, wary enough to not make any sudden movements that may get them killed. The grass brushed along their ankles as they slowly made their way closer and closer to the Atlesians. Finally, there were a mere three meters away from their would-be captors.

"Stop. That's close enough. Now get down on your knees." A different soldier from before commanded.

Velvet and Hansel complied, slowly dropping to their knees. Two of the soldiers broke ranks and attempted to block off any potential escape. Velvet's hair began to stand on end as her peripheral vision let her view the soldiers maneuver themselves in such a manner. Hansel called to her. Upon bringing him into full view, Velvet looked at her companion. He nodded and she nodded back.

"Stop nodding. Keep your heads forward." The first guard commanded.

"Oh, shit. Sir, he's got a-!" One of the guards behind the two attempted to call out a warning, but ultimately for nothing.

Hansel pulled his Wind Wheel out from the back of his neck and let loose a large gust of wind that sent the Atlas soldiers in front of them flying backwards. The two stood and began to spring the rest of their trap. Velvet turned and summoned her Hard-Light copy of a Bo staff. The two Atlas soldiers, one armed with a sword and the other with a rifle. The soldier armed with a sword had red markings on his armor, while the rifle-toting soldier had blue ones adorning his set.

The blue Atlesian soldier fired two bursts from his rifle, which Velvet easily deflected with her Bo, causing it to disappear. The second soldier took the disappearance of her weapon as an opportunity to attack. The red-armored Atlesian charged and slashed at Velvet. She clutched the blade, then proceeded to use it as a springboard to sail through the air and land behind the soldiers. Velvet clutched the red-armored soldiers helmet and expertly pinched the precise points necessary to cause the man to lose consciousness. Once he slumped to the ground, Velvet picked up his sword and proceeded to slice the blue-armored Atlesian's in two. Without missing a beat, Velvet struck the soldier's face with the hilt of the sword, cutting his cheek and knocking him unconscious.

Her two attackers defeated, Velvet turned her attention to Hansel. From what she could see, her counterpart had his situation well in hand. Four of the guards were unconscious(she hoped Hansel would show such restraint), and the other four were attempting to form a circle around Hansel. Velvet dashed in the direction of the skirmish and, quite literally, dove right in. The nape of her neck and her back connected with the grass, giving her enough momentum to roll up onto her feet without stopping. She put her back against Hansel's as four soldiers surrounded them.

She turned her head back so that Hansel could hear her.

"You ready for this?"

"Yeah. Just try not to hog all the fun, ok?" He said, trying to break the near-impenetrable ice of the current situation.

Velvet grunted in acknowledgment. She felt in no mood to laugh at Hansel's bad attempt at humor.

"We'll go on three?" Velvet asked

"Sure."

"Ok. One..."

"Three." Hansel said before prematurely jumping at his targets.

"What are you-? Oh, forget it." Velvet complained before jumping into action (once again, quite literally) at her own two targets.

Both of the Atlesians that she dove at had their swords extended. One of them, in armor underlined with yellow, drew his pistol as well, firing three rounds at the advancing Velvet. She spun through the air to avoid them, and was successful in dodging two of them. The third, however, connected with her thigh. Velvet felt a burning sensation as the Dust bullet made passage into her flesh. Despite the searing agony she had never felt before in her young life, Velvet had the presence of mind to summon a Hard-Light copy of a Warhammer to defend herself.

She swung the hammer, connecting it with the chest of the Atlesian who shot her, sending him flying three meters back. Velvet landed hard on her side in front of the second soldier, who's armor was lined with blue, just as his comrade him had. He stood over Velvet, with an all-too familiar smile that one had when they felt the fight was in their favor. He stuck the end of his blade just inches from Velvet's nose.

"I'll give you one more chance to come nicely." He smugly said.

Velvet glared at the soldier. There were few times in her life when she hated someone more than she did that soldier in that moment.

"With all due respect, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to go to hell instead."

This only made the soldier chuckle. He placed both of his hands on the sword, and held it with the blade pointed down, directly over Velvet's chest.

"I thought you'd say that. Have it your way."

The soldier lifted his sword and began to thrust it in a downward motion. ("Whoa whoa whoa." Rojo interjected. "What?" Velvet inquired. "These guys were supposed to bring you and this Hansel dude in alive, yet this soldier was literally about to drive his sword into you. What the hell?" Velvet thought for a moment before answering, recollecting a relevant memory. "I thought about that myself a while after. I suppose the reason he did that is because he thought that Hansel and I had killed his comrades. Either that, or he was just bloodthirsty and I happened to give him the perfect excuse to off me." Rojo looked off and nodded. "Any other questions, Rojo?" She asked."None that I'm sure won't be answered later on, like why I can't remember any of this being on the news or anything." "Oh, that." Rojo said nothing, while Velvet continued. "I'll get to that later. Now, where was I?" "You were about to get stabbed." Rojo said.)

The blade was thrust down, and Velvet shut her eyes, bracing herself for the feeling of a painful death. However, the feeling never , Velvet felt a large gust of wind blow over her, followed by the sound of a pained grunt coming from who she assumed to be the soldier. Slowly, Velvet opened her eyes. She saw nothing but blue sky, initially. After a few seconds, however, a concerned Hansel bent over her and got her to her feet. She attempted to walk on her injured leg, still being closed by her aura. The leg failed to support her frame and she fell onto her hands and knees. Hansel helped her up, supporting her as the two made their way to the vacant troop transport.

"We can't use that." Velvet advised through her pain-induced gritted teeth. "They all have tracking beacons. They'll find us."

"Only if we fly it to our destination. We're not that stupid. I'll fly it past where we're going, and then we can walk back. We're going to have to skip out on the Dust mine;too close by. We'll see if we can find another vacant house or cabin. Sound good?"

"I'll tell you what sounds good. The sooner I get off of this leg and some rest. All of this battle and Semblance using has left my body exhausted. Oh, and the fact that I have a Dust bullet in my leg."

Hansel looked down at Velvet with a grave look.

"Did you say that you were shot."

Velvet groaned winced as a fresh jolt of pain shot up her body, originating from her leg.

"Yeah."

With that, Hansel turned Velvet around and began to feel the back side of her thigh. Velvet suddenly became red and turned around as fast as could manage to slap Hansel. Despite being in severe pain as a result, it did not take Velvet's mind away from what she saw as a perverted attempt to invade her personal space.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Velvet angrily inquired.

Hansel shushed her, and continued feeling.

"Stop that!" Velvet shouted, hitting Hansel over the head and limping away in the process.

"I'm trying to see there's an exit wound. If the Dust bullet is still in you, then that is very bad news. Can I check, please? I promise to be quick about it."

Still red from embarrassment and anger, she turned around. She shuddered as she felt Hansel's hand quickly rub up and down her leg. When he took his hand away, he placed Velvet under his support once more.

Hansel swore and began to rush even faster to the vehicle, not taking Velvet's condition into consideration as he bumped her up and down. The pain was excruciating, and Velvet did not bother to hide it.

"I'm sorry, Velvet. We need to get you to that transport. They have a medical kit onboard, and we can use that. We need get that bullet out of you before it's too late."

Velvet, quite familiar with how Dust bullets worked thanks to many detailed conversations with Coco, was already quite aware of how dire the situation had become.

"There was no exit wound?"

"No, and if we don't get it out within the next few hours, the Dust in the bullet will-"

"Dissolve in my bloodstream and I'll die of Dust poisoning. I know. My friend is an expert in Firearms. She taught me about these things." Velvet interrupted.

"Exactly." Hansel said as he pulled Velvet into the metallic interior of the transport. He strapped Velvet into the co-pilot's and returned to the bay area to do what Velvet assumed was look for the fabled Med Kit. He returned with one. It was a small, white, square plastic box with a large red cross over the front.

"It's got everything we need. We'll tend to it, as soon as get the hell out of here. This place is gonna be crawling with Atlas soldiers before too long. Once we land again in a few minutes, I'm gonna need to cut your leg open, since your Aura has already closed the wound. Sound good?"

"No. But we need to do it, so I'm going to just pretend like it is. Let's get this thing up and out of here. Can you fly it?"

Hansel nodded and cracked his knuckles as he strapped himself into the pilot's chair, pushing the necessary buttons and flipping the necessary switches to power on the transport. The various dials, meters, and switches lit up as Hansel began to flip additional switches and push what Velvet thought was the throttle, sending the vehicle straight above. He then pushed and flipped other things that were foreign to Velvet. Whatever Hansel pressed, it sent them forward slightly over the treeline.

The radio crackled to life after a few minutes of flying, with a voice that both startled and frightened Velvet.

"Ursa 816, this is Control. We've detected an unreported departure. Did you apprehend targets? Over."

Hansel turned white and looked over to Velvet for some sort of assistance. She knew that she couldn't speak on the radio for Hansel, considering that she had never seen a female Atlesian soldier (not that she'd be able to tell under the layers of armor).

"You need to talk to them. They'll know that we're not soldiers if they hear a woman's voice. Just say the original pilot was killed during the mission, and that you took over."

Hansel took a large gulp, then picked up one of the headsets for the radio and cupped them around his ear. He pulled microphone to his mouth. Velvet located the second headset and followed suit.

"Sorry about that, Control. One of the captives was trying to get loose. We can confirm. Targets are onboard. Targets are onboard."

"Voice cannot be ID'ed. Pilot, identify yourself."

Hansel froze once more, looking to Velvet again.

Just say a name. Velvet mouthed to Hansel.

Hansel nodded and took a deep breath.

"This is Corporal Topaz of the fifth battalion. Service number 07181199. The previous pilot is KIA. I'm taking over."

The radio only emitted static for the next two minutes, making Velvet very uneasy. She pondered if they would be able pull this off. However, in the back of her mind, Velvet knew just how impossible this sounded. When the Control tower came back on, her fears were realized.

"We have no record of any soldiers by that service number, rank, or affiliations currently serving. Put your CO on son. That's an order."

Hansel took a deep breath and remained silent. He looked straight ahead, flexing his hands on the controls. Several minutes of radio silence filled Velvet's headset until the Air Controller came back on.

"I'm not going to say it again. Put your CO on, or we'll be forced to intercept. This is your last warning."

The two remained silent, while Velvet looked over at Hansel.

"Hansel," She began. "Who's name did you give them?"

"It was my uncle's. He was a pilot in the Atlesian Military about 10 years ago. He was the one who taught me how to fly this thing." He said, punctuated with a sigh.

Velvet looked away, not sure whether to praise Hansel's quick thinking or chide his stupidity. She did not have the chance to decide as the Controller crackled through once more.

"All available units, we have a rogue gunship in Vale airspace. I'll send coordinates to any ships in the area. Please move to intercept. Over."

Hansel and Velvet simultaneously swore as they heard this.

"Ok. Change of plans. We're bringing this bird down-now." Hansel said with an air of authority, taking the headset off of his head. He turned to Velvet.

"If they think we crashed, it may buy us some time to get away."

"What do you propose?"

"Well, will you be able to lift me if you fly out of here?"

Velvet considered the limits of her own upper-body strength, then nodded.

"Ok, good. It's because I need you to fly me directly over a tree so I can propel myself out of here. Can you fly for long distances? Are you up for it?"

Velvet nodded. She knew that she wasn't, but her lesson concerning being a burden came into mind when she considered relaying this information, and remained silent. Hansel nodded back to her, and turned back to the controls. He pulled up on the controls, nearly stalling the machine as they forced it's ascent. Hansel kept pulling until they could see Remnant's curvature.

"Velvet, get to the bay, and hold onto something. This is about to get...turbulent. Be ready to jump out with me when I get there. We need to do this flawlessly and quickly."

"Of course. Consider me there." Velvet removed her headset whose earphones had since become filled with pilots frantically trying to intercept Hansel and herself.

Velvet rushed to the back and held onto the nearest bar. She called out Hansel's name, prompting him to turn back. Rather than try to shout over the transport's strained engine. She threw up one of her thumbs and nodded. Hansel nodded back and took a large deep breath that Velvet could see. He then proceeded to push the transport into a nosedive.

Velvet wrapped her feet around the bars underneath the chair in front of her so she wouldn't be sucked out the open bay doors. Her eyes closed for a split second. When they opened once more, Hansel was rushing towards her. Without a word, she wrapped around him and summoned Icarina's wings.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!" They simultaneously shouted as they leaned out the bay door and were overtaken by the wind.

Velvet carefully eyed the plane as it continued to plummet until it connected with the treeline and tore through said trees before bursting into a large fireball. She steered clear of the smoke and wreckage, looking for an apprpriate place to drop Hansel. She finally found one and notified Hansel of it. He nodded when he was ready to drop, of which Velvet did without hesitation. He equipped his Wind-and-Fire Wheels midair and began to propel himself from tree to tree. Velvet flew alongside him, into the sunset.

Into our destinies. She thought with both fear and jubilation.