Chapter Text

Without any sound the shadowy figure walked through the empty streets of Vale, looking at the abandoned buildings since that fateful day. A big part of Vale had been abandoned, people settling either in further part of the city or on the island of Patch. Some even fled to Vacuo, Mistral having shut down it frontiers and Atlas… Atlas wasn’t an option, it had declared war on the citizens of Vale after all. Even if they said that they were hacked, a lot of Vale citizens didn’t trust them at all. It was too shady, but also too convenient. So the world was in disarray, kingdoms didn’t trust each other and Grimm numbers were increasing steadily in numbers for the past few months. Hunters and militaries were doing what they could and even criminals were helping people. At least… This helped somewhat to ease some problems.

But this didn’t matter to the figure, who just walked to a dark alleyway, hiding herself from a police patrol. They had gotten more power in the past weeks, now supported by soldiers and the right to arrest on sight past the curfew as well as having the right to shoot if they feared that it may get dirty. So the shadow waited, not making any sound before keeping moving forward. She wanted to stop by the school before it was too late, but she still had somewhere to go right before that. Silently she made her way to the downed ship that sat on a few ruined buildings. The silhouette looked at it and it shivered, small arms surrounding her body as she tried to hold back bad emotions. She didn’t want to attract Grimm that could roam the area.

She walked slowly through the wreckage, going back to where she had last stop her search. She spent a long moment there, grunting and panting in her efforts, but overall she didn’t make much sound. But at some point she saw something and began throwing rubbles in all directions, trying to make it to the object she saw before her. When she saw it she made a gasp and hugged the object against her body, slowly running her fingers on the cold metal of the cane, his weapon for so long. She cried silently and kept the weapon against her for a few minutes, before she stood up and ran silently when she heard multiple people coming in her direction. She didn’t want to get caught, after all, she was still wanted for what she had done.

She ran and ran for a long time, trying to get rid of everything in her mind. She didn’t want to attract the Grimm. Not where she was going. She slowed down as she got closer and closer to the school grounds, infested by Grimm since that day. She hid the cane and took a deep breath, baking sure her coat was closed and that it didn’t hung loose at some places. She opened her eyes and slowly made her way in the devil’s lair that was Beacon. She walked through destroyed plazas, destroyed buildings and destroyed statues, but this wasn’t where she wanted to be. She had heard Adam recount his fight with two students, one being someone with whom he was once close, while the other was the one why she was here. She had things to do, things to finish. And she didn’t want it to be unfair

So she snooped around, trying to remember where the cafeteria was. She had been here once, but at this point, with all that happened, it seemed like it had been a lifetime ago. She smiled when she finally saw what she was looking for and she quickly entered the building, making sure beforehand that there wasn’t any Grimm inside. She looked around and her stomach tensed when she saw the blood on the floor. After all this time, she could still see it splattered in a pool and she could almost see the trail that it made as it went from the pool to one of the exits. But she wasn’t here for the blood, she was here for a specific object and this time it wouldn’t be as hard as when she searched the downed ship. In fact, the yellow gauntlet was almost jumping at her in the rubbles. She walked to it and slowly, meticulously, she removed the rubble from over it, freeing it from its grave. She held the weapon against her legs, running her fingers across the damaged paint covered metal piece as she remembered the girl who had fought with them. She felt sorry for her, for what she had to go through. She sighed softly, before getting up and putting the weapon at her belt, getting the cane from the ground next to her and heading out.

She walked an hour, back to where she was living. She was in hiding and someone had accepted to help her, to let her live somewhere, at the condition she did what he asked her to do. So she entered an alley and entered by the back of the building, music already blasting her ears. But she didn’t care, at least she could rest here. She passed a pair of men, wearing black suits with red ties and she sat down at a stool at the bar. The barman walked to her and she looked up at him, pink and brown eyes meeting up with his grey eyes. She slowly took out a piece of paper with the information he asked of her and she gave it to him, which he quickly grabbed and smiled when he read it.

“So, you are sure? He was killed in the fire in Forever Fall?”

She nodded and took out a picture, which almost made him puke the instant he saw it. The body was completely burnt, but the bones where shattered and the skull had been broken in a ton of pieces. But the mask and his weapon were right next to the body, as well as a pair of horns, that had been removed from the skull.

“Hmm… Thanks. I guess? Found anything else?”

Her eyes sparkled and she nodded, showing him the cane that she found in the wreckage, before she hugged it fondly, her eyes filling with sadness as quickly as she had smiled. She sighed and put the cane on the bar, before pointing at a set of glass and mimed the act of drinking. He rolled his eyes and went back to make her a raspberry cocktail, the sweetest thing he had tasted in his life, but he didn’t say anything about her taste. After all, if she liked sweet stuff like this, it was her right. A bad choice, but still, it was her choice. He gave her her drink and he looked at the cane a moment. He moved to try and take it to observe it, but he stopped when he saw the glare that she shot him. He sighed and retracted his hand.

“It’s his weapon isn’t it?”

She nodded, her eyes tearing up slightly while she lost her smile, but then she gasped and stood up (not that it made much of difference anyway) and she fiddled with the weapon that she had attached to her belt and she showed it to the barman, who recoiled in horror seeing once again that weapon of mass destruction that wrecked his bar once. But then he looked at it closely and he took it from her hands. In the end, it wasn’t something as dangerous as he first thought. It was sleek, well made and far from a brute weapon.

She grabbed the weapon back and she motioned the weapon, then pointed at herself and followed with acting legs with two fingers. The barman frowned and he nodded slowly, trying to figure out what she meant.

“You… Want to go to her is that it? Why?” he asked, surprised. Why would she ever want to

She nodded and then she thought for a moment. He raised an eyebrow when she didn’t answer but then she snapped her fingers and just took a boxing stance that anybody would recognise. She… wanted to fight Blondie? Heh, sure. Why not. But then she kept looking at him and she made a small pout. He sighed as he began to understand what she was trying to express.

“You don’t know how to, don’t you?”

She nodded smiling, her eyes changing color erratically as her mind was filling with ideas, projects, but also plans. She wanted to fight the blonde brawler and after that, maybe convince her to come take her revenge on those who made them both suffer. But she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be as easy as she made it seem in her mind. But she didn’t care. For now, she wanted to find the blond girl and make her an ally no matter what, she looked at Junior, expecting him to give her answer, but he only sighed.

“I know she’s from Patch. I’ll give you some money to buy yourself the travel there, but I won’t be able to do much more. Once you’re out there, I won’t help you and you must not tell anyone about the fact that we were in contact, understood?”

She rolled her eyes. As if she was going to speak. But she understood what he meant so she nodded and smiled, before taking the gauntlet and the cane and skipping away to her room, making a mental list of all that she would need to bring with her. She felt like it would be pretty interesting once she git to Patch.

“Good luck Neo. For what I’ve heard, it’s not the same girl that came here a year ago… You might be really disappointed.”