Chapter 1

[Hei Xiong]

The moment he saw them, Junior knew they were going to be trouble. After all, the pair that walked into his club basically screamed "huntsmen" without saying a single word. One, with the many knives that could be seen on his person and the dark, faded coat failed miserably at hiding them, since it was open. The other, with its very well used but still impressive custom-made white armor.

Junior's men and the twins didn't even bother trying to stop them or even talking to them at all. They knew better than that, especially with people like these ones. Junior had been in the business long enough to know when someone was clearly very much out of his league. So much so that it wasn't even funny, in this case. He'd come across many veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses in his life, and these two were on that list, easily so.

As it was, he could only deal with them directly and hope they weren't at his club to cause trouble. It was always annoying when they did, and usually also painful. He could do without that, but that might have been wishful thinking. A man could dream, however.

"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" Junior asked, as he would any other client. Just because the two worried him a lot, and made him wish he was anywhere else, didn't mean he had to show that. One didn't show weakness so easily in a world like the one he was part of. His words drew two different reactions from the men. The armored one turned to look at him, blank expression and almost dead eyes focusing on him. As for the one with the coat, he gave a weary snort before taking a deep breath in.

"You can start with two drinks, strong stuff," the latter replied, idly twirling a dagger in his hand that Junior hadn't even seen him pull out from anywhere. "Right?" the man added, turning to his companion..

"I am fine with some rum," said the one with armor, sounding like he wanted to be there just as much as Hei. The armor seemed to be missing the helmet allowing him to see the man. Silver hair that looked almost white framed a face that belonged to someone between early thirties or late twenties. Trimmed full beard that only stopped growing around a nasty scar on his left cheek that went all the way down his neck and disappeared behind the armor, not allowing Hei to know where it ended. His eyes, however, were the thing that caught his attention the most. Ice blue that seemed to shine on its own from the right angle. They looked tired. Hei wasn't a stranger to those. Usually worn by veteran hunters after one too many hard missions. Were he not aware of all the members of the family, he would have assumed that this person was a Schnee too. Maybe a bastard kid? No, the age doesn't quite line up, unless-.

"Those drinks?" the coated man asked them, narrowing the darkest eyes Hei had ever seen in his life at him. He couldn't even tell where the iris ended and the pupils started, if he was honest. As he started to move to procure the orders, the man scoffed, running his fingers through the long black hair.

As he worked, Hei decided that the man with the knives was probably the most dangerous of the two, if only because he seemed to be more… there. The armored man seemed to be half miles away and half where he sat. The coated man, however, was very much present and Hei noticed that he kept his eyes on everything, keeping watch. The two seemed to be about the same age, even if the coated man's clean shave made him look younger. Strange, that one of them looked so dead to the world compared to the other. Maybe the armored one had lost his partner or something of the sort. That is, if they weren't each other's partners.

"Here you go," Hei said, setting the glasses in front of both. Armor guy took the drink, but didn't really drink it. He looked at the thing like he couldn't even muster the will to bring it to his lips. Very unlike Coated guy, who seemed to gulp the whole thing down at once.

"Well, that's weak," he muttered, looking at the now empty glass.

That had been the strongest thing Hei had available, which was saying something.

"Anyway, we were told that you deal with the… under the table, as it were," Coated man said, giving Hei a long look before grinning in a way that the bartender and mafia boss certainly didn't like. "We need IDs."

"That's easily done," Hei replied, feeling like, maybe, things wouldn't devolve into him and his men being smacked around. "For the right price."

"How much?" asked the Armor man, curtly. Not even sparing a look at him, still nursing his drink.

Hei went to speak, but Coat man interrupted.

"He's getting them for free," he said, grin still in place. Armor man turned to stare at him until he sighed. "But we are gonna be nice enough to pay for it later," he added, rolling his eyes.

"Assuming an awful lot there, aren't you? Why should I-?"

"Because you are terrified of us," Coat man said, his unnerving smile widening. "You don't know how right you are to be, by the way. Do yourself a favor, just nod and say "yes". It'll make your life easier, man."

Hei wanted to do anything but that. He wanted to nod towards his men and the twins, who were discreetly looking at him for signs. He wanted to do something about these two men that dared to insult him so and in his own base of operations…

But he was not that stupid. He didn't become the top information broker in Vale by being so.

"Yes," he gritted through his teeth.

"Smart guy," the coated man said, grin widening even more than before. "I'll remember that," he added, the hand that had once held the knife moving on top of the counter until he placed a precious gem on the counter before retreating his hand and leaving the item there for Hei to take. "I'm Vincent Blackwood. I feel like we'll be seeing each other a lot, Hei."

"Silver Astra," said the armored guy. Playing with his empty glass. He seemed to have drunk his rum while Junior wasn't looking.

"Hei Xiong, but everyone calls me Junior," he introduced himself, probably unnecessarily since Blackwood seemed to know who he was already, name and all. "I look forward to that," he added, lying through his teeth.

"Sure you do, Hei," Vincent replied, and Hei felt like it was going to be a long night.

[}-o-{]

Hei watched Vincent look through the stack of Lien he'd given them, hoping against hope that they'd just go away already. The more time passed, the more dangerous the pair seemed to be to him. Some things gave them away, but it was more than those details. They would have set Hei on edge, but they wouldn't have terrified him. There were clues there, but they were… Confusing. Terrifying, but confusing.

Eventually, Vincent looked up at Hei with those eyes that continued to unnerve him.

Then he grinned.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Hei," the man said, smacking the stack of Lien against his palm. "We'll come back to get those ID at the agreed date and that should be it unless we find further use for your… skillset," Vince told him and Hei really, really wished that wouldn't be the case. Sure, it was profitable, considering that these pair of monsters paid in gems.

Those were incredibly hard to find, considering the fact that mining would take place outside of the cities. Meaning that they were outside the immediate protection of the kingdoms, nevermind the added risk of finding caves filled with Grimm too. The cost of getting Huntsmen protection and the miners' payment was costly and not everyone could afford to be as ruthless as Jacques Schnee.

Even with that, it still wasn't worth the stress nor the possibility of him and his men being put in the hospital or dying.

"Good enough start, wouldn't you say, buddy?" Vincent asked then, turning to give a far more friendly look towards Silver. For a moment, he looked like a completely different man than the one that could see right through every single effort Hei did to fish for information on them. He looked far different from the man that seemed more amused by the threat of the presence of Hei's men and the twins than anything else.

Silver snorted before finally looking away from the empty glass in his hand. Then he replied, something that almost surprised Hei. He thought the man to be more of the taciturn kind. The armored man had barely said anything at all through the whole encounter.

"I guess. We got what we wanted, right? Stop messing with the poor kid."

'Kid?' Hei thought to himself, baffled. He was older than these two, he was sure.

"It's fun, man," Vincent replied with a chuckle. "Besides, I didn't expect to come across a smart guy so quickly. They are all so rare to find, honestly. I half expected him to tell those twins to attack us," the coated man added then, making a chill run down Hei's back. The twins had barely entered the two's sights and they were a good defense because they blended well with a crowd in a club… "You are smart, but you ain't as sneaky as you think you are," the man continued, turning to grin towards Hei. "You gave them away," he told him.

Before he could even think of an answer to that, however, Silver spoke again.

"Stop messing with them, Vince, I know you. Give whatever you stole back."

"Fine. We are leaving anyway," Vincent said, rolling his eyes and dropping a wallet on the table.

Hei's wallet.

"Have a good night, Hei," the coated man said as they went to leave. Once they turned their backs on him, he let out a breath he'd been holding for what felt like days. He really didn't want those two to come back anytime…

Hei blinked and looked at the retreating figures. More importantly, at the retreating figure of Vincent, who was walking with something resting on his shoulder and behind his head, with an arm lazily holding it in place. It was a very familiar object, after all. Then, as they reached the door, Vincent turned to him and winked, swinging Hei's rocket launcher-club off his shoulders and placing next to the door.

'When the fuck-?'

[}-o-{]

[Deery]

She watched, somewhat nervously, as the man, Vincent, came out of the fitting room. It wasn't every day that huntsmen came into a little store out of the way like the one she worked at. Much less for anyone at all to come and throw money at her like those two had, although that last part was less surprising considering…

"What do you think?" Vincent asked, holding the coat he refused to part with open and looking at himself in the mirror on the wall. The man had gone for simple stuff, a plain red shirt, baggy jeans and sneakers. That was it. He'd picked other stuff, but there was little in the way of variety for his choices.

And yet, he seemed almost in awe at the simple clothes.

"I think it looks nice enough, don't you think, Deery?" the man asked, breaking her from her thoughts. She didn't remember him looking at her name tag at all. Was he mocking her for her evident Faunus traits? Considering the company kept…

"It looks good, sir," she replied, keeping her displeasure at bay.

"Yeah," Vincent replied, giving her a glance before turning to the fitting room next to the one he'd used. "Man, you still in there or did you fall asleep?" he called jokingly.

"Give me a second. It has been a while since I have worn this kind of clothes," answered the second voice from the next fitting room.

'Of course,' Deery couldn't help but retort, in her head if nothing else. When was the last time someone like him had to wear commoners' clothes? The man would probably never allow himself to wear something "animals" like her would wear. Not if it wasn't for some twisted form of amusement, she was sure.

"There we go. This is quite nostalgic," the second man, the Schnee, came out wearing a simple gray shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a brown leather jacket with a fur collar that paired well with the brown lumberjack boots that he was wearing. Adel's Designs, a top of the line clothes brand. Of course the pompous prick would go for the most expensive stuff, even when trying to dress normally. As if the money he would spend on it wasn't drenched in the blood of thousands of her kind.

"I know, right?" Vincent said, grinning widely before looking at his friend up and down. "Weren't you using something like that the day we met? It's been a while but I could swear…" he trailed off then before chuckling. "Feels like a thousand years, huh?" he asked then, laughing like he'd told a particularly funny joke of some kind.

"It is the same, yeah… I remember," answered the Schnee. His eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as he looked at the jacket. For the first time since he entered the building, at least, a small smile grazed his lips.

Deery almost couldn't handle it anymore. If it weren't for the trouble she'd get into for snapping at a customer, more so to one like this one, she would have already kicked both of these human supremacists out. However, she knew how hard it was for Faunus to get a new job in Vale, how the discrimination could get somewhat worse once the humans realized that they wouldn't get in trouble if one or two homeless Faunus went missing.

Of course, she had never seen such a thing before, but she had heard all sorts of stories from her friends. Better to be careful; she knew better than to let her mouth speak her thoughts now. If only the two could just go away-

Vincent moved then, breaking Deery from her thoughts. The man ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

"Go ahead, yeah?" he asked the Schnee, giving him a pat on the back to push him towards the store's door. "I'll deal with things over here and we can go."

"There is no n-," the Schnee cut himself off, looked Vincent in the eyes for a moment, and let out a sigh. After patting his companion on the shoulder, he left the store without saying a single word to her. Most likely thinking it beneath him to stay and pay her, let alone talk to her. Of course he'd leave it to someone else to deal with the "animal".

"You were a great help, Deery," Vincent told her, all but beaming. "Now, I think I remember how much all of it was," he mumbled as she did her best to remain silent, else she said something she would regret. "Here you go," he said then, placing the Lien on the counter for her to take. "Keep the change," he added, making her eyes widen. He'd given her basically double what their stuff had cost.

Deery stared at him for a moment, even as she took the money and counted it to separate what was for the purchase and what was for her. When had been the last time someone gave her a tip? When had been the last time she'd even held that much money in her hands? As she pondered those depressing thoughts though, she also went over the entire encounter she'd had with Vincent and the Schnee. Could the man in front of her actually be nice?

She could see it, the Schnee forcing one of the few actually good humans in the world to act like he was a friend to his ilk. As if it weren't bad enough that humans that weren't racist were rare. Of course the Schnee had to find a way to make things worse.

Vincent sighed, giving her a tired look before speaking.

"Just… have a nice day," he muttered before turning and leaving.

Deery could only pity the poor man. She would have probably looked worse if she had to put up with a Schnee like he had. Much less if she had to actually act friendly like poor Vincent did. She could only hope the man would find a way to get away from that.

[}-o-{]

[Lie Ren]

As he watched Nora ride on a beowolf, he wondered – again – if walking all the way to Vale had been a bad idea. Then he remembered that the alternative was getting Nora in an enclosed space inside a vehicle and he decided that it could have been worse. It wasn't even that he minded all that much, but he was tired from all the traveling. It was a good thing that they were basically on the last stretch and then they'd finally reach their destination.

"Oh… it broke," Nora said after her "mount" ran head first into a tree and died. The monster's body dissolved under her as she jumped away. "Can we find another one, Ren, can we?"

"Maybe tomorrow," he replied. He knew that denying her would only make her push harder. In his experience, agreeing to do so later was enough to calm her down. Hopefully, she would forget before the time came and she'd come up with something else to do. Rinse and repeat. That was how it usually went, but then again, Nora was hardly what one would call predictable, even in her unpredictability.

Ren was about to say that they should be on their way again, before his friend got distracted with the next random thing that she saw. However, he was interrupted by what was apparently that random thing being entirely too attention grabbing. So much so that even he heard and got curious.

Noise reached their ears, the sounds of battle, a lot of it.

'A huntsmen team?' Ren wondered and he was about to suggest avoiding them, else they managed to get in the way or something. Adding new forces could be chaotic, especially when Nora was involved. Sadly, before he was interrupted again, this time by his friend rushing into the woods.

"Let's go check that out, Renny!" Nora called out and he sighed, his shoulders dropping.

'I guess we can afford a little distraction,' he decided, following after his friend with a much more sedate pace. They had time, after all, so he could let Nora be Nora for a bit and also just relax himself for a bit. In the grand scheme of things, what would be a little detour anyway?

They were almost there anyway, almost at their destination. After years and years traveling through the roads of the world and the wilds filled with Grimm. After years of learning, training and securing everything they'd need to follow through with their shared goal, they were mere steps away. For once, there was no sense of rush at the back of Ren's head. There was no whisper that he could be doing something better with his time.

Beacon Academy, the most prestigious huntsmen school in the world was almost on sight. It was no longer a dream or a far away goal. It was right there, around the proverbial corner. At most, they were an hour away from Vale and from there it'd be even less to the school. They were early even, but Ren couldn't bring himself to care for the loss of possible time to relax that they'd cut down on because of their rush.

They were finally there, Nora and him both. Finally a step away from the place that would shape them into a proper huntsman and huntress. Soon, they'd both be able to make official progress towards their goal, their goal to protect the world from the tragedy that they'd lived through in their childhood.

And if it let them be the one to end the monster that ripped his life to shreds, all the better.

As it was, they had a few months to basically relax until they had to take the exams that would allow them to prove that they deserved a spot in Beacon. Granted, they'd have to train, but Ren was confident they were pretty much ready to at least get that far. They just needed to make sure they kept their level as it was, which shouldn't be hard. Nora wouldn't let them go too long without some kind of fight going on, be it sparring or hunting.

'We should get jobs too,' he mused as he walked after his partner. Nora knew not to go far enough that they couldn't see each other. Thank the gods for small mercies. 'We are gonna need the money for a whole lot of things,' he thought wearily. That'd be a concern for… not terribly far into the future, but certainly not for right then and there.

They didn't have much more than the clothes on their backs and their weapons, but they had enough to get by for at least a few days. Ren knew Vale would be much more expensive to stay at than any of the other minor cities and towns Nora and he had spent time in. It would also be much more complicated to get money without a proper job contrary to those and the Frontier settlements. Unofficial huntsmen jobs were much more difficult to take the bigger the place was and one didn't get much bigger than a Kingdom capital, he was pretty sure.

Fortunately, neither Nora nor him were strangers to more mundane jobs, even if they preferred something that would also give them experience in their dream jobs. Getting his friend to agree to do that for months would be a struggle, he knew, but Nora would agree eventually. She'd complain and whine about it, but she would do it, even if she hated it. She knew too well how important it was to provide for themselves.

The two of them had learned that quite quickly – too quickly – in their lives.

"Woah," he heard Nora say and he turned to raise an eyebrow at the awe look on her face. It wasn't often that something surprised her, after all. It was usually Nora the one that surprised others. "Renny, look," she whispered, a grin forming on her face as she pointed forward.

As he turned, Ren felt his eyes widen in shock and no small amount of horror.

After years and years of traveling through the lands of Remnant, Nora and him had come across a lot of things. Lots of different grimm, for one, which gave them some immunity to the atrocities of nature that the monsters were. Hell, one of the first grimm they'd seen up close and personal was arguably one of the worst out there, in his humble opinion.

However, the sight in front of him reminded Ren that there was a lot more out there in the world that could frighten him.

One such thing was the man that he saw in the middle of the clearing, with his foot set on top of a quickly dissolving grimm.

Around him, many more of the monsters moved around, but none of them came for the man, however. Instead, they were fighting each other. In his bafflement, Ren looked more closely. The strangest part was that some of those grimm were completely black, even what should have been bone masks were dull obsidian instead. The only color on them was what would normally be the red of their eyes and on their masks, which was blue instead.

"And then there were none," the man in the middle of it all said and, indeed, there were no normal grimm around. Only those darkened, blue versions remained now. "Good job, everyone," the man called, a slight grin on his face as he waved his hand and the strange grimm variants disappeared. Not quite dissolving as the monsters usually did but seemingly melting into their own shadows.

'What did we come across now?' Ren wondered to himself, disturbed.

[} Chapter End {]

Adrian: Well, to start of, for those not in the Discord server and in the know, I've been working on some projects with a friend I made there, Arclight. We got a solid (read, entirely too big) number of story ideas we've been working on and we have a bunch of chapters for them… And we are both hungry for some sweet, sweet validation, so we are gonna post them in this story for you guys to enjoy, hopefully. Arc, introduce yourself, please.

Arc: Hi! I am here against my will. Please send help.

Adrian: Perfect. Now, onto the actual notes for the chapter. People in Remnant are so not ready for these two, guys, I can tell you that.

Arc: Junior most certainly wasn't, poor guy.

Adrian: He'll live… probably. I mean, he got some shinies, so it's fine. And Deery was…

Arc: Deery was certainly a character.

Adrian: A character of all time, indeed. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter. Next one should be shared next week, pretty sure. We are thinking of making this a weekly thing, unless we run out of backlog.

Arc: Indeed. We have been working on this story and the two characters for quite a bit actually. They were probably two of the characters we spent the most time working on so far.

Adrian: Arc made me not wing it, guys. It was horrible.

Arc: You are welcome, everyone. Took a lot of work.

Adrian: With all that said, see you all in the next chapter. Also, I'll leave a link to my discord server, in case you wanna talk or whatever it is that social people do.

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ