A Step too Far
Chapter 5
An old Titan decides to climb off the walls and take a step away from the Traveler. He never intended to walk so far. He never regretted taking that step.
The two hunters and Titan stood in the middle of a seaside forest clearing, Qrow behind the blonde, who earlier introduced himself as Taiyang Xiao Long, Qrow's Hunt partner from when they were training.
"What did you want to talk about, Taiyang?" Praetor was a little annoyed at having to deal with this right after a rather taxing mission.
"I just wanted to get a better picture of the person who I've heard so much about." The blonde man replied, slipping his fingers into what looked like a set of skeletal gauntlets that clipped onto his forearm and extended past the elbow. That set the Titan on edge, clenching his fist in preparation. "I've never been good at judging someone's character, at least not from talking." He held up his fist with a grin. "Y'know?"
Without any provocation, Taiyang blurred forth with his fist cocked back for a haymaker. Praetor was still tired from his mission, he hadn't slept in two days and really wasn't in the mood for this. The Titan had a hundred years of fighting under his belt however and quickly stepped around it, kicking at the Hunter's shin whilst doing so.
However, Taiyang was also experienced, not to Praetor's extent but experienced enough to know how to react to a swift counter-attack in this situation. The knuckles on his gauntlet opened up and detonated the dust within. The force quickly pushed his arm backwards, sending his elbow into the Titan's exposed back. Praetor quickly recovered from the surprise attack, lashing out with a wild backhand.
Taiyang quickly brought his arms up in a guard. Despite his sure footing and solid stance, his legs almost buckled from the sheer force of Praetor's attack. Every bone in his body rattled from the initial impact. His hasty guard was almost breached again when Praetor withdrew his arm and slammed the other one into the gauntlets.
The Titan's assault didn't relent, following up with punch after punch, each one seeming to gather more and more power. Through the gaps in his guard, Taiyang saw glimpses of electricity forming over Praetor's own fists. With each punch it transferred to the other fist, adding to its potency. While Taiyang was confident in his weapon's design, he also knew its limits. As such he knew that any more punishment might end up breaking them.
During a bare second when the Titan's punches weren't impacting his gauntlets, Taiyang took the chance to throw his body to the side in an effort to create distance with Praetor. He didn't expect the Titan to grab his shin mid-leap.
The Guardian heaved, swinging Taiyang over his shoulder and slamming him into the dirt with such force that the ground cracked. Luckily, Taiyang's aura softened the blow, allowing him to deliver a kick to Praetor's chin with his free leg. The kick jerked the Titan's attention away for a brief moment, long enough for the Hunter to shake out of the iron grip and roll away onto his feet.
"Holy shit, old man." Taiyang panted. He had to stall for time, long enough for his aura to fix what damage was done. He was sure that at least one of his ribs was broken, not to mention the numerous new bruises. "Honestly didn't expect that kind of strength from a guy pushing sixty."
"Well, you know what they say." Praetor growled, testing his jaw. The Titan settled into a classic stance, one arm in front to block and the other ready to strike. "Respect your elders, Blondie."
With a quick underhand throw, Praetor tossed a small, pulsing ball towards Taiyang. It bounced once and rose to the blonde's eye level where it began to glow brighter. The Hunter's eyes widened, bringing his arms back up into a guard. Milliseconds later a bright flash assaulted his closed eyes and electrical energy washed over him, causing several of his muscles to spasm a little.
His ears rang. Without his hearing, Taiyang was forced to open only to find that Praetor had vanished. His eyes darted left and right, not finding any sign of the Titan. It was almost an afterthought, but he did see a shadow move before casting his eyes up towards the sky. The titan had his hands clasped behind his head, his entire form coursing with a brilliant blue hue.
It didn't take much convincing from Taiyang to force his body to leap away. The jump carrying him past several trees, one of which he ducked behind. Not a second later, blue lightning swept past, engulfing everything and scarring the tree. Taiyang took this chance to go on the offensive.
Channelling his aura through his legs, Taiyang rushed to the epicentre where Praetor kneeled with one fist planted firmly into the ground. A second pulse of energy caught him by surprise, making him lose his footing. The stumble caused his planned straight punch turned into a sloppy shoulder barge.
He collided with the Titan, knocking them both to the ground. While Taiyang was sent sprawling, Praetor was only pushed a few feet. Taiyang was the first to recover, managing to manoeuvre himself mid-air so that he landed feet first and dashed back towards Praetor, his fist raised once more to strike.
It was Praetor's turn to be on the defensive. Taiyang's fist impacted against his jaw, the force making his head turn. The blonde didn't let up, following up with an explosive punch to Praetor's midriff. The blows kept coming from Taiyang in a series of staggering one-two punches to various gaps in Praetor's armour. Any attempt to counter attack was dodged as the blonde simply ducked and weaved around the Titan, striking from various angles.
Praetor's barrier was beginning to wane, he was beginning to feel the blows much more. It wasn't too long before his gifted healing ability was completely overwhelmed. Blood and spittle sprayed from his mouth as Taiyang threw an uppercut to his jaw, the punch was powerful enough to lift Praetor into the air a little.
In that brief moment, the Hunter executed a sweeping kick against Praetor's legs making him lose his footing and fall backwards. Taiyang didn't stop there, jumping into the air and detonating one of his gauntlets in rapid succession, making him spin madly. The combination of gravity and centrifugal force culminated in the other gauntlet planting itself firmly onto Praetor's cheek, cracking the ground beneath them. The blonde wasn't finished yet, as he detonated the planted gauntlet point-blank and using the force of the explosion and his own legs to leap away from the grounded Titan.
That last attack had taken a toll on him, Taiyang was panting like a thirsty dog from the force he exerted to simply keep the Titan staggered. He allowed himself to lean against his knees, his breaths coming fast and short.
Back amongst the cracked ground and burnt grass, Praetor stirred. That last punch hadn't done him any favours, he was glad Taiyang needed a breather after that. From his position on his back, it took an effort to roll himself over and onto a kneeling position. He spat a sizeable glob of blood out of his mouth, a small testament to how far Taiyang had pushed. Feeling a stinging sensation from his cheek, he brought a hand up to examine it. Through his glove, he felt burnt flesh and leaking blood.
Bringing the hand back, Praetor examined the seemingly foreign substance. It had been so long since he had seen his own blood. So long he had gone without being injured in a fight, it was but a faded memory from his youth as a Guardian. It was refreshing to feel some mortality once again. The feeling brought a smile to his lips.
"I have to thank you." He spoke, turning slightly to show a single eye towards Taiyang. The fight had clearly drained the man of any energy he held. Sweat was dripping from his brow and he was panting heavily. Praetor rose to his feet, still looking at the Hunter out of the corner of his eye. Taiyang could swear that there was something sparking in Praetor's eye. "It has been too long since I felt… Alive."
The Titan turned to reveal his new scar, a wicked-looking burn that stretched across his left cheek and passed onto his jaw. Despite the pain he was in, he held an undeniably manic smile that sent chills down Taiyang's spine. But it was the dangerous spark in his eyes that made the Hunter take a step back.
"Uh, Qrow!?" Taiyang called, worry drenching his voice. "Tag in!?"
The spark in Praetor's eyes intensified as the lightning struck.
Blake jumped at the thunderclap, catching a lightning bolt out of the corner of her eye. It stretched far into the sky and set the clouds alight. It wasn't supposed to storm today, and nor would it if the blue sky and gentle breeze were to be believed. She recognised the sheer power that one bolt had demonstrated. Nothing less than Nature itself, not even Lightning Dust, could show that much force.
Now while Blake read a lot of fiction, she knew that was all it was. Fiction. Made up stories. Yet the sight of lightning strikes out of nowhere drew up innumerable amounts of stories in her mind that featured lightning wielding heroes and villains. When her mind finally calmed down, another set of images came to mind, records of real heroes, lists of tournament winners and videos of re-enacted battles. Not one of these people showed anything near the raw power of that lightning bolt, except for one person she closely knew.
Praetor was back.
Arc energy rolled off of Praetor like plasma, scorching and carving trenches into the ground. Each step he took rumbled the very ground and sent more energy dancing along his limbs. In the centre of it, Praetor was chuckling like a pleased grandparent would, but the look in his eyes said that he was, if nothing, laser focused.
Usually, physics would dictate that electrical energy take the fastest and most direct route to the ground and dissipate. For whatever reason, those laws held no power over the old Titan. If anything, the energy openly defied it and arced from the ground up, leaving scars on the ground wherever it pleased.
Before he could make any distance towards his target, Praetor found his path was blocked by a familiar blade. Qrow stood before him, pointing the blade towards him.
"At least the blade is the right way up this time." The Titan chuckled. He blurred forth, brushing the blade aside and sending a fist towards the raven Hunter. Qrow leaned his head away from the punch and flowed around the Titan, bringing his blade upwards in a slash to Praetors side. Once again, the blade was knocked aside, making the swing go wide and sent a swift jab towards Qrow's jugular.
The Hunter was fast enough to recover and bring the blade up to guard. The electricity from the punch dissipated against the hand-guard, leaving Qrow unharmed. Undeterred, Qrow leapt back and began unloading the shells that were loaded into his weapon. The pellets tore the ground apart around Praetor. The moment that one grazed against his barrier, he vanished in a bolt of lightning and reappeared several metres away. Moments later his new position was filled with lead from Qrow's gun.
Praetor advanced in this manner, with Qrow constantly firing to keep him at bay. One flash appeared close, with the Titan quickly closing the remaining distance. Qrow lashed out with a wild slash, only for Praetor to vanish and appear above him with his hands ready for an over-head smash. The attack met the tough metal of Qrow's blade with a resounding clang that rustled the bushes and rattled the ears of anyone close enough to hear.
Qrow gave a mighty push, shoving the larger man away to the far side of the clearing. Taking advantage of this lapse, the Hunter flicked a switch on his weapon making the gears in the cross-guard jerk into motion. Along the blade, the segments began to separate and curve as Qrow extended the hilt of his beloved weapon and exchanged the magazine. In a matter of seconds he was holding his famed and feared Scythe.
Not giving the Titan another chance, Qrow blurred into action, firing his gun backwards and crossing the distance in a blink of an eye. The next few moments were too fast for either party to even think, instead focusing on blocking and retaliating to each other's blows as they came. Even Taiyang, who had retreated to a safe distance, was unable to track either of the fighters as they clashed.
Scythe bit into metal plating and gauntlets impacted Aura and skin. Both fighters broke apart for a single breath before charging in once again, neither one gaining any ground over the other. Once more they clashed, with Qrow's Scythe held back by Praetor's hold on its blade. The stalemate was quickly broken by Qrow firing the weapon's shotgun, the recoil adding enough power to break the Titan's grip. Praetor's quick reflexes and lightning enhanced nerves saved him from being beheaded as he leaned back far enough so that the blade passed over him, close enough to shave a couple of hairs from his chin.
Using the momentum from his dodge, Praetor back flipped and landed with Guardsman out and aimed at Qrow. A blue glow emanated from the barrel of the gun as the Titan channelled Arc energy through it. The slug was fired out at hyper-sonic speeds, igniting and parting the air around it.
It was Qrow's turn for an uncanny dodge. He fired his Scythe-gun at a random direction and he disappeared in a black gun flash and reappeared further away sliding to a stop. The slug from Praetor impacted the ground with the same effect as an artillery shell, an earth quaking shock wave and gratuitous amounts of displaced soil.
Moments later, the electrical aura around Praetor dissipated, leaving him breathing heavily and even more tired than he could remember. Feeling almost as if a simple tap could tip him over, his eyes began drifting close. A plated fist flew through the air, striking the Titan's cheek and making him collapse to hands and knees.
"…Y'know, a few days ago." Taiyang began, crouching beside the tired man, all signs of hostility completely gone. "My daughters met a new friend, named Blake." The Titan's eyes widened, finally realising what this was about. "They quickly became good friends, until one day. Blake shows up on our doorstep unannounced and demands a fight with my eldest, Yang. Thankfully, my little girl figured that something was wrong. After a talk and a few tears, Blake said she wanted to be able to impress her guardian before he got back from his mission."
"She's afraid of disappointing you." Taiyang explained, watching Praetor's jaw clench. "So much so that she almost sacrificed her new friendship for your approval."
"Do not toy with me!" The Titan roared, staggering to his feet as lighting sparks from his hands. "She'd never do anything like that! I'm not that important to her." He let his head drop along with the volume of his voice.
"Is that what you really think?" Taiyang asked, his voice painfully flat. "Whether you realise it or not, you've had an impact on her life." He leaned in a bit closer. "And quite a significant one too, if what I've seen is true."
"And regardless of what you think, she thinks of you as a father figure." Taiyang summarised. "I'll leave it up to you whether to take this information and act on it, or simply ignore me and cause that girl more pain." The blonde man took his leave, allowing Qrow to finally talk.
"They're paying attention you know." He took a relaxing swig from his flask, his scythe now stowed away on his back. "I don't mean Taiyang. People with more influence and power than either of us. So consider this a warning from them, if you want." He took another swig. "They've got their eyes on you, and they're waiting…" Praetor gave the drunkard a questioning look. "Waiting for you to make a mistake. Anything that would incriminate you enough to put you down." Another swig. "So as your acquaintance, I suggest you step lightly from here on out. See you around, Prey."
As Qrow walked away, Praetor's mind wandered back to Blake. Just how was he going to talk to her about this?
Blake paced nervously around the house her mind racing, testing out different scenarios for when Praetor returned. She imagined him tired. She imagined him beaten and broken. And even more terrifying, she imagined him covered in blood that wasn't his. In each one she ended up with her heart-broken and alone.
That scared her more than anything.
Her thoughts were interrupted and her body froze when she heard the front door open from behind her. The ever familiar thumping of boots entered her ears, growing closer to her until they stopped right behind her and a shadow loomed over her.
"Blake?" he whispered, his deep voice almost demanding her attention and obedience. Slowly, she turned around to face her guardian, worried about what she would see. As she did, the towering figure knelt down to her level, looking into her yellow eyes. Blake couldn't help but turn her head slightly, avoiding his gaze and focusing on a particular floor board. She let out a small gasp when she was drawn into a sudden embrace, his arms warm and gentle as she was pulled closer.
No words needed to be exchanged, she could feel his heart-beat, his slightly hitched breathing and every time he swallowed back tears. The emotions flooded her. Regret, empathy, sadness and remorse. Each one washed over her with more feeling than the last. 'I'm sorry.' Was the thought that entered her mind, speaking in his voice.
A genuine smile formed on her lips. With one last deep breath, she relaxed in his grip and let her arms wrap around him to return the embrace.
The next day, Blake woke with a teary yawn and a stretch to remove any kinks in her muscles. Sunlight poured into her room, illuminating the rather dull room. The wall next to her bed was home to a well-stocked bookshelf, full of fantasy and more than a few teen-drama romance novels. Her bedside table housed a candelabra so she could read by candlelight, something that she found incredibly relaxing, despite being a fire hazard. Opposite her bed was her dresser, it was made locally from the ash trees, giving it a greyish colour. On top of it was her Scroll, a clunky tablet that she used to browse the web. It used to belong to Ruby and Yang, but they had since upgraded and gave her their old one.
The sound of something sizzling made her ears perk up a little. Stepping out into the hallway, Blake was assaulted by the smell of cooking bacon and eggs that made her stomach growl. She followed her nose and ears to the kitchen where Praetor was standing over the stove, spatula in hand.
Blake pulled a chair out and sat down, bringing a hand up to wipe away her sleepiness from her eyes. "Morning." She mumbled.
"Good morning." Praetor grunted in response. He reached into a cabinet, withdrew two plates and began shovelling strips of bacon and eggs onto them. After turning off the stove, he deposited a plate in front of her and sat down. Blake idly noted that her plate had more eggs than bacon, she didn't let it bother her as she began to stab them with her fork.
The Titan was eating at a decent pace while he was reading the local newspaper's headline. She almost gasped at seeing the large gauze patch covering the left side of his face. Blake tried to not let it bother her, but seeing the result of a fight always clutched her heart, even more so against Praetor who seemed so… invincible to her.
The silence was starting to become crushing. Knowing that it was up to her to start a conversation, Blake decided to go with something that was now bothering her.
"Does it hurt?" She asked quietly, looking at the patch on his face.
"…No." He answered simply. "I barely even noticed at the time. I only really noticed the damage when I got back. Don't worry, before long I'll be right as rain."
"Speaking of rain…" she started. "That lightning yesterday. That was you, wasn't it?" She asked, eating at a more sedate pace now.
Praetor chuckled bashfully. "You saw that huh?"
"I'm pretty sure the entire town saw it, heard it and felt it." She smiled awkwardly. "It's not something that goes amiss on a clear spring afternoon."
"Yeah, I let myself get a little out of hand there."
"Why were you fighting?"
"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about something, Blake." Praetor placed his fork down and put his, now empty, plate to the side. The girl felt herself freeze, like she had been caught red-handed.
"O-oh, what about?" She tried to play it cool, perhaps it was something more trivial and not about when she challenged her new friend to a not-so-friendly spar.
"I was fighting a man named Taiyang Xiao Long and his friend Qrow." He said slowly, making sure she listened. "Do either of those names sound familiar?"
Blake completely deflated, her shoulders slumped and her gaze fell onto her half-eaten breakfast. It was fascinating to watch how bacon grease spread through eggs.
"Blake."
Her head snapped back up at her name being called, instead of seeing a furious guardian she expected, Blake saw a kind smile and an understanding look.
"I'm not mad." He reached across the table and grasped her hand. "I know I can be a bit… cold. But just know that I will never be mad at you, no matter what you do." He took a long breath in through his nose. "Taiyang told me that you were feeling pressured to improve and were frustrated with your lack of progress. Is that right?"
Blake bit her lip and nodded, her eyes hidden by her dark hair.
"Are you feeling this way, because of me?"
A hesitant nod.
"I see." He took another breath to collect his thoughts. "I didn't want to put too much pressure on you, Blake. It was the first time in a while that I was gone for more than a week. I didn't expect you to actually follow my instructions." He chuckled lightly. "Taiyang also told me that you made some new friends, his daughters in fact."
Blake gave a short nod and a confirming noise.
"Why don't you tell me about them?"
"…umm, they're fun. I guess. Yang's a little loud sometimes." She smiled, remembering the blonde girl yelling indignantly at her father. "Ruby is younger than me and has a really big sweet-tooth, every time I see her she has something sugary with her." Blake gave a little laugh, recalling when Ruby tried to eat a giant lollypop by herself.
"They sound like good people, Blake." Praetor gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "You'll have to introduce me to them one day."
"Yeah." She agreed. "They're good people."
"That's great, Blake. I'm glad that you've found some friends." For the first time since she met him, Praetor had the brightest smile she had seen.
The weeks seemed to fly past as each day seemed to be better than the last to Blake. Something of note happened each day, whether it was a visit to Ruby and Yang's, reading a new book or even Praetor taking her out on a shopping trip. Just recently, the Titan showed her how to take apart and re-assemble a basic handgun and how important it was to properly care for her weapons. He decided to teach her that after seeing her knife becoming dull from over use.
In one of the many visits to Ruby and Yang, the younger girl displayed her enthusiasm for weapons after a practice session by snatching up Blake's prized knife and looking over every inch of it.
"This is a really good blade." The young girl commented, her silver eyes extremely focused on her current task of examining Blake's blade. "It looks like it was mass-produced, but at the same time I can't recall any kind of knives quite like it." The dark-haired girl was definitely sceptical about Ruby's assessment, but she kept that to herself.
The blade in question was just shy of a foot long and was styled reminiscently of a Tanto. The flat of the blade was coated in a dark grey matte while the edge was honed to a dull sheen. The only mark on the flat was an emblem that also appeared on Praetor's shotgun, Guardsman. A lone tower below a large spherical object.
"Hey, Blake, what's this symbol?" Ruby asked, interrupting the cat-girl from her reading, much to her annoyance.
"Hmm?" She walked over to Ruby and looked at what she was pointing to. "Oh, that. I think that's Papa's symbol." She tried to explain, only to get a blank look from the younger girl. "Well, every Hunter has their mark, right? That's just Papa's. It's even on his shotgun."
Sadly instead of curbing the redhead's curiosity, Blake had only piqued it further when she mentioned another weapon. "Your Dad uses a shotgun!?" she shrieked in joy. "Does it turn into something cool like a sword or a staff or something!?"
Blake ended up keeling under Ruby's assault of questions and decided it was better if she invited them over to see for themselves. She tried to tell them as much as she could to prepare them, but it always fell short as she couldn't really answer Ruby's rapid fire questions. She was able to tell them that he wasn't like their father, he was more minimalistic and had been used to living on the move for a while.
They hadn't really expected him to be apparently meditating in the dining room with his weapons disassembled and spread over the table. The young redhead was all over it instantly, going 'Ooh' and 'Ahh' over all the little bits that went together to create a deadly creation.
When Yang came close enough, she had to suppress her shock at seeing such an ugly scar on the man's face. She could only imagine what could have caused such a thing, like a fire-breathing Grimm or something. Then again, she never heard of anything like that. It would be terrifying to face one, though for some reason she got a tingle in her spine from the thought.
Sadly, her thoughts were interrupted by Ruby, the moment she tried touching a piece the young girl found her hand held in an iron grip.
"Don't touch." Praetor gently warned, his eyes staring straight into Ruby's. "It took me a whole hour to lay it out like this."
"Oh." She said with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry. I just find weapons fascinating."
"Blake." He called out, his tone as indecipherable as always. The girl in question suddenly stiffened, like somebody just jolted her with electricity. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" He asked with a friendly smile.
"It's a rifled breach-action shotgun with a bore of twenty-one point twenty-one millimetres. It fires conical, fin-stabilised, iron-cored slugs with a muzzle velocity of roughly eight-hundred metres a second." Praetor listed off. The old man was all too happy to answer young girl's questions about his weapons. Blake and Yang shared a sigh as Ruby had stars in her eyes.
"Wow." Was all Ruby was able to say, as her thoughts were imagining the sheer power from such a gun. Praetor chuckled at the girl's simple, but awed expression.
He spared a glance at Ruby's blonde sister, who was looking quite bored with the whole situation. Although she formed a warm smile every time she took a glance at her little sister. "Yang." He called her name, snapping her out of her gazing.
"Yeah, Mister P?" She replied with a cheeky grin.
"I can see that idle chatter is doing nothing for you in regards to enjoyment, so I figure we do something a little more fun." He stroked his short beard, a small smile beginning to show beneath it.
"Oh? What do you have in mind?"
Let it never be said that Yang never gave someone a chance. How many chances and what said chance would pertain to however was a completely different argument. Such was proven as she wiped the floor with Praetor's avatar in their game of Atlas Corps: Closure. She had to give it to the old man, while he initially had trouble with the controls, holding it very awkwardly in his large hands and being confused as to the button positions, he was quite tenacious.
His approach to navigating the maps was simple but always took him via a path that had the most cover and tactical advantage. In every room he came across he carefully swept across it before moving on. Sadly, the game was not one for simulating military tactics, instead it was for people who pretended at playing military. Other players ran through the map, using their knowledge of the map to earn points quickly.
Yang was part of that demographic.
Bang-rat-tat. "Come-on old man, you've got to do better than that if you want to beat me." Yang taunted, her massive grin threatening to split her face. Praetor could do nothing but grumble as his character was seemingly locked in an endless spawn-die-spawn cycle, courtesy of the blonde girl hunting him down before he could make it out the door.
"Yaaaaang." Ruby whined, shaking her sister's shoulder. "Play fair."
"I am playing fair, it's in the game isn't it?" her smile still present. "Not my fault that he can't move before he gets owned."
Praetor continued to grumble, his kindly mood from before having all but vanished. His grumbling stopped when Blake tapped his shoulder offered to play so he could calm down a bit. Praetor had to swallow his pride and relinquished the controller over to his charge. He was just too inexperienced with these 'video games'.
The tide of the game had turned when the controller swapped hands, Blake quickly familiarised herself with the controls and before Yang could even comprehend what had happened, she was being utterly destroyed.
In the span of a few minutes, Blake had won the game. Several of the other players started complaining over the sudden turn-around, calling for admins and calling her a cheater. Blake simply basked in the glory with a curious smirk.
"Damn Kitty, I never knew you were a gamer." Yang complimented, slapping her friend on the shoulder.
"I'm not, I guess I'm just a natural." Blake tried to deflect the accusation, but Yang was having none of it.
"I don't believe that." She pointed a finger at Blake. "I bet you play these games every night before you go to bed!"
"I do not!" The Faunus defended, her cheeks flushing from the accusation. "I've never even played this game before!"
"I'm not convinced! I challenge you to another game!"
Before either of them knew it, they had gotten so enthralled in their gaming session that they completely forgot the time as it was dark by the time they needed a break. Ruby quickly got worried that they might be scolded for making their dad worried and insisted that she and Yang head off as quickly as possible. Blake stood in the doorway, waving as her friends slowly disappeared from her sight when Praetor decided to comment.
"Those are some good friends you have, Blake."
Today was the day, Blake told herself.
She stood in front of a tall mirror, examining her appearance and making sure that everything was perfect. She didn't want to make too much of an impact, but nor did she want to simply fade into the background. She went down the list again.
Shoes? Simple and comfortable, yet stylish, runners. Check.
Pants? Well-worn, tight-fitting slacks with a couple of scuffs, showing their use. Check.
Shirt? A simple white blouse covered her torso that was made of a light fabric so as to not restrict her movements and also to show off her budding figure. Check
Hair and accessories? Atop her head was a little black ribbon, tied into a bow, which pulled her midnight-hair into a pony-tail.
Everything was ok… Maybe she should check the list once more.
"Blake!" Her Father called from downstairs. "If you don't hurry up you're going to be late!"
"Ok, I'm coming down right now." She replied, hastening to scoop up her knife and strap it to her belt. One final look at the mirror and she nodded to herself with confidence.
Today was a new beginning for Blake Belladonna.
Praetor scowled at the message on his Scroll. It detailed just how much it would cost to cover Blake's tuition and the cost of renting a house in Patch. On a separate page was the predicted yearly tax that he would have to pay. And finally in an envelope set before him was a bundle of Lien Cards, the pay from his latest mission.
It simply wasn't enough.
Each kingdom had different approaches to training Hunters. Atlas had its government and military endeavours tied into one another. Mistral gave applicants a mandatory four years training. What Vacuo did was entirely secret from everyone who wasn't involved, rumours speculated the existence of a secret brotherhood of sorts. Vale made sure to give their aspirants the best training possible, yet that came with a pretty steep cost. Alternatives to payment were available, but only if one was a native to Vale.
That simply left him with the option of upfront payment.
Therein lay the rub. He was by definition, poor. Each mission was barely making up for the costs of the week. Meaning he had to take several in succession, just to be able to take a break and be with Blake.
The missions he usually took on were for skilled and experienced Hunters. And while no one would deny his prowess, even he was looked down upon by multiple Veteran Hunters who viewed him with mistrust.
Due to his Honorary Hunter status, his Hunter's Rank would never climb any higher and wouldn't be cleared for higher paying jobs. He simply didn't know what he'd do if the debt were to climb any higher than it was already.
He needed a solution fast.
The Titanic man held the pouting, little woman up to his eye level by her wrists. Roman had decided to, metaphorically, throw her at the man single-handedly assaulting his hideout. Neo knew that Roman wouldn't ask for her assistance unless the situation called for it. Unfortunately for her, the Titan's skill outclassed hers. Now she felt utterly helpless, she couldn't even muster the energy to kick in defiance.
"Now, now young lady." The man chided, her precious umbrella in the hand that wasn't holding her. "I have no desire to fight any more than I have to. Now, if I let you down will you agree not to interfere with my meeting?"
Neo had little choice but to pout childishly and nod. Once she was let down she was surprised to find that the Titan was holding her umbrella out to her, offering to return it to her. The short woman hesitantly took it back before moving out of his way.
She heard the tell-tale sounds of a scuffle coming from the back along with a few grunts of pain from Roman. For a moment, Neo let her imagination run a little wild with a silent giggle. She couldn't make out any words that were being said, but she did hear Roman saying "How about I make a better deal?"
Soon after, the Titan came out, holding her special bowl. Neo was about to charge at him for touching something of hers when he gently placed it on a crate next to her.
"It was a good fight" He praised as he passed right by her and leaving the warehouse. Neo was left with a small blush on her cheeks, hardly anyone ever complimented her. Now she was left with a bowl of her favourite ice cream.
'He's a nice person.' She thought, scooping a bit of pink ice cream into her mouth. Moments after he left, Roman came out, nursing a bruised eye.
"Neo, it seems we've got a new associate."
AN: Edited version posted 4/July/16