The 'Lone' Hero of Vale

by xyzLinkXZeldaxyz

Ruby, Yang and Weiss run into a fellow Beacon classmate at Junior's club in search for answers, when they realize he does not have any teammates because he is a one man team. Link quickly proves he's not a generic swordsman and is very much worthy of calling himself a huntsman despite a dark past that correlates with current major events. (Note - Follows the RWBY anime story.)

24. LP's Part 4: The Reprehensible Slaughter

The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 24

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Flashback; Garanda, twenty-five days later

"That's all for today, I would just like to say that you are all doing great, it's only been less than a month and I already see massive improvement in your form, defense and offense, good work. Nothing flawless of course but none of that comes fast, it takes time and patience, which I know is difficult to have, but trust me, you're all going to be great warriors if you keep it up. Same time tomorrow, have a nice day." Link smiles and waves at everyone, then briskly makes his exit far away from the big group. "Five more days, then I am on my own again." He sighs and promptly leaves the village, heading directly towards the lake deep in the woods

Moments later, Link manages to find the lake on his own, he approaches the still body of the water and sits on the shore line.

"I need a plan after I leave this place. Maybe heading into Vale could be good for me. I don't know... I should have thought about this sooner."

"Make sure to send me a postcard from Vale." A 'mysterious' voice soon revealed to be Ray as she comes out from behind a tree, "Send me some cool stuff as well."

"Ray!" Link jumps and angrily stares at her

"Sorry, I know how you feel about being sneaked up on." Ray smiles and slowly walks towards him, "Hey! Don't give me that look, I should be angry at you. We become friends, and just like that you were going to leave."

"You know, don't you?" Link lowers his head and sits back down

"Liam told me." Ray sighs and sits down, "Even my own father couldn't tell me, there's no way I would have gotten my best friend to say it."

"Best friend? We just met not too long ago." Link smirks

"You'd be surprised at how friendless I am." Ray laughs and teases placing her foot in the water, "So you really have to go?"

"Mhm. If that mercenary had gotten away who knows what would be happening right now."

"I know." Ray nods, "You'd beat anyone who would try to hurt us, not just you, but also me, my father, Liam, etc. We may be shorthanded but we aren't scared of anyone."

"That's great, but even I do not know the full extent of this person's power. I wouldn't want to put any of you in even more danger." Link grabs a pebble from the ground and launches it towards the cliff

"W-well, before you go, could you stick around for our annual ceremony. To celebrate the day Garanda was founded by the village elders. In addition, the next day is my birthday, it is usually for Garanda villagers only but I'd love it if you were here and not in the middle of the woods running from mercenaries. Sooooooo?" Ray looks at him and points her index finger right in his face

"Ummm..." Link hesitates for a bit before nodding, "Sure, it is the least I can do since I kind of ignored you these past few weeks. I'm sorry Ray, I thought leaving silently was the best way to go rather than continue being your friend, getting closer, and then flat out abandoning you."

"Pfft, not even a goodbye?" Ray cross her arms but struggles to hide her smirk

"I have no choice now do I?" Link laugh and leans over to pull in Ray for a hug, "I'll say it again, sorry, I should've known better than to abandon a person who actually accepted me for who I am."

"I-its okay, I forgive you." Ray stutters and momentarily tenses up, but then smiles and hugs back, "We should head back soon, or else my father with kill us both."

"How much until that happens?" Link asks

"About an hour." She nods

"Good." Link smiles and lies back, his eyes drawn to the setting sun

"Good indeed." Ray blushes and lies back as well whilst awkwardly scooting closer to Link

"So when is the ceremony?" Link asks

"W-well... it's tomorrow actually." Ray chuckles under her breath

"So that means your birthday is only so far away. How are you feeling?"

"If you weren't here, I'd say it's just another birthday. But besides my family and their friends, I'll finally have a friend of my own here with me." Ray laughs

...

The Next Day

"Link. Hey, Link. Link." Ray frowns and leans close to Link's face, "WAKE. UP. LINK."

"Hmm?" Link opens his eyes and sees Ray's face only inches away from him, "W-what time is it?"

"The ceremony just started, you slept in all day." Ray rolls her eyes, and then clumsily backs away to the point where she nearly falls back, "I uh, may have done the same. Sucks for me, I promised my mother I'd help her today with the ceremony preparations."

"Did we come back that late yesterday?" Link shrugs

"No, but this only confirms you've been pushing yourself way too hard. Is this because you have to... you know, leave soon?" Ray sadly sighs

"I suppose you could say I've been staying up late to come up with new training patterns for the people I have been teaching, but I never thought it got this bad." Link sits up and yawns very loudly, "Is there anything with the ceremony I can help with?"

"Nope. Most the fancy decorations, the booths and of course because it's a ceremony, the food. All have already been set up, we always meet in front of the council building, it has the most open space... but if you kept me company during the ceremony that'd be cool too."

"That's it? Done." Link chuckles and gets up off the bed, "Council building isn't too far away, I'm sure we can still catch the theatrics."

"Get dressed up, I'll do the same, meet up out front in ten?" Ray asks

"Sure." Link nods

"Great." Ray flashes a smile for him before leaving the room

"Hm... she's acting nicer than usual. I better keep an eye out on her."

Ten minutes pass, and Link is the last one to leave the house

"Sorry for taking so long I saw some of the stuff from ceremony out the window in 'my' room and just got drawn to it-!" Link stops and nearly slides into Ray, "Ray you look... so different."

"I-is it that bad?" Ray looks at herself up and down, gone was the look Link was used to seeing of scruffy hair, torn/worn down clothing and boots. Her hair was perfectly combed and tied back, she wore a black dress that went down to her thigh, black leggings underneath, and heels.

"No. You look very beautiful." Link nods at her

"Oh my, really? Thank you." Ray lets out a sigh of relief. "My mother and father wanted completely different looks, mother wanted this, father wanted a warrior look and Liam told me to simply go as I always dress."

"Either one of the options would have worked out great." Link smiles at her and offers his hand, "Shall we?"

"O-oh, but we're not a-! You're not my b-! Sure let's go!" Ray jumps and takes Link's hand as they both walk towards the council building, they glance up in the air and notice Garanda's emblem in the form of fire

"W-whoa, now that's cool." Link stares at it in awe

"I envy the young man does that, such a talented fellow." Ray smiles and stops right next to Link, they both admire the flaming design before it imminently fades away into smoke. "C-come on, if my family notices me missing for another minute they will assume I skipped the ceremony."

"But you kind of already did." Link smirks as they turn the corner and notice the big crowd disperse into different sections

"Crap." Ray sighs, "It's alright, as long as I don't miss the closing moments."

"What happens then?" Link asks

"It's usually fifty/fifty but this amazing-!" Ray stop and smacks her lips together. "This amazing thing that you will have wait and see for yourself." She lets go of Link's hand and walks away from him

"Where are you heading so soon?"

"I'm going to find my family, but you can go on without me, mingle around, talk to people, and you might make more friends. Don't worry though, I'll come find you soon." Ray waves at him and runs off

"Mmm... okay, so much for keeping her company." Link looks around nervously and hesitates as he enters the big crowd. He looks around and sees tents, kiosks, performers, and anything else required for a festival. "Feels more like a party than a traditional ceremony, but I suppose after a ceremony it calls for a festive mood."

Link approaches a stand selling food, and the marketer quickly takes notice of him, the clear outsider

"You there young man, would you like to be the first to try our variety of meats?"

"What's the catch?" Link asks as he approaches the man

"If can withstand all the 'goodness' of a single beef stick, free orders for everyone around us."

"That totally did not sound sketchy." Link frowns but decides to play along, "Okay. Doesn't sound too hard." He takes a single stick from the smirking chef, he examines the beef very briefly, and then nonchalantly plops it into his mouth, getting instant gasps from the crowd formed around him, the marketer and the chef. "Delicious beef, seasoned really well, and a little spicy, what's with the surprised gasps?"

"Done." Link raises the stick up in the air and spins it around, showing no traces of meat left, "Very tasty, that spice gives it a nice kick."

"W-what the-!" The man advertising the food angrily stares at the chef, "You were supposed to give him the spicy one. The 'spiciest meat in Garanda' will have no meaning now if this kid just ate it like it was nothing."

"Sir, they're all spicy." The chef shrugs and gets back to cooking

"Gah! Fine kid you win, one free round of beef for everyone!"

The crowd immediately starts to cheer as dozens of people rush towards the chef

"Oops. I am about to start a riot." Link chuckles and whistles as he walks off.

Link departs from the food vendor and continues walking around, observing Garandian village people play games, have friendly sparring bouts with wooden weapons, others getting entertained by singers and instrument players. However, as he stops in front of a man playing a guitar, the guitar player stops and stares right at Link.

"What do you want?"

"Me?" Link looks around

"Yeah you, the new guy. The so-called hero that's just bringing in dangerous people into our village. The one with the evil past, the higher ups may trust you, but I don't, for all we know you could be purposely leading your mercenary thieving friends here."

"Listen I-!"

"No! I don't want to hear it! Sorry folks, until this criminal leaves I refuse to play."

Before Link could ever reply, he was showered with loud boos from the small crowd, he wanted to react, plead his case, shake off the rumors and spread the truth, but ultimately, the loud boos prevail and cause Link to walk away.

"It's just one stand, I'm sure this is just a onetime thing." Link sighs and moves on to another stand, seeing an older woman promoting various amounts of jewelry

"Come on in-!" She sees other customers leaving as Link enters. Almost immediately, she acts and makes the business move by standing in front of Link and blocking his path inside, "We're closed, I'm sorry." She mumbles with clear signs of regret and hesitation

"I understand." Link nods and smiles at the old woman, "Have a nice night ma'am." He sighs and walks away. "Just like that, whoever spread those rumors about me... they must have been some dark and violent rumors if people went from liking to shunning me."

As the night progressed, Link completely forgot about his brunette companion, he continued exploring the festival, though each stop didn't last long enough before being booted out or forcefully screamed at to go away

"Maybe I should just leave tonight and make these people's wish come true." Link puts his head down as approaches a game stall

"Step right up people! Hit the bulls-eye and you win a prize, and for a limited time only, hitting the bulls-eye three times in a row wins you five prizes. AND hitting five in a row gets you ten prizes."

"Hm? Oh, I was not yelled at to go away." Link smiles and walks up to the merchant running the stall, "I'd like to try."

"Finally somebody brave enough!" The merchant laughs and sets five darts in front of Link, "Feel free to throw whenever you'd like."

"Thank you." Link nods and picks up a dart, he shows no fear in testing out the tip of the dart on his fingertips, and gives no reaction as he slightly pricks himself. "Metal, and it is very sharp, no scam."

Link looks at the target in front of him, trying to estimate the distance of the target to himself.

"Hmph!" Link exhales and launches the first dart with a sideways throw, it flies through the air and pierces right into the target, carving through the bulls-eye

"YEAH!" The merchant claps, "Nice arm kid."

"Yeah, nice arm." A familiar voice was heard, but familiar for all the wrong reasons

"Oh no." Link puts his head down and sighs, and then glances over at the four teenagers that jumped Liam, he did not even look at the group of four as he picks up the second dart and launches it with less intensity, but still manages to hit the bulls-eye. "What do you want?"

"Us?" The tallest of the group starts to laugh, "Nothing, we just heard Frankie here screaming so we figured someone was actually beating his scam of a game."

"Why you little-?!" The merchant frowns and mumbles many curse words under his breath as he removes the second dart off the target

"We saw you were here, so it drew our interest even more."

"How come?" Link picks up the third dart and confidently twirls it around his fingers

"We were also interested in seeing how you've been doing ever since our fight."

"Fight? If you want to call it that." Link nods and launches the third one with full power, knowing he may miss, but when the dart impales the target right in the bulls-eye, one of the members from the group of bullies backs up. "Cut to the chase, why are you really here?"

"So you're not broken and depressed? What a shame."

"So it was you four who spread those rumors about me?" Link frowns and picks up the fourth dart

"Of course." The apparent leader continues speaking for the four

"Cowards." Link mumbles, "You jump someone for originally mocking them, you get put in your place, now you're making up these false rumors about me when none of you know me." Link throws the dart, and just like the past three, it hits the bulls-eye perfectly.

"Cowards? You don't get it, we want what's best for our village. Weaklings like Liam getting power because his father is practically a higher up will do nothing but harm our village. Then you come in, a complete stranger who knows nothing about us, telling us what's right and what's wrong, do you realize how insulting that sounds? Being talked down by a selfish degenerate mercenary who only knows how to kill for money and nothing else. How does it feel knowing you will be nothing in life, what you're doing now IS your future. Going from village to village, taking their resources and then throwing them aside like a pile of trash. Luck you that you actually have some physical talent or else you'd be dead right now."

"You don't get it either. People like YOU are the reason people like me CANNOT change. You cling on to the past and refuse to give us a second chance, look at me, I'm training most of your future troops, I volunteered myself for that. Am I selfish? Am I a degenerate for trying to do my best to rectify my dark and troubled past, am I JUST a mercenary for helping Ray find herself. She was doomed to be just another person in this village if it wasn't for someone like me coming along and encouraging her to follow what she wants, not what you or anyone else wants." Link picks up the fifth dart and looks directly at the 'leader', "I may be a selfish mercenary in your eyes, but at least I'm not a discriminating scumbag who will always chase greed and power for the rest of their lives." Link stares at him and he launches the final dart without looking at the target.

"Holy crap, five in a row, you did it kid." 'Frank' starts to clap and so do the few others around, all except the four who stare in awe

"Thank you for allowing me the chance to play." Link nods at Frank and walks away

"But your prizes-!"

"Give them to those who need or deserve them, I know those do not apply to me." Link waves and does not look back

Later that night

"A bar?" Link shrugs and enters, pushing past curtains that revealed another stall like setup, but instead of games or food, it was just a bar. "Hello, I'd like your strongest drink available."

"Coming right up!" He shouts from behind the bar and doesn't even turn to see who ordered

"Aside from the food place, the dart stall and now this... wow, just three huh? I've been kicked from every other place." Link sighs

"Here you g-!" The bartender squints his eyes and shakes his head, "Are you old enough to even be here?"

"Sorry, I just needed to go somewhere that didn't kick me out, I came to this festival to hang out with my friend. She ditched me for her family which I can't blame to be fair, but so far it's been nothing but people treating me like I'm some sort of freak, so if you want me to leave as well I w-!

"Are you kidding? Why would I kick out my only customer?" The bartender laughs and sets down the drink, "Though if anyone asks, you don't know me."

"Sure thing and I'm twenty one." Link raises the glass, "Cheers, to being an outcast."

"I can relate there." The bartender grabs an empty glass and clinks it with Link's

"How come? Usually any bar is full this late." Link looks to his left and right, empty just like the bartender described it.

"People talk, my reputation gets ruined, and by the time the truth gets out it is too late."

"We can both relate there." Link nods and takes a sip of the alcohol placed in front of him, he closes his eyes straightaway after just a sip and feels his facial muscles tighten up, "Wow that is strong stuff."

"Alright then just one glass for you." The bartender chuckles

"Fair enough." Link taps his fingers against the glass as he takes another sip, "Can I have a glass of water as well?"

"Way ahead of you kid." The bartender reaches out and grabs an already full glass of water, then places it next to Link's alcohol

"Thank you." Link smiles at the bartender and continues to drink, "This sucks, I guess I should just head back after I'm done here, I do not even want to attempt going anywhere else."

"Will money be an issue? I need to ask because while I don't mind you company I need to-!"

"Here." Link reaches into his pouch and pulls out a single card, then carelessly tosses it in front of him

"Hey now, you were just a chipper a minute ago." The bartender sighs, "Listen, I know about you, I've heard those rumors, the evil mercenary coming in to steal all of Garanda's valuables, someone who will just bring in his other mercenary friends to come destroy our village. They sound like bogus, and judging you from just this encounter, you don't see to be affiliated with any mercenaries anymore... as a former mercenary I know you would've struck by now."

"Former mercenary? Small world. " Link weakly smiles, "You're right, the only mercenaries I'm 'close' with are the ones who want to hunt me down." He nods and in one motion chugs the rest of the drink, he downs it and instantly feels his face shrink up

"Big mistake. That'll sting for a bit."

"Thanks for heads up." Link breathes in and quickly exhales before making quick work of the glass of water, "For being a hospitable host..." He grabs another card and puts it next to the one meant to pay for just the single drink

"K-kid I can't accept this." The bartender shakes his head, "The last thing I need on my conscious is stealing money from a minor."

"Don't worry about it." Link sighs, "It's mercenary money, I figure it is better off going to a small business who could use it." He stands up and lets up a yawn, "I'm off, thank you once again." He waves and leaves the bar

"Crazy kid." The bartender laughs and takes the two dirty glasses, he purposely takes his sweet time to clean them.

Link exits the bar and walks back to his temporary home, occasionally glancing back towards the festival, hearing the cheers and singing put a smile on his face, but then the realization of being shunned all night dawns on him, and turns that smile into a nasty frown. Upon reaching the house, Link took it to another step and scaled to the roof of the home with his hook shot.

"Not a bad view at all." Link nods to himself and sits on the roof of the home, watching the festival from a far, "Ray did say there were closing moments of the ceremony. I should have asked if it's anything flashy or more fire theatrics."

"You can ask me now." Ray calls out as she pulls herself up onto the roof, carefully scaling over the tiles

"Ray?! What the-!" Link spins and instantly slips, "Whoa!"

"I gotcha!" Ray dives and grabs onto Link by his waist before he could fall all the way to the ground

"You have to stop scaring me." Link sighs

"Scaring? I thought surprised would be a better word to use?" Ray raises an eyebrow and promptly helps Link settle back down on the very top of the roof

"Witty." Link smirks, "But fair enough, you got me."

"Where did you go?" Ray asks

"Hm? I figured you knew since you were able to find me so quick." Link rolls his eyes

"All I saw was you walking out of a BAR, so I asked the nice man and he told me you were simply heading out, I put two and two together, figured you were coming back so soon."

"I would have loved to see the look on his face when he got another minor entering his bar." Link chuckles

"Don't change the topic." Ray nudges Link, "You went to a bar despite going into the festival in a good mood. That just screams out that something must have happened."

"It started off great, some guy was trying to give me spicy meat to mess with me but it barely affected my tongue, though shortly after that..."

Link goes on to explain everything to Ray, from being harassed by performers, kicked out off stands, refused service, the darting incident and then finally the bar.

"I don't get it." Ray frowns and crosses her arms, "Why on earth would people hate you when they barely know you. I'm so sorry Link, I knew I should have stayed with you."

"It's okay, you didn't know the village people fell for those four jerks rumors."

"Jerks? Rumors?" Ray's frown turns into a confused gaze

"Oh yeah, you probably do not know about those either, so people think I'm still a mercenary coming in to take advantage, use and then destroy Garanda. The people who started the rumors are those guys that tried to jump your brother. Their revenge was to psychologically get in my head, it kind of worked but not really." Link shrugs

"Want a drink?" Ray takes off a strap going across her chest and down to her stomach, revealing a canteen at the end

"Water or Alcohol?" Link asks

"Um... how about mint coffee?" Ray giggles

"O-oh... sorry, I am adjusted to asking my former friend that question, since that's all we used to drink during our time as mercenaries."

"F-former friend?" Ray asks, "Is he, you know, RIP?"

"Is he ripped? I don't know, you should ask him yourself." Link chuckles

"Shut up, that's not what I meant!" Ray blushes and slowly opens the canteen, the scent of the brewed drink infiltrates both of their nostrils

"Whoa, that smells nice, but no Carter is not dead. At least I don't think so. When our group disbanded, everyone had to go into hiding or running. I chose to run seeing as I was the most notable member. You can now put it together why mercenaries are after me. The leader usually goes down first, especially after I refused to kill someone... who turned out to also be a former friend of mine as well. It was do the job and kill the girl who saved my life or refuse the job and put a bigger target on my back."

"Oh Link, I can't even begin to process what that would ever feel like." Ray sighs and leans her head against his shoulder, "How do you stay so strong and calm?"

"I have no idea." Link wraps his arm around Ray, takes the canteen and has a small sip, which alone is enough to warm up his entire body, "Where did you get this?"

"My mother makes it, it's her specialty. I've tried learning, and mine are okay but nothing like this." Ray takes back the canteen to take a sip herself

Both Link and Ray eventually get comfortable in each others grasp that they lie back against the roof, this time actually maintaining their composure, no nervousness from Link or blushing stutters from Ray. For the first time every they took in everything and enjoyed it for what it was, the ceremony from a far, their embrace, the homemade coffee, and the fully risen moon. The two friends look over at each other but have no words, they merely smile and forget how close they are... almost like a force is pulling them closer. Ray tilts up her chin as Link closes his eyes and lowers his head, Ray's cheeks turn red and Link nearly goes pale, until a giant fire show catches their attention and ruins their moment

"The closing moments!" Ray sits up and looks at the sky

"I meant to ask you..." Link sits up as well, but quiets down and follows Ray's gaze, they originally see Garanda's emblem in the form of fire again, and the only difference is it is much bigger

"Come on, come on, come on." Ray balls up her fists and giggles with excitement

Ray has her eyes glued to the sky, and suddenly a single burst of light shoots across the sky, and it breaks up into lots of individual pieces,

"YES!" Ray cheers and grabs Link's hand out of excitement

"Whoa, a meteor shower." Link is caught up in the moment and laces his fingers with Ray's, but neither seem to notice as they continue watching the spectacle

"WOOOO!"

"YEAAAH!"

"OOOOH!"

"AHHHH!"

The cheers, ooh's and ah's from the packed crowd in the festival can be heard all the way to where Link and Ray are, as the cheers finally catch their attention and bring them back down to reality, both of them notice the positioning of their hands

"I promised my family I'd be with them..." Ray blushes and tucks a stand of hair behind her ear

"Then we should get down from here?" Link asks, but the latter seems to neither nod nor say yes

"N-no, this is perfect." Ray smiles and suddenly her eyes shoot wide open, "The meteor shower, the ceremonies closing moments... that means it is midnight."

"Happy Birthday." Link puts his arm around her and pulls her in for a hug

"Aww thanks." Ray wraps her free arm around Link's waist and pulls him closer to her.

Instinctively, Link looks down at Ray, the latter looks up at the former, their hands are still firmly together with each finger laced across, and they slightly release the pressure from each of their own hugs, and slowly lean in

"I like you..." Ray blushes as the words blurt out of her mouth, "I like you a lot."

"I like you too." Link smiles but then suddenly stops moving towards her, "May I?" He asks courteously

"Mhm." Ray nods and closes her eyes

Link tenderly grabs Ray's chin just as he leans in and makes contact with her lips, a soft and gentle kiss that is short lived as it leaves both of them breathless

"Wow." Ray's face beams and shakes as she feels goosebumps running down her spine

"If this is what running off to be alone entails, I think I could get used to it."

"Shut up and do it again." Ray wriggles with even more excitement as she gets closer

Link puts his hand on the back of Ray's neck and brings her in close, he kisses her right cheek, and then her left, each soft peck makes her blush even harder. Ray's breathing becomes heavier when she is kissed on the forehead, and then her neck. Although the limit wasn't crossed, and Link transitioned back to her lips; shortly after it was Ray who started to kiss back, each one growing in intensity and reducing in speed

"Not so nervous now?" Link mumbles

"Sorry, but I'm so excited, this feel so amazing." Ray pushes Link back, pounces on top of him, and now she begins to do the kissing. Each kiss killed with more of a burning passion. "Link..."

"Ray..." Link presses his hand against Ray's back, and holds her closer as they continue to kiss, both 'friends' close their eyes to savor each sensation and finally end up surrendering fully to the moment

Moments Later

"That was... wow." Ray smiles and stares up into the dark sky, eyeing the stars, she feels her skin tingle a bit.

"You can say that again." Link exhales and follows Ray's gaze, "Is your family going to chew you out? Or me?"

"Hopefully not, I have seen that beautiful meteor shower with them about six or seven times, surely spending this moment with someone else can't do any harm." Ray sighs and rests her head against Link's arm, "Does this mean we're officially... you know?"

"I suppose so, if you would like that." Link smirks

"Y-yes!" Ray nods very fast, "Sorry, I've never been a relationship before."

"Me neither. Let be confused and make mistakes together." Link reaches for Ray's hand

"I wouldn't want it any other way. Wait what kind of mistakes?"

"I won't even bother responding seriously." Link rolls his eyes

"I know, I know, sorry." Ray takes Link's hand and quickly leans over to give him another quick kiss on the lips

"Ahem." A loud cough is heard, both Ray and Link sit up and see Liam staring right at them

"Liam!" Ray jumps and starts to breathe heavily, "I-I-! W-we! Agh!" She shuts her eyes and shakes her head

"Crap." Link frowns and holds onto her hand tightly, "Make mistakes and be confused together. Right?"

"..." Ray says nothing and reluctantly opens her eyes, "Right." She nods and looks at Liam, one had a frown on their face, the other a smirk

"I was sent by mother because well, you didn't show up, so we got worried, I told them you were probably at home with this guy." Liam points at Link, "But they sent me anyway, now here I am, catching you red 'handed' in the arms of a stranger."

"This guy? A stranger?" Link shrugs

"Liam I swear if you don't-!"

"HEY!" Liam's smirk disappears, "Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone about you two being together."

"Y-you're not?" Ray raises an eyebrow

"No." Liam shakes his head, "My sisters first boyfriend, the last thing I want is our father destroying the village as he tries to kill you."

"Oh Liam..." Ray smiles

"Hold up I am not finished." Liam raises his hand and then points right at Link, "You and I need to talk first."

"Okay." Link nods, "Ray you go inside, I'll be out here with this guy." He smirks at Liam and then without hesitation jumps off the roof and lands perfectly

"Please boys no fighting." Ray lets out an annoyed sigh as she gets down from the roof in a less flashy way, she was careful but almost too careful, like she had something else on her mind

"We'll try." Liam replies sarcastically and paces around until he sees his sister enter their home

"Before you start-!"

"Stop!" Liam cuts him off, "You don't even know what I'm going to say." He shrugs and finally stares directly at Link, "I don't like you but that doesn't mean I should hate you like some people in the village. Believe me, I heard the rumors, and even to me they sound like a load of crap."

"Really?" Link shockingly nods, "Thank you."

"This isn't about me or you, it's about my sister. She obviously likes you, and you like her back but really you've barely known each for a month and you're already kissing?...Scratch that, it's not the important part-!"

"Liam." Link shakes his head, "I know what you mean, this is about Ray's safety and wellbeing. To be honest, I don't know what to say, we were in the moment, it happened, and now she wants us to be... you know, together. On one hand I will protect her with all my power but on the other hand why put her in danger to begin with."

"You have a tough decision to make, you do remember the agreement right?" Liam asks

"Oh..." Link sighs and angrily slaps his head, "I completely forgot that I am supposed to leave in a few days."

"Hey, just because I don't like you doesn't mean I don't respect you. With that being said, if you change your mind and wish to stay... I'll put in a good word for you." Liam firmly nods

"Wow Liam, I honestly did not expect that from you." Link smiles and offers a handshake

"On one condition." Liam smirks

"Of course." Link chuckles, "There's always a catch."

"Spar with me. I am serious when I say that, what you saw of me one month ago was not me at my best; you and those four idiots caught me off guard. Accept my request for a fight tomorrow, and let's agree to not hold back." Liam reaches for a handshake

"Deal." Link nods and gracefully accept the handshake

"Now if you'll excuse me I will head back and join my parents, I'll tell them Ray hit the sheets early. Then afterwards I'll head off to train for our match."

"Train hard." Link releases the handshake and heads back to the house

"I can't stay, I have to leave... the thought of putting these people through more danger is not something I want on-! I sound like that bartender now."

Link enters the house, and immediately he is met with Ray's embrace, a simple hug

"So how did it go?" Ray asks, "Did he threaten to hurt you?"

"No." Link shakes his head and wraps his arm around Ray, returning the hug, "He was actually quite supportive."

"Really? No way!" Ray smiles, "Liam supportive? You are messing with me." She jumps from excitement and leans in for a kiss

"R-ray we should dis-!" Before he can finish, Link is met with the kiss, both of them go silent as they kiss back softly before knowing any more will lead to inappropriate things.

"Hmm..." Ray pulls back frowns, "That was amazing, but not perfect like our first kiss."

"Really? It felt the same for me." Link let's go of Ray and walks towards 'his' room

"Well for me it felt, like something happened to me the first time we kissed. I felt my entire body tense up, shake and then it felt like it had been relived from all stress, it felt amazing for a good ten seconds. Like my entire body was coursing with energy."

"Did you get to see any of this?" Link asks

"N-no, my eyes were closed when we kissed. As I felt it, I opened my eyes but it was like this energy faded. I only caught a small glimpse of it."

"This has to be it, I unintentionally unlocked her aura when we kissed. Which is strange because I don't recall using my own at all, though it's not like I even know when I'm using it."

"Do you know anything about it Link?" Ray looks at him with hope glistering in her eyes

"..." Link sighs, "I do always try to be honest, so tell me Ray, how much do you know about Aura?"

"Oh um, I want to say a lot but I don't know if our books on Aura and Dust are accurate."

"Right... how much do you know about your aura activating?" Link shrugs, almost confused when he finishes the question

"I know aura can be used to unlock other people's aura. Though I'm not sure that's relev-!" Ray gasps and jumps with excitement, "You're saying... I, my a-! Awesome!" She then stops and slightly blushes, "Was it when we, you know?"

"Mhm. Or at least I think, it was unintentionally but there was a lot of physical contact, I sort of felt some tension and energy coming from me, so hearing this about you only confirms my doubts."

"Wait but I also read that in order for someone to be able to unlock it would require them to be really well trained and skillful, how long have you been mastering to control your aura?" Ray asks

"Truth be told." Link shakes his head, "Never. All of my 'training' is fighting grimm and combating mercenaries, assassins, and others. By no means would I consider it natural, I guess I never realized how well my aura developed whilst running away from village to village."

"Cool. My teacher is way stronger that I thought he'd be." Ray chuckles

"Very funny." Link rolls his eyes, "Anymore jokes? You should let them out now." He mumbles as he sits down on a wooden chair

"Why?" Ray sighs and kneels down in front of Link

"We cannot be together Ray." Link speaks coldly, with no intention to hold back, "During my talk with Liam it hit me that I made an agreement with your father, the village council and the elders that I would leave. The deadline is coming up as well."

"W-what?" Ray falls back and sits down, her hands desperately start to shake, "I completely forgot about that. NO!" She stands up and furiously paces around, "You can't leave, ever since that woman came to hunt you down there has not been a single other attempt at someone infiltrating us. Surely that means she was right, that she was only one who knew, so let's say she's the only one, surely you can stay then right?"

"This is not about me Ray. I chose to agree for a date of departure for other reasons, I do not hate it here, in fact, I love it here, it may be up in the air whether or not the village people like me but I understand why they wouldn't trust me. Overall, this place is accepting, hell if this were any other village, I would have been kicked out already. I don't want you, Liam, your mother, father, or anyone else to get hurt or worse, killed because of me."

"We won't, not with you here, there has to be something we can do." Ray frowns and closes her eyes shut

"Ray I already said-!"

"Shut up." Ray shakes her head, "There has to be something I can do."

"Calm down." Link stands up and approaches her, "I'm doing this for you." He wraps his arms around her and holds her close

"Then don't leave me." Ray looks up at him, "Was us kissing a mistake?"

"No. Do not say that." Link sighs and looks right into her eyes, "Of course I want to stay here and be with you, get to know you even more and see this village grow stronger and better. However, I think I'm cursed, anyone who I come in contact with ends up getting hurt. I do not want you to be on that list."

"Maybe I want to be on that list." Ray laughs, "If I'm not then that means I would have never met you."

"Ray I know what you are doing." Link shakes his head, "I'd rather you be honest than try to manipulate me."

"Can't I do both?" Ray continues to laugh nervously, as if trying to hide her emotions, "I don't want you to go. I want to be by your side, you think you'll never live a normal life again, but damn it that's not true and you can't let these awful demons haunt you forever."

"Haunt me? You're missing the point Ray, I don't care if they haunt me... they're going to need a lot more than some assassins and mercenaries to kill me, I don't want them to come after you."

"That's what I mean!" Ray's eyes close, and when they open tears stream down her cheeks, "You can stay here, with people that are accepting, despite their skepticism, you can help us become bigger and stronger. The reason we want to stay secluded is because we know we're weak, but with you here, you could be Garanda's catalyst for change."

"Come on Ray don't do this to me I already had a plan, now you're making me-!"

"If you leave then I'll go with you." Ray bluntly shouts

"W-what?" Link shakes his head, "Ray you said yourself you're not ready for that, don't do this just because you want to be with me. You should never make drastic life changing decisions when you're stressed out."

"Tell yourself that." Ray breaks away from the hug to wipe her eyes, "You were pressured by them weren't you? Did my father use me as an example?"

"They all did."

"How dare they do th-!" Ray frowns and starts to pace around the house once again, "Let's leave then."

"Stop it Ray." Link sighs, "They used you because I brought it up. They asked about the details of my past 'work' so I described everything, the white fang, that mysterious woman, all the mercenary 'things' that I did... they deemed it fit that I leave, and I agreed."

"..." Ray does not reply, she just slowly nods, "When do you leave?"

"In a few days, specifically five."

"Okay." Ray nods and walks away from Link, promptly entering their shared room, she takes less than a minute to emerge from said room and with something in her hand, "I wanted to wait but knowing you those five days will turn into five hours." She sighs and reaches over Link's head, she fidgets with something on the back of his neck

"Ray what are you doing?"

"Shut up." Ray scoffs and then backs away, her frown instantly turns into a smile

"Hey." Link looks down and lightly touches a small but very bulky pink pendant, "It's beautiful."

"Thanks." Ray's smile grows bigger, "I wanted to get you something special, something to give you during the meteor shower, but I didn't want to ruin our moment. Instead of it being a representation of our village think of it as something to always remember me by."

"Ray..." Link starts, but almost immediately is cut off

"It's okay, I know, you've said already." Ray sighs and puts her head down

"Now you're making me re-think those second thoughts." Link chuckles, "This is not easy Ray, I don't want to leave this place, the people may be split but I did learn tonight that for every five to ten skeptics there is one optimist. Your mother was really friendly to me, your father not so much, he gave off a vibe like he wanted to fight me, your brother is actually really cool and then of course..."

"The main event." Ray smiles as she perks up

"How could I ever forget?" Link smirks, "I don't want to go, but-!"

"So don't." Ray walks up to Link and pulls him in for another hug, "Stay here and lay low, nobody will you, and if they do, they'll have to get by US first to get to you."

"I can take care of mys-!" Link stops himself and just nods, "But I appreciate the kind words of protection."

"So you'll stay?" Ray asks and dramatically raises her eyebrows

"Absolutely." Link smiles and hugs back

"YES!" Ray jumps and pulls Link in for another kiss

As they lose themselves in their embrace, neither realizes that the door has been opened

"Hey Ray are you in h-!" The sound of Ray's mother falls short as she drops the basket she had in her hands

"M-mother!" Ray breaks away from Link and looks around nervously, her hands start to shake as she also bites her lower lip

"What...?" Morgan blinks profusely, as if she is trying to wake up from a dream, "What I am seeing?"

"You tell me ma'am." Link replies sarcastically

"NOT. HELPING." Ray frowns

"Everyone calm down." She sighs and picks up the basket, "Who knows?"

"Just Liam." Ray says

"Does your father know?"

"No." Ray shakes her head

"Good. Allowing Link to stay will be tough if he knows you're dating."

"H-huh? You were listening?!" Ray frowns at her mother

"Liam could not stall me forever you know, the moment he said you'd rather be back here I knew something was up. I never expected this though, it's very sweet."

"Mom!" Ray crosses her arms

"First time you have called her 'mom', I can tell you are very annoyed now." Link casually backs away

"I normally would have a very different reaction except one, I don't know how to react since you have never grown close to a single person not in your family and two, especially since it's a boy. No need to worry, you trust him and so do I."

"Wait, you do?" Link speaks up

"I know, I really should not but you seem so genuine and passionate that it's tough not to be on your side. I have only one request... keep my daughter safe, okay?"

"Of course. That's my top priority." Link nods proudly, "So what happens now?"

"We get my father on our side, and then we change the minds of-!"

"One step at a time Ray." Morgan shrugs

"Sorry mother." Ray sighs, "I'm just so happy that you..." She turns to face Link, "Are actually staying."

"Likewise." Link nods

"I will go tell your father that you are here... alone." She winks at both of them, "Be safe and make good choices pumpkin."

"Oh my-! Mom! Don't call me-!"

"S-sorry dear." Morgan laughs and gives Ray a hug before turning to Link, "Assuming you do manage to stay here, I'd like to the first to officially welcome you to Garanda, not as a visitor or a stranger, but as a resident."

"I really appreciate that." Link extends his hand

"Come here silly." She shakes her head and pulls Link into a hug, "I'm not nearly as strict as her father. You will not have to worry about getting a big sword coming towards your head."

"Umm, good to know." Link shrugs

"Goodbye." Morgan waves at her daughter and Link before leaving again

"That went..." Ray blinks repetitively, "Really well."

"I always knew your mother was the more passive one, but never by this margin." Link lets out a sigh of relief

"I just wish my father was accepting like she is."

"Well I cannot blame him, he's naturally protective of his family, and when you see your daughter with some weird person twenty four-seven, you will instinctively be skeptical of said person." Link lets out another sigh as he sits down

"You are not some weird person though." Ray playfully punches his arm, "Oh man things are going great, all that needs to happen now is getting my father to convince the village c-!"

"Your mother did say one step at a time." Link lightly puts one finger on Ray's lips, "Let's focus on convincing your father first... speaking of your father, he is a sword wielder too?"

"Oh yeah, but his sword is huge, it's about his size actually."

"Really? Good to know." Link sighs nervously

"Relax he's not going to attack you." Ray rolls her eyes

"Hey it is really late, and I know it's your birthday-!"

"Say no more. I'm tired too." Ray smiles and nods, she then awkwardly pecks a small kiss on Link's cheek and trails off to her room

---

Present Time

"Awwww." Yang gasps, "That's so sweet and adorable. Isn't it guys?"

Silent nods were visible, though nobody else spoke up, it did not click for Yang immediately that these happy moments were Ray's last

"So how did you end up telling her old man?" Coco asks

"I did not... someone chose to tell him without my presence, let's just say it 'interrupted' the sparring match with Liam." Link shrugs as he remembers everything, the glimpses of Ray's clumsiness nearly make him shed a tear

---

Garanda, the 'next' day

"A super cool move, but you don't think it's ready yet?" Ray backs up against a tree and bites down on an apple.

"That's right." Link nods and jogs away from Ray, "Does it matter which tree I hit?"

"No way." Ray shrugs, "I still think you're full of it, I've seen the way you fight, there's no way you still have cool moves hidden away."

"Bite your tongue." Link slows down and stands about ten meters away from a very tall and thick tree

Ray swallows the chunk of apple in her mouth and stops everything she is doing to pay full attention.

Link shuts his eyes, gets in a defensive stance, and places his hand on the handle of his sword. Suddenly, the triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden aura visibly covering his entire body.

"Whoa..." Ray drops her apple from disbelief and shock

"NOW!" Link opens his eyes, and only one his left eyes eye flashes with the bright gold color, but only for a slight second, and just like that he was gone and already on the other side of the tree. He was no longer in a defensive stance, but was now in an attack stance, with his sword sticking out as if he already swung... within seconds, the tree starts to collapse

"L-link!" Ray runs towards him

"Right." Link nods and swiftly evades an incoming amount of wood coming down on him

"That was... AWESOME." Ray claps and hugs him

"Like I said, it still needs work. My timing was a bit off and it didn't have full power."

"That didn't have full power? Holy crap if you wanted to, you could kill someone just like that, where did you come up with this move?" She asks

"O-oh, I..." Link trails off and does not answer Ray, "Guess you could say I copied it from someone powerful, this is his semblance, so if you think what I did was good, his is one hundred times better, I merely just watched, observed carefully and then tried to make it my own, though it is nothing like the original."

"Is there any chance I'd ever get to see-!"

"No." Link replies bluntly, "He's the one who send the assassin after me. If you ever see him, look the other way and run."

"O-okay." Ray nods nervously, "Whoa, even that just sent chills down my spine and I don't even know the man."

"Yes, I have only fought him once, but I could tell he was going easy on me. Am I scared? I would not go that far either. He is just someone whom I will be very cautious of if I ever see him again."

"So... topic change!" Ray plops down and lies back against the grass, "When are you and Liam having this big fight to the death type duel?"

"Very funny." Link shrugs and walks over to the 'cut' tree, taking a good look at all the rings in the stump, "Liam said he did not want to hold back. I will not judge him based on that scuffle we had a month ago."

"Good. I think you just caught him off guard that day, he didn't act like himself... believe it or not the whole macho thing isn't really Liam's thing." Ray sighs as she sits up, "Oh, speak of the devil." She points at her brother, who is running towards them

"Hey." Liam waves as he skids and stops right in front of Ray, "Was he practicing?"

"Oh yeah." Ray nods and points at the fallen tree

"He did that?" Liam looks directly at Link, who is now sitting on the stump

"Are you scared?" Ray asks

"W-what? No." Liam scoffs and then immediately lets out a sigh, "Sorry sis, I was not scared coming into today, but now I just might be a little bit."

"Don't be, just do your best." Ray stands up and taps Liam in the chest with the handle of her sword

"How are you coming along?" He asks

"I'm getting better, Link's constant need to humiliate me has made me tone down my attack pattern. I no longer attack so brashly since my 'teacher' has explained it like seven hundred times that I just leave myself open too much."

"Hm, that's good advice." Liam nods and walks away from his sister

"You are here." Link leaps off the stump and comes face to face with Liam, "Anything else you want to declare, like some rules?"

"No. Let's go all out, and push each other to the limit." Liam nods and extends his hand, "Of course, whoever wants to surrender first can say so."

"Good." Link shakes his hand, and after a few seconds they both leap back, creating a fair amount of distance between each other.

Liam grabs his large knife from its leather sheath and holds it tightly by the handle, blade backwards. Link grabs his sword and shield, and gets in a defensive stance, shield first, sword behind him.

"From what Ray tells me, his game is counter attacking, I need to draw him out first." Liam slowly approaches Link, both keeping their full attention on each other. Unbeknownst to both of them, Ray runs off before the match could even begin

Link runs at Liam and starts with simple sword slashes, although each of his sword slashes are blocked by Liam, he does not notice that he's being pushed back after every block. As he is about to be rammed into a tree, Liam catches Link by surprise with a stiff block the ricochets both of their weapons out of each other's grasp.

"Perfect, let's see what he can do without his weapon of choice."

Liam smirks and rushes at Link, showing off unseen arsenal of quick punches at kicks, none aimed at a single specific area. Link did his best to counter, dodge or block, but did use his shield to block most of the impact. He continues to dodge, block and counter until finally choosing to back away completely with an impressive backflip, having to drop his shield in order to create a long enough distraction to make his escape

"Crap... I just went at him myself and barely got anything out of it." Liam frowns and glances at his balled up hands, they were already battered and on the verge of shedding blood.

"Hmm, Liam has not unlocked his aura... otherwise his hands would be healing up by now." Link sneaks behind a tree and silently scales it.

"Done already?!" Liam shouts and picks up Link's shield in the process of spinning around, trying to locate his opponent

"Not quite..." Link grabs a smoke bomb and hurls it towards Liam with a side throw, it immediately goes off in his face, giving Link the time to grab his bow and start firing off arrows in quick fashion.

The sound of metal clashing is clearly heard as Liam does his best to use Link's shield to block the arrows. The smoke slowly starts to clear away, Liam pinpoints Link's exact spot, but as he runs towards the tree, nobody is there anymore.

"Think fast!" Link leaps off the top of the tree and falls towards Liam with one leg raised but it is quickly brought down for an axe kick

Liam does indeed think fast and drops to one knee, stabilizing his body as he covers himself with the shield. Link frowns and abandons the axe kick, instead landing with both of his feet making contact with the shield like a double foot stomp, all of his body weight presses against Liam, whose sturdy stance manages to keep him still with only his kneeling leg being driven into the ground. Eventually, Liam pushes back and with all his force sends Link flying away... the latter lands on both of his feet as the former gets back up.

"Good stuff." Liam nods and launches the shield back it's owner

"Likewise." Link catches his shield and returns the favor as he lands right next to their weapons by returning Liam's hunting knife with a light throw, he glances at the tree he 'chopped' down to see Ray's reaction, but finds no signs of her, "Where did she go?"

"Huh?" Liam follows Link's gaze, "Hm, guess she ran off. There's nothing for her at home, the day after the ceremony and festival Garanda usually gets that day off."

"That means your father is at home?" Link asks

"Yes." Liam nods, "She is not going to... damn it Ray!"

"Let's finish our match shall we?" Link picks up his sword

"It just started, but we're warmed up now, should we go all out now?"

"Absolutely." Link nods and for just a slight second his aura was visible as it outlined his entire body

"No way that looks like..." Liam frowns as he backs away, "That stuff about aura is true after all, I should have listened to my instructor more."

Both Liam and Link charge at each other and clash weapons with the former needing to use both hands just to withstand the collision. Although, just as the slow pace of their match was getting slower, the pace picked up just as quickly as Liam starts to implement his martial art like kicks with his knife slashes, and yet it was not enough to get the edge. Link did not only keep up, but also hit the gas pedal even more as his sword strikes got quicker and more lethal to the point where a few of the slashes actually connecting, slowly tearing Liam's clothes and piercing his skin on the upper body region, specifically his arms and midsection.

"Maybe I can unlock my aura fighting him." Liam growls as he pushes through the pain and ignores the blood coming out of his exposed wounds, "Only problem is I don't know the specific way to do it... why did I have to slack off in school that day? Crap!"

"Get ready Liam. If you're too slow, this one is over." Link exhales and suddenly decides to put his sword away.

Link reaches into his pouch, grabs several items and then starts to sprint circles around Liam, slowly exposing two throwing knives and a boomerang. After multiple loops, he fires one knife towards Liam, aiming right for his head

"Child's play!" Liam swings his knife and sends the smaller knife flying back

"Just keep your eyes peeled." Link starts to run around again, and right as he gains more speed he stops and launches the boomerang

Liam makes quick work of it again, a big smile is seen on his face but immediately fades when he looks over and sees Link nowhere to be found

"You owe me a new boomerang." Link's voice is heard from above as he throws the last small item in his hand towards Liam

Caught by surprise, Liam nearly is impaled by the knife, but an instinctive dodge helps him just in time. Although he makes another grave mistake, he forgets about Link, who lands right behind him, bow loaded with two arrows being pulled back. He slightly angles the bow towards his right and fires the two arrows, one hits the back of Liam's left leg, piercing his hamstring, the other arrow hits the back of his arm, going through his right triceps.

"AH! F-!" Liam drops his weapon and falls to one knee

"Now it is over." Link sighs and leaps over Liam to face him directly

"I'm not done yet." Liam smirks as he yanks an arrow out of his arm with excess force.

"You put up a good fight, let's just leave it at that."

"I'm still... STANDING!" Liam rises to his feet, pull the arrow out of his leg and throws it at Link like a spear.

Link promptly dodges the arrows, the only impact he gets is a bit of the blood dripping from the arrow lands on his cheek. He nods in approval but then frowns and grabs just his sword

"Then allow me to finish this once and for all." Link wipes the blood off his face and runs at Liam

Liam wildly swigs his knife at Link, who knocks it out of his hands with just one sword slash. Liam dodges another sword slash and attempts to switch it back towards hand-to-hand but after only a single punch, Link stops the transition with a block. His hand catches Liam's fist and all the tension from the match suddenly drains out as both of them go silent.

"You sure about this?" Link asks as he tightens the pressure on Liam's fist

"Give me your best shot." Liam nods

Link slightly twists Liam's arm and then sends him backwards with a light kick to the gut. The triforce on Link's hand lights up with a bright gold color, as well as the rest of his body, but before the flashing beat of light could shoot towards his target, he is interrupted

"LINK!" Ray's voice is heard as she sprints towards both of them

"Ray?" Liam frowns and winces in pain as he gets up

"What's going on?" Link asks as the gold energy around him fades away

"You have to go! Hide somewhere, anywhere!" She slams right into Link and starts slapping his chest, "Go, go, go!"

"Slow down, what happened?"

"I may have told my father about us." Ray shakes her head

"Are you insane?" Liam shouts, "Why would you do that?"

"I didn't mean too!" Ray coves her face in shame

"Your mother specifically told you not to, how did it happen?" Link sighs and looks around, trying to see if Hiroku is anywhere in sight

"It started with me trying to convince him to let you stay, because if we have him on your side, the village council and elders might also jump on board, and then he asked why. I went into too much detail, then he put the pressure on me, more questions led to more answers, and I ended up revealing what happened on the night of the ceremony. You know how I am under pressure, I crack easier than an egg."

"That doesn't explain why you're panicking so much. What's the worst that can happen?" Link asks the question, and for almost a whole minute, he gets cold stares from both Ray and Liam

"Plenty can happen." Liam shrugs and looks over to his sister, "Is he coming here right now?"

"I lied and said Link was at the council building trying to plead his case, but it's only a matter of time before he knows where we are... he already know we train outside of the village." Ray's heavy breathing slowly tones down as she relaxes

"Did he mention or say anything like if he's going to hurt-!"

"Quiet!" Link cuts off Liam and closes his eyes, focusing on just the sounds of the area

Branches are heard as they loudly snap with a sickening cruch, the earth shakes, and the flapping of bird wings as the small nevermore's flee the area. Suddenly all of these sounds come to a halt, and the only detectable sound is that of a loud roar of pure anger.

"ABOVE!" Link looks up and sees Hiroku coming down towards all three of them, his long sword ready for a mighty swing, "Move!" He extends his arms and stiffly shoves both Ray and Liam away from himself, just as Hiroku was about to collide into him, Link grabs his shield and stands his ground, ready for the incoming sword smash.

Hiroku comes down hard on Link and slams his sword right into the shield, the shock wave from the impact causes the earth underneath them to crack while the speed and tone of the air around them changes completely. The wind blows hard against the trees; Liam and Ray, who were still nearby, one on Link's right and the other on his left, are both blown away from the scene and sent crashing against trees.

...

...

...

The scene clears, the wind slows down, and the dust around the two of them slowly fades. The cracked earth is revealed to be caved in by one to two feet, and both Link & Hiroku are still in the same position, each one pushing against their own weapons.

"You withstood my attack." Hiroku frowns and continue to add more pressure into the shield, expecting it to shatter at any moment now

"I did not think-! Argh!" Link grunts as he struggles and starts to show signs of losing the strength battle, "You were one for a sneak attack!" He drives his shoulder against the shield in order to push back

"When you get involved with someone else's family everything is fair game!" Hiroku brings up his foot and smashes it against Link's shield, instantly sending him flying backwards and out of the small crater

Link collides with the ground and before he can even come to a full stop, his momentum sends him rolling further away. Luckily for him, his shield conveniently lands only a few inches away from him.

"We have to help him." Ray calls out to Liam and takes off towards Link

"R-right." Liam nods and runs behind his sister

"Get back!" Both Link and Hiroku shout at them as each rise from their own predicament, Link weakly stands up and Hiroku climbs out of the crater

"I get why you would say that!" Ray shouts at her father before glaring towards Link, "But you?"

"I don't know what you told him." Link frowns as he gets in an offensive stance, "But if he thinks he can slam, throw and beat me around like some rag doll, he's got another thing coming!"

"Fighting back?" Hiroku shakes his head, "You should have just stuck to the agreement, rather than get my kids involved into putting in a good word for you... don't think you're special kid, aura is available to everybody." For the first time he sheds a smile of confidence

"I never thought I was special. Do not underestimate me!" Link tries to summon his inner demon, hoping to show initial signs of control but still shows signs of weakness

(Better luck next time, rat.) His chuckle is brief but it rings throughout Link's head

(Laugh now, but one day your reign of terror over me will be no more.)

Hiroku and Link pay no attention to either Ray or Liam as they charge at each other, the former surprised as his huge long sword was used for quick strikes, but the latter surprised even more by showing no fear and in rapid fashion fighting back. Link successfully blocks every single of one Hiroku's strikes with shield and sword blocks.

"No way..." Liam frowns and follows them as his father begins to drive Link backwards into the woods

Link shows no signs arrogance or concern as he begins to fight back with offensive strikes. After a blocked sword shot, Link takes a swing of his, though it is easily blocked by the much larger and heavier sword from his taller and stronger opponent, he finally sheds a smile when notices the biggest flaw in Hiroku's block. Link follows up by performing a perfect and smooth sweep, not to Hiroku's legs, but to his sword, and as it momentarily slips out of his grasp, Link takes advantage by getting in a defensive stance and in one swift motion he spins and holds his sword out. Link's sword makes contact with Hiroku's and sends it flying completely out of his reach.

"Alright then! You want to get crafty, I will get rough!" Hiroku reaches out and stops Link mid-spin, gripping the sharp blade, it shreds through his skin, but before any more damage can be done, his aura kicks in.

"W-what the-!" Link pulls back, but quickly notices that Hiroku was purposely keeping his hand engraved in the sword.

Hiroku grabs Link by the neck and hurls him out of the woods, and in the process crashing through many thin trees. Hiroku then takes another huge leap and follows his tossed enemy.

"Over there!" Ray points as she and Liam see the scenery of Link flying through trees and their father follows closely behind, "Let's go!"

"Right!" Liam nods as they take off

Hiroku lands perfectly on his feet, and right next to him just happens to be his sword, dug halfway through the earth, he casually tosses the sword stuck in his hand back to its original owner who is lying on the ground only a few feet away

"You're really good, but not good enough!" Hiroku with an impressive showing of strength pulls his long sword out of the ground effortlessly as he runs towards a prone Link

"Father no!" Ray continues sprinting towards them, but is physically held back by her arm

"Ray no! You will get hurt!" Liam struggles to hold back his sister as his grip begins to get weaker

"He's going to kill Link! We have to-!"

"I'm not so sure about that sis." Liam takes his attention off his sister to look back towards the fight, he now sees his father engulfed in white smoke.

Hiroku carefully navigates through the smoke, and then recklessly takes a swing, bringing his sword down on the area where Link was last seen.

CRASH!

The collision between sword and earth was the only thing felt as his sword physically shakes the ground he stands on

"..." Link does not speak but creepily appears right behind Hiroku the way a ninja sneaks up on his next victim

BOOM!

"What was that?" Ray runs towards the smoke, but stops just as it grazes her skin, remembering Liam's words, she keeps a safe distance

"Holy s-!" Liam's jaw 'drops' as he and Ray both wipe their eyes, when they rid themselves of their blurry vision, they still see the same sight. The smoke clears and Hiroku is trapped in between two visible triforces, one was dark and well shaded, and the other was faint and barely visible.

"N-no!" Link frowns and grunts as his first slash, the one that usually leads to transition to the rest of his combination of attacks... was blocked. His opponent's longsword was partially through the triforce, almost breaking completely out of it.

"Whoa..." Liam gets only a slight bit closer, observing everything in front of him, his excitement only intensifies when he sees that the test of strength between Link and Hiroku is dead even.

"It's those things." Ray points at the triforces, which slowly and methodically spin in place, "They are trapping father, forcing him to only block with limited strength and not allowing to put power into his stance."

"You are the first one to ever block and momentarily stall me." Link's eyes momentarily glow the same golden color as before, "But you will not be the first to counter it!" He eventually manages to overpower Hiroku and finally traps him permanently.

Link does not hesitate to attack with a variety of slashes, one handed, two handed, spinning, quick strikes, fully powered strikes, each time he struck Hiroku was like a flash of light beaming around and even through the triforce's.

"So cool." Ray smiles, but then almost immediately shakes her head when she remembers it is her father being hit with the attack

"!" Link does not say anything, but only a look of intensity is seen on his face when he delivers the final blow that sends Hiroku crashing through the faded triforce, shattering it like glass.

"Father!" Liam runs towards Hiroku as he continues soaring through the air until finally hitting the ground

"Is it over?" Ray doesn't move, she remains undecided on whether to go join Link or Hiroku

"No!" Hiroku's voice is heard as he sits up and on both knees, breathing and panting hard, the cuts and slashes on his arms, chest, and midsection are promptly healed by his aura.

"Very well then!" Link brings his shield back out as he turns towards Hiroku

Hiroku just nods, forces himself up to his feet, grabs his sword and jogs towards Link. Both of them collide swords once again, as they struggle once again, Hiroku brings up his foot and slams his boot right into Link's shield, knocking it out of his hands and even sending it back into his head. Link, with a free hand grabs a throwing knife and launches it at Hiroku, but he dodges it with ease. Hiroku pulls back and attempts another sword strike, this time an overhead strike, but that too is also dodged with a swift barrel roll.

"Come on we have to do something!" Ray runs over to Liam, who continues to watch them fight in awe

"What can we do? We are way out of our league here."

Link sprints towards his shield and slickly picks up, he and Hiroku collide forces once again, but instead of the same result as before, Link finally starts to get the upper hand. The faster Hiroku strikes, the faster Link blocks and retaliates with his own attack, and now he starts to push back the much bigger and experienced opponent.

"Damn it! Rahhhhhh!" Hiroku takes a few extra steps back to get in a striking stance, and suddenly with his right hand tightly grasping onto the handle of his sword, he tucks it behind him only to then bring it across with immense speed and a powerful swing

"Hmph!" Link jumps and lands perfectly right on Hiroku's sword when his swing comes to a stop

Link lowers his head and shuts his eyes, the tense moment to him lasts nearly an hour, but in reality it only went on for about five seconds before Hiroku violently swings his sword again, he leaps off the sharp metal and lands right behind Hiroku

"Alright I'll admit it." Hiroku frowns, refusing to turn and face Link, "You're better than I imagined."

"Thank you." Link nods as he makes the mistake of turning around

"I didn't say we were finished!" Hiroku turns around with supersonic like speed and swings his sword, aiming for Link's neck

Link doesn't respond, he remains still and shuts his eyes, but instead of feeling a sword decapitating him, he felt it only slightly graze his neck

"I-i'm alive." Link mumbles, he opens his eyes and sees Hiroku's sword right on his neck, it is stopped by a bright, golden energy that's way more lit and more thicker than his usual aura, "W-what is this?"

(You intrigue me as the days go by... what the hell is your semblance again?)

(Your guess is as good as mine.)

Hiroku pulls back on his sword and goes to swing again, this time Link is prepared, but right as both of their swords were set to collide once more, an arrow flies between them both

"Not another merce-!" Hiroku turns towards the direction in which the arrow came from, but instead of a mercenary, he sees his wife, aiming a brand new bow that looks identical to Link's at both of them.

"That's enough fighting for today." Morgan smiles as she lowers her weapon and walks towards them

"Is that my-!" Link reaches for his bow, and finds it instantly, "How did you...?"

"Sorry Link." Ray calls out as she and Liam run up to the three, "You brought up how my mother and I never had weapons, so when you had a custom sword made for me, I figured I'd do the same for my mother, only with a bow."

"Oh." Link nods, but then immediately frowns, "You didn't have to steal my bow, you could have just asked."

"Sorry."

"What is going on?" Morgan ask as she physically gets in between Hiroku and Link, forcing them to distance themselves from each other

"Go on Ray." Liam lightly shoves her to the front lines

"Um..." Ray tenses up as her hands begin to shake frantically

"She told me about their thing." Hiroku points his sword right in Link's face, "After we made a deal that he would leave... to avoid something like this from ever happening."

"Your logical solution was to attack him?" Morgan raises an eyebrow, then looks at Link

"I have no excuse, he was attacking me, and so I fought back... I may have gone overboard."

Hiroku, Morgan, Liam and Ray all turn towards Link before pointing all around, craters in the ground, shredded and destroyed trees, etc.

"Just a tad." Ray smirks, but gets no reaction and instantly frowns, "Father wouldn't listen to me, as soon as I mentioned what happened yesterday... he took off."

"As usual. It is where we get out brashness and hotheadedness Ray." Liam rolls his eyes

"Quiet." Hiroku shrugs, "I gave into the rumors like a fool despite how much I denied them. Using the village, messing with our family, and so on. I let my anger take over, and I couldn't stop it, it was..."

"Indescribable?" Link asks

"Right." Hiroku nods slowly and hesitantly offers Link a hand, "I misjudged you, I thought you were just some thug using our small village and messing with our family, but I can see now that you're a genuine kid, and you gave me the toughest fight of my life... that I will never forget."

"Likewise." Link sighs out of relief and gracefully accepts the handshake

"So... chances of him staying now are..." Ray jumps on Hiroku's back

"Very high, if he would like to stay as well." Hiroku continues to shake Link's hand

"Of course." Link nods

"Just make me one promise." Hiroku's voice changes tone, as he gets serious, "You sense any danger, you see anyone attacking us, and you protect my family with your life."

"Yes sir." Link nods with determination in his eyes, "I will do everything in my power to put you, your family and the village before myself."

"That's good to hear." Hiroku lets go and is quick to walk away

"Wait why don't you describe the fight for me?" Morgan asks, but instead of a normal response, Hiroku shakes his head and storms away with Ray still on his back, "You must have really damaged his ego." She laughs and lightly pats Link on the shoulder

"He had me on the back foot the whole time." Link shrugs his shoulders

---

Present Time

"Wow so even the old man wasn't a match for you." Coco nods, "Good stuff Link."

"What?" Link looks around, and notices all the confused looks Coco is getting, "I said he had me on the back foot."

"His wife interfered at a convenient time, just as you were getting the upper hand, I'd consider that a win."

"You're probably the only one." Link shrugs and looks up into the sky, the sight of more Atlas ships arriving sends chills down his spine

"What's wrong?" Velvet light squeezes Link's as she follows his gaze

"It only took two of those ships to wipe them out." Link points at the biggest ship that was slowly landing alongside a smaller ship following it

---

One week later, nighttime

"Really? That quick?" Link asks as he enters the main room, and following Ray

"Yup. I'm not bluffing when I say my father has a lot of influence." Ray claps as she promptly plops down on the couch, "Best part of all, with you here the village council are finally moving ahead with making our village stronger. It was tough when we only had one amazing fighter, it seems having two has persuaded them to act now."

"Well that's good to hear, better late than never. Though this will make the village more notable, and potentially make you guys a target."

"You guys? You mean us." Ray slaps Link on the shoulder, "You're one of us now."

"Still adjusting." Link nods, "So now that you have a plan, what is your long term goal?"

"Long term? Hm..." Ray ponders and suddenly her smile fades, "I um, I suppose after having that first friendly conversation with you, leaving the village in the next year or two would be my long term goal."

"Really?" Link almost jumps in surprise, "Just one to two years left here? Are you sure you want that?"

"W-well, not alone." Ray chuckles, "You forced yourself to keep going and now you're settling down. Wouldn't it be nice if you were to travel the world willingly and not forcefully?"

"I..." Link sighs, "I cannot argue there."

"That goal may change, but leaving is definitely going to be a top priority. Don't I sound mean and heartless? This is my home and I WANT to leave."

"It sounds like it, but it's not. I'm sure your family will understand once you explain in detail your desire to leave, that you want to become a huntress and-!"

"We will listen." Morgan's voice is heard as she emerges from the kitchen with a cup of tea in her hand, and a look of pure disgust, "Understanding is a different story."

"Y-you were listening the whole time?" Ray tenses up and her eyes quickly start to shine with apparent tears

"Snap out of it Ray, you can't hide it from them and then drop it so suddenly on the day you want to leave." Link shakes his head and lightly shakes Ray, "You also can't have mental breakdowns anytime you are confronted about an issue."

"She has them whenever she second guesses herself." Morgan remains still and calmly drinks her tea, "To think you were the perfect soul, and the first wrongdoing is giving my daughter the idea that leaving is the best for her."

"I did not-!"

"No!" Ray shouts, "Link did not tell me to do it, I want to do it myself."

"R-ray..." Link mumbles but quickly quiets down.

"Think about what you are saying dear, leaving your home, father, brother, me. To constantly fend for your life on an empty trail that could lead nowhere."

"T-that's not it at all mother." Ray shakes her head, "I told Link about how nobody here is ambitious, and how we are all okay with being complacent. I, on a daily basis wake up in the middle of the night, leave the house and just look up at the moon, wondering what is life like outside our village, thinking about everything else that surrounds us, the villages, the kingdoms... the wild."

"Complacent? Ray we have nowhere else to go, the outside world is a cruel place. Link knows how to fend for himself, he's a smart young man... and yet he barely survived." Morgan glances at Link, "No offense."

"O-oh, it's okay." Link nods

"A young naive girl on her own? People will do their best to use you, drain you of your resources and throws you aside."

"Aha!" Ray jumps out of the couch, "But I won't be alone, Link agreed to come with me the day I'm ready to leave."

"Do I need to be more blunt?" Ray's mother sighs and puts down her mug, "What if Link leaves tomorrow? It can happen at any time."

"What are you doing?" Link scowls and is visibly shaking his head, "Why now?"

"Sorry Link, but I have to be neutral and fair now, you've been traveling your whole life, and now you are ready to settle down. At any time that could change, you and I both know that. Ray mentioned one or two years, but what if you only last six months here?"

"H-he wouldn't-! Mother stop, I know what you're doing!" Ray paces around the living room

"I'm not trying to manipulate you dear, but it can happen. Would you still leave on your own?"

"YES!" Ray blurts out, "I mean... I don't know. Exploring the world is what I want, why are you trying to make me do a one-eighty. Wouldn't you like to venture past our small village?"

"Ray, you know all of us would want that, and you're right. Some of our fellow village folk wouldn't even dare think about leaving because of how comfortable and attached they have gotten." Morgan sighs and gets in Ray's path, opening her arms for a hug, "All we can do right now is improve what we do have in our grasp, and that's a well-run village where everyone contributes to make it a better place every day. We can worry about 'that' another day."

"That?" Ray initially reaches out for her mother but quickly backs away, "This isn't some little kid dream that will never happen, I want to go and see Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral. I want to become a huntress, get stronger, help those who can't themselves, I want to be like dad, but even better."

"Ray I-!" Morgan reaches for her daughter, who continues to back away

"N-no!" Ray shakes her head, "I get it, you care about me like a loving mother would, but trying to destroy my future goal is unforgivable." She looks at Link, whom she suddenly does not want to be near as well, "I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Link asks

"Outside, to roam the village for a bit." Ray wipes her eyes and makes her way around Morgan and Link as she leaves the home

Silence and Awkwardness consumes Link and Morgan, who look at each other with signs of unease.

"Should I go after her?" Link asks

"Somebody should, and right now I don't think she will listen to me anymore, go quickly." Morgan nods

"Right." Link gets up and swiftly exits the house, but surprisingly finds Ray still nearby, "Ray, are you alright?"

"What are those?" Ray points up high, to what initially looked like just a cloud

"I don't see what you're pointing to Ray."

"Look carefully." Ray grabs Link's hand and points him to the exact location... the cloud started to form into two specific ships

"N-no, not them! What the hell do they want with Garanda?!" Link's breathing begins to pick up in speed

(You forgot about the rich snobs, fool!)

"Those are Atlas ships." Link frowns as he looks around them, and other Garanda villagers take notice of the ships as well

"Cool." Ray nods in awe at the ships, with her eyes focused on the larger one

"But what are they doing here?" Link's eyes don't leave the ship in front as he closely examines it's double turret's that begin to move downwards, directly aiming at the village

"L-link?" Ray's eyes widen as she notices the turret's rapidly spinning

"Go back inside the house now!" Link lightly shoves Ray back, "Where are your brother and father?"

"A-at the council building! Link you can't go alone!"

"I promised your father I'd do whatever I could to protect you, and right now taking cover is your best bet, go!" Link opens the door, where Morgan waits for them

"What is going on out h-!" Morgan gasps as the turret's begin to fire bullets upon the village.

"Ray come on!" Link roughly shoves Ray inside the house with her mother, then shuts the door and runs towards the council building. Along the way, he shouts orders to the scared and panic-ridden Garanda people to get back inside their homes and take shelter.

"What the hell is wrong with them? Why this village?" Link dives and takes shelter behind a brick house as the turret starts to spray bullets everywhere, hitting the unfortunate people who could not get away in time, "N-no!" Link gets up and runs at them, but quickly stops himself, "That'll be me if I continue..."

Link stops and thinks back of his previous encounters, trying to figure out if something or someone is doing this.

---

"Won't be our problem, boss told us some pretty cool stuff, turns our we can do WHATEVER we want... the backlash falls on YOU and the rest of the former black hawks members."

"What?" Link frowns

"Yup, think about it they don't have any leads on the newer members, and the ones on wanted lists with bounties on their heads are you guys. So if the black hawks are still a name that's getting business done, the target on your back gets bigger, we on the other hand, are in the clear."

---

"Adam... what the hell did you do with the Black Hawks name?!" Link frowns and looks around him, dozens of bodies coldly hit the ground, ignorant but still innocent lives taken away within seconds.

The turret's eventually slow down and stop shooting. Link takes this opportunity to look over and peek upwards, the larger ship stays in place while the one behind it begins to get ahead. A loud noise is heard as the second ship that gets ahead begins to open their cargo area, where atlesian knights and human soldiers jump without any fear or hesitation.

"A troop of thirty soldiers... who knows if they have any more to come as well." Link grabs his sword and reaches for another item, "I need to do something now!" He reveals his hookshot, uses it to get on the roof of the brick house, and then sets his focus on the falling atlesian knights.

Link shuts his eyes, stands perfectly still, and tightly holds onto his sword. The triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden aura visibly covering his entire body. "Get out of this village!" Link opens his eyes, and this time both of his eyes shine with a bright shade of gold, but only for a slight second, and just like that, he was gone

"Sir we have an incoming-!" Before the human soldier could finish his report, Link was already past three mid-air atlesian knights. Those three suddenly power down and split in half, falling to the ground in scraps of metal

"Damn I only got a few." Link frowns as he starts to fall back down to the ground, villagers around him scramble around, some retreating to their homes while others reach for blunt objects or any sort of weapon, "Go back inside your homes, or take any sort of cov-!"

"You think you're the only fearless one, huh kid?" A villager emerges from behind a wooden house with a thick pipe in his hands

"It's not about being fearless or brave, these people are leagues above a random lone mercenary. That's Atlas military!"

The second Link mouthed the words 'Atlas military', it was like time stopped, and everyone around Link stopped everything they were doing.

"A-atlas military? We're fucked."

"Why are they attacking us?"

"What do they want?"

"Are we gonna die?!"

"We are, unless we stop running and hiding, we need to fight back." Hiroku's voice is heard as he walks up behind Link

"Y-you're okay." Link lets out a sigh of relief

"Of course we are." Liam slaps Link's arm and quickly hands out weapons to the villagers around them, "You sound like a scared and lost puppy."

"Ray and your mother were scared to death when I left to come find you g-!"

"You left them alone?!" Hiroku frowns at Link, but backs away in surprise when the latter immediately turns to face him

"They can protect themselves, unless you don't think so." Link frowns right back at him

"We don't have all the time in the world!" Liam gets in between them, "What do we need to do now?"

"We outnumber them, but they've got top of the line technology, military training and atlesian knights."

"So they outclass us." Liam sighs

"Very much so." Hiroku shrugs, "Our main troops are scattered, if they were all here at best we'd only have thirty to forty combat ready soldiers."

"OVER HERE!" The screams of an Atlas soldier are heard

"Get those who don't want to fight to safety!" Link shoves Liam aside and runs towards the soldier's voice.

"But-!"

"You heard him!" Hiroku nods and follows him

"No!" Link looks to his left and right, more dead villagers laid on the ground coldly.

"They better have brought their whole military!" Hiroku grabs his long sword with just one hand as the speeds ahead of Link, "That way I can get rid of them all myself!"

Hiroku leaps up in the air, lands on a rooftop and speeds even further away... then just as fast as he gets on the rooftop, he gets off it with another huge leap

"INCOMING!" The shout from a soldier is heard as the human soldiers back away while the atlesian knights hold their ground

"RAAAHHH!" Hiroku comes crashing down hard and sword first.

The ground around them shakes viciously, but as it shakes, so does the air, as the smaller ship, which unleashed the thirty soldiers sets itself for a landing right in the middle of the village.

"The council building!" Link stops dead in his tracks and contemplates his two choices, "They're doomed if they stay in there." He hesitates but eventually takes a right and sprints right for the council building, "Sorry Hiroku."

Link storms into the council building, where only the elders are visible as they sit circled around each other

"There's still time, come on you have to evacuate! There's a ship about to come down on this entire building."

The elders do not reply, they all whisper and mumbles, until one of them finally decides to speak up, "We are not getting out of this alive, so just leave us be."

"Don't say that!" Link approaches them and reaches for an elder, but none of them accept his help.

"The council members already evacuated, and we were going to follow because we assumed it was just a raid that could be dealt with." The same elder as before, a woman now stands up, and walks towards Link, "But I know now, that force out there now is one that has already won the battle."

"How did you-!"

"I used to be a huntress myself." She smiles and grabs Link's hand, "I know all about Atlas, or should I say knew..." She sighs and puts her head now, "I know how much of a dangerous force they were back then, I can only imagine how powerful they are now. And if their intention is to destroy our little village, there is no hope of our survival."

"What about them?" Link points at the other elders, who are seemingly saying their last goodbyes and having their last conversations.

"We aren't branded as the village elders just because of our age young man." She laughs and squeezes on Link's hand, "They might be slow, but their knowledge never faded. They too know about Atlas and their strong military power, what we do not understand is why us, and why now? Only days after we have begun village renovations. Whatever they seek, they will take, and we simply have chosen to admit defeat and enjoy our last moments alive."

"Why us? And why now?" Link is taken aback by those words as the guilt begins to overwhelm him.

"Oh no." The women starts to slap Link's arm, "Don't you dare blame yourself kid, I can see it all over your face. If what you told us and what we heard about you was the truth, nothing you did warrant's a military raid of this degree on a village this small."

"I-it wasn't my doing... but the mercenary group I used to be in, we made enemies with the White Fang."

"The White Fang." The woman gasps and within those few seconds she is able to put it all together, "The White Fang destroyed your group, but not by killing every member, because you're still alive. They used your moniker for their evil doing, and blamed it all on the members who still live."

Link nods and is clearly lost for words momentarily, "You are such an intelligent woman."

"Oh thank you dear." She laughs and struggles to break free from Link's grip, "Good luck forcing us all out of this place, you'll die with us if you try."

"There must be something I can-!"

The sounds of a descending ship suddenly stop, and the wind around the council building begins to pick up

"This is it." She backs away from Link and hobbles towards the other village elders, "Go on kid, get out of here, Garanda won't survive but if you put this much effort into saving us, then maybe you can save some of our faithful and innocent villagers."

"I can't-!" Link stops and remembers her words just spoken earlier, "I'm sorry..." He turns and quickly heads for the exit

"Don't be... Link." The woman raises her hand and softly waves.

"!" Link stops right as he whips the double wooden doors open, he turns and takes one last look at the elders, "I'm sorry I ever came near your village."

Link gets past the doors and dives for the ground, the second he hits it, he's blown further away as the Atlas ship rises in the air, then purposely descends right onto the council building, crashing through and destroying the entire thing, killing everyone inside directly on impact.

...

...

...

Link's eyes shoot open, he immediately rises from the ruble and debris that laid on top of him from the random home he was sent crashing into. He tactically chooses to drop down and crawls behind a wall to see what was happening, and grasp how long he's been out. When he sees more soldiers, both human and atlesian knights, it makes him get right back up on his feet.

"I must have only been temporarily knocked out, but now I need to go find Hiroku, then Ray!" Link waits for the soldiers to pass by the house he was ducking behind, but the moment he steps out of cover, he discovers another horrible sight. Every single council member was on the ground, each scattered, but all in the same vicinity. "Just like that, the village gets smaller and smaller, damn it!"

Link runs around multiple dead bodies, following the soldiers in a discrete way as they head in the direction that was very near Ray's family's home.

"Where is he?" Link sneaks away from the soldiers as they walk past the home, he first tries the back door, but it was locked unsurprisingly. Link goes around the house and eventually decides to just take his chances and smashes the window leading right into Ray's room, he crawls through the hole, and is immediately charged by a very injured Hiroku

"Die!" Hiroku swings his sword but his attack is easily dodged

"Link! You're okay!" Ray wipes away tears and pulls him into a tight hug, "We heard nonstop screaming... I nearly thought you were one of them."

"Shhhh!" Liam runs over to them and slides the curtains over the broken glass

"What happened to you two?"

"No way." Hiroku cuts him off as he drops to the floor and holds his gut, showing signs that his aura was near depletion, "You first? Why didn't you follow me?"

"I... that Atlas ship was coming down on the council building, so I went to go evacuate the building, but the elders refused to come out because they had already admitted defeat."

"W-what?" Morgan gasps, "Are they...?"

"Yes." Link sadly nods, "They refused to come out of the building, and I barely had enough time to get out myself. The ship destroyed the entire building, it would be a miracle if any of them are still alive under all that demolished wood and brick."

"They are usually so fearless, for them to give up means even they know how powerful our invaders are." Morgan's voice suddenly gets lower and lower, like she was shutting down.

"Anything else?" Hiroku asks as his breathing slows down to a regular pace

"When I woke up... I found all of the council members, they were dead, it was brutal and bloody murder." Link buries his face in his hands, "What happened to you?"

"There were too many." Hiroku sighs, "Even if you were there with me, it would probably be you in my state right now. That original troop of thirty were just a warm up, who knows how many they've got out there now."

"Liam?" Link looks up at him as the usually fearless Liam is cradled up next to his mother

"Same thing as my father, they quickly overwhelmed me, those who I tried to evacuate through a secret passage were..." Liam balls up his fists and resists punching anything to avoid giving them all away, "I couldn't save them."

"I couldn't save them." Link wraps his arm around Ray as those words ring throughout his head

"It's only a matter of time before they find us." Link mumbles, "They are already killing innocent people with no problem and destroying a village like it's a toy. No way will they leave any structure untouched."

"We need a plan, defeating them is obviously out of the picture, we need to get out of here." Hiroku quietly stands up

"B-but..." Ray tries to argue, but quickly quiets down, "All this time I talked about leaving my home in the future, and I don't want to leave it now when it's at its worst."

"We will have a future if we go now." Liam struggles to pull Morgan up to her feet, "Mother is out of it, I don't think she can continue."

"Are you mobile?" Link looks over at Hiroku, who makes his way up and paces around the room in a slow pace

"Not fully, but it should be enough... hopefully." Hiroku shrugs

SMASH!

The pounds of a door being destroyed are audibly heard as Atlas soldiers begin to raid the house

"Now." Link whispers and whips the curtains out of the way, then dives out of the window to the outside, only slightly grazing his skin against the broken glass.

"This one's locked too!" The shouts of another atlas soldier are heard as he initially pounds on the door"

"Quickly!" Link does his best to keep quiet as he barks out instructions, though they prove to be efficient as Liam exits next, then Morgan, Ray and finally Hiroku

"This way!" Liam walks ahead of Link and leads the way, but quickly stops when he almost collides with a human Atlas solider, and the realization that they're surrounded slowly sinks in.

"Don't even try." The Atlas soldier points his gun at Liam when he notices that the latter is reaching for his weapon

"No..." Link looks around, and is surprised when no Atlas soldiers or knights come from around the back, just the front

"Sneaky and clever." The voice of another soldier who is revealed to be the original guy banging on the locked door, which now was also destroyed.

"T-this is it." Ray sighs nearly falls to the ground

"Come here." Morgan quickly slides over and hugs Ray, preventing her from dropping down.

"I'll be damned if you kill me execution style!" Hiroku frowns and draws his sword again

"NO!" Link steps in front of Hiroku and slowly walks towards the soldiers with his hands up, "You're here for me, aren't you? Why else would you be destroying an innocent village?"

"Innocent?" The soldier laughs in Link's face, "Sure it was, maybe before you got here. I personally have seen your file, and you are a very wanted m-! I mean, boy! Killing our men, backstabbing every criminal organization the first chance you get? The Black Hawks are screwed, and we hit the jackpot by getting their leader first." The man walks up to Link and towers over him.

"What are you-! The Black Hawks have been inactive for over a month!" Link frowns and balls up his fists, "You're being played by a White Fang higher up, Adam Taurus. That name sound familiar?"

"Taurus..." The soldier gasps but almost immediately shakes his head, "Nice try, even if you were right, you're still a wanted criminal."

"W-what... you want to capture me? That's it?" Link starts to breath heavily as he points towards destroyed homes and dead bodies, "Then what did they do to deserve this?!"

"Harboring a criminal."

"That's worthy of a brutal death? Is this what Atlas military is all about? Power hungry and heartless scumbags who think they can do whatever they want?"

"How dare you-!"

"Do you want me or not?" Link asks, "Leave them alone, and I'll go with you. Just please leave them alone, they do not deserve to have their lives taken away for my real mistakes and these other false crimes you're pinning on me." He stares right into this main soldier's 'face', though he wore a dark helmet, and he was the only one.

"Link you can't trust them!" Liam shouts

"Believe me that's the last thing I'd do..." Link mumbles under his breath

"Take him down." The soldier nods towards Liam

"Yes sir!" Three human soldier's walks towards Liam with their guns pointed right at him

"I said..." Link looks at the soldiers going towards Liam, "LEAVE. THEM. ALONE." He reaches into his pouch and puts all force into crushing one of his smoke bombs, then drops it on the ground.

The smoke bomb suddenly pops and smoke engulfs everyone within a few feet

"Run!" Link shouts as he charges blindly at the soldiers near Liam, though with him having more experience fighting through smoke than the Atlas soldiers, he makes quick work of them with quick sword slashes, none of which were lethal.

"You're going to regret that." The man's voice is heard throughout all the commotion

As the smoke fades, Link is revealed with unconscious soldiers around him as well as more guns pointed towards him, he sighs and raises his hands in the air.

"Clear the rest of the village, no witnesses." The man nods to what looks to be his right hand man, who just nods as he leads half of the soldiers back into the village in search for Ray, Liam, Morgan, Hiroku and any other living villager.

Link looks up at the moon, but does not find the bright shining light that he is accustomed to staring at for hours, it is now blocked by grey clouds, and just like that, rain begins to fall in sprinkles.

"Come on guys..." Link sighs and shuts his eyes, "Make it out alive, that's all I want."

"AHHHHH!"

Link's eyes open as he recognizes the yell

"Ray..." Link doesn't think twice and immediately reaches for his sword

"Take him down!"

"Yes si-!"

"AHHHH!" Link spins in place with his sword pointed and aimed at anyone near him, the atlesian knights were quickly taken care of and the human soldiers were badly injured, "You want to kill me so bad? Do it yourself!" He charges at the man wearing the helmet

"Very well then!" The man reaches into his dark grey coat, seemingly to pull out his weapon... but stops in surprise when Link hops right over him and runs the opposite way, "H-he... that damn kid!"

Link runs in a zigzag pattern, dodging bullets while also taking some hits to his lower back and legs, he then takes a left turn and cuts in between two buildings that are on the verge of collapsing, but knows it's a sure way to avoid any more bullets for the time being.

"Ray! Say something! Anything!" Link calls out, but the only reply he gets is more gunfire, "DAMN!"

As he approaches the sounds of the gunfire, he stops and cautiously approaches it. One footstep after another, the gunfire stops, but instead what's heard now is metal colliding with metal.

"G-get away from her!" Ray's panicked voice is heard as she cuts off the head of an atlesian knight with no fear for them... but for something else.

"Ray!" Link quickly runs towards her, but slows down when he sees two things. The destroyed knight, and Morgan, on the ground, face planted into the ground.

"I-is she-?" Ray hesitates when she turns her head

"Ray..." Link kneels down in front of Morgan, the second he lays a hand on her, he feels the coldness normally felt from a lifeless corpse, "I'm so sorry."

"M-mom?" Ray quickly runs over but trips and falls, sliding against the ground knees first as she hugged her mother's body, "I don't-! She's so cold, one second we were running side by side, then-!" She buries her face into her hands, "The last thing I remember is one of those robot things was about to shoot me, and then I was pushed out of the way. My mother saved me, but at the cost of her own life."

"Ray, I'm so sorry but we need to keep going, your father and Liam could be in danger as we speak and-!"

"S-shut up kid!" Hiroku's voice is heard as he slams an atlesian knight over his shoulder, showing signs of stubbornness by not using Link's diversion to run but instead to fight. "You talk too m-!" A smile briefly flashes on his face, but then his eyes close shut and he slumps over, hitting the ground hard.

"No! Not you too!" Link unwillingly leaves Ray's side to go check on Hiroku. He feels a weak pulse but it was very near its end, "He's not going to make-!"

"AHHHH!"

More screams are heard as as Atlas soldiers who shoot without another thought run hidden villagers out of their hiding spots

"N-no more..." Ray mumbles and grabs her sword, gripping tightly onto the handle as villagers who manage to evade the bullets run by her

"No more!" Link repeats the words said by Ray as he jumps ahead of her and launches another smoke bomb directly into the crowd of soldiers.

Link jumps into the smoke and brings up his left hand as a darkened gold triforce appears behind all of the entire pack or trapped atlas soldier's within the thick smoke, a faded triforce appears in front of them. He opens his eyes and like a flash appears right in front of the trapped soldiers, he wastes no time when it comes to slashing and hurting them, two-handed slashes, one handed, spinning, full power, quick and light. All with precise power and speed, the final blow sends the soldiers crashing through the triforce and out of smoke, each member lands in a different position, many were sent against the destroyed buildings, other slam brutally against the ground, some are even sent crashing into each other, etc.

"There's already more on the way!" Link retreats away from the smoke, and sees Ray going head to head with another atlesian knight. He runs over and stops other soldiers from getting near her, and just like that, both of them were doing their best to fight off soldier after soldier... until their numbers prove to be too much.

"Stay with me Ray." Link slides in front of her with his shield raised, blocking the impact of incoming bullets

"I'm sorry." Ray pants and quickly gets a breather as she looks around, "Still no signs of Liam."

"..." Link says nothing as he continues to shield her, he too looks around, the villagers running away were gunned down, and those fighting back were slowly decreasing in numbers

"Link watch out!" Ray dives and tackles him to the ground as an atlesian knight was launched towards them by a group of five villagers

"Thanks." Link nods and quickly gets back up, he helps Ray up as well, the fight was only getting worse for Garanda despite them being able to scatter the Atlas troops.

The rain begins to gather speed as it gets stronger and faster, the sprinkles turn into a normal stream. Meanwhile, the atlas troops start to push those fighting back towards the main part of the village, near their ship and where the council building used to be.

"It's not looking good for us..." Ray sighs as she drops to one knee

"The only time I'll ever want you to be wrong." Link kneels down beside her and helps her slowly get back up

"I told you before that you were going to regret doing that." The voice of the man leading the attack on Garanda is heard once again as he pushes past soldiers to confront Link and Ray from a fair distance. " You will die here tonight and there's nothing you can do to escape your imminent faith."

Link just nods as the man pulls out a firearm and aims it right at his chest

"We won't go down without a fight!" The cries and roars of the last few villagers left are heard as they charge a fully loaded small army with rakes, clubs, bottles, etc. Many of them are taken down quickly, but others manage to collide with the men around the man, who was ready to pull the trigger and finish Link.

"W-what the-! Clear these hostiles now!"

"Yes sir!"

As they continue to fight, Link makes his back over towards Hiroku, who was unconscious and near death, but very much still alive. Link tries to flip over the giant, but his limited strengthened body almost shuts down on him when he tries to lift a huge amount of weight over.

"L-link behind you!" Ray charges at a human soldier who had his gun pointed at Link's skull, she swings her sword with a wild swing and only manages to knock the gun out of his hands.

"Good eye!" Link whips around and slams his fist into the soldier's skull, cracking the visor on his helmet and sending said soldier flying back

Ray and Link momentarily sigh, but their biggest mistake was forgetting their biggest enemy, who was still nearby...

"Ugh." The man struggles to see past the rain that turned heavier and heavier as the minutes pass, he paces towards his main target, then aims his gun... a bulky grey/white revolver, "Ah! Out of my way!" He moves around fighting soldiers and villagers, and then finally gets a 'clear' shot on Link.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The man fires off three shots, not realizing Ray was right next to Link.

"AHHH!" Ray stumbles back and slumps over, holding tightly onto her chest

"UGH!" Link also stumbles back but only holds onto his arm

Link's vision goes blurry, the effect of his fatigue, aura depletion and the pain from the bullet lodged into his arm nearly cause him to go unconscious, and within just a few seconds reality strikes and he's back.

"H-he got me." Link shrugs and cups his right hand over his left arm, he then glances at Ray, not knowing that she took the most damage.

"L-link?" Ray moves her hands out of the way, both are covered in blood and her chest is fatally wounded as her newly unlocked aura could only do so much.

"Ray!" Link freezes up as Ray sways from side to side, then staggers forward and falls into his arms, her eyes are wide open and she is jaw dropped

"W-what's happening?" Ray mumbles as she shakes and struggles to speak, "I d-don't want... I don't want to die, t-there's so much-! So many things I want to-!" She chokes up and stops mid-sentence as tears slip down her cheeks, she then spreads her arms and makes a last ditch effort to wrap them around Link for a weak hug, "I don't want to go, please."

Link opens his mouth but no words come out, all he can do is hold tightly onto Ray as he slowly eases her down onto the ground.

"L-link." Ray reaches for his neck, but her arms start to give out

"..." Link helps Ray by leaning down, and then he suddenly feels her lips against his own.

Their embrace felt like an entire hour to them but in reality was only about ten to fifteen seconds before Link pulls back to look at Ray one more time, there was so much he wanted to do, although there was very little he could actually do to help her now.

"L-live, survive, do whatev-!" Ray chokes up and coughs again, this time revealing more blood, "Promise me Link... you w-will never give up on your dreams, a-and while you're at it." Her eyes water up again as she weakly smiles, "Do your best to live out my dreams too, please."

"Ray I..." Link shakes his head and puts his head down, "I promise to do all of those things, I won't let you down!" He finally breaks down and lets the tears escape his eyes

"T-thank you Link, for everything, I only wish we could've spent more time... together." Ray smiles and like she was on cue stops talking, she looks up at dark sky and embrace the rain hitting her face, "O-oh, and h-here." Ray reaches down near her waist, and with her last bit of strength unhooks her canteen and puts it beside Link's leg, "Y-you will need something to store your water or alcohol in." She tries to laugh but instead coughs out more blood, and slowly but surely she feels her body numb up and get weaker.

Link grabs onto Ray's hand, and with his free one, he reaches for his neck, and lightly touches the pendant given to him by her.

"G-goodbye." Ray mumbles and blinks uncontrollably

Silence consumes them both, only the sounds of the rain are heard as it starts to pour harder and suddenly Link feels the grip from Ray's hand get weaker as her eyes slowly close for good..

"You're now free from this horrible and cruel world." Link kisses Ray's hand before gently letting it go, he shuts his eyes and then quickly re-opens them, seeing her lifeless body changes something about him, and his sadness slowly turns into anger

"That's the last of them, this one over here is the last one left."

"Good, just like we planned. We didn't expect this big of a fight, but it is over." The man and his troops march towards Link as the rain starts to pour in thick rain drops, making it nearly impossible to see, and suddenly

BOOM!

Lightning strikes a large tree within the village, nearby all the commotion and slaughter.

"I don't care how long it takes." Link rises from the ground, his eyes never leave Ray's lifeless body, "People will know how evil, vile and heartless you people are, you're worse than the White Fang."

"All for a job paid well." The man says with a sarcastic tone.

"All for a job paid well?" Link shakes his head in confusion, having heard those words before, but no exact memories come back

(Let's rip this guy's throat out!)

(...) No reply from Link

"You think this is a joke?" Link growls as he balls up his fist, he can sense that he is being overtaken with anger and hate, but willingly allows it, "You just stole the lives of innocent people, who were afraid of the outside world... and rightly so." His eyes switch colors as if a switch was flipped, from blue to gold, "They were right to never want to leave, because immediately they would get trampled on and killed by bastards like you people!"

"S-sir?"

"Hold fire." The man extends one arm out, halting his troops, "Give it up, or we will kill you right here and right now!"

"Shut..." Link's entire face changes as a sinister smirk momentarily appears on his face, "Up!"

"Finish him!" The man sneaks behind his troops as ten-atlesian knights line up

Link grabs just his sword and suddenly feels goosebumps down his spine as he feels re-born, like he was never damaged or fatigued. He charges at the atlesian knights and aims to take them all out one by one. Despite all of their incoming shots hitting, they barely do any damage, Link viciously decapitates a knight that was right behind him with just one backwards swing. As the other nine charge him, Link makes quick work out of all of them with brutal slashes that shred the knights into scraps... all with one swing each.

"Time for some real revenge!" Link's voice was a mix between his own and the demons, he turns and sets his sights on the human Atlas soldiers

"Get back all of you!"

"Too late!" Link rapidly runs at the human soldiers while avoiding the engaging knights, he starts with one soldier who tries his best to shoot at him. Link takes the bullets and within seconds gets in the soldier's face, he slides and spins in place, slamming the butt of his sword into the soldier's jaw, then follows it up with an air taking gut kick. Lastly, he finishes it with an upwards sword slash that sends the soldier flying in the air, the others around watch in show as their comrade was cut from the stomach up all the way to his neck, his armor and aura stood no chance.

BOOM!

Lightning strikes again as the soldier falls back down and hits the ground front first, face planted into the ground, a pool of blood is visibly seen consuming him.

"S-sir?!"

"..." The man is speechless and stumbles back, clearly showing he has no plan as he stays mute and continues watching helplessly as Link kills more of his men

"Die! Die! Die!" Link's anger completely overwhelms him as he continues to run through more human atlas soldiers, slashing throats, stabbing, decapitating, etc. Each person he kills only reminds him of the girl that Atlas heartlessly murdered.

"R-retreat!"

"Sir are you s-!"

"Get the hell out of there now!" The man barks out a command as he ushers soldiers back to their ship

"NO!" Link shouts as he finishes slashing through the body armor of another soldier and fatally cutting his chest, he hits the soldier with a stiff kick to the gut and sends him falling back against the ground.

Link turns to face the ship still stationed on top of the crushed council building, he shuts his eyes and the memories of the elders giving up race back into his mind. He opens his eyes and sets a target on anyone even near the ship, which was a huge line of soldiers, both knights and human running into the ship. Link in a surprising twist drops his sword and grabs his bow, rapidly loading it with three arrows, and tilted slightly to the right.

(KILL THEM ALL BOY!)

Link pulls back, takes aim, and then lets go! The arrows shoot away with incredible speed, each with slight traces of what looks to be golden aura streaking right behind them. The arrows reach the ship and each one strikes... through soldiers! One pierces through an atlesian knight's 'chest' but continues traveling and strikes a human soldier in the chest as well, the other arrows do the same but only with different variations. The second arrow goes through a soldier's stomach and comes out the back to strike an atlesian knight, meanwhile the third arrow does the same only with two soldiers and no knights. All of the soldiers who manages to avoid the arrows stop to check on their fallen comrades, but then they keep moving as they see Link putting away his bow and charging at them with his sword in hand... but their general goes inside the other ship, the larger ship which was stationary only a few feet away

"A deceased general can be replaced in the eyes of his troops, but the general's men cannot!" Link frowns and looks at the smaller ship, which shuts it's door and takes off into the air with slow speed as they struggle to elevate with all the rain.

Link looks at the bigger ship take off faster but he knows deep down inside that the man who killed Ray was watching the second ship, hoping it makes it out without any more casualties... so he strikes in the most powerful way possible. Link leaps off the ground and onto a rooftop of an abandoned home, he's only a few feet off from the ship, and leaps again! As Link travels up in the air, the gold markings on his left hand and sword light up, his eyes glow brighter than before, and the smirk is nowhere to be seen, for the first time Link was not in full control, and the demon follows through with his evil plan. His eyes close, and when they open, he is in a different location... on the opposite side of the ship. He regroups as he falls downwards, though with no issues, he lands without injury but with enough time to turn and witness the ship split in half and plummet towards the ground

"He got away, but with a huge loss." Link mumbles as he looks up, and the larger ship is nowhere to be seen, the marks on his face slowly vanish and he immediately drops down to his knees and falls back, flat on his back. The rain starts to ease up as the clouds part and make way for the night sky and the breathtaking moon. "I got near somebody and they got hurt again..." He sighs and reaches for the pendant around his neck, "I said I would protect her with my life... and I failed."

Link remains motionless as he stays on the ground, and embraces the rain, hoping it would wash away the blood on his hands.

---

Present Time

"Goodbye." Link shakes his head and stands up, but he's pulled back down by Velvet, who embraces him with a hug, and everyone else around him does not know how to react, they too remain speechless.

"I..." Weiss sighs and puts her head down, "I don't know what to think."

"Those twilight demon rumors were not real then." Blake reveals the same book from Link's room, "They said 'you' killed everyone in that village, an Atlas ship that was flying by saw this, tries to interfere and you take them out too. Yet so many believed it!" She frowns and shuts the book, "No way could one person could kill an entire village and Atlas military troops."

"That's my story, or at least an overview, there's more stories within those but right now... I just can't." Link hugs Velvet back and accepts her embrace, both are on the verge of tears.

"It definitely sounds like they have something going on behind the scenes." Sun speaks up, "Did you ever find out what you and your group were framed for?"

"Nothing specific." Link shakes his head, "Just an accumulation of crimes and like that guy had said, they purposely angered rival organizations so they would hunt us all down as well as brutally killing anyone in associated with Atlas, just to add more attention and make that target even bigger."

"If things had gone differently, that poor girl could have been right here with us." Pyrrha speaks with sadness in her voice

"Mhm." Link nods and rests his head on Velvet's shoulder, "One year later, and I'm very familiar with myself, my aura, this thing haunting me, my skill has doubled easily, if only I knew all this at that time, I could've saved her!"

"Link..." Velvet frowns with sadness

"Wow... just, wow." Coco takes off her shades and wipes her eyes, "I don't know what to say except wow."

"This is why for all this time I never spoke a word about that day. People talk, they judge and then they label you, I don't want my past to define who I am, it's not the legacy I want to leave behind when I inevitably pass away." Link picks his head up, but keeps his arms tightly locked around Velvet

"Got nothing?" Ruby nudges Yang

"Mmm, no." Yang shakes her head, "He's right. I mean to go back on what you said, people for the longest time believed you killed everyone in that village, they even gave you a name." she shrugs, "But we're glad that you told us, because we won't turn you around and send you on your way, we're on your side? Well maybe not all of us, but-!"

"Stop it!" Weiss snaps, "I don't care that you guys think it's 'funny', but I don't hate Link, I just had my doubts. But... I don't know, I'm more inclined to believe him now."

"Sorry." Yang nods

"Thank you, Weiss." Link nods and slowly releases his grip on Velvet, she hesitates but eventually follows along, "You guys already know this but I have to say it again, when I first came here, I didn't want to get to know anyone, just in case I got too attached, then something along the lines of Garanda's massacre happened ever again."

"Link..." Ruby cuts him off, "I don't know if I'm crossing the line, but what happened afterwards? How did you... cope?"

"..." Link puts his head down

"Sorry!" Ruby scoots over and puts a hand on his shoulder

"No." Link shakes his head, "It's okay, I need to tell someone eventually. I stayed in Garanda for the next three days, balling my eyes out, thinking of ways it could've gone different, and of course having regrets about ever stepping foot in the village... all without any words."

"Hm?" Ruby looks at him with confusion

"You went mute?" Pyrrha asks

"Yes." Link nods, "I couldn't speak, no matter how much I tried, and then eventually I lost the motivation to even try for months... as for Garanda. I found a shovel near the blacksmith's place, and I did what I thought was best, I buried everyone."

"Everyone?" Neptune speaks up, "So nobody survived? Not even those soldiers from that ship you took down?"

"Well..." Link sighs, "Nobody from that Atlas ship made it out alive, that's for sure. However, Hiroku's body was missing, and I never saw Liam again. They could be alive, and who knows, other villagers maybe escaped. I only remember burying a lot of bodies, those who I recognized I buried them besides their homes, those who I didn't, I chose their burial site to be around the area where the council building used to be. After those three days, I left, the only graves I revisited one last time were Ray and her mother's, I decided to leave their weapons behind, if I were go back, Ray's sword would be buried right next to her, same with Morgan and her bow... it felt wrong to take and keep those, they belonged to Ray and Morgan. But to this day, all I've got are these items..." Link reaches into the full pouch and pulls out Ray's canteen, then extends his hand towards Velvet.

"O-oh." Velvet gasps and quickly returns Ray's pendant back to Link

"The irony, she wanted me to send her 'cool' stuff from Vale, and I was the one who came out with more items from her." Link's chuckle turns sad very quickly and he grasps both items in both hands and buries his face into his knees, the tears slowly pour out of his eyes.

"Oh Link." Ruby sighs and nearly breaks down herself

All of Link's friends that are there with him go silent, as a moment of silence, they all put their heads down and shut their eyes, only Link's quiet sobs were heard

"All clear sir."

"Hm?" Link lifts his head up and looks at the courtyard, Ironwood walks with two soldiers on each of his side. Just seeing the Atlas military general starts to replay all the events in Link's mind.

Ironwood and his men walks towards their stationed ships, neither of them notice the group sitting in a circle under a tree in the distance.

"W-was it him?" Link takes a good look at Ironwood, the only thing that matches with the look of Ray's killer was his height... and then, Link stands up

"Link?" Coco stands up and stares right at him, her hand tightly grasping her handbag

"Can't... make him out... but he has to be... who else would be this determined to kill me?!" Link closes his eyes and balls up his fists, unbeknownst to him, the marks on his face begin to appear as his skin starts to turn pale.

"Link!" Velvet gets up and steps back, the rest do the same but not quite the same, they all just stand.

Link's eyes open, and they are bright gold, they reek with hate

"For you, Ray!" Link charges at Pyrrha and snatches his sword out of her hands, then runs towards the Atlas ships!

"No!" Ruby speeds ahead of Link, then turns and throws herself onto him, tackling him and slamming herself onto the ground

Link groans and rolls over, then tries to push himself up, but when he opens his eyes again, his friends surround him. Pyrrha has her weapon, in its rifle form pointed at Link's head, Sun turns his staff into their double lever shotgun form, also aimed at Link, and so on. Blake has her weapon in its sword form, Ruby with crescent rose, Coco with her minigun, Yang mounts Link and holds him down, she pounds her fists as a 'threat', the only ones that do not join in are Weiss, Neptune and Velvet, they stay back but watch closely, each with their weapons within reach

"Grrr, let me finish the job!" Link says to himself as he watches Ironwood and his soldiers enter the ship, when they are out of his sight he begins to calm down

Minutes pass before the failed transformation goes away completely, and each person holding down Link eventually lets up and put their weapons away when they see Link is not a threat anymore.

"Thanks." Link sighs as he gets up and dusts off grass from his clothes, "I should've been thinking more clearly, I don't know if it was him and if I engage Atlas now, it'll give them a reason to kill me while having Professor Ozpin backed into a corner."

"Crazy nut." Coco laughs and slaps Link on his forehead with the back of her hand and then walks off back towards Beacon, she signals for Velvet to follow her but then stops to turn and look back, "Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad you trust us enough to do something like that, and don't worry, we will never turn our backs on you, right?" She looks at team RWBY, Pyrrha, Sun and Neptune

"Of course." Pyrrha nods, "We have always valued your friendship, and now we value your trust even more." She smiles

"Cool, now come on." Coco signals them all to follow

"Where to?" Sun asks

"Lunch, obviously." Coco rolls her eyes and leads the way, at first only Velvet follows but soon everyone else decides to do the same, citing the end, but not the final edition to this saga.

---

(Yo, what's up guys and girls? So MAYBE I should've left the previous chapter at 17k lol, now that this is complete, the official number is 23.6k. Thanks for your patience, this chapter was meant to be posted last week, but I lost my mind when I accidentally deleted a good chunk of it, sucked out my motivation for a few days but eventually, I had to just suck it up and redo it. No clue when the next chapter will be up, but I can assure it won't take as long as this one, peace.)