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)

22. Link's Past Part 2: Finding Amber

Beacon Academy: Beacon Tower, Ground Floor

Ding!

The doors to the elevator open fast and the first person to come out is Pyrrha Nikos, with a puzzled look but a blush across her face. Following behind her is Link, who had his foot in between the elevator and imposingly waved his arm for the gentle girl to step out first. Now they must journey to the courtyard and find their friends who are waiting for their return. The change in setting was suggested by Link himself, who felt overwhelmed after telling part of his story inside his dorm, but specifically when thinking about 'the village' as he continues to refer to it. However, that is not the biggest concern right now as he and Pyrrha awkwardly talk together after she comforted him inside the elevator after the one person team began to have a panic attack and the response by the huntsman in training was to hug her back and give her a kiss on the cheek

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes Link?" Pyrrha looks away and walks cordially with both hands behind her back. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm sorry." Link mumbles and looks away. "It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable."

"Who said I was uncomfortable?" She looks straight ahead now, pretending like everything is normal. "I am doing wonderfully."

"Come on, you can't fool me, your silence says it all." Link glances at her, which immediately makes Pyrrha look away. "See? I'm really sorry, I wasn't thinking."

"O-Oh so you didn't mean it. Well, why is that you weren't thinking? What do you think made you want to kiss me?" Pyrrha sighs and looks straight ahead, doing her best to actually pretend things were normal

"W-Wait!" Link stammers. "I didn't mean to say it was a mistake-!"

"So you don't regret kissing me?" Pyrrha smirks

"Pyrrha!" Link shakes his head with a massive smile on his head. "You know what I'm trying to say but fine since you want to mess around, I do not take it back and if you're going to tell anyone about this... Please specify it was on the cheek. I don't want people getting the wrong idea."

"Of course but don't count on me telling anybody, that was a private moment and it will remain that way." Pyrrha nods. "Jokes aside, why did you do it? And... Do youuuu have feelings for me?"

"I don't know why I did it. In the moment I felt lost and alone and then you hugged and said those words how I'd never be alone, it made me feel really appreciative of you." Link's smile widens

"My other question?" Pyrrha snickers

"I do not have feelings for you." Link confidently nods. "Nothing against you of course, I like where we are right now as friends and I never gave it a thought."

"Hm?" Pyrrha rubs her chin but her surprising serious expression immediately turns into a smile. "I am kidding, I was actually hoping for that answer too."

"That's a relief." Link sighs. "I really hope it doesn't make you feel uneasy or less trusting of me."

"Why would it?" Pyrrha turns towards Link finally and smiles at him, her blush has worn off but her smile is present. "I think it's kind of sweet."

"Kind of?" Link gasps in exaggerated fashion. "Ouch."

"Don't be like that." Pyrrha raises both of her eyebrows and gently smiles. "It's nice knowing that you felt comfortable enough to allow me to hug you when you were in such a fragile state. It is sad to think that most people would reject the help and take on the burden alone."

"If you weren't there, I would have dealt with it on my own. And I know my stubborn self, I would not have told any of you what happened in the elevator." Link rolls his eyes. "I need to get better at telling you guys... Anything really. I have no problem asking you how you are and if something's bothering you but I cannot come up to you and tell you what's wrong with me."

"Oh Link, I'm really sorry to hear that." Pyrrha sighs but her optimistic smile remains, "Do not lose hope, you have plenty of time to open up to all of your friends and at your own pace. None of us will push you too far or-!" She giggles. "I say that after we stormed into your room waiting for your return."

"Exactly." Link sarcastically sighs. "Just kidding, that was a good wake up call for me, I'm lucky to have such caring friends."

"And we're all lucky to have you as a friend." Pyrrha smiles. "I suppose I should not speak for everybody but I am lucky to have you in my life."

"Thank you Pyrrha, that really means a lot to hear." Link leans over and nudges her arm with his elbow. "I'm not just trying to butter you up either, hearing nice words like that after I almost abandoned you guys, left Beacon and never looked back to Vale would have been the biggest mistake of my life."

"I am happy you did not leave either, everyone would have missed you." Pyrrha nudges him back. "Even Weiss, from what I have heard from her teammates and after making my own observations of her regarding you, I think you two could be friends. She admires how strong and caring you are... While not realizing how little she cares but it's okay, nobody is perfect after all."

"You do not know Weiss very well then, if anyone thinks they are perfect, it's that girl." Link chuckles. "I'm joking of course, I don't know her too well either. Maybe she won't be exactly what we expect when we hear the words 'Schnee heiress' but we will just have to wait and see how she grows as a person. If anyone is perfect, it's you."

"M-Me? No no, you're just being nice." Pyrrha shakes her head. "Just because I graduated top of my class at Sanc-!"

"I did not mean because of your grades, ranking, success, or combat abilities."

Link halts the conversation and their walk when they reach the door that opens the outside world to them but more specifically, the courtyard, where they are expected very soon. He turns to Pyrrha and the latter repeats the same action

"You're smart, kind, caring, and I know this is horrific timing considering what just occurred but really sweet." Link places a hand on her shoulder. "Pyrrha, you are what everyone should strive to be and you know the best part? You don't force it or pretend to be someone you're not. You simply are an amazing person and friend by default."

"Thank you." Pyrrha's head drops but she smiles. "I wish I was perfect but it's so wonderful knowing that you think of me as perfect."

"Of course." Link smiles. "Are you ready to go out to the courtyard and hear about my depressing past?"

"Link..." Pyrrha's expression drops. "You really know how to end a nice moment. But yes I am ready to go find our friends."

"Heh, sorry." He weakly chuckles. "Before we go, I have to say this. I am sorry again if I-!"

Pyrrha walks forward whilst she wags her head at Link, wraps her arms around him, then leans in and returns the favor to the blonde boy with a kiss to the cheek of her own, there's nothing different about it either. It is a light peck and it is over faster than it's initiated, with Pyrrha backing away and laughing uncontrollably at Link's blushing cheeks

"What the heck was that for?!" Link gasps and blinks rapidly

"You embarrassed me, I had to get you back in some way." Pyrrha continues laughing. "Do you wish I hadn't done that?"

"As long as you don't regret it then... It felt nice." Link smiles and opens the door. "Ladies first?"

"You're not going to wait? Y-Your face is still-!"

"Red? Yeah, so what? It's okay to be honest with everyone about what happened, right?" He winks

"Link!" Pyrrha's jaw drops

"Got you." Link points at her and smirks

"Y-You-!" Pyrrha shakes her head but with the biggest smile ever. "Fair enough. You definitely got me."

The two of them laugh and exit the building together in a much better mood than when they first entered the elevator to return a professors tablet to the headmaster of Beacon, Professor Ozpin

...

Five Minutes Later: Beacon Academy, The Courtyard

"You two took your sweet time." Coco turns around and stares at both of them, who took a lot longer than they thought they would take to return a tablet and find them at their new meetup spot

"Sorry, Pyrrha and I took some time for ourselves just to have a private conversation." Link softly speaks. "I wasn't mentally prepared and wanted to leave but she convinced me into staying."

"R-Really? Good stuff, kid." Coco looks over at Pyrrha and nods at her

"Yes o-of course!" Pyrrha smiles and nods politely. "That's exactly what happened, nothinnng else."

(She is such a bad liar but luckily it's Pyrrha, who is going to doubt her?) Link cannot help but to smile in amusement

"Oh well, you guys didn't take that long... I suppose, come on we're all waiting." Coco chuckles, slaps Link's shoulder, and returns to stand next to Velvet, her team CFVY teammate

"My bad everybody." Link nods and sits down on the soft grass unlike his friends who all decide to stand. The location chosen is a familiar sight as it nearby the fancy ponds of Beacon's grand courtyard, a fair distance away from the landing platforms for Vale and Atlas military ships

"You know." Pyrrha mumbles as she walks over and stands next to Weiss. "You do not have to tell us if it makes you uncomfortable."

"Thank you Pyrrha but no thank you at the same time, this isn't about wanting to tell you all at this point, I have to tell you. I cannot keep this to myself any longer." Link smiles at Pyrrha, referencing the conversation they just had moments ago

"You're very brave." Pyrrha nods back and smiles as well

"Now I'm REALLY wondering what they talked about before they got here." Weiss narrows her eyes

"Like I said, I have to tell someone about this, these are events that happened a year ago, and my emotions have been bottled in and stored away ever since." Link sighs and sits down in front of everyone. "Now it's time for everyone to brace themselves ." Link glances around, admiring the nature remaining on the floating island that is Beacon Academy, while ignoring the pristine concrete and beautiful water. "Alright, time to stop leading you guys on without giving anymore details, let's cut right to the chase. Next up is the White Fang leader Sienna Khan unmasking me."

"Here we go." Blake nervously balls up her hands

"You okay?" Sun whispers to her

"S-Sure." Blake nods. "I just happened to know of Sienna really well. It's kind of surreal to hear her name."

"Hey." Yang mumbles. "It'll be okay."

"I know." Blake weakly smiles

"Ohhh man, I cannot wait!" Ruby claps in excitement

"No offense." Coco raises her hand, with a big smug grin on her face. "You're just teasing us every time you say something then pause for six hundred years."

"COCO!" Velvet slaps her arm

"She really has no filter." Neptune chuckles

"And she's not wrong either, sorry. Despite taking all this time to show up, it's still difficult trying to remember everything that happened, to all their exact precise details." Link nervously chuckles again as he begins

---

Flashback: Outside the Kingdom of Vacuo: Black Hawks Main Safehouse

The setting is dark and gray with minimal lighting in form the torches as the mercenary group known as the Black Hawks is staying put in a small underground gray brick house. Each member is in one room as the leader of the group, a man named Carter who has been a mentor of sorts to Link, has made an announcement to everybody

"You're not serious right?" Link raises an eyebrow whilst he is in the middle of repainting another metallic mask with the same design as his original one but this one has darker colors. The whiteness of the mask is now replaced by a dark brushed steel, the bright red fades into a blood red, and the bright blue turns into a dark galaxy blue. "You guys can all laugh, you pranked me too."

"They won't laugh, big no no to laugh at our new leader." Carter chuckles and slaps Link's shoulder, "The strongest leads, and you've shown amazing growth in such a short time, and the best thing is you're still a kid. Imagine when you enter your prime years and develop your adult strength on top of your current skills, you'll be untouchable."

"Don't tell me there's some huge initiation to go with this." Link smirks and looks around. "I'll be ready for any trickery you guys are planning."

"We love ya kid, but we're not that wealthy or cheesy." Carter laughs again, "When you're done making your new mask, I'll show you what it's like to be leader, assigning missions, dishing out equal payments, the boring stuff but also the fun stuff too."

"Fun?" Link raises an eyebrow

"Yeah of course! But before we proceed I'm going to speak for everyone here when I say that we didn't only pick you because of your lightning fast improvement." Carter looks to the rest of the members who all nod in unison. "You implemented morals in a mercenary group, who does that? Haha! You inspired us to take lower paying jobs if it meant getting back at the rich and helping the poor and now our guys are getting recognized left and right by civilians just going about their days."

"Please, it wasn't 'inspiring' I was just trying to do my best." Link smiles warmly. (Who knew a bunch of money hungry guys would have nice things to say?)

"If someone told me a freshly turned fifteen year old kid struggling to buy a bow at a blacksmith's shop was going to join our group, become powerful and lead us to change our ways for the betterment of us AND everyone around us? I would have called them crazy but now it's a reality. Congratulations on becoming the new leader of-!"

BOOM! BOOM!

All of the torches go out consecutively inside one the many secluded safehouses for the Black Hawks mercenary group as the loud explosions occur in different locations, one directly above them, proving to be useless as they are protected by plenty of dirt, rocks, and bricks. Unfortunately, the other explosion is at the entrance of their safehouse

"An ambush?!" Link puts on his mask and straps it to his head tightly while he also reaches for the handle of his sword

"Tough luck for whoever is doing it, all of our guys are here so they are in for a fight!" Carter tightly grips onto his staff and places himself in a back to back situation with Link

The rest of the mercenary group grab their weapons and ready themselves for a fight against whoever is brave enough to attack all of them. Some wield guns such as double pistols, a pump shotgun, machine guns, rifles, bow and arrow, one even aims a sniper. And there's the men with melee weapons such as longswords, katana's, dust engraved sai's, nunchucks, spears. Lastly there are the members who rely on their hand to hand combat to fight but even they are fearless and ready for a fight

"You're smarter than that Carter, surely they know what they're in for by attempting to attack our entire group? They are definitely here for something or someone specific!"

"Good eye, you really are cut out to be our new leader." Carter smirks. "Hopefully we make it past this day for you to keep leading us."

"How fitting? First day as leader and this might be where we all die." Link rolls his eyes. "We can't see and now we're waiting for someone to come at us."

A long period of time passes as the mercenaries wait for another explosion or the forceful entry inside their safehouse. Both Link and Carter refrain from speaking to have some chance at detecting who is doing this. Until there is a subtle but apparent pssst! sound... Almost identical to Link's smoke bombs

"Smoke bombs?" Carter frowns. "Those sound like yours, don't they?"

"Yes they do sound similar but... Regular smoke bombs don't have that distinct smell, we need to get out of here now!" Link looks around frantically

"H-Hey kid... Are you feeling light headed?" Carter groans, yawns and then immediately crashes down to the ground within seconds

"O-Oh great... Damn knockout smoke, that's really how-!" Link hits the ground before he can even finish his sentence

...

...

Three Days Later: Unknown Location

"Kid..." Carter nudges Link, who is still slumped over and passed out, "KID!" He shouts and pushes against him

"H-Huh?" Link's eyes slowly open and are very drowsy as he and Carter sit in a dark room with only a single candle giving them some light. Both mercenaries are back to back, hands tied and with chains holding them down to the ground. "What the hell? How long have we been out?"

"I heard some guy mention days, but who knows how many?" Carter smirks but then quickly frowns "Something's up, I can still feel your weapons. Not that it would be a bad thing but if we're getting kidnapped, why would they leave weapons on a dangerous kid?"

"I'm not sure but..." Link shrugs and looks at himself up and down. "I still have all my gear too but if their intention was to kidnap us, why wouldn't they disarm us like you said?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Carter shakes his head. "Hey kid, since you're still armed, let's get out of here. Do us both a favor and try to cut us loose, you still have those razor sharp throwing knives right?"

"Nope but I bought more!" Link nods and reaches for his belt, where a brown pouch is also located. This particular pouch has all of his extra weapons such as smoke bombs, throwing knives and other essentials. "They're still here alright."

"Good, now shut up and cut us loose." Carter keeps his eyes on the candle, the only source of light in an otherwise dark room

"That's no way to speak to your new leader." Link chuckles. "Alright... Just a little more." Link just barely manages to slide a knife out of his pouch despite having tied hands, and wastes no time in slowly cutting the rope, a process that is going to take a bit of time already

After more than a few minutes, Link manages to shred through both his and Carter's restraints with a slow series of knife strokes and the occasional shimmy whilst being careful to not cut himself or his mercenary comrade. Once their hands are free, each of them tear apart the chains, get up and find their way to escape the room they are being kept in

"So what now?" Carter asks. "I don't imagine we're close to our safehouse and since it's only us here, that's who they were after."

"Right." Link nods. "First, we find out where the hell we are and then we take down the cowards who kidnapped us."

"Good call, I'll go first. They will think I'm in charge, so if things go downhill for us, at least you'll have a chance to get the hell out of here." Carter steps in front of Link, but is quickly stopped when a hand is planted firmly on his shoulder

"Carter, don't say things like that." Link scoffs. "We'll be fine."

"If you say so, kid. Now get your hand off my shoulder and let's move."

"My hand?" Link shakes his head in confusion. "I'm not touching you-!" But he cuts himself off when he sees the hand on Carter's shoulder

"None of that will be necessary."

The voice of Adam Taurus is heard as he coldly mumbles, hearing his voice echo in this big empty rooms sends chills down the two mercenaries backs

"No! Not you!" Link growls and slaps Adam's hand away, then steps forward to create space between him and Carter. "Keep your distance from this guy!"

"You fought him before?!" Carter frowns and gets in a defensive stance

"Yeah, I have." Link nods and takes out his sword. "He's dangerous."

"Hit the lights." Adam puts his hands up as if he's surrendering

"Yes sir!"

Suddenly, the candle is sliced in half, cutting the only source of lighting in the room but within seconds, the ceiling of the room reveals a single light that exposes the entire area, which is an empty red room with White Fang banners and of course all of the people in the room: Link, Carter, Adam and approximately ten to twenty white fang soldiers circling them with guns

"Great..." Carter shrugs. "No wonder those binds were easy to get out of. They were waiting for us to wake up."

"Where are we?!" Link stares directly at Adam. "No games either, I'm warning you now! I've gotten stronger since we last faced off."

"I would have hoped that you became stronger since we were last face to face." Adam smirks. "This is a place that won't be disclosed to you, let's just say somewhere in Mistral." He steps closer towards the pair

"Not another step, damn it!" Link grips his sword handle tightly

"I'm taking over this meeting or kidnapping sessions, whatever it is." Carter steps in front of Link again, this time pushing the boy behind him, as if to shield him. "Why are we here? What the hell do you want?"

"Why? Here's a better question, why should I tell you and not your leader?" Adam raises an eyebrow

"Damn." Carter laughs, "I played myself." But his laugh quickly fades. "If your intention when bringing us here was to kill us then you should have done it while we were out cold. Trust me... You have a lot to handle with me and this kid."

"You?" Adam sheds a smirk. "Even if that were true, I would suggest both of you to relax, I didn't bring you here to kill you. Everyone, weapons down!"

"B-but brother Adam-!"

"That's an order!" Adam raises his hand

Despite their hesitation, every white fang soldier eventually comply with their 'leader's' orders and lower their weapons

"Kid." Carter whispers. "Put your sword down." He follows along with the gesture by pressing a button on his staff and it shrinks it down to a mere baton

"Fine." Link nods back to his former leader and slowly puts his sword back in its sheath whilst putting away his shield. "Spill it 'brother' Adam, why did you bring us here? You know how to contact us if you want a job done."

"Right to the chase huh?" Adam chuckles evilly. "Alright then, no games like you said. I brought you here to personally tell you that your little mercenary group is finished being independent."

"We as a group told you we would take missions from the White Fang if we saw fit. I also stated that we would never align ourselves permanently, what don't you get about that?" Carter shakes his head

"You can always decline our offer again." Adam turns his back on them

"Good." Carter nods. "That settles it."

"But then your little group will really be just that... And maybe it'll even get smaller."

"What do you mean by that?" Carter frowns

"We know what all your members look like, even him." Adam points at Link. "However, only I and a few others know he won't be an easy target to take down. He can make his escape and probably avoid us for the rest of his life, but you? And the rest of your mercenary friends? I can track them down myself and kill them like the worthless disgusting humans they are."

"Oh yeah? Why don't I just kill you right now and be done with this?!" Carter's sarcasm was completely gone, and within seconds his baton morphed back into a staff. "You with me kid?"

"You bet I am." Link nods. (With Carter as backup, I can definitely take on Adam confidently this time.)

"You'll still die!" Adam shouts and unsheathes his sword, "Think smart, not stupid! Join us and aid us in our quest to bring the faunus-!" He stops himself and shakes his head "Why are we talking? You're not the leader, he is." The man points his sword at Link. "Join us kid, your group will benefit majorly as will the White Fang!"

"..." Link says nothing as he realizes something major about Adam and the actions he's taken, the actions a leader would not normally take. "You're not the leader of the White Fang, why are you giving us orders when we're not even in your group?"

Silence...

"Heh... Outsmarted by a kid." Carter bursts into laughter. "Never gets old."

"You'll accept us, but will your leader do the same?" Link asks. "There's no point in forcing us to agree if your leader is not on board."

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Adam smirks and walks away, he is followed by the rest of the soldiers in the room with him. "Come along, I will lead you to the throne."

"Kid this is our chance, we make a move and try to escape, or we go along with this dude." Carter outstretched his arm to prevent him from walking forward. "Make your first call as our leader. What's it gonna be?"

"Hmm..." Link closes his eyes, thinks deeply and tries to picture outcomes for both scenarios, which proves to be difficult considering the lack of time. "Chances are we'll die if we try to make a move now... So let's go ahead and follow Adam. If anything goes wrong, we fight-!"

"No, kid." Carter grabs onto Link's shoulder. "I'll say it again. If things start to go down... You run and I will be the diversion."

"Carter, things won't go down. And if they do, it'll be bad for our opponents." Link smiles and lightly shoves Carter's hand away. "I'm not leaving you behind, it's going to take more than an Adam threat or your pleading words to convince me."

"If you say so." Carter chuckles and makes his staff inactive again, sliding it behind his back. "I need to carry knives around like you, they will be very useful in future situations like these."

...

Moments later

Adam, White Fang soldiers, Link, and Carter approach a pair of big doors, presumably on the other side is the White Fang's leader. Adam stops both Link and Carter as the rest of the soldiers stay put outside

"One problem. You are masked but what about him?" Adam points at Carter

"Carter." Link nods. "Mask on."

"What? I didn't bring my mask, you pricks jumped us." Carter smirks

"What kind of a fool doesn't have their mask on them-!"

"Shut up!" Link frowns and reaches into his bag. "Here, I brought one of my old masks." He pulls out a wooden mask and tosses it to Carter

"He saved your life." Adam shakes his head. "A child saving your life, how embarrassing."

"Why's that?" Carter reluctantly puts on the mask, tightly strapping it to his head in seconds

"Sienna Khan would have you killed instantly, that's why. Or she would kill you herself. Give her all the context you want and it won't matter once she sees a human, she wants them to pay."

"Then why are we here?" Carter mumbles. "Our previous arrangement was working just fine."

"Hmph."

Adam smirks and opens the door. He walks in first, followed by a few White Fang soldiers, in the tail end of all the people walking in are Link and Carter, who look at each other one last time and exchange assuring nods

"We may have just walked into a bigger trap." Carter whispers. "Let's hope this isn't where we die."

"You're probably right. I guess we should've just ran while we had the-!"

"Stop!" Carter extends his arm and plants an open hand on Link's chest

Adam approaches Sienna Khan and kneels in front of her whilst proposing his idea that was clearly not run by the true leader of the criminal organization

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

The loud shriek of the woman known as the leader of the White Fang is heard, she rises from her throne, and instantly every other soldier, including those standing by her throne, lower themselves down to one knee, showing respect. Her eyes are a bright amber, his skin is dark alongside dark black hair. Based off her extra pair of ears and numerous stripe tattoos on her arms and rest of her body, she is a tiger faunus

"High leader Khan..." Adam begins, his voice is calm and collected, the complete opposite of Sienna's. "I am looking out for our organizations well-being and success. This group of misfits will be very useful to our cause-!"

"What do we gain by aligning ourselves with humans Adam?!" Sienna shakes her head

"Power, Strength and less sacrifices of our own! Just give them some money and they'll do whatever we want! IT'S GENIUS!"

"You've really done it this time!" Sienna frowns angrily

(They will do whatever they want huh? Except you of course.)

(I don't know what or who you are still, do not speak to me.) Link frowns

"I don't care that they are willing to do whatever we ask them, within a second they could double cross us and sell us out to... ANYBODY!" Sienna Khan slowly scales down the stone steps covered by carpet, she slowly walks down the room. "What makes you think I would want them here?"

"Trust me high leader Khan, these aren't just ordinary humans, they will turn the other cheek once our objectives are met!" Adam stands up and pleads his case. "All they care about is their own safety and their pockets, don't you see-!"

"Enough already!" Link speaks up and walks forward, approaching both Adam and Sienna

"You were supposed to stay quiet and let me do all the talking!" Adam frowns

"Clearly that wasn't getting you anywhere."

"Hm?" Sienna suddenly calms down and scoffs at both the masked mercenary and her own masked soldier. "Silent mercenaries Adam? The more this boy talks the bigger the consequences... For all of you!" She eyes Adam, Carter, and Link but does not quite know what to make of the latter who appears fearless but very young

"Besides strength, what do you look for in someone you associate with? Is it something we may lack?" Link keeps his focus only on Sienna

"Loyalty." Sienna mumbles "I don't want someone going behind my back and portraying the White Fang as something they're not! I don't want us or any other faunus to be hurt or killed by a human ever again!"

"What do I have to do to prove my loyalty?" Link coldly asks. "Truth be told, joining you is my only choice and if you reject us, we're done for and won't last much longer."

"You're that desperate to gain power huh?" Sienna shakes her head. "Pathetic humans. Money isn't enough for you so now you want more power."

"..." Link shrugs and does not reveal Adam's blackmail. "That's exactly right."

"Alright then." Sienna walks back to her throne. "I will think of a way for you to prove your loyal-!"

"What the hell?!"

Suddenly! Carter is jumped from behind by armed White Fang soldiers who quickly take away his staff and unmask the man

"Adam, what are you doing now?" Sienna turns around and walks back down the stairs

"I know the perfect way HE can show his loyalty." Adam chuckles and with one finger snap, the soldiers drop Carter down on his knees. "Kill this replaceable weakling and prove to high leader Khan that you're willing to do anything for the White Fang."

"What?!" Link turns towards Adam with pure aggression in his voice. "Is this what you had in mind all along?"

"That doesn't matter. Just. Do. It!" Adam speaks coldly as guns are pointed towards Carter's head. "Now!"

"Why don't I just kill you right now and be done with this?!"

Link draws his sword and repeats Carters exact words from earlier and seconds later, a bright golden glow is visible beneath his mask and evidently comes from his eyes, some of the soldiers lower their guns in fear, while the rest shakily aim

"I should've killed you a long time ago Adam!" Link effortlessly twirls his sword and grabs a hold of his shield. "Now let's see how you fare when I'm at full strength!"

"Do you think I'm scared of you? Little boy!" Adam growls

"Stop!" Sienna without hesitation walks directly in between Adam and Link. "All of you except the boy leave us! Now!"

"But high leader Khan, what if he tries to k-!"

"I've heard enough from you Adam." Sienna stares daggers into Adam, who reluctantly nods and walks away, following him are the other White Fang soldiers and Carter, who is let go. "And if you even harm this boy's partner there will be severe repercussions!"

Link keeps his eyes on Carter, who looks back at him and gives him a nod along with a cocky smirk. But little does the boy realize, there is a hand on the back of his head, the dangling sounds of a chain is what gives away how close Sienna is to him

(You idiot! It was not nice knowing you!)

(What the-!)

Link reaches for the straps of his mask but they're completely cut loose. His metal mask slips away from his face and smashes against the ground. The boy turns to face Sienna Khan, who stares him down from head to toe to form a better opinion on him

"I can see why you wear the mask now."

Sienna backs away and keeps her distance, she circles around the boy multiple times before stopping in front of him. Despite scolding Adam earlier, now she is wary of this person standing in front of her

"Not only to hide your identity but you intrigue your victims, to the point where they want to unmask you rather than get away or kill you. Is that something that happens often?"

"You would be correct, yes." Link nods. "They make the grave mistake of wanting to discover rather than choosing to live."

"And you don't look very intimidating, I'm sure the mask helps out greatly." She scoffs

"Thanks..." Link sighs with disappointment

"But if you really are the leader of that group despite being so young then clearly they must see something in you." Sienna immediately goes back to her earlier actions and circles around Link. "You're a human..." She glares at his ears and then his golden left eye. "Not entirely but by no means are you a faunus either. So maybe there's something to you that makes me NOT want to kill you."

"You want to know if you can trust me completely, I can give you something that Adam cannot." Link smirks

"Really? I've known Adam for a long time and yet you make such a bold claim? What is it that you can provide me?" Sienna stops right in front of Link once more

"Honesty." Link closes his eyes and nods, his golden open disappears when he inhales, exhales and opens his eyes, "See? No more danger either. I don't know where I am, I was forcefully brought here and my group is being blackmailed with death if I don't agree to help you. I can always oppose all of you but it won't stop Adam or certain White Fang members he's brainwashed to serve him and him only to go after my comrades." He stops himself and shakes his head. "And they're more than my comrades, they've become my friends!" The boy drops down to one knee and offers his hand to Sienna. "I'll help you with whatever you desire, just spare my friends."

"Noble." Sienna frowns and slaps away Link's hand. "I don't shake hands with your kind but regardless of my personal preference, you've entertained me with your words. I listened and while I hate all of you, it doesn't stop me from showing respect where it's due, get up and look me in the eye boy."

Link shrugs and slowly rises to his feet, glancing up to meet Sienna's eye as she is taller than him

"It takes a lot of guts to stand up to myself and Adam in my throne room and in a location unknown to you." Sienna nods. "I am warning you now, if I even sense any form of back stabbing or rebellion, I will-!"

"You won't get any of that from my group, especially me. I promise." Link nods back

"I'll trust you when I see it. Now pick up your mask, take your friend and get out of here before I change my mind." Sienna smirks and walks back to her throne. "Go!"

"Yes ma'am." Link sighs out of relief, kicks his mask up in the air and catches it with a slick catch. The boy's eyes widen when he remembers Carters situation and quickly exits the throne room only to find Carter alone with Adam, both at each other's throats in a stare down, ready to fight once again

"Well?" Adam looks at Link now, completely ignoring Carter. "You're alive, does that mean you're in?"

"Yes, we're in." Link rolls his eyes. "Now Carter and I are getting out of here and you better leave me alone or else we are going to have a massive problem."

"Ah but you're not done meeting people yet. You still have to meet some of my other... 'Associates.' Working for me means you work for them as well."

"Are they part of the White Fang?" Link asks

"No but the White Fang works for them." Adam smiles evilly. "We recently formed a partnership after they 'convinced' us to become partners."

"Is it that girl?" Link asks. "With the cat ears?"

"What girl? Who are you talking about?" Adam's smile fades

"That day I stopped Atlas from killing your 'brothers and sisters,' remember? When I left, I heard a female voice, is that them?"

"No!" Adam shouts but almost immediately returns to his calm and collected nature. "She... Disappeared."

"So you killed her?" Carter speaks up and he too begins to question Adam. "That's normally what 'disappeared' means."

"No damn it! She ran off but I'm confident I will see her soon. I have someone trying to find her but she's not the other associate." Adam frowns and walks away

"Well then who is it?" Link looks around

"You'll meet them Tomorrow night. Now let's go, I'll lead you two back to your base of operations. Unless you want to stay and test high leader Sienna's patience again."

"Right, how was she?" Carter looks over at Link

"Trust me... You don't want to know." Link rolls his eyes as he and his mercenary friend follow Adam. (She actually wasn't so bad but she's too aggressive and radical, that will likely be her downfall one day.)

---

Present Time

"Not what I expected, but then again I never get what I imagine." Coco sarcastically sighs. "Oh well."

"And what were you expecting?" Blake angrily calls out. "It wasn't going to be a funny story."

"Relax Belladonna, you know I'm kidding." Coco lowers her shades and eyes Blake. "See, I'm not being serious."

"Maybe that's the problem. This is no laughing matter."

"Alright then, my bad. Sorry Blake" Coco nods at Blake, then looks over at Link. "I'm sorry to you as well, if what I said offended you."

"It's okay, I'm fine." Link mumbles and he stands up and paces around whilst thinking back on everything. "Where are we at?... Oh yeah, the reunion with the mysterious woman who saved my life."

"You said it wasn't great right?" Velvet walks over and stands closer to him. "You were forced to do something you didn't want to do."

"Yeah, that's exactly right." Link sighs. "I uh... Fulfilled my promise to find her again, but it wasn't the best circumstances."

"Now I can see why. The White Fang forced you to join them, working with them as associates wasn't enough." Weiss speaks up but with no sarcasm in her voice, "When you said you were blackmailed, you weren't kidding."

(I can't tell them about Cinder, Emerald and Mercury... They'll never buy it, especially now they've gotten all buddy buddy with team RWBY, damn it.)

"Was it Adam?" Blake asks whilst lifts up one leg to shake it and then repeating the same action with the other

"Him and his associates." Link nods. "Come on now, all of you should just sit, there's much more to say." He waves towards everybody standing up as he walks back to the group and sits down again

"Sure thing." Ruby nods and sits next to Link on his left side

The rest pick their deal positions to sit as well. Velvet sits across from Ruby, Coco next to her teammate, Weiss sits next to Link on his right side, Pyrrha sits next to the Schnee heiress, Yang sits next to Ruby, Neptune next to Yang, last are Blake and Sun who sit across from Yang and Neptune and besides Pyrrha and Coco. Combined, the ten students form a small circle

"Her name was Amber, by the way." Link looks up at the sky and smiles

"Huh?" Ruby raises her eyebrow. "Who's name is Amber?"

"I described her, but never said her name, didn't I?" Link sighs. "Sorry, I'm not the brightest."

"Oh yeahhh, you didn't." Yang looks away in embarrassment. "Never once did we even ask about her name."

"W-Well..." Weiss sighs. "That is my fault, I hinted that she wasn't real. S-Sorry/"

"It's okay Weiss." Link politely nods as he continues staring at the sky. (With how things turned out, I wish she wasn't real either. I betrayed her and she didn't even know it.)

---

Flashback, Unknown White Fang camp hideout, daytime

"So how was the kid's first mission?" Adam approaches Cinder alone while Emerald and Mercury argue in the background about nothing of significance

"I think you completely undersold how skilled and powerful he is, why?" Cinder smirks as she glances at Link, who is far from both of them, the boy speaks with Carter in the background. "He is more than capable of defeating 'him' and killing 'her' and we're sending him tonight."

"I didn't undersell anything, I told you this child was better than all the mercenary pushovers he leads and commands." Adam frowns. "But are you sure about this? To have him go against someone like Qr-!"

"Oh Adam..." Cinder laughs hysterically. "You leave that decision up to me." She scoffs at the masked man before walking away and towards her crew

...

"So how was it?" Carter asks. "Did you fight somebody dangerous?"

"Nothing like that. The mission was just scouting an inn." Link shrugs. "It supposedly is some big deal because someone important is in there but I didn't see anybody important."

"Did they tell you who is so 'important' that they sent you of all people to go scout an inn?" Carter asks

"They just described him to me and told me to make sure he was at that inn. Tall guy, with graying black hair, red eyes, the slightest bit of facial hair, but barely any. Ummm, gray dress shirt, black pants. That's pretty much it."

"Hmm, sounds familiar but at the same time not really, most people dress like him." Carter crosses his arms. "Anything else about him? What kind of weapon did he have?"

"The guy had half a sword on his back?" Link shrugs "Maybe it extends but either way it looked very weird. Oh and like us, he definitely drinks as he clearly resembles an alcoholic in my opinion."

"Half a sword..." Carter thinks and starts to rub his chin

"Sounds like you know him?" Link asks. "Who is he?"

"Nope. Well, I don't know him personally but-!" Carter shakes his head. "But! I've definitely heard about him.. His name is Qrow Branwen, he's very highly rated, respected and or feared among anyone who knows anything about combat."

"Oh great... A world renowned huntsman and I may have to go against him." Link sighs. "I suppose it was never going to be easy. These 'new associates' of Adam are extremely shady."

"I heard there's something about him, but surely it's nothing too important about him to the point where they'll only send you." Carter yawns and takes a sip out of a canteen, which he then offers to Link. "Want a drink?"

"Water or alcohol?" Link raises his eyebrow. "There's only one acceptable answer for what I'm about to get myself into."

"Since when have you seen me drink water?" Carter shrugs. "Drink but don't get drunk. Your pain tolerance will be better but it won't matter if you fight like crap."

"Fair point." Link nods and takes the canteen, then proceeds to chug the entire thing

"H-hey!" Carter yanks it back

"I can handle more alcohol than you think." He smirks. "Jokes aside, sorry. But if it's my last drink, I want it to be a full drink."

"Fair enough." Carter rolls his eyes. "To both points."

"Any updates on the guys?" Link asks before leaning closer. "Is everyone staying put like we discussed?"

"Mhm." Carter nods before speaking loudly. "Oh you know kid, just the usual: successful missions, requests for more, grateful people, all the good stuff."

"Good." Link sighs in relief before putting on his mask "Any casualties? Our own guys, civilians?"

"Nope." Carter shakes his head. "Everyone has gotten way better, there's no bloodshed and a big crime scene for the cops to start trailing us. Every mission is done cleanly and as quickly as possible."

"Good." Link leans in to whisper. "Because tomorrow you're heading back. We're probably done here."

"What?" Carter raises both eyebrows in shock. "You know when we whisper that's when we're serious."

"I'm very aware." Link nods. "I have a bad feeling about this. Chances are, they're sending me into a trap, whether I or this Qrow person dies, they benefit. Without me, they're going to push you guys around even worse than they try to now. Let's say I leave and you stay here, if they separate us, they can jump and kill you with no problem."

"Come on kid, I'm not that weak." Carter rolls his eyes

"I know but when you're outnumbered, there's not much any of us can do. Unless we were very strong which... We aren't."

"Fair." Carter shrugs. "Why don't I just tag along with you? Without them knowing of course."

"Chances are they will send someone to follow me anyway." Link shakes his head. "If they see you and you get caught, who knows what will happen."

"Pfft, they can try to kill me, but I-!"

"Stop." Link says bluntly, therefore cutting off Carter's sarcasm as he glances towards Cinder, Emerald and Mercury "Something's up with their leader."

"The woman in red?" Carter glances at Cinder as well

"Yes." Link nods. "Adam blackmailed us to work for him, but it seems like she's the one doing the blackmailing to Adam. It's almost like she threatened to kill him unless she received his help, so in return, we work for her."

"Wow, that's messed up." Carter shakes his head. "Regardless, I don't fear some bitch in a red dr-!"

"Enough." Link sighs. "If Adam is scared of her, then clearly we need to play it smart, not aggressive."

"So your plan is to get me out of here while you go into a dangerous mission alone? That's insane and I have too much respect for you to let you do this."

"That's an order." Link stares at Carter and after a few seconds of silence, they nod at each other. "We are going to play it safe with this one. If it means keeping all of you safe, I will gladly volunteer to be the only one taking on backlash if this goes south."

"Yes sir." Carter nods. "As soon as you're given the mission, run it by me, does that sound good? I'll take off and clear out the safehouses and clubhouses."

"Good, relocate at one of our other locations and I will probably run late in making it back. If they're suspicious as well then they are going to start hunting us down and-!"

"I get it. We're finished." Carter nods rapidly. "No more Black Hawks."

"Yeah." Link nods back. "I'm glad you're following along."

"No problem, making it out alive is more important than keeping the Black Hawks afloat." Carter sighs. "We've all learned so much, we can definitely make it on our own."

"Right. If things go really wrong as in I don't come back and we don't see each other anymore... Warn EVERYONE that there's a price on their heads, whether or not Adam and others will hunt them down is a risk I don't want any of you to take."

"What about you?" Carter asks

"Simple, I follow your guys approach, escape the mercenary life alive." Link nods

"Kid!" Adam shouts as he stands in front of Cinder, Emerald and Mercury. "You're up. Enough chit chat and get your ass over here." He says coldly

"That doesn't sound..." Link takes a step forward but immediately looks back at Carter. "New plan, leave as soon as you can. Judging all of them based on their facial expressions, they will not allow me to run this mission by you. This may or may not be it for us."

"You got it. Good luck kid, not that you need it. You're strong and nobody is going to take you down without a massive fight, stay safe... Link." Carter nods to his leader and heads back to the assigned tent for himself, his immediate first thought is to plan his escape

(That's the first time he called me Link, I hope that's not a sign.) Link shrugs and walks forward

"Today kid!" Adam shouts. "We're running on a tight schedule!"

"On my way." Link nods and runs over to them but instead of Adam, it's Cinder who approaches him

"You remember that inn from every corner? Have it memorized in and out? You cannot mess this up!" Cinder points her finger and even jabs her index finger against the boy's mask

"I didn't stay overnight to conveniently forget." Link rolls his eyes, though not visible, the sarcasm in his voice is still detected but what shocks everyone is when he swats her finger away

"Watch who you're talking to that way." Emerald's face recoils in disgust

"Y-You!" Mercury marches forward

"Leave it." Adam shakes his head

"I don't take orders from you!"

"Well you better listen to me about this." Adam frowns and points his sword at Link whilst addressing Mercury. "Don't underestimate this kid, he's a weird one."

"Sure." Mercury rolls his eyes

"Quiet, all of you." Cinder waves her hand and dismisses the two bickering teenagers and the masked man. "Are you aware of what we are asking of you?"

"Not really. I scouted the inn, saw a few people in there and came back here. If only I knew who I was after..." Link glances at Cinder, who simply smiles

"Your mission is to kill... A woman being guarded by Qrow Branwen."

"What?" Link looks around in confusion. "That's it? All this time I speculated I would be after this 'Qrow' guy himself, but instead I have to go after another person, who he is guarding that you guys want dead?"

"None of your business." Mercury chuckles. "But we are very serious about wanting her gone. This woman really needs to go and lucky for you, we did most of the work for you. She's almost done for... All you have to do is slip past Qrow, stab her once or twice with that ridiculous sword and she'll be a goner."

"You are the last one who should be talking about people's weapons considering you have none." Link rolls his eyes

"Stay focused, ignore the idiot!" Emerald snaps her fingers in Link's face. "We need her gone! She's holding back our-!" The girl with mint green hair stops herself briefly. "Her plan." She points at Cinder. "If Qrow manages to get her out of there and out of our radar, our plan will be set back for who knows how long?"

"Too long." Cinder mumbles. "What's your overview of the inn?"

"Mostly empty, apart from the owner, bartender and few other employees, about three to be exact. Qrow seemed to be the only one there but now, we go from six to seven apparently."

"Good, if it gets a little rowdy, there won't be many casualties." Mercury shows off another evil smirk

(We could add you to that list if you really want to...) Link glares at Mercury. "Are we done here, can I go and finish the mission?"

"Not yet." Cinder says with a dark tone as she pushes past Emerald and Mercury, promptly getting right in Link's face. "Adam told us about all your little friends, you are officially warned. If you decide to back out or fail the mission because Qrow decides to kill you... I personally will hunt down ALL of your mercenary friends. However, if you do the job well, not only will we benefit but so will the white fang and of course you, very financially."

"Duly noted." Link mumbles, walks past Cinder and glances over his shoulder, the boy notices the stares he is getting from everyone at the camp as he leaves. (She is definitely creepier and stronger than she looks, I don't see myself being ready to take her on right now. Here goes nothing, mission time.)

...

...

Several hours later, Nighttime

"I can only imagine what Carter's up to now. Did he leave? Or did he unwisely stay back to find out more?" Link sighs and slowly walks through the forest, far away from the trail that would lead to the inn. (Knowing him, Carter wouldn't just disobey a direct order.)

(Hurry up kid! You know and I know that we can kill this guy no problem, so why be stealthy?)

"I don't know anything about this guy other than what he looks like. Tales and Myths are nothing more than that until proven true. For now all I can do is assume what this Qrow guy is like since I don't know how he fights." Link shrugs as he forces his hat over his head just as sprinkles of rain begin to fall down on him

(Alright then, answer this question at least. Let's assume you beat Qrow, you're just going to kill this woman he's protecting? What if they held information from you and let us say this woman joins Qrow and they both completely obliterate you?)

"According to what I was told, she should be in a very weakened condition. But then again I don't really want to trust ANYTHING they say."

Later on, Link approaches the inn as he exits the deep forest, he hides behind many trees and looks carefully at the inn whilst getting closer. He breathes calmly to recover as much as he can from the longer journey taken through different route he decided upon after leaving the White Fang camp, suspecting he would be followed from the same trail

"Still looks near empty. Probably more than before assuming some of the employees went home." Link sighs in relief and when noticing the sprinkles of rain turns into hard pouring rain, he begins to think of Mercury's words again about the potential casualties "Only one casualty... Only one." The boy mumbles to himself as he approaches the inn from behind, which luckily for him is nothing more than more trees, nothing like the forest, but still large trees nonetheless

Link quickly whips his head back to make sure he is not being followed with swift scans of the forest behind him, but what he does not take notice of is subtle. It is a crow at the top of the biggest tree, the black bird with blood red eyes stares at this approaching stranger with intrigue

"I don't see him anymore? The rain is hard to look through but he's a tall guy with a big half sword, surely I am able to notice him."

Link smirks behind his mask as he notices an open window on the second story of the inn, though it was completely pitch black. When suddenly, a lightning bolt strikes the ground nearby and lights up the room only slightly, a candle if visibly lit

"Okay, someone is there at least. Maybe it's another person? Damn it there's no way he already left with her-!"

BOOM!

"Whoa!" Link jumps from another lightning strike, this one a lot closer to him and falls back first onto the ground

The sound is so grand that it causes the boy's ears to ring but even though he falls, Link's eyes remain focused on the room. In those split seconds of the lightning bolt hitting, he notices a bed, and a body laying on it

"D-damn, all I saw was golden boots but whatever, that is probably the woman. I may as well check it out." Link touches the back of his head, feeling the straps on his mask, they are excessively tight and well attached to his head, "Here goes nothing." He reveals himself from behind the trees, walks closer to the inn, pulls out the hook-shot from the brown pouch on his belt, and aims it towards the window but the large amounts of rain hitting his face stalls him

It takes some time but eventually, Link's aim steadiest and he readies to propel himself inside the room without fail. However, right as he is about to fire the hook-shot, the sounds of a crow are faintly heard under all the rain and lightning, the crow leaps off the highest tree, takes flight and heads straight for Link

CAW! CAW! CAW!

"What the?" Link frowns and takes a step to the side, the way any person would avoid a random bird coming their way but as the crow is inches away from Link... It fades and out comes Qrow Branwen himself, he crashes directly into Link sloppily, the unorthodox move by the older man sends both of them crashing against the wall of the inn

"For someone so famous I didn't expect you to make a dramatic entrance." Link quickly gets up and takes multiple steps back, therefore creating distance between himself and Qrow who stumbles as he gets up

"S-Shut up!" Qrow squints his eyes when looking at Link. "Y-You look really weird."

"What?" Link frowns but notices Qrow's bizarre actions such as: stumbling, slurring his words, and not knowing his surroundings. "You're drunk?"

"When you have an advantage, don't announce it, take advantage!" Qrow grabs his sword and promptly extends it to it's full size, then sprints at his new foe

(S-shit, here he comes!)

Qrow, despite being drunk, shows off immense speed as he is in Link's space quickly and wildly swings his sword. The latter buries his feet in the dirt and needs both hands on his shield to effectively block the attack

(Damn he's strong even though he looks lanky!) Link digs his feet into the ground even further, which has now become mud thanks to the rain and with aid from his shoulder used to go into the shield block, now it is him who pushes the older man back

"Is that all you got?!" Qrow smirks and jumps back. Although, he slips around in the mud but manages to keep his balance

"This is nothing personal." Link says out loud before he takes the initiative to charge at Qrow now, he draws his sword as both of them soon clash weapons, collide metal on metal and yet another test of strength ensues. "All business."

"Nothing personal? What are you here for?" Qrow pushes forward. "Is someone paying you to hunt me? That's even worse, at least if this were personal, you'd have some purpose for doing this."

"S-Shut up! You don't even know me!" Link growls and fights back with just one hand rather than both hands and his shoulder

"I'm blessed for not knowing a low life like you then!" Qrow overpowers Link with ease once again before he lets out a cocky yawn and boots him away with a kick to the gut. "Enough of these games, if you're after me then let's get this over with and not waste any more of our time." He whips his arm forward and his sword splits from the handle, lowering his blade whilst revealing gun barrels

Link does not respond verbally and instead raises his shield up and runs away from Qrow and back to the trees behind the inn

(Just like Adam, you have to outsmart this fool. Luckily he's drunk, so it may be possible, good luck brat.)

Link nods to himself and agrees with the evil demon without acknowledging his presence

"W-Where'd ya go? And why are there so many trees now?" Qrow stumbles around, looking for Link as he aimlessly shoots around the entire area

(Chances are if I try to distract him he'll catch on. Whether he's drunk or sober, so I'll just have to put him away long enough to go in, finish off that woman and leave.)

Link sighs and puts his shield down, then carefully tugs on his bow while grabbing a handful of arrows. But rather than fire a barrage of arrows, he lets go of the bow and reaches into his pouch, pulls out a smoke bomb and aggressively pushes down on it with his thumb before immediately and blindly tossing at Qrow, sure of where it'll land

"Tricks? Or what the hell is that-!" Qrow bends his arm upwards to revert his weapon back into its sword state and backs away in time to avoid any immediate smoke from getting in his system or eyes; although, the blindness still kicks in eventually as the smoke spreads quickly

"Now." Link grabs his bow and starts firing arrows into the smoke, shooting blindly while his opponent attempts to block and dodge blindly as well

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

"Ah! Damn it!" Qrow reacts negatively as an arrow pierces his leg, directly in the thigh area. He rips out the arrow with no issues, tosses it aside and continues to block while his aura deals with the damage done

"Now's my chance!" Link sneakily moves away from the tree, puts his bow away and reaches for his hook-shot but it's not on him anymore. "What the? Oh right it's still there!" The boy sprints to the exact area where Qrow crashed into him, finds his hook-shot covered in mud but it is still in good condition

Link aims inside the room, unsure of which part to aim for because his blade most likely cannot pierce through brick. But just like before, Qrow is right on his trail

"And where are you going?!" Qrow grabs Link by his collar and violently whips him across and throws him right into a mud puddle, he then kicks the hook-shot out of his hand and breaks apart his sword again, the gun barrel now only inches away from Link's head. "Looks like you're not after me... You're after her aren't you?"

"I am." Link says coldly. "What of it?"

"Did they even tell you who she is?" Qrow growls with anger as he towers over him. "How important is she? Who sent you?"

"N-No! They didn't tell me a damn thing!" Link shakes his head. "My group got blackmailed by the White Fang, who in turn I think are being blackmailed by some woman and two teenagers... I'm only here to do their dirty work it seems. They threatened to kill all my friends but softened the threat with money, which I need if I ever see my family again."

"Your family?" The older man raises an eyebrow

"Y-Yeah... Wherever they are." Link sighs. "I am very much looking for them and-!"

"You almost got me. Now shut it!" Qrow fires an intended shot at Link but his drunkenness makes him miss, only inches away from his head. "You're not going to lay a finger on her, I need to get to..." Qrow groans as the pounding headaches sink in

"I don't know what you need to do but I'm not dying here!"

Link assesses his situation and quickly thinks, then uses the sliding aspect of the slippery mud to slide around and knock Qrow off his feet with a grounded leg sweep. The boy rolls over and gets up but in the time he takes to get up by using his arms and legs, Qrow kips up and has his weapon back into its sword form once again

"Grr..." Link draws out his sword and grabs his shield as both of them circle around themselves

Qrow takes another wild swing, but Link blocks it with his shield! He pushes back and slams his shield into Qrow's chest, stunning him momentarily and giving himself a chance to swing, which Qrow successfully blocks as well! The smoke around them wears off completely after another minute, and now with them having full complete vision of each other, they go at it with more intensity than before: faster swings, quicker dodges, less sloppy attack from both of then, and it's only minutes later that they've figured each other out. Link figures out Qrow's style, which is direct face-to-face style combat with constant pressure, which makes him stick to dodging rather than blocking, in return the boy successfully executes every dodge well. But he isn't the only one to pick apart a fighting style, Qrow figures out his counter-attack style of combat, and eases the power of his strikes while increasing the volume, giving Link less space and time to strike back

(Kid listen to me! If this keeps going, you'll drop first I can assure you that, but I have a plan!)

(I normally wouldn't listen to you at all but fine, I'll listen, what do you have in mind?)

(Nothing tactical, just brutal force in the dorm of ME! Your stupid amount of aura and energy should execute it just fine.)

(I get it, you want to try 'that'... But I haven't even practiced with it and you know that!)

(That's your fault then but if we do it, I can distract this old drunk guy. You go and murder the stupid bitch he's protecting! Hurry up!)

"It's over!"

Link steps over and gets into a defensive stance, his left eye begins to flash gold as he spins in place and slashes anything and anyone in his general direction, in this case, Qrow. Unfortunately for the boy, he only slightly slashes the older man across his stomach until he jumps back and avoids the rest of the attack. All of a sudden, Link's left eye remains gold, with the right one flashing gold seconds later and strange lining kicks in and spreads out of his eyes before it rapidly takes over his entire face, head, hair and the rest of his body. That, along with a pasty bright white color engulfing his skin tone and entire body, soon becoming a completely different being

(Y-You lying piece of sh-!)

(Hahahaha! I'll kill this old man, kill the girl, and find a way to take over... FOREVER! Nothing personal, right kid?)

(Oh no! No Y-you d-d-don't!)

Link drops to one knee, plants both of his hands together, and lets out a scream of pure pain and agony, actively resisting the demon attempting to take over, preventing the takeover from completing itself. However, instead of canceling it out and bottling the demon up, the struggling Link does something unexpected to the shock of everyone...

"What the hell is going on?" Qrow backs away even more, he digs his sword into the ground and holds on tightly as the wind picks up and is immediately powerful. The already present lightning bolts strike even faster and additionally, the sounds of thunder roar throughout the entire area, possibly even to the nearest kingdom to them

"Y-You wanted to take over so badly?! Tough luck you sick monster!" Link lets out another scream of pain before the gold in his eyes flashes so bright it overtakes his sight and momentarily wipes him out.

...

Twenty seconds later

"Kid... Wake your ass up!" The evil and cold voice of this bizarre monster known as 'the demon' is heard, he did take over the way he almost successfully tricked Link into doing so. Instead, he is his own entity... An entire person, he has some of Link's features like his height and hair but is obviously not a real person as he is made up of golden energy

"N-no way... What did I do? I remember doing anything other than resisting your attempted takeover." Link sits up and crawls away from the monster, "What? No sarcastic comeback or insults?" He smirks and looks in awe at this new creation he somehow pulled off

"Just shut up and finish the job while I kill the old man!" He shrugs off Link's admiration and charges at Qrow

"Old man?" Qrow frowns but instantly recognizes he has a massive problem: Two opponents, only one of him, and a very vulnerable girl he is protecting

"Eyes over here old man!"

"I'm not even old!" Qrow growls with anger and slashes right through the demon, cutting him in half but he reforms in seconds. "Don't tell me I have to take down the kid to get rid of this one? Great..." He shrugs and turns around to focus on the source of this new issue, the older man sprints after Link who had slipped past them both and grabbed his hoot-shot. "Oh no you don't!"

"A little help over here?!" Link frowns whilst aiming his hook-shot into the inn for the third time

"Oh now you're pissing me off!" The demon shouts at Qrow. "I don't like being ignored, you pissant!"

Qrow is about to slash and get a perfect hit on Link's extended arm, when he is then stopped dead in his tracks as the demon catches up and grabs him by his collar. The same way Qrow caught and slammed Link into the ground occurs. Only this time, the demon is more rough, he whips and then swings Qrow across the drenched grass and mud, sending him crashing against the tree

"N-No... Autumn!" Qrow gets up but the demon is right back in his face

"Fight me!" The demon extends an arm and summons his own weapon in the form of a two handed longsword with a unique guard and three circular ridges on the handle, "Show me what you can do, weakling!" 'It' collides weapons with Qrow and the two evenly match each others physical strength

...

Inside the Inn

"Finally, I'm in." Link looks around the room and it is pitch black. No lights, not even the candle from earlier is lit anyone, just darkness, "I remember seeing the bed over here." He slowly approaches the bed at the far right hand corner of the room, when his abrupt movement ends as he stubs his foot against something metallic, presumably the frame of the. "H-here." He feels the edge of the bed, touching a mattress right away and runs his finger across, only stopping when he hits a finger. "Here's our woman." The boy then feels her hand more and goes as far as to grab it and give it a quick shake... But it was a cold hand, almost as if it were lifeless

Link tenses up as he reaches for his sword, he thinks again about the objective of this mission: To kill an important woman Qrow is guarding. The consequences of failing are that the Black Hawks as a group will die and so each member. He hesitates as the thought of killing an innocent woman he has 'never' seen makes him reconsider everything

"I can't kill this innocent woman, I don't even know her. This isn't what the Black Hawks do. We do not just take the highest bid if it means harming innocent people, but..."

Link shakes his head in an attempt to brush off his hesitation, then he thinks back and considers the safety and well being of his mercenary Black Hawk members. People he considers friends and associates, he only became their new leader and in only a few days could lose everything he and his group have been working for. The thought of losing them now makes him re-reconsider his hesitation

(Don't even look at her... One quick stab through the midsection should do it.) Link raises his sword with both hands and closes his eyes. "I am so sorry ma'am." But he stalls again, for the last time now...

BOOM!

Another lightning bolt strikes, right in the vicinity of the area separating the inn and the trees. For a couple of seconds, everything is lit up inside the room, prompting Link to open his eyes, going against his own words to not look at the woman... One look at the woman he is about to kill and reality hits him like a pile of bricks across the head

"A-Amber?" Link stabs his sword through the mattress but purposely misses Amber, far away from her chest, his original target to strike, he then drops down to one knee and lays his head against Amber's hand. The tears flow out of his eyes in milliseconds and slowly slide through the tightly fit mask. "N-no, you're not my target! This can't be happening!"

The masked boy picks his head up, expecting an answer, whether verbal or physical but receives nothing in return. Amber is completely unconscious, there is scarring on her face and her new skin complexion tells the entire story. She is more than important, she's special... This woman is someone who possesses something magical and now she is someone who has had this special gift ripped away, along with possibly her entire life as her current state is grim

"No. No. NO!" Link squeezes Amber's hand, hoping for her to squeeze back, he even hooks his arms underneath her legs and back and gently carries her to the open window of the inn. The moonlight shines into the room bright and allows him to really see Amber in her entire current condition. "That stupid woman threatened to come after everyone I loved unless I killed you, the woman who saved my life, and how ironic is it-!" He stops and temporarily removes his mask to wipe away the tears. "I promised to find you again and now I have found you."

"HURRY UP KID! This guy is surprisingly stronger than before!"

(S-Shut up.) Link says to himself as he walks back and lays Amber down on the bed, puts his mask back on, then roughly removes the sword from the pierced mattress "You're better off here Amber, with someone who is actually looking out for you. And if this is really the end of you, I'm so sorry. I don't know why this happened to you, an innocent young woman like you did not deserve this. And those cowards are going to pay for what they did to you, it may not be today or tomorrow but I will make sure they do not harm anyone special to me again!"

The masked boy falls to his knees again and holds one of Amber's hands with both of his for what is seemingly hours but in reality is a measly thirty seconds. After the silent goodbye's come to a close, he rises up to his feet, walks to the open window and watches Qrow gain the upper hand on the demon

"Begone." Link's eyes flash gold once again, they quickly fade back to his original eye color dark blue, and suddenly Qrow's second opponent fades away like dust blown by air

"D-damn you kid. And you too old man! I will be back one day to kill you all! Mark my-!"

Link groans in pain again, having performed and summoning something he's never done before and essentially allowing the demon its own temporary form takes a lot out of him

"Autumn!" Qrow frowns and looks directly at his original opponent, staring daggers through his mask. "You're dead, kid!"

Qrow leaps in the air with a big jump to get back into the inn, as he does this, Link jumps out the opposite way. Both huntsman and mercenary land safely and perfectly, but do not look back to stare each other down again. Qrow checks on Amber and to his surprise, she is still alive and the only damage done is to the bed of the room they are staying in, while Link runs far away from the inn

(You know... If that guy wasn't drunk, you would be de-!)

(I know, you really don't have to tell me. I'd be dead right now.)

...

The Next Day: Forests of Sanus, The Crack of Dawn

Despite failing his mission, Link does not regret sparing Amber in the slightest as he was originally walking back to the White Fang camp until stopped at some point in the night to sleep against a tree. Seeing as going back to the campsite is pointless, the masked boy slept in the forest through the night and opens his eyes to embrace a new day of uncertainty

"Where do I go now?" Link sighs and sits up against the tree he slept while leaning against. (I sure hope Carter got the rest of our members to take off and never look back.)

"Where?" Mercury's voice sends shock down Link's spine as the teenager with gray hair comes out from behind a tree. "You head back and report your failure."

"Or you could just do it right now." Emerald repeats after Mercury and comes out after hiding behind a tree. "You are embarrassing."

"She sent the lackey's, I see." Link is slow to rise to his feet, still exhausted from the night before but forces himself up to not show any weaknesses or fatigue

"You dare you call her a lackey?" Mercury chuckles. "You're even dumber than I thought."

"Oh? She's here too, did you all follow me?" Link unsheathes his sword. (I don't have a lot of energy left, damn. I can take one with me, maybe two at most, then I'm done for.)

"You honestly thought we would trust you to get it done alone?" Emerald laughs as Cinder emerges from behind the same tree as Mercury, but she is not alone. The woman drags something... But that something is revealed to be a someone, a nearly unconscious Carter; he is been beaten down, defeated and on the brink of death

"C-Carter?" Link raises an eyebrow. (Did he really go against my orders?)

"You. Failed. Miserably!" Cinder shakes her head at Link and raises her hands in the air, within seconds a bow and arrow forms in her hand out of what looks to be glass and without showing any mercy, she aims right for Carter's head

"S-Sorry Link, I should've listened to you..." Carter reaches out to his leader

(No, something's not right.) Link mumbles internally and surprisingly stays calm, with a deadpan expression. "I don't have time for your games." He grabs his shield, gets in a defensive stance, inhales, exhales and closes his eyes

"As you wish then, child!" Cinder fires three arrows right into Carter's neck, head, and back, the mercenary dies immediately upon the arrows connecting

"Good, now it's my turn. None of this is real!" Link's calm expressions morph into laughter. "You think I'd fall for that?! Carter NEVER refers to me by my name, he simply calls me 'kid' and forever will till the day both of us die peacefully!" He opens his eyes and now he sees nobody anymore

Emerald, Mercury, Cinder and the seemingly deceased Carter are gone instantaneously, like if this were all an illusion

"Hmph, better luck next time then!" Link shouts throughout the entire forest, fully aware that he is being followed by somebody and that person or people are still nearby

Elsewhere, a short distance away

"He saw through it?" Mercury growls with an annoyed but also a low tone as he does his best to not be heard by Link, whom he and Emerald are close to but still 'far' away from

"Shhh!" Emerald shakes her head. "I don't understand how he did that. Even if we got information wrong about that guy he works with, how did he still see through it? Nobody has ever seen through-!"

"Why don't we just take him out now? You said he looked tired and hurt right?" Mercury cracks his knuckles and neck enthusiastically

"Yes, but we still shouldn't." Emerald shakes her head

"Why?! Scared?" He frowns at her

"No, because we weren't tasked to kill him. We were meant to keep an eye on him and report back as soon as he 'finished' the mission. Let's go." Emerald stands and promptly sprints away

"What about him though? Won't he try anything?" Mercury follows Emerald and calls out while he runs behind her

"He looked shaken up and angry, sure. But I doubt he'd come after us. Especially after seeing the lasting effects done to that girl by Cinder. Regardless, Chances are he wouldn't come back regardless, so either way we won't see him anymore." Emerald confidently nods. "What he does next, who knows what it will be, and I frankly don't care either. Cinder said his mercenary group would be finished if he failed, as did Adam if he ever disobeyed our orders. One thing is certain, many possible outcomes can come from today's failure."

"Hmph! And do we win in all of those outcomes?" Mercury asks but his mind is already made up before he finishes the question

"With Cinder on our side, we WILL come out on top, no matter which outcome takes place." Emerald smirks, both she and Mercury go silent as they continue to create distance between themselves and Link

Meanwhile

"Cowards! All of you!" Link growls as he paces around the forest and whips his head in every direction, expecting someone to come out and confront him in real time. (I'm on my own again, if I go back to the old Black Hawks safehouses, they'll be abandoned or destroyed. If Carter actually listened to me, then the Black Hawks unofficially are disbanded.) He drops down to one knee and calmly breathes. "Hopefully Carter warns them about all of the imminent danger coming their way. If he's not doing it now then, hopefully he does so once he realizes I'm not coming back. That way, everyone can escape this dangerous life and lay low. Maybe I should practice what I preach and do the same myself."

---

Present Time

"That poor girl." Pyrrha lowers her head as she weakly mumbles, tears are almost shed even despite not knowing Amber on a personal level. "How can anyone and why would anyone do such a horrible thing like that to her?"

"Damn..." Coco sighs, pushes her sunglasses upwards, and wipes a single tear away. "That's some rough stuff to go through."

"Sad part is..." Link nods. "That isn't even the worst of it. This is not over yet."

"W-What?" Velvet looks up to meet him eye to eye. "It can't get any worse, right?"

"I'm sorry to say that you're wrong." Link shakes his head. "The worst is about to come."

"Wait." Yang cuts him off right as Link was about to begin the tragic story that is 'the village'. "What happened after that? Were you hunted down by those awful sick people? Or did they try to send assassins after you?"

"Oh yeah... I almost forgot that part." Link nods again, "I kept moving and never stayed put in one place for long. I would find myself stopping at every inn and village available to clean up, rest, eat and plan where I was going next. But at the time there was nowhere for me to go and settle down, so I just had to keep moving." He sighs. "Along the way, White Fang soldiers, White Fang special mercenaries, regular mercenaries, high class assassins, the list continues."

"What did you do when any of them tried to hurt or kill you?" Weiss raises an eyebrow

"I defeated all of them." Link smiles confidently. "Then I had questions to ask them because defeating them was not enough. After interrogating each man or woman, they squealed and sold Adam out as the person who sent them... W-Well, most of them, not all."

"What do you mean?" Blake turns her head in confusion as it hits her what he means. "Did you kill th-!"

"No, I didn't kill any of them." Link shakes his head. "A few took the high road, refused to be interrogated or shaken down for the truth. Some of the mercenaries and assassins decided to go the suicide rout, to preserve their pride... A rather dark ending, considering I was not going to kill them."

"You're kidding?" Sun gasps. "That's crazy."

"I know." Link nods

"I'm so sorry." Pyrrha shakes her head

"Me too. I could not escape the life of a wanted mercenary, and my most foolish assumption was that only the White Fang was after me, I thought they were until-!" The one person team shrivels and curls up, he bends his legs and rests his forehead on his knees. "I entered a tiny village but unlike other villages, the people in this village accepted me. They heard my story, understood my struggles, took my unknown future into consideration, and took me in as one of their own. Until it was all ripped away so fast, torn to shreds and stomped on!" The blonde boy's anger consumes him more than his sadness, though he manages to hold back any ensuing anger that could boil over in rage

"B-by who?" Ruby nervously asks. "Who took it away?"

"Who?" Link looks up and glares to his right, staring directly at Weiss. "Atlas."

---

(Yo, what's up? It's been a while, I know I've been away, I was focusing on college, but that's not really much of an excuse, I had spare time, but simply had no motivation for some reason. That was until last week, it was like some sort of spark went off, and I suddenly wanted to keep writing and continuing this story. Regardless, I can't promise weekly updates, hell I can't even promise consistent updates, but I will say this, expect more chapters sometime soon.)