Tortured

There wasn't much left after the fire had consumed the building; storage, fuel, walls, and even the people that weren't lucky. That was the thought that went through Tanner's mind as he gazed down to a pile of ash. There wasn't much surrounding the pile though what was surrounding was enough to leave a pit in his stomach. Around the pile was only two items of worth wild importance, one was an arm wrapped in a gray sleeve and a lower half of a leg wrapped in black jeans. Tanner couldn't look away from the pile as the surrounding environment began to fade away leaving only a white backdrop.

"You failed me" an ominous voice declared as if it was around him. "You failed me…."

"You told me to make sure they were out of here," Tanner said with terror in his voice. "I made sure they got out of there."

"You left me to die" came the voice once again howling from everywhere. "You left me to die!"

"I did only as you…." Tanner spoke before being cut off mid sentence by the voice once again.

"YOU LET ME DIE!" This caused Tanner to fall to his hands with his face directly over the leg. With this, the ash began to swirl upwards taking the shape of a human being but with no face. But with the right arm missing and the lower left leg missing. "Now so shall you" the voice declared as he lifted his left arm above its head as if to stab Tanner were he kneeled.

"Please no, please no" Tanner begged has he looked up to his attacker were his eyes would have been.

"EXEPCET YOUR DEATH" it yelled at him as the arm came swinging down to his head.

"NO!" Tanner yelled as he flung himself up from the bed he lay in. With cold beads of sweat cling to his forehead, his eyes widen by terror and adrenaline flowing through his system. His hands dug into the mattress as if he was trying to contain himself to try and find some stability. He shifted his feet to hang over the bed so he was now sitting with his hands holding his head up. As Tanner sat there he slowed his breathing allowing for more air to fill his lungs. "How many times have I relived that dream, how many times will I have to relive that."

After he calmed his nerves he stood up from the bed he could feel his legs almost give out on him. Finding his support from the small nightstand next to the bed allowing him to somewhat stand up. "Come on man you have to get over it, It was only a dream, A terrible and sad one but a dream none the less," Tanner said quietly trying to reassure himself.

Right then he let go of the nightstand to stand on his own two feet. With that, he walked over to his pack and opened it to reveal his usual blue jeans fold up. Next to his jeans was his normal brown shirt that he tore off the sleeves from with his two orange arm bands laying on top. He grabbed his clothes and slipped them on buttoning up his shirt leaving just the top two buttons undone as he always did.

After his clothes were removed from his pack he found his two weapons laying at the bottom of the bag. Base cutter, his two Katar weapons with a sub-machine pistol located in each blade. For now, their blades were wrapped up in a silk cloth that was attached to the brace to protect the blades and everything around them for that matter. He proceeded to hang them from the back of his belt with both blades crossed over.

Tanner then went back to the nightstand that helped him save face but this time it wasn't meant to help him stay up. This time it was to retrieve his scroll, sunglasses, headphones, and his speaker that he always kept on the left side of his hip. He folded out his sunglasses and then rested them over his hazel eyes, with his headphones wrapped around his neck. With that, he headed over to the door to his room to find his shoes sitting off to the side of the door.

After he laced up his shoes he opened up the door to head on to the deck of the ship he was currently traveling on to reach Atlas. Once outside he headed over to the railing to lean over to breath in the salty sea air. Tanner leaned on that railing for what seemed like minutes but hours drifted by without him noticing it.

"Excuse me, sir," came a small quiet voice from behind him snapping Tanner out of his daze. With that, he spun around to see who was talking to him but at first, he didn't see anyone just the wall to his room. "Excuse me, down here" the voice came again causing Tanner to look down to see a young Faunus girl stand there holding a small doll.

"Sorry about you caught me in a bit of a daze," Tanner apologizing to the girl as he squatted down to talk to her better. "How is it going there, kid."

"I am not a kid anymore, I am 10 years old," the little girl corrected him now with her eyes turned down to her doll, away from Tanner

"Oh, I'm sorry there I didn't mean to be rude to you." Tanner apologizing to the girl trying to keep himself from smiling or laughing. Though he found it to be very difficult considering the circumstance.

"It's alright," she said no longer looking down to her doll. "What are those thing hanging off your waist?" she asked as she pointed to Base Cutter.

"Oh those silly things, they are…." Tanner stuttered trying to figure the best way to say it "eh just tools of the trade for me." He stated trying not to scare the little girl.

"Are you huntsman?" she asked with her eyes now looking up to him. This caused a small smile to form at the corner of Tanners mouth, creeping across his face

"How did you know," Tanner asked still with a smile at the end of his mouth.

"I guessed. Did you save many people?" The little girl asked still looking at him with now almost a gleam in her eyes now.

With that Tanner thought back to his nightmare hearing the dark foreboding voice again. "Some, not as many as I could of but, more than my fair share though," He said with his voice hanging low and his eyes looking down to the deck now.

"Oh," she said as her eyes seemed to lose that glimmer of light in her eyes, "was any of them your friends?" she asked once again.

"Enough about me, how about you, are you traveling with your family to Atlas?" Tanner asked trying to change the subject quickly.

"I'm with my family but we are traveling to Menagerie just stopping in Atlas for a bit." The little girl quickly answering, "They say it filled with mean people," The girl stated.

"I think I know what you mean by 'mean people', but don't forget where there are mean people there are nice ones too," Tanner stated try to reassure the little girl which seemed to work for now she was looking directly at him again.

"Are you traveling to Atlas?" she asked Tanner with curiosity in her voice once again.

"I am actually, I'm going to meet some old friends," Tanner stated with a smile once again on his face.

"Are they nice?" she asked trying to keep their conversation going.

"One of them is very nice, the other one…." Tanner stalled thinking of his friends. "The other one is not so nice though she isn't that mean either," Tanner stated.

Almost as on cue a voice came over the intercom "Attention everyone we're about to reach the port for Atlas, everyone who is heading to Menagerie we will have a short layover for about an hour, if you wish to look around the market stalls around the port just let one of the staff know so they can make sure we don't leave without you." The voice being the captain of the ship.

"Well, I guess I need to get ready to get off of the ship, and you should run back to your family before they start to worry." Tanner speaking to the little girl just after the announcement.

"OK," she said just before turning around too started to walk down the deck but just before she got 6 steps away from him she turned around and asked "what's your name? If you don't mind me asking".

"Me? My name is Tanner Ocaso, you better remember it because one day I will be famous and you can brag to your friends that you know me before I was famous." Tanner stated with a wide grin on his face.

"YAY RIGHT!" she yelled as she ran back to her family laughing and giggling. With that Tanner went into his room and grabbed his pack to get ready to leave the ship.

After he got off the ship he wandered around the market not looking for anything of any particular reason. After some time wandering the market and now with a pack full of this and that he proceeded to head to their meeting place, but on the way, he got distracted by many different stalls on his path.

When he finally got to the FrozenHole he looked around to see if could see his friend's, with a quick look around he, manage to make out one of them out. There sitting in a chair with her back turned to him he could make a yellow jacket with a pair of white sleeves coming out of the jacket. Her blonde hair laying down on her shoulders with a grace that Tanner never really understood. His hair was in contrast to hers, he kept his black hair in a dreadlock style that he usually let hang down from the back of his head.

"Of course I had run into her first" Tanner stated with a hint of disgust in his voice. So he walked over to her trying to act as if everything is alright. "How's it going you Highness?" Tanner asked in a joking tone of voice from behind her.

Stella reacted quickly leaping from her seat spinning around to meet Tanner face to face. She quickly frowned at the sight of Tanner, this just gave him a reason to smile a bit. She quickly placed her face into her right hand, shaking her head back and forth. "Why couldn't you have shown up five minutes later?" Erin retorted with her head still planted in the palm of her hand. But before Tanner could answer another familiar voice rang up from the crowd,

"HA! I told you there was no way he would have been that late." Tanner quickly turned to the sound of the voice to see Minojent heading over to the table with three bottles of soda in her hands. When Minojent finally got over to the table she sat the three drinks down each one in front of a seat. With that Tanner grabbed his seat and spun it around before sitting down resting his arms on the back of the chair.

"Guess drinks are on you today, Isn't that right Stella," Minojent stated as she sat down in her chair with Stella quickly sitting down as well crossing her legs under her yellow skirt. With that Stella looked up at Tanner with her amber eyes

"Why couldn't have been five more minutes," Stella asked Tanner with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

It took Tanner a couple minutes to piece altogether "Wait, wait, wait. you to had a bet on how late I was going to be?" Tanner asked in shock but the only answer he got was the two of them nodding their heads. "I feel hurt you know" Tanner stated with somewhat of a grin still on his face.

"Well you get the next round if it makes you feel better," Stella retorted with a look of disapproval on her face.

"Nah I'm good," Tanner said before reaching for his glass with a grin over his lips. With that a somber silence fell over them all three of them remember why they got together today. Before anyone could speak Minojent Raised her drink into the air

"To Grey Chinook," she said with her bottle still in the air,

"To Grey," Stella raising her bottle to join with Minojent.

"To Sharp Eye" Tanner also raising his bottle to the other as they clinked them together.