Merry Christmas Everyone! Shout out to all the other Holidays I missed this December too!

Blood and Fate

Taking a life had never bothered him. Growing up in the slums encouraged that type of life, where if you didn't fight for your food you would go hungry. Barely living long enough to be called a man, Corvo used his skills with a blade to fight his way to a better life. It started with back alley brawls, leading to organized fights for others drinking money. Eventually he survived long enough to fight for the honor of being the royal protector. The nobles he faced all sneered or turned their nose up at him. He didn't care, he just cut them off.

In the final rounds of the fight, the Empress herself stood before them given those her favor to win. The ceremony was cut short when an assassin jumped from the crowd to kill her. Funny, for all the boasting of their heritage and devotion. A street orphan stepped forward while the nobles protected themselves.

Before their blades could touch the assassin stopped and dropped his weapon. Confused, the sound of clapping got their attention as the young Empress stepped forward. Revealing that this was the final trial, proof by action over position and fame.

Jessamine would welcome Corvo into the court. It took a few years, mostly with them butting heads, but they grew closer than just titles allowed, even after he told her of his shameful past, her smile stayed the same. He felt something he never knew before, he felt at peace with her.

That peace soon faded with her death. Rage and fury was all he felt after.

Fate had dealt him a poor hand till someone tipped it in his favor. He took hold of this chance for revenge sparing only a few that crossed his path. He only realized what he was becoming after finding his daughter and looking down to see the bloodied hand print he left on her dress after their reunion.

While he would not spare those responsible from his blade, he took steps to lessen the blood spilled along his path. He would have to take a life now and then but if avoidable he would show mercy, unless they did not deserve it.

He still followed this code in Remnant. Even as he made his way through the warehouse, he didn't even bother with the guards. Waiting for Arancia to get in the open where he could pickpocket him and leave without a trace. This plan only changed when one of the guards hinted at a special cargo being delivered that night. With the possibility of Roman being involved Corvo stayed and prepared for a confrontation. Silently knocking out as many guards as he could and disabling the alarms and cameras before waiting in the shadows.

When the cargo arrived Corvo's hand was already on his blade as they tossed the poor souls into cages. Their laughter only cementing their fate as he switched the sleep dart for a bolt. Firing at one of the thugs the metal and wood lodged itself into the neck of the man mid laugh, a weak gasp followed as he hit the ground. The laughter faded, all fell quiet as they noticed but did not realize what had happened. Till a second shot came striking one of the men in the head.

In an instant they panicked. Some moved for cover wherever they could find it, others tried staring up into the dark ceiling to make out where the shots came from. Arancia grabbed two of his men to shield himself as he ran back. His orders for the others to find the attacker were cut off as one of the bodies lifelessly slumped against him. A bolt then pierced his leg crippling him to the ground.

With Arancia's cry distracting them, Corvo blinked to the other side of the building and took aim at the chest of another guard. To his surprise the shot hit its target for a lung, a sure kill normally. But left a shallow wound with a shimmering light covering the man's body as the bolt was pulled out. Seems some of the men had their Aura unlocked.

In Summers memories she had fought other aura users. While it acts as a shield it is not invincible as enough damage can break it or a quick strike can slip passed it. While annoying this presented Corvo with a chance at facing Aura users. Most if not all of Salem's inner circle had Aura so this would be a good test for when they fought.

With normal bolts seemingly being less effective Corvo drew his sword. Blinking down behind one of the men Corvo covered the shocked cry of the man as he thrust his blade into his back. Corvo felt the slight resistance but the blade passed through as he blinked to the others. From the front or the back the blade still made its way like normal as he cut the men down. With the final one being the largest of them all, he was standing over Arancia with a crazed smile. Large blade in hand, the man rushed forward with a wild cry.

Corvo let the man charge him, side stepping away from the powerful overhead swing. The blade dug into the stone floor chipping and scattering flakes around. Releasing one hand from the hilt the large man threw a punch with his sword circling around with his body momentum behind it. Dodging the fist, Corvo parried the blade with his own, forcing the man off balance and open for his own slash that cut into the Aura around the flesh of the man. Staggering back he was defenseless as Corvo followed with a shallow then heavy strike. The blades first hit striking the aura and breaking with a dim flash. The second hit slipped through without any resistance. The man looked down grabbing at the wound before falling to the ground.

With the last of the Gang dead Corvo walked over to Arancia. The man was holding his leg while trying to crawl away. Physically flinching as Corvo stepped over him, his metal mask meeting the slavers panicked eyes. He barely uttered a word for mercy before Corvo slashed his throat.

After the choked gargles stopped, Corvo reached into the jacket finding the ledger and took the scroll in his pocket as well. The Faunus and humans stared at their savior, some with horror and disgust. Others with awe and gratitude. They did not see his face but noticed his hand glowed with a blue light before disappearing with the locks on their cages open.

It took a bit of time but in the distance Corvo could hear the sounds of sirens after his anonymous tip. The smugglers scroll had its data chip removed and crushed after the call. He stayed over head a few buildings down as the Cities police arrived. A small bullhead bearing Beacons crest had also flown by, it hovered over the ground for a moment, as a man jumped off. He looked to be of a thin built with glasses and green hair. He rushed over to the police talking and moving in a sporadic manner before taking most of the men inside the building with him. What followed was the victims being helped out and into the waiting aid. A few reporters started to show up taking photos and video, but the hunter and police pushed them back.

Wheter it was to protect those from the shame of being trafficked or to hide the bodies that were starting to be carried out, it did not matter. He had saved a few lives but also killed and brought to light corruption so close to the city's heart. Negative feelings would grow from this and the Grimm would react. But with the walls and protection in place the worst would be a few extra Grimm for Hunters to kill.

Securing the ledger in his coat. He blinked away before anyone noticed him.

Back in his room, Corvo cleaned his weapons and gear hiding them in the closet while he wore civilian clothes. A cup of tea steamed on the table next to him, as he turned the pages of the ledger. Junior had said that Arancia recorded most if not all of his business in the book. Not even bothering to use fake names for his clients. While the average corrupt business was listed, a branch of the Schnee Dust Company was something to make note of. It was in the last few pages that Corvo found what he needed. Roman had been using the smuggler to transport his dust after the crimes. The seasoned thief was however smart enough to just list random locations for the exchange never having the transports deliver to his safe houses directly.

Luckily the White Fang heads were not as smart, marking drop off points that mirrored the same dates as Romans. While the likelihood of these location being White fang bases over Roman's safe houses was strong, Corvo would have to investigate regardless and then tip off the Hunters and police to clean them out.

With the White Fang now confirmed to be working with Roman, Corvo's best bet at tracking down the thief would be through them. He would continue his night time patrols over the city but the odds for finding the thief was a random chance at best.

Worse, it seems that Roman's activity with the smuggler was steadily slowing down to not even being listed in the current week recordings. This contradicted with his current crime spree being continually active. The White Fang had also slowed down for the Dust collection but the supply orders for ammo and food remained the same.

However the White fang's current order was different than the others. The location was outside of the cities walls in a nearby forest. Requesting heavy reinforced cages of all things. The order was marked as already been paid and a secondary company would be delivering at the requested time a few weeks from now. The delivery location is not given, but a note used by the company was. Seems they would radio the shipment with instructions and coordinates once in the area. As the company was outside of the city, it didn't give Corvo the chance to sneak around for more details or go into the cargo without wasting time and resources.

Sliding the ledger away and downing the rest of his cold tea, Corvo would meet with Junior to deliver the book. Hopefully the informant would not mind a few added request for the exchange. Files similar to Romans on the White Fang as well as the company used for the delivery. As well as a way out of the city and pick up in the forest.

When Corvo woke up the sun was already over head with the sound of people going about their daily lives. Dressed in casual wear, he made his way out for breakfast or lunch given the time. As he passed through the crowds, conversation hinted of his night at the docks. Stopping by a news outlet, the reporter retold the event that was made public. Arancia was found dead with a number of his 'employees' sharing his fate. While at first this was listed as plain murder, the evidence of trafficking and smuggling with the stolen goods found on the location and the testimony of the former captives speak of the crimes the local businessman committed. The other employees, after being detained, admitted to even working with the notorious Roman Torchwick.

The people around Corvo gasped at the reveal, some saying he deserved death while others argued it was just plain violence without justice. The crowd stopped as the report continued as to who was responsible for such an act. A video of one of the victims willing to talk to the reports came to the screen and told of their experience of how they were kidnapped from their village after a Grimm attack. As to who saved them they did not see the sole person responsible for freeing them as their face was covered by a hood and hidden in the night shadows.

"But one moment he was there the next he was gone with our cells open. I don't know who this person is but I want to thank him for saving us." That was the last quote given before the doctors asked for the reporters to leave.

The news anchors face returned stating that while a Hunter is probably responsible, Beacon has denied any involvement outside the joint action taken by the police during the investigation. As far as they know the individual responsible is acting alone and without the authority of the Council of Vale or Beacon Academy.

The video feed then started to repeat, with Corvo disappearing into the crowd.

"What a fucking shit show." Junior groaned into his desk. Face down against the wood he did not care for the lack of piety the twins showed him as Melanie filed her nails, while Miltia shopped for a new outfit. Why should they care, they were not involved with the information side of their business. Not after he asked the girls to honey trap a target for him. The people he had to pay off nearly cost him the same body parts that the target lost. He left them to just act as the enforcer for the club and somewhat legally allow them to maim dumbasses.

"It's that masked freaks fault anyway." Melanie spoke. "The original plan was that Aranica would still be alive and we'd be able to blackmail him and his clients into giving us a chunk of their profits, Now that market is dead as that fuck." Junior lifted his head to meet their eyes to see if they were being serious about their problems or blowing smoke up his ass. To his surprise they seem serious as Miltia continued after her sister. "Although on the bright side no one is talking about us anymore."

Junior had to agree with at least that silver lining, falling back into his chair. The message he got the night before had him full of hope of the job being done smooth and without any issues. Not for the death of his golden goose and a power vacuum with its death.

"In hindsight, you should have told me he was trafficking people and Faunus." A familiar voice spoke behind him.

"How the hell was I supposed to know the scumbag had a hand in that? If I'd known that I would've had him by the balls without his ledger….. FUCKING STOP DOING THAT!" Junior yelled falling from his chair with the twins joining him on the ground in shock.

All three looked up to see the familiar metal mask of The Outsider staring down at them. His weapons were not drawn and he looked to be as calm as last time so they were not in for a fight at least.

Getting off the floor Junior slammed his hand on the desk, biting back the urge to chew the man out for fucking them over. "We had a deal." Was the only words he could think of saying without getting into a fight. The twins moving beside him, Melanie equally annoyed and Miltia hesitant as the man had made their incentive of the deal worthless, but doing so confirmed that he had no trouble killing. On a normal day they would all be beating the living shit out of the guy and leave him for the scavengers but this was not a normal day. And he was not a man they could beat.

The Outsider looked them over and simply reached into his coat. (Making the three hold their breath) As he put the ledger on the desk before them. "And I delivered on my part."

Junior and the Twins stared down at the book, then back up at the man. "Are you fucking serious!" Melanie yelled, her patience snapping along with her reason as she rushed forward hand reaching out to throttle the man.

Junior and Miltia barely had enough time to hold her back as the red dressed girl struggled to break free. Afraid that this would cause a fight Junior was about to speak but stopped along with the sisters as the Outsider held up something in his hand.

"Arancia as you can probably agree even with your morals, was doing something that was not forgivable. However, the man would have walked away with the amount of influence he had. I have seen his type before and they do not change no matter how many chances they get." This said, Junior and the twins had to admit he was right. They were not good people at the end of the day. But they were at least above that horror, the twins even knew they dodged that life with Juniors help.

"This chip holds all the contacts and data that Arancia used in his scroll. While you can't blackmail a dead man, all of his clients and work force with the ledger on your desk has a lot of names of businesses and people that would pay or do a lot of things to not be connected to a slave trader." Hearing the Outsiders words Junior and the sister realized the vast potential of power they would gain from this. All three could not believe they did not think of this sooner and junior reached out to take it.

"However," The Outsider pulled the chip back closing his fist around it. "Giving you this, I need a few things in return."

"Of course you do." Junior smiled, his business tone taking over. "What do you want?"

Behind him, the twins were talking to each other over what they would do and buy with all their new lien, ignoring the two men talking.

Till Melanie suddenly glared at the masked man. "Hold on, how do we know that it's the real chip and not just some fake?"

Hearing this Junior and her sister both slapped a hand over their face, for getting wrapped up in their fantasies. As it did sound too good to be true.

"Seems one of you has some business sense." The Outsider chucked, doing little for their egos. "But fair enough, here test it yourself while I say what I want." The mask man put the chip into Melanie hand. The sudden contact making her flinch but she kept hold of the device.

The twins then turned around while Melanie installed the chip into a burn scroll.

"As agreed before, I need you to continue to keep tabs on Roman and his crew, as well as the files you have on the White Fang." Junior nodded as both was doable as he had a few moles in the movement already.

"Ha! Called it, pay up!" Both men turned back to see the flushed face of Miltia who was covering her mouth from the outburst. Junior raised an eyebrow as Melanie explained. "We had a bet and she won for once, ignore her." Before both continued to work on the scroll.

The Outsider tilted his head to the side as Junior only shrugged.

Coughing, Junior motioned for the man to continue. "I also need you to look up the delivery for a supply order being sent out by this company." Junior took the note handed to him already recognizing the company's name. "I will send you details by scroll later but I will need a way out and back in to the city."

Junior hesitated for a moment. With his current connections, it could take months. To make it possible without missing the time window for the drop...

"Hey Boss!" Junior turned back to the Twins who meet him with smiles. "Its legit." Seeing the list of names and numbers scrolling down almost made Junior weak in the knees as he fought the grin coming to his face. "I'll make a few calls. Anything else?"

"One last thing. What do you know about Forever Falls?"

Again Happy Holidays everyone! Hope all of you had a great Year and will have another to follow!

With that said I have a few things to say that are actually important.

First I want to thank everyone for Reading, Following, and Reviewing this story. I started this fic in early January of this Year and already have 15 chapters done. While I am happy to have reached this number I will try to top that next year.

Second is that I finally found a Beta to help me edit my errors. (I also fixed his name in the last chapter)

Beta: Salutations.

A special shout out to Mr. Haziq for actually working on this Christmas Eve! I look forward to working with him and giving you all a better reading experience.

And lastly I will be taking a small hiatus on writing for the next week as I will be visiting family out of state. I plan to start up again in January. Until and hopefully my last college semester stares up. I might have to delay writing again for this, as I have to take up an internship that I require to graduate. Hopefully I get hired and don't have to burn any more of my savings to get the fucking paper So fingers crossed.

BUT for the last time in 2017 I want to thank everyone here and Hope to see you all in the next Year!

-Dreamer