-Three Years Ago-
The one thing that Destiny was scared of the most, was if there was ever a day when her father didn't come back home. It was bad enough that she stayed up late at nights just wondering where he was, but it always terrified her that something bad had happened to him, or if he was severely injured or worse.
This… Had been unfortunately one of those days.
Neo was the only one who had entered the tiny little apartment to pick up Destiny. Neo had to be honest with her, she had told Destiny that Roman was currently in the hospital. Of course Destiny demanded to see him. Neo and Destiny had gone to the hospital with Neo taking on a disguise so she would not be recognized by anyone.
There they were sitting in the waiting room, both of them equally nervously and scared for Roman. Neo sat next to the little one, holding Destiny close to her as she played with her hair nervously. They had been sitting in the room for hours, waiting to hear something, waiting to hear if he was going to be okay.
Soon enough a doctor had approached them.
"Excuse me, Miss. Cella right?" The Doctor said to Neo, calling her by her alias.
Neo stood up, letting go of Destiny so that she could go over to the doctor.
"Is he alright?" Destiny heard Neo ask the doctor.
She heard the Doctor replied, "The surgery was a success. He just needs some rest to recover."
Neo sighed with relief having heard that, "Can we see him?"
"Of course." The Doctor said, "He should be awake by now, just make sure you keep your voices down."
"Don't worry we will." Neo replied, "Thank you." The Doctor smiled before he went to one of the nurses that called to him. Neo went over to Destiny, "Hey, your dad is going to be okay. You wanna go see him?"
Destiny nodded her head and took Neo's hand. They proceeded down the hall hand in hand down the hall, passing by doctors, nurses, and patients that were there. Destiny couldn't help but avoid contact from the patients that looked over in her direction. Destiny often found herself looking into other rooms, seeing other friends with family members, a lover with a lover. She saw a mother and a father with their child. Destiny couldn't help but feel distraught at this, when she saw the mom reading a story to her child, and for a moment, she saw herself with her mom and father, as if everything was normal.
A long time ago her father had told her that certain things that had happened, cannot be changed. Destiny knew that, and even though she never met her mother, she wanted what others had. A friend and a regular family; people that loved her just for who she was. She couldn't help but have this thought as she placed her hand over her eyepatch.
Soon enough they had gotten to Roman's room, on the second floor. They went inside and found him sitting up on his bed, with half of his body covered with a layer of blankets. His chest was wrapped in bandages up to his neck, and his leg was seen in a cast resting on a pillow. He noticed that Destiny and Neo had entered the room.
"Hey…" Roman groaned weakly trying to sit up properly, "There you guys are…"
Destiny let go of Neo's hand and went over to Roman; she jumped on the bed and threw her arms around his neck earning a groan from him. Though despite this he put his arms around her; he felt tears hit his shoulder and neck.
"Hey, hey it's okay." Roman said with a gentle voice, "You know that your daddy is tougher than he looks."
Destiny finally spoke but choked out her words, "I was… I was so scared… I thought you would leave me alone, like mom did…"
Roman gently shushed her as he brushed her hair in a comforting way, "You don't have to worry about that… I would never leave you alone. If I did, I would be breaking my promise I had made to your mother." Destiny took comfort in his words, but still continued to cry as she buried her head once again in the crook of his neck. Roman still held her in his arms as she did, just comforting the little one. Neo sat closer to them and patted Destiny on her back just to comfort her.
"Doctor said that you need your rest for the time being." Neo said to Roman, "Looks like your not going to be taking jobs for a while."
"... I know." Roman said, "You don't need to remind me."
Neo let out a sigh, "I'll be sure to let Junior know about what's happened, if he's not heard about it already."
Though Destiny never said this out loud, she just wished that things would be different. She knew that it was the best for herself and her father, though she wish she had the courage to convince him to stop, though… She couldn't. All she could do, was sit and wait for her father to get better, and if necessary, prepare herself for the day, when her father never comes home. Though as she held her father as if she was afraid he would vanish before her very eyes, a very odd looking rabbit sat just by the door holding a single flower petal with a single red eye in the middle in it's mouth.
(Opening Theme: Let's Just Live Performed by Casey Lee Williams)
-Present; Menagerie-
The boat had just pulled up to the port of the small island; within a short time the ropes where tied on the large bolts and docked. The people started to get off and onto the land of Menagerie, Blake, her little brother Kobi and her friend Sun along with the crowd.
Sun looked around amazed just by how many people there were in one spot, let alone the many Fanus around the area, while Blake and Kobi were too surprised about the many people around the port mostly getting what was available in the markets nearby.
"This is… Just wow!" Sun said to the two cat Fanus, "I've never seen so many Fanus in one place before!"
"This is the one place where anyone can feel safe." Blake explained to Sun, "No matter who or what they are."
The three of them went through the market area. "Is it… Always this crowded?" Sun asked.
"Yes, yes it is." Blake said.
"Welcome to Menagerie." Kobi had added.
The three of them soon made their out of the crowded market and through the town and past the many people that had walked along the dirt path. Sun still looked around the area and seeing the people. "Um… Just a quick question…" Sun said passing a man with a crate, nearly bumping into him, "Is it always so cramped?"
"Pretty much." Kobi replied with a shrug, "It's like this everyday here on Menagerie."
"When you've taken an entire species and put them on an island with the two-thirds of it being a desert, it tends to be cramped." Blake said.
Sun dropped his jaw at this, "Seriously, you have that much space!? Than why waste it? A little desert never hurt anybody."
"It isn't like your turf in Vacuo Monkey Boy." Kobi said to Sin, "If it were that simple we would've used the desert to put houses in by now."
"Again, why don't you?" Sun asked.
"What he's trying to say is that the desert is filled with more dangerous wildlife than any of the other regions in Remnant." Blake said.
"So, in other words… They gave us a terrible island in the corner of Remnant, to try and shut us up?" Sun asked.
"Well if you wanna put it like that than yeah." Blake said.
"That's basically how it is." Kobi added.
"Hmph… What a bunch of jerks." Sun said.
"We did the best we could for what we got." Blake said.
The three of them went up the large staircase and had soon reached the top. From there they got the view of the rest of the town, and the houses that sat alongside it. A large house sat in the middle of a courtyard that was three stories at least and had a sophisticated rooftop.
"Whoa…" Sun said enjoying the view, "What is this place?"
"This is Kuro Kuana." Blake answered.
"This is where Blake and I grew up." Kobi said.
"It's… Beautiful…" Sun said, still amazed by the view, "I take back everything that I said before, this place looks great! Why would anyone want to ever leave?"
"Thanks for the compliment, but that's not the whole point…" Kobi said, his ears going droopy just at the thought.
"All we wanted was to be equal like everyone else." Blake had added, "Though instead we were just given an island and told to make due with it. We did the best we could. We came together and we made a home where any Fanus could feel welcome. But this island, this town, will just be a reminder. A reminder that we're still not equal… That we're just second class citizens…"
Blake and Kobi looked to their feet at the thought of the whole thing. The reason why they joined the White Fang in the first place, before it started to deter from what the White Fang was supposed to stand for. They both felt guilty for being a part of something that wanted to take the world that humans lived in through matters of violence. Kobi himself had especially felt guilty for not seeing what they had become sooner.
Sun saw the look on their faces and patted them both on the shoulder in a comforting way. He said to them with a smile, "Well, hey, this guy is feeling pretty at home."
Blake smiled to Sun while Kobi took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Speaking of which…" Kobi said putting his hands together, turning to his sister, "It's time for us to go back to our folks."
"Yeah, you're right." Blake said.
Sun had gotten excited at this, "Sweet! Can't wait to meet them! So which one is yours? Can you see it from here?"
"Kind of…" Blake said.
Sun started pointing to houses on the side of the staircase as he made his guesses. "Is it that one there? Or how about that tiny one there? I like the paintjob." Kobi couldn't help but roll his eyes; he stood next to Sun, "More like that one there." Kobi said before pointing to where the house was.
Sun followed Kobi's finger and saw that it was the house that had three stories. Sun looked at it dumbfounded as the group of three stood there in silence. He pointed to them, and back to the house; he only did this for a short time, before Blake and Kobi had finally nodded their heads. Sun's jaw dropped and he couldn't help but make an amazed voice from the very thought that it was their home.
"Come on." Blake said to them, "There's no point in just standing here."
"Okay." Kobi said.
They both descended down the stairs, but realized Sun wasn't following them since he was still frozen. Kobi let out a groan and went up the stairs, pretty much dragging Sun by the tail.
It had only took them a few moments, they found themselves in front of the gigantic doors. Blake and Kobi looked to the door nervously; She went to go knock but was hesitant to do it, while Kobi's body tensed up. Sun took notice of their nervousness when he saw her ears droopy and the way Kobi acted.
"Something the matter?" He asked.
Blake had replied, "I-It's just… It's been a long time since my brother and I have seen our parents…"
Kobi slowly started to back up; Sun and Blake noticed this.
He said, "I just remembered I have something to do so uh-I'll see you gu-AGH!"
Just before Kobi could sprint away Sun had grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and lifted him a few inches off of the ground. "Come on, don't chicken out scaredy cat, you've already come all this way, just face it like a man."
"I'm really starting to have second thoughts about this!" Kobi said trying to get out of Sun's grip, "AND DON'T CALL ME SCAREDY CAT MONKEY BOY!"
Blake went over to him, "He's right Kobi… We've already come this far. There's no sense to turn back now."
Kobi groaned as his ears went droopy again, "Okay fine, whatever you say sis…"
With that Sun let go of Kobi and he went next to his sister just in front of the door. Blake took the knob and knocked on the door; It had let out a loud booming sound as she did this which made them jump slightly.
"Okay if we're being honest, that's kind of intimidating." Sun said.
Just as soon as the knock sound faded, they heard a click sound on the other side and the door opened slightly. There they saw a young woman bearing some resemblance to Blake herself. Though the difference was she had short black hair and her cat ears above her head had three piercings; two on her left and one on her right. She wore a black traditional outfit with one sleeve trimmed and a pair of black hakama pants with matching sandals.
Her golden eyes widened when she saw the two young teenagers with cat ears at the top of their heads.
"Blake…? Kobi…?" She said with disbelief in her voice.
"Hey…" Kobi said with a wave nervously.
"Hi mom, we're back." Blake said with a nervous smile.
The woman, being Blake and Kobi's mom, placed her hand over mouth, silently gasping before going over to the two of them, putting her arms around the both of them causing the siblings to freeze up.
"My dear little babies…" She said as held onto them tightly.
"Mom…" Kobi said, his face turning red since he was a little embarrassed at the "baby" remark, but he sucked it up and leaned into his mother's embrace, putting his arms around her. Blake after a few moments smiled and leaned into the hug, putting her arms around her mother as well.
Soon enough a voice belonging to a man came over them; most likely being the father of the two young teens.
"Kali? Who is it?"
The woman named Kali turned and said, "Ghira! Ghira! It's Blake and Kobi! Our children have come home!"
The three teens looked and saw a tall muscular man; he had black hair and a beard as well and had a pair of golden yellow eyes. He had on a violet jacket that revealed the hair on his chest and had a sash around his waist that matched his jacket. He had on a pair of beige pants with black leather boots and had some kind of shoulder armor and the same silver armor on his abs as well.
He almost didn't believe his wife's words but soon saw them with his own eyes; his expression changed, and saw them at the door by his wife's side. Both Blake and Kobi gave a smile to their father, and they silently waved to him.
The father, by the name of Ghira smiled back at them, just as happy as his wife was to see them both.
-Later-
Once everything had settled, they had proceeded into the dining area, where they had rested from their travels. Blake and Kobi filled them in on what they were doing since they've been away from home; though Kobi kept the fact that he was part of Vale and Beacon's destruction since he wasn't ready to tell them. They knew he was in Vale but not the fact he was a part of the destruction. They were shocked to hear some of the stories of course, but still they were just glad to see them back home.
"We were horrified when we heard the news." Kali said to them, "The Kingdom of Vale wasn't always perfect, but it certainly didn't deserve what happened. We were both so worried."
"Please, this is our son and daughter we're talking about!" Ghira said crossing his arms and had a smile, "I knew they would be fine."
Kali scoffed at this, "Oh that isn't even the slightest bit true. You should've seen him pacing."
Kobi rubbed the back of his neck as he didn't make eye contact; his parents didn't notice though his sister did. Blake poured a cup of tea and handed over to him. He smiled to her and took the cup, "Thanks." He said as he started to drink from the cup.
Sun had spoken up, "Hey you guys Kobi is able to take care of himself like Blake. I mean I've seen her in action, and trust me she's got some moves!"
Blake froze at this while Kobi nearly choked on the tea. "You what!?" Kobi exclaimed.
Ghira looked over to Sun, glaring at him, "And what exactly do you mean by that Mr. Wukong?"
Sun looked over to Ghira and realized the look he was giving him. "I-Uh-Well-You see sir it's just that, she's a good fighter and all, and uh-as a fellow fighter I have a lot of respect-"
"Who the hell does he think he is? Making a move like that on you…" Kobi said through gritted teeth.
"Kobi, it's nothing like that." Blake said to him calmly.
Kali leaned over to Blake, "Why is he here again?"
"He just kind of followed us home." Blake replied.
"Ah, I see." Kali said.
"... It's uh just I mean, she's slightly above average and uh…" Sun said but he stopped himself when he saw everyone was giving a look, Blake included leaving an awkward silence. Sun used his tail to grab a hold of the teapot and pour the tea in his cup; he took a giant sip from the cup.
"This is some really good tea!" Sun said with an embarrassed smile.
"I like him." Kali said to Blake; she turned red, and Kobi double take.
"MOM!" The two siblings exclaimed, with Blake's face turning red ever so slightly.
Before they could make more conversation, they suddenly jumped when there was a knock at the front door; Ghira seemed to know who it was exactly.
"Darn it, I completely forgot about the meeting." He said.
"Ghira…" Kali said putting her hand over his to calm him down.
"Give me a moment." Ghira said to them; he stood up from his seat and walked towards the front door. "Meeting?" Kobi said with confusion before asking Kali, "What sort of meeting?"
" Is everything okay?" Blake asked.
"Yes dear it's just poor timing." Kali replied, "He can reschedule. It's just been hard dealing with them lately."
"Them?" Kobi asked, "Who do you mean?"
Kali took a moment to drink her tea before she answered, "...The White Fang." Sun, Kobi and Blake's eyes widened at this; they all stood up at the same time from their seats. "WHAT!?" The three of them exclaimed; They ran out of the room, and to the front door. There they spotted two men standing just outside, both of them looking exactly the same, having the same outfit, yet one had wolf ears and the other had a wolf's tail.
"DAD!" Blake yelled.
"POPS!" Kobi shouted after his sister.
"Blake, Kobi?" Ghira said, "What's wrong?"
The two of them, their names being, Corsac and Fennec Albain bowed their heads when they saw the two of them.
"Young Belladonna, Miss Belladonna." Corsac said in greeting.
"We had no idea you both returned." Fennec said.
"Dad, why are you talking to these people!?" Blake said.
"Who are they anyway!?" Kobi said.
Ghira replied, "This is Corsac and Fennec Albain. They represent the White Fang here in Menagerie."
"Are you kidding me!?" Sun yelled, "You mean to tell me that those psychos are here too?!"
"Young man, I'm not sure what you've heard of our organization." Fennec said, "But I can assure you we're not nearly as ferocious as the media has to believe."
Blake and Kobi looked at him angrily at this. "What we heard?!" Kobi said, "We didn't just hear! We saw it with our own eyes!"
"We all witnessed what you did!" Blake said, "We all saw first hand in Vale! Your fanatics slaughtered people!"
Ghira seemed surprised to hear this; he turned to the two brothers, "What are they talking about?"
"It is precisely what we came to discuss with you your Grace." Corsac replied calmly. Kali came into the room having just having heard the words spoken from their mouths. "Is everything okay?"
"Wait you guys seriously don't know?!" Sun said with disbelief.
"Know what…?" Ghira said dangerously.
Blake looked to her younger brother Kobi; she saw the look of guilt in his eyes and turned away, his ears having gone down knowing that she had to tell him the truth. Blake took a deep breath before saying, "The White Fang was at the Fall of Beacon. They attacked and they released Grimm into the school. What's worse… Before all of that, they kidnapped a child, and took her as a hostage! She's been apart from her family since before the Vytal Festival started!"
Kobi's ears perked up for two reasons. One was he was surprised Blake purposely didn't include him at the fact he was a part of it's destruction, but because of the kidnapping of a child.
"Are you serious?" Kobi said to Blake, though not really expecting her to answer, "They kidnapped a child? I never knew…"
"Is this true?" Ghira said, shocked as Kobi was having heard all of this from his daughter.
"Sadly your Grace, it is." Fennec said.
"Don't act like you-" Blake said before getting cut off by Ghira.
"That's enough!" He said before turning to the brothers, "Explain yourselves."
Corsac soon explained, "Though it pains us to admit, it has become apparent that the Vale branch is no longer operating under orders from high leader Khan. Rather they've elected to follow the rule of one Adam Taurus. I believe you're all too familiar with the young adept and his… Extreme philosophies."
"You know Beacon wasn't the first time Fang started to shooting up Vale!" Sun said to them.
Fennec spoke up, "The High Council had their suspicions about there being a splinter group, but they could prove nothing until it's latest incident."
"Incident?!" Blake said, "People are dead! And it's because of the White Fang that same child, my friend has been missing for eight whole months!"
"And it is a tragedy for both the citizens of Vale and the young girl's family." Corsac said.
Fennec had said to Ghira, "Your Grace we came here to assure you that Brother Taurus and his followers do not represent the will of the White Fang."
"How can I be sure of that?" Ghira asked.
Corsac replied, "We understand if you bear any skepticism about these claims. The White Fang's tactics are admittedly more aggressive since you stepped down as High Leader and became Chieftain of Menagerie. But this… This is no way to make our message heard."
Fennec had added, "We have ample documentation from the council meeting as well as several strategies to apprehend and punish these strays if you care to review them."
"I will, but another day." Ghira had eventually replied, "For the time being I'd like to reconnect with my daughter and son."
"But of course." Corsac said, "We understand."
Fennec turned to the two siblings, "It was a pleasure to see you again Young Blake, Young Kobi."
"We were saddened when heard of your departure and of your brothers." Corsac said, "But we understand if you both no longer support our cause."
"It is a weary fight after all." Fennec said.
"Who says that we were done fighting?" Blake said.
"You shouldn't write us off just yet." Kobi said.
The two brothers nodded in understanding. Corsac had said to them, "If either of you ever wish to return, you need merely come find us."
Fennec added, "Sister Ilyia would be elated."
"Goodbye gentlemen." Ghira said.
With that being said, Ghira had shut the doors on the brothers, with the sound of the slam echoing. Both Blake and Kobi walked away from their parents and Sun angrily after the conversation they had just had with two members of the White Fang.
"So…" Sun started to say awkwardly, "Those guys were creepy."
Ghira turned to Sun and just said one thing, "... I really don't like you."
-Three Years Ago-
They were told to go back home by Roman's doctor, since the visiting hours were over, much to Destiny's dismay. She didn't want to leave her dad alone in the hospital, but she didn't have much choice as Neo carried her away. She soon found herself back home in her room, as Neo helped her remove her backpack, change into her nightwear and tucked her in.
"How come he has to stay there?" Destiny asked Neo, "How come he can't come back home?"
Neo had replied as she sat at her bedside, "... It's because hospitals are required to do so. Until your dad is strong enough, he'll have to stay their for the time being."
"But I want him home now." Destiny said.
"I know, I know." Neo said, "He won't be staying there forever. It'll take some time, but he'll be back home before you know it."
"Really?"
"Is this the face that would lie to you?"
Neo lightly tickled Destiny's stomach causing her to giggle slightly. "Now get some sleep." Neo said, "We'll go see him tomorrow, okay?"
Destiny nodded her head slightly and allowed herself to go to sleep, while Neo tip toed towards the door, being careful not to wake her up. Though eventually Destiny found herself waking up about three hours later. She tried and tried to go back to sleep but found it to be useless. She was just still worried about her dad; it was all she thought about. She let out a groan as she buried her face in her hands. Why was she so worried? Neo told her he was going to be alright, that he'll be back home, so she shouldn't worry so much. Should she?
Destiny decided to go and read one of her books to help her sleep. She sat herself up to grab one of the books that sat on the dresser near the vase of flowers, but that's when she noticed something.
The little tulip she found outside her window was missing.
Destiny jumped out of her bed and started to look around her room for it. It just didn't make sense to her; how could a flower just disappear, or just get up and walk away. Flowers couldn't just do that!
Than again the flower she found appeared to be unnatural.
Right when she was about to give up she felt something under her foot. She looked down and saw that it was the black stem. She tilted her head curiously as to why she saw what appeared to be black mist emitting from the steam. The minute she tried to pick it up, the steam just seemingly vanished without a trace.
SCRATCH, SCRATCH, SCRATCH…
Her attention was drawn over to the window, and there in the dark, she saw a pair of orange eyes that glowed a faint glow. She was shocked as ever to see a little rabbit, but very odd looking. It's head, behind, back legs and front were black, though on it's paws and ears had been boney and it's whole back and stomach had white fur.
Destiny recognized the little rabbit to be Grimm but she never seen that type before in her life or in the books she read.
"Huh?" Destiny said, "...What kind of a-"
Destiny cut herself off when she saw that in it's mouth, it was a tulip flower petal with a red eye in the middle; she noticed a faint glow from it.
"How in the world do you have that?" She asked the little rabbit as she went towards the window, "That was on the tulip… Why would you have that?"
She noticed the little rabbit started to move it's head, as if to say "Follow me". Destiny wondered about this before the little rabbit disappeared from the view of the window.
"Hey! Wait!" Destiny called out.
Destiny quickly ran around her room to get the things she needed. Her medicine went in her bag still connected to her chest, and she grabbed a flashlight from within the drawers and extra batteries just in case. The last thing she had gotten was her eyepatch; she put it over her right eye, and made her way to the window. She opened it and crawled onto the fire escape; though she was surprised as ever when she saw the little rabbit waiting at the bottom. She quickly and quietly made her way down, shutting the window behind her before she descended.
When she got to the bottom, the rabbit began to run and she quickly ran after the animal. She tried to keep up the little rabbit though was having trouble doing so since it had run so fast. It made all sorts of twists and turns throughout the streets of Vale. Often at times she lost the rabbit, but it would often appear in her sight again and she would continue to run after the little rabbit.
She didn't know how long she had been running but by the time she stopped, she found herself in a large open area in the middle of construction. She saw the rabbit go inside a building that was only covered with sheets and metal beams. Despite the sign saying "Caution, Hard Hat area" Destiny followed the rabbit inside. She spotted the rabbit standing in the center of the building waiting for her, with the little petal in it's mouth.
Destiny walked towards the rabbit finally catching her breath.
"Okay…" She said to the rabbit, "... You got me here… Why did you get me to come here?"
All the rabbit did was twitch its nose, and tilt it's head.
"Oh… I guess this is what adults call the silent treatment. Well, I won't know why you brought me here unless you tell me, or show me at least."
All the rabbit did was move its head towards a ladder nearby that lead to what was going to be the basement. Both her and the rabbit moved to the edge, and their Destiny was shocked by what she found. There appeared to be a hole in the ground that was surrounded with caution tapes. Though Destiny heard the wind whistling coming from the inside that told her otherwise. It wasn't long before she noticed a holo sign just beside the hole.
Destiny looked closely at the holo sign, and saw that it read caution and had the silhouette of a Beowolf.
"That's a warning sign for Grimm activity." Destiny said, "... Are Grimm really do-huh?"
Destiny saw that the little rabbit was gone; though she found the little just beside the hole, and with a leap it jumped inside.
"HEY! WAIT!" The child yelled.
Destiny quickly went down the ladder and ran over to the hole in the ground but she hesitated to go inside as she heard the wind whistle once more. She heard faint growling coming from inside that sent a shiver down her spine.
She's heard the stories of Grimm, that they're all dangerous especially the young ones. She's seen Grimm before and saw her father and Neo fight them, and she could tell just by watching their ferocious. She even heard the stories about many being eaten by one; and they saw nothing but darkness till they die.
But despite this, she still wondered why the little rabbit wanted to come here to a place like this? With a gulp she kneeled and carefully climbed down the hole in the ground. She was being very careful as she descended further down, as she felt the rocks were slippery and wet, making it harder to climb down.
However, just when her foot was on a rock, it had loosened causing her to lose her grip and cut her hand; she started to fall. Her scream echoed as gravity pulled her towards the ground. She drew ever so closer to the ground and she shut her eyes to prepare herself for the impact. Though instead she felt herself sliding on something suddenly, and she landed on the ground roughly as her body rolled; her eyepatch falling off of her face in the process.
With a groan she slowly brought herself up off of the ground; she took her bag of her back for a moment to get her flashlight and she put it back on her back again. She turned it on that's when she realized that something was behind her. Slowly she turned around with the flashlight in hand, and soon she found that she was staring face to face with a King Taijitu.
She let out a scream as she dropped the flashlight; she ended up tripping and right before she could fall on the ground the King Taijitu suddenly moved behind her actually catching her which had taken her by surprise.
"... You… Alright…?"
Destiny jumped and moved off of the Taijitus body when she suddenly heard a voice. She could swear it came from the Grimm before her.
"You…" Destiny said stunned, "You spoke?"
The Taijitu spoke again, "... You… Alright…?"
Destiny replied hesitantly, "... Ye… Yeah, I'm okay…"
Destiny looked up to where she fell than looked back at the two headed snake before her. She did this awhile before a certain thought came to her. "Wait… Did… Did you save me?"
All the Taijitu did was nod it's heads to answer her question.
"... Go… Further…" The Taijitu said.
"Further?" Destiny asked, "Where?"
"Into… Caves…" The Taijitu said, "... The Cronan waits… At the… Abyss…"
"Cronan? Do you mean that little rabbit? Wait, the Abyss? What's the Abyss?"
"... The Cronan waits… At the… Abyss…"
Though Destiny was shocked at the fact the Grimm was taking to her, she hesitantly nodded her head and went to pick up the flashlight; she felt a slight pain in her hand when she went to pick it up. She looked and saw that her left hand she had a fresh cut.
"It must've happened when I fell." She said to herself, "I'll have to deal with it later, I've gotta find that, rabbit, Cronan I mean."
She took the flashlight with her other hand and started to go into the caves; though she took a moment to turn back and say, "Thank you, for saving me." to the King Taijitu.
All the King Taijitu did was nod its heads and curled its body as it covered itself in darkness.
With that, Destiny ran into the caves, being very careful not to trip any of the rocks. Eventually she reached the end of the tunnel and saw the Cronan waiting for her at the other side; she took notice of a scratch that was over its right eye. It must've been injured in the fall she thought. She managed to catch up to the Cronan and soon she found herself inside a large rock quarry, that was like a chamber.
She heard a small splash sound not to far from where she stood; she held the flashlight towards where the sound came from and noticed a pool of some sort of black substance. Small rocks fell from the ceiling and into the black substance in front of her creating small ripples.
She and the Cronan made their towards the black pool; Destiny kneeled in front of it.
"Wha… What is this stuff?"
She looked into the black pool, seeing only a small portion of her reflection she placed her flashlight upward and looked into the pool.
"Is this the Abyss that the Taijitu talked about?... I can actually see why it would call it that… There's nothing but blackness… Is this supposed to be water…?"
Destiny lifted her hand and reached out to the pool, but just before her hand could even graze the surface-
"Mustn't… Touch…!"
Destiny flinched at this and turned to the little rabbit surprised to hear the voice come from it. What she didn't see was the cut on her she had on her hand, dripped a small drop of her own blood and into the black substance.
Suddenly the red eye on flower petal the Cronan held started to glow a red glow in a certain pattern, and the same red eye appeared in the black pool making Destiny raise to her feet out of shock; the ground around them shook ever so slightly.
"What's happening!?"
Soon enough she noticed that the Cronan's body, particularly its red stripes started to glow as well as its eyes. Giving one last look to the child it jumped into the pool of black, with its petal in it's mouth; All Destiny did was watch as the rabbit fell in with a splash.
The red eye in the pool glowed more violently causing the ground to shake even more; Destiny fell on her back as this happened; the flashlight that was just next to the pool fell in as well due to the strange tremors. Dust and pebbles fell from the ceiling as the ground shook. After a moment or two the ground and red glow seemed to have fade leaving the child in darkness.
Destiny remained frozen at what had happened, only the sounds of her breathing was heard. Just when she was about to stand she heard a sudden splash. What landed at her feet was her flashlight that was covered in the same black substance, though within seconds it disappeared into black vapor. She was surprised to see that the flashlight still worked; She hesitantly picked it up, as it still faced forward.
"Okay… That's weird."
In the view of the flashlight Destiny couldn't help but scream she saw a beowolf claw burst out of the pool of black substance.
As it had grabbed onto the ledge, another hand came out, wait a hand? The hands gripped whatever it could and pulled itself up revealing a head and a body and a pair of Nevermore wings, and a tail of a Death Stalker. The body crawled out covered in black substance, but seemed to wash itself off, and the beowolf claw turned into a hand while the wings and tail went into her back.
Destiny saw the black substance disappear revealing a young teenage girl with short black hair, with parts of her hair being colored gray. She wore a black halter top and on her right hand she had on a fingerless and she had on a pair of grey short pants with a pair of red and black boots. She saw on her back she had a mark; a red eye to be exact. When she picked up her head she saw that she had the same orange eye but her right eye it looked blind.
Though that wasn't the most surprising part. The most surprising part was, she had the same face, even the same hairstyle as her.
The teenage girl stood up as she groaned in agony.
"Whew man!" The girl said as she felt her bones crack; she pointed to the pool of black behind her, "You have NO idea, how much that hurts!"
"Uhh…" Destiny said just basically stunned by the girl before her.
"I mean jeez, it felt like one of those medieval death traps in there!" She said to Destiny before holding her foot, "I think I might have a cramp! Wow, that's new I don't think I ever had cramps before."
Destiny slowly stood up when the teenage girl started to look at her own body, feeling her face and legs. "Legs, check, arms check; limbs in pairs not multiple double check."
"Uh…" Destiny started to say getting her attention, "... Am I dreaming right now?"
The girl gave her a really look, and she laughed out loud. "Oh you're hilarious kid!" The girl said as she ruffled her hair, "Besides I don't think dreams allow you to bleed in real life."
Destiny looked at her bleeding hand than back at her. She ran her hands through her hair, "Okay this is all too freaky! You look exactly like me! Well not exactly like me, but you have my face, and my hair though it's a different color. And you don't look like your have the same age as me and you have-You have-"
The girl gave her a quizzical and motioned her to continue; the child just kept pointing to her chest. The girl pointed to her own chest and than motioned the words to her. Although all she said was-
"Those." She said with an awkward look on her face.
"It's not those, the correct term is boobs." The girl said, "Why did you just make a big deal out of it? Your going to have these eventually in your life when you get around this age you know."
Destiny just laughed awkwardly at that, but just shook her head just to shake it off. "Okay this all too weird! I must be in a dream, but I can't be in a dream since you just stated that I can't bleed in a dream! You look like me! You have my face, but I just don't know what to-"
"Calm down Princess, don't start freaking out on me."
"How can I not freak out when one minute you were a rabbit or Cronan or whatever, or at least I think you were and the next thing I know you-"
Destiny stopped herself in mid-sentence when she realized something, what the girl had said. "What did you call me?" She said.
The girl seemed confused by it.
"You called me something just now." Destiny clarified, "What did you call me?"
"I called you Princess, Princess." The girl said to her, "Why? Something the matter?"
"My dad is the only one who calls me that." Destiny said just in complete and utter shock, "How… Do you know that?"
The teenage girl kneeled down and put her finger at her forehead, "I think it's obvious to how I know that."
Destiny wondered what she meant by that exactly until she finally put two and two together. "You have my memories?"
"Not all of them, just some of your most treasured memories." The girl replied, "Just enough to have my own conscious and mind." Destiny looked at the girl's appearance, getting a closer look at her; she felt her left arm as she remembered seeing the Beowolf claw when she emerged from what she assumed was the Abyss.
"I saw you with a Beowolf claw, Nevermore wings and a Deathstalkers tail…" Destiny said, "And now you look, normal… What are you supposed to be?"
"It's simple." The girl said, "... I'm a Grimm yet I am not. I guess you can say I'm a hybrid."
"You're really a Grimm hybrid?" Destiny said with disbelief, "But that can't be right. In the books they said a human Grimm hybrid is impossible."
"Of course it's possible Princess. Your one yourself with that eye you got." The girl said.
Destiny had soon realized that her eyepatch had fallen off her face revealing her orange eye in a pool of black tar; Her body tensed up, as her hand went to cover it. "Oh I get it." The girl said, "Your one of the shy types about little things like that. Don't worry kid, I understand."
"You know about my eye?" She asked.
"Of course." She said before pointing to her own right eye, "I don't have this blind eye just for nothing you know. Though I have to say, out of all the people I've taken form, out of all the people I met… Your the second person I've met that has what you have."
"Second? Who was the first?"
"I'll save that for another day, for now I'd like to start from the beginning."
"You mean, you want to know my name? Don't you know it?"
"No, my kind when they obtain a form just know about the people around them, not the person themselves. You mind telling me?"
Destiny let out a sigh and rubbed her elbows slightly, "It's Destiny. That's the name my mom and dad gave me."
"Destiny huh?" The girl said, "I like it, your parents have good taste in names."
"Thanks I guess." Destiny said, "What about you? Or should I just call you Efah?"
The girl chuckled slightly as she shook her head, "No, Princess, Efah is just the name of my what I'm based on. It doesn't mean anything to us when we obtain a form."
"You mean to say you don't have a name?"
"Nope. Think of me as a newborn baby. I was just brought to life in this world, and yet I am born without an identity. You can call me, whatever you feel most comfortable with, any name you want."
"Any name I want?"
"Any name. You name it, get it?"
Destiny thought to herself about what she should call the girl before her. This was all considered unbelieveable to her, this girl before her, was real, a girl having her face yet not looking exactly like her, it was just hard to believe. People would call her insane if she had said that this was normal to her. She found it hard to believe herself. She tried to think of what to call the girl until a certain name came to the top of her head.
"How about… Cristal?" Destiny said.
The girl raised her eyebrow at this, "And pray tell, what made you think of that name?"
"My dad told me, it was my mother's middle name." Destiny said with somewhat of a solemn at the thought of her mom, "Do you like it?"
The girl thought to herself before she smiled at this; she patted her on the head, "Cristal, I like the sound of it. It has a nice ring to it. You've got good taste Destiny was it?"
"So you like it?" Destiny asked.
"I don't just like it…" The girl now named Cristal said, "... I love it! This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!"
-Present; Higanbana-
"We saw Roman Torchwick in the town's Tavern."
"We're not entirely sure if they're with him, we didn't see them go in."
"Show me."
In the Tavern of Higanbana two of the waitresses were helping up closing up. While one cleaned up the tables the other had scrubbed the floors. A few of the other staff stayed behind to close up as well; the bartender was putting away the glasses and sorting out the dirt dishes. It wasn't before he heard the someone enter the Tavern; three people to be exact.
"Sorry, we're just about to close up." The bartender said.
A girl with red long hair up to her waist and having a vivid green left eye, one by the name of Elise approached the bartender. She wore a black and gray halter dress with her sleeves cut up that was colored with a dark brown color. The man was bit taken back by her.
"Sorry I would get you a drink but you look underage." The bartender said.
"I'm not looking to buy a drink." Elise said taking something from her dress pocket.
It wasn't long till the man felt a needle pierce his neck and he felt drowsy. Right when he was about to fall to the ground, Elise caught him and eased him to the ground of the bar, so that a thump sound wasn't heard.
The girl with orange and magenta shoulder length hair by the name of Diamond approached a man that came in with them. She wore a short red yukata with black cropped leggings, and the red yukata had some black stripes; the sleeves were long and it had covered her arms; Around her waist was a long black ribbon and she wore a pair of black slip on shoes. On her head she had on a black samurai hat.
"That's them." She said to the man, gesturing over to the two waitresses, "Those were the ones at his table."
The man seemed to have smiled as he approached them along with Diamond and Elise.
"Excuse me ladies…" The man said getting the Waitresses attention.
The two waitresses looked up to the three of them; the man revealed to be leading them, was none other than Tyrian.
He licked his lips in a sinister way, "I was hoping you could, help us find someone…"
(Ending Theme: Soul Eater Ending 2-Style Performed by Nishino Kana)