The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 22
"You took your sweet time." Coco rises from the ground and confronts Link, who took more than five minutes to return the tablet and get to the new meet up spot
"Sorry, I took five minutes for myself." Link softly speaks as he slowly nods at Coco
"Whatever, come on, we're all waiting." Coco chuckles before slapping Link's shoulder
"Sorry guys." Link tries to chuckle casually as well, but most if not all of them can tell he's tense and nervous.
"You do not have to tell us if it makes you uncomfortable." Pyrrha speaks up and steps in front of Coco to face Link directly
"Thank you Pyrrha, but no thank you at the same time, this isn't about wanting to tell you at this point, I have to tell you, I have to tell someone about this, it's an event that happened a year ago, and my emotions have been bottled in ever since." Link sighs and gives Pyrrha a very awkward hug, "But thank you anyway, now brace yourself." Link steps away from the pavement and now approaches a nearby tree, while the rest of his group follows, "Well I may as well not lead you on without anymore details, let's cut right to the chase, the White Fang leader unmasking me."
Silence
"No offense." Coco raises her hand again with a big smile being shown, "You're just teasing us every time you say something then pause for six hundred years."
"Sorry, sorry. Just trying to remember all of it to the exact precise detail." Link nervously chuckles again
Flashback, Black Hawks "HQ"
"You're not serious right?" Link raises an eyebrow as he redesigns a new metallic mask with reference to his original wooden one but to have more darker colors, the whiteness of the mask is now replaced by a dark brushed steel, the bright red fades into a blood red, and the bright blue turns into a dark galaxy blue
"Nope." Carter chuckles and slaps Link's shoulder, "The strongest leads, and you've shown amazing growth in such a short time, and the best thing is you're still a kid, imagine when you enter your prime, you'll be untouchable."
"Don't tell me there's some huge initiation." Link shrugs and looks around
"We love ya kid, but we're not that wealthy." Carter laughs again, "When you're done making your new mask, I'll show you what it's like to be leader, assigning missions, payments, the boring stuff but also the fun stuff too."
"Fun?" Link raises an eyebrow
"Yeah, you get to-!"
BOOM!
The lights inside one the secluded clubhouses for the Black Hawks mercenary "organization" shut off
"An ambush!" Link puts on his mask and straps it tightly while he also reaches for his sword
"Tough luck for whoever is doing it, most of our guys are cleared out." Carter backs up against Link and tightly holds onto his metal staff
"You're smarter than that Carter, what if they knew that already? What if they're ambushing us, to kill us?"
"Good eye, you really are cut out to be our new leader." Carter smirks
"How fitting, first day as leader and I'm leading us to death." Link rolls his eyes
A long period of time passes of pure silence, both Link and Carter refrain from speaking to detect who is doing this, until suddenly there's a subtle pssst! sound... almost similar to Link's smoke bombs
"Smoke bombs?" Carter frowns
"No... regular smoke bombs don't have THAT distinct smell, we need to get out of here now!" Link looks around frantically
"H-hey kid... you feeling light headed?" Carter groans, yawns and then hits the floor harder than a sack of bricks
"Great... knockout sm..." Link hits the ground as well before he can even finish his sentence.
Two day later
"Kid..." Carter nudges Link, who is still slumped over and passed out, "KID!" He shouts and pushes back against him
"H-huh?" Links eyes force themselves open, he and Carter sit in a dark room with only a single candle, back to back, hands tied and chains holding them down. "What the hell? How long have we been out?"
"I heard some guy mention days, but who knows how many." Carter smirks, but then quickly frowns "Weird, I can still feel your weapons."
"Really?" Link shrugs and looks at himself up and down "I still have all my gear, but if their intention was to kidnap us, why wouldn't they disarm us?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Carter shakes his head "Hey kid, since your still armed, do us both a favor and try to cut us loose, you still have those razor sharp throwing knives right?"
"Oh yeah!" Link nods and reaches for his belt, where he has a pouch on his side for smoke bombs, throwing knives and other essentials. "They're still here alright."
"Good, now shut up and cut us loose." Carter keeps his eyes on the candle, the only source of light for the otherwise dark room
"Alright, just a little more..." Link barely manages to shimmy the knife out of his pouch despite having tied hands, and slowly begins to saw at the rope
After more than a few minutes, Link manages to shred through both his and Carters restraints, each of them then finds their own way to escape the chains
"So what now?" Carter asks
"First, we find out where the hell we are, then take down the bastards who kidnapped us."
"Good call, I'll go first. They'll think I'm in charge, so if things go downhill for us, at least you'll have a chance to get the hell out of here." Carter steps in front of Link, but is quickly stopped when a hand is planted firmly on his shoulder
"Carter don't say things like-!" Link cuts himself off when he hears the loud hand slap Carter's shoulder
"None of that will be necessary." The voice of Adam Taurus is heard, as cold and heartless as ever before
"No!" Link growls and gets in between Carter and Adam, splitting them apart "Keep your distance from this guy!"
"You fought him before?!" Carter frowns and gets in a defensive stance
"Yeah, let's say that." Link nods and takes out his sword
"Hit the lights." Adam puts his hands up as if he's surrendering
"Yes sir!"
Suddenly, the candle is sliced in half, cutting off any sort of lighting in the room, but within seconds, the roof of the room reveals only one single light that exposes the entire room, which was mostly empty except Link, Carter, Adam and approximately ten to twenty white fang members circling them with guns
"Great..." Carter shrugs "No wonder those binds were easy to get out of."
"Where are we?!" Link stares directly at Adam
"A place that won't be disclosed to you, let's just say somewhere in Mistral" Adam steps closer towards the pair
"Alright then pal..." Carter steps in front of Link again, this time pushing him back, almost like he wants to shield him "Why are we here?"
"Why? Here's a better question, why should I tell you and not your leader?"
"Damn you." Carter laughs "I played myself." Though his laugh quickly fades "If your intent is to kill us then you should've done it while we were out cold. Trust me... you have a lot to handle with me and the kid."
"You?" Adam sheds a smirk "Even if that were true, I'd suggest you to relax, we didn't bring you here to kill you. Everyone, weapons down!"
"B-but brother adam-!"
"That's an order!" Adam raises his hand
Despite the hesitation, the white fang members eventually comply with their "leader's" orders
"Kid." Carter nods "Put your sword down." He follows along with the gesture by pressing a button on his staff, and it shrinks to a mere baton
"Fine." Link nods back to the former leader of their small mercenary group and slowly puts his sword back in its sheath. "Spill it Adam, why did you bring us here?"
"Right to the chase huh?" Adam chuckles evilly "I brought you here to tell you that your group is finished being independent."
"We told you we would take all the missions but would never align ourselves permanently, what don't you get about that?" Carter shakes his head
"You can always decline our offer again." Adam turns his back on them
"Good." Carter nods
"But then your little group will really be just that... a little group."
"What do you mean by that?"
"We know what all your members look like, even him." Adam points at Link "Though for him, only I and a few others know. He can make his escape and probably avoid us for the rest of his life, but you? And the rest of your mercenary friends? I can track them down myself and kill them like the worthless disgusting humans they are."
"Why don't I just kill you right now and be done with this?!" Carter's sarcasm was completely gone, and within seconds his baton morphed back into a staff.
"You'll still die!" Adam shouts and draws out his sword "Think smart, not stupid! Join us and aid us in our quest to-!" Adam stops himself and shakes his head "Why are we talking? You're not the leader, he is." He points at Link "Join us kid, your group will benefit majorly as will the White Fang!"
"..." Link says nothing, realizing something major about Adam and the actions he's taken, the actions a leader wouldn't normally do, "You're not the leader of the White Fang."
Dead Silence
"Outsmarted by a kid." Carter laughs out loud, "Never gets old."
"You'll accept us, but will your leader do the same?" Link asks
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Adam smirks and walks away, followed by the rest of the white fang members with him
"Kid this is our chance, we make a move and try to escape, or we go along with this dude."
"Hmm..." Link closes his eyes and thinks deeply, trying to picture outcomes for both situations "Chances are we'll die if we try to make a move now... so let's go ahead and follow Adam."
"I'll say it again." Carter grabs onto Link's shoulder "If things start to go down... you run, I'll be the diversion."
"Carter, things won't go down, and if they do, it'll be for our opponents." Link nods and lightly shoves Carter's hand away
"If you say so." Carter chuckles and deconstructs his staff again
Moments later
As they are about to enter a presumably large room judging by the big doors, Adam stops both Link and Carter
"You're masked, but what about him?" Adam points at Carter
"Carter." Link nods
"What? I didn't bring my mask, you fools jumped us."
"What kind of a fool w-!"
"Shut it!" Link frowns and reaches into his bag "Here, I brought my old mask." Link quickly pulls out the wooden mask and tosses it to Carter
"He saved your life." Adam shakes his head
"Why's that?" Carter reluctantly puts on the mask, tightly strapping it to his head
"Sienna Khan would have you killed instantly. Give her all the context you want, she sees a human, she wants them to pay."
"Then why are we here?" Carter mumbles
"Hmph." Adam smirks and opens the door, in he walks first, followed by the white fang members, in the tail end are Link and Carter, who look at each other one last time
"We may have just walked into a bigger trap." Carter whispers
"I guess we should've just ran while we had the-!"
"Stop!" Carter extends his arm and plants his hand on Link's chest
"YOU DID WHAT?!" The loud shriek of the woman known as Sienna Khan is heard, she rises from her throne, and instantly everyone goes down to one knee to show respect
"High leader Khan..." Adam begins, his voice is calm and collected, the complete opposite of Sienna's "I am looking out for what's best to our organization, and these group of-!"
"What do we gain by aligning ourselves with humans Adam?"
"Power, Strength and less sacrifices of our own! Just give them some money and they'll do whatever we want!"
(Except you of course...)
(Shut it.) Link frowns
"I don't care that they are willing to do whatever we ask them, within a single moment they could double cross us and sell us out to... ANYBODY!" Sienna Khan slowly scales down the stone steps, carefully walking down the room "What makes you think I would want them here?"
"Trust me high leader Khan, these aren't just ordinary humans, they will turn the other cheek and allow us to take over-!"
"Enough!" Link speaks up and approaches both Adam and Sienna
"You were supposed to stay quiet and let me do all the talking!" Adam frowns
"Clearly that wasn't getting you anywhere."
"Hmm..." Sienna suddenly calms down and scoffs at both of them "Silent mercenaries Adam? The more this boy talks the bigger the consequences... for all of you!" She eyes Adam and Carter, but doesn't quiet know what to make of Link, whom she can't get a good at
"Besides strength, what do you look for in someone? Is it something they may lack?" Link looks at Sienna
"Loyalty." Sienna mumbles "I don't want someone going behind my back and portraying the White Fang as something they're not! I don't want us or any other faunus to be hurt or killed by a human ever again!"
"What do I have to do to prove my loyalty?" Link coldly asks, "Truth be told, joining you is my only choice, and if you reject us, we're done for."
"You're that desperate to gain power huh?" Sienna shakes her head, "Pathetic."
"..." Link shrugs, not wanting to reveal Adam's blackmail, so he keeps quiet
"Alright then." Sienna walks back to her throne, when suddenly...
"What the-!" Carter is jumped from behind, he is quickly disarm and unmasked
"Adam what are you doing?" Sienna walks back down the stairs
"I know the perfect way HE can show his loyalty." Adam chuckles and commands Carter's captors to put him down on his knees "Kill him and prove to high leader Khan that you're willing to do anything for the White Fang."
"What?!" Link turns towards Adam with pure aggression in his voice
"Do it." Adam speaks coldly as now guns are pointed towards Carter's head "Now!"
"Why don't I just kill you right now and be done with this?!" Link pulls out his sword and repeats Carters exact words from earlier, and finally something is seen, a bright golden glow, visibly coming from his eyes "I should've killed you a long time ago Adam!"
"Stop!" Sienna walks directly in between Adam and Link "All of you except the boy leave us! Now!"
"But high leader khan what if he tries to k-!"
"I've heard enough from you Adam." Sienna stares daggers into Adam, who reluctantly nods and walks away, being followed by the other white fang members and Carter, who is let go.
Link keeps his eyes on Carter, who looks back at him and gives him a nod followed by a cocky smirk, but little does he realize, there's a hand on the back of his head
(You idiot!)
(What the-!)
Link reaches for the straps of his mask, but they're completely loose, his metal mask slips away from his face and smashes against the ground, Link turns to face Sienna Khan, who stares him down from head to toe
"I can see why you wear the mask now." Sienna backs away and keeps her distance, despite wanting Adam out of her sight, it seems like she's listened to his words carefully "Not only to hide your identity, but you intrigue your victims to the point where they want to unmask you rather than get away or kill you."
"...Yeah, you're right." Link nods
"And you don't look very intimidating."
"Thanks..." Link sighs with disappointment
"But if you're the leader of that group despite being so young then clearly they must see something in you." Sienna immediately goes back on her earlier action and now circles around Link "You're a human..." She eyes his eyes "Not completely, but by no means are you a faunus either. So maybe there's something to you that makes me NOT want to kill you."
"You want to know you can trust me completely, I can give you something that Adam cannot." Link smirks
"And what's that?" Sienna stops right in front of Link
"Honesty." Link closes his eyes and nods, "I don't know where I am, I was forcefully brought here, and my group is being blackmailed with death if I don't agree to help you, I can try, but it won't stop Adam or certain White Fang members he's brainwashed to serve him and him only to go after my men..." Link stops himself and shakes his head "My friends, so dammit!" Link gets on one knee and offers his hand to Sienna "I'll help you with whatever you desire, just spare my friends."
"Noble." Sienna frowns and slaps away Link's hand, "I don't do that, but regardless of my personal preference, you've entertained me with your words, I listened, and while I hate all of you, it doesn't stop me from showing respect where it's due, get up and look me in the eye boy."
Link shrugs and slowly rises to his feet, then meets Sienna's eye
"If even sense any form of back stabbing or rebellion-!"
"You won't, I promise." Link nods
"I'll trust you when I see it, now take your mask, take your friend and get out of here before I change my mind." Sienna scoffs and walks back to her throne
"Yes ma'am." Link sighs out of relief, kicks his mask up in air and with a slick catch, he puts it on, then remembers Carters situation and quickly exits the giant room only to find Carter alone with Adam, both ready to fight once again
"Well?" Adam looks at Link now, completely ignoring Carter
"We're in, now leave me alone before I do decide to kill you."
"Ah... but you're not done yet, you still have to meet some of my other... 'associates.' Working for me means you work for them as well."
"Is it the girl?" Link asks
"What girl?"
"That day I stopped Atlas from killing your 'brothers and sisters,' as I left, I heard a faint female voice, is that your associate?"
"No!" Adam shouts, but almost immediately is back to being cool and collected "She... disappeared."
"So you killed her?" Carter speaks up and he too begins to question Adam
"No, she ran off, I have someone trying to find her bur she's not the other associate." Adam frowns and walks away
"Well then... who is?" Link looks around
"Tomorrow night, you'll meet them, now come on, I'll lead you two out of here, unless you want to stay and test high leader Sienna's patience again."
"How was she?" Carter looks over at Link
"Trust me... you don't want to." Link rolls his eyes and follows Adam.
Present Time
"Not what I expected, but then again I never get what I imagine." Coco chuckles
"And what were you expecting?" Blake asks with anger in her voice
"Relax belladonna, you know I'm kidding" Coco raises her shades and eyes Blake
"This is no laughing matter."
"My bad then." Coco nods and throws her hands in the air "I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Link mumbles and he backs up against the tree and slowly slumps down to the ground "Where are we at?... Oh yeah, the reunion with the mysterious woman who saved my life."
"You said it wasn't great right?" Velvet sits down next to him "You were forced to do something you didn't want to do."
"Yeah..." Link sighs "I uh... I fulfilled my promise to find her again, but it wasn't the best circumstances."
"Now I can see..." Weiss speaks up, but with no sarcasm in her voice "When you said you were blackmailed, you weren't kidding." Weiss follows in Velvet's footsteps by sitting down
(I can't tell them about Cinder, Emerald and Mercury... they'll never buy it.)
"Was it Adam?" Blake asks as she too sits down, right next to Weiss
"Him and his associates." Link corrects her "Come on now, all of you should just sit, there's much more to say." Link waves towards Pyrrha, Yang, Ruby, Sun, Neptune and Coco
"Sure thing." Ruby nods and sits next to Link, across from Velvet while the rest do the same, picking their preferred spots
"Her name was Amber." Link looks up at the sky
"Huh?" Ruby raises her eyebrow
"I described her, but never said her name, right?"
"Oh yeah, you didn't." Yang whispers "Never once did we even ask about her name."
"W-well..." Weiss sighs "It is my fault, I hinted that she wasn't real."
"It's ok Weiss." Link says as he continues staring at the sky "I wish she wasn't real either."
Flashback, Unknown White Fang camp hideout, daytime
"So how was the kid's first mission?" Adam approaches Cinder alone while Emerald and Mercury argue in the background
"I think you completely undersold how skilled and powerful he is." Cinder smirks as she glances at Link, who is behind Adam, speaking with Carter in the background "He is more than capable of defeating 'him' and killing 'her'."
"Are you sure about this?" Adam frowns
"Oh Adam..." Cinder laughs "You leave that decision up to me." She scoffs at Adam before walking away and back towards her crew
Meanwhile
"So how was it?"
"It was just scouting an inn." Link shrugs "It supposedly is some big deal because someone important is in it."
"Did they tell you who?" Carter asks
"They just described him to me, and told me to make sure he was at that inn, tall guy, with graying black hair, red eyes, a slight bit of facial hair, but barely any. Umm, gray dress shirt, black pants... that's pretty much it."
"Hmm, sounds familiar... anything else about him? Weapon kind?"
"Half a sword?" Link shrugs "Looked very weird, oh and he clearly resembles an alcoholic too."
"Half a sword..." Carter thinks and starts to rub his chin
"You know him?" Link asks
"Nope." Carter shakes his head "But I've heard about him... I think his name is Qrow, he's very highly rated among anyone who knows anything about combat."
"Oh great... and I may have to go against him." Link sighs
"I heard there's something about him, but surely it's nothing too important about him to the point where they'll only send you." Carter yawns and takes a sip out of a canteen, which he then offered to Link "Drink?"
"Water or Alcohol?" Link raises his eyebrow
"Since when have you seen me drink water?" Carter shrugs
"Fair point." Link nods and takes the canteen, then proceeds to chug the entire thing
"H-hey!" Carter yanks it back
"Sorry, but if it's my last drink, I want it to be a full drink."
"... Fair enough." Carter rolls his eyes
"Any updates on the guys?" Link asks
"Just the usual, successful missions, requests for more." Carter smirks
"Good." Link sighs in relief before putting on his mask "Any casualties?"
"Nope." Carter shakes his head
"Good, because tomorrow you're heading back." Link stands up
"What?" Carter stands up and faces him
"I got a bad feeling about this, chances are they're sending me into a trap, and if they separate us, they can jump and kill you with no problem."
"Why don't I just go along with you? Without them knowing of course."
"Chances are they'll send someone to follow me anyway, if they see you, you're caught and who knows what'll happen."
"Pfft, they can try to kill me, but I-!"
"Something's up with 'their' leader." Link says bluntly, cutting off Carter's sarcasm and glancing towards Cinder, Emerald and Mercury
"The woman in red?"
"Yes." Link nods "Adam blackmailed us to work for him, but it seems like she's the one doing the blackmailing, almost like she threatened to kill him unless she received his help, so in return, we work for her."
"I don't fear some bitch in a red dr-!"
"Enough." Link sighs "If Adam is scared of her, then clearly we need to play it smart, not aggressive."
"So your plan to get me out of here while you go at it alone, that's insane."
"That's an order." Link stares down Carter, and after a few seconds of silence, they nod at each other
"Yes sir." Carter nods "As soon as you're given the mission, run it by me, I'll take off, and clear out the main clubhouses."
"Good, relocate at one of our other locations, and if they're suspicious as well then..."
"We're finished." Carter nods rapidly "No more black hawks."
"Yeah." Link nods back
"No problem, making it out alive is more important than keeping the black hawks afloat."
"If things go really wrong and we don't see each other anymore, warn EVERYONE that there's a price on their heads, whether or not Adam and others will hunt them down is a risk I don't want to take."
"What about you?" Carter asks
"Simple, I follow your guys approach, escape the mercenary life alive." Link nods
"Kid!" Adam shouts as he's in front of Cinder, Emerald and Mercury "You're up." He says coldly
"That doesn't sound..." Link whispers but immediately cuts himself off and looks back at Carter "Leave as soon as you can, judging them based on their facial expressions, they won't allow me to run it by you."
"Got it." Carter nods and heads back to the assigned tent for he and Link, now on his own to plan his escape
"Today kid!" Adam shouts
"On my way." Link nods and runs over to them, but instead of Adam, it's Cinder who approaches him
"You remember that inn from every corner? Have it memorized in and out? You cannot mess this up!" Cinder points her finger and even jabs it against Link's mask towards the end of her sentence.
"I didn't stay overnight to conveniently forget." Link rolls his eyes, though not visible, the sarcasm in his voice is still detected.
"Watch who you're talking to that way." Emerald gets in Link's face
"If only I really know who that is." Link glances at Cinder, who just smiles
"Your mission is to kill... a woman being guarded by Qrow Branwen."
"What?" Link looks around "All this time I speculated I'd be after this 'Qrow' guy himself, but instead I have to go after another person, who he is guarding?"
"That's right." Mercury laughs "But seriously, this woman really needs to go. Lucky for you, we did most of the work for you, she's almost done for."
"We need her gone! She's holding back our-!" Emerald stops herself briefly "Her plan." She points at Cinder "If Qrow manages to get her out of there and out of our radar, our plan will be set back for who knows how long?"
"Too long." Cinder mumbles "What's your overview on the inn?"
"Empty, aside from the owner, bartender and few other employees, about three to be exact, Qrow seemed to be the only one there, but now we go from six to seven apparently."
"Good, so if it gets a little rowdy, there won't be many casualties." Mercury shows off another evil smirk
"Shut it!" Link looks at Mercury "Are we done here, can I go now?"
"No." Cinder says with pure coldness as she pushes past Emerald and Mercury, getting right in Link's face "Adam told us about all your little friends, if you decide to back out or even fail the mission because Qrow decides to kill you, I personally will hunt down ALL of your mercenary friends. However, if you do the job well, not only will we benefit, but so will the white fang and of course you... very financially."
"Duly. Noted." Link mumbles, walks past Cinder and glances over his shoulder, noticing the stares he is getting from everyone at the camp
Hours later, Nighttime
"I can only imagine what Carter's up to now, did he leave, or did he stay back to find out more?" Link sighs and slowly walks through the forest, far away from the trail that would lead to the inn
(Hurry up kid, you know and I know that we can kill this guy no problem, so why be stealthy?)
"I don't know anything about this guy other than what he looks like. Tales and Myths are nothing more than that until proven true, so for now all I can do is assume what this Qrow guy is like." Link shrugs as he forces his hat over his head just as sprinkles of rain began to come down on him.
(Alright then, answer this question. Let's assume you beat Qrow, you're just going to kill this woman he's protecting, and who's to say she won't join Qrow and completely obliterate you?)
"According to what I was told, she should be in a very weakened condition. But then again I don't really want to trust ANYTHING they say."
Link notices the inn as he is at the exit of the deep forest, he hides behind a tree and looks carefully at the inn, from the different route he decided to take upon leaving the White Fang camp, suspecting he'd be followed from the same trail
"Still looks empty." Link sighs in relief, and when he realizes the sprinkles of rain turns into hard pouring rain, he begins to think of Mercury's words again about the potential casualties "Only one casualty Link... only one." He mumbles to himself as he approaches the inn from behind, which luckily for him is nothing more than more trees, nothing like the forest, but still large trees nonetheless
Link made sure he was not followed with constant glances over his shoulder, but what he didn't take notice of, was the crow at the top of the biggest tree, that looked at him and him only
"N-no way that's it." Link smirks behind his mask as he notices an open window, on the second story of the inn, though it was completely pitch black, when suddenly, a lightning bolt strikes the ground, lighting up the room only slightly "Come on, there's got to be somet-!"
BOOM!
"Whoa!" Link jumps from the sudden jump scare and falls back onto the ground, the sound was a very powerful, but even though he fell, Link's eyes remained focused on the room, in those split seconds of the lightning bolt hitting, he noticed a bed, and a body laying on it. "D-damn, all I saw was golden boots, but whatever, I may as well check it out." Link touches the back of his head, feeling the straps on his mask, they were tight and well attached to his head "Here goes nothing." Link reveals himself from behind a tree, and pulls out the hook-shot from the brown pouch on his belt. He aims it towards the window, but the large amounts of rain hitting his face stalls him
It took a while, but finally Link gets a good aim to propel himself inside the room without fail, right as he was about to fire the hook, the sounds of a crow were faintly heard under all the rain and lightning, the crow took flight and headed straight for Link
"What the?" Link frowns and side steps the way any person would from a random bird, but right as the crow was inches away from Link, it faded, and out comes Qrow himself, crashing right into Link, sending both of them against the wall of the inn
"For someone so famous I didn't expect you to make a dramatic entrance." Link quickly gets up and keeps his distance from Qrow, who stumbles as soon as he gets up
"S-shut up!" Qrow squints his eyes when looking at Link "You look really weird."
"What?" Link frowns, but notices Qrow's weird actions, stumbling, slurring his words, not knowing his surroundings "You're drunk."
"When you have an advantage, don't announce it, take advantage!" Qrow grabs his sword and promptly extends it to it's full size, making Link's sword look like a toy
(S-shit, here he comes!)
Qrow, despite being drunk, shows off his speed as he swings wildly at Link, who needs both hands on his shield to effectively block the attack
"Damn he's strong even though he looks lanky!" Link digs his feet into the ground, which is turned into mud thanks to the rain, and now pushes his shoulder into the force of the shield, he is now the one pushing Qrow back
"Is that all?!" Qrow smirks and jumps back, he slips around the mud but manages to keep his balance
"This is nothing personal." Link says out loud before he charges at Qrow once again, he puts his shield away and pulls out his sword, both of them clash swords and yet another test of strength ensues
"So someone's paying you? That's even worse, you have no purpose for doing anything."
"You don't know me!" Link pushes back
"I'm blessed for that." Qrow overpowers Link with ease once again before he lets out a cocky yawn and boots him away with a kick to the gut. "Enough of these games, if you're after me then why waste your time?" Qrow whips his arm and his sword suddenly splits apart, revealing gun barrels
Link doesn't respond and instead puts his shield up and runs away from Qrow to the nearest tree
(Just like Adam, you have to outsmart this fool, luckily he's drunk, so it may be doable)
Link nods to himself, agreeing with the evil demon without actually saying anything
"W-where'd ya go? And why are there so many trees now?" Qrow stumbles around, looking for Link as he aimlessly shoots
"Chances are if I manage to distract him he'll catch on quick, drunk or sober, so i'll just have too..." Link sighs and puts his shield down, then he carefully tugs on his bow will grabbing a few arrows, but then he lets go of his bow and reaches into his pouch, pulling out a smoke bomb and aggressively pushing down on it with his thumb before immediately tossing it right in front of Qrow
"Oh no, a damn bomb r-!" Qrow whips his weapon back into it's sword form, and barely backs away in time to avoid direct impact and full blindness, though the blindness still kicks in eventually
"Now." Link picks up his bow and starts firing arrows into the smoke, shooting blind while his opponent attempts to dodge blind as well
"Ahh!" Qrow reacts negatively as an arrow pierces his leg, directly in the thigh area, but he pulls it out with no issues, and his aura deals with the damage done
"Now's my chance!" Link sneakily moves away from the tree, putting his bow away and reaches for his hook-shot, but it's not on him anymore "What the? Oh right it's still there!" Link runs to the exact area where Qrow crashed into him, and finds his hook-shot immediately, covered in mud, but still in good condition
Link aims inside the room, but just like before, Qrow is right on him
"And where are you going?!" Qrow grabs Link by his collar and violently whips him across and throws him right into a mud puddle, he then kicks the hook-shot out of his hand and breaks apart his sword again, the gun barrel's only inches away from Link's head "You're not after me... you're after her aren't you?"
"I am." Link says coldly
"Did they even tell you who she is?" Qrow growls with anger as he towers over him
"N-no!" Link shakes his head "I'm being blackmailed to do their dirty work it seems, they threatened to kill all my friends but softened the threat with money, which my family needs."
"Your family?"
"Y-yeah... wherever they are." Link rolls his eyes "I'm kind of still on the look-!"
"Shut it!" Qrow fires a warning shot for Link, only inches away from his face "You're not laying a finger on her, I need to get to..." Qrow groans as the pounding headaches sink in
"Well I'm sure not dying here!" Link assesses his situation and thinks quick, he uses the sliding effect of the slippery mud to slide around and sweep Qrow's legs with his entire body, Link rolls over and gets up, but in the time he takes to get up, Qrow kips up and has his weapon back into it's sword form once again "Grr..." Link draws out his sword and shield as both 'Hunters' circle around themselves
Qrow takes another wild swing, but Link blocks it with his shield! He pushes back and barges his shield into Qrow's midsection, stunning him momentarily for a swing of his own, which Qrow successfully blocks as well! The smoke around them wears off completely after another minute, and now with them having full complete vision of each other, they go at it harder than before, faster swings, quicker dodges, and it's only minutes later that they've figured each other. Link figures out Qrow's style, which is direct face-to-face style combat, so he sticks to dodging rather than blocking, and executes every dodge perfectly, but when it came down to him attacking, Qrow figures out his counter-attack style of combat, and eases his strikes, giving Link less space and time to strike back.
(Kid listen to me, if this keeps going, you'll drop first I can assure you that, but I have a plan!)
(I normally wouldn't, but fine, I'll listen, what do you have in mind?)
(Nothing tactical, just straight firepower, your semblance can help out big time.)
(But I haven't even-!)
(That's your fault then, but we do it, I distract the old drunk guy, you go and... do whatever is it you have to do)
"It's over!" Link steps over and gets into a defensive stance, his eyes begin to flash gold as he spins in place and slashes anything and anyone in his general direction, in his case, Qrow, but only slightly slashes him across his stomach before he jumps back to avoid the rest of the attack.
All of a sudden, Link's eyes remain gold, and the strange lining rapidly takes over his face, head, and the rest of his body
(L-liar!)
(Hahahaha! I'll kill this old man, kill the girl, then find a way to take over... FOREVER! Nothing personal, right kid?)
(Oh no! Y-you d-d-don't!)
Link drops to one knee and lets out a scream of pure pain and agony, he starts to resist the evil spirit, but instead of overpowering him and bottling him in, he follows through with what HE wanted.
"What the hell is going on?" Qrow backs away even more, the digs his sword into the ground and holds on tightly as the wind gets stronger, the lighting bolts strike faster and in more numbers, plus the sounds of the thunder roar throughout the entire area, possibly even to all the other kingdoms.
"Y-you wanted him you monster?! G-go and get him!" Link lets out another scream of pain before the gold in his eyes flashes so bright it overtakes his sight and momentarily wipes him out.
Half a minute later
"Kid... wake up!" The evil and cold voice of Link's inner demon is heard, he hasn't taken over, but instead, he is his own entity, a whole person, a copy of Link's form, with different features, but made up of Link's aura.
"N-no way... it actually worked, and I'm not dead either." Link sits up and crawls away from the monster
"Shut up and finish the job while I kill the old man!" He shrugs off Link's admiration and charges at Qrow
"Old man?" Qrow frowns but finally realizes his biggest problem, two opponents, only one of him, and a very vulnerable Amber.
"Eyes over here old man!"
"I'm not even that old!" Qrow growls with anger and slashes right through the demon, cutting him in half, but he reforms in seconds "Don't tell me... I have to take down the kid to get rid of this one?" Qrow shrugs and jumps over his opponent, running after Link who was aiming his hook-shot into the inn for the third time "Oh no you don't!"
"I don't like being ignored!"
Qrow is suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, the demon catches up and grabs him by his collar, the same way Qrow caught Link, only except this time, the demon was more rough, he whips and then swings Qrow across the area, sending him crashing against the tree
"N-no... Autumn." Qrow gets up, but the demon is right back in his face
"Fight me!" The demon summons out his own version of a sword and begins to clash weapons with Qrow
Inside the Inn
"I'm in." Link looks around the room, no lights, no candles, just darkness "I remember seeing the bed over here." He slowly approaches the bed in the top right hand corner of the room, when abruptly his movement ends as he stubs his foot against the metal frame holding the mattress up. "H-here." Link felt the edge of the bed, running his finger across, and stops when he hits a finger, he then feels around, and takes in the embrace, but there wasn't much, it was a cold hand, almost like it was lifeless.
Link tenses up as he reaches for his sword, and thinks again about the objective of his mission, kill the woman Qrow is guarding... or else the black hawks will die, and so will he. But the thought of killing an innocent woman he has 'never' seen makes him reconsider
"I can't..." Link shakes his head, and then thinks back at the thoughts of his black hawks members, friends and associates, he was their new leader, but only for a few days, and the thought of losing them now makes him re-reconsider. "I'm so sorry ma'am." Link raises his sword with both hands and closes his eyes, but again... he stalls and out of nowhere...
BOOM!
Another lightning bolt strikes, right in the vicinity of the area separating the inn and the trees, and for a few seconds, everything is lit up inside the room, prompting Link to open his eyes and look at the woman he's about to kill, realizing...
"A-amber?" Link stabs his sword through the mattress but purposely misses Amber, far away from her midsection, his original target to strike, Link then drops down to one knee and lays his head against Amber's hand, letting the tears flow out of his eyes, they slide through the tightly fit mask "N-no, you're not my target! This can't be!" Link looks up, expecting an answer, but gets nothing in return, Amber is completely unconscious, the scarring on her face plus her new skin tone tells the entire story, she is someone special, someone who possesses something special, and someone who has now had it ripped away along with possibly her entire life "No. No. NO!" Link squeezes Amber's hand, hoping for her to squeeze back, he even hooked his arms underneath her legs and back, gingerly carrying her towards the open window, the little bit of moonlight was enough for him to see what she was like in her current condition "She threatened to come after everyone I loved unless I killed you, the woman who saved my life, and how ironic-!" Link stops and temporarily removes his mask to wipe away the tears "I promised to find you again, and I did..."
"HURRY UP KID! This guy is surprisingly stronger than before!"
"S-shut up." Link weakly speaks as he lays Amber down on the bed again, puts his mask back on, then violently removes the sword from the pierced mattress "You're better off here Amber, with someone who is actually looking out for you... and if this is really the end of you, then I'm sorry you ever got near me, everyone who gets near me ends up hurt, permanently damaged or dead." Link walks over to the window, and watches Qrow gain the upper hand "Begone." Link's eyes flash gold once again, but they quickly fade back to the sky blue that are his regular eyes, and suddenly Qrow's second opponent fades away
"D-damn you kid. And you too old man! I'll be back soon."
Link lets out groans of pain again, letting 'it' have it's own form really took a lot out of him
"Autumn!" Qrow frowns and looks directly at Link, staring daggers through his mask, but as Qrow leaps in the air to get into the inn, Link jumps out and goes the opposite way, they both land safely and perfectly, but do not look back to stare each other down again, Link runs away while Qrow checks on Amber, and to his surprise, she's still alive, but just barely.
(If that guy wasn't drunk-!)
(I know... I'd be dead right now.)
The next day, dawn
"Where do I go now?" Link sighs and backs himself up against a tree, and slowly slides down to the ground
"Where?" Mercury pops up out of nowhere, coming out from behind a tree, "You head back and report your failure."
"Or you could just do it right now?" Emerald does the same thing Mercury does
"She sent the lackey's... perfect." Link is slow to rise, still exhausted from the night before
"You dare you call her a lackey?" Mercury chuckles
"Oh? She's here too, did you all follow me?" Link pulls out his sword
"You honestly thought we would trust you?" Emerald laughs as Cinder emerges from behind the tree as well, but she's not alone, she drags something... but that something is revealed to be a someone, a nearly unconscious Carter, he's been beaten down, and clearly defeated
"C-carter?" Link raises an eyebrow (Did he really go against my orders?)
"You. Failed!" Cinder shakes her head at Link and raises her hands in the air, within seconds a glass type bow and arrow forms in her hand and without showing any mercy, she aims right for Carter's head
"S-s-sorry Link, I should've listened to you..." Carter reaches out to his leader, who surprisingly stays calm
"I don't have time for your games." Link grabs his shield and gets in a defensive stance, he exhales and closes his eyes
"As you wish!" Cinder fires the arrows right into Carter's neck, and he drops dead instantly
"This isn't real." Link begins to laugh "You think I'd fall for that?! Carter NEVER refers to me by my name, he simply calls me 'kid' and forever will till the day he dies before me!" Link opens his eyes, and now he sees nobody. Emerald, Mercury, Cinder and the seemingly deceased Carter are all gone, like if it was all an illusion "Hmph, better luck next time!" Link shouts throughout the entire forest, knowing he was followed by SOMEBODY.
Elsewhere
"He saw through it?" Mercury says with an annoyed tone, but also a low one, to avoid being heard by Link, whom he and Emerald were close to, but still 'far' away from
"Shhh!" Emerald shakes her head "I don't get how... even if we got information wrong about that guy he works with, how did he still see through it?"
"Why don't we just take him out now? You said he looked tired and hurt right?"
"Yes, but we still shouldn't."
"Why?! Scared?" Mercury frowns at her
"No, because we weren't tasked to kill him, we were meant to keep an eye on him as soon as he 'finished' the mission. Let's go." Emerald stands and begins to jump from tree branch to tree branch
"What about him though? Won't he try anything?" Mercury follows her from tree branch to tree branch
"He looked shaken up, I doubt he'd come after us, especially after seeing the lasting effects Cinder caused on that girl, but chances are he wouldn't come back regardless, so either way we won't see him anymore, what he does next, will probably be unpredictable. Cinder said his mercenary group would be finished, as did Adam if he ever disobeyed our orders, many outcomes can come from this."
"Hmph! And do we win in all of those outcomes?" Mercury asks, but in his mind already answered the question himself
"With Cinder on our side, we WILL come out on top, no matter which outcome takes place." Emerald smirks, both she and Mercury go silent as they continue to make distance between themselves and Link
Back to Link
"Cowards!" Link growls as he paces around the forest "I'm on my own again, if I go back to the old Black Hawks safehouses, they'll be abandoned or destroyed. If Carter actually listened to me, then the Black Hawks unofficially are disbanded." Link drops down to one knee. "Hopefully Carter warns them all of the imminent danger coming their way once he realizes I'm not coming back, so they can all escape the dangerous life and lay low... maybe I should do the same too."
Present Time
"That poor girl." Pyrrha has her head down and her mumbling is very weak, the tears are almost shed despite not knowing anything else about Amber
"Damn..." Coco sighs and lifts her shades to wipe a single tear away "That's some rough stuff to go through."
"Sad part is..." Link nods "It's not over yet."
"W-what?" Velvet looks right at him "It can't get any worse right?"
"You're wrong." Link shakes his head "The worst is coming up."
"Wait." Yang cuts off Link just as he was about to begin the tragic story that is the small village "What happened after the incident, were you hunted down by those disgusting people or did they try and send assassins after you?"
"Oh yeah... I almost forgot that part." Link nods again "I kept going, stopping at every inn and village momentarily to clean myself up, rest and plan out where I was going next, but at the time there was nowhere for me to go, so I just had to keep moving, and along the way, White fang mercenaries, regular mercenaries, high class assassins, you name them. After interrogating each one, they all squealed and sold Adam down the drain... w-well, most, not all."
"What do you mean?" Blake asks, and the reality hit her quickly "You killed-!"
"Not quite." Link shakes his head "Some of them took the high road... refusing to be interrogated and shaken down for all the possible answers, some of the mercenaries and assassins decided to go the suicide rout, to preserve their pride."
"You're kidding?" Sun lets out a sigh "That's crazy."
"I never could escape the life of a wanted mercenary, and my most foolish assumption was that only the White Fang was after me... that was until I-!" Link curls up into a ball, pushing his head against his knees "I entered a tiny village, but unlike other villages, the people in this village accepted me, they heard my story, understood my struggles, contemplated my unknown future, and took me in as one of their own, until it was all ripped away so fast, torn to shreds and stomped on!" Link's anger begins to consume him more than the sadness, though he manages to hold back what could've been another demon emergence.
"B-by who?" Ruby nervously asks
"Who?" Link looks up and stares directly at Weiss, "Atlas."
(Yo, what's up? It's been a while, I know I've been away, I was focusing on college, but that's not really much of an excuse, I had spare time, but simply had no motivation for some reason. That was until last week, it was like some sort of spark went off, and I suddenly wanted to keep writing and continuing this story. Regardless, I can't promise weekly updates, hell I can't even promise consistent updates, but I will say this, expect more chapters sometime soon.)