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I paced through the city on my way to the warden's office. I was on my way to collect my reward. It had been a few days and they sent someone to confirm that the job was done and dig some shallow graves. People in the streets scattered before me as I passed and wagons even gave me the right of way. The enormous weapon on my back and my half cape and clothes were a dead give away that I was a hunter and I would be the least injured between I and a colliding wagon. It would seem that huntsmen had the right of way on all passes. I tried not to abuse it but when people had to look up at me and take me in they scuttled out of the way.
What I saw happen next appeared in slow motion. A wagon rolled by and a young girl, all of five foot with brown shoulder length hair which parted to both sides was slammed into by a horse drawn cart. The horse's hoof struck her as it neighed and she was dragged under the cart and pulled along for five or ten feet under the wheel of the vehicle.
People in the street stopped and stared and a woman screamed. The accident occured in a heartbeat. Too fast for even me to stop with all my speed and my inhuman reaction times. I pushed my way through the crowd and put one hand on the side of the wagon and lifted it off of the young girl with one hand. There was a great deal of blood and her ribcage was crushed in by the wheel and there was a great bruise where the horse had stepped on her.
"Call for a doctor!" A man's voice cried.
"Why bother?" Someone more cynical followed. "Look at the state she's in."
I slid her out from under the cart with my other hand and set the carriage back down on the ground, the driver letting loose a small yelp as I did.
"Won't someone do something? Surely something can be done to save her." A woman's voice pleaded behind me with something desperate in it.
Then I did the only thing I could do which might save the young girl's life. I tried to spare her by unlocking her aura. Yellow energy crackled to life around her at my touch and murmur.
She opened her eyes and I saw her breath in. Her crushed tubes reformed into the solid cage and she gasped on a fresh breath of air as her aura spent itself out trying to heal her. She passed into a sleep a moment later and I picked her up in both my arms.
"Does anyone know this girl?" I asked the growing crowd.
"You saved her…" a voice murmured.
"I can't believe it."
"Just like that?"
"Where should she be taken?" I demanded more harshly.
"You there, huntsman, what's the meaning of this?" Some sort of officer pushed his way up to me.
"She was hit by the carriage. I unlocked her aura to try and save her but she still needs a doctor and I'm not from around here. I don't know where to take her."
"Better follow me, then. We'll head to the castle. They'll board her there for the time being. The Delatours are a kind family," he responded.
Neo followed close behind me as we marched through the crowds and up to the castle evidently belonging to the Delatours.
I carried the young girl inside and through a grand entryway and up several flights of stairs before I set her on a bed in a small room.
"I'll summon a doctor. You had better stay here and explain everything to the Delatours when they come by," the officer explained. Then he left the way we had come and myself and Neo remained waiting. We were there for a long while before the officer returned with a doctor to examine the poor victim. He listened to her chest and her breathing and checked her closely.
"She'll live. Aura must be powerful to do things like this. I've never examined a patient with aura before. I think she'll be fine. She seems stable at least. How bad were her injuries?"
I looked down at my bloody hands. "They were pretty bad, doctor. Broken ribs and probably worse. I wasn't sure that aura was going to cut it."
"Well it seems to have done so. Now's a matter of searching for her family. We'll be able to find them for sure when she wakes up but until then we'll have to put out notices. It's a fine thing you did for her, sir huntsman," the doctor finished.
"I'm going to go wash myself off."
"The Delatours will have questions for you," the officer began.
I told him about the inn Neo and I were staying at. "They can send for Cloud when they come looking. Cloud Strife. Come on, Neo." Then I left to wash myself off. My arms and chest were caked in red flakes. I left the castle for the inn and washed myself up.
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When I was sent for it was by one of the young girls who helped run the inn. I answered the door and looked down on her. She looked away from me after a moment of eye contact.
"Someone is here to see you, from the manor, that is. A messenger. Something about an accident?" I looked down at the wispy girl with blonde hair and pale eyes. She wasn't unattractive but she didn't have that other worldly beauty hunters did. I suppose Weiss and Ruby had ruined other girls for me. Not that I was complaining.
"I'll be right down," I told her. She stood for a moment longer. "Thanks. Just give me a moment." She nodded then departed. I grabbed my harness and slung it across my back and strode down the hall and down stairs to where a thin man waited tapping his foot. He had brown eyes and salt and pepper hair.
"You must be the huntsman. Cloud, was it?" He asked impatiently.
"That's me."
"Come along, then. You are summoned."
"For what purpose exactly? What happened should be well understood."
"The girl's family from the accident wishes to thank you. As do the Delatours. You've serviced this city as well. It's very gracious of you. Now, let us be off. Or do you intend to make them all wait for you? Come, now."
I did as he bade and he led back through the streets to the castle. Neo followed along behind me, watching my back and ever vigilant in her silent ways.
I was greeted by servants who offered to relieve me of my weapons. I declined saying I wouldn't be staying long. I was told that the Delatours had prepared a meal for me in my honor. It seemed rude to decline so I handed over my harness which caused a suited servant to buckle under its weight. Neo giggled silently and carried her umbrella along. It was a good policy to have at least one of us armed. I liked it.
I was led into a long dining hall with ornate windows and large chandeliers. Around the central table sat four people. They were waiting for me with expectant eyes. As I entered the man at the head of the table stood up and shook my hand. He had black hair and like much of town had pale eyes. There was a woman who remained sitting with long blonde hair and a sharp nose, elderly but not undignified. Then there was a boy who had features combined between the patriarch who greeted me and the woman who sat opposite the boy. He could only be their son. The resemblance was too striking with the same nose as the mother and the same shade of hair and eyes as his father. Then there was a girl I couldn't quite place. She was maybe sixteen and younger than the boy. She had red hair that was almost pink and sharp blue eyes.
"Greetings huntsman. Please join us. You did our town a great favor today and saved that young girl," the patriarch informed me warmly. "You did more than that, I've been told. It would be remiss of me to not thank you in person."
"Is she alright? Did you find her family?" I interposed.
"Your concern for her does you credit. You may rest easy in the knowledge that she has been returned to her mother and should make a full recovery. And that's all thanks to you, master huntsman. Please, won't you join us for dinner?"
"How can I not?" I wondered. I smiled softly.
The man laughed, not seeming to realize I was genuinely asking. "Well please have a seat. I am Jeno Delatour. This is my wife, Mary," the woman in her fifties gave a pretty wave, "my son, Jade, and my niece, Rosé." The final girl bowed her head in my direction.
I sat and Neo did too. She happily started to help herself to the meal before her.
"I'm Cloud Strife and this is my partner, Neapolitan, just Neapolitan," I introduced.
"It's certainly a pleasure to make both of your acquaintances. How do you do, Ms. Neapolitan?" Jeno asked politely.
Neo looked at him mutely. He gave a little start as she just stared and her eyes switched colors. The silence seemed rude and stretched on for a moment.
"You'll have to forgive her. She doesn't talk. I do both of our interpreting."
"So I see. Very well. It's no matter. She's an interesting woman. So bright and colorful," Jeno became unperturbed after I explained. He tucked into his own food before him. I did too. The meal was a roast bird of some kind and potatoes. There was sides of watermelon and strawberries to fill it out.
"So, Cloud, if I may call you Cloud, of course," I nodded at the man still speaking. "Cloud, then, it's my understanding that you're a recent guest to our fair city. I must ask what you think. It is my common policy to ask that question to interesting visitors. They are so far and few between."
"It's big. It's decently big. It's smaller than Atlas, Mantle, Mistral, or Vale but it's big."
"I noticed you left out Vacuo. Any reason for that?"
"I've never been to Vacuo," I informed him. "But it's probably bigger as well."
"Quite so. But you've been to all the others?"
"I have."
"You're well traveled, Mr. Strife?" the boy, Jade, cut in.
"I've been around, I suppose."
"Well where are you from, my dear man?" Jeno asked me.
"I was born near Mistral, raised in Vale. Then I started traveling." I lied in part.
"But you've been all over. And what were you headed to next?" Jeno wondered.
"Back to Vale. I have some business to attend to near there. I haven't been there since Black Out day," I informed him.
"And what brings you to our city? Was it just on your way to Vale?" Mary asked me.
"Sort of. My airship went down in a storm two weeks ago and we've been traveling south since then. Then we came across here by following the river."
"The Yaru river, you mean?" Jeno interrogated.
"Or one of its tributaries, I suppose."
"And have you been a huntsman long? You seem quite young. Not much older than my boy. How old are you?" Jeno kept asking so many questions. It made me wonder if he had some motive behind them or if he was just being a good host.
"I've been hunting my whole life. I trained at Beacon before its fall. I'm twenty-one. Or in that ballpark, at least."
"You unlocked that girl's aura." Rosé stated.
I stared at her. I didn't hear a question in that.
"All hunters can unlock someone's aura with some effort. It can be exhausting which is why we don't do it to everyone but it's possible to unlock anyone's aura with our own," I explained.
"And what about other powers?" Jade asked. "Like a semblance. Do you have one?"
"I… I do." I stayed after some delay. "All hunters are strong and fast but for a brief time I can be exceptionally so. It's more nuanced than that but that's the jist of it."
"With aura, can anyone be a hunter?" Rosé asked me. "Could you unlock my aura?"
"I could… but no. It takes training. Years of it. And you'd need a teacher."
"Could you be my teacher?" Rosé wondered. She was looking at me with big bright eyes.
"Rosé I don't know what you're thinking but your parents would not approve. They didn't leave you in our care so you could train to be a hunter. That's not for you. I'm sorry, Cloud," Jeno admonished her.
"It's fine. And no. Not me. I'm no good for it."
"Why not? Just teach me a little, please? I'll be an excellent student."
I looked at the girl and struggled to think up some excuse. My jaw worked as I stared at her.
"Rosé!" Mary warned her before I had to say anything.
"But I want to be a hunter. And he's headed home to Vale," Rosé argued back.
"I'll admit that is convenient… however, we can't just leave you in his hands. You know that. Be reasonable Rosé. Think this through." Jeno ordered.
"He saved that girl's life with no motivation to do so. Doesn't that speak well of his motivations. And it'll just be until I can go to Beacon."
"You're still on that? You won't be able to compete with any other trainnies. You don't even have aura," Jade cut in.
"That's why I need a teacher. Someone to show me the ropes. Please? Don't make me order it." Rosé finished.
"He hasn't agreed to anything Rosé," Jeno said.
"I can't teach. I'm not a teacher. You don't even know if I'm any good," I tried nervously. "Plus I'm not exactly looking for a protege."
Rosé looked crestfallen. "Just give me a chance. I want to be a hunter."
I looked at her and I saw a little of myself. I had wanted to be a hero once. I also saw some of Ruby and Weiss and… and no good reason to do it. That was it.
"Why should I?" I snapped harshly. She flinched back in surprise at my shift. "What can you do for me?"
"I have money…" she tried vainly. I had money. I had no reason to go dragging some rookie into my shitstorm of a life.
"I don't want money," I growled.
She looked around the table and saw no allies. "But you might be my best shot. Please. Take me with you to Vale. I'll do whatever you say."
"What kind of weapon do you have?" I asked brutally.
"I… I don't have one. But I can! It should be a sword!"
It was hard to find the energy to say no to this enthusiasm.
"No weapon, no aura, starting late, you've got next to no chance of getting into Beacon," I listed. "You'll be up against peers who have been training for years. How old are you?"
She sank in her chair. "Sixteen," she whispered. "So that's that then? I really have no chance? I can't be a huntress?"
I sighed heavily and stared at her hard.
I thought about the sort of good I wanted to do in the world.
"I'll train you," I murmured.
Neo looked up at me in shock. She wasn't the only one. I got gazes of incredulity from all around the table.
"I'll train you and unlock your aura. I want money for horses, though. And you'll need to come up with money for a weapon before we leave. You know how to ride?"
She stared at me and shook her head.
"You'll learn. You know how to cook?"
She again shook her head.
"You'll learn that too. Pack light. A few changes of clothes and the bare essentials. And we'll find a blacksmith and get you a huntsman's sword. Then we're leaving. You understand? You'll follow my every order. No compromises. It's my way or the highway. I don't have the time or energy for it to be any other way. Nod your head if you understand."
She nodded slowly. "But you said I had no chance."
"Once upon a time, neither did I."
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-WG