"War is like a monster...It starts and it consumes and it grows and grows and otherwise normal men become monsters, too." ~Patrick Ness

War was an ugly thing. It tore nations in half and set them against each other. The aftermath was worse.

Buildings burning, corpses littering the ground, pools of blood at the base of walls. Aionion couldn't remember the last time he'd seen this much death and destruction. This wasn't even counting the Grimm that tried to pull him from the bike, leaping at random intervals, causing him to keep a sword out and limit their turning ability. Scarlet was taking care of herself behind him, fending them off with well placed shots to legs and foreheads.

It was only when they reached what was left of the wall that they slowed down. There was a massive hole in the wall that could easily allow a Deathstalker through. There was even large claw marks near the top of the wall, seeming like something large perched there. They drove through the hole and came upon sight of thousands of corpses lying on streets, some in odd twisted angles from falling from rooftops and windows.

Scarlet buried her face into his back when they passed a girl in a bright yellow dress, now forever stained dark orange. Aionion looked away from the dead and hurried on through the city. They drove on through the city, encountering less Grimm as they went, until they reached the safe zone that had been established in Vale.

There were white tents everywhere, each marked with a red cross. Aionion resisted the urge to look inside. Scarlet, too used to aura, attempted to look inside but was pulled back by Aionion. "Don't." His voice still didn't settle, although it was becoming deeper as time went on. "Civilians don't have aura to shield them."

Nebula groaned as he 'woke' from sleeping. 'What's this place? Doesn't look too sanitary.'

'It seems this is what remains of Vale. Its a miracle they even have this.'

Aionion stopped the bike a mile from Beacon. "Scarlet, its time to go. Lets get your weapons before that dragon unfreezes itself. They rushed to grab her things as quickly and quietly as possible. They only stopped once to avoid a Beowolf as it prowled by as they hid on the ceiling.

It would've worked, had Nebula not commented on the slightly compromising position they were in. Scarlet was hanging off of his side, jutting out over the Beowolf's head. 'Putting the moves on I see. Now-'

Aionion's concentration was halted for less than a second but it was enough that his foot slid down the wall and hit a door frame. The Beowolf's head snapped upwards before it howled and leapt at them. Scarlet was beginning to slide, so Aionion caught her by her boots and she hung in the air as she took aim.

Sharply pulling the trigger, the now dead Beowolf smashed into them with less force than it would have. They fell to the floor with a large piece of the wall they were on. Aionion slung Scarlet over his shoulder before rushing to leave behind the area they'd just been in. Scarlet repeatedly got her breath knocked out of her as she bounced on Aionion's shoulder. They made it safely, their only concerns being the Grimm that might have heard their heavy breathing as they ran.

Both gave a sigh of relief before returning to the safe house Dantos was at. Scarlet looked up at the massive building that had no accessible entrances. "How do we get in? There's only two entrances."

"We wait."

"You're making zero sense."

'Honestly you're not making much sense to me either.'

"Just wait you two."

They sat and waited for an hour as they waited for something to happen. "Nothing's happened so either you're playing me for a fool or.."

Aionion offhandedly looked at the holographic timer that appeared from the armor on his wrists. "An hour and thirty-three seconds. Dantos owes me money."

Scarlet stood in front of the wall while looking back at him. "What?!"

"We bet on how long until you burst. Just touch the wall."

She cautiously placed her hand on the wall before looking at him pointedly. She nearly jumped when the wall behind her slid into the ground with a loud screeching noise. She huffed before walking in. "I'm still angry about the bet."

Aionion gave a small tight-lipped smile before walking the Phantom in after her. 'Feisty.'

Nebula turned to look at the reader. 'Think he realizes how much more her hips are swaying than normal? No? Didn't think so.'

'You say something?'

'You really want to know?'

Silence was the only answer he received. 'Thought so.'

The entire complex was silent until they reached the hanger. They found Dantos in the clothes he wore at the team round but with the addition of a stark white apron. Comically, he was humming to himself as he cleaned the underside of his personal ship.

Aionion sighed while Scarlet began laughing. Aionion looked over from where he was storing his bike at the sound of laughter. To him, it was unfitting that someone could laugh before the biggest war Remnant had ever seen. To Dantos, it was comforting that someone still could laugh after seeing the ruins of the city, old and new. Nebula just loved to hear her melodious laugh and decided to join in.

Aionion left the three to laugh while he went to collect their next assignment. Hey, even during a war, this place took a lot of money to run. He'd just left the room when Scarlet lurched herself back to her feet. She blinked away the tears in her eyes while looking for Aionion. Not seeing him, she turned to Dantos to see he'd vanished as well. 'Great. Now they're doing the cliche disappear trick, like in that terrible comic we st- confiscated from the Arc kid.'

While she began her search for them, both males were locked in conversation in another building. "What the hell happened?!"

"Taking care of unfinished business."

Dantos softly grunted before gesturing to his new features. "And this?"

"Nebula."

Dantos rolled his eyes before sarcastically replying, "Oh, that makes soooo much sense."

Aionion nearly smirked. "Glad we agree."

Dantos nearly sputtered but held out. "So what now?"

"We move on. We can go anywhere in the world."

Nebula popped his head up from the edge of the roof and nodded. "Adventure is out there!"

Ignoring the rather odd sight of Nebula appearing from nowhere, Dantos moved to the edge of the roof, looking out into the darkness surrounding Vale. "What about Scarlet? We still have to ease her into killing other humans."

"We'll start with escort missions. Get her to kill some would-be assassins."

Dantos nodded before jumping across the divide between the buildings. Aionion took three steps back and threw himself across. Dantos landed as softly as a leaf on the ground while Aionion slammed into the ground in his customary crater. "Could you not create a crater when you land?"

"Nope. Too much weight."

Both knew that was utter bullshit. Aionion could lessen his gravity if he wanted. The solid metal door screeched as it opened, reminding Aionion to oil the hinges. It also attracted some left over Griffins that were preening themselves nearby. The two shared a look and simultaneously cocked their preferred weapon to shoot at the Grimm. Dantos fired freely, making use of the shotgun shells he loaded his hand gun with. Aionion loaded a clip with smaller bullets and spent precious time taking aim.

Dantos's bullets tore through their wings, sending them plummeting to their deaths. Aionion lined up each shot so that each took out three at once. Both were competively counting their kills, trying to outdo the other. Eventually the Grimm ran out and Dantos looked sheepish as he turned to Aionion. "Wanna call it a draw?"

"That's only because you know I won."

"Yeah, well, you're stupid."

"Who's the one who builds vehicles for fun?"

Dantos grumbled as they entered the building. They found Scarlet at the bottom of the stairwell, with Nebula hiding in the corner. Nebula mouthed run at them. They ignored him, seeing as they'd never been put in their place by a woman before. "What took so long? I was looking for you guys for an hour."

She had her arms crossed over her chest, clearly mad at something. She was looking straight at them unflinchingly. It unnerved them both but Dantos blundered on like only he could. "There was a bunch of Grimm! What were we supposed to do, let them eat us?"

Scarlet renewed her glare at them both. Dantos and Aionion turned their back to her and were formulating a plan to get out of this mess. "So we run as soon as she looks away for a split second?"

"Yeah, got any better ideas smartass?"

Aionion stood up and turned back to where Scarlet should have been. His eyes widened upon noticing her gone. Dantos turned around before putting in his own two cents. "So that's what that feels like. I almost feel sorry for anyone we did that to."

Scarlet spoke from where she stood, leaning over Dantos's shoulder. "Now you know how I feel."

Both reacted as minimally as possible. Dantos twitched and Aionion batted his lashes twice. Scarlet scoffed at their masculine pride. "Where is the nearest bedroom? I am so tired."

She'd yawned partway through the sentence, convincing them of its truth. Dantos pointed down the hall as they turned towards the single room at the end of the hall. The room was filled, wall to wall, with monitors, each keeping track of available bounties and missions for hunters. "So which is first?"

"We start with the basics, escorts, then we move to protection details."

"Easing her in? We were thrown into the deep end immediately."

"She is not like us yet. She knows only killing of monsters, not humans. Once she gets it over with, then you can toss her in. But for now, we have a bar to hit. Let's see if I can hold my alcohol as well as you."

"How much do you want to put on it?"

"One full card."

"One full card. You wanna put that much money on this? Feeling cocky today?"

Aionion smirked at Dantos. It was his favorite facial expression now. It disarmed the ones who saw it and allowed for an underhanded move. "We shall see."

Turns out, Aionion couldn't keep up. He still made it difficult to do though. They attracted quite the crowd once they got to their seventh drink. People had even begun to place bets on their favorite. Aionion was the crowd favorite, as he was the underdog.

They only stopped when Aionion slumped over in his chair, unconscious. Dantos threw his arms in the air among the cheering from the crowd. Dantos drunkenly slapped down the last drink of the night and put down six of the cards he had on him. "For the drinks, and everyone's next round."

None there knew that the cards were stolen from their own pockets. Dantos slipped Aionion onto his shoulder and carried him from the room. Dantos slung him against the wall of the ship they came in and sat down behind the controls. He briefly glanced back when Aionion slid down the wall. Shaking his head, he set the ship on autopilot and laid back in his seat. Dantos set his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, reflecting on his day. 'I cleaned the ships, did some light dusting, and organized the armory. What am I forgetting?'

'Whatever, I'll do it tomorrow.'

Scarlet woke in an unfamiliar place and quickly gripped her weapons. She let out a sigh as she confirmed they were still there. 'Okay, so I have my weapons and I'm not restrained. Where the hell am I?'

She sat up in the soft, silky bed and looked over the room she was in. The door was against the far wall and a closet was set into the wall to her left. "Ooooooooh!"

Scarlet rolled her eyes when she recognized the voice. "What a scary ghost... Am I supposed to scream now?"

Dantos stepped out of the closet and leaned against the wall near the door. His cloak was slightly ruffled and she didn't see his weapons on him. She also noticed the smirk on his face. "That wasn't me."

Scarlet paled as a large, dark shadow fell over her. Scarlet's heart raced as the..thing behind her breathed down her neck before standing and walking into the middle of the room. Its large horned head turned to regard her before it broke into loud, heart clenching laughter. Dantos began tearing up as he started to laugh. "You should have seen the look on your face!"

Scarlet's face burned bright red in anger as she watched the monstrous being become Nebula. She lobbed a fireball at him in her anger. Nebula, in between his shifts, hastened his transformation to crystal. Just as it smashed into him, his body was coated in a layer of crystal, preventing it from doing any harm.

That didn't say much for the room though. The fireball had exploded, sending heat everywhere. Thankfully the only thing that caught fire was Dantos, as he was standing next to Nebula when it hit. Dantos looked around as his cape was slowly consumed in the fire. "Is something burning?"

Scarlet looked on, wide-eyed, as a large puddle of water hovered over his head. "Dantos you're on fire!"

"Hmm, so it seems."

His sentence was made incomprehensible when the large pool of water over him poured over his head, dousing him and the fire. He pulled off his now tattered cloak and roughly shook it, sending large rivulets of water to the floor. "Shall we go?"

She nodded before ushering him out of her room. "Let me get changed first. Where are we going anyway?"

"It's time for your first solo mission."

She froze with her shirt just over her head. She stared wide-eyed at the door Dantos had exited from. "What!?"