Coming back to this story feels nice. CrowSkull and I also decided it would be better if I wrote this in a way that balances out the focus across the different POV's that I have in mind. If it works it works, right? It's how RT did it at least, I'll try to do it the best I can, multiple POV's is something I am not unaccustomed with, and thankfully there is a lot of content I can choose from when it comes to this. There was a time skip of a year by the way, if you weren't able to figure that out the last chapter. So everyone is already on their way to their respective destinations.
I also took the liberty of making the world of Remnant larger as a whole. Realistically, it would take months if to years to travel across continents by foot.
Realistically… it actually depends. -CrowSkull.
This is why despite Neo and Kai having a car to drive for most of the trip, it still took so long for them to get close to the coast. Not even there yet, actually. Just felt as though I should explain that bit for future reference.
Beta: CrowSkull
The Blind Huntsman
Chapter 102
Volume 4, Episode 2
Distinction
Blake let out a soft sigh as she leaned over the railing of the ship she was currently stowing away on. No one would question a huntress in training just by the look of her weapon, for it wasn't worth the effort during these trying times. She was currently on her way to Menagerie, as she needed to find answers to the questions she had in her mind. Questions about the White Fang, questions about Adam, Ilia, and most of all her parents. The latter of the three was intended for much more wholesome intentions than the former two, but in the case of Adam, she needed to know what he was doing, and why. As the next supreme leader of the White Fang, she was concerned about what kind of decisions he could and would make.
"Blake, what are you doing out here?" Of course, she wasn't alone. Blake slowly looked over her shoulder to see her diminutive teammate from the recently disbanded Team KRBR. Ruby Rose's silver eyes looked at her curiously as she took the empty spot beside her, the question she asked still lingered in the air.
"I just needed to get some fresh air," Blake explained. "Being cramped in that cabin makes me uncomfortable. The air is too thick in there."
"I know," Ruby agreed easily. "But it's better if we stay in there, that way we won't be seen. You know what the conditions the captain gave us are, he doesn't mind us hitching a ride on his ship as long as we don't cause any trouble. Which means we can't be seen."
"Yes, and we're also expected to assist if we are sieged by pirates," Blake added. "I know what his conditions are, I remember them very well. But do you see anyone around?"
Ruby relented. "No… I guess it's fine, as long as we aren't causing any trouble, I feel bad. We're making people worry just by being around… shouldn't it be the opposite?"
Blake sighed. There was no easy way to answer that question. Once Vale fell and Beacon with it, faith in the huntsmen, huntresses, and even the Atlesian military was at an all-time low. People were scared, nervous, and prone to panic. Which made it all the easier for the Grimm to find and extricate them. It was irrational but in the eyes of a scared citizen who didn't have the power to protect themselves like a huntsman could it made sense to them that if an army of huntsman weren't able to protect Beacon, a school for the huntsman, and failed in saving Vale on top of that, then how could they be trusted to protect them as well? Of course, not all people were like that, but it was still frustrating that faith seemed to be in low supply all around the world.
"It should," Blake said after a minute of thought. "But the era we're living in now is different from the era we lived in before. We can't expect all people to keep faith in us after what happened in Vale."
"I guess you're right…" Ruby didn't like it, but it was a truth that she would have to accept.
"What are you two girls doing out here?" A man's voice asked from behind them. "And talking about something so depressing, no less. Did I come with you so I could hear the sound of you losing hope?"
"Oh don't worry about that, Dad," Ruby said as she turned to look at her father, Taiyang Xiao Long. "We haven't lost hope, far from it. As long as there are huntsmen and huntresses like us still around, hope will never die."
Taiyang smirked and patted his daughter's head as he took the spot beside her. "Yeah, that sounds about right. "Don't ever let go of that hope, without that, we may as well lie down and let the Grimm take over the world."
Blake watched the father-daughter duo conversate without a single notion of disinterest. It made her remember how this came to be. Originally, she was just going to leave after making sure that Ruby and Orchid were okay after everything that had happened. Kai hadn't returned to Patch like they had hoped so they could reunite the teams, and they feared the worst. After some time of thinking about what was to be done now that everything had occurred, Blake told her remaining teammates that she was going to go to Menagerie, the heart of the White Fang, and see what she could do to change things since her parents were still around. There was a power struggle, she imagined. With Sienna confirmed to be dead, Adam was the leader, but Ghira and Kali Belladonna were the former leaders of the White Fang, and she had heard that a lot of the faunus on Menagerie called for them to take the mantle of supreme leaders once again. Condemning Adam by saying that he was the heir of Sienna Khan, a leader who only painted them not as a revolution against the world for faunus kind, but true terrorists who had done nothing but spread pain and suffering throughout the world of Remnant, and the ones who accepted the responsibility of having a hand in the fall of Beacon and Vale.
Ruby wouldn't let her go alone, proclaiming that she had already supposedly lost one friend dear to her heart, and she wasn't going to let her go alone to Menagerie where she would most likely not be welcomed by the White Fang of today being a traitor to the cause. Taiyang came along because he was planning to move anyway, and staying on Patch while Grimm was swarming in from Vale in the south wasn't a good idea. Orchid, on the other hand, refused to believe anything happened to Kai and wanted to go search for him. They figured that if Kai wasn't dead, then he didn't return for a reason, which meant he didn't want to be found. So she and the rest of their friends opted for a different option that could help everyone, and transfer to Haven under the guise of new students in an effort to prevent what happened to Vale wouldn't have to happen to Mistral and Haven as well.
Remnant couldn't handle a second Huntsman Academy falling. Much less another Kingdom. And so there they were, hitching a ride on a ship as technical stowaways that would take them all the way to Menagerie. Thankfully there was a port at the harbor offering to take faunus to Menagerie, and after some negotiation with the captain, they were able to take an unused and cramped old cabin in the lower decks of the ship. Their roles were to protect the occupants of the ship if they were called upon, and if they could help it, keep their own presence a secret until at least Menagerie was in sight of the ship.
They were about halfway there after months of sailing. The reason it took so long for them to get this far was because they had to travel long ways all the way around the continent of Sanus, and by now they were south of Anima. The land was vaguely visible all the way out in the distance, and the closer they got to Menagerie the more nervous Blake got. She was going to see her parents, after everything she had said to them and the things she said to insult them when they stepped down as leaders of the White Fang. She regretted it, she regretted it so much now. It was so stupid because now look at her, a traitor to the White Fang and even partly responsible for the massive death that took place in Mistral years ago. So much blood was on her hands, and she hated it. She didn't care if she was forgiven and taken in as a friend by KRBR and the others. What she did couldn't possibly be forgivable, certainly not by her parents.
"Hey Blake, are you okay?" Ruby asked with a concerned raise of her eyebrows. "You look like you're about to cry."
"I'm not," Blake said, wiping away at them absentmindedly. "I am just thinking… about my parents. I told you about them, right?"
"Ah, yeah, I can see how you'd be worried about seeing them again." Ruby gulped. "I don't think they hate you, Blake. I think when they see you they are going to welcome you back with love and open arms."
"And how could you possibly know that?" Blake snapped lightly. "After what I did… after everything I did… how could any parent forgive their child for that?"
"I'm going to stop you right there," Taiyang said, standing up straighter and demanding her attention. "A parent loves their child, no matter what they do. If Ruby or Yang ever did something terrible, of course, I'd be disappointed, heartbroken even, but I would never stop loving them."
"Even if let's say, Yang joined a terrorist organization, and vaguely had a hand in killing your best friend?" Blake asked, remembering her very brief battle with Malikai Matsuoka from a long time ago. She lost handily of course, as Adam nearly lost his life and Bane bled out from his injuries and died. But it made him fatigued, which ended up costing his own life. "Would you still love her then?"
"Yes," Taiyang said grimly. "I don't know you're parents personally, but I've heard plenty about them. The previous leaders of the White Fang were adamant about peacefully protesting the terrible treatment of faunus. I dare say they may have been pacifists, to a certain extent. Which means to my guess, they are good-hearted people, right?"
Blake nodded her head ever so slightly in confirmation.
"People like that are the type that loves their children, no matter what. What you did doesn't change the way they look at you, besides, they probably feel even worse than you do." Taiyang said.
"What? How is that possible?" Blake asked.
"Because they were the ones who started the White Fang." Taiyang continued. "They created the organization that ended up corrupting their daughter and killed millions of people due to their actions. If anything, they are probably the ones who are most scared about seeing you again, but not for the reasons you think."
"Then… what do you think they think of me, as I am now?" Blake inquired slowly, a sliver of hope shining in her yellow eyes as she looked up at the man who was Ruby's father.
Taiyang smirked. "I can say with confidence that if they saw you now, they'd never be more relieved, maybe even proud of you. You knew when the White Fang had gone too far and saved the life of a kid who became my daughter's best friend and helped her learn how to get so much stronger, faster, and control over her eyes. For that, whatever crimes you committed, I forgive you for it. That's not even mentioning the fact that you left the White Fang and became a huntress. If that's not a redemption story arc, I don't know what is." He laughed whole-heartedly, reaching over and patting Blake on the head between her ears as he did to Ruby just minutes prior. The gesture caught her off guard, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant.
"So stop beating yourself up so much about something that doesn't matter to them anymore, you'll be fine. I can see that already."
"I… thank you, Mister Xiao Long," Blake said, looking away to hide her smile as he took her hand off her head.
"Bah, don't call me that. I'm not a teacher anymore." Taiyang complained.
"He just feels old when anyone calls him that," Ruby whispered loudly. "He doesn't ever admit it but he's more like Uncle Qrow than he thinks."
"Hey, you know what? You're grounded," Taiyang declared, picking Ruby up with a hand around her waist and then reaching over to grab Blake's shoulder. "You too, in fact. We gotta get back to the cabin anyway."
"Wah! Let me go, that tickles!" Ruby complained, giggling uncontrollably as Taiyang dug his fingers into her hip.
"You can't ground me," Blake said, following the man as he carried his rebellious daughter down the steps and back below deck. "I'm not your daughter."
"Eh, you're in my responsible care right now, so that makes you close enough to being another daughter of mine." Taiyang casually pointed out. "So be a good girl and don't be as bad as this one here."
"Let me go!" Ruby cried.
Blake chuckled at his joke and continued to follow him. Leaving behind the sight of the ocean that she was marveling at before. Right as they left, the waves crashing against the ship started to get larger and more frequent as a sea creature followed them. A sea creature with black scales and bright white bone and red fins. It bided its time, for now, waiting for the chance to strike when there were more people on the top deck to kill as many people as possible in its first attack.
The Spring Maiden, Orchid Rosa, sat in front of a fire in the village of Oniyuri. They weren't far from Haven anymore and technically were already in the territory of Mistral. Beside her sat Yang, who was currently lapping away at a bowl of water that Ren and Nora had been able to procure for them some time ago. They knew this area best, as the ones who used to live in it a long time ago before the Grimm attacked and killed everyone that lived there. It was clearly a difficult place for them to be in again after so long, but thanks to the support of Jaune and most recently Pyrrha, they had been able to pull through without too much of an issue.
The only strange face that sat with them around the campfire was the fact of Cardin Winchester. The former bully of Jaune Arc and Beacon. He had a long scar running down his face from his hair all the way down across his eye and into his chin. His eyes were dead as they watched the fire crackle and burn in the darkness of night, casting the light illuminating the area. After the murder of his teammates in Beacon by the hands of Adam Taurus, Cardin didn't know what else to do other than to freely admit he sought revenge. He sought them out on Patch, Orchid remembered what happened when he arrived.
He was most welcomed in quickly. Being a bully and admittedly an asshole didn't mean much anymore when his entire team had been killed in the ensuing defeated battle of Vale. He apologized for what he did and asked them if he could come with them to Mistal as they had openly planned in front of him. They saw no reason to refuse him, as another huntsman with a powerful blow like him would be useful as they traveled across the world mostly in the outskirts, where the Grimm were most present. He even helped with training, often sparring with Jaune, Nora, and even Pyrrha at some odd times. He had earned their trust quickly, as another teammate. Other than being a former bully, there really wasn't much else he had done to earn their ire, and Jaune had forgiven him almost instantly when Cardin asked for it over a year ago.
Thanks to Qrow Branwen's ties, who was currently sitting on a nearby building in his bird form, they had been able to seek out a Bullhead to bring them as far as to the continent of Anima, from there they had been able to hitch another ride on a bus that had taken them to one of Mistral's outskirt villages, which was where they were now. They had spent months preparing for this trip, and by now they were already more than halfway there. After another few days of traveling, they would be in Mistral, and by extension, Haven.
"I don't like how quiet it is," Cardin said with a nasal sigh. "Not even birds or insects are chirping or making noise. I feel like we are about to be ambushed or something."
"It's most likely because of the Grimm," Ren explained. "Animals don't tend to stay in abandoned villages like this. They know it's no good news, and even though Grimm doesn't try and kill them as they do us, they know what they can do."
"Yeah, and besides. Grimm are big and scary," Nora added. "Why would any smaller animal want to have to deal with something like that?"
"Hm," Cardin hummed quietly. "I still don't like it. These should be full of negative energy, something that the Grimm prey on."
"There's not anyone to give off that negative energy," Ren said. " Not anymore."
Cardin closed his eyes. "Technically there is," he gestured to everyone, including himself. "Us. you two."
"Ah, I think I understand what he's saying," Pyrrha commented. "We are hardly happy at the moment… perhaps that is why none of us had decided to try and fall asleep yet."
"I feel like we're being watched," Yang said when she finished drinking. "Grimm are getting stupidly smarter with each passing day. It wouldn't surprise me if we've been getting stalked ever since we got off that bus."
"We'll be fine, even if we get attacked," Orchid muttered. "We took care of that Nuckelavee already, didn't we?"
"That's because you're one of those maiden people you and that Qrow guy told us about," Cardin pointed out. "It caught us off guard and nearly took off Jaune's head in the first ten seconds of the fight if we can even call it one. You just immediately burned it to death with your powers. Not that I'm complaining, or anything."
"No, you're right," Orchid said. "We should be more careful."
"We're almost in at the heart of Mistral already," Jaune pointed out. "Just a few more days, I'm sure we can handle it. The headmaster in Haven knows we're coming already, right?"
"Yeah, Uncle Qrow flew over to tell him a while back," Yang said. "He did say that we should be careful though, when he talked to him he sensed that something wasn't quite right apparently. I mean, the school isn't even active right now."
"What!?" Pyrrha gasped. "How could that be? Now more than never, we need huntsmen and huntresses!"
"I think it's because they are using every one they have already to reinforce the security of the Kingdom," Yang explained. "Including the teachers. It makes sense, maybe. We wouldn't want another incident like in Vale without warning again…"
"Yeah… not again," Nora said with a sad laugh. "Man… every time we mention Vale, or Beacon, I just can't help but think of Brick and Rick… I really miss those two idiots…"
The circle around the fire grew quieter as their names were brought up. They have been mourned over already, but they had an impact on their lives. Team's RWBY and JNPR were now missing some of those letters, mainly the R in JNPR and the W and B in RWBY. Weiss had been taken back to Atlas by her sister as Beacon fell, and no one had heard from her since. But when it came to Brick and Rick… They were confirmed amongst the dead as their bodies were found and pulled out by some other huntsmen and soldiers. At the very least it made some small consolation that they seemed to have died quick deaths, with simple pierce wounds through their hearts instead of being torn apart by Grimm as they had initially thought. It left a mystery in their minds of the fate of Kai Matsuoka, but it left a hole in their hearts knowing that Brick and Rick Violet fell in battle.
"To Rick and Brick," Nora, who was very fond of them both, offered as she raised her canteen into the air. "The two idiots with electricity semblances who thought they could beat me in a fight when I literally only get stronger from getting struck by lightning."
"That is a long toast," Ren remarked as he also raised his canteen. "But I can't help but agree. Brick was a friend, and I was rather fond of him. In his honor, I shall keep fighting even against impossible odds like he and his brother did."
"Same here, Rick was a friend, and I loved him like a brother," Jaune added. "It was always fun hearing him complain about his height whenever he stood next to Pyrrha. God, seeing him dance with her was one of the funniest and greatest sights I think I'm ever gonna see."
Pyrrha laughed as she lifted hers as well after hearing Jaune's words. "I miss my partner, I feel guilty that I wasn't able to protect him," tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she continued. "But I know he would hate it if I continued to feel that way. As Ren said, I will fight no matter what, and never give up, even against impossible odds."
"I knew them since before Beacon," Yang continued the trend. "They used to always fight and argue and see who is better than the other, but it was always so endearing. No matter what, they'd always find a way to make us smile and laugh at the stupid things they said and did. Cheers to you two buddies."
"We secretly planned to try to be on the same team together when we got to Beacon," Orchid remarked. "Of course, things didn't go well, as most plans did when it came to those two. They were my friends, and I didn't always have a lot of them when I was younger…" Orchid trembled, another personality taking hold as she closed her eyes and sighed. "But those two little shits made me like them, and I'm sad that they are gone."
Eyes turned to Cardin last, and he didn't know what to say at first. But he figured that he should at least say something. "I didn't like those two," Cardin hesitantly added. "I thought they were annoying at first, but… they grew on me, eventually. I wish I got to know them before the fall. I… don't have much else to say about them, but it sucks that they died."
Nora laughed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Pulling him into a surprisingly tight hug. "Well said, Cardin! Man, I didn't know you were capable of saying wholesome things like that!"
"Hey, I can be nice when I want to! Now stop touching me!" Cardin complained.
Orchid laughed along with the others as they watched Nora start an impromptu wrestling match with Cardin, pinning him to the ground in a slightly painful hold. Cardin was physically stronger than most of them, but Nora was Nora, and she had monstrous strength that didn't make much sense. She couldn't stay there forever, however, and she told the others that she was going to go find a spot to go pee in and come back later. Yang offered to go with her, but Orchid assured her that she'd be able to handle herself well enough.
She hid behind one of the nearby buildings and fell down clutching her head instead. She curled up against the wall, rattling her knuckles against her skull as the voices in her mind screamed and cursed as her newest personality was pushed to the fore. She was just so strong, it was one that was hard to control, and one that came along with the complications of becoming the Spring Maiden before Vernal died. She heard her, she knew that she was there, and Vernal was conscious that she was there as well.
"Why are you telling them I'm here?" Vernal's voice echoed. "Why aren't you telling them I'm still alive? Stop fighting me Orchid, we are one and the same now. Let's help each other now, eh?"
"Please… it hurts," Orchid whined.
"It only hurts if you keep fighting me," Vernal replied. "But fine… I'll let you be, for now, it would be shitty if you end up going actually crazy over this."
The mental pain faded away in an instant and Orchid felt so much relief she shook with euphoria. She lied down on the ground for several minutes, almost falling asleep even. She sat up when she heard a pair of feet land on the ground near her, and saw Qrow Branwen leaning against the wall on his side with a raised eyebrow.
"Any reason you looked like you were having a seizure for a minute there?" Qrow asked her, the concern was hidden in his voice. "I almost screamed out to the others before I saw that disturbing pleased look on your face."
"I…" Orchid bit her lip and hugged her knees. "It's my personalities… I needed to get them under control again."
"Hm," Qrow hummed, not quite buying it. "You sure it's just that?"
Orchid nodded her head slowly. Qrow spent another minute looking at her, waiting to see if she was going to come clean with the full truth if the pressure of his presence would be enough. He sighed when it wasn't, and it sat against the wall beside her instead and said "You know, you are the Spring Maiden, which means that out of everyone here, your physical and mental health is number one priority, especially since we are going to Haven... this is the third time this month I saw you go through something like that. You think I can't put it together that you started losing control again when you became the Spring Maiden?"
"I'm fine…" Orchid murmured.
"Clearly, you're not," Qrow said. "But I can't make you talk if you don't want to."
"Thank you…" Orchid said suddenly, peering at him with tired magenta-colored eyes. "For caring about me."
Qrow felt a tug at his heart.
"Yeah, no problem."
Kai and Neo hiked through the woods, feeling the tired pain in the muscles of their legs. But continuing to move forward nevertheless. The packs on their backs felt heavier than before, but that was only because they were more tired than usual. The fatigue of constantly traveling was catching up to them, more so mentally than physically at this point. Yet even then, Kai still found the energy to frown frustratingly as he sensed the forest floor around him, feeling the Grimm that he had hoped would lose interest in them a long time ago. Eventually, he had enough of it, dropping his back on the floor and tearing Silver Ebony out of its sheath in a song of screeching metal. Seeing him do this caused Neo to do the same, letting her parasol close up as she pulled out the thin sword connected to the end of the staff.
"Let's take care of these things," Kai said as the Grimm began to growl and close in from all around them. "There's a lot of them this time, be careful." In response, Neo patted him on the back, assuring him that she would be more than okay. He took that as his go-ahead and attacked the nearest Grimm, cutting it down right as he leaped out of the bushes and tried to pounce on him. Its heads rolled across the ground as the body fell limply. Kai didn't waste any time and dashed to the next closest one, Silver Ebony glowing a darker black with each passing kill. He sensed his surroundings after the fourth kill and frowned when he noted that there were dozens of them now.
"Were they staying out of my sensory range on purpose?" Kai asked with concern written all over his face. "So they're getting smarter… no matter, I'll kill them all. I won't fall here to pathetic Grimm, not after everything I swore I would do."
Kai's eyes activated in a bright flash of gray-silver, it burned even the grass and trees and even the air around him, robbing his immediate surroundings of all color and saturation. Like a zone of negative, his skin color was the only color that was present as he moved. That and Neo as she weaved around in it while fighting the Grimm. The largest Grimm in sight was burned to death by white flames as Kai's eyes did their job in being the nemesis of the Grimm. His sword burned a dark silver shine as he slashed it across his body in a wide arc, ending a slash of white similar to how he knew Adam's semblance worked, and eliminated the Grimm in his path. He was a tool of destruction against the Grimm, he accepted that a long time ago, and he was embracing his role in the world as a weapon.
Neo was having fun as well, as she usually did when they had to kill stuff together. Grimm was her newest outlet ever since Kai forbade her from hurting anyone who didn't deserve it. She was crazy, but a controlled kind that Kai was willing and content to deal with. Her thin sword poked holes in the Grimm's bodies, and she let them bleed out on the ground after puncturing their most vital organs. Neo, although skilled, was not a huntress. She was good at killing Grimm, but she specialized in killing people. She didn't go through the classes and lessons that a huntsman or huntress would naturally take while training to become a hunter of Grimm. Still, lessons mattered little if you know how to make a Grimm bleed, and Neo knew exactly how to do that. Since her weapon was so light and thin, the only efficient way she could kill Grimm would be damaging their vital organs, and thankfully she had a knack at finding out where the post vital parts of any body of any creature or animal was.
It enabled Kai to feel as though he didn't have to watch out for her all the time, not that he needed to anyway, Neo proved time and time again that she could take care of herself, which Kai took as his sign that he shouldn't bother holding back. When you had silver eyes, what was the point of letting the Grimm close? His silver eyes burned with dark and white light, mixing together as he willed himself to draw the power out to destroy his enemy. His white flames burned around his body, and the ground underneath shook as rocks came out of the ground and made the terrain uneven, making it harder for a Grimm to sprint at full speed, and making it easier for smaller beings like him and Neo to dash around and do what they need to do.
Salem herself must have sent these Grimm after them. He figured that much out when he noted that the Grimm varied in all different shapes and sizes and different varieties. There was even a juvenile Nevermore, though not as big as a Bullhead was just as big if not a little smaller than a car. Normally Grimm didn't travel together in such a variety like that. They were simple creatures who preferred to travel with their own kind, like Beowolves or Ursai or even Deathstalkers and King Taijitu. It made sense, at least to him, he was her grandson, apparently, and Salem must feel as though she has to reunite with her long lost family.
Kai wouldn't let that happen, not yet anyway. The next time he saw her, he wouldn't fail like he did before. He wouldn't let her kill his friends right in front of her. Not again.
With a mighty roar, Kai's sword swung through the air, releasing another wide arc of purified light while his white flames burned another Creep to ashes. Behind him, he felt Neo destroy an Ursa, rendering it to dust as she stabbed it through its head. He could feel her exhaustion, however. She was getting tired, all the traveling and the rationing of food led to her having less stamina. With a mental curse, Kai prepared for an all-out attack that would destroy the surrounding area, and was about to call for Neo to get closer to him before gunshots started tearing through the Grimm that were surrounding them.
Kai ducked and used his arm and aura to block any stray shots, but none of them got near. Neo was next to him in an instant, and in a matter of seconds, the flurry of bullets came to a sudden stop.
The air smelled of dead Grimm and rot, and Kai stood up with Neo behind him and his sword still brandished. His blind eyes stared into a man's chest as he sensed the bullets that destroyed the Grimm fly back through the air and back into a cylinder the man seemed to have kept on him. A semblance that controls bullets somehow, then. That was dangerous to someone who had no aura, or someone who was tired.
"Who are you?" Kai asked, holding his sword with both hands and ready for a fight.
"Is that any way to greet the man who just saved your lives?" The man asked, raising his hands up in surrender when Neo and Kai glared at him. "I understand your hostility though, at times like these, it's hard to trust anyone. I get that."
"Then thank you for the help, but I think you should move along now," Kai demanded. "We don't need your help anymore."
"I didn't follow you all the way from that village for no reason," The brown-haired man with green eyes said, he sounded old, even very vaguely familiar to Kai. Neo eyed him up and down, noting the man's outfit. A rather simple one, a black vest over an armored shirt that hugged his body tightly with sleeves stopping at the elbows, and gloves at the end of each hand. His weapon continued to smoke even as he put it away, a cross-variant of a thick rapier or saber with a revolving hilt in which his bullets remained holstered. "You're Kai, Kai Matsuoka, right?"
Kai's eyes narrowed deeply.
"Woah, don't kill me just for knowing your name. I knew your dad, Malikai Matsuoka, I was his partner in Beacon."
"What!?" Kai couldn't stop the gasp that came out of his lungs. His sword dipped a decent amount as he sensed the man, sensing nothing but the truth from him. "You… I thought… my father told me his teammates died a long time ago…"
"They did," The man sighed. "After I left the team and Beacon and moved all the way to Atlas. I cut ties with him, we had a disagreement we couldn't work out, you could say."
"You're Aiden," Kai said as the realization dawned upon him. "I remember… my father told me about you."
"Did he now?" Aiden replied with a soft chuckle. "I guess he couldn't forget his partner, eh? Makes sense, my name is Aiden Vicarious, and I am a huntsman like your dad was. You can tell if I'm lying, right?"
Kai hummed lightly, letting his sword fall as he sensed the man was still telling the truth.
"I'll take that as a yes," Aiden put his hands down and started making his way toward him. Neo signed something into Kai's back, warning him still not to trust him. Kai considered it, but he was still willing to at least hear the partner of his late father out. "I heard what happened over the news, you were framed. I don't know who did it, but after keeping some tabs on my partner's kid for the last ten years, I figured that you of all people couldn't have committed those crimes. I also know that Ozpin must have wanted you, just like he wanted your father, ain't that right?"
"What are your intentions?" Kai asked, he was still being careful.
"I just want to help the kid of my old partner out," Aiden said. "That's it, once I heard that Vale fell, I knew that I had to come out of hiding. I was done hiding from the fight, that's why I'm here now, and I was trying to find you for the past year."
He kept telling the truth, and only the truth. Kai let out a deep breath and slowly slid his sword back into his sheath. "I'll trust you, for now." Kai said, holding Neo's arm behind him and squeezing it lightly, a sign to her that he was still going to be careful. "Because you must have some of the answers I'm looking for, don't you?"
Aiden stopped a few feet away from him and extended his hand. "I'll answer whatever I can, hell, I'll start by telling you why I left Team Maverick in the first place around a campfire. So, do we have a deal?"
Kai slowly reached his hand and squeezed it tightly.
"For now."
And there we go, now every piece is on the playing field. Except for Oscar, anyway. He's gonna pop up soon, but until then I hope am doing this right so far. I omitted the Nuckelavee fight since, well, Orchid is the Spring Maiden, Pyrrha is also there, Qrow is not poisoned by Tyrian this time around, and so I didn't really see why there should have been a fight there if the fight would end up being really short and uninteresting anyway, and I didn't want to protract it either. I was more focused on the aspects of the story I am more focused on, which as you can see in this chapter, are gonna be quite interesting for me to write. Until then, I'll see you all later!
I will try and have a schedule for this story since I seem to write this every monday or tuesday, but take that with a grain of salt. Not every week will have an update until I am finished with my original book. When that happens, I will try to aim to finish this story before I start Book 2.