"What?"
"Here look at the letter" Shayne took the letter from his pocket and handed it to her as a pair of men walked into the store.
"My god Shayne, your right, but now that we're here what's your plan?"
"I don't know…" he tailed off as the men who had gone in before them had the clerk at gunpoint.
The pair came running from the store and Shayne whisked Ellice into a corner to shield her from anything that might happen. She felt his breath on her face, she caught his eye and she blushed. Shayne moved away as the clerk came out of the door, she noticed the weapons on Shayne's back and spoke to him.
"Hey kid, if you get back what they stole there a reward in it for you"
Shayne turned his head slightly, flashed his teeth and nodded before taking off after them.
"Ellice, how nice to see you, who was your friend, you finally got a boyfriend?"
"No Selena, he's just a friend"
"So what brings you to see me today?"
"I'm here about my paint"
"Aah okay then come on in, I'll get it sorted for you…"
Shayne caught the thieves with relative ease; they had left people and trash cans in their wake as they ran. They were in an alleyway, checking the money when he came up behind them. One turned to face him and remembered seeing him outside the store they had just robbed.
"What the fuck do you want, punk"
"I want the contents of that bag there" Shayne said pointing to the backpack that was being held open, inside were wrapped packages and money, lots of it.
"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do if we don't give it to you?" the other said brandishing the gun, while his partner took out a machete.
Shayne removed his hood, revealing his ears, and drawing his katana.
"You guys have obviously never met a hunter before, now hand over the bag or I'll pry it from your cold dead hands" Shayne said pointing his sword at them.
They zipped it up and the one with the gun aimed at Shayne, he pulled the trigger. The bullet careened across the space between them, Shayne split the bullet and rushed the pair, disarming the one with the gun sending it skittering across the concrete. Shayne parried a slash and kicked the other in the stomach; the machete fell from his grasp and he dropped to one knee. He looked up to find the tip of Shayne's blade at his throat.
"Now hand me the bag, or I'll have to do something that you'll regret" Shayne said pulling his knife from his thigh.
The one that used to have the gun, threw Shayne the bag, he caught it with the tip of his knife sliding it up his arm and over his shoulder. Shayne removed the blade from his throat and kicked him hard in the face, knocking him unconscious. His partner just stood there and watched Shayne back out of the alley, stowing his weapons and pulling up his hood. Shayne set off at a run back to the store.
Three people saw what had happened in that alleyway, all wanted him either dead or to suffer. The white hooded male took off over the roof tops after him, while the other two walked the streets in silence. They weren't working together but were working towards a common goal.
Shayne detoured back to the docks to meet the rest of his team, they were waiting on the sidewalk looking frazzled and over tired.
"You guys look like shit"
"Shut up will you and help carry Hanna's stuff" Dundra said dropping several bags on the floor.
"Why did she pack so much?"
"Because she's a girl"
"Good point" he hefted two of the bags onto his back as Dundra grabbed three more.
"Dundra be careful, you'll ruin my shoes"
"Fuck your shoes, next time pack less or I'm going to throw it over board next time"
Hanna smiled and winked.
"Hanna, he's right you do over pack you know"
"Lina, I thought you'd be on my side!"
"You know I'll happily go shopping with you but come on, 6 suitcases for a 3 day trip, it seems a bit much" Eddi nodded, she had only brought a single suitcase and her weapons cases.
Hanna pouted and folded her arms. She picked up a couple of her bags and walked after them. It took almost half an hour to get back to the hotel where they'd be staying. Once they had settled in to their rooms they gathered in the foyer and went back to the store.
Shayne had his friends wait outside while he went in carrying the case that the thieves had taken.
"Aaah, I was starting to get worried, I see you got my case back, did they give you any trouble?"
"No not really"
"Good, anyway here's your reward for getting it back" she handed him 200 Lien; he put it securely in his inside breast pocket with the rings.
"Where's Ellice?"
"Oh she's in the back, come on through" he followed her through to the back of the store Ellice was sat on a couch.
"Now that I have case back I can mix your paint for you Ellice"
"Thanks Selena" Ellice smiles
Shayne went and stood by the wall, admiring the painting that hung there.
"That's one of mine, she said I could pay for some paint with a painting so I did this for her" Ellice said walking over to him.
"It's really good Ellice, my team is outside with Lina by the way"
"Oh do you want me to fetch them in?"
"No I have to talk to Selena first"
"Talk to me about what?"
"He needs to tell you something in private, so I'm just going to wait outside" Ellice left and went to talk to Shayne's team mates.
"Well, what is it" Shayne lowered his hood and removed his bandanna, he shook his head and smoothed out his ears, drawing attention to them.
Selena looked at his ears and her eye narrowed, she hadn't met many other Faunus while staying in Mistral, she thought she recognised the colour but she pushed the thoughts out of her mind as he turned around.
Shayne had tears in his eyes and was wringing his bandanna in his hands.
"Why did you leave" he said it so quietly that even with her advanced hearing she could barely make out he had said anything.
"Sorry? You'll have to speak up"
"I said why did you leave?" he said louder than before.
"I haven't left anything in…"
"Almost twenty years"
She covered her mouth with her hands and sat down on the sofa.
"Shayne, I can't believe it, you're here, and you're alive…."
"I'm here to find out why you left" Shayne said his face had returned to normal as he put his bandanna back on
"I left because your father and I left to go fight in the war…"
"I know that but why didn't you try to get back in touch with me"
"After I got out of prison I didn't know if you were alive or not, so I didn't risk the heartbreak of finding out you were"
"you could have at least sent a letter"
"Don't you think I wanted to, I knew that because I hadn't come back your grandparents would have just destroyed the letters"
"Then why did they keep the one that brought me here" Shayne threw the letter onto the table
"Because in the letter I sent them I asked them not to in memory of your father…" the room fell silent at his mention.
"That's all I wanted to know" he began to move towards the door when she stood up.
"Shayne…can you forgive me"
He turned and walked towards her, he stopped mere inches from her.
"I already have…" they shared an embrace; Shayne messaged Dundra with one hand to get them to come in.
When she heard the bell of the door, she released him and smoothed out her apron before walking out with a smile; Shayne followed her and leant against the door frame.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"We're with Shayne"
"All of you?"
"Yes, they're my team, and this is Lina, my girlfriend" he said walking up to her and kissing her.
"Hang on, what do you mean team Shayne?"
"I'm attending Beacon now"
"Wow, though I can't say I'm really surprised, why don't you all come on into the back and have a sit down" Hanna jumped at the chance to sit down, she didn't like all the standing and waiting that they'd just done.
They walked into the back and sat around the room, they sat talking for several hours about recent events and the past. They eventually left at 11:30, but not before Shayne had one last chat with his mother.
"I'm going to come back tomorrow and help you out with anything you need"
"Shayne you don't have to do that…"
"I know but I want to"
"Okay then, in fact I could use you tomorrow as I have a couple of men coming to pick up some things and I'd like someone here to make sure nothing happens"
"Okay, if you want I can have Dundra come as well"
"No you'll do just fine, now go on your friends are waiting for you, I'll see you tomorrow"
Shayne caught them up and they headed back to the hotel.
A pair of yellow eyes tracked them through the darkness, it was almost time for his vengeance, he just needed a way to draw Shayne away from the others. Rose and her new found ally watched from a nearby bench.
"Why are we just sitting here, we could take him out now and be done with it"
"He has allies now, we must meet with my employers and discuss this" he stood up and walked away, she huffed and followed after him.
Shayne had to meditate to calm his nerves before morning.
He had been meditating for 3 hours when something stirred him from his trance. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around the room. Dundra was asleep and the girls were next door. He stood up and opened the door adjoining the two rooms, they were all asleep. He knew he had heard something so he donned his jacket and took one of his swords and stepped outside. He noticed a white cloak disappear around the corner at the end of the hall way, Shayne rested his hand on the handle of his blade and quickly crept to the corner only to see a fire escape swing closed. Shayne was determined to find out what was going on so he ran up the flight of stairs outside the door heading towards the roof.
When he arrived on the roof the white cloaked figure had stopped in the dead centre, his cloak blowing in the wind. Shayne slowly made his way further onto the roof, as he drew closer the figure turned. Shayne recognised him instantly.
"Kameron!"
"Shayne" he snarled.
"I haven't seen you in…"
"About eight years, when you killed my family"
"I killed no-one"
"Liar! You killed them and I know you did"
"Kam I tried explaining all those years ago, I'm not doing it again" Shayne gripped his blade as Kameron leant forward.
*cough* "I hate to break up such a touching moment but my boss wants you dead Shayne" Kameron turned at the sudden appearance of a shaven headed male.
"He's mine, butt out" Kameron snarled
"I'm not dying tonight" Shayne said addressing both of them as he drew his katana.
"Shayne, I wouldn't do that if I were you" he turned at her voice
"Rose what are you doing here!"
She dropped from her perch on the ventilation duct, and sauntered over to him.
"I'm here because you hurt me when you left me alone"
"I told you why I couldn't stay"
"But I love you Shayne"
"I'm sorry but I'm in love with my girlfriend"
Rose began to cry; she shook her head and walked to the stairs.
"Where are you going bitch, you're part of this"
"You're right Cross, I am" she charged at the man and tackled him to the floor.
"Shayne run, he's too strong…" he snapped her neck and she fell lifeless to the floor.
The male got to his feet and dusted himself off.
"This is why I work alone"
Kameron and Shayne looked at him, Shayne wanted to kill him now, she didn't deserve to die. Shayne strode forwards past Kameron. Kameron not wanting this random guy to kill Shayne charged as Shayne drew close.
Shayne ducked under Kameron's sword and dodged backwards as Cross swung his hatchet at him, Kameron collided with Cross and proceeded to tackle him of the edge of the building. He heard them crash into something but he couldn't see them when he looked over the edge of the building.
He returned to his team, ensuring that they were all okay, he didn't sleep or meditate, he sat and watched the sun rise. At around nine he went for a shower and got dressed. He called the police after breakfast giving them an anonymous tip about Rose's corpse on the roof. He had relieved her of her weapon and had decided to keep it in her memory.