The 'Lone' Hero of Vale (RWBY & Link)

by SRenthusiast

Team RWBY runs into a classmate while on a self-assigned mission, when they realize he does not have any teammates because he is a one person team. Link quickly proves he's not just a swordsman and is very much worthy of calling himself a huntsman despite a dark past that correlates with major events. (More of a fusionfic since its Link in Remnant.) (Story is undergoing re-writes)

24. Link's Past Part 4: Brutal Eradication

Flashback: Village of Garanda, Twenty Days Later

The story of Link's past continues but the time in between jumps significantly as the past twenty days are more or less the same as what was agreed upon. That the disgraced and blackmailed mercenary could stay in the village for another month as long as he helped the village in any way he wanted to, but one of the agreements that were non-negotiable was to help train the villages aspiring soldiers who were currently students, and if established soldiers wanted to join in, they were more than welcome. Unfortunately for his dear friend Ray, this decision has been kept from her and distancing has subtly taken place, but with any persistent friend this will not last forever…

"That will be all for today." Link claps his hands, "I would just like to say that you are all doing great, it has only been less than a month and I already see massive improvement in all your guys' your form, defense and offense, good work. Nothing flawless of course but none of that comes fast, it takes plenty of time and patience, but trust me, you're all going to be great warriors if you keep it up. Same time tomorrow, have a nice day." He smiles and waves at a large group of students and some soldiers, then briskly makes his exit far away from the big group. (Ten or so more days, then I am on my own again.)

Link sighs and promptly exits the village, the blonde boy heads directly towards the same lake he fell in nearly a month ago. Approximately ten minutes later, he manages to find the lake on his own and approaches the still body of the water. The former mercenary breathes in the fresh air before sitting by the water and taking in the beauty of the large body of water

"I need a plan after I leave this place. Maybe heading towards Vale could be good for me. I don't know... I should have thought about this sooner." Link sighs. "An outside village near the kingdom is my first option."

"Well if you do go to Vale, Make sure to send me a postcard."

A 'mysterious' voice is heard, but it is immediately revealed to be Ray as she comes out from behind a tree with a big smile on her face

"Send me some cool stuff as well."

"Ray!" Link jumps to his feet and angrily glares at her

"Sorry! I know how you feel about being sneaked up on." Ray smiles and slowly walks towards him. "And hey! Don't give me that look, I should be angry at you. We became friends and just like that you were going to leave."

"You know, don't you?" Link lowers his head and sits back down

"Liam told me." Ray sighs and sits down next to the boy. "Even my own father couldn't tell me, there's no way I would have gotten my best friend to say it."

"Best friend? We just met not too long ago." Link smirks. "I appreciate the honor, though."

"You'd be surprised at how friendless I am." Ray laughs and teases placing her foot in the water. "So, do you really have to go?"

"Mhm. If that mercenary had gotten away, who knows what would be happening right now?" Link shrugs. "Your village could have been in grave danger."

"Wrong. I know what would actually happen." Ray giggles. "You'd beat up anyone who would try to hurt us. And not just you, I would too. So would my father, Liam, my mother, and so on. We may be shorthanded but we aren't scared of anyone."

"That's great, but even I do not know the full extent of this person's power. I wouldn't want to put any of you in even more danger." Link grabs a pebble from the ground and launches it as far as he can towards the lake

"W-Well, before you go, could you stick around for our annual ceremony. To celebrate the day Garanda was founded by the village elders." She giggles. "In addition, the next day is my birthday, it is usually for Garanda villagers only but I'd love it if you were here and not in the middle of the woods running from mercenaries."

"Ummm..." Link hesitates, unsure if this will break the deal set by the council and elders

Sooooooo?" Ray looks at him and points her index finger right in his face

"Sure." Link nods and smiles at her. "It is the least I can do since I kind of pushed you away and more so this past week specifically. I'm sorry Ray, I thought leaving silently was the best way to go rather than continuing to be your friend, getting closer, and then flat out abandoning you."

"Pfft, not even a goodbye at least?" Ray cross her arms but cannot hide her smirk

"I have no choice now, do I?" Link laughs and leans over to pull Ray in a hug, "And you deserve an apology. I am sorry, I should've known better than to leave without saying goodbye to a person who actually accepted me for who I am."

"I-It's okay, I forgive you." Ray stutters and momentarily tenses up from the sudden hug, but then smiles and hugs back. "However, we should head back soon, or else my father will kill us both."

"How much until that happens?" Link asks

"About an hour." She nods

"Good, then we have an hour of each other's company." Link smiles and lies back, his eyes drawn to the setting sun

"Good indeed." Ray blushes and lies back as well whilst awkwardly sliding closer to Link

"So when is the ceremony?" Link asks. "You said soon, right?"

"W-Well… It's tomorrow actually." Ray chuckles under her breath

"So that means your birthday is only two days away." Link slides tucks his arm under her head and pulls her in for another hug. "Happy early birthday."

"Thank you." Ray blushes and rests her on the arm grabbing her

"How are you feeling?" Link smiles

"What do you mean?"

"About your birthday, obviously." Link rolls his eyes

"Ohhhh, I see. Well, if you weren't here, I'd say it's just another birthday. But besides my family and their friends, I'll finally have a friend of my own here with me." Ray laughs and shuts her eyes to rest comfortably

"It's going to be a great birthday then." Link nods and watches the sun set while the girl next to him rests peacefully

...

The Next Day: Nighttime

"Link. Hey, Link. Liiinnnnk." Ray frowns and angrily flops onto the bed for maximum disruption. "WAKE. UP. LINK!"

"Hmm?" Link opens his eyes and sees Ray's face only inches away from him. "W-What time is it?"

"The ceremony just started, you slept in all day." Ray rolls her eyes and then clumsily backs away as she admits her own embarrassment. "I uhhh, may have done the same too. It really sucks for me, I promised my mother I'd help her today with the ceremony preparations."

"Did we come back that late yesterday?" Link shrugs

"No, but this only confirms you've been pushing yourself way too hard. I guess the same goes for me but I stayed up worrying about you. What's your excuse? Is it because you have to... Ya know, leave soon?" Ray sadly sighs

"I suppose you could say I've been staying up late to come up with new training patterns for the people I have been teaching, but I never thought it got this bad. I'm still an amateur myself so teaching others has been quite stressful." Link sits up and yawns loudly, "Is there anything with the ceremony I can help with?"

"Nope. Most of the fancy decorations have all been set up already, including stands for food, games, tents for shops, the list goes on and it is all done. My family always meets in front of the council building when we need to regroup, as it has the most open space. But if you kept me company during the ceremony that'd be cool too."

"That's it? Done." Link chuckles and gets up from bed. "The council building isn't too far away, I'm sure we can catch whatever theatrics are in store."

"How did you know about that?" Ray giggles

"It's a ceremony but based on the things that will be there, it sounds like a festival too soooo." He chuckles

"Well you would be correct. Now get dressed, I'll do the same, and we can meet out front in ten minutes?" Ray asks

"Sure." Link nods

"Great." Ray flashes a smile for him before leaving the room

(Hm... she's acting nicer than usual. I better keep an eye on her.) Link shrugs as he gets dressed, with only his boots, weapons, and belt needing to be put on

Ten minutes pass and Link is the last one to leave the house, despite not having a lot to, unlike Ray who needed an a completely different attire

"Sorry for taking so long, I saw some of the stuff from the ceremony out the window and just got drawn to it because it looks beau-!" Link suddenly comes to a halt and nearly walks into the girl. "Ray you look... So different."

"I-Is it that bad?" Ray looks at herself up and down, gone was the look Link was used to seeing of scruffy messy hair, torn and worn down clothes and boots. Her hair is perfectly brushed and tied back in a ponytail, she wears a black dress that goes down to her thigh, black leggings underneath, and heels

"No. You actually look very beautiful." Link smiles at her

"Oh my, really? Thank you." Ray sighs in relief. "My mother and father wanted completely different looks, mother wanted this, father wanted a warrior look and Liam told me to simply go as I always dress."

"Either one of the options would have worked out great but if you want my address, your mother knows best." Link smiles at her and offers his hand. "Shall we?"

"O-Oh, but we're not a-! You're not my b-! Sure, let's go!" Ray gladly takes his hand as they both walk towards deeper into the village and to the council building, they glance up in the air and notice Garanda's emblem in the form of fire

"W-Whoa, now that's cool." Link stops walking and stares at it in awe. "How do you even find someone to do that?"

"I envy the young man who does that, he's such a talented fellow." Ray smiles and watches along as they both admire the pyrotechnic showcase before it imminently fades away into smoke. "C-Come on, if my family notices me missing for another minute, they will assume I skipped the ceremony."

"But you kind of already did." Link smirks as they turn the corner and notice the big crowd disperse into different sections of the ceremony

"Crap." Ray sighs. "It's alright, as long as I don't miss the closing moments."

"What happens then?" Link asks

"Hmmm, I don't want to get your hopes up, but this amazing-!" Ray stops and smacks her lips together whilst wagging an index finger, "This amazing thing that you will have to wait and see for yourself." She lets go of the boy's hand and walks away from him

"Where are you heading so soon?" Link calls out

"I'm going to find my family, but you can go on without me. You should mingle around, talk to people, and you might make more friends. Don't worry though, I'll come find you soon." Ray waves at him and runs off

"Ummm... Okay, so much for keeping her company." Link looks around nervously and hesitates as he enters the big crowd. He looks around and sees tents, kiosks, performers, and anything else required for a festival. (This confirms what I said earlier, it feels more like a festival than a traditional ceremony, but I suppose after a ceremony it does call for something festive.)

Link approaches a neat wooden stand selling food and the man behind it quickly takes notice of him, the new outsider to the village

"You there! Young man, would you like to be the first to try our variety of meats? Please come try!"

"What's the catch?" Link asks as he approaches the man

"If you can withstand all the 'goodness' of a single beef stick, free orders for everyone around my shop."

(That totally did not sound sketchy.) Link frowns but ultimately decides to play along, "Okay. Doesn't sound too hard." He takes a single stick with a thick piece of beef from the smirking chef. The blonde boy examines the beef briefly and then nonchalantly eats it, garnering instant gasps from the crowd around him, the owner of the stand and the chef. (This beef is delicious, there's a lot of different flavors, and there's some heat to it. What's with the surprised gasps?) Link raises the stick up in the air and spins it around, showing no traces of meat left. "Done. Very tasty, that spice gave it a nice kick."

"W-what the-!" The shop owner angrily glares at the chef. "You were supposed to give him the spicy one. Our slogan 'The spiciest meat in Garanda' will have no meaning if this kid just ate it like it was nothing."

"Sir, they're all spicy." The chef shrugs and resumes cooking more meat

"Gah! Fine kid you win." The owner grunts. "One free round of beef for everyone!"

The crowd immediately starts to cheer as dozens of people rush to the stand and demand their free food

(Oops. I am about to start a riot.) Link chuckles and whistles casually as he departs from the food stand and continues to walk around. He happily observes Garandian villagers play games, have friendly sparring matches, with wooden weapons while others are entertained by singers and people playing instruments. However, as he stops in front of a man playing a guitar, the joyful guitar player stops and stares right at Link

"What do you want?"

"Me?" Link looks around in confusion

"Yeah you, the new guy. The so-called hero that's just bringing dangerous people into our village. The one with an evil past that is for some reason being protected by Mister Hiroku and the higher ups. I don't know why they trust you, but I don't. For all we know, you could be purposely leading your thieving mercenary friends here."

"Mercenaries aren't thieves but-!"

"No! I don't want to hear it! Sorry folks, until this criminal leaves, I refuse to play."

Before Link can reply, he is showered with loud boos from the small crowd. He wants to react and plead his case, shake off the rumors and spread the truth. Unfortunately for the newcomer, the loud boos prevail and cause Link to walk away in frustration and sadness

(It's just one stand, I will not stress. I'm sure this is just a one time thing.) Link sighs and moves on to another stand, where an older woman promotes various amounts of jewelry ranging from necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, and more

"Come on in-!" The woman witnesses customers leaving upon the boy's arrival

"Hello." Link smiles. "I would like to purchase some earrings for a special girl, what would you recco-!"

"We're closed." The old woman closes her eyes and winces as she makes the business decision by walking over to Link and blocking his path, "I'm sorry." She mumbles with immediate signs of regret and hesitation

"I understand." Link nods and nods at the old woman, "Have a nice night, ma'am." He sighs and walks away. (Just like that, whoever spoke about me and spread those lies about me bringing mercenaries... they clearly did some research and must have been really convincing if a lot of villagers went from liking to shunning me.)

As the night progresses, Link completely forgets about his brunette companion and continues exploring the ceremony-festival. Unfortunately,each stop he makes does not last long enough before being he is promptly booted out or forcefully screamed at to go away without given a chance to speak

(Maybe I should just leave tonight and make these people's wishes come true.) Link puts his head down when he approaches a game stand

"Step right up, people! Hit the bulls-eye and you win a prize! And for a limited time only, hitting the bulls-eye three times in a row wins you five prizes. AND hitting five in a row gets you ten prizes."

(Hm? Oh, I was not yelled at to go away.) Link smiles and walks up to the merchant running the stand, "I'd like to give your limited time challenge a try."

"Finally somebody brave enough!" The merchant laughs and sets five darts in front of Link. "Feel free to throw whenever you'd like."

"Thank you." Link nods and picks up a dart, shows no fear in testing the tip of the dart on his fingertips, and gives no reaction as he slightly pricks himself. (Metal and it is sharp, this is no scam at least.)

Link looks at the target in front of him, the boy estimates the distance between the target and himself

"Hmph!" Link inhales, holds it for a few seconds, exhales and launches the first dart with a sideways throw, it flies through the air and pierces right into the target, carving through the bulls-eye

"YEAH!" The merchant claps. "Nice arm kid."

"Seriously, yes! Nice arm." A familiar voice enters the fray, but familiar for all the wrong reasons

"Oh no." Link puts his head down, sighs, and dreads everything as he feels the presence of the four teenagers that attempted to assault Liam. He does not even look at the group of four as he picks up the second dart, launches it with less intensity, but still manages to hit the bulls-eye. "What do you four want?"

"Us?" Mason, the tallest of the group, begins to laugh. "Nothing really. We just heard Frankie here screaming his head off, so we figured someone was actually trying out his scam of a game."

"Scam? Why you little-?!" The merchant frowns and mumbles many curse words under his breath as he removes the second dart off the target

"Then we saw you were here, so it drew our interest even more."

"How come?" Link picks up the third dart and confidently twirls it around his fingers

"We were interested in seeing how you've been doing ever since our fight." Mason chuckles

"Fight? If you want to call it that." Link nods and launches the third one with full power, knowing he may miss, but when the dart impales the target right in the red circle, the bulls-eye, one of the members from the group of bullies backs up. "Cut to the chase, why are you really here?"

"So you're not broken and depressed?" Jay shakes his head whilst stepping in front of Mason. "What a shame."

"So it was you four who spread those lies about me?" Link growls and picks up the fourth dart

"Of course." Jay proudly speaks for the four of them, behind him, Baku, Kami, and Mason smirk and bump each other

"Cowards." Link mumbles, "You jump someone after you mocked them in the first place. Then, you get put in your place and now, you're making up these blatant lies about me when none of you know me." He throws the dart, and just like the past three, it hits the bulls-eye perfectly

"Cowards? You don't get it, we want what's best for our village. Weaklings like Liam getting power because his father is practically a higher up will do nothing but harm our village." Jay scoffs. "Then you come in. A complete stranger who knows nothing about us, telling us what's right and what's wrong, do you realize how insulting that sounds? Being talked down by a selfish degenerate mercenary who only knows how to kill for money and nothing else. How does it feel knowing you will be nothing in life, what you're doing now IS your future. Going from village to village, taking their resources and then throwing them aside like a pile of trash. Lucky you that you actually have some physical talent or else you'd be dead right now. Because you certainly don't think with your brain."

"You don't get it either. People like YOU are the reason people like me CANNOT change. You cling on to the past and refuse to give us a second chance, look at me, I'm training most of your future troops, you four pricks included, do not think for a second that I did not spot you in the back of the group."

"Whatever." Baku crosses his arms

"I volunteered my services to help you all train and get stronger. Does that make me selfish? Am I a degenerate for trying to do my best to rectify my dark and troubled past." Link narrows his eyes. "Am I JUST a mercenary for helping Ray find herself. She was doomed to be just another helpless girl in this village if it wasn't for someone like me coming along and encouraging her to follow what she wants, not what you or anyone else wants. None of you were going to uplift Ray, that is a fact." He picks up the fifth dart and looks directly at Jay. "I may be a selfish mercenary in your eyes, but at least I'm not a discriminating scumbag who will always chase greed and power for the rest of their lives and fall short because you expect it to be handed to you and it goes to someone more deserving."

THWACK!

Link stares at Jay, Mason, Kami, and Baku the entire time he launches the final dart without even looking at the target

"Holy crap, five in a row, you did it kid." Frank starts to clap and so do the few villages who are around to watch, all of them clap, except the four who stare with their jaws dropped

"Thank you for giving me the chance to play." Link nods and salutes Frank, but then walks away in a worse mood than when he first arrived

"But your prizes-!"

"Give them to other people who deserve them, I do not deserve any prizes. Besides, you could get more people to try your game by handing out prizes to others who may need or deserve nice items." Link waves and does not look back

…

Later that night

Having isolated himself and not finding Ray or the latter finding him, Link continues walking around the village, but mostly ignores every stand, stand, street performer, giving glances and nods, until…

"What's this?"

Link shrugs and approaches another tent, he pushes past curtains that reveal another stand, but instead of games or food, it is simply a neatly designed stand shaped like a bar counter. Behind said counter is a man polishing glasses and behind him is an entire setup with racks and many different bottles of alcohol

"Hello, I'd like your strongest drink available."

"Coming right up!" The shouts from behind the counter and doesn't even turn to see who ordered

(Looks like I'm in the clear to stay. Aside from the spicy beef stand, the dart game and now this... Wow, just three huh? I've been kicked from every other place.) Link sighs

"Here you g-!" The bartender squints his eyes and shakes his head. "Are you old enough to even be here?"

"Sorry, I just needed to go somewhere that didn't kick me out, I came to this ceremony festival thing to hang out with my friend. She ditched me for her family which I can't blame to be fair since this is tradition to them and all of you. But so far, it's been nothing but people treating me like I'm some sort of freak, so if you want me to leave as well I w-!

"Are you kidding? Why would I kick out my only customer?" The bartender laughs and sets down a small glass of dark liquor with ice in it. "Though if anyone asks, you don't know me."

"Sure thing and I'm twenty-one." Link winks and raises the glass. "Cheers, to being an outcast."

"I can relate there." The bartender grabs an empty glass, fills it with the same drink and clinks it with his customers

"How come? I figured a bar would be a big hit, with everyone playing games, eating, dancing, all of that fun stuff that I haven't been experiencing." Link shrugs and glances around to take in that he really is the only person in the tent

"I'll keep it short so you don't pass out from boredom." The man laughs. "People talk, my reputation gets ruined, and by the time the truth gets out it is too late."

"I can relate there." Link nods and takes a sip of the alcohol placed in front of him, he closes his eyes after just a sip and feels his facial muscles tighten up. "Wow, that is strong stuff. That exposes my old friends of only buying the cheaper stuff."

"Alright then just one glass for you." The bartender chuckles

"Fair enough." Link taps his fingers against the glass as he takes another sip. "Can I have a glass of water as well?"

"Way ahead of you kid." The bartender turns around and grabs an already full glass of water, then places it next to the boy's drink

"Thank you." Link smiles at the bartender and continues to drink. (This sucks, I guess I should just head back to Ray's family's house after I'm done here, I don't even want to go anywhere else.)

"Will money be an issue?" The man raises an eyebrow. "Nothing personal. I need to ask because while I don't mind your company, I need to verify that you can-!"

"Here." Link reaches into his pouch and pulls out two green lien cards then carelessly tosses them in front of him

"Hey now, you were just a chipper a minute ago." The bartender sighs, "Look, I'll stop pretending like you're a complete stranger. I know about you, I've heard those rumors too. The 'evil mercenary coming in to steal all of Garandas valuables' and someone who will just bring in his other mercenary friends to come destroy our village." He rolls his eyes. "It all sounds like a bunch of garbage and judging you from just this encounter, you don't seem to be affiliated with any mercenaries anymore... As a former mercenary, I know you or your friends would've struck our village by now."

"Former mercenary? Small world." Link weakly smiles, "You're right, the only mercenaries I'm 'close' with are the ones who want to hunt me down." He nods and in one motion chugs the rest of the drink, he downs it and instantly feels his face shrivel up

"Big mistake. That'll sting for a bit."

"Thanks for heads up." Link breathes in and quickly exhales before making quick work of the glass of water, "For the heads up and being a hospitable host..." He grabs another green lien card and tosses it next to the other two, all three cards are meant to pay for just the single drink

"K-kid I can't accept this." The bartender shakes his head. "The last thing I need on my conscience is stealing money from a minor."

"Didn't you just serve a minor alcohol? Link chuckles, "Please, don't worry about it. It's mercenary money, I figure it is better off going to a small business who could use it." He stands up and lets out a yawn, "I should get going, thank you once again. Maybe we'll run into each other soon" He waves and leaves the bar

"Crazy kid." The bartender laughs and takes the two dirty glasses, purposely taking his sweet time to clean them as he knows the boy is likely his last customer

Link exits the bar and walks back to his temporary home. He finds himself occasionally glancing back towards the ceremonial festival, hearing cheers and singing puts a smile on his face, but then the reality of being shunned all night dawns on him, and turns that smile into a nasty frown. Upon reaching the house, Link decides against entering the house and going to bed, instead he makes his way to the roof of the home with his hook-shot

"Not a bad view at all." Link nods to himself and sits on the roof of the home, happily watching the festival from a far. "Ray did say there were closing moments of the ceremony. I should have asked if it's anything flashy or more fire theatrics."

"You can ask me now." Ray calls out from down below as she pulls herself up onto the roof, after climbing on top of boxes that give her enough elevation to grab on the roof tiles and climb on top safely

"Ray?! What the-!" Link spins rapidly and as a result, instantly slips. "Whoa!"

"I gotcha!" Ray dashes forward and grabs onto Link by his waist before he could fall down all the way down

"You have to stop scaring me." Link sighs. "That's your seven-hundredth time this month."

"Scaring? I thought 'surprised' would be a better word to use?" Ray raises an eyebrow and promptly helps Link settle back down on the very top of the roof, still holding onto him tightly

"Witty." Link smirks. "But fair enough, you got me and figured out my lie. You did in fact scare me."

"I knew it!" Ray giggles. "Sorry if I'm bringing the mood down already, but where did you go?"

"Hm? I figured you knew since you were able to find me so quickly." Link rolls his eyes

"I didn't stalk you if that's what you're implying." Ray frowns. "All I saw was you walking out of a BAR, so I asked the nice man and he told me you were simply heading out. I put two and two together, then decided you were coming back home since you never found me and finding you was impossible."

"I would have loved to see the look on his face when he got another minor entering his bar." Link chuckles

"Don't change the topic." Ray hugs him tighter. "You went to a bar to end your time at the festival despite going into it in a good mood. That just screams out that something must have happened."

"It started off great, some guy was trying to give me spicy meat to mess with me but the spice did not hit me like they intended. Although shortly after that..."

Link goes on to explain everything to Ray, from being harassed by performers, kicked out of stands and tents, refused service, and then finally the positive time at the bar. He deliberately leaves out what happened at the game stand with the four bullies

"I don't get it." Ray frowns and crosses her arms. "Why on earth would people hate you when they barely know you. Besides, you've been so helpful around the village and people were showing their gratitude, what could have changed? I'm so sorry Link, I should have stayed with you."

"It's okay, you didn't know your people would fall for those four jerks lies and rumor spreading." Link shrugs

"Jerks? Lies? Rumors?" Ray's frown turns into a confused gaze

"Oh yeah, I purposely left that part out so you didn't go after them and rip them a new one. The people think I'm still a mercenary coming in to take advantage, use and then destroy Garanda. Based on my tone and who I implied it was, you can immediately guess the people who started the rumors were those four wimps that tried to jump your brother."

"Come on…" Ray internally sighs. "Jay, Baku, Kami, Mason… I hate all of you."

"Their revenge was to get in my head and screw with me psychologically. I will admit, it kind of worked but entirely like they wanted." Link grunts

"Want a drink?" Ray takes off a leather strap going from her shoulder and down to her stomach, revealing a canteen at the end

"What do you have there? Water or Alcohol?" Link casually asks

"Um... How about homemade mint coffee?" Ray giggles

"O-Oh... Sorry." Link blushes in embarrassment. "I am adjusted to asking my former friend that question, since that's all we used to drink during our time as mercenaries."

"F-Former friend?" Ray asks. "Is he, you know, RIP?"

"Is he ripped? I don't know, you should ask him yourself." Link chuckles

"Shut up, that's not what I meant!" Ray blushes and slowly opens the canteen, the scent of the brewed drink infiltrates both of their nostrils in seconds

"Whoa, that smells nice. But no, Carter is not dead, I don't think so at least. When our group disbanded, everyone had to go into hiding or running. I chose to run seeing as I was the most notable member."

"Why? Because you were the strongest?" Ray asks

"There is that, but then you factor in that most people never saw me unmasked." Link chuckles. "It adds more intrigue to those who want to hunt me down. I'm sure you can put it together now as to why mercenaries are after me. The leader usually goes down first, especially after I refused to kill someone... Who turned out to also be a former friend of mine as well. I was to do the job and kill the girl who saved my life or refuse the job and put a bigger target on my back."

"And you chose to spare her, right?" Ray's eyes widen

"Yes, I could never betray Amber that way." Link sighs

"Oh Link, I can't even begin to imagine what that pain feels like." Ray's lip quivers and she leans her head against his shoulder

"I hope you never have to experience anything like that either." He nods

"How do you stay so strong and calm?" Ray looks into his eyes with a sad expression

"I don't stay calm, I just do a good job at pretending. As for how I stay strong… I believe that there's always someone to save or protect and love. The man protecting Amber is going to make sure she doesn't die and here I am to make sure none of you get hurt."

Link sighs and boldly wraps an arm around Ray, then with his other hand takes the canteen of her belt and has a small sip despite it being piping hot. The small sip alone is enough to warm up his entire body

"Wow." Link's blinks rapidly. "Where did you get this?"

"My mother makes it, it's her specialty. I've tried learning and mine are okay, but nothing like this." Ray takes back the canteen and takes a sip herself

Both Link and Ray eventually become comfortable in each other's grasp that they lie back against the roof, this time actually maintaining their balance and composure. There is no nervousness from Link or blushing and sweating from Ray. For the first time tonight, they take in everything and enjoy it for what it is: The ceremony from afar, their embrace, the delicious homemade coffee, and the fully risen moon. The two friends look over at each other but have no words, they merely smile and forget how close they are... Almost as if a magical force has pulled them closer. Ray tilts up her chin as Link closes his eyes and lowers his head, the girl's cheeks turn red and the boy nearly goes pale, until a giant fire show catches their attention and ruins their moment

"The closing moments!" Ray sits up and looks at the sky

"Oh right. I meant to ask you about this. What exactly is…" Link sits up as well, but quiets down and follows Ray's gaze, they see Garanda's emblem in the form of fire again, and this time is is much bigger than before

"Come on, come on, come on." Ray balls up her fists and giggles with excitement

Ray's eyes are glued to the sky and suddenly a single burst of light shoots across the sky, soon followed by something grand and never seen before by the former mercenary sitting next to the brunette

"YES!" Ray cheers and grabs Link's hand out of excitement. "IT'S HAPPENING!"

"Whoa… A meteor shower." Link is caught up in the moment and laces his fingers with Ray's, but neither seem to notice as they continue watching the spectacle that is dozens if not hundreds of flashing lights shooting through the sky

"WOOOO!"

"YEAAAH!"

"OOOOH!"

"AHHHH!"

The cheers, ooh's and ah's from the packed crowd in the festival can be heard all the way to where Link and Ray are and continues for minutes. When the cheers slowly come to a close, the ensuing silence brings them back down to reality. Now, they both notice the positioning of their hands, despite having already been that way for some time

"I should go. I promised my family I'd be with them..." Ray blushes and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear

"Then we should get down from here?" Link asks, but the latter seems to neither nod or say yes

"Honestly? N-No, this is perfect." Ray smiles and suddenly her eyes shoot wide open. "The meteor shower, the closing moments for the ceremony... That means it's likely midnight or past it by now."

"Happy Birthday." Link wraps his other arm around her and pulls her in for a complete hug. "You're officially fifteen, as old as me until I turn sixteen in a few months."

"Aww thanks." Ray, with her arms already on Link's waist, hugs tighter and attempts to pull him closer to her, regardless of how little she succeeds in moving him

Instinctively, Link looks down at Ray, the latter looks up at the former, their hands are still firmly together with each finger laced across, they slightly release the pressure from their hugs, and slowly lean in

"H-Hey. I like you..." Ray blushes as the words blurt out of her mouth. "I really like you."

"I like you too." Link smiles but then suddenly stops moving towards her. "May I?" He asks courteously

"Mhm." Ray nods and closes her eyes

Link tenderly grabs Ray's chin just as he leans in and makes contact with her lips, a soft and gentle kiss that is short lived as they pull away and smile at one another

"Wow." Ray's face beams as she feels goosebumps running down her spine

"If this is what running off to be alone entails, I think I could get used to it." Link chuckles

"Just shut up and do it again." Ray giggles with even more excitement as she leans closer

Link puts his hand on the back of Ray's head to pull her closer. First, he kisses her right cheek, and then her left, each soft peck makes the girl blush more intensely. Ray's breathing becomes heavier when she is kissed on the forehead, and then lastly her neck. Link transitions back to her lips and shortly after, it is Ray who kisses back with intensity and passion, each one reducing in speed as they go from short, quick pecks to one big long kiss. Link pulls back and rests his forehead on hers

"Not so nervous now, are you?" Link mumbles

"Sorry, but I'm so excited, this feels amazing." Ray pushes Link back, pounces on top of him, and now she begins to do the kissing. Each kiss filled slowly burning with passion. "Link..."

"Ray..." Link wraps his arms around Ray again and holds her closer as they continue to kiss, both friends close their eyes to savor each sensation and finally end up surrendering fully to the moment

…

Moments Later

"That was... So fun." Ray smiles and stares up into the dark sky, eyeing the stars, and feeling her skin tingle a bit

"You can say that again." Link exhales and follows Ray's gaze. "Is your family going to chew you out? Or me? We only kissed but I've met your father. Plus you missed the meteor shower with them."

"I hope they don't give me a hard time for it. I have seen that beautiful meteor shower with them about six or seven times, surely spending this moment with someone else can't do any harm." Ray sighs and rests her head against Link's arm. "Quick question. What does this mean for us?"

"Good question." Link smirks. "We like each other, that's obvious, are we in a relationship? Not yet but the possibilities are endless."

"Okay!" Ray nods very fast, "I can work with that. Sorry, I've never been in a relationship before. I suppose holding off on it would be for the best."

"I understand. I have been in one either. Before we enter one, let's be confused and make mistakes together." Link nudges her midsection with his elbow

"I wouldn't want it any other way." Ray smiles. "So until the time is right… What kind of mistakes did you have in mind?"

"I won't even bother responding seriously." Link rolls his eyes

"SORRY!" Ray laughs hysterically as she quickly leans over to give him another quick kiss on the lips

"Ahem."

A loud cough is heard, both Ray and Link sit up and see Liam staring right at them, catching them right as Ray is about to place her lips onto Link's

"Liam!" She jumps and starts to breathe heavily, "I-I-! W-we! Agh!" She shuts her eyes and shakes her head

"Crap." Link frowns and hugs her tightly for comfort. "We make mistakes and get confused together. Right?"

"..." Ray says nothing and reluctantly opens her eyes. "Right." She nods and looks at Liam, who is smirking

"I was sent by our mother because well, you didn't show up like you said you would. We got worried, I told them you were probably at home with this guy." Liam points at Link. "But they sent me anyway just to be certain. Now here I am, catching you red handed in the arms of a stranger."

"This guy? A stranger?" Link shrugs (Just tell me to get out of your village already)

"Liam I swear if you don't-!"

"HEY!" Liam's smirk disappears. "Relax, I'm not going to tell anyone about you two kissing."

"Y-You're not?" Ray raises an eyebrow

"No." Liam shakes his head, "My sister's first emotional connection? The last thing I want is our father destroying the village as he tries to kill you." He glances towards Link

"Oh Liam..." Ray smiles

"Hold up, I am not finished." Liam raises his hand and then points right at Link. "You and I need to talk first."

"Okay." Link nods. "Ray, you go inside. I'll be out here with your brother." He smirks at Liam and then without hesitation jumps off the roof and lands perfectly

"Please boys no fighting." Ray lets out an annoyed sigh as she gets down from the roof in a less flashy way, being careful and precise but almost too careful, like she had something else on her mind

"We'll try." Liam replies sarcastically and paces around until he sees his sister enter their home

"Before you start." Link nods. "I want to say-!"

"Stop." Liam cuts him off, "You don't even know what I'm going to say." He shrugs and finally stares directly at Link, "I'm not the biggest fan of you but that doesn't mean I hate you like some people in the village. Believe me, I heard the rumors, and even to me they sound like a load of crap."

"Really?" Link shockingly nods. "Thank you."

"This isn't about me or you, it's about my sister. She obviously likes you, and you like her back but the reality of our current situation is that you've barely known each other for a month. And you're already kissing? Scratch that, it's not the important part-!"

"Liam." Link shakes his head, "I know what you mean, this is about Ray's safety and wellbeing. To be honest, I don't know what to say, we were in the moment, it happened, and now she wants us to be... Together, but we didn't agree to anything, since we don't know each other long enough. On one hand, I will protect her with my life, but on the other hand… Why put her in danger to begin with?"

"You have a tough decision to make, you do remember the agreement right?" Liam asks. "How is that going to work if you and my sister become more serious in the coming days?"

"Oh my..." Link sighs and angrily slaps his head. "I completely forgot that I am supposed to leave in about ten days or less."

"And hey, just because I don't like you doesn't mean I don't respect you. If anyone is worthy of being close with my sister, it is definitely you." Liam firmly nods. "With that being said, if you change your mind and wish to stay... I'll put in a good word for you with my father."

"Wow Liam, I honestly did not expect that from you." Link smiles and offers a handshake

"On one condition." Liam smirks

"Of course." Link rolls his eyes and rops his hand. "There's always a catch."

"Spar with me. I am serious when I say that, what you saw of me when we 'fought' the first time, was not me at my best. You and then those four idiots caught me off guard. Accept my request for a fight tomorrow, and let's agree to not hold back." Liam extends his hand for a handshake

"Deal." Link nods and gracefully accept the handshake

"Now if you'll excuse me I will head back and join my parents, I'll tell them Ray hit the sheets early but that she's obviously safe. Then afterwards I'll head off to train for our match."

"Train hard." Link releases the handshake and heads back to the house

(I can't stay, I have to leave... The thought of putting these people through any danger is not something I want on my cons-! Wait… I sound like that bartender now.)

Link enters the house and immediately he is met with Ray's embrace, a simple hug from behind

"So how did it go?" Ray jumps excitedly. "Did he threaten to hurt you?"

"No." Link shakes his head and wraps his arm around Ray, returning the hug. "He was actually quite supportive."

"Really? No way!" Ray smiles, "Liam? Supportive?! You are messing with me." She continues jumping from excitement and leans in for a kiss

"R-Ray we should talk about-!"

Before he can finish, Link is met with an eager kiss, both of them go silent as they kiss back softly until Ray pulls back, sensing something is wrong

"Hmm..." Ray frowns. "That was good but not perfect like our first kiss. What gives?"

"Really? It felt the same for me." Link lets go of Ray and walks towards 'his' room, which is actually just Ray's room and the two of them share it

"Well for me it felt like something happened to me the first time we kissed. I felt my entire body tense up, shake a bit, and then it felt like it had been relieved from all stress. It honestly felt amazing for a good ten seconds. Like my entire body was coursing with energy."

"Did you get to see any of this?" Link asks. "As in visually."

"N-No silly. My eyes were closed when we kissed. As I felt it, I opened my eyes but it was like this energy faded. I only caught a small glimpse of it."

(Ray has unlocked her aura. This has to be it, I unintentionally unlocked her aura when we kissed. Which is strange because I don't recall using my own at all. It's not like I even know when I'm using my aura, since it feels like second nature now.)

"Do you know anything about it, Link?" Ray looks at him with hope glistering in her eyes

"..." Link sighs, "I do have an idea but… Tell me Ray, how much do you know about Aura?"

"Oh um, I want to say a lot but I don't know if our books on Aura and Dust are accurate." She mumbles

"Right... How much do you know about someone's aura activating?" Link shrugs, practically confused when he finishes the question

"I know aura can activate on its own. And that someone can use their own aura to unlock other people's aura. Though I'm not sure that's relevant to what I told you and-!" Ray gasps and jumps with excitement, "You're saying... I, my aura is now acti-! This is awesome!" She then stops and slightly blushes, "Was it when we, you know?"

"Mhm." Link gently smirks. "Or at least I think so. It has to be that, it was unintentional but there was a lot of physical contact. I sort of felt some tension and energy coming from me, so hearing this about you only confirms my doubts."

"Wait but I also read that in order for someone to be able to unlock it would require them to be really well trained and skillful, how long have you been mastering your aura control?" Ray asks

"Truth be told." Link shakes his head, "Never. All of my 'training' is fighting Grimm and combating mercenaries, assassins, and more. By no means would I consider it natural, I guess I never realized how well my aura developed whilst being on the move or on the run for so long."

"Cool. My teacher is way stronger than I thought he'd be." Ray giggles

"Very funny." Link rolls his eyes, "Do you have any more jokes? You should let them out now." He mumbles as he walks over and sits down on a wooden chair in the kitchen

"Why?" Ray sighs and sits on a chair next to him

"We cannot be together Ray." Link speaks firmly and with no intention to hold back, "During my talk with Liam it hit me that I made an agreement with your father, the village council and the elders that I would leave. The deadline is coming up as well."

"W-what?" Ray leans back and nearly falls out of the chair, her hands vigorously shake, "I completely forgot about that. NO!" She stands up and furiously paces around, "You can't leave, ever since that woman came to hunt you down there has not been a single other attempt at someone infiltrating the village. Surely that means she was alone right? That she was the only one who knew, so let's say that woman was the only one, you can stay then right?"

"This is not about me Ray. I agreed to leave for a number of reasons. I do not hate it here, in fact, I love it here. Right now the question of whether or not the village people like me is up in the air, but I understand why they wouldn't trust me. Overall, this place is somewhat accepting, hell if this were any other hidden village, I would have been kicked out already. I don't want you, Liam, your mother, father, or anyone else to get hurt or worse, killed because of me."

"We won't get hurt, not with you here. There has to be something we can do." Ray frowns and closes her eyes shut

"Ray, I already said the deadline is coming-!"

"Shut up." Ray shakes her head. "There has to be something I can do then."

"Hey, relax." Link stands up and approaches her, "I'm doing this for you." He wraps his arms around Ray and holds her close

"Then don't leave me. If you're going to do anything to me, don't leave" Ray looks up at him. "Was kissing a mistake?"

"No. Do not say that." Link sighs and looks into her emerald green eyes, "Of course I want to stay here and be with you. I want to get to know you even more while witnessing this village grow stronger and better with every passing day. However, I think I'm cursed. Anyone who I come into contact with ends up getting hurt. I do not want you to be on that list."

"Maybe I want to be on that list." Ray laughs. "If I'm not on your spooky cursed list, then that means I would have never met you."

"Ray, I know what you are doing." Link shakes his head. "I'd rather you be honest than try to manipulate me."

"Can't I do both?" Ray continues to laugh nervously, as if trying to hide her emotions. "I don't want you to go. I want to be by your side, you think you'll never live a normal life again, but darn it that's not true and you can't let these awful past demons haunt you forever."

"Haunt me? You're missing the point Ray, I don't care if they haunt me…" Link sighs. "They're going to need a lot more than some assassins and mercenaries to kill me. I don't want them to come after you, that's the problem."

"That's what I mean!" Ray's eyes close and when they reopen, tears stream down her cheeks. "You can stay here, with people that are accepting… Despite their skepticism. You can help us become bigger and stronger. The reason we want to stay secluded is because we know we're weak, but with you here, you could be Garanda's catalyst for change."

"Come on Ray, don't do this to me. I already had a plan that I was sticking to. Now you're making me have doubts when I shouldn't-!"

"If you leave then I'll go with you." Ray bluntly shouts

"W-What?" Link shakes his head. "Ray, you said it yourself, you're not ready to leave. Don't do this just because you want to be with me. You should never make drastic life changing decisions when you're stressed out."

"Practice what you preach then!" Ray breaks away from the hug to wipe her eyes, "You were pressured by them weren't you? Did my father use me as an example?"

"No…" Link shakes his head. "They all used you as an example."

"How dare they do th-!" Ray frowns and starts to pace around inside the house once again, "Let's leave then. You and I, together!"

"Stop it Ray." Link sighs, "They used you because I brought it up. They asked about the details of my past 'work' so I described everything: The White Fang, that mysterious woman manipulating the White Fang, they had me detail of the mercenary jobs that I did... they deemed it fit that I leave, and I agreed. For your safety and the safety of your family."

"..." Ray does not reply, she simply nods. "So when do you leave?"

"Specifically? I'm not sure, I think ten but that could change."

"Okay." Ray nods and walks away from Link, promptly entering their shared room, she takes less than a minute to come back out from the room and with something in her hand. "I wanted to wait but knowing you, those ten days could turn into 10 hours and you'll leave while I'm sleeping." She sighs and reaches over Link's head, then fidgets with something on the back of his neck

"Ray, what are you doing?"

"Shut up." Ray giggles and backs away, her frown instantly turns into a smile

"Hey, your smile is back." Link looks down and lightly touches a bulky pink pendant. "It's beautiful."

"Thanks." Ray's smile grows bigger. "I wanted to get you something special, something to give you during the meteor shower, but I didn't want to ruin our moment. Instead of it being a representation of our village, think of it as something to always remember me by."

"Ray..." Link starts, but almost immediately is cut off

"It's okay, I know, you've spoken what you had to say already." Ray sighs and puts her head down

"Now you're making me rethink everything." Link chuckles. "This is not easy Ray, I don't want to leave this place, the people may be split but I did learn tonight that for every five to ten skeptics there is one optimist. Your mother was really friendly to me, your father not so much, he gave off a vibe like he wanted to fight me, your brother is actually really cool when he's nice and then of course..."

"The main event." Ray smiles as she perks up

"How could I ever forget about you?" Link smirks. "I don't want to go, but-!"

"So don't." Ray walks up to Link and pulls him in for another hug. "Stay here and lay low. Nobody will find you. But even if they do, they'll have to get by US first to get to you."

"I can take care of mys-!" Link stops himself and nods along with her words, "But I appreciate the kind words of protection."

"So you'll stay?" Ray asks and dramatically raises her eyebrows

"Absolutely." Link smiles and hugs back

"YES!" Ray jumps and pulls him in for another kiss

As they lose themselves in their embrace, neither of the two teenagers realize that the door has been opened

"Hey Ray are you in h-!" The sound of Ray's mother, Morgan, falls short as she drops the basket she had in her hands

"M-mother!" Ray breaks away from Link and looks around nervously, her hands shake as she bites her lower lip

"What...?" Morgan blinks profusely, trying to wake up from a dream, "What did I just walk in on?"

"You tell me ma'am." Link replies sarcastically

"NOT. HELPING." Ray frowns

"Everyone calm down." Morgan sighs and picks up the basket. "Who knows?"

"What do you mean?" Link asks

"Who knows about you two kissing?" Morgan crosses her arms

"Just Liam." Ray says

"Does your father know?"

"No." Ray shakes her head

"Good. Allowing Link to stay will be tough if he knows you two are becoming romantic." Morgan chuckles. "Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"No ma'am." Link nods

"Of course we aren't mother, we only just-!" Ray frowns. "Wait a second? You were listening?!"

"Liam could not stall me forever, you know." Morgan smiles. "The moment he said you'd rather be back here I knew something was up. I never expected this though, it's very sweet."

"Mom!" Ray crosses her arms now

(That's the first time Ray has called her 'mom', I can tell she's very annoyed now.) Link casually backs away

"I would normally have a very different reaction except one: I don't know how to react since you have never grown this close to a single person not in your family. And two: Especially since you've gotten close with a boy." Morgan winks. "But there's no need to worry, you trust him and so do I."

"Wait, you do?" Link speaks up

"I know, I probably shouldn't, but you seem so genuine and passionate that it's tough not to be on your side. I have only one request... Keep my daughter safe, please?"

"Of course. That's my top priority." Link nods proudly. "So what happens now?"

"We get my father on our side." Ray claps. "And then we change the minds of everyone in the-!"

"One step at a time Ray." Morgan shakes her head

"Sorry mother." Ray sighs, "I'm just so happy that you..." She turns to face Link. "Are actually staying!"

"Likewise." Link nods. "I'm happy too."

"I will go tell your father that you are here... Alone." She winks at both of them. "Be safe and have a good night pumpkin."

"Oh my-!" Ray's jaw drops. "Mom! Don't call me-!"

"S-sorry dear." Morgan laughs, then walks forward to give Ray a hug before turning to Link whilst hugging her daughter. "Assuming you do manage to stay here, I'd like to be the first to officially welcome you to Garanda. Not as a visitor or a stranger, but as a resident."

"I really appreciate that." Link extends his hand. "I would be honored to-!"

"Handshakes? Come here silly." She shakes her head, pulls away from Ray and pulls Link into a hug. "I'm not nearly as strict as her father. You will not have to worry about getting a big sword coming towards your head."

"Umm, good to know." Link shrugs

"Goodbye you two." Morgan waves at her daughter and Link before leaving again

"That went..." Ray blinks repetitively. "Really well."

"I always knew your mother was the more passive one, but never by this margin." Link sighs in relief

"I just wish my father was accepting like she is."

"Well I cannot blame him, he's naturally protective of his family. And when you see your daughter with some weird person and twenty-four-seven, you will instinctively be skeptical of that person." Link lets out another sigh as he sits down

"You are not some weird person though." Ray playfully punches his arm, "Oh man things are going great, all that needs to happen now is getting my father to convince the village council to-!"

"Your mother did say one step at a time." Link extends his arm and puts an index finger on her lips. "Let's focus on convincing your father first... Speaking of your father, he is a sword wielder too?"

"Oh yeah, but his sword is huge, it's about his size actually." Ray scratches her head. "He can wield it with one arm too."

"Really? Good to know." Link sighs nervously

"Relax, he's not going to attack you." Ray rolls her eyes

"I believe you." Link nods. "Hey it's getting late and I know it's your birthday but-!"

"Say no more. I'm tired too." Ray smiles and nods, she then awkwardly give Link a small peck on the cheek before she trails off to her room

---

Present Time

"Awwww." Yang gasps. "That's so sweet and adorable. Isn't it guys?"

Silent nods are all the reactions that Yang receives as nobody else dares to speak up, knowing this story does not have a happy ending. It does not click for Yang immediately that these happy moments were Ray's last

'Sorry." Yang shakes her head

"It's okay." Link nods. "It is a beautiful story to tell and hear I'm sure."

"So how did you end up telling her old man?" Coco asks

"I did not... Someone chose to tell him without my permission or acknowledgment. Let's just say it 'interrupted' the sparring match with Liam that agreed upon the previous day." Link shrugs as he remembers everything, the glimpses of Ray's clumsiness nearly make him shed a tear

"Link?" Weiss reaches to place a hand on his shoulder

"Don't touch me." Link frowns

"Geez, sorry." Weiss narrows her eyes. "I was trying to comfort you."

"O-Oh!" Link blinks and sighs. "I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's fine." Weiss looks away

"How did the sparring match go?" Ruby asks

"Yes, the sparring match, here's how it went." Link breathes in, breathes out and then opens his mouth to continue

Garanda: The Next Day

"A super cool move, but you don't think it's ready yet?" Ray backs up against a tree and bites down on an apple.

"That's right." Link nods and jogs away from Ray. "Does it matter which tree I hit?"

"No, not at all." Ray shrugs. "I still think you're full of it, I've seen the way you fight, there's no way you still have cool moves hidden away."

"Bite your tongue then." Link slows down and stands about ten meters away from a tall and thick tree

Ray swallows the chunk of apple in her mouth and stops everything she is doing to pay full attention. Link shuts his eyes, gets in a defensive stance, with his knees bent forward and places his hand on the handle of his sword. Suddenly, the triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden energy highlighting his weapons, parts of his clothing, and his left eye

"Whoa..." Ray drops her apple in disbelief

(NOW!) Link opens his eyes, the golden color in his left eye flashes brighter than before, but only for a slight second and then…

ZOOM!

Just like that, Link is gone and already on the other side of the tree. Additionally, he is no longer in a defensive stance, but now in a direct attack stance, with his sword out and straightforward, indicating that he has already swung and sliced through his target... Within seconds, the tree starts to collapse

"L-link!" Ray runs towards him

"Right." Link nods and swiftly evades an incoming wood crashing down on top of him

"That was... AWESOME!" Ray claps and proudly hugs him

"I still think it needs work. My timing was a bit off and it didn't have full power."

"That didn't have full power? Holy crap, you could kill someone with that amount of power if you really wanted to. Where did you come up with this move?" Ray asks

"O-Oh, I..." Link trails off and does not immediately answer her. "...Guess you could say I copied it from someone powerful. It's a big part of his semblance, though I am not entirely sure what his semblance truly is. So if you think my version was good, his is one hundred times better. I merely just watched, observed carefully and then tried to make it my own, though it is nothing like the original."

"Is there any chance I'd ever get to see the original? Because I bet it would be so-!"

"No." Link replies bluntly. "He's the guy who sent the mercenary or assassin, whatever she was after me. If you ever see him, look the other way and run."

"O-Okay." Ray nods nervously. "Whoa, even that just sent chills down my spine and I don't even know the man."

"Yes, I have only fought him once, but I could tell he was going easy on me. But am I scared of him?" Link shakes his head. "I would not go that far either. He is just someone I will be very cautious of if I ever see him again."

"So... Topic change!" Ray plops down and lies back against the grass. "When are you and Liam having this big fight to the death type duel?"

"Very funny." Link shrugs and walks over to the 'cut' tree, taking a good look at all the rings in the stump. "Liam said he did not want to hold back and to not judge him based on that scuffle we had a month ago. I don't judge him but I think he's in his own head about that fight."

"I understand. I mean it's obvious that you just caught him off guard that day, he didn't act like himself... Believe it or not the whole macho thing isn't really Liam's style." Ray sighs as she sits up, "Oh, speak of the devil." She points at her brother, who is running towards them. "Hiiii!"

"Hey!" Liam waves as he skids and stops right in front of Ray. "Was he practicing?"

"Oh yeah." Ray nods and points at the fallen tree

"He did that?" Liam looks directly at Link, who is now sitting on the stump

"Are you scared?" Ray asks

"W-What? No!" Liam scoffs and then immediately lets out a sigh. "Sorry sis, I was not scared coming into today, but now I just might be… A little."

"Don't be, just do your best." Ray stands up and taps Liam's chest with the handle of her sword. "Link will go all out like you requested, but the fighting will stop if it gets too serious, right?"

"Yeah, of course." Liam nods, "How are you coming along?" He asks

"I'm getting better, Link's constant need to humiliate me has made me tone down my overly aggressive attacks. I no longer act rashly ever since my 'teacher' explained to me about seven hundred times that I just leave myself open too much."

"Hm, that's good advice. One day, we should spar." Liam nods and walks away from his sister

"I'd love that!" Ray calls out

"You're here." Link pushes off the stump up to his feet and comes face to face with Liam. "Anything else you want to declare, like some rules?"

"No. Let's go all out and push each other to the limit." Liam nods and extends his hand. "Of course, whoever wants to surrender first can say so."

"Good." Link shakes his hand, and after a few seconds the blonde boy jumps back while Liam slides back, both create a fair amount of distance between each other

Liam grabs his large knife from its leather sheath and holds it tightly by the handle, blade backwards. Link grabs his sword and shield and gets in a defensive stance, shield first, sword behind him.

"From what Ray tells me, his fighting style is counter attacking, I need to draw him out first." Liam slowly approaches Link, both keeping their full attention on each other. Unbeknownst to both of them, Ray runs off before the match has even begun

Link runs at Liam and starts with simple sword slashes, and although each of his slashes are blocked by Liam, the brunette boy does not notice that he's being pushed back after every block. Soon enough, he is about to be rammed back first into a tree, Liam catches Link by surprise with a powerful block that ricochets both of their weapons out of each other's grasp.

"Perfect, let's see what he can do without his weapon of choice."

Liam smirks and rushes at Link, showing off an unseen arsenal of quick punches at kicks, none aimed at a single specific area. Link does his best to dodge and block, but mostly uses his shield to block most of the impact. He continues to dodge and block until finally choosing to back away completely with an impressive backflip, having to drop his shield in order to create a long enough distraction to make his escape

"Crap... I just went at him and barely got anything out of it." Liam frowns and glances at his balled up hands, they are battered and his knuckles are shedding blood from the collision against the metal shield

"Hmm, Liam has not unlocked his aura... Otherwise his hands would be healing up by now." Link sneaks away, running behind multiple tree before ultimately scaling one and silently

"Done already?!" Liam shouts and picks up his opponent's shield in the process of spinning around and trying to locate him

(Not quite…) Link grabs a smoke bomb, squeezes on it tightly and hurls it towards Liam with a quick side arm throw

The bob immediately goes off in Liam's face, which gives Link the time to grab his bow and start firing off arrows in quick fashion. The sound of metal clashing is heard as Liam does his best to use Link's shield to block the arrows. After a few minutes, with the smoke slowly clearing away and with Link seemingly running out of arrows, Liam is able to pinpoint Link's exact spot, but as he runs towards the tree, nobody is there anymore

"Think fast!" Link leaps off the top of the tree and falls towards Liam with both legs extended, intending on striking with a double foot stomp

Liam follows his advice and thinks fast, he drops to one knee, stabilizes his body, and covers himself with the shield. Link frowns and contemplates switching his attack, but decides to proceed, and both of his feet make contact with the shield! The double foot stomp lands successfully, and all of his body weight presses the shield protecting Liam, whose sturdy stance manages to keep him still, only his kneeling leg is driven into the ground. Eventually, Liam pushes back with all his strength and sends Link flying away. The latter lands on both of his feet as the former gets back up

"Good stuff." Liam nods and launches the shield back to its owner. "Not sure how you generate so much power, considering you don't weigh a lot but, consider me impressed."

"Likewise, for someone who only trains against students, you're quite strong." Link catches his shield and returns the favor as he lands right next to their weapons. He picks up the brunette boy's hunting knife and returns it to him with a light throw. Link glances at the tree he chopped down to see Ray's reaction, but there are no signs of her. "Where did your sister go?"

"Huh?" Liam follows Link's gaze. "Hm, I guess she ran off. There's nothing for her at home, the day after the ceremony and festival, our village gets that day off."

"That means your father is at home?" Link asks

"Yes." Liam nods. "You don't think she's going to… Damn it Ray!"

"Look, that doesn't matter right now. Let's finish our match shall we?" Link picks up his sword. "When Ray comes back, we'll find out if she said anything to your father."

"Our match just started but sure, since we're warmed up now." Liam nods. "Is now the time to go all out?"

"Absolutely." Link nods and shuts his eyes for a few seconds to focus and get ready for his next attack

"How is he still so fresh, my hands are completely spent." Liam frowns as he backs away. "Could it be that he's unlocked his aura? I guess that stuff about it is true after all, I should have listened to Professor Abha more."

Both of the teenagers charge at each other and clash weapons with Liam needing to use both hands just to withstand the collision of a sword slash from Link, who only uses one hand. Although, just as the slow pace of their match gets even slower… The pace picks up just as quickly, when Liam starts to implement his rapid kicks with his knife slashes. Unfortunately for him, it is still not enough to get the upper hand. Link not only keeps up, but also hits the gas pedal even more as his simple sword slashes have some variety with jabs, spinning slashes, low, high, horizontal, and vertical slashes. Each one is quicker and more lethal, to the point where some of his attacks begin connecting, slowly tearing Liam's clothes and piercing his skin in the upper body region, specifically his arms and midsection

"Maybe I can unlock my aura fighting him." Liam growls as he pushes through the pain and ignores the blood coming out of his exposed wounds. "The only problem is I don't know how to do it. Professor Abha told us how it can be done because there are multiple ways… Why did I have to slack off that day? Crap!"

"Get ready Liam. If you're too slow, this one is over." Link exhales and suddenly decides to put his sword away

Link reaches into his pouch, grabs several items and then starts to sprint circles around Liam, slowly exposing two throwing knives and a boomerang. After multiple loops around the confused brunette, he fires one knife towards Liam, aiming right for his head

"Child's play!" Liam swings his knife and easily blocks the smaller knife, deflecting and sending it flying back

"Just keep your eyes peeled." Link starts to run around again and right as he gains more speed, he stops and launches the boomerang

Liam makes quick work of it as well, a big smile is seen on his face, but it immediately fades when he looks over and sees Link nowhere to be found

"If that's broken… You owe me a new boomerang." Link's voice is heard from above as he throws the last projectile in his hand towards Liam

Caught by surprise, Liam nearly is impaled by the knife, but an instinctive dodge helps him just in time. Although he makes another grave mistake, he forgets about Link, who lands right behind him, his bow in hand and two arrows pulled back. He slightly angles the bow towards his right and fires the two arrows, one hits the back of Liam's left leg, piercing his hamstring, the other arrow hits the back of his arm, entering his arm and burying itself into his tricep

"AH! FU-!" Liam drops his weapon, falls to one knee, and covers his mouth

"Now it is over." Link sighs and walks around Liam to look at him face to face

"I'm not done yet." Liam smirks as he yanks an arrow out of his arm with excessive force

"You put up a good fight, let's just leave it at that." Link shakes his head

"I'm still... STANDING!" Liam rises to his feet, pulls the arrow out of his leg and throws both of them at their original owner like spears

Link promptly dodges both arrows, the only thing that lands on him is when the former mercenary gets a bit of the blood dripping from the arrow on his cheek. He nods in approval at Liam's powerful throw but then frowns and grabs just his sword

"Then allow me to finish this once and for all." Link wipes the blood off his face and runs at Liam

Liam wildly swigs his knife at Link, who knocks it out of his hands with just one sword slash. Liam dodges multiple sword slashes and attempts to switch the pace of the fight towards hand-to-hand combat, but after only a single punch thrown by Link, Link stops the transition with a block, not a shield block, but his own hand. The same hand he uses to grab his shield rises up, completely open, and ignoring the powerful defensive weapon on his forearm catches Liam's fist. All tension from the match is suddenly drained as both of them go silent

"Damn, you sure know how to completely halt a fight, huh?" Liam smirks

"Are you sure about this?" Link asks as he tightens the pressure on his opponent's fist

"Give me your best shot." Liam nods

Link slightly twists Liam's arm and then sends him skidding backwards along the floor with a light kick to the gut. The triforce on Link's left hand lights up with a bright flashing gold color, he raises the glowing left hand and aims it at Liam, but before the flashing beam of light can shoot towards his target, the fight is interrupted

"LINK!" Ray loudly shouts as she sprints towards her brother and close friend

"Ray?" Liam frowns and winces in pain whilst getting up

"What's going on?" Link asks as the bright golden light around his hand fades away

"You have to go! Hide! Go hide somewhere, anywhere!" She slams right into Link and starts slapping his chest. "Go, go, go!"

"Slow down!" Link grabs her by the shoulders. "What happened?"

"I may have told my father about us kissing." Ray shakes her head, blushing with embarrassment

"Are you insane?" Liam shouts. "Why would you do that?"

"I didn't mean to!" Ray covers her face in shame

"Your mother specifically told you not to. How did this happen?" Link sighs and looks around, trying to see if the siblings father is anywhere in sight

"It started with me trying to convince him to let you stay, because if we have him on your side, the village councilmen and elders might also jump on board, and then he asked why." Ray looks at the ground, ashamed. "Let's just say, I went into too much detail, then he put the pressure on me, more questions led to more answers, and I ended up revealing what happened on the night of the ceremony. You know how I am under pressure, I crack easier than an egg."

"That doesn't explain why you're panicking so much. What's the worst that can happen?" Link asks the question, and for almost an entire minute, he gets cold stares from both sister and brother

"Plenty can happen." Liam shrugs and looks over to his sister. "Is Link going to die? Is father coming here right now?"

"I lied and said Link was at the council building trying to plead his case, but it's only a matter of time before he knows where we are... Father already knows we train outside of the village." Ray's heavy breathing slowly tone down as she relaxes

"Did he mention or say anything like if he's going to hurt-!"

"Quiet!" Link cuts off Liam and closes his eyes, focusing on the sounds of the area, his pointed ears twitch as certain sounds

Twigs and branches are heard as they loudly break with a sickening snap, the earth shakes, and the flapping of bird wings follows as the birds in trees flee the area. Suddenly all of these sounds come to a halt, and the only detectable sound is that of a loud roar of pure anger.

(ABOVE!) Link looks up and indeed spots the ginormous father of Ray and Liam, coming down towards all three of them, his long sword ready for a mighty swing, "Move!" He extends his arms and stiffly shoves both Ray and Liam away from himself, just as Hiroku is about to collide his sword with the blonde boy's head, Link grabs his shield and stands his ground, ready for the incoming sword smash

"Link no!" Ray's eyes go wide in fear as she pays close attention to the following events while unable to provide any help

BOOM!

Hiroku crashes down hard on Link and slams his sword right into the shield, the aftermatch from the impact is huge as well as shock waves erupt and cause the earth underneath them to crack while the air around them changes completely, the normal peaceful air is now a powerful wind that blows hard against the trees. Liam and Ray, who are still nearby, one on Link's right and the other on his left, are both blown away from the scene and sent crashing against trees by the strong wind

BOOM BOOM!

CRASH!

…

The area eventually clears, with the wind slowing down and the dust around the two of them slowly fading. The cracked earth underneath the feet of the giant warrior and young former mercenary caves in by one or two feet. Both Link and Hiroku on the other hand, are not deterred, remaining the same positions, the former blocks and resists the big sword collision from the latter, who presses and drives his sword forward with all the strength in his body

"You withstood my attack." Hiroku frowns and continues to add more pressure into the shield, expecting it to shatter at any moment now. "What kind of metal is this?! My sword is supposed to be one of the strongest metals in the world."

"I did not think-! Argh!" Link grunts as he struggles and starts to show signs of losing the strength battle, "You were one for a sneak attack!" He drives his shoulder against the shield in order to push back

"When you get involved with someone else's family… The way you have. Everything is fair!" Hiroku gives up on the test of strength, pulls back his sword, brings up a foot and smashes it against the boy's shield. The change in attacks catches Link off guard, sends him flying backwards, and out of the small dent formed in the ground

Link collides with the ground, rolling over and spinning crazily, but before he can even come to a full stop, his momentum sends him rolling further away. Luckily for him, his shield lands only a few inches away from him

"We have to help him!" Ray calls out to Liam and takes off towards Link

"R-right." Liam nods and runs behind his sister. "But what the hell can we do? We're too weak to stop father and Link."

"Get back!"

Both Link and Hiroku shout at the siblings as both of the engaging warriors rise from their own predicament: Link weakly stands up and Hiroku climbs out of the small crater

"I get why you would say that!" Ray shouts at her father before glaring towards Link. "But you? What's going on?"

"Look, Ray." Link frowns and promptly gets into an offensive stance. "I don't know what you told him… But if he thinks he can slam, throw and beat me around like some pest, he's got another thing coming!"

"Fighting back?" Hiroku shakes his head, "You should have kept your head straight and abide by the agreement. That would have been more honorable, rather than get my kids involved with putting in a good word for you. And before you try any of your theatrics, don't think you're special, kid." He sheds a confident smile. "Aura is available to everybody."

"I never thought I was special. Do not underestimate me!" Link narrows his eyes. (You want to see theatrics? Try this!)

The blonde boy closes his eyes, focuses intensely and attempts to summon his inner demon the way he did against Qrow, hoping to show more signs of control… But sadly for him, nothing comes of it

(Better luck next time, brat!) The 'demon' chuckles briefly but that is all it takes for the creepy voice to ring throughout Link's head

(Laugh it up now you sick bastard. One day, your plans to take over, along with your reign of terror over me, everyone you intend on hurting will be no more.)

Hiroku and Link pay no attention to either Ray or Liam and charge forward at full speed, the former surprises his opponent due to his huge long sword being used for quick strikes, but the latter surprises everybody with his resilience, ability to keep up and match the strength of the much bigger man. After twenty seconds of a constant back and forth, and despite there being no clear winner in this exchange, Link successfully blocks every single of one Hiroku's strikes with shield and sword blocks

"No way..." Liam frowns and follows them as his father begins to drive Link backwards into the woods

Link shows no signs of arrogance or concern as now he begins to fight back with offensive strikes. After blocking another one of Hiroku's powerful sword slashes, Link takes a swing of his own, though it is easily blocked by the much larger and heavier sword from his taller and stronger opponent. The former mercenary sheds a smile when he notices the biggest flaw in Hiroku's blocking technique. Link sprints forward, blocks another swing with his shield, crouches to aim low and executes a perfect sweep. However, the sweep is not intended for Hiroku's legs, but for his sword, and as it momentarily slips out of his grasp due to Hiroku's one handed grip on such a long sword leaving an opening for a quick strike on the furthest part of the blade without stability. The boy's smile grows as he takes full advantage and gets in a defensive stance: both feet planted, right foot forward, left leg back, torso twisted to the right, his right arm holding the shield is behind him and his left arm holding his sword is across his body. In one swift motion, smashes his sword into Hiroku's with a rapid spinning slash that launches the humongous sword far away from the larger man

"Alright then! If you want to get crafty, I will get rough!" Hiroku reaches out and stops Link mid-spin, gripping the sharp blade, it shreds through his skin, but before any more damage can be done, his aura kicks in and prevents the sword from cutting his hand off

"W-what the-!" Link pulls back, but quickly notices that Hiroku is purposely keeping his hand engraved in the sword. "Are you insane?!"

Hiroku grabs Link by the neck and hurls him out of the woods, and on his way out, the boy crashes into and through many thin trees. Hiroku then takes another huge leap and follows his launched enemy

"Over there!" Ray points as she and Liam see the scenery of Link flying through trees and their father follows closely behind. "Let's go!"

"Right!" Liam nods as they take off. "This is pointless, I'm only following along because my sister insists on helping, but we are so out of depth here."

Hiroku follows Link and lands perfectly on his feet. Luckily for him, his sword is only a few feet away and buried a couple of inches inside the ground. The man intends to walk over to sword, but first casually pulls out the sword stuck in his hand and tosses it back to its original owner who is lying on the ground several feet away

"You're really good, kid. But not good enough!" Hiroku flexes his partially shredded hand to make sure it has mobility, then pulls his long sword out of the ground effortlessly before running towards his opponent yet again

"Father no!" Ray continues sprinting towards them, but is physically held back by her arm

"Ray no! You will get hurt!" Liam struggles to hold back his sister as his grip begins to get weaker from the damage he took earlier

"He's going to kill Link!" Ray cries out. "We have to-!"

"I'm not so sure about that sis." Liam takes his attention off his sister to look back towards the fight, his words inspired by the sight of his father being covered in smoke

Hiroku carefully navigates through the smoke, and then recklessly takes a swing, bringing his sword down on the area where Link was last seen

CRASH!

A heavy collision between the giant sword and the ground is the only thing impacted as the sword causes the ground he stands on to rumble

"..." Link does not speak but creepily appears right behind Hiroku the way a ninja would sneak up on a victim, with unexpected speed and stealth

BOOM!

"What was that?!" Ray runs towards the smoke, but stops just as it grazes her skin, she takes Liam's words into consideration and keeps a safe distance from the action

"Holy s-!"

Liam's jaw 'drops' as he and Ray wipe their eyes, when they regain their vision, the siblings see something unexpected… The smoke clears and Hiroku is trapped in between two visible triforces, one is faded and glistening with a gold-white color while the other is bright and glittering with a bright gold color

(N-No! That's not good at all…) Link frowns and grunts as his first vertical slash, the attack that normally sets up the rest of his combination... Is easily blocked. His opponent's sword is buried in the ground and partially through the triforce in front of him, causing the spinning entity to start cracking

"Whoa..." Liam approaches only slightly closer, observing everything carefully, his excitement only intensifies when he sees that the test of strength between Link and Hiroku is dead even. "No matter how strong Link is, he shouldn't be competitive with father on physical strength."

"It's those things, brother." Ray points at the triforces, which slowly and methodically spin in place, "They are trapping father, they are limiting his strength and not allowing him to put his entire body into his stance."

"You are the first one to ever block this, I'm very impressed." Link's left eye momentarily glows the same golden color as before. "But you will not be the first to counter it!" He eventually manages to overpower Hiroku, push his sword back inside the triforces and finally trap him permanently

Link does not hesitate to attack with a variety of different sword attacks: one handed vertical slashes, angled vertical slashes, low horizontal strikes, two handed slashes for maximum power, spinning slashes, quick jabs, and each time he strikes,the boy leaves afterimages that appears as flashes of light beaming all around and through the triforces

"So cool." Ray smiles, but almost immediately shakes her head when she remembers it is her father being hit with this attack she is admiring

Link does not say a single word throughout the entire sequence, but a look of intensity is seen on his face when he delivers the final blow, a two handed and looping horizontal strike for the chest

SLAM!

The final attack cracks the triforces and sends Hiroku crashing through the mystical entities, and therefore shattering them like glass

"Father!" Liam runs towards Hiroku as he continues soaring through the air, until he finally hits the ground with plenty of force

"Is it over?" Ray doesn't move, she remains undecided on whether to check her friend or father

"No!" Hiroku's voice is heard as he sits up and on both knees, breathing and panting hard, the cuts and slashes on his arms, chest, and midsection are not nearly as bad as they should have been, thanks to his aura

"Very well then!" Link brings his shield back out as he turns towards Hiroku. (I'm not trying to fight to the death but Ray's father is showing signs that he DOES.)

Hiroku simply nods, forces himself up to both feet, grabs his sword and jogs towards Link. Both of them collide swords once again just like most of their first exchanges. Predictably, they struggle against one another, despite Link's fatigue and Hiroku's injuries. The older man then shows his agility by planting his feet into the ground, turning towards his left, retracting his sword and then promptly slamming it into the boy's shield. The sudden switch in attack knocks the defensive weapon out of his hands and almost sends it colliding into his head. Link moves his head to the side, and with him now having a free hand, reaches into the pouch on his belt, grabs a throwing knife and launches it at Hiroku. However, this attack is easily telegraphed and Ray's father dodges it with ease. Hiroku scoffs and attempts another sword strike, this time an overhead downwards strike, but this attack is to slow and swiftly dodges with a simple sidestep

"Come on brother! We have to do something!" Ray runs over to Liam, who continues to watch them fight in complete shock and awe

"What can we do? We are way out of our league here." He shakes his head

Link turns around, sprints for his shield and slickly picks up while on the run, but Hiroku is on the chase for him. The former quickly loops around and soon, he and Hiroku collide swords once again, but instead of the same result as before, Link finally starts to get the upper hand when solely using his shield to block, rather than colliding swords. The faster Hiroku swings his massive sword, the faster Link blocks and retaliates with his own attacks, and now he starts to push back the much bigger and experienced opponent with high-speed sword jabs

"Damn it! Rahhhhhh!" Hiroku leaps backward to get in a striking stance, and suddenly with his right hand tightly grasping onto the handle of his sword, he lifts it over his shoulder, waits for Link to charge at him and when close enough, the bigger man swings his sword with an immense and powerful horizontal swing, his intention to his hit the boy's neck

"Hmph!" Link jumps, using enough power and gaining enough air to land perfectly with both feet on Hiroku's sword when his swing comes to a full stop

But it is not that simple as the boy's eyes widen when he feels the sword vibrate against his feet, indicating how much power was put into the swing. Link focuses his attention on the tip of Hiroku's sword, and when looking up to see where the sword is pointed, he sees multiple sliced trees in front of them, all cut by the aftermath of a sword strike that did not make contact with a single tree

(H-His swing… Generated powerful air that sliced through multiple trees?!) Link blinks in confusion. (Just how much strength does he have? Has he been holding back?)

Link lowers his head and shuts his eyes, the tense moment of him firmly standing on the large sword feels like an hour long, but in reality only five seconds transpire, before Hiroku violently swings his sword again. But Link is two steps ahead and leaps off the sharp metal, landing right behind the father of Ray and Liam

"Alright I'll give you the credit you deserve." Hiroku frowns, refusing to turn and face Link. "You're better than I thought you were."

"Thank you." Link nods as he makes the mistake of lowering his guard and slowly turning around

"I didn't say we were finished!" Hiroku whips around with intense acceleration and swings his sword, aiming for the boy's neck

Link doesn't respond, instead he freezes, shuts his eyes, and tenses up… But instead of feeling a sword slice into his neck and decapitate him, it's nothing more than a slight graze

(I-I'm alive? Did he stop? Maybe I died so quickly that it felt like nothing.) Link internally mumbles, slowly opens his eyes and sees Hiroku's sword right on his neck

"What?!" Hiroku frowns and pushes deeper but the sword does not move an inch. "More tricks?"

(I don't understand? W-what is this?) Link's eyes now shoot open when he sees what exactly stopped the blade. A bright and powerful golden energy, that is brighter and certainly thicker than aura, which is normally invisible. (It's a golden-yellow color like my aura but if Hiroku can see it… This is something else. The question is what?)

Hiroku, after struggling for half a minute to follow through with his attack, relents and pulls back on his sword. He grunts and waits until the golden energy around Link disappears before throwing another strike; and yet, this time Link is prepared. However, as both of their swords are set to collide for the umpteenth time, an arrow flies in between them and halts their fight

"Not another merce-!" Hiroku turns in the direction of the arrow, but his suspicions of a mercenary are incorrect when he sees his wife, Morgan, aiming a brand new bow at both of them. This bow in question, looks identical to the blonde swordsman he was just fighting moments ago

"That's enough fighting for today." Morgan smiles gracefully while she lowers the weapon and walks towards them

"Is that my-!" Link reaches for his bow, it is physically there, having used it against Liam. This revelation leaves him puzzled. "How did you...?"

"Hehe, sorry." Ray calls out as she and Liam run to the three of them, having taken cover shortly prior behind trees at a safe distance. "You brought up how my mother and I never had weapons, so when you had a custom sword made for me, I figured I'd do the same for my mother, but with your bow."

"Oh." Link nods but immediately frowns seconds later. "You didn't have to steal my bow, Ray. You could have just asked."

"Sorry." Ray blushes

"What is going on here?" Morgan asks whilst having to get in between Hiroku and Link, forcing them to distance themselves from one another. "Someone better start talking."

"Go on Ray." Liam lightly pushes his sister forward

"Um..." Ray tenses up as her hands begin to shake frantically. "I ummmm-!"

"She told me about their thing." Hiroku points his sword in Link's direction. "After we made a deal that he would leave... To avoid something like this from happening."

"And your logical solution was to attack him?" Morgan raises an eyebrow

"Yes?" Hiroku shrugs. "I admit, it was a brash decision on my part."

"Then there's you." Morgan looks at Link. "You didn't have to fight back the way you were fighting, I know you have it in you to retreat."

"I have no excuses ma'am. He was attacking me and I fought back… When you're right, I did not even need to fight." Link chuckles. "Sorry for kicking up all this dust."

Hiroku, Morgan, Liam and Ray all turn towards Link before pointing all around, small craters in the ground, shredded bushes, destroyed trees, and more

"Y-Yeah, dust!" Ray smirks but gets no reaction. "ANYWAY! Father wouldn't listen to me, as soon as I mentioned what happened yesterday... He took off."

"As usual. It is where we get out brashness and hotheadedness Ray." Liam rolls his eyes

"Be quiet." Hiroku shrugs, "I gave into the rumors like a fool despite how much I denied them. With rumors of you using the village, messing with our family, and so on. I let my anger take over, and I was unable to control it. It's as if it were…"

"Indescribable?" Link asks

"Right." Hiroku nods slowly and hesitantly offers Link a hand. "I apologize, kid. I misjudged you and thought you were just some thug using our small village and messing with my family specifically, but I can see now that you're a genuinely kid. You also gave me the toughest fight of my life... that I will never forget. Sorry for doubting you and believing stupid rumors."

"Don't even worry about it. And agreed, that was definitely the toughest fight I have ever been a part of." Link sighs in relief and gracefully accepts the handshake

"So... The chances of him staying now are?!" Ray jumps on her father's back and giggles

"Very high, if he would like to stay as well." Hiroku continues to shake Link's hand. "I will speak to the council and the elders."

"Yay!" The girl hugs her father tightly. "Well Link, what's it going to be?"

"Of course I would like to stay." Link nods

"Just make me one promise." Hiroku's tone changes as he gets serious. "If you sense any danger or see anyone attacking us… You protect my family with your life. Because we will protect you with our lives."

"Yes sir." Link nods, a determinant look in his eyes, "I will do everything in my power to put you, your family and the village before myself."

"That's good to hear." Hiroku nods respectfully, turns around, and walk away

"Wait! Why don't you describe the fight for me?"

Morgan asks, but instead of a normal response, Hiroku shakes his head and walks even faster, with Ray still on his back

"You must have really damaged his ego." The older woman laughs and lightly pats Link on the shoulder

"He had me on the back foot the whole time so I don't know why he's beating himself up about it." Link chuckles whilst rolling his eyes

---

Present Time

"I wish it did not require a fully fledged fight to regain someone's respect, but I'm glad you were able to." Pyrrha smiles

"Seconded." Blake nods. "It doesn't shock me. Ray's dad sounds like your typical overprotective father, especially over his daughter. My dad is the same way."

"Ugh, relatable." Ruby rolls her eyes

"You guys and your strict parents." Sun rolls his eyes. "How did you ever convince them to let you join an academy then?"

"We grow up, Sun." Yang pumps her fist. "Dad sure tried his best to stop Ruby and I from attending Signal but we got lucky. Our Uncle Qrow was an instructor there soooo, that was our easy way out."

"Talk about getting off easy." Blake sighs. "My parents were impossible to shake when I left home."

"At least you guys had caring parents…" Weiss lets out a quiet sigh, her expression drops too

"Psst." Link whispers to the sad girl on his right while the rest of the group speaks among themselves. "Are you okay?"

"Hm?" Weiss blinks. "Y-Yeah I'm okay, why?"

"No exact reason, but you looked sad. I figured I should check on you." He smiles

"T-Thanks, but I'm okay." Weiss shrugs

"Stay on topic guys." Coco clears her throat. "So even the old man wasn't a match for you." She nods. "Good stuff Link."

"Coco!" Velvet shakes her head in confusion. "That's not what he said at-!"

"What?" Link looks around and notices all the confused looks Coco is getting. "I said he had me on the back foot the entire fight."

"Yeah, but his wife interfered at a convenient time, just as you were clearly getting the better of him." Coco lowers her sunglasses and winks. "I'd consider that a win."

"You're probably the only one." Link shrugs and slowly looks up to admire the sky, but the sight of more Atlas ships arriving sends chills down his spine

"What's wrong?" Ruby reaches over and squeezes his arm, following his gaze, the young huntress realizes what is upsetting her friend

"It only took two of those damn ships to wipe them out." Link points at the biggest ship that was slowly descending on the landing docks, alongside a smaller ship following right behind

"Please elaborate on that." Weiss frowns and shakes her head in denial. "Because so far, this is a feelgood story and I fail to see how Atlas could be involved."

"I certainly will." Link sighs. "If you don't believe me, it's okay. I wish the following events weren't real either."

---

Flashback: Village of Garanda, One week later, Nighttime

"Wait really? I'm allowed to stay? That quick?" Link asks many questions as he follows his friend into the living room

"Yup. We're not kidding when I say my father has a lot of influence." Ray claps as she promptly plops down on the couch. "Best part of all this, with you staying, the village council will most certainly move ahead and try to make our village stronger. It was tough when we only had one amazing warrior, there was no chance of expansion and making ourselves known. But having two amazing warriors will persuade them to act now."

"I'm so happy." Link smiles and promptly sits next to her. "I hope you're right too, your guys' village should have already expanded, but it's better late than never. Although, expanding will make the village more notable, and potentially make you guys a target to people like bandits or lowly criminals wanting to make some quick money."

"You guys? You mean us." Ray slaps Link on the shoulder. "You're one of us now."

"Sorry. I'm still adjusting." Link chuckles. "So now that there could be a plan for the village going forward, what about you? What is a long term goal for Ray?"

"Hmm!" Ray ponders, then suddenly her smile fades. "I um, suppose after having that first friendly conversation with you, I've been considering what life would be like if I left the village in the next year or two. That should and will be my long term goal."

"Really?" Link slightly jumps in surprise. "Just one to two years left here? Are you sure you want to move that fast?"

"W-Well, I wouldn't be alone." Ray chuckles. "I was thinking… You forced yourself to keep going and now you're permanently settling down here. Wouldn't it be nice if you were to travel the world willingly and not forcefully?"

"I..." Link sighs. "I cannot argue there. Freely traveling the world with you would be nice."

"Yesss, I'm glad you agree. Now, I will say… The goal may change, I could push it back to three years or maybe five years, but leaving is definitely going to be a top priority in the future. Don't I sound mean and heartless? This is my home and I 'WANT' to leave."

"It may sound like it, but it's not." Link shakes his head. "I'm sure your family will understand once you explain in detail your desire to leave, why you want to leave, and that you want to become a huntress who-!"

"We will listen." Morgan's voice stuns both teenagers momentarily as she emerges from the kitchen with a cup of tea in her hand, and a look of disappointment, "Understanding is a different story."

"Y-You were listening the whole time?" Ray tenses up and her eyes quickly start to shine with tears. "M-Mom I-!"

"Snap out of it Ray, you can't hide it from your family and then shock everyone when you drop it on the day you want to leave." Link sighs and lightly shakes her. "You also can't have these sorts of breakdowns anytime you are confronted about an issue."

"Actually, she has them whenever she second guesses herself." Morgan remains still and calmly drinks her tea. "I thought you were a perfect soul. And the first wrongdoing I see from you, Link, is giving my daughter the idea that leaving is the best for her."

"Excuse me?" Link's eyes widen. "There must be some misunderstanding. I did not-!"

"No mother!" Ray shouts. "Link did not tell me to do it, I want to do it myself."

"Ray!" Morgan takes a step back in shock. "D-Don't raise your voice at me."

(R-Ray…) Link raises his hand to interject, but ultimately decides not to

"Think about what you are saying dear." Morgan mutters quietly. "Leaving your home? Abandoning your father, brother, and me. To constantly fend for yourself on an unknown trail that could lead nowhere."

"T-That's not it at all!" Ray shakes her head, "I expressed myself to Link regarding how I feel about the flaws in our village. How nobody is ambitious, and how we're okay with being complacent." She sniffles as tears steadily flow down her cheeks. "Mother… I, on a daily basis, wake up in the middle of the night, leave the house and just look up at the moon. I wonder what life is like outside the village. I think about everything that surrounds us: wildlife, oceans, villages, the main kingdoms, and so on."

"Complacent? Ray, we have nowhere else to go, the outside world is a cruel place." Morgan narrows her eyes. "Link knows how to fend for himself, he's a smart young man... And yet he has barely survived." She glances at Link. "No offense, of course. I'm happy that you have been able to survive."

"O-Oh, it's okay." Link nods

"If Link struggles…" Morgan shakes her head. "Imagine a young, naive girl on her own? People will do everything they can to use you, drain you of your resources and throw you aside like dirt."

"Aha!" Ray jumps out of the couch. "But I won't be alone, Link agreed to come with me the day I'm ready to leave."

"Do I need to be more blunt?" The older woman sighs and puts down her tea. "What if Link leaves tomorrow? He can leave whenever he wants after all."

"What are you doing?" Link scowls and is visibly shaking his head. "And why now?"

"Sorry Link, but I have to be neutral and fair now." Morgan shuts her eyes. "I adore you but I do have to be a mother to my daughter. You've been traveling your whole life, and now you are ready to settle down. At any time that could change, you and I both know that. Ray mentioned one or two years, but what if you only last six months here?"

"H-he wouldn't-! Mother stop, I know what you're doing!" Ray paces around the living room

"I'm not trying to manipulate you dear, but it can happen. Would you still leave on your own?"

"YES!" Ray blurts out. "I mean... I don't know. Exploring the world is what I want, why are you trying to make me change my mind and do a one-eighty. Wouldn't you like to venture out of our small village too?"

"Ray, you know all of us would want to explore the world, and you're right… Some of our fellow village folk wouldn't dare to even think about leaving because of how comfortable and attached they are to our village." Morgan opens her eyes, approaches Ray and gets in her daughter's path, opening her arms for a hug. "All we can do right now is improve and build upon what we do have right now."

"What do we have right now, mother?" Ray begrudgingly steps forward

"A well-run and peaceful village, Ray, where everyone contributes to make it a better place every day. No matter if some people are young or old, brave or afraid, ambitious or lazy. We can worry about 'that' another day."

"That?" Ray quickly takes multiple steps back after almost hugging her mother, "This isn't some little kid dream that will never happen. I want to go and see Vale, Atlas, Vacuo, and Mistral. I want to become a huntress, get stronger, and help those who can't themselves." She smiles determinantly. "I want to be like dad, but even better."

"Ray I-!" Morgan walks forward to reach for her daughter, but she continues to back away

"N-no!" Ray shakes her head, "I get it, you care about me like a loving mother would, but trying to break down my future goal is not nice at all!" She looks at Link and observes carefully, noticing that he wants nothing to do with the conversation. "I'll be back later."

"Where are you going?" Link stands up and walks to her

"Outside, to roam the village for a bit." Ray wipes her eyes and makes her way around her friend and mother to leave her home

Silence and awkwardness consume the living room that Link and Morgan stand in, the two look at one another with signs of unease and confusion

"Should I go after her?" Link asks

"Yes. Well, somebody should and right now I don't think she will listen to me anymore, go quickly." Morgan nods

"Right." Link gets up and swiftly exits the house, but surprisingly finds her only a few feet away. "Ray, are you alright?"

"What are those things?" Ray points up high, to what initially looks to be a measly cloud

"I don't see what you're seeing, Ray."

"Look carefully." Ray grabs Link's left hand and points him to the exact location... The cloud suddenly forms into specific shapes, two large ships to be exact

"I see. Those are Atlas ships." Link frowns, he stares at the ships, as other Garanda villagers take notice of them too. (T-This isn't good! I'm keeping my composure for Ray's sake but why is Atlas even here? Perhaps they were flying to Vacuo and spotted the village… No, that is a horrible theory.)

Link's breathing and heart rate begin to pick up in speed, his hands shake and eyes twitch nervously, wondering what Atlas' intentions are in Garanda. Sadly, it has not quite sunk in to Link that these ships are not here for peaceful reasons

"Cool." Ray nods in awe at the ships, with her eyes focused on the slightly larger one. "Whooooaaaa."

"What are they doing here?" Link's eyes do not leave either ship, he examines them as they slow down and hover over the village.

Suddenly, the guns on the larger ship, a double turret, moves downwards and aims directly at the village

"L-Link?!" Ray's eyes widen in fear as the turrets rapidly spin

"Go back inside the house! NOW!" Link grabs her by the shoulders and roughly shoves her back. "Stay with your mother. Where is Liam? And your father?"

"A-At the council building!" Ray stutters. "F-Father was taking Liam w-with him to get f-familiar with-! That doesn't matter! Link, you can't go alone!"

"I promised your father I'd do whatever I could to protect you, and right now taking cover is your best bet, go back inside!" Link opens the door

"What is going on?!" Morgan is on the other side, having remained close to the door to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Seeing the ships and turrets for herself, all thoughts go out the window, Ray's mother gasps and screams in terror when the turrets on both ships begin to fire bullets upon the village

"Ray, come on!" Link, in a panic, shoves Ray inside the house with her mother, then shuts the door and runs into the village

His next destination is reaching the council building. Along the way, he barks orders to the scared and panic-ridden Garanda villagers to get back inside their homes and take cover

(What the hell is wrong with them?! Why this village?!) Link dives and takes shelter behind a brick house as the turrets spray bullets everywhere, and sadly hitting the unfortunate people who could not get away in time, (N-no!) The boy gets up and takes a step forward, in an attempt to help, but quickly stops himself as more bullets blast the area. (Whoa, that would have been me if I kept running!)

Link takes cover behind the brick house, shuts his eyes, and thinks back of his previous encounters, attempting to figure out if something or someone is the cause for this destruction on a peaceful village

Link's Memory

"Great." Link nods. "Now tell me. Who is using the Black Hawks name and why? What's their intention?"

"Why should we? You're lucky we revived your group, we have done more in this time than you guys ever did!"

"Huh?" Link shakes his head. "What are you talking about? We never cared about the glory, we completed jobs that benefited everyone and hurt people who deserved it. Doing 'more' doesn't always mean you're benefiting. For all you know you're just setting a bigger target on your back."

"Oh well, it won't be our problem. Our boss told us some pretty cool stuff, turns out we can do WHATEVER we want. The backlash from our actions falls on you and the rest of the former Black Hawks members."

"Pfft! Yeah I hope you enjoy being on the run kid. Pretty soon, you'll have the authorities on your ass."

"What?!" Link frowns

"Yup, think about it, kid. They don't have any leads on the 'newer' members, and the ones on wanted lists with bounties on their heads are you guys. So if the Black Hawks are still a name that's getting business done, the target on your back gets bigger and bigger... AND BIGGER! Us impersonators on the other hand, we are free to do whatever we want."

"Oh no, Atlas is here for me! Adam... Just what the hell did you do with the Black Hawks name?!" Link clenches his jaw angrily and looks around him, dozens of bodies coldly hit the ground, some of them might have been ignorant but they are still innocent lives that got taken away within seconds

The turrets eventually slow down and stop shooting. Link takes this opportunity to look over and peek upwards, the slightly larger ship stays in place while the one behind it begins to get ahead. A loud noise is heard as the second ship opens their cargo area, where Atlesian Knight-130 models and human soldiers, who all jump without any fear or hesitation

"That's a… Troop of thirty soldiers at minimum, if not, more. Who knows if they have any more to come as well." Link grabs his sword and reaches for another item, "I need to do something to help and now!" He aims his hookshot and promptly uses it to get on top of the roof of another brick house. Once this is done, he sets his focus on the falling Atlesian Knights

(Come on! Focus!) Link shuts his eyes, stands still with his knees bent forward, and with a tight grip on his sword. The triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden aura visibly covering his weapons and parts of his clothing. (G-Get the hell… Out of this village!) The boy opens his eyes, this time both of his eyes shine with a bright golden glimmer, but only for a slight second, until seconds later, he is nowhere to be seen…

"Sir!" An Atlesian soldier shouts. "We have an incoming-! WHOA!"

Before the human soldier can finish his report to his commanding officer, Link jumps in the air and rapidly speeds past three Atlesian Knights attempting to make their way down and into the village. Seconds later, those three knights suddenly power down, but then split in half, falling to the ground as scraps of metal

(Damn I only got a few.) Link shakes his head in frustration while he falls back down to the ground, villagers around the area scramble around, some retreating to their homes, while others reach for blunt objects or anything that works as a weapon. "Go back inside your homes, or take any sort of cov-!"

"You think you're the only fearless one, huh kid?" A villager emerges from behind a wooden house with a thick pipe in his hands

"It's not about being fearless or brave, these people are leagues above a random lone mercenary." Link pleads. "That's Atlas military!"

The second Link mouths the words 'Atlas Military', it was as if time stopped, and everyone around Link stops everything they are doing

"A-Atlas military? We're so fucked."

"Why are they attacking us?"

"What do they want?"

"Are we gonna die?!"

"We will die if we continue running and hiding. Rise up everybody! We need to fight back." Hiroku's voice echoes throughout the village while the tall man walks up behind Link

"Y-You're okay." Link lets out a sigh of relief. (One less thing for Ray to worry about.)

"Of course we are." Liam slaps Link's arm and quickly hands out weapons to the villagers around them. "Listen to yourself, you sound like a scared, lost puppy."

"Cut me some slack!" The blonde boy scoffs. "Ray and your mother were scared to death when I left to come find you g-!"

"You left them alone?! You promised you'd do everything to protect them!" Hiroku frowns at Link, but backs away in surprise when the latter immediately turns to face him

"They can protect themselves too. Unless you don't think so." Link frowns right back at him

"We don't have the time to argue right now!" Liam gets in between them. "What do we need to do now?"

"We outnumber them, but they've got top of the line technology." Link sighs. "Along with military training and Atlesian Knights or in other words, automatic robots with guns."

"So they outclass us." Liam sighs

"Very much so." Hiroku shrugs. "Our army is scattered, but even if they were all here, at best we'd only have thirty to forty combat ready soldiers."

"OVER HERE!" An Atlas soldier shouts for his comrades, upon spotting Hiroku, Liam, Link, and a small group of villagers

"Get those who cannot or do not want to fight to safety!" Link shoves Liam aside and runs towards the soldier's voice

"But-!"

"You heard him!" Hiroku nods and follows the blonde former mercenary

(No!) Link looks to his left and right, more dead villagers are scattered, and lie on the ground coldly

"They better have brought their whole military!" Hiroku grabs his long sword with just one hand as he speeds ahead of Link with bloodlust in his eyes. "That way I can get rid of them all myself!"

Hiroku leaps up in the air, lands on a rooftop and speeds away towards the swarming Atlas troops... However, just as fast as the tall older man gets on the rooftop, he gets off it with another huge leap

"INCOMING!" The shout from a soldier is heard as the human soldiers back away while the Atlesian Knights hold their ground and fire at the incoming target

"RAAAHHH!" Hiroku plummets to the ground and crashes down hard sword first

The ground around them rumbles and breaks viciously, wiping out the knights and sending them flying. The ground shaking soon becomes insignificant, because the smaller ship aims to do more than collide with the ground. The ship, having already released the initial thirty or more soldiers, now sets itself up to land right in the middle of the village

"Where are they…" Link stops dead in his tracks, squints his eyes, and gasps. "The council building!" He contemplates the two immediate choices, "They're doomed if they stay in there." The boy grunts, balls his fists, clearly hesitates but eventually takes a right and sprints right for the council building. "Sorry, good luck fighting them, sir."

Link storms into the council building, where only the elders are visible as they sit peacefully in the middle of the building, circled around each other

"Hey! Come on, there's still time for you to get out of here!" He pleads. "There's a ship about to come down on this entire building."

The elders do not reply and outwardly ignore Link to whisper and mumble amongst each other. The boy angrily opens his mouth, intending to speak louder, until one of the elders, a woman, decides to speak up

"Don't bother yelling at us." She chuckles. "We are far too old to be intimidated by you. There is no getting out of this alive, so just leave us be."

"No! Don't say that!" Link approaches them and reaches for an elder, but none of them seem to want his help

"The council members already evacuated and we were going to follow because we presumed it was a raid that could be dealt with." The same woman stands up and walks towards Link. "But I know now, that force out there now is one that has already won the battle."

"What?" Link shakes his head. "How do you know what's out-!"

"I used to be a huntress myself." She smiles and grabs Link's hand. "I know all about Atlas and recognized the sound of their ships when they got closer." She sighs and lowers her head. "I know how much of a dangerous force they were back then. So, I can only imagine how powerful they are now. And if their intention is to destroy our little village, there is no hope for survival."

"What about them?" Link points at the other elders, who are mumbling away, saying their last goodbyes and having their last conversations about stories their past times

"We aren't branded as the village elders just because of our age, young man." She laughs and squeezes on Link's hand, "They might be slow, but their knowledge will never fade. They too know about Atlas and their strong military power, what we do not understand is why us, and why now? Only days after we approved village renovations."

(Why us? And why now?) Link is taken aback by those words, the guilt begins to overwhelm him

"Whatever they seek, they will take, and we simply have chosen to admit defeat and enjoy our last moments, making them as peaceful as we can, rather than panic."

(It didn't have to be this way!) Link frowns and shakes his head

"Oh no." The woman slaps Link's arm whilst shaking his hand. "Don't you dare blame yourself, child, I can see it all over your face. If what you told us and what we heard about you was the truth, nothing you did warrant's a military raid of this degree on a village this small."

"What I said is the truth and yes, this wasn't my doing. But the mercenary group I used to be in, we made enemies with the White Fang." Link balls up his fists. "And they're making us pay the price for disobeying them."

"The White Fang." The woman gasps and within those few seconds she is able to put it all together. "I understand. The White Fang destroyed your group, but not by killing every member, because you're obviously still alive. They used your moniker for their evil doing, and blamed it all on the members who still live."

(What. The. Hell?) Link nods, clearly lost for words momentarily. "You are such an intelligent woman."

"Oh thank you dear." She laughs and slowly lets go of his hand. "Good luck forcing us all out of this place, you'll die with us if you try."

"There must be something I can-!"

The sounds of the descending ship suddenly stop, but the wind around the council building begins to pick up and swiftly

"This is it." She backs away from Link and hobbles towards the other village elders. "Go on kid, get out of here."

"You know I cannot do that." Link shakes his head

"Well you should." She turns to him and smiles. "The future is for the young, like you. Garanda won't survive but if you put this much effort into saving us, maybe you can save some of our faithful and innocent villagers."

"I can't-!" Link stops and remembers her words from earlier, "Okay… I'm sorry." He turns and quickly heads for the exit

"Don't be sorry... Link." The woman raises her hand and frailly waves

(Damn, damn, damn!) Link stops seconds after he whips the large wooden double doors open, he turns and takes one last look at the elders. (I'm sorry I ever stepped foot in your village.)

Link pushes past the doors, sprints outside and dives for the ground. Nevertheless, he does not even get the chance to the ground when the ship drops down and slams on top of the council building, crashing through and destroying the entire building within seconds, most certainly killing everyone inside directly on impact. The aftershock of the horrific act sends Link flying further away and crashing through a window of an unknown building and knocking him unconscious

...

…

Some time later, Link's eyes shoot open, his first action is to immediately rise from the rubble and debris that lies on top of him from the random home he was sent crashing into. Rather than return to the battle urgently, he tactically drops down and crawls behind a wall to see what is happening, and to grasp how long he's been out. When he sees more soldiers, both human and Atlesian Knights, freely roaming around Garanda and clearing out buildings, it tells him that both ships have landed and all the Atlas troops are exploring the village

"I must have only been temporarily knocked out, but now I need to go find Hiroku, then Ray!" The boy waits for the soldiers to pass by the house he is taking cover in, but the moment he makes it way out through the front door, Link discovers another horrible sight. Every single council member is on the ground, all shot dead and their bodies scattered. (Just like that, the village gets smaller and smaller, this can't be how it ends!)

Link runs around multiple dead bodies, following the soldiers in a discrete way as the small army heads in the direction that is near Ray's family home

(Ray's father and Liam were nowhere in sight, maybe they retreated?) Link sneaks away from the soldiers when they luckily walk past the home due to its silence.

The former mercenary first tries entering through the back door, but it was unsurprisingly locked. Link crouches around the house and eventually decides to take a risk and smash a window that leads into Ray's room, he crawls through the hole, partially cutting himself on the remaining sharp edges of the broken window, but then is immediately charged at by a severely injured Hiroku

"Die!" The older man weakly swings his sword

"It's me!" Link dodges the attacks and raises his hands to surrender

"Link! You're okay!" Ray wipes her tears away and pulls him into a tight hug. "We heard nonstop gunfire and screaming... I nearly thought you were one of them."

"Consider me lucky." Link leans down and kisses her forehead

"Shhhh!" Liam shushes them as he runs over and slides the curtains over the broken window

"What happened to you two?" Link asks while he observes Ray's brother and father, one is relatively unharmed, while the other is badly injured

"No way." Hiroku cuts him off as he drops to the floor and holds his midsection, showing signs that his aura is near depletion. "You first? Why didn't you follow me? I could be less injured right now if we fought together."

"I... One of the Atlas ships was descending to squash the council building. I wanted to evacuate the building." Link sighs. "The councilmen got out, but the elders refused because they had already admitted defeat."

"W-What?" Morgan gasps. "Are they...?"

"Yes." Link sadly nods. "I tried my best to convince them to follow me but they declined, instead they were all saying their final goodbyes. I barely had enough time to get out of there myself."

"Oh my goodness…" Ray soft cries and buries her head in her close friend's chest

"That ship completely destroyed the entire building, it would be a miracle if any of them are still alive under all that demolished wood and brick."

"It can't be, the elders are usually so fearless." Morgan's voice suddenly gets lower and lower, and she drops down to sit on the floor, almost as if she were shutting down. "For them to give up… Means they know how powerful the invaders are."

"Anything else?" Hiroku asks, his breathing slows down, showing signs of him regaining composure

"The aftermath of the ship destroying the building sent me flying and knocked me out. When I woke up... I found all of the council members dead, every villager has died in a brutal and bloody way." Link angrily shakes. "Your turn, sir. What happened to you?"

"There were too many." Hiroku sighs. "Sorry for giving you crap about leaving. Even if you were there with me, at least one of us would be in my state right now. That first group of soldiers was nothing but a warm up for them to see to test our village's resistance. Who knows how many they've got out there now."

"Liam?" Link glances at him as the usual fearless brunette boy is now on the floor, next to his mother and hugging her tightly

"Same thing as my father, they quickly overwhelmed me. Then I stopped and decided to help people escape. Those who I tried to evacuate through a secret underground passage were..." Liam balls up his fists and resists punching anything to avoid giving them all away. "I couldn't help them escape."

(Y-Yeah… I know what that's like.) Link wraps his arm around Ray and tightly hugs the scared girl

"It's only a matter of time before they find us." Link mumbles. "They are killing every villager in their line of sight without hesitation and destroying the village without remorse. No way they will leave any structure untouched."

"Then we need a plan." Hiroku quietly stands up. "Defeating them is obviously out of the picture, we need to get out of here."

"B-But..." Ray tries to argue, but quickly quiets down. "All this time I talked about leaving my home in the future, and I don't want to leave it now when it's at its worst."

"We will have a future if we go now." Liam struggles to pull Morgan up to her feet. "Mother is out of it, I don't think she can continue."

"Are you mobile?" Link looks over at Hiroku, who slowly paces around the room

"Not fully, but it should be enough... hopefully." Hiroku shrugs. "Don't worry about me, kid. Worry about my family or yourself."

SMASH!

The sounds of boots and fists pounding against their front door are audible and seconds later a gunshot is heard, followed by another slam! Seconds later, a loud crash is heard, and Atlas soldiers begin to raid the house

"They broke down the door." Link whispers. "This way, let's go." He whips the curtains out of the way, then dives out of the window, his quickness aids him in preventing the broken glass from scraping against his skin

"This one's locked too!" The shout from an atlas soldier is heard as he pounds on the door with his fists

"Quickly!" Link does his best to keep quiet as he barks out instructions, but despite his commands, they prove to be efficient as Liam exits next, then Morgan, Ray and finally Hiroku

"This way!"

Liam gets ahead of Link and leads the way towards the entrance of the village. However, he is immediately stopped when he collides with an Atlas soldier. The realization that they're trapped slowly sinks in to the family of four and Link when dozens of soldiers exit the house and surround them

"Don't even think about reaching for anything!" The soldier points his gun at stubborn brunette boy when he notices that the latter is reaching for his weapon

(No… How did they even find us? We were all quiet!) Link looks around, shocked when no Atlas soldiers or knights come from the back or the sides, only the front. (They played us like fools.)

"Sneaky and clever." The voice of a different soldier is heard as he barges through his comrades and knights to confront the family and blonde boy

"T-This is it." Ray gasps and nearly falls to the ground

"Come here." Morgan quickly slides over and hugs her daughter, preventing her from dropping down

"I'll be damned if you kill me execution style!" Hiroku frowns and draws his sword

"NO!" Link steps in front of Hiroku and slowly walks towards the soldiers with his hands raised and balled up. "You're the commander, isn't that right?"

"Yes." The much larger soldier nods

"And you're here for me, aren't you?" Link asks. "Why else would you be destroying an innocent village? It's not even on a map! They do no harm!"

"Innocent?" The same soldier stands stoically with both hands behind his back, "Sure, it was at one point, maybe before you got here. I've seen your file and personally worked on it myself. I must say, the fact that you are still alive is a miracle. You are a very wanted m-! Boy! Killing our soldiers, innocent people, huntsmen, huntresses, robberies, and so on." He smirks. "But that wasn't good enough for it, was it? You went on to backstab every criminal organization the first chance you got? Now everyone wants you and your group dead. The Black Hawks are finished and we are going to get their leader first." The man walks up to Link and towers over him, he is tall but not as tall as Hiroku

"What are you talking about!" Link frowns, "The Black Hawks have been inactive for OVER a month!" He shakes his head. "You Atlas fools being played by a White Fang higher up, Adam Taurus. Does that name sound familiar?"

"Taurus..." The soldier gasps but almost immediately shakes his head. "Nice try, kid. But even if you were correct, you're still a wanted criminal and we will be arresting you now!"

"W-What? You want to capture me? That's it?" Link starts to breathe heavily as he points towards destroyed homes and dead bodies. "Then what did they do to deserve this?! You could have just arrived and arrested me peacefully! Why were all those innocent people brutally murdered?!"

"Simple." The man's tone goes cold. "Harboring one of the most dangerous criminals in the world."

"Is that what you're really saying about me?" Link growls. "You lying scum! Is this what Atlas military is all about? Power hungry and heartless bastards who think they can do whatever they want?"

"How dare you-!"

"Do you want me or not?" Link asks, "Leave them alone, and I'll go with you. Just please, leave them alone. They do not deserve to have their lives taken away for my real mistakes and those false crimes you're pinning on me." He stares right into this main soldier's 'face', though he wears a helmet that only exposes his mouth

"Link! You can't trust them!" Liam shouts and attempts to march forward before his father stops him

(Believe me that's the last thing I'd do.) Link internally whispers

"You don't call the shots." The commanding officer brushes off the blonde boy's request. "Take the criminal onto the ship. And while you're at it, take care of the rest of them."

"Yes sir!" Three human soldiers start by walking towards Liam, with their guns pointed right at him

"I said..." Link looks at the soldiers, "LEAVE. THEM. ALONE." He opens his hands, revealing he had a smoke bomb hidden in his hands. Link puts all force into crushing one of his smoke bombs, then releases his grip and lets it drops it on the ground

BOOM!

The smoke bomb pops in milliseconds, engulfing Link, Ray, Liam, Hiroku, the Atlas soldiers, and knights in smoke that spreads out rapidly

"Run!"

Link shouts as he charges 'blindly' at the soldiers inches away from Liam. Although, with the former mercenary having more experience fighting in smoke than the Atlas soldiers, he makes quick work of them with quick slashes to their backs, none of which were lethal

"You're going to regret that.." The commanding officer's voice is heard throughout all the commotion, his tone is firm

The smoke fades, out of it emerges Link, with a handful of unconscious soldiers and destroyed Atlesian knights around him as well as more guns pointed towards him, he sighs and raises his hands in the air

"Clear the rest of the village, no witnesses." The commanding officer nods to the soldier nearest to him, who simply nods and leads a pack of soldiers back into the village in search for Ray, Liam, Morgan, Hiroku and any other living villager

Link looks up into the sky, but does not find the bright shining moon he is accustomed to as it is blocked by dark gray clouds. Coincidentally, when making this observation, rain begins to fall in sprinkles

(Come on guys…) Link sighs and shuts his eyes. (Make it out alive, that's all I want.)

"AHHHHH!"

Link's eyes widened when recognizes who the yell is from

"Ray!" Link does not think twice and gets in a defensive stance

"Take him down!" The commanding officer shouts

"Yes sir-!"

"RAHHHH!" Link, imitating Hiroku's cry, spins in place with his arm fully extended and sword pointed, aiming to slice and cut anyone near him

The Atlesian knights near Link are quickly taken care of and some human soldiers who foolishly closed in on the boy due to the orders given to them, take massive damage to the midsection

"You want to kill me so bad? Do it yourself!" He charges at the man of this sick, twisted mission

"Very well then!" The man reaches behind his dark gray coat, seemingly to pull out his weapon, only to be stunned when Link hops right over him and runs the opposite way. "H-He... that damn kid tricked me!"

The furious officer points at Link and instructs the soldiers with him to shoot. The blonde boy runs in a zigzag pattern, dodging bullets while also taking some hits to his lower back and legs. Link grunts in slight pain, takes a left turn and cuts in between two buildings that are on the verge of collapsing, but knows it is a temporary way to avoid any more bullets coming his way for the time being

"Ray! Say something! Anything!" Link calls out, but the only sound he gets is more gunfire

After a couple of minutes of pure sprinting, Link approaches the sounds of the gunfire, but slows and cautiously approaches the scene. One footstep after another, the gunfire stops, but instead what is heard now is metal colliding.

"G-Get away from her!" Ray's panicked voice overpowers everything and with a mighty swing, she cuts off the head of an Atlesian Knight, showing no fear for them... But towards something else

"Ray!" Link sprints to her in a hurry, but gradually slows down when he sees two things: The destroyed knight and Morgan, on the ground, face planted into the wet dirt

"Mother!" Ray hesitates when she turns her head. "L-Link! I-Is she-?"

"Y-Yeah, I will check." Link kneels down in front of Morgan and touches her neck, hoping to feel a pulse. Unfortunately, all he feels is a lack of pulse and coldness. "R-Ray… I'm so sorry."

"M-mother?!" Ray cries out and runs over but trips, falls, and slides knees first against the mud, the distraught girl hugs her mother's body desperately, "I don't feel her-! Mommy?!" She cries hysterically. "L-Link… She's so cold, one second we were running side by side and then-! I tripped and the last thing I remember is one of those robots was about to shoot me, andI was pushed out of the way. My mother saved me, but at the cost of her own life!"

"Ray, I'm so sorry but we need to keep going." Link grabs her by the shoulders. "Your father and Liam could be in danger as we speak and-!"

"S-Shut up kid!" Hiroku shouts while he slams an Atlesian Knight over his shoulder, showing blatant stubbornness by not using Link's diversion to run but instead to fight. "You talk too m-mu-!"

With a sad expression, a brief smile flashes across Hiroku's face but then the man's eyes close shut and he slumps over, hitting the ground with a loud thump!

"No! Not you too!" Link hesitantly leaves Ray's side to check on Hiroku. He feels a pulse when grabbing the man's wrist, but it is weak and diminishing. "He's not going to make-!"

"AHHHH!"

More screams in the direction of multiple Atlas soldiers, who heartlessly shoot at villagers who were doing their best to survive and hide, some in buildings, others playing dead next to real dead bodies

"N-no more..." Ray mumbles, weakly grabs her sword, grips it as much as she can, but her hands shake and make it nearly impossible for the girl to fight

Around her are frantic villagers, who are not found in their hiding spots unwisely choose to make a run for it, now having to run away from bullets firing in their direction

"No more!" Link repeats the words said by his friend, he rises up to his feet, steps in front of her, and launches another smoke bomb directly in the middle of all the soldiers

Link sprints inside the smoke cloud, shuts his eyes, concentrates, and blindly raises his left hand as a small beam of light fires into the crowd of what could be soldiers or nothing but air. His risk pays off when a bright gold triforce appears within the thick smoke, then a faded shimmering triforce appears in front

(Here goes nothing, let's see how many I can take out right now!)

The previous leader of the mercenary group the Black Hawks opens his eyes and disappears like a flash. One second later, he reappears right in front of what he can now see is all of the soldiers he engulfed in smoke, then wastes no time when it comes to slashing and hurting them: Two-handed slashes, low horizontal, high diagonal, spinning, full power, quick vertical strikes and jabs. Each swing and slash increases in power with every passing second, until the final blow, this time a straightforward jab, sends the soldiers crashing through the triforce and out of the smoke. The soldiers land in different positions and places, many are sent crashing back first against the destroyed buildings, others slam brutally against the ground face first, while a rare few are even sent crashing into each other

"Ray, where are you?!" Link retreats out of the smoke and spots Ray going head to head with another Atlesian Knight. (There's already more on the way? Are you kidding me?) Link allows Ray to fight her battle while he stops more soldiers from approaching or getting near her. In mere seconds, both of them are fighting the battle of their lives to fight off soldier after soldier, knight after knight... Until their overwhelming numbers begin making the difference

"Stay with me Ray." Link slides in front of her with his shield raised, blocking a flurry of incoming bullets from a automatic rifle

"I'm sorry." Ray pants and quickly takes a breather while she looks around. "T-There's still no signs of Liam! W-Was my father…?"

"..." Link says nothing, but continues to shield her valiantly

During his efforts, he too looks around, not for Liam but to take in the sight of what was once a peaceful village, destroyed and getting slaughtered in under an hour. The escaping villagers are eventually gunned down and those fighting back are slowly decreasing in numbers, with more bodies hitting the floor

"Link watch out!" Ray dives and tackles him to the ground as an Atlesian Knight gets launched towards them by a group of villagers

"Thanks." Link nods, quickly gets back up, helps her up as well. (This is impossible… The fight is only getting worse for Garanda, even though the amount of people trying to escape or fight back is scattering the troops.)

The gentle sprinkling rain transitions to pouring, the air in the village gets stronger and faster as well. Meanwhile, Atlas soldiers and knights begin to push those fighting back towards the middle of the village, near their ships and where the council building once stood tall

"It's not looking good for us..." Ray sighs as she drops to one knee

"Y-Yeah… The only time I'll ever want you to be wrong." Link kneels down beside her, slides one of her arms over the back of his neck, and helps the girl get up when he rises to his feet

"I told you, boy. You were going to regret doing that." The commanding officer's voice rings throughout the village, he pushes past soldiers to confront Link and Ray from a fair distance. "You will die here tonight and there's nothing you can do to escape your imminent fate."

Link just nods as the man pulls out a firearm and aims at him first, then Ray, switches back to Link, and so on; indecisive on who he wants to kill first

"Please no! L-Link?!" Ray hugs her friend tightly

"Get behind me!" Link pushes the scared brunette behind him, setting himself up to be shot first

"We won't go down without a fight!"

Loud cries and roars of the last villagers of Garanda come in all at once, the collective small number of villages charge a fully loaded Atlesian squad with rakes, clubs, bottles, hammers, rusted swords, spears, knives, and more

"W-what the-! Clear these hostiles now!"

"Yes sir!"

Many of them are gunned down immediately, but others manage to collide with the soldiers and knights around and behind the commanding officer, who never loses sight of Link and Ray despite all of the new people in his path, although his clear shot is no more and now he has to scramble for a new shot

"You won't escape me!" The commanding officer squints his eyes behind the helmet concealing his identity

The unfair, one sided battle ensues and with this diversion, Link makes his way back towards Hiroku, who was unconscious and near death, but still alive. The boy tries to flip over the giant, but his limited strength and bad lifting form almost causes him to pass out when he hastily attempts to lift a huge amount of weight in the gigantic man and the equally large sword on his back

"L-Link! Behind you!" Ray charges at a soldier who aims at her best friend's skull, and manages to swing her sword wildly, but she is successful in knocking the gun out of his hands

"Good eye!" Link whips around and despite having his sword inches away from his reach, the boy slams his fist into the soldier's skull, cracking the visor on his helmet and sending the Atlesian soldier flying backward

Ray and Link look at one another and both sigh at the same time. Unfortunately, their biggest mistake was forgetting their most dangerous enemy, who is still lingering...

"Ugh!"

The commanding Atlesian officer grunts in annoyance while he shoves aside his own soldiers and Garanda villagers, but even then it is difficult to see past the rain that becomes heavier and heavier with each passing minute, until he is through with struggling, marches forward and draws his weapon, a massive pistol

"You're mine!" The officer hastily raises his gun and with shaky aim, finally gets a 'clear' shot on his intended target, his index finger squeezes on the trigger before taking the necessary shots

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The man fires off four shots, aware of Ray's presence right next to Link but clearly not showing any concern for the innocent fifteen year old girl

"AHHH!" Ray stumbles back and falls over, holding tightly onto her chest

"UGH!" Link also stumbles back, holding his arm in pain

The third and fourth shot seemingly miss, but that is of no concern to Link, whose vision is blurry, the effects of his fatigue, aura depletion and the pain from the bullet lodged into his arm nearly cause him to go unconscious, but fate and destiny have other ideas for the young man

(H-He got me.) Link sits up and covers his left arm with his right hand, his next action is to look over his shoulder towards Ray, not knowing that she has taken the worst of it all

"L-Link?" Ray is somehow on her feet, the young girl moves her hands out of the way, both are drenched in blood, her chest fatally wounded, and her newly unlocked aura can do nothing about it

"RAY!" Link freezes up as she sways from side to side, then staggers forward and falls into his arms, her eyes are wide open and jaw dropped

"W-What's happening?" Ray mumbles as she shakes and struggles to speak, "A-Am I? I d-don't want... I don't want to die, t-there's so much-! So many things I want to-!" She chokes and stops while tears slip down her cheeks, she raises her arms and makes a last ditch effort to wrap them around Link for a weak hug. "I don't want to go, p-please… H-Help!"

Link opens his mouth but no words come out, all he can do is hold tightly onto Ray whilst slowly easing her down onto the ground

"L-Link." Ray reaches for his neck, but the strength in her arms begins to falter

"I'm here." Link assists her by leaning down, and seconds later he suddenly feels her lips against his

Their embrace slows time down and it feels like an entire hour to them, when in reality it was only about ten to fifteen seconds, before Link pulls back to look at Ray one more time. There is so much he wants to do and say to her. Although, there is very little he can do to help her and time is limited

"L-Link, please. Survive, do whatev-!" Ray chokes up and coughs blood now, "Promise me Link... Y-You w-will never give up on your dreams, a-and while you're at it." Her eyes well up again as she weakly smiles. "Do your best to live out my dreams too, please."

"Ray I..." Link shakes his head and lowers his head. "I promise to do all of those things, I won't let you down!" He finally breaks and lets the tears escape his eyes

"T-Thank you Link, for e-everything. I wish we could've spent more time...T-Together." Ray smiles and looks up at the dark sky, the dying girl embraces the rain hitting her face, "O-oh, and h-here." She reaches down near her waist, and with her last bit of strength, unhooks her empty canteen and places it next to her friend's leg, "Y-You will need something to store your water or alcohol in." She tries to laugh but instead coughs out more blood and slowly but surely, feels her body become weaker and start to go numb

Link grabs onto Ray's hand with his left, and with his right hand, he reaches for his neck and lightly touches the large pendant given to him by her nearly deceased friend

"G-Goodbye… Link." Ray whispers

Silence consumes them both and it feels like the entire destroyed village is consumed in silence too. Only the sound of the falling rain is heard when it pours harder and sadly for him, Link feels the grip from Ray's hand get weaker as her eyes slowly close for the last time

"I am so sorry it had to end this way. You are now free from this horrible and cruel world." Link kisses Ray's hand before gently laying it down over her chest. He shuts his eyes, process what just happened, and when he re-opens them, seeing Ray's lifeless body changes something about him, with now his sadness slowly turns into anger

"That's the last of them, this one over here is the final one."

"Good, just like we planned. We didn't expect this big of a fight, but it is over." The commanding officer waves his arm and rounds up all of his soldiers and knights, who promptly march towards Link as the rain gets even heavier and thicker than ever seen before…

BOOM!

Lightning strikes a large tree within the village, just so happening to be nearby all of the commotion, screaming, and slaughter

"I don't care how long it takes…" Link rises from the ground, his eyes never leave Ray's lifeless body, "People will know how evil, vile and cruel Atlas are, you're far WORSE than the White Fang!"

"You know how it goes. All for a job paid well." The commanding officer says with a sarcastic tone

(All for a job paid well? Why is that familiar?) Link shakes his head in confusion, having heard those words before, but no exact memories come back

(THIS IS PERFECT! Let's rip this guy's throat out! He just killed that brat! All these other people you adored are now dead too!)

The boy has no response to the demon, he ignores the mysterious evil voice in his head and focuses on people who are more of a priority to deal with

"You think this is a joke?" Link growls and balls up his fists, sensing that anger and hate is overwhelming him, but willingly allows it, "You just stole the lives of innocent people, who were afraid of the outside world because they thought they would experience discrimination or be in danger. Good job on proving them right!" His eyes switch colors, from dark blue to gold in an instant, as if a switch were flipped. "They were right to never want to leave, they were afraid of getting used, abused, lied to, trampled on and eventually killed by bastards like you!"

"Hold fire." The commanding officer extends one arm out and opens his hand, halting his troops. "Give it up, or we will kill you right here and right now!"

"Give up? You mean that could have been an option?!" Link's expression changes as a sinister smirk momentarily appears on his face. "Shut. Up!"

The uncharacteristic grin is just the beginning, the soldiers, knights, and commanding officer watch strange lining emerge and spread out of his eyes, trailing outwards and onto his cheeks first, then to his forehead, ears, neck, back, and more than likely to the rest of body that covers this lining with clothing. The golden eyes, evil expression, and lining pair up alongside a pasty bright white color engulfing not only his already light skin, but his entire body as well: Boots, tunic, pants, sleeves, gauntlets, hat, hair, everything except his weapons. This change in the boy's entire appearance makes him look as if he were possessed by an evil force or spirit. Link's eyes, while glowing with a magical golden color, seethe with hate and fury and these dark emotions are ready to be unleashed on the Atlas forces in front of him

"Finish him!" The commanding officer confidently takes cover behind his troops and extends his arm, imploring his men and knights to attack

Link unsheathes his sword and experiences chilling goosebumps flow down his spine, feeling reborn, like he was never damaged or fatigued throughout the entire night. With a light chuckle, he charges at the Atlesian Knights and methodically takes them out one by one. Despite all of their bullets and perfectly hitting the 'possessed' boy, they inflict no damage or even garner a reaction. Link, while standing completely still and unable to generate full power, viciously decapitates a knight that is right behind him with one single backward swing. Dozens of knights around him suffer the same fate, with Link rampaging and wiping them all out with one swing each, some receive a horizontal swing that takes their heads off cleanly, while others get their heads caves in with straightforward jabs. This impressive and quick feat is done while taking no damage and without having to dodges or block any bullets

"You want to talk about eliminating people!" Link's voice is a mix between his and the demons, resulting in a dark raspy voice as he turns and sets his sights on the human Atlas soldiers. "How about them?!"

"Get back!" The commanding officer shouts. "All of you!"

"Too late!"

Link sprints at the soldiers while avoiding the remaining knights, starting with the soldier closest to him, who to his credit, tries his best to shoot at the boy. Link runs through the gunfire, taking the bullets but suffering no damage and within seconds, he is in the soldier's face. First, he slides and spins in place, slamming the butt of his sword into the soldier's exposed jaw. Secondly, follows it up with a kick to the solar plexus that knicks the win out of him. Lastly, he finishes the sequence with an upwards sword slash with tremendous power that not only murders the soldier but sends him flying upwards. The other soldiers watch in horror as their comrade is brutally sliced open from the stomach up all the way to his neck, his armor and aura provide zero resistance… Link was too powerful for someone of average power and strength

BOOM!

Lightning strikes again the exact second the soldier's sliced body hits the ground front first, face planted into the mud, a pool of blood is visibly seen consuming him, though it is promptly washed away by the heavy rain

"S-sir?!"

"I…" The commanding office, left speechless,stumbles back, clearly showing he has no plan as he stays mute and continues watching helplessly

"Die!" Link's anger is completely unleashed, he continues to run through more Atlas soldiers, slashing throats, stabbing through the chest in the region of the heart, backstabbing, and decapitating. Each person he kills only reminds him of the girl, her family, and the rest of the villagers that Atlas heartlessly murdered

"R-Retreat!" The officer stutters

"Sir! Are you s-!"

"Get the hell out of there now!" The man barks out a command as he ushers soldiers back to their ships

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Link shouts as he finishes slashing through the armor of another soldier and fatally stabbing him through the chest, then stiffly kicks the dead soldier in the gut to detach his body from the blade that killed him

Link turns to face the ship still stationed on top of the crushed council building, he shuts his eyes and the memories of the elders giving up and embracing their last moment race back into his mind. He opens his eyes and sets a target on everyone heading to the ship, which is every living soldier, both along with knights heading for the ship. But in a surprising twist, Link buries his sword into the mud, grabs his bow, three arrows, aims and tilts the bow slightly to the right

(You bastards won't escape!)

Link pulls back, ensures he has precise aim, and releases! The arrows fire away with incredible speed, each with slight traces of what looks to be golden energy streaking right behind them. The arrows reach the ship and each one strikes... Not the ship, but soldiers! One arrow pierces through an Atlesian Knight's back, shreds through the robot, and continues traveling, striking through a human soldier's back as well. The other arrows do the same, with different variations but the same results. The second arrow goes through a soldier's neck and comes out the back to strike a knight's back. Lastly, the third arrow does the same but avoids a knight and kills two soldiers instead. All of the soldiers who manage to avoid the arrows stop to check on their fallen comrades, but are forced to keep moving as they see Link putting away his bow and charging at them with his sword and shield in hand... The commanding officer enters the other larder ship, stationed only a few feet away but significantly emptier considering all the knights and soldiers lost during the battle

"A deceased leader can be replaced in the eyes of his troops, but losing an entire arm will only break their leader!" Link frowns and looks at the smaller ship, which shuts its door and takes off into the air with a stagnant speed, struggling to elevate with all the rain crashing down on them

Link glances at the slightly bigger ship that manages to take off faster due to its size and superior parts, but he knows deep down, the man who killed Ray is watching the second ship like a hawk, and hoping it makes it out without any more casualties. The reality of the world is that not everyone gets what they want. Link leaps off the ground and lands on a rooftop of an abandoned and partially destroyed home, he is only a few feet off from the ship that still cannot take off

(I hope you're paying attention!)

Link jumps again, high in the air, eyes glowing brighter than ever before, the smirk is wider and more sinister, implying that for the first time, Link is not in full control. However, the demon still follows through with Link's plan. The boy's eyes close while he is airborne and again, it feels like time has slowed down significantly, this tense moment carries on for a certain amount of time, until a move is finally made

FLASH!

ZOOM!

When his eyes open, the former mercenary is in a different location... On the opposite side of the ship. The second thing he notices is that the transformation is completely gone and the demon only took over for the final attack. Link regroups as he falls to the ground, he lands safely, rolling forward the moment his feet make contact with the mud. Still boiling with range, Link turns around and witness first hand as the ship splits in half and plummets towards the ground, screams follow and soon a giant collision caps everything off

"That damn leader got away, but with a huge loss… I will see him again one day." Link mumbles when noticing the larger ship is nowhere to be seen, suddenly he loses the stability of his legs and drops down to his knees, then falls flat on his back. The rain slows down rapidly and the clouds part ways, making room for the night sky and the breathtaking moon to finally make its appearance. "I got near somebody and they got hurt again..." He sighs, shuts his eyes, and reaches for the pendant around his neck. "I said I would protect her with my life... I promised I would protect her."

Link remains motionless as he stays on the ground, embracing the rain, and hoping it will wash away the blood on his hands

"I'm so sorry, Ray…"

---

Present Time

"Goodbye. Now that I'm done explaining everything, we can go back to not speaking until I'm ready to be social again."

Link shakes his head and stands up, but he's stopped by Velvet. The rabbit faunus rushes forward, grabs his arms, pulls him back down and embraces him with a hug. Everybody else around him does not know how to react, they remain speechless

"Thanks, Velvet. This is nice." Link nods

"Mhm." Velvet squeezes tightly

"I..." Weiss looks away and visibly wipes away a tear, but clears her throat to not show her sadness. "I don't know what to say."

"Y-Yeah, I don't blame you." Link sighs

"Those twilight demon rumors were not real then." Blake holds onto the same book she grabbed from the one person team's room, "The writer said you killed everyone in that village and lied! Then he said that an Atlas ship was flying by, saw this, tried to interfere and you took them out too. And so many people believed it!" She frowns and slams the book on the ground. "There is no way one teenager could have killed an entire village AND Atlas military troops."

"That's my story, or at least an overview. There's more stories within those but right now... I just can't." Link hugs his rabbit faunus friend back and accepts her embrace, both of them are on the verge of tears

"It definitely sounds like a lot of lies, framing, and manipulation went on. Unfortunately you and your group took the brunt of it all." Sun mutters under his breath, "Did you ever find out what you and your group were framed for?"

"Nothing specific." Link shakes his head. "Just an accumulation of crimes and like that mercenary warned me. Adam orchestrated mass killings of innocent people and purposely angering rival organizations with the Black Hawks name because the original members were masked so there's no way of proving which group it really was. I didn't think they would go as far as murdering anyone associated with Atlas, just to add more attention and make that target on our backs even bigger."

"If things had gone differently, that poor girl could have been right here with us." Pyrrha speaks with sadness in her voice. "It's so sad and tragic. Nobody needed to die."

"Mhm." Link nods and rests his chin on Velvet's shoulder. "One year later and I am full of regrets. I always wonder what could have been, especially now that I am better with my aura, better at handling this demon, weird voice or person haunting me. My skills have improved greatly and I am twice as good now than I was then. I could've saved her and everybody!"

"Link..." Velvet frowns but with sadness

"Wow... Just, wow." Coco takes off her sunglasses and wipes her eyes. "I really don't know what to say except wow."

"This is why, during all this time I never spoke a word about that day. People talk, they judge and then they label you, I don't want my past to define who I am." Link picks his head up, but keeps his arms tightly locked around Velvet. "This is not the legacy I want to leave behind when I inevitably pass away."

"Got anything to say?" Ruby whispers while she nudges her sister

"Mmm, no." Yang shakes her head, "He's right. I mean to go back on what you said, for the longest time, people believed it was you who killed everyone in that village, they even gave you a horrible name." She shrugs. "But we're glad that you told us, because we won't turn you around and send you on your way, we're on your side? Well maybe not all of us, but-!"

"Stop it!" Weiss snaps, "I have had enough of you and Sun claiming that I hate Link. I don't hate Link, I just had my doubts. But… Hearing all of that, I'm definitely way more inclined to believe him now."

"Sorry." Yang nods

"Thank you, Weiss. I had my doubts that I could convince you about anything." Link nods and slowly releases his grip on Velvet, who hesitates but eventually follows along. "You guys already know this probably, but will say it again. When I first enrolled in Beacon, I didn't want to get to know anyone, just in case I got too attached, then something along the lines of Garanda's massacre happened ever again."

"Link..." Ruby cuts him off. "I don't know if I'm crossing a line, but what happened afterwards? How did you cope?"

"How did I cope?" Link puts his head down

"Sorry!" Ruby leans over and place a hand on his shoulder

"No." Link shakes his head. "It's okay, I need to tell someone anyway and I already told you guys the important parts. I stayed in Garanda for the next… I don't even know how many days. I lost track because I was balling my eyes out every day, hour, minute, and second I remained there. I was thinking of ways it could've gone different, and of course having regrets about ever stepping foot in the village. I also never voice my frustrations because I lost the ability to speak."

"Huh?" Ruby looks at him with confusion

"You went mute?" Pyrrha asks. "From the trauma?"

"Yes." Link nods. "I couldn't speak, no matter how much I tried, and then eventually I lost the motivation to even try. As for Garanda, I found a shovel inside the blacksmith's shop, and I did what I thought was best, I buried everyone."

"Y-You what?" Yang asks

"Sorry if that sounds weird." Link nervously chuckles

"And do you really mean everyone?" Neptune speaks up. "Nobody survived? Not even those soldiers from that ship you took down?"

"Well..." Link sighs. "To clarify, nobody from that Atlas ship made it out alive, that's for sure. However, Hiroku's body was missing and I never saw Liam after I threw my first smoke bomb. They could be alive. Who knows, maybe other villagers escaped too. I only remember burying a lot of bodies, those who I recognized were buried beside their homes. Those who I didn't, I chose their burial site to be the exact spot they were laying when they were killed." He shakes his head. "After however many days passed, I left. The only graves I revisited one last time were Ray and her mother's, and I decided to leave their weapons behind. If I were to go back, Ray's sword would be buried right in front of her, basically acting as a gravestone. The same applies to her mother and her bow... It would feel wrong to take and keep those, they belonged to Ray and her mother. And to this day, here is what I have to remember her by… You guys say the pendant but there's also this."

Link reaches behind him and grabs Ray's canteen off his belt, then extends his hand towards Velvet

"O-Oh, right. Sorry I forgot I still had it." Velvet gasps and quickly returns the pendant back to Link

"The irony is, she wanted me to send her 'cool' stuff from Vale, and I was the one who came out with more items from her." Link's chuckle transitions into sad ones, he grasps both items in both hands, and buries his face into his knees, wishing the world would open up and swallow him to make the pain stop

"Oh Link, I'm so s-sorry." Ruby sighs and nearly breaks down herself

Everyone around the distraught and sad blonde swordsman remains silent and those who were previously speaking quiet down. They collectively lower their heads and shut their eyes, only Link's subtly crying is barely heard

"All clear sir."

"Huh? Who just said that?" Link lifts his head and looks at the courtyard

General Ironwood walks with two soldiers on each side. The mere sight of Atlas military general starts to replay all the events in Link's mind. Ironwood and his men walk from their stationed ships and towards Beacon, neither of the three men notice the group of students sitting in a circle on the grass in the distance

(Ironwood isn't a commanding officer, but he sure is a general. W-was it him?) Link takes a good look at the general, but the only thing that matches is the man's height… And yet, it does not stop Link from standing up

"Link?" Coco stands up and stares at him, she follows his gaze and gasps when spotting Ironwood and his men. "What's up? Are you feeling okay?"

(I can't identify him... But maybe it is him... Who else would be this determined to kill me?! Even if he claims it's because I am a criminal, Ironwood is a proven liar.)

Link closes his eyes and balls up his fists, but unbeknownst to him, the marks on his face begin to appear and his skin starts to turn pale, exactly the description of the demon he gave to his friends

"Link!" Velvet gets up and steps back in a hurry, the rest do the same but some not back away in fear

(Maybe it isn't Ironwood but… Whatever! This is for you, Ray.) Link opens his eyes, showcasing the bright gold, and they reek with hatred. The one person team charges at Pyrrha and snatches his sword out from behind her, then runs towards Ironwood and his two soldiers

"NO!" Ruby uses her semblance 'Petal Burst' to speed ahead of Link, then turns, exits her semblances, and throws herself onto him, tackling him and slamming herself onto the ground

"Ooof!" Link groans and rolls over, then tries to push himself up, but runs into a problem

His friends have him surrounded. Pyrrha has her weapon 'Miló' in its rifle form pointed at Link's head, Sun turns his staff 'Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang' into their nunchuck-double shotgun form, which are also aimed at Link, and so on. Blake has 'Gambol Shroud' in its sword state, Ruby with 'Crescent Rose', Coco with her gatling gun 'Gianduja', and lastly there is Yang. The main reason Link is unable to move is due to the blonde huntress in training sitting on his back and holding him down, her shotgun-gauntlets 'Ember Celica' are active but she does intend on firing them. The ones that do not join in are Weiss, Neptune and Velvet, the latter two stay back and watch closely, while the former stands close to the group and refuses to even consider grabbing her rapier 'Myrtenaster'

(Let go of me! I need to do this!) Link says to himself as he watches Ironwood and his soldiers enter the school. Only when they are out of his sight does he begins to calm down

"Okay, you guys can let him go now and back off!" Weiss shouts, to the surprise of everyone, showing concern for Link

"B-But-!" Yang points to his eyes and face

Link raises his head and meets Weiss' narrowed eyes, the two of them exchange looks, but Weiss never once backed down or looks away

"Let him go!" Weiss stomps her foot on the ground

"O-Okay." Ruby nods

This triggers a reaction from every person holding down Link and they quickly put their weapons away when they make two observations: Weiss' trust in Link and the latter's transformation going away

"Thanks guys." Link sighs as he gets up and dusts off grass from his clothes. "And thank you, Weiss. I would have been stuck to the group for another five minutes if it wasn't for you."

"You owe me." Weiss sweetly grins

"And you bet I will repay you." Link smiles, "I'm sorry as well, to all of you. I should've been thinking more clearly, I have no proof of it being anybody and if I attack anything or anybody affiliated with Atlas, it'll just give them more reasons to kill or arrest me." He sighs. "Professor Ozpin already does plenty to protect me from getting arrested by Ironwood."

"You crazy nut." Coco laughs and lightly slaps Link on his forehead with the back of her hand, departs from the group, and walks off back towards Beacon. The leader of team CFFY signals for Velvet to follow her but then stops to turn and look back. "Thanks for sharing your story, kid. I'm glad you trust us enough to do something like that, and don't worry, we will never turn our backs on you, right everybody?" She looks at team RWBY, Pyrrha, Sun and Neptune

"Of course." Pyrrha nods, "We have always valued your friendship, Link. And now we value your trust even more." She smiles. "Friends for life."

"Thanks Pyrrha." Link's smile widens

"Yep! We will always be on your side, Link." Ruby nods

"Of course we won't turn our backs on him." Weiss scoffs

"What she said." Blake points to her teammate

"Yeahhh!" Yang pumps her fist in the air

"I was already on team Link before this." Neptune chuckles. "This only solidifies it more."

"You bet it does, heh." Sun nods

"Cool, now come on everyone." Coco signals them all to follow

"Where to?" Sun asks

"Lunch, obviously. I'm hungry." Coco rolls her eyes and leads the way, at first only Velvet follows but soon everyone else decides to do the same, citing the end of Link's storytelling about his past that turned out to be a lot darker than expected

---

(Yo, what's up guys and girls? So MAYBE I should've left the previous chapter at 17k lol, now that this is complete, the official number is 31.1k. Thanks for your patience, this chapter was meant to be posted last week, but I lost my mind when I accidentally deleted a good chunk of it, sucked out my motivation for a few days but eventually, I had to just suck it up and redo it. No clue when the next chapter will be up, but I can assure it won't take as long as this one, peace.)