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The books he took out, as it turned out, were veritable troves of information. Ambush tactics, self-supply measures, where to expect villages that could resupply him if he needed and how to barter with goods if he didn't have Lien - 'A Hunter's Hunting Heuristic' was a gold mine of basic quick tips. The history book was just as good, and even came with a map of Vale! Though it obviously assumed he knew things he just didn't. Expected context to be implied or understood in a way the young Guardian was just incapable of. Which was unfortunate, because he enjoyed the reading.
But, luckily, Guiding Light was just as interested - and could quick-access the wireless net for the context they needed.
So, he read along with the Ghost, turning to listen to him run through quick explanations of whatever little nugget of context he needed to grasp finer points of recent history.
But one thing he couldn't understand kept coming up, once they got to the more recent war - the Revolution. "Why try and lock the Faunus away like that? Giving the Faunus Menagerie was a kind gesture, I guess, but imprisoning them there seems…"
"Asinine?"
"Well… Yeah."
"Such is bigotry." Guiding Light hummed, "Hatred runs deep, but not intellectually. Some decided Faunus should be imprisoned not because they knew something but because they were Faunus."
"Yeah, I guess…" He sighed, "Just seems-"
"Asinine?" He paid the Ghost a look and he chuckled, floating back and away. "It's getting late, Guardian. You should get your rest."
"Do Guardians even need sleep…?"
"Not quite in the same way normal Humans do, no." Guiding Light chuckled, "As I've said before, normal Human routines are still good for you to keep. It keeps you more energised! And connected to the non-Light blessed around you as well. Small advantages, sure, but-"
"A small advantage is still an advantage." He nodded, standing and working at his armor fastenings. "Alright. Gnight, Light."
"Good night, partner."
Leaving the Ghost to his reading, the Guardian fell into bed, got comfortable, and nodded off.
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"It can't hurt to check." He said, leading the way deeper into the cave while his companion followed along behind him. "I mean, come on! Cave like this? Perfect place to hide the- Hey, what's that?"
Suddenly, as he approached the glowing, golden thing further up the tunnel, the world came apart. Something slammed into him, energy crackling across his front as a woman screamed… Something. His name, maybe? He couldn't tell, through the sound of the tunnel coming apart as the huge Grimm bore him up, through it and into the woods beyond. He held onto its tail - its stinger, he realized suddenly - as it thrashed him about, and just managed to catch a splash of red come screaming out of the tunnel-
Then, the Grimm lashed out, and he was sent careening through the trees for hundreds of feet, landing hard enough pain flashed up his leg.
He rolled over, clutching it tightly and hissing through his teeth, "Fffffrick! That hurts…"
Before he could think to collect himself, he heard the brush nearby shift. And something growled. Staggering up and leaning on his good leg, he watched the huge Ursa lumber out of the brush, bright eyes locked on him. Trembling and heart hammering so fast he thought it might try to escape out his ribs, he backed away, yanking his simple longsword out of its sheath as the Grimm charged him. The ancient sword came around in a wild swing that thwacked uselessly across its face, the shock rocking up his hand and the sudden jerk yanking the sword free.
He watched it fall away and blinked, "Oh…"
Then the monster roared, bowled him over, and set about mauling him. His Aura did its best, but all that meant was that it hurt more - claws scraping across it hard enough to bruise him and break his bones until it finally fell and he felt its teeth sink into his shoulder, and its claws into his guts. He tried to scream, but choked, iron flooding his mouth and spilling out over his chin in bright splashes.
"No!" He heard a woman scream before a spear buried itself in the monster's skull. It shuddered and sagged, and something struck it hard enough to push it off him, but he couldn't get up. A pale face filled his vision, green eyes all he could see of her face as she looked him over, red hair wild around her. "No… No, no, no! I- This can't happen!"
The woman looked up as more growls reached him, and then she scowled and stood, "You will not! Not without going through me!"
His vision swam, but he watched her look down, face foggy as his vision darkened. She smiled, sadly, and said, "Just hold on. I will… Draw them away, call for help- Just hold on for me, partner."
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He shot up in his bed, hand clutching at his heart and lungs sucking in air like he'd just come up from drowning. Adrenaline rushing through him and eyes watering, he gasped a strangled sound close to a name that died in a gargle as his mind reached for it and found… Nothing. He didn't remember the name he'd reached for, tried to call out, so it just sort of died on his tongue.
"Guardian?!" Guiding Light rushed to his side, optic glowing brightly as he flicked and fluttered around him, scanning him up and down as he turned, sitting up on the edge of the bed and massaging his eyes. "Are you alright? Your heart rate is elevated-"
"Bad dream." He grunted, shaking his head and standing, his Ghost hovering close over his shoulder worriedly. "Nightmare…"
"About?" He turned and Guiding Light dimmed a bit, suddenly a bit anxious. "If, um, you want to talk about it, I mean."
"I died."
"Ah." He brightened, following Cerulean over to his armor and watching him get dressed. "The… Mine?"
"I… No." He paused, coming over to sit at the edge of his bed and staring into the visor of his helmet. His reflection in it, blue eyes shining with Light the way they sometimes did. Quietly, he said, "I… Think I remembered my death. My, uh, my first death, I mean."
"Your first… Oh." Guiding Light flashed brightly as he turned to face him, and then bobbed back and away, nearly trembling with excitement. As curious as he always was, the Guardian understood it - but he appreciated the way he tried to contain it asking, quietly, "U-Um, do you… Want to talk about it?"
"Not much to say." He grunted, "Deathstalker threw me, Ursa killed me. But…"
"But?"
"Not right away." He murmured, "There was a… Woman. Red hair, green eyes, spear- She tried to help me. Called me… Partner."
"Partner…" Guiding Light murmured, looking away as his light dimmed. After a moment, he turned back to him and said, "Hunters often operate as partners. You were Hunting, yes?"
He nodded, "I think so. We were… Looking for something, but we were out. Hunting."
"Then you must have been a Hunter! You both had to be Hunters!" Guiding Light chirped eagerly, buzzing side to side as he processed the information. "Ohhhh, no wonder you're my partner! You were already a Guardian - you just needed your Light!"
He chuckled, tugging on his helmet and turning to the Ghost as he stood, "My Guiding Light?"
"Ohhhh, how did I not think to make that joke!" Guiding Light hissed, spinning backwards as he laughed and then slid back forward. "But tell me more! Do you remember her name? What she looked like- More specifically, I mean. You said she had a spear but what kind was it? Did it-"
"I didn't get a good look." He'd been busy dying, after all. "And everything was… Fuzzy, besides. Incomplete."
"It was a dream…" Guiding Light hummed, "Well, it will have to do. Give the word, and I'll comb the 'net for red haired, green eyed Huntresses who use spears! If she's still active, or, well, alive, I suppose, then she can't be that hard to find. How many professional Huntresses can there possibly be out there with those exact features?"
He just shrugged and stood, rolling his shoulders as a rush of bitterly anxious hope rushed through him, "We still don't know when I died. She could be old by now. Or…"
"Your body wasn't that far gone." Guiding Light assured him, "She shouldn't be much older than when you fell. So, shall I… Get searching?"
For a while, he was quiet. Thinking. He'd been curious since he was raised about who he'd been, and what had happened, sure. But Guiding Light had told him how unlikely to reach those answers were, that he should be lucky to remember the little bits he had. But now he could dig, if he wanted to… And probably come out of it disappointed, with nothing of worth to show for it, anyways.
But…
Fighting the Grimm was just as pointless, just as inevitably, ultimately irrelevant thanks to how inexhaustible they were, but he did that. Would keep doing that, too, for the rest of his very likely to be incredibly long life. So what was the real difference? What made this unlike every other fight he was headed towards? The unfamiliar emotion at the back of his mind, the only thing holding him back from agreeing right away, finally coalesced, and he recognized it after a moment-
Fear.
"Guardian?" He flinched and turned to the Ghost as it turned on its side, appraising him worriedly, and murmured, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." He nodded, grimacing at how… Poor the words seemed to fit his mood. Finally, though, he made a decision, "Look if you want to. But right now, we need to return those books. And get to the shuttle-port to meet up with the team we're going to be escorting."
"Right." Guiding Light chirped, "You should eat first, though."
"But-"
"It's before dawn, Guardian." His Ghost cut him off, chuckling quietly, "We have plenty of time. And you need something to take your mind off things."
"I do?"
"You're tense." His Ghost murmured worriedly, light flicking up and down his tall, armored form. "I can tell. You're anxious, and you're tense, and in all my travels I learned one thing that was true irrespective of the state Humans existed within. And that is that a good meal can relax Humans."
"Uh huh." He smirked, "And you definitely don't want more time to comb the net for fun history bits. Right?"
"I… Can neither confirm nor deny that."
"Uh huh." He rolled his eyes, "One day, you'll run out of things to study. You know that right?"
"I somehow doubt that." Guiding Light answered, leading him over to the books and then, when Cerulean picked them up, towards the door as he went on. "The great arrow of history is one which never seems to truly fall. Instead, it arcs every up and onward. Ever forward. Sometimes to ends and means that are rather mournful, but the lesson of it all is simple…"
"Keep moving forward." He nodded, unsure of where the line properly came from as they stepped into the empty hall and Guiding Light's cloak came up, shimmering over its small form to hide it. Shaking the thoughts, and the dream, off he turned and grunted, "Come on, then. Time for work."
"Right, Guardian." Guiding Light chirped, "Oh, I do wonder what sort of team we'll be escorting… I do hope they are rather interesting!"
He just rolled his eyes and sighed, "As long as they can handle the job."
"We'll protect them." His Ghost assured him, "Don't you fret."
He hoped so. He'd almost lost Adel, back in the mines, and that wasn't something he looked forward to experiencing again. And not even because dying still managed to hurt quite a bit, either.
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So this chapter ended up simultaneously too long and too short. Too short to just stand entirely happily alone, but too long to attach to the start of the next chapter. But a decent scene set I believe, so…
Enjoy lol
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Sentinal Slice :
Probably not, no. It conflicts with Light, and would make an already strong character outright OP.
Danen :
I mean I didn't think that was a cliffhanger lol?
Arawigum :
I do in fact have one of those redacted website things that Fanfic dislikes me mentioning lol. Glad you enjoy the story!
Cerulean James :
About that…. .
Ran into a wee bit of writer's block on it. Sorry!
MM Browsing :
I dunno what powers he'll get, exactly, or when. Glad as always that you enjoy! Lol
Lux de Tenebrae :
I… What does Winchester know? Lol.
