Unknown Location: Months Later after the fall of Beacon
The temperature is freezing cold, indicating signs of it being winter. Accompanied by the cold, rain heavily pours down and the setting is not visible at all, it is pitch black outside but as the rain continues to fall at a never ending rate, a pair of eyes open, at last adding color to contrast the darkness. They are dark blue eyes and do not open all the way. It is Link, he stares out into the shattered moon of Remnant, his attention never leaving the moon despite the hard rain, high speed wind, and cold being impossible to ignore. Besides not reacting to the rain, wind or the freezing temperature, his only action after staring at the shattered moon is to close his eyes, think hard, and reminisce.
...
...
...
Garanda
"Hey kid, wake up!" The sound of a rough voice is heard as he shouts at Link
"DON'T BE SO BRASH FATHER, HE'S BEEN WORKING HIS AS-!"
"RAY! Language!" The third voice is revealed to be Morgan, the mother of Ray and wife of Hiroku who has just shouted not long ago
"Sorryyyyyyy." Ray giggles and lightly shakes Link by his shoulder, "Cmon sleepy head wake up already."
"Hm?" Link opens one eye and sees three people around him on the floor of Ray's room, "Oh hey, good morning."
"We were getting worried about you idiot." Ray smiles and hugs him, "You've been out like a light for about twelve hours now."
"Yeah? Why I didn't even-!"
"Stop." Ray's father interjects promptly, "You dedicated your entire day to the village yesterday, I haven't seen a man let alone a boy go out of his way to train troops, work with individuals one on one and still have the energy or dedication to go around helping other villagers do their daily tasks. Hell I have never seen my soldiers go around helping the elderly with their simple tasks such as gardening or cleaning"
"Yeah well what can I say, this place feels like a second home. Not that I even remember what my first home is like."
"Well then forget about it." Ray covers her mouth when realizing what she just said, "Sorry."
"It's okay." Link chuckles, "I know it wasn't intentional but still, good one. So how is it going, am I needed for something? I'd be glad to help."
"Nonsense." Morgan says with a big smile on her face, "We actually wanted to just wake you up and see if you were okay or needed anything, you've done so much for us and the village and you never ask for anything in return."
"Of course not." Link shakes his head, "Allowing me to stay for a month is all the reward I need, if I wasn't here I would still be on the run from mercenaries or thugs so getting to stay here is amazing. So tell me is there anything I can do?"
"Well if you really insist, besides individual training in public, you could go to the academy and train the kids your age there too." Hiroku nods in approval
"Then I will be sure to make my way to the academy before everything ends for the day."
"Can you two stop calling it an academy?" Ray rolls her eyes, "It's nowhere near the size of a real academy, it's basically just a day care for older people."
"Is that so? Her father laughs, "As good as your joke is, you're not enrolled so what does that make you in comparison to them?"
"Hey none of that." Link glares at him, "She has her reasons for not attending, Liam can tell you all about it too, up to them since it's not really my place. But now that you mention it, why don't you come with me Ray?"
"REALLY?" Ray jumps with joy
"Yeah absolutely, who's going to stop you?" Link chuckles
"You kids." Hiroku shrugs but beneath that tough exterior is a brief smile, "We'll leave you to get ready and go whenever you're ready, come on now ladies."
"Sounds good." Link sits up and scoots over until he is almost off the sheets, he stretches and barely feels any soreness or fatigue, "I don't know fully how this aura stuff works but one thing I do know is I feel great. Can't believe they gave me an entire month to stick around, I expected three days max but these are good people. Not all have been good to me but I understand, I'm sure if the roles were reversed I would too be unable to trust a new stranger with a bad past into our secluded village that nobody on the outside knows about."
Dressing himself as fast he can, Link springs off the floor and exits Ray's room, running down the hall and heading for the door
"WAIT!" Morgan calls out to him
"What's wrong?" Link look at her with a determined look in his eyes
"Oh nothing that grave, but you cannot leave on an empty stomach and I know you have barely eaten since you first arrived here, sit down and eat." Morgan walks over and on the table places a plate with glazed apples, scrambled eggs drizzled with syrup, battered fish and a mushroom stew on the side
"H-how did you... I've only been awake for-!"
"Our Plan B was to just wake you up at some point so I made all this food and then we decided it was time to wake you up." She laughs and pats Link on the shoulder, "Eat up, I hope you like it."
"My pleasure, thank you. I especially love apples too thank you so much." Link sits down at the table with a massive smile on his face and instantly goes for the mushroom stew, downing it despite the temperate being piping hot
"Oh my goodness slow down, don't be a pig!" Ray laughs as she sits in front of him
"Sorry, you want some?" Link pushes the other plate towards his 'new' friend
"No no that's alright, I already ate." Ray promptly pushes the plate back Link's way
"Are you sure?" The latter says as he lifts the bowl above his head and tilts it to pour the stew down into his mouth like a big waterfall going at a rapid speed
"The way you're eating? Absolutely." Ray smiles and softly kicks Link's leg underneath the table
"You're missing out. Your mom is an awesome cook... although I'm sure you already knew that."
"YUP!" The latter nods with pure happiness in her voice
"So, were you interested in learning anything specific, I said I would go down to the academy but helping you is my biggest priority after all." Link smiles as he chops down on the battered fish
"Honestly nothing specific I just want to pick up everything I can from you although I know being a teacher is new to you as you are also still learning so I don't want to be intruding on your development." Ray nervously twiddles her fingers and exhales quietly
"Hey now..." Link reaches across the table and squeezes her right hand with his left hand, "You would not be intruding, if anything I want you there while I learn everything I can. I could not imagine life without you now Ray."
"R-really?" She smiles with quivering lips, "You have no idea how much that means to hear."
"I can certainly try my best to understand, your smile is really nice so the more I see of that, the more I do a good job."
"Now you're just being too sweet." Ray blushes
At her earlier request, Link slows down his eating and takes time to savor the food graciously prepared for him, having gone from cheap food and any fruit available such as apples and berries to a real meal feels like night and day
"Can I ask about some things?" Ray squeezes back as her smile remains
"Absolutely, though I cannot really say I remember that much besides what led up to being here."
"Fair enough, how about telling me what you remember from the start." She squints her eyes in an overly dramatic way to indicate she is not completely serious
"I will keep the first part brief because it is not something I hope to tell anyone ever again. It is all a blur as well unfortunately but I remember my father burning our little cabin he spent a lot of time building right to the ground and for some reason despite it raining heavily the fire was not going out, it almost didn't feel real. I don't know how or when exactly but I know my younger brother and mother escaped safely." Link scoffs and rolls his eyes, "Well, I say 'I don't know when' but I helped them escape and when it was my turn to run that is when my father realized we were not inside the cabin anymore and he grabbed me with all of his strength I am sure because I... could not move at all."
"What happened next?" Ray gasps and nearly sheds a tear, "Were you able to break free and catch up with your mother and brother?"
Link sighs and quickly takes a bite of the now sweetened eggs then slowly shakes his head
"Then..." She motions for him to continue
"I don't know if they are alive or not." Link stares at his meal for a short period of time before lifting his head and looking into his friends eyes once more, "I just know that the rain got heavier and lightning began to strike, I broke free from my fathers grip and was able to run to the edge of a cliff, I was ready to turn and fight to survive and..."
Suddenly he stops and contemplates telling Ray about the first emergence of the demon. After a few minutes and a stare down with Ray, he ultimately decides on what he must say
"I almost killed my father let's just keep it at that, but by some crazy coincidence lightning struck directly in between us and I don't know what happened to him really, I just know that I was sent off the cliff and into a river and umm... it was a not very deep river so I was knocked unconscious by the rocks at the bottom."
"What is it with you and falling into water streams and large bodies of water?" Ray breaks the tension with her joke and even manages to get Link to smile, "First a river and now our lake?"
"Very true." Link chuckles, "Maybe it's all happening for a reason because the first time I got saved it was by a girl as well but at least you are more real and believable to explain to someone. The girl who saved me felt like a character in a fiction book."
"How so?"
"Her name was Amber and she had light brown skin, short brown hair. She wore a long, hooded cloak...um, she wore it on top of a white blouse with a brown vest and pants. She also had a gold gauntlet on her left arm and a pair of what looked to be golden armored boots. She had some golden armor on her right shoulder as well as a shoulder strap with some pouches slung across her body. Like I said, a character straight out of a book with how majestic she looked. In fact, she is the reason I like apples so much, my first apple came from her. You would not believe me when I say I was like a wounded scared puppy when I first saw her, I was convinced that I was dead but no it turns out she saved me from drowning."
"Wooooow that is amazing!" Ray cheers happily, "She sounds like she came straight out of The Story of the Seasons."
"I absolutely agree." Link smiles, "We did not say a lot to each other but it was a nice conversation considering I was a few bad words away from a panic attack, Amber was a saint and knew how to calm me down."
"Have you been able to see her again? Please say yes."
Link's heart suddenly starts pounding loudly as he nearly chokes on his food
(Crap... I certainly can't say yes considering I did see Amber again and I was tasked to kill her.)
"Nope." Link looks away, not being able to look in his friends eyes whilst lying to her, "And believe me I was on the lookout for her. I did focus on mercenary work and that was my top priority but what other members of the group did not know was what was on my mind and what exactly I was doing during my free time. Some tried to follow me but my instincts and awareness developed fast and I caught anyone who attempted to spy on me, no punishment either I just told them to leave me alone."
"That being... trying to locate your mother, brother and Amber?" Ray asks as she raises an eyebrow
"Precisely." He nods, "Unfortunately nothing came of those efforts but I am confident that I will find all three of them some day, this is a big world but since I will eventually keep moving as I cannot stay here permanently, I have no choice but to keep going. If you want to ask another question go ahead or would you like me to elaborate more on the current question?"
"Oh I will certainly ask more about Amber and hopefully you are able to remember your mother and brother more, I'd love to hear about them too. Regarding another question I do have... it is about that woman who incapacitated me." Ray's smile shrinks and she glances at her wounded bicep, "Who is she with and what did they really want with you?"
"Hmm, okay well I am going to give you the shortened version because a lot of the details are not needed but I used to be part of a mercenary group like I mentioned a bit ago. It was basically my group although I did not create it, before becoming a mercenary I was on my own simply trying to survive not by doing anything worth praising. If anything I should have been arrested and that could have been the end of my journey but a lot of people had sympathy and saw I was just a kid on my own with no family or friends."
"What did you used to do exactly?" Raw slightly narrows her eyes, not aware of her judgmental look
"Well, I would steal food and attempt to rob people, sometimes I'd fail and get beaten up and other times I would barely come out of it with anything and a lot of bruises." Link looks away in shame as he feels his friend staring right into his soul
"You? Beaten up? That is so crazy to believe." She scoffs
"Nobody starts off strong, even when my previous mercenary partner Carter hyped me up as being good enough to be in prestigious academies I will admit as much as the praise felt great, I also felt down about myself because I have not even been training or fighting or doing anything of the sort nearly as much as other people my age who started training at a young age. I am never going to have the skills, technique or form that people with thousands of hours of training will have and-!"
"Buuuuuuuut!" Ray quickly cuts off Link and smiles wide, "Your disadvantages could also be the way you stand out for good reasons. Think about it if you're so unorthodox and unique will your opponents know what to expect? NOPE! And you do not even need set moves or a certain attack style, you can just go into battle however you want to and emerge victorious, I am VERY confident when I say that too."
"You say that but you do know I am trying to teach you traditional fighting... right?"
"Believe me, why do you think I look like an amateur sometimes? AND NO it is not because I am still a beginner. I'm learning from a bad teacher." She giggles
"Shush." Link smirks and shakes his head, "Then do you want to just fight like me? I don't have to keep pretending like I know how to train someone traditionally, I can make you my real protege and everyone else can get my attempts at being a trainer."
"YES PLEASE!" Ray nods happily and grasps her sword handle, "I am so happy we got to this point because you honestly are really strong for someone who has not even been fighting for that long. I cannot wait to learn as much as I can from you and I promise I will be like a sponge and take everything you throw at me, so bring it on."
"Amazing news." The blonde boy nods back and continues eating "Now to continue, we did not get to make the changes we wanted to make as mercenaries. The norm is take the highest bid no questions asked but I, along with Carter, wanted to change things. We wanted to essentially become rebel mercenaries, taking cheaper jobs in order to rob the rich who usually hired mercenaries to rob and kill the poor or other rich threats. Unfortunately we encountered the White Fang too soon and were essentially forced to merge with them, although I never saw it as a merger but a partnership, we did work for them and did our own jobs too. Then everything changed when they wanted profit from our individual work to the point where we just decided to stop doing our own work and only do the White Fang's bidding because no matter how strong and rebellious the Black Hawks were, the White Fang had numbers, too many for us to handle."
"And that ultimately led to you here? But how?"
"Let's just say they had a plan in place to destroy the Black Hawks by first getting rid of their leader as in me or the rest of my group. I was asked... or demanded actually to do a mission where someone or some people needed to go undercover and the issue was no White Fang members could do it nor could the people who threw the mission on them to begin with. These people didn't belong to an organization, it was two teenagers like us and a woman who possessed a lot of influence and clearly some sort of amazing power. I could feel how powerful she was just by standing in front of her. Ultimately since my group primarily operated with masks and I was the most powerful, I was selected but we are not stupid or at least Carter and I knew they had a plan in case I failed or succeeded."
Link takes a deep breath as he finishes speaking momentarily, remembering everything about that encounter vividly but hesitates on what he wants to say for the time being
"If I succeeded I would have come back to a wiped out mercenary group and I would have been forced to join the White Fang officially and not just as an associate. If I failed then those three people who had a grip on the White Fang were going to personally kill me AND also kill all the mercenaries in my group but I figured that was just to scare me to not fail-!"
"The likely outcome would have been they kill you and take over your group, essentially ending the black hawks and taking in your members forcefully." Ray winces in disgust
"Correct, astute observation." Link smiles at her, "We didn't come up with a plan but I made sure to tell Carter regardless of whether I come back or not they were to immediately take off, successfully escape, run, keep running, hide, and lay low, practically and ultimately as you see where I am now, disbanding the Black Hawks. After all, escaping with our lives was more important and continuing as mercenaries. I have not seen any of them but that is due to the fact that I haven't looked back, going back to where we used to operate would bring on immediate fights and ultimately death. I can and will fight to defend myself but I would rather avoid conflict if it was an option."
"Do you think your friends are alive?"
"It's too early to tell in all honesty, right now definitely they're all smart people and even though the White Fang knows what we look like, they would have to exert a lot of effort and resources just to hunt us down and maybe that is something they will do slowly but I know it will take time too. They would be foolish to target us primarily when they have so much evil and destruction to cause while tarnishing the reputation of every faunus in the world." Link balls up his fist whilst saying the last sentence and shrugs
"I'm sorry Link, not that your life was perfect before it all got torn apart but it really seemed like you had some stability and you were about to turn your mercenary group into a band of vigilantes for justice, I would have loved to hear about that." Ray sighs
"Yes but it is what it is, more like was not meant to be but I digress. I believe everything that happens to us is for a reason. I think the reason for me specifically was to really get a chance to take all of them down myself, especially Adam. He was the leader of his brainwashed White Fang soldiers, the actual leader of the White Fang is not a target of mine. She was brash and really aggressive but also misunderstood." Link smirks a little as he remembers his lone encounter with Sienna Khan
"As in she wants the best for faunus but she doesn't go the best way about it so she is seen as a villain?"
"That sounds about right, good job Ray, excellent comprehension. I don't know exactly when I will be able to get my hands on them but I do see myself facing all four of them in the future, whether it's Adam first or the other three, they have to go down not only for what they did to me but what they've done to the world around them and what they will continue to do to it in the future."
Silence takes over as for a brief period of time neither of them speak, the outsider is simply looking down at his food while the villager looks at him with sympathy, until...
"One more and I promise I'm done." Ray squeezes Link's hand once again, "If you could go back and change anything, what would you have done?"
"Good question." Link exhales and thinks carefully, "I want to say stick with Amber and follow her whether it was directly by her side or closely behind but she left before I could even ask anything of the sort. I also had the chance to take out one of the most important White Fang members in a one on one fight and ultimately decided to help him, I absolutely regret that."
"Adam?"
"Yes." Link balls up his fist again, "This one might be THE ultimate regret, after I failed my mission and set off on my own journey, the woman and two teenagers came after me but didn't attack, they only tried to scare me, I wish fought them right then and there but... who am I kidding, I was already exhausted and likely would have been killed."
"So instead of regrets you're just happy to be alive." She smiles warmly
"Yeah, I like that answer." Link nods and finishes his food with it being the final bits of the egg, fish and rapidly eating the apples last, "Ready to go?"
"Yessss finally!"
Ray excitedly jumps out of her seat and guides Link to the door of their home hand in hand, she doesn't even turn to say goodbye to her mother but Link manages to wave his hand
"Stay safe! Oh and don't go overboard, you have plenty of time to get better!" Morgan calls out as the two leave and forget to shut the door, "Those kids, I'm glad to see Ray find a new friend she really likes. I do hope he is able to stay by some miracle."
Minutes Later, on the brink outskirts of Garanda
"You know for never leaving the village you sure do tease the idea often... you know, every time you come out here." Link says with the most sarcastic tone ever
"Oh stop being so dramatic silly I'm like ten feet away from re-entering the village, by leaving I mean reallyyyyyyyy leaving like to another village or even a bigger place like one of the bigger regions."
"Yes I know, I'm just messing with you." A big smile appears on his face as he stands completely still and simply wraps his left hand around the handle of his sword
"Good, now abide by my terms and go all out, if I am going to get stronger I need to face stronger opponents and as much as I appreciate all your help, I know you have been going easy on me." Ray says with determination as she plants her feet and holds her sword with both hands
"..." Link's smile fades as he narrows his eyes and grabs his sword and shield while he also plants his feet
The village girl suddenly shuts her eyes and starts to panic, her heart pounds fast and hard to the point where anybody in close proximity could hear it, she knows her teacher would not really hurt her but after all, she did just request for him to go all out.
"Come on ray, snap out of it before you get sliced up into little pieces!" Ray shouts internally as she opens her eyes and Link is already directly in front of her in a span of a second
"Ray!?" Link cries out as he swings his sword rapidly but with minimal power
"YOU WON'T GET ME THAT EASILY!" She reacts almost too late and lifts her arms up, bringing the handle up in the air and the blade aimed downwards, successfully blocking the incoming attack, "You're pretty fast for someone with no proper training."
"I could say the same for you, another second and I could have seriously hurt you but besides that, nice block." Link shrugs and in a swift motion plants his feet and spins in place with his arm outstretched and sword pointed directly at his student
"Whoa!" Ray manages to retreat, her already torn blouse feeling the effects as she feels the breeze of cool air on her midsection now
"I'm not done yet!" Link smirks and stops what he's doing to immediately get back in Ray's face, she starts his sequence with a direct charge, bashing his shield into her and with slick footwork he switches stances, lifts his sword up in the air and directly swings his sword downward directly onto Ray three times
"Ahh!" She takes minimal damage with careful backsteps and even better sword blocks until at last she swings her sword in retaliation and not wildly but with composure and skill
"Amazing, even while I'm attacking her she is able to fight back mid sequence rather than countering and waiting for an opportunity to strike like I would. I like it, she's gaining more courage and confidence every time we train or spar."
With a smirk on his face, Link takes the fight and immediately turns it unconventional as he puts his shield away and charges as Ray, she attempts to mimic his spinning slash attack but starts too late and is also too slow, she is caught directly by her 'opponent' by a tight pull on her blouse and in a split second she is thrown up into the air
"O-oh my goodness!" Ray's eyes widen, not expecting this amount of strength to be possible from an off balance Link using one hand
"Get ready!" Link's smirk turns into a smile as his arm is low, blade touching the ground, he grips the handle and swings in upwards motions
"Are you crazy!?" She yelps out but manages to compose herself fast enough to reposition herself now coming back down to the ground feet first, sword tightly held and brings her blade aimed downwards, her target being her teachers head
"...!" Link sees what's coming right at him and does not test fate as he backs away, dodging Ray's attack with ease but does watch her carefully as she comes down and her sword perfectly penetrates the ground, she also lands in a perfect stance, left knee and right foot on the ground, hands still holding onto the handle of her sword
"I like that, I might just copy that from you, is that fair? Considering you try to copy my moves."
"Absolutely, I owe you everything after all." Ray smiles
"Who said we were done?!" Link shouts but with clear sarcasm in his voice as he slowly jogs towards her
"R-right!" She nods and gets in a defensive stance, ready for anything that is coming next
The pair spend the next hour and more light sparring with the occasional increase in aggression, with Link testing and pushing Ray but at his pace and in the way he wants to teach her, not the way he thinks he should be teaching her, the earlier talk the two had clearly influencing this change in pace
Several Hours Later: Garanda Academy
"That will wrap it for today everybody, excellent work people, I can see that you are only getting better and better, the future of Garanda is in good hands." Says the prompt yet polite professor who wipes her weapon of choice, a shiny silver rapier with a thick cloth
"You really think so, professor Abha?" A familiar voice speaks up, one of the four bullies who one attempted to jump Liam days prior
"Absolutely Mason! I don't see why not? You were all more athletic and talented than I was at your age." She smiles and gives everyone a big nod, "I must be going now but I enjoyed staying the extra hour, feel free to stay and continue practicing on your skills or head to the library and focus on your studies, the academy is always open to you kids until it is actually time to close our doors."
"A-aw can't you... stay for another hour?" The second bully speaks up but is clearly out of breath and needing rest more than extra training
"Now now Kami, let's not be foolish as well. You need to be at your best physically and mentally, that involves rest and recuperation. If you're as exhausted as you are now, how will you be able to get better? Or worse, who could you defeat in combat? And may I point out..." Professor Abha walks directly to Kami and eyes him along with his three other friends, "You, Mason, Jay and Baku have all been pushing yourselves extremely hard lately, did something happen that caused this change in behavior? You are all usually so confident that one may confuse it for arrogance."
"N-no ma'am!" Baku exclaims
"Are you sure? You know you are my students right? You can tell me anything, especially you Jay, you went from being the loudest one in here to the quietest, is there a reason for that?"
The professor walks past the three and looks down at Jay, the cocky loudmouth with bandages around his bicep and thigh, he simply shakes his head and grips his staff tightly
"No ma'am, I am just trying my best to get better, I need to get stronger for the sake of the village."
"That's a good mindset to have." Professor Abha nods and smiles, "Take care of yourself in the process however, wanting to protect the village should be a top priority but not at the expense of your health."
From a short distance, Liam snickers and rolls his eyes at their obvious lies and deflections but also finds himself agreeing with them regarding needing to become stronger
"Where is he? Father said Link would come here and help us become stronger, I mean he is already doing that outside of when I attend school but him coming to the academy will be a first. How much training could he possibly be doing with my sister?"
"Very well then, good evening to every single one of you and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the exact same time, and remember if you are-!"
SLAM!
The professor is interrupted by the rapid opening of a door used to enter the combat room as a disheveled Link and Ray burst into the room both panting and with clear worry in their eyes, they both slump over and catch their breath
"Well well, you did make it after all." Liam smiles warmly but then his eyes widen when he sees Ray, "W-what are you doing here?"
"Change of plans, I asked her to come with me." Link promptly rises back up and his eyes widen when he sees the professor in disbelief, "I'm sorry did I interrupt you?"
"No no that is quite okay. I was just saying my goodbyes because it is my time to go, I already stayed an additional time too because some of my students wanted the extra training."
"Well that's good, can't go wrong with wanting to get better." He nods and nudges Ray to stop slumping over
"S-sorry sorryyyy." Ray shrugs and in a showing of fear gets behind Link, only the top of her head and eyes are visible to everyone
"Ray?" Link whispers to her, "What are you doing?"
"I don't know, I just never felt welcome here. It feels weird being in this building again so I just-!"
"There is no need to fear miss." Professor Abha smiles warmly and signals for her to come out, "It's been a long time since you were here, hasn't it Ray?"
"You... remember me?" Ray blushes and slowly steps forward
"Of course I do, you still have the same pretty eyes and that warm expression on your face."
"W-wow." Ray giggles, "That's really sweet of you, especially since I don't even attend the academy and often just sneak it to read books in the library."
"Nerd." Kami rolls his eyes
"Kami!" Professor Abha narrows her eyes, "Being an exemplary warrior and a future huntsman is more than just being a good fighter, you must have a good heart and the desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves, that includes anybody whether they have no experience, little experience or plenty of experience but are in danger. You must treat everyone with the utmost respect, especially those of our own village."
"Y-yes professor." Kami looks down in shame, clearly only showing remorse because he was called out
"Good, now back to what I was saying." The professor turns back to Ray, "You are more than welcome to come back to the academy Ray, you will be behind on combat training but you are a smart young lady who can make up for what you lack with strategic intelligence, I am sure you could easily outmaneuver and tactically any opponent that comes your way, and if my assumptions are correct you won't be that far behind on your combat training."
"Hm?" Ray notices the professor glaring at Link, "Ohhhh yes I have been working a lot recently on the basics and I would love to say I'm a fast learner but I still have plenty to learn."
"Wonderful, please consider my offer to come back, I would love to train and mentor you." She smiles and then chuckles a bit, "Plus how could I possibly forget you, I hear your name all the time considering that Liam adores you and always talks wanting to shield you from any danger."
"PROFESSOR!" Liam turns away in embarrassment
"Now now there's no shame in caring for a sibling. It's good that you care so much and want to protect the people you love with your life." Professor Abha smiles at Liam and walks right up to Ray, giving her a pat on the top of her head before all her attention turns towards Link, "And you must be the new boy I have been hearing about."
"Yes ma'am." Link smiles cordially and extends his hand, "My name is-!"
However, before he can even answer, professor Abha manages to move in between Ray and Link without them or anybody else noticing how fast she moved, already shaking his hand and smiling brightly once again
"I am aware of who you are. If what I'm hearing is true and you really want to help the future of Garanda, then I look forward to seeing your hard work pay off."
"H-how did you..." Link smirks, "I didn't even see you move."
"There is a reason." Professor Abha leans towards Link's ear and whispers, "Semblances my dear."
"I see." He nods, "She has an incredible amount of speed, although it does not seem like she can use it all the time or freely."
"Goodbye again children. I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow and maybe you could join us." The professor says with her gaze still on Link
"Maybe I will." Link nods and lets go of her hands as the quick and light on her feet professor exits the combat room
When the door shuts all eyes and attention goes towards both Link and Ray as they stand in front of the room of about twenty or more students, all boys.
"So what is she doing here?" Baku shrugs
"I invited her, she has just as much right to train in combat as all of you in here." Link narrows his eyes as he recognizes the foursome of bullies, "If anyone has a problem with it don't even waste air by protesting and bite your tongue because Ray is here to stay, in just one month's time I'm going to train her and push her hard enough to where is stronger than all of you."
"L-link! Don't overestimate my potential." Ray stammers and shakes her head, "Everyone ignore what he just said, he's silly."
"Everyone's potential is limitless if they apply themselves, don't get me wrong though I am not an expert. I will not stand here and tell you all about 'the right path' to take when it comes to applying yourselves." Link begins to walk back and forth in a straight line, eyeing everyone in the room, "But what I can say is we all have a path to walk. All of you have better form and discipline than I do, yet I am seen as stronger, do you wonder why that is?"
"We understand, you have more experience fighting huntsmen, huntresses, mercenaries and grimm." Liam answers and rolls his eyes
"Yes but it goes deeper than that. I don't know what is in store for all of you but I know that everyone here is capable of great things, the way we get there is a different story, I have walked a path of pain and misery up until now and I can only hope my fortune will turn around for the better now that I am in your amazing village. Some of you I'm sure have also walked a painful path too..."
Several of the students in the room slowly nod in agreement while others look down in regret before also nodding their heads.
"And on the other side I can assume others have maybe never faced a single moment of hardship in their lives. My point is that there is no 'right way' to proceed when it comes to maximizing your potential, what does matter however is that you don't lose yourself in that journey. No matter how much life throws at you, whether it's easy and stagnant or hard and hopeless, all of you must aspire to be the best version of yourselves that you can possibly be."
"No offense guy but..." Mason speaks up with his hand raised, "No disrespect intended, I appreciate the words of wisdom but if I wanted to hear that I would talk to my mother or older sister, not hear it from a stranger who isn't even completely trustworthy."
"Statements that begin with no disrespect are always going to be disrespectful..." Link shrugs
"H-hey!" Ray stomps her foot, "Link is trustworthy, way more than you ya jerk! All you've ever done is try to torment my brother and pick on me just because our father outranks yours!"
"Why you little..." Mason grabs his weapon of choice, a longsword and charges at Ray
"STOP!" Liam chases after him but is held by both of his arms courtesy of Baku and Kami, "If you touch my sister I will end you!"
"I'm not scared of you!" Ray holds her sword with both hands but she shakes heavily, still exhausted from training
Link protectively steps in front of Ray with his arms crossed and stares down Mason as he continues to run towards them. He gives the incoming bully the coldest expression possible, with his eyebrows furrowed and showing a complete lack of fear
"You getting cocky now!?" Mason scoffs but conveniently stops himself short a small distance from Link, feeling himself beginning to tremble as the aura coming from the person standing in front of his target is something he's never felt before, "What is this?"
"What's what? I have not even attacked." Link wonders to himself
"Scared?" Ray taunts and sticks out her tongue in the process
"N-no it's just..." Mason shakes his head and attempts to continue charging at them, but his legs do not move, "What are you doing to me?"
"Nothing at all I think you simply do not want to fight me, and it just wouldn't be wise of you to attack her. Ray's been through a lot today physically and you can clearly see that by using your eyes. You saw that and still tried to attack her, that's a very cowardly move." Link narrows his eyes as they suddenly flash a golden color momentarily, "I would not take another step if I were you, heck with how mad I already am knowing you were about to attack Ray, you would be better off not even looking in her direction. Or I will personally do what Liam said he would do to you."
"Enough Mason." Jay speaks up as he shoves Baku and Kami away from Liam, "We can't beat him, not the four of us and certainly not you alone. Let's be honest for a change too, what Liam's sister said is true."
"Jay...?" Liam raises an eyebrow at his biggest tormentor who is actually being reasonable and somewhat kind
"If he is here to stay whether permanent or temporarily and he's going to teach us, let's take in everything we can." Jay does not even bother looking Link in the eyes but nods in his direction
"He's right. All this energy you're putting towards attacking Ray could be used in a much better way." Link nods in respect before noticing the bandages around the boy's thigh and bicep wrapped in bandages, "I remember him, he was the guy with the big mouth at the festival, what's gotten into him lately."
"I think I know why he's being nicer." Ray whispers, "I don't know exact details but based on what I've learned from my father, Jay's father is a really good man and the village was speculating that Jay's father finally found out how much of a bully his son is, which is obviously not the way he raised him."
"Those are some broad assumptions but if they are true then it looks like Jay's father sorted him out for the better, not with physicality either but talking."
"Why would you assume physicality?" Ray almost gasps out loud, "Did you father-!"
"Yeah." Link's face drops as a tears instantly rolls down his cheeks, "It's good to see that parents actually care about their kids."
"I know my parents aren't yours but they will care about you as if you were one of their own." Ray grabs his hand and shakes it a bit and purposely giggles in his ear, "Now come on, I want to see you in action again."
"..." Link wipes away the tears and smiles, "Right, if you feel better join us too but otherwise watch and give pointers if you would like to."
Link motions Mason to get back to his peers as he stands where Professor Abha normally does as an instructor
"I am not going to pretend and lead you on as if I know absolutely everything about anything, but with that being said let's talk about Aura. I know many if not all of you haven't unlocked your aura but from what I have heard you're all aware of its existence, so luckily I don't have to explain what it is because trust me... I would just have to make things up."
Link smiles and shrugs his shoulders sarcastically as the last part garners laughs and chuckles out of everyone, even the aforementioned bullies
"Everyone is capable of unlocking aura, take a look around, who do you think has unlocked their aura in this room?"
"W-well..." Baku speaks up and points at Link as does everyone else, "Has to be you of course, you're so reckless and the way you fight is weird as all hell but you're very good at what you do, and I imagine your aura helps a lot with that since you can recover and keep going."
"Thanks? Not sure if that was a backhanded compliment but..." Link shrugs his shoulders once again, "Now time to pull out the twist, we have another person in this room with Aura."
Many who's are said as the students look around, suspicious of each other until at least they are divided between Jay and Liam
"And she is right over there." Link lifts his hand and points at Ray
"Link!" Ray blushes and hides her face
"HER?!"
"That's right." Link chuckles, "This is why I won't pretend to be an expert, I unlocked my aura on my own, Ray did not... in fact I helped her unlock hers, how you might ask?"
"Nobody asked." Baku smirks
"Good one you jokester, the answer is your guess is as good as mine. This is what leads me to believe that everyone has aura within them that will be unlocked in some way, I was in a high stress situation fighting for my life, I know of a man who pushed himself to the limit until he unlocked his aura too, and of course you all heard about Ray I helped her unlock her aura with my own."
Link laughs again as he raises his left hand and balls it up into a tight fist, glancing at everyone with a look of determination
"Train hard, never stray from the path to become stronger and do it for the right reasons. Do not do this simply to be strong and arrogant about it but have a reason to get stronger, unlock your aura for the sake of protecting those you love. Lastly, not to contradict myself but, thinking about yourself is not entirely selfish, it's important to be happy within oneself and to become a better person for the sake of being happy and living your best life. So tell me, you want to be huntsmen?"
The room falls silent but a beaming light of energy fills the whole room and it's Ray's smile and watery eyes as she claps quietly
"YEAH! I DO!" Liam shouts, followed by the rest of his classmates one by one until the entire room is chanting and cheering
"Then let's get to work." Link nods as he folds his arms and watches the huntsmen in training begin to spar
...
...
...
Present Time: Unknown Location
Link opens his eyes once again as lighting strikes and at last his surroundings are revealed although barely visible, it is the remaining wasteland of what was once Garanda and where he is standing is a place he thought he'd never return to, in front of the house of the once happy and jubilant family consisting of Hiroku, Morgan, Liam, and Ray. It also happens to be the least damaged house and only standing building in the entire village with only smashed windows and a destroyed front door. However, the house is not what Link is focusing on, it is the front yard. More importantly, the two graves that are right next to each other, a sword sheath partially dug into the ground in front of one grave and a quiver for arrows also partially dug into the ground for the other grave, the weapons to act as tombstones reveal the graves to be Ray and Morgan
(...) Plenty of words are dying to spill out of Link's mouth but the more he tries to blurt out anything, the more his heart aches in pain and his entire body shakes until he ultimately falls to his knees in front of Ray's grave and the tears flow of his eyes, (...I-I'm sorry... Ray...) words emerge within him and with a nasty scowl on his face and the crying eyes of a puppy, Link is quite possibly being the angriest crier in the world
Minutes that feel like hours slowly pass until they really turn into hours and Link does not move an inch, continuing to stare at Ray's grave as his mind only replays tragic events such as the slaughtering and destruction of Garanda, Ray's heartless murder, Amber in her near death state and the most recent death of another friend in Pyrrha
(...I will...) Link's heart begins to pound rapidly as even forming words internally hurts him down to the core, (...avenge you all!...)
The distraught boy remains where he is until the crack of dawn and at last something within him clicks to finally move. He blinks and then lets out a sigh before sliding over to Morgan's grave and paying respects to her too. Next, out of respect to everyone in the village, even those who did not want him to stay, Link walks deeper into the village and does the same to every grave that still is still visible considering the destruction happened over a year ago, he walks around the entire village, mourning graves, with little hope of buildings remain standing to no avail as they are mostly rubble now, he then stops in place as he reaches the council building that was flattened by an Atlas ship
(...And... I mean all of you!) Link's fists balls up as he wipes the tears away from his eyes and all that remains is his furious expression, (...I know where... I must go... next.)