"Auntie Carla? Uncle Sam?" Fiona strolled toward the small home with a slight spring in her step. It had been about three years since the sheep Faunus had visited Vale, and she was glad to see not much had changed.

Though the situation wasn't the most desirable, the humble abode held firm with a new set of shingles on its roof. The front door had also been replaced, Fiona was impressed, no longer would she have to endure the annoying creaks of the old splintered frame.

"Fiona, is that you dear?" Called a giddy tone from the backyard.

Rushing around the fence, Fiona and her fellow huntresses met with an older woman with large cow ears. Said ears flapped in delight at the sight of her niece, but her eyes widened and a slight frown marred the aunt's features when she spotted a blonde baby in Fiona's arms.

"Ababa!~"

"Jaune!" Carla yelped and ran over to him.

"W-Where did you go, wasn't Trifa looking after you?!"

"Aba?" Jaune shivered, he didn't have a clue why he was getting yelled at, and tried to bury his head in Fiona's embrace to avoid the adult's scrutinizing glare.

"Easy, Carla, you're scaring the poor boy." Sam butted in. A broom in hand, he emerged from the tool shed covered in sweat.

"Don't take this so lightly!" Carla pouted and pointed an accusing finger at her husband. "Where did you find our hungry soldier, Fiona?"

"We found him chowing down on some apples by the windmill, it's impressive really, that this baby managed to crawl about a block all by himself," Robyn explained, due to her partner's attention solely on comforting the sniveling child.

Carla rubbed her temples and sighed. "Well, at least Jaune is safe. I'll have to give Trifa a few words about responsibility when I find her though."

"Actually, now that you mention it," Sam whipped his head around the backyard. "Where did our little spider Faunus get to?"

"Ouch!" Trifa sulked as a splinter pierced her palm. The thick shrubs and lengthy trees doing little to ease her tensed nerves.

"Jaune couldn't have gotten far..." The Faunus sighed. She initially entered the forest on the premise of finding Jaune, but she'd wandered too far from the district and found herself lost among the foliage.

Her cobalt eyes veering upward, a light amber filled the sky that stated morning was long past.

With a rustle from the bushes, Trifa stiffened and raised her arms.

"S-Sam? C-Carla?" Instead of a benevolent adult, two beady red eyes peeked through the greenery.

"Growr!" A Beowolf, its black fur sleek and imposing, lunged at the helpless prey that wandered within its territory.

/-/

"Are you alright, Hawkins?" Muttered a deep voice.

"Bastion?" The magician groaned.

The voice laughed. "Phew, I thought you were a goner for a second there. What are you doing in Forever Fall Forest? Isn't your home back in the agricultural district?"

The blonde shook his head. He didn't respond to the random voice and rolled on his back. His gaze toward the amber sky, he sighed deeply.

"I'd advise you to get on your feet and make your way home. Forever Fall is notorious for Grimm sightings, and I don't think you're in the condition to fight. Not to mention you lack a proper weapon." Bastion said, his tone laced with concern.

"I'm not keen on trusting a stranger with my life. Especially one that only observes instead of offering aid." Hawkins growled and forced himself to stand.

"Well, I can't really help you in a physical manner, but I do have information regarding the world that you currently inhabit. I'm sure you've realized this, but you're not in the grande-line anymore."

The magician cracked his neck. "My tarot cards have come to a similar conclusion. As for information, why don't you tell me why I'm here?"

A pause, much longer than the pirate expected.

"I wish I could bestow an answer, but in truth, you weren't the candidate I was expecting, nonetheless I'm an adaptable sort."

"Candidate?" Hawkins hummed, but the howls of nearby Beowolves put a lid on the discussion. The emblem on his chest fading with the rising wind, the magician cursed his luck and fled.

/-/

"... That spider brat is missing?"

When the blonde passed through the front door, he was met with a frantic Carla and bewildered Sam.

"Please, you have to lend a hand, Hawkins, we left Trifa in the backyard with Jaune but the second we turned our heads they were both gone! The happy huntresses dispersed into the nearby forest, but it's been an hour since they left."

"Trifa is only a child, she couldn't have gotten too far." Hawkins wheezed and brushed past the old farmer but a firm hand gripped his shoulder.

"Hold on... Hawkins, were you already fighting before all this?" His nose scrunched, a murky black liquid wormed between his fingers.

The magician grunted and withdrew his tarot cards. "There's a 72% that Trifa is in the deep southern parts of the district. I'll fetch that brat after I've gathered my bearings."

A suitable piece of information drafted, Hawkins trudged to his room, his steps leaving a disgusting scent of Grimm guts on the wooden floors he walked upon.

"Wait a minute, where's your sword, Hawkins?" Carla peeked through the kitchen with a snoozing Jaune possessively snuggled in her arms.

"I lost it." The blonde grunted. "Do you have any tools that I could borrow as a temporary replacement?"

/-/

"Come in team, any sign of Trifa?" Robyn tapped her scroll as she worked her way through a thick clump of thorny bushes.

"Nothing on my end," Joanna muttered.

"All I got are trees and shrubs." Sighed May.

"Fiona, how are things on your end?"

No reply from the bubbly sheep Faunus, Robyn's eyes narrowed as she and the other huntresses began to assume possible poor scenarios.

"Um, sorry about the late response... But I did find someone." Fiona's voice quivered, her mind obviously on something else.

"Someone?" Robyn curled a brow. It was already past evening, and the natural light of the sun was midway behind the horizon. So none of the farmers should be anywhere near the area.

"Trifa isn't a man's name is it?" The sheep Faunus asked.

"What are you talking about? Trifa is a spider Faunus with gray hands and blue hair, that's what your uncle and aunt said right?"

"Yes, but there's a blonde man wandering around the forest with an axe in hand. He hasn't noticed me yet, but I'm not sure what to do here..." Fiona replied.

"Give me and the other girls a few minutes, Fiona." Robyn's tone was a mix of concern and authority. She made sure to keep her partners within a reasonable distance and all she had to do was activate the pinpoint feature on her scroll to locate them.

"Just sight tight, Fi, we'll be there before you know it." May chimed in and her fellow huntresses got to work.

As for Fiona, she'd wandered a tad too far but thanks to her enhanced hearing, due to her Faunus heritage, she could easily predict a potential Grimm attack. Imagine her surprise that the sound of footsteps she followed wasn't Trifa, but rather a very tall man with golden hair that burned brightly under the setting sun.

His pale complexion, along with his ruffled cloak gave him the impression of a vampire, minus the teeth, but the axe in his hand told Fiona that his preference was close combat.

Quiet as a ghost, Fiona slipped behind a thicket of trees and continued to observe the odd fellow. He'd found himself a rock to sit on, dropped his axe, and proceeded to pull something out of his cloak. Were those cards?

The sheep Faunus curled a brow and squinted as the stranger began to shuffle said cards, but widened her eyes as thin strands of straw protruded from the man's back to hold his pieces of paper in place.

She couldn't quite make out what the blonde was saying, but it had something to do with numbers and locations?

Slowly, the man returned his cards to his pocket, picked up his axe, and stared straight in Fiona's direction.

"Straw Sword!" The man shouted, swinging his temporary weapon as it transformed into a sharp line of straw.

"Eep!" Fiona yelped and jumped back. The attack shaved off a couple of hairs and tore through a few branches then slithered back to its user.

"That was a warning, if you have come here with honest intentions then I will leave you be, but I am not in the mood for excuses. Reveal yourself or I will be forced to take violent action." His voice low and steady, he made no move to confront his opponent, but he didn't lower his weapon either.

"M-My name is Fiona." The huntress cursed herself for her timid attitude but meekly stepped out of the thickets with her crossbow staff in hand.

About thirty feet separated the Faunus and the human. Gentle olive eyes meeting a pair of fiery crimson, Fiona gulped and forced her lips to move.

"I'm a member of the happy huntresses, and I've come here in search of a child named Trifa."

The man frowned. "Have you or your colleagues located the girl?"

Fiona's fingers tightened around her weapon.

"What if we did? What do you plan on doing to that youngling once you've found her?"

The stranger rolled his eyes. "Sam and Carla wouldn't stop pestering me to find the lost kid. I'm exhausted, and I don't want to waste my energy on a fruitless hunt or useless combat."

"You know my aunt and uncle?" Fiona bit her lower lip and tilted her head.

"Those farmers have provided me with a home, despite their annoying tendencies, I owe them a few favors as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh, I see..." Fiona holstered her weapon on her back and cupped her chin. Hawkins was blonde as was Jaune. It might have been a stretch, but could this stoic man be the father of that adorable bundle of innocence? If that were the case, he could be trusted... right?

"I'm Fiona Thyme by the way, what's your name?" A simple introduction was a good start, but the man proved a tad reclined with his reply.

"Hawkins." He said flatly.

"Is that you're first or last name?"

Hawkins sighed. "I'm not in the mood for small talk. There's a 78% chance of Grimm occupying this forest, which means the chances of Trifa dying are raised to a solid 85%."

Fiona gasped.

"Then there's no time to lose!" She puffed her cheeks and strolled up to the menacing blonde. No more than a foot away from each other, the difference in height was apparent. Her forehead just below Hawkins' shoulders, she was met with a set of hardened abs and pectorals.

While the Faunus' mannerisms were a bit too chirpy for Hawkins' taste, he found no reason to deny her assistance. After all, the sooner he found Trifa, he could get back home and try to sleep.

"Ow!" Trifa squirmed on the grass as she clutched her bleeding ankle. She'd managed to avoid her hungry pursuer with the aid of her spider webs, but the nets of silk could only deter the Beowolf for so long.

Not to mention there were plenty of other Grimm on the prowl. So even if Trifa managed to get away for a moment, there'd be another monster waiting just around the corner.

A silver lining in the daunting unknown, the sight of an unkempt road leading to the agricultural district

"Trifa?" Yelled a familiar low tune.

That voice... it belonged to Hawkins!

"I-I'm over here!" Trifa squeaked, rushing into the open to meet with the stoic blonde.

"Growr!" Unfortunately, the magician's ears weren't the only ones open to the evening noises. The Beowolf Trifa had escaped moments before emerged from a patch of shrubs.

Gnashing its fangs and narrowing its eyes, drool seeped through the Grimm's jaws as it licked its lips.

"S-Stay away from me!" The spider Faunus screamed as she scrambled to her feet, only to fall back on her bum to a swelling injury.

Her end near, Trifa cursed her misfortune and raised her arms in a feeble attempt to defend herself.

"Straw Sword!" A surging line of straw pierced the Beowolf's shoulder and it staggered back in a daze.

His boots trudging over the disturbed soil, the stoic pirate narrowed his crimson glare at his howling opponent.

"Oh my Oum, are you alright?!" That wasn't a voice Trifa recognized.

Before the little girl could react, a pair of gloved hands, too small to belong to Hawkins, wrapped around her waist and pulled her in for a protective hug.

Blinking, Trifa's cobalt pupils landed on a pair of flapping sheep ears with silver earrings, a messy lock of white hair, and a set of olive eyes.

Dressed in a green sleeveless coat, an orange belt hitched around her slim waist with dark brown pants tucked in a pair of light-gray boots. Thin metal plating covered her forearms all the way down to the top of her hands.

"Oh dear, does your ankle hurt? It doesn't look like it's broken but we need to get you treated right away!"

Though Trifa had only known this random lady for no more than a minute, her opinion of the stranger was already higher than that of Hawkins.

The right hand of her fellow Faunus glowing a dim yellow, a small black hole took form on her palm and a bottle of disinfectant along with a roll of bandages popped out.

"This is going to sting, but you'll feel a lot better in a minute." Trifa winced as the alcohol was dabbed on her wound, but got through it by biting her lower lip and clenching her hands.

"Pay attention, there's more than one Grimm present!" The magician shouted. True to his word, a pack of Beowolves revealed themselves after hearing the call of their wounded brethren.

Trifa crawled behind a mossy tree stump and clamped her hands over her head. Though she wanted to hide, she peeked over to see the battle unfold.

"Hmph, no need to worry, Trifa. Hawkins and I can deal with these beasties no problem!" The sheep Faunus knocked her arrows and put on a brave smile.

"The name's Fiona Thyme, by the way, my uncle and aunt sent me and my team to bring you back home safe and sound!"

Her voice brimming with confidence, Fiona withdrew her weapon and stood to confront the snarling Grimm.

The corpses of hazy obsidian bodies piled in the center of the battlefield, the magician subdued his fair share, but a handful of the malevolent creatures slipped past him.

Taking a deep breath, Fiona twirled her staff and schooled her features. In contrast to her benevolent attitude, the sheep Faunus could be quite vicious when put in a dangerous scenario. With keen precision and steady hands, Fiona fired a volley of dust-infused arrows that burst into flames on contact.

The Beowolves fell one after another, some gurgling out a snarl upon their defeat.

"Ms. Thyme!" Hawkins shouted. Pointing his axehead to the trees behind his white-haired cohort.

Rapid clicking noises followed by blinking amber light, a scorpion of ultimate proportions crashed through the trees, its ten beady orange eyes locked on its prey.

"A deathstalker?!" Fiona yelped. The Grimm report she and her team accepted never mentioned a monster of this level.

Red details marked its boney plates that covered a jet-black exoskeleton with grooves that led to an enormous tail that ended with an amber-colored stinger.

Hawkins hacked the head off of his last Beowolf, then turned to address the new threat. The moment he did, he wished he kept his gaze on the ground. The Deathstalker's flashing stinger that swayed back and forth invoked a myriad of bitter memories.

"...Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

"I don't know what power you possess, but you're not a logia..."

"Captain, the ship is going down!"

Though her knees buckled, Fiona held firm and grit her teeth. She had no reason to worry, as Robyn and her trusted partners would arrive at the scene momentarily. Besides, Hawkins has proven to be a capable fighter, with him by her side, the two of them would topple this...

Why was Hawkins acting stiff like a statue?

His ruffled cloak drenched in sweat and his lungs pumping in unsteady beats, the magician dropped his axe and clenched his fists.

"F-Fiona, the Grimm!" Trifa shouted from the safety of her stump.

Her sheep ears perked toward the sky, Fiona broke into a barrel roll and fired a consecutive burst of arrows. The scorpion shielded its face with its pincers and lunged its stinger toward the Faunus.

"That Deathstalker actually knows how to fight," Fiona growled. While the beast wasn't as large as the regular adult, it appeared to be old enough to know its basic weak spots.

"Fsss..." Fiona peered down to the tip of her boots. The soil that the Deathstalker's tail dug into had left a murky green secretion that burned the grass around it.

The huntress curled a brow. To her knowledge, Deathstalkers didn't produce any sort of venom.

"It'd be nice if you lent me a hand, Hawkins!" Fiona shot a pleading visage toward the silent blonde, but his muscles refused to react. Even after the vile bone-plated monster charged at him.

"Crack!" His upper torso clamped to a tree by a clicking pincer, Hawkins' crimson pupils darted frantically between the Grimm's blinking pincer and its flashing amber eyes.

"F-Faust..." The magician cursed, so quietly no one heard him.

"Hawkins!" Fiona yelped and leaped into the sky. Spinning her weapon like a pinwheel, the sheep Faunus struck the Deathstalker's extended limb forcing it to relinquish its hold on Hawkins. This, however, left her vulnerable to the Grimm's other pincer.

Batted across the face, Fiona tumbled to the dirt, her weapon plunking down beside Hawkins as the Deathstalker shifted targets.

"Ow, that monster hits harder than the usual Deathstalker too..." The huntress moped as her eyes widened in alarm. With no weapon to defend herself while in an unfavorable position, all Fiona could do was raise her arms and pray that Robyn and the others would save her.

"Thunk!"

Her eyes closed shut, she lifted a single lid and gasped at the scene before her. Grunting and heaving was Hawkins with his arms wrapped around the Deathstalker's tail. His breaths labored, he pulled hard forcing the monster's legs to skid across the grass and away from Fiona.

The beast made a last-ditch effort to squeeze Fiona with its pincers, but the Faunus managed to scramble out of its reach.

Infusing her aura into her palm, Fiona activated her semblance and scoured the resources she had stored away. A few bandages here, a couple of stale bagels there, she really should've stocked up when she arrived in Vale.

"F-Fiona!" Gone from her safe stump, Trifa broke into a sprint with a crossbow staff in hand. Though due to her small stature compared to the weapon, she stumbled to the ground and landed flat on her face.

"Screee!" Fed up with nuances, the Deathstalker veered its killer intent toward the weakest of the trio. Most notably a young girl with gray hands and moppy blue hair.

However, as it attempted to give chase, a tug on its tail deterred it from doing so.

Hawkins dug his heels in the earth and snarled. "I can't go home if that brat is dead, so go find your food elsewhere!"

"Screee!" The hulking beast flailed and broke free from the magician's hold. As it turned to face its most considerable foe, Hawkins imbued his arm with his devil fruit power and manifested a lanky limb of straw that ended with sharp iron nails.

He plunged said nails into three of the Deathstalker's eyes, earning a wail of pain from the Grimm as it staggered back while swinging its tail and pincers.

"Can you stand?" Hawkins coughed as Fiona and Trifa joined him.

"These scratches are nothing, I'll fight the entire night if I have to." Fiona huffed.

"M-My ankle is feeling better, so if I have to run I can..." Trifa muttered.

"Huff... Huff..."

"H-Hawkins?" Fiona tilted her head and took hold of the magician's hand.

Trembling and clammy, Hawkins' shoulders slumped as his legs wavered. He'd done well up until now, but without a straw doll count to depend on for recuperation, the fatigue of past injuries were taking their toll.

"I'll serve as the decoy for the scorpion's assault. Ms. Thyme, are you familiar with this particular type of Grimm?"

The sheep Faunus nodded. "I've seen plenty of them in Mistral, but to see one in Vale is definitely a surprise."

"Then you should be aware of its weaknesses?" Hawkins grunted.

Another nod, the blonde pounded down his emotions of despair and narrowed his sights on his daunting enemy. As long as Trifa made it home safe and sound, another debt he owed to Carla and Sam would be paid. While the pirate didn't possess a magnanimous attitude, he did hold some form of moral code.

The sound of rustling straw making her ears fidget, Fiona stepped back as two lanky extensions of straw protruded from Hawkins' arms and ended with a set of iron nails. Though by the look on his face, Hawkins was not satisfied with the result of his efforts.

"It's coming!" The blonde growled as the heavy footsteps of the Grimm rattled the earth.

The magician ran forward, his gaze meeting with that of the obsidian beast, a pair of pincers locked with a set of iron nails. Stuck in a stalemate, Hawkins pushed on but could not match the Deathstalker when it came to brute force.

Keeled to a knee, the pirate shut his eyes as the monster's blinking and swaying stinger loomed overhead.

Its prey focused on its pincers, the Grimm screeched and thrust down its tail, only for it to be swiftly chopped off by a midair sheep Faunus. The severed extension thudded against the Deathstalker's skull, along with a pair of gray boots.

Atop the wailing scorpion's head, Fiona barbarically hammered the Deathstalker's head with the blade part of her crossbow staff in an axe-like fashion.

"I'm not letting you run!" Hawkins coughed and lugged his grip on the beast's pincers downaward.

"Splat! Splat!"

The blonde curled a brow and veered his sights to a quivering Trifa with her arms raised. She launched a volley of sticky spider webs from her palms at the Deathstalker's feet, entangling them while it thrashed about.

When the child's eyes met with the stoic pupils of Hawkins, she lowered her hands and hesitated.

"Don't stop you brat!" The magician shouted.

Startled, Trifa continued to encircle the monster from a safe distance while spewing a plethora of webbing. A stray group of gooey threads splotched against Hawkins' pale visage, and he growled in annoyance.

"S-Sorry!" Trifa yelped but continued to shoot webbing until her hands went dry.

"And that's the final blow!" Fiona hollered as her twelfth swing finally caved in the Deathstalker's skull.

A screech, succeeded by gurgling spits of green and black ooze, the beady eyes of the vile Grimm faded along with its life force.

Pieces of shattered bone littering the soil around him, Hawkins acknowledged that his victory had been assured. Allowing the straw and nails around his arms to wither and fall, his vision grew blurry with the taste of blood in his mouth.

"Hawkins, we did it!" Fiona leaped down with her weapon holstered on her back and did a few cute hops to celebrate. Trifa joined them but approached slowly in fear of the still twitching Grimm.

"Grgh!" The magician wheezed as trickles of blood seeped through his lips. With the cracking and crunching of his ribs filling the unsteady atmosphere, both Fiona and Trifa yelped as Hawkins fell flat on his back in silence.

"H-Hawkins!" The Faunus duo cried.