Lightning crackled amidst the clouds, thunder booming and heralding the coming of a storm.
It began to rain, the pitter-patter of droplets striking down over the leaves of a forest canopy echoing the sound of snapping twigs and feet crunching over the ground. The cold dreariness of the wind reached deep down even into the marrow of the bones.
Ruby was shivering.
No matter how tightly Shirou clutched her to his chest while carrying her back to the Mt. Glenn settlement, her trembling just wouldn't stop. It began from her shoulders, to her arms, to her finger, and even her lips. Her unease was just so obvious, and this wasn't a problem of the wind or environment, but of the heart and mind.
The reason itself was fairly simple.
"Go Little Rose, I can't go back with you yet. Tell Tai that I'm sorry for being such a bad wife and leaving him all alone…I really shouldn't have gone on that mission."
Ruby didn't want to accept it. Sure, she ended up getting her mother's real contact information, but there was still a substantial part inside her that wanted her mom to stay with her and return.
Shirou could guess that it didn't even matter to Ruby that Summer's current appearance would only invite scorn, fear, and apprehension. To Ruby, all that mattered was that her mom was back.
So, what if others belittled her or were revolted by Summer's appearance?
It didn't matter.
For Ruby, she would stubbornly hold onto whatever semblance of hope she had. There had to be a way to reverse what had happened, people for uncle Qrow and her father to ask favours from? Her dad had always told her about the kind of man Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy was.
Ozpin was magical, the best role model for all Huntsman. Surely, Ozpin would have a solution.
Shirou could sense the flurry of thoughts and emotions flittering across Ruby's mind, but he was clear that she was likely avoiding the elephant in the room.
What would his Master do if the suggestion to kill Summer was presented as the only alternative?
She'd never accept it, and neither would her family, but that would mean ostracization if they were ever found out.
To Ruby who was already sensitive about her image as a loner at school due to her social awkwardness, it was practically a death sentence that she'd be willing to endure. However, would Summer who had been there in spirit for Ruby be willing to do so?
Despite her childish tendencies, Summer was a mature woman who had a decent head on her shoulders to be the team leader of her own Huntsman team, STRQ. She would have certainly thought of various ramifications, but only one truly terrified her.
The finger-marking around Ruby's neck were almost entirely faded by now, but even still, they were a stark reminder of what would happen if Summer ever lost control again.
When Shirou recalled the horrified expression on Summer's face when she first noticed what she'd done, he knew right away that the outcome was set in stone.
A sort of trauma had been formed.
Until Summer was fully confident that she wouldn't relapse and hurt those she cared for, she wasn't going to risk getting close to her family and loved ones. This much was clear when she decided to stay behind.
Shirou exhaled slowly, the creases over his forehead only growing more numerous from constant fretting.
His situation wasn't any less complicated than Ruby's.
He'd been split in two, the specifics of which he was still trying to figure out.
By split in two, he didn't mean that he'd become two entirely different people with different identities, but an exact copy of him had manifested like a doppelganger. They shared the same past knowledge and history up until the point that they divided, but unlike him, this copy wasn't tied to Ruby.
This was a good thing as the consumption requirements of two Heroic Spirits would be too much for Ruby to handle. Instead, his doppelganger subsisted on faith, and the energy of a budding legend built around his reputation as Archer.
Rather than possess the same red mantle and black body gear, his double was in the exact appearance of his 'Archer' persona, mask, tacky trench coat, and all.
What a headache.
To differentiate between the two, he as the original kept his name while his double would just be referred to by his class.
"Don't worry too much. Your mom isn't alone," he consoled Ruby.
Archer was with Summer, and the both of them were quite capable.
"…But that's not the point," Ruby pouted dispiritedly.
Her gaze remained in the direction where the two of them had left Summer and Archer behind. Even though there were trees and tall hills blocking the view, it didn't seem to matter to Ruby.
If Ruby had her way, then she really would have stubbornly insisted on staying with Summer until she agreed to go back home, but Summer was sly.
Perhaps no one knew Ruby as well as Summer did, and she played right into Ruby's weaknesses and guilted her.
Shirou's brow twitched at the memory.
You see, even though he'd split into two, his injuries didn't heal, not did they translate over to Archer. Instead, he was doing slightly better than he was before.
Dried blood stained his chest, and lacerations from burst blood vessels over his skin made him appear ghastly. On an ordinary human, such injuries were surely fatal, and by god did they look fatal to the point that Ruby's eyes began watering, but as a Heroic Spirit he would be fine.
His Spirit Origin wasn't broken, so with time he would be able to recover.
He himself knew this, and to an extent, Summer guessed that he would be fine using her intuition, but Ruby was still too naïve.
Summer reasoned that if Ruby remained stubborn and stayed, then what would happen to him without medical attention?
It was a reasonable excuse, but again, neither of the two really seemed to understand Heroic Spirits all too well which was a given since magecraft and magi seemed non-existed in Remnant.
The way Ruby's features tightened while all the fight left her as if she was being strangled showed the inner conflict in her mind.
Just as he had been about to inform her that he could remain in spiritual form to recover, Summer noticed his intentions.
The look Summer had given him was pleading, like this would be the only favour she'd ever ask of him again.
Thinking about how he'd already gotten Summer to give Ruby her actual contact information on the scroll he'd gotten her, he acquiesced to her silent pleas and here he was now; recovered enough to carry Ruby back, but not fit for much else other than to reassure his Master.
"Sometimes we can't get what we want, but think of it like this." Shirou drew a circle over Ruby's back to comfort her. "Your mother said she wouldn't be coming back 'yet.' Just give her some time, and if she takes too long, do you really think I wouldn't be able to track her?"
"No." Ruby mumbled into his chest. "You found her last time too."
"Exactly. So, what you should do is improve yourself to the point that your mother won't worry about harming you."
Ruby touched her neck. It was abundantly clear that if she hadn't gotten herself injured, then the chance of convincing her mother to return home with her would have been much higher. Only Shirou knew that it would have been certain given Summer's own desires to be with her family and friends.
Alas, time turns back for no one.
"Next time I see mom, I'll be so strong that she won't even be able to touch me if things go wrong." Ruby finally stopped shaking, a goal forming in her mind.
"That's the spirit." He smiled before he winced when Ruby tried to fist-pump. "But please keep still. You'll open up a wound."
"R-Right."
Soon, Shirou walked over a final hill and the Mt. Glenn settlement came within sight. Rubble and debris from Dust explosions and mottled holes in the ground from ammunition rounds littered the entire hundred-feet area outside the walls.
There a group of Huntsman and Huntresses gathering the dead and injured on what was left of the battlefield not too far away. One of them included Ector who Ruby had been stationed with during the siege by Grimm.
Shirou knew that his red mantle and appearance would be far too eye catching if he was noticed, and he didn't need that kind of attention right now.
Slowly, he placed Ruby down on her feet while out of view from the others.
"You can make it the rest of the way back," Shirou scratched the back of his head when Ruby stared at him with puppy-dog eyes as if was abandoning her. "Stop it. It won't work. I wanted to take you right back home if I could, but your uncle saw you here and may find it too suspicious that you made it back to Patch with Mt. Glenn's tunnels still sealed."
Shirou smiled lightly as his body began fading into motes of golden dust from the feet up.
"Besides, it's not like I'm leaving you anyway."
The voice sounded in Ruby's mind.
"Either find your uncle Qrow, or hang out with your new friends while waiting."
"Okay, I got it. No problems and no worries," Ruby mumbled off after realizing how ridiculous talking aloud to the air would look to others. She then nodded and made her way to Ector and the group of Huntsmen around him.
As soon as Shirou saw Ruby getting scolded by Ector four jumping off the walls without warning, his carefree features hardened impeccably.
There was a more important reason as to why he didn't just take Ruby home and settle matters with Roman, and instead opted to remain a bit at Mt. Glenn.
Still in spiritual form, there was no one to stop him, nor anything that could impede him without the use of magic.
He was unhindered while navigating through Mt. Glenn's silent battlefield, and eventually reached a certain spot still scorched from the explosion of a high-calibre flame Dust round.
It was around here.
He stood in the place where he was shot, angling himself in the exact manner in which the bullet had pierced through him. The shot had come from up high, and was close enough that it reached him the moment it was fired.
Taking into account his intuition as an archer, and his three-dimensional awareness, he soon turned his head in a certain direction.
High tower watch post.
It was less than a hundred feet from where he stood, and its height would only increase the speed of the bullet's descent.
Who are you?
He still couldn't wrap his mind around the issue of why he'd been shot. You'd think that with the Grimm terrorizing Remnant, mankind would stand united against them, but the truth was right before his eyes.
There was a traitor hiding amidst the masses, and the amount of trouble this could bode Remnant's future wasn't something his sense of justice could just ignore. This was even more so when he speculated that this individual had some sort of connection to the Grimm.
Shaking his head, he took a step and arrived at the spot he felt the shooter was most likely to have shot from at the highest point on the tower.
The area was bare of any structures. Instead, there was only a single room with numerous slits where snipers could aim and fire along the walls.
During the battle of Mt. Glenn, there must have been dozens of Huntsmen and Huntresses along these walls shotting at Grimm.
The fact that the shooter hadn't been found yet gave credence to how hectic the battle had been, and how enraptured everyone was about the Huntsman of Red's performance.
Regardless, now that the area had been cleared out, one ownerless weapon was left behind.
There lying conspicuously on the ground was a discarded mech-shift sniper rifle. An empty bullet cartridge was left cluttered by the rifle's side, and a few loose bullets had been kicked away in a hurry.
The shooter must have panicked and left long before anyone else noticed. Between all the Huntsmen and Huntresses in the room, and the mess it must have been when everyone cleared out, how could he possibly know where the shooter had retreated towards?
His eyes darted back and forth before narrowing over an unassuming break on the tower's wall likely caused by a Grimm. It was just big enough that someone could jump through and it faced a gated exit point, but even with Aura, the fall would still cause severe damage at the tower's height.
Was someone even crazy enough to take the plunge while everyone was distracted?
He knit his brows and hovered over to investigate.
Don't underestimate him.
Tracking was a common skill for any mercenary.
Though he'd died early before even reaching twenty-five in his dangerous career, he still had all the necessary experience. Deduction and trusting his own gut feeling were his strongest talents.
Wordlessly, he leapt down and plummeted to the ground within Mt. Glenn's walls.
As soon as he landed, his senses began to tingle when he noticed heeled footprints nearby that left a substantial depression into the dirt. Anyone would have missed it if they weren't looking for it as it was too inconspicuous while surrounded in debris and rubble from the Grimm.
In any case, Shirou began to track the steps all the way down to an exit gate in Mt. Glenn's walls.
A weathered Huntsman with a long grey beard and a bald head was by the gate, making sure that there were no Grimm around while overseeing the cleanup efforts.
It was best to question the man of any anomalies.
Knowing what sort of commotion his appearance would cause, Shirou took a slight detour and changed into something that could hide his features after rematerializing. He didn't have to look far because he ended up taking the assorted baggy clothes of dead Huntsmen who died in the line of duty.
He didn't have a mask, so he improvised by taking a strip of cloth and making a bandanna over his mouth and nose.
"Did someone pass through here during the battle?" He asked after walking up to the bearded Huntsman.
The Huntsman blinked, likely due to the mismatch and fashion disaster Shirou was wearing, but fuck it. This was his current battle gear. Stats. That's all that matters right?
Shaking away his needless thoughts, Shirou waited for the man to collect himself and answer.
"Many passed through here," the man said helplessly. "You're going to have to be more specific, friend. You aren't the first to be looking for family or friends among the deceased."
Even if Shirou knew that he was being misunderstood at the moment, it didn't matter. He thought to himself before narrowing down the time frame.
"What about after the Huntsman of Red was shot?" He asked.
The man blinked perplexed, but very quickly, Shirou noticed that something came to the bearded Huntsman's mind.
"A Huntress, black hair, red dress, amber eyes, and looking distraught," the man rubbed a finger over his bearded cheek. "I didn't stop her because I thought she might have lost a friend or family member during the battle like you and many others seem to be doing. Many people are like that here, and its better to find a body to bury than have nothing. Should I have stopped her? Let me tell you, but I tried. She didn't even have a weapon, but she wouldn't listen to reason."
The man sighed before continuing.
"I don't blame her, or anyone really. Who can stay sane at the thought of their loved ones dying, right?"
Shirou nodded in acceptance, and stowed away the information. "Thanks for your help."
The bearded huntsman grunted, exhaustion and grief numbing him to the number of deaths he'd seen in his service in Mt. Glenn.
Without another word, Shirou moved out of anyone's line of sight, and dematerialized.
Like a hound, he then dutifully followed the remaining trail after passing over Mt. Glenn's walls. It was here that he felt his suspicions about the shooter were verified.
The tracks left right into the surrounding Grimmlands, and no sane human would ever venture there alone especially during a siege by Grimm.
Considering the state of his injuries, and the fact that he didn't wish to leave Ruby's side right now, he made his decision.
There was something that he'd ended up discovering ever since his Spirit Origin practically split him into two beings. Other than what he'd already mentioned before, there was one other crucial aspect he'd yet to mention.
By focusing inwardly on himself and formulating a message, he could send his thoughts to 'Archer' and vice versa.
Tracking the shooter would be out of his hands.
In which case, Archer and Summer could pick it up.
He alerted his other self about his findings.
[Black hair, red dress, and amber eyes.]
-Go east.
Archer knit his brows as a string of information abruptly appeared in his mind. His feet snapped a few twigs as he stopped in place and looked over towards the eastern horizon.
"Something wrong?" Summer called out to him.
He hummed in thought before answering truthfully.
"Shirou told me information about the shooter from before," he said, feeling somewhat awkward. Although he called himself Archer, a part of him still considered himself to be Shirou so it felt weird referring to himself in third-person.
"You can do that?" Summer responded in stunned disbelief.
"It just happened." He didn't bother explaining because even he wasn't fully sure about how the energy of faith was affecting him.
"Oh, ugh, I see."
The conversation died then and there.
Summer kept glancing at him, but wasn't really opening up to him. Clearly, she still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he was now another Shirou. Moreover, Archer could tell that she was just looking for anything that could distract her from the previous matter.
Summer wasn't saying it, but there was no way that she wasn't affected by the mental shock of knowing that she had harmed her own daughter.
What mother could?
The issue couldn't be forced. This was a mental scar that would surely fester unless stopped at the root, but the only way to do that is if Summer stopped blaming herself. She was the only one who could fight this battle. All others could only stand on the side.
"We're heading east looking for a woman with black hair, a red dress, and amber eyes," he informed Summer who silently took everything in. "This woman may or may not be in collusion with the Grimm."
Here Summer reacted by perking up in thought.
Her mask had long since broken, revealing her darkened face which allowed him to see the way her eyes flickered with a certain emotion he couldn't place. He also saw the way her mouth hung open in shock before rapidly closing tight.
She noticed him staring, quietly pulled up her hood, and then turned away as if a child caught doing something bad. The joke was on her though because her hood, like numerous parts of her current attire, were riddled with tears and holes.
When it became evident that Archer could still see her face, Summer flushed, the colouration of her pale skin taking on a pinkish hue.
"This is just familiar work for me. Uhm, ugh, like searching and investigating people who work with Grimm and- as if they exist, right? Forget I said anything. Hehhe…" Summer tried to laugh it off in a fluster before wincing at his placid features.
She didn't elaborate, but Archer felt like he could make a guess.
"These people were related to your last mission, weren't they?"
Summer quickly stared hard at her feet, falling silent for a long moment.
This let Archer know that he'd probably hit the bulls-eye with his inquiry. Then again, it wasn't exactly a difficult conjecture to make.
At present, Summer still hadn't fully divulged the truth behind the purpose of her mission, or who it was that she'd been working for. He'd asked her several times when she was still just a spirit, but she was particularly tight-lipped for Ruby's sake.
If Summer who was a veteran Huntress perished to whatever cause she fought for, then what would happen to Ruby if she learned of it and followed in Summer's footsteps?
All Summer wanted was for Ruby to live a normal life without any conspiracies, and by telling him of anything, this posed a danger. It wasn't a matter of trust about whether he could keep a secret from Ruby or not, it was more a necessary preventive measure for her.
One Command Seal from Ruby was all it would take to force him to divulge everything to her if she ever grew too impatient.
Summer didn't want to take that risk, but 'Archer' wasn't exactly Shirou.
He wasn't dependant on Ruby in the first place.
There was no hesitation at all when he informed Summer of this difference, and low and behold, the creases over her brow alleviated until she gave out a tired sigh.
"I'll tell you on the way. You said go east, so what are we waiting for?" Summer took the initiative.
Archer followed soon after. He didn't question whether or not Summer knew where she was going, as she never faltered or paused to consider which way to go. It was like she just knew.
"I don't know how to explain it, but my instincts just says to 'go that way,'" Summer reasoned weakly.
Archer thought on the issue, then focused on Summer's Grimm like features. A theory came to mind. "You're part Grimm."
Summer glanced down at herself, then leveled an unamused frown at Archer. "Woooow, who would have known?"
She was patronizing him. She really was right now, but whatever gets her mind out of the slump from earlier is fine. Still, he needed to clarify things.
"I meant that maybe you can sense whatever connection these people working with the Grimm have due to your current status," he elaborated while cutting through some foliage blocking their path.
"Oh, makes sense," Summer tilted her head, before shaking it to focus and following Archer's example. "But just to let you know, I'm only getting a vague idea of a location and am just moving towards the nearest one in the east."
Archer's reply was simple. "Lead the way."
Border towns outside the Kingdoms living on the fringe of life and death out in the Grimmlands were a common sight throughout Remnant. These towns or in some cases cities don't have all the protection that the Kingdoms do with their militaries and Huntsmen and Huntresses. They may also not possess strong connections with the CCT or have any sort of connection at all.
This makes border zones prime locations for bandits to raid and set up shop.
Mt. Glenn was considered the first 'official' expansion by Vale out into the Grimmlands in several years, but many other cities existed before it. The only difference was their proximity to Vale disqualifying them from being considered an expansion of kingdom territory.
If Mt. Glenn was infested with wild Grimm, then the city Summer led Archer to situated closer to Vale was relatively scot-free of them.
"This person travelled far," Archer muttered.
The distance that the two had crossed must have been over a hundred miles, and the only reasonable explanation was if the person had mounted a Grimm, likely a Nevermore.
On the way, Summer had filled Archer in on certain things regarding the world of Remnant, Ozpin, and a supposed mastermind of the Grimm named Salem. It was a lot to digest, and something that irked Archer was that it was abundantly clear that Summer wasn't privy to all the information.
How did this all begin?
What was the reason for all this bloodshed?
What were the importance of the Relics and why couldn't they be brought together?
Summer had no definite response, and insisted that the best method was if she could introduce him to Headmaster Ozpin.
Archer was skeptical about this suggestion, as even if Ozpin knew more, the fact that the situation with Remnant hadn't changed at all, meant that Ozpin may not have a solution.
In any case, all these things were topics to consider for later. What mattered know was locating and exposing the shooter.
"She's hiding in this city," Summer said with a nod. "I'm sure of it, and we just have to find her."
Archer nodded in the affirmative before clearing his throat and placing a hand on Summer's shoulder when she tried to move ahead.
"What?" She grunted stiffly.
He pointed at her face, causing her eyes to widen in realization.
"I'll head out first and look for some sort of mask for you to wear," Archer chided. "Though it's probably better for me if I go in spirit form in case I get recognized."
Saying so, Archer willed his body to dissipate, but grew confused when nothing happened. W-Was this how Saber felt in the Holy Grail War?
Archer tried again, but after a minute of Summer staring flatly at him, he gave up. Looks like there were side-effects after splitting off into two bodies.
"Alright, the normal way it is," Archer grumbled. He just had to hope that he wouldn't be recognized after his stunt in Mt. Glenn, but who was he fooling?
Sometimes fame wasn't worth its troubles.
Noticing his problem, Summer had a bright idea and took off the tattered cape she'd gotten from Mt. Glenn. Wrapping it around his face such that only his eyes were visible, she nodded at a job well done.
He looked like an idiot, or someone with something wrong with his head both literally and figuratively.
"You can't be serious? This will obviously attract more attention," Archer's muffled voice sounded through the fabric over his mouth. He sighed and took Summer's cape off of him. "If they weren't paying attention to me before, then they'll surely pay attention to me with this thing on."
Sucking in a breath, he composed himself and removed his mask before passing it off to Summer.
He'd been thinking about things, and this maneuver solved everything except for the fact that his face was identical to the Huntsman of Red's. The only real difference was that his skin was tanner.
Summer looked at the mask in her hands with confusion.
"If you wear that, you won't have trouble walking into a store and buying another mask," Archer explained. "As for me, even with a mask I'll draw attention, so you should go first and get a mask for yourself before returning mine to me."
Summer accepted the arrangement as it was the most reasonable.
Soon enough, she returned with a mask, gave him back his own mask, and the two of them went out into the border city.
As it would turn out, Archer's concerns for people recognizing him were unfounded. This border city didn't have good access to the CCT and as such hadn't really seen the events in Mt. Glenn.
This made things a lot easier since Archer could now search within the crowds.
Summer only had a vague idea of where the shooter could be, but being able to point out a certain direction did wonders. Coupled with Archer's eye of discernment, and their searching capabilities weren't to be underestimated.
For Cinder who had made her way to this remote city outside the kingdoms to lay low after her previous actions, she never would have expected to see any familiar faces. This was why she didn't have her guard up at all and was leisurely biding her time in a small and quaint open market area.
Across from her, vendors were hawking their wares, and food stall owners were advertising their food.
Cinder was biting down on the nail of her thumb while grimacing. The need to recruit subordinates to act as her arms and legs had never felt so strong as they did right now, and with the situation was it was, Salem wasn't likely to refuse her request.
Cinder watched idly as a loosely dressed adolescent green-haired thief who was almost just skin and bones boldly walked up to an isolated food vendor and blatantly stole a barbeque skewer. There was no else paying attention but Cinder, so she clearly saw the way the stall owner didn't even seem to notice the girl despite staring right at her.
A Semblance? Cinder mused.
The girl looked confident, if just a tad bit nervous at her actions due to the proximity of others, but she was evidently starving. The satisfaction on her face when she bit down on the stolen food indicated that she wasn't above stealing again.
Cinder's lips curled up in amusement. She'd remember this one, and if the girl's abilities proved decent, she'd come back to this town in the future and recruit her when Salem finally gave her permission.
Gradually relaxing after the adrenaline from Mt. Glenn subsided, she idly took a cursory glance at her surroundings, only to freeze. She felt her blood running cold, her joints locking for a fraction of a second, nearly causing her to fall.
The others around weren't reacting, but there was no way she could mistake the masked face of the individual that appeared within view and was making his way towards her.
Archer.
She remembered him, but unlike the others in Mt. Glenn, she hadn't stayed around to watch Archer shoot down the Dragon. She'd left in the midst of all the commotion and only saw the Dragon killed from a distance while atop a Nevermore.
Why was he here? A coincidence?
Cinder didn't know what to think yet.
By Archer's side was another masked individual whom Cinder wasn't familiar with at all. Regardless, it wasn't as if they were looking for her. She hadn't left behind anything that should incriminate her.
Logically she could stand her ground and deny everything even if questioned.
However, the moment the two walked directly towards her without hesitation was the tipping point. The fact that they'd noticed her features and then quickly singled her out raised all kinds of warning signs. How could they have possibly tracked her?
It didn't matter at present.
Run!
Cinder abruptly stood up, and since her gaze was already on Archer, she saw the way he reacted to her actions and got ready to sprint. She was even more certain that cover was blown at this point.
She thought fast, and quickly observed her surroundings to assess her situation.
There were two people locking in on her.
She was surrounded in a crowd. If Archer's moral compass leaned towards the righteous, he wouldn't fire on her in this market area. This was a concept she could work with, but it was going to be a gamble.
A distraction was necessary. She would then use the chaos of the crowd to make her escape.
As for the distraction, ordinary people wouldn't cut it as a bullet could outright kill them, and more importantly, there would sympathizers who could come to their rescue instead of Archer and his compatriot.
Suddenly, Cinder's gaze returned to the bold thief across from her in the market still gorging on pilfered food out of sight from others except for the vendor.
Even normal people would hesitate to help a thief especially if they were a street rat.
This was the only way, but it was a pity because the green-haired girl had potential.
Cinder saw her chance and exposed the girl's crime by shooting the girl's leg, directly breaking the girl's concentration and shattering whatever Semblance she was using. The girl's Aura was weak, and the suddenness of her injury caused a delay in reaction.
A pained cry echoed off behind Cinder's ears, but she'd already turned around and mixed further into the crowd.
The loud roaring of the food vendor who discovered the presence of the thief echoed in the air, followed by sound of heavy slapping and pitiful whimpering.
Cinder had no idea if her gamble was going to pay off since mercenaries were known to pursue lien over justice, but she was left with little options. She could only believe in Archer's character.
-"You're being a bit heavy handed, now aren't you? She's already injured, so just let her off."
A firm voice echoed out.
Her bet paid off.
Cinder sighed in relief when she chanced a glance behind her and saw Archer defending the thief from the vendor like some two-bit cartoon hero. Although his partner still tailed after her, to Cinder, she'd already gotten rid of the most dangerous one with little expense to herself.
In the words of a wise villain, 'heroes were nosy fools.'
It was time to leave.
Thanks for reading!
I have a new novel out and the link is below for Survivor's Log: Reflections. Samples can be read at Fiction Press, and the Paper back is also available now.
Next update: Fate Stay Cooking
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