Vili soared the through the air, the wind whipping past his face and fluttering his hair. This was something he always loved the thought of, ever since he'd seen Yasha take flight as a child. Down in Asylum, the sky was perpetually dark with thick storm clouds and the air choked with smog. But Yasha had gone beyond that, straight through to the heavens. As a child, before he'd been given Alas De' Luz, he'd often wondered what it was like to see a blue sky like those described in his books. The few books with pictures, the older fairy tales with their title artwork and calligraphy, made it seem like something that couldn't really exist to him.

When Yasha had said he was going to take Vili with him somewhere for the first time, he was excited. Yasha didn't leave Asylum often; something Vili now knew was due to the fact that he wasn't officially welcome within the four kingdoms of man or even Menagerie. When he left, it was either upon request of one of the grand councils or kings who ruled the kingdoms or on business related to his experiments. This time had been a business deal, but it had allowed Vili to fly in Yasha's arms. At first, it was not that great, the smog and speed of the air choking his lungs and making his eyes water. Then there had been the clouds, cold and wet from the southern storms. Then, suddenly, they were above the clouds. Vili, eight years old, saw the sky for the first time – and it was more beautiful than he had ever imagined. But even greater than that was something he'd never thought as beautiful before. Vili knew about the sun, Yasha's symbol was the sun after all. But Yasha's symbol was an eclipse – a black sun with brown flames. The sun, a bright ball of light, was something beyond his imagination. The sun was this great light that lit up the world – an astounding thought for a young Vili who'd only seen the poorly lit city of Asylum. Since that day, Vili was determined to take to the skies as much as he could. It was only reinforced when they came home at night and he witnessed the moon and the stars. Oh, the stars were a sight to behold – a million lights distances so far away he could never wrap his head around it, reaching out to him with their cool and gentle touch. He'd fallen asleep on the way back, his head full of the sights of that day – the sky, the forests, and the stars. Flying now with Alas De' Luz, he laughed at the memory of imagining the sky. His aura fueled the silver gauntlets and boots as fire poured from his soles and palms, propelling him through the air. That first journey into the world would change his life. The world outside of Asylum had planted the seed of wonder within him, a welcome feeling after the cruel and dark world of Yasha's tests and experiments.

Vili avoided those aspects of his childhood, thinking of them in a more abstract manner. Yasha's experiments were something that Vili himself had been a product, subject, and part of. It was cruel experiments that had forced Yasha's home of Menagerie to banish him before the age of twenty, a time more than a century ago now. More recently, the four kingdoms banished him for similarly cruel experiments. Finally, just four years ago now, this cruelty had forced Vili to leave Yasha after some dark realizations about his mentor and what he had expected of him. He didn't want to stay a part of Yasha's actions, what he viewed as a downward spiral that would do injustice to the hero he'd once been. However, he couldn't convince the man otherwise, so Vili had set out to atone for his involvement with Yasha's plans.

Vili had seen parts of the world a handful of times prior to this, but Yasha rarely took him on his longer trips from government requests, only the much shorter business trips. Scouring the globe, he had now been to much of Remnant. From Menagerie to the east of Asylum, the eastern kingdom of Rakuen to Menagerie's north, to Atlas on the northernmost continent, and was now leaving Mistral, the kingdom across the sea from Vale, his current destination.

One of the few times Yasha had taken him somewhere for a period of time was to Vale, the world capital. It had been incredible to see the oldest and richest city in Remnant. But as great as it had been, the city was host to something greater – Beacon Academy. Boasting the title of the greatest combat school in the world, with the headmaster Ozpin, Beacon had been something he'd shown interest in since first reading about it in Asylum. Vili had enjoyed that visit, though he did not know why a government trip had led them to visit Beacon. In retrospect, it was likely a cordial visit as Yasha, Ozpin, and Glynda had seemed quite comfortable talking about relatively casual things. When Yasha had left him with a tour by Ozpin and Glynda, he had likely been giving him the slip. Vili smirked. Now that he thought about it that seemed exactly like something he would do. He'd always try to dump him off on someone when they went on business.

Vili had been too enamored with Ozpin and the academy to notice at the time. Not only was the man likeable and mysterious, he proved unreadable. Vili's skill in aura perception made people open books to him, but Ozpin was closed. Even odder, it felt like even if Vili could open Ozpin, he'd find an incomprehensible tongue. He'd shown great interest in what Glynda had been saying as they traveled through the off season school, witnessing its grandeur without the hustle and bustle of student life. However, his real focus had been on reading Ozpin, who he swore was enjoying Vili's frustration at not making any progress. Though Ozpin was a mystery and Glynda a bit of a stickler for rules and procedures, he instantly liked their company and was glad to find that Yasha's trip would leave him at Beacon for a day. He'd talked about history and Dust manipulation with Glynda and picked Ozpin apart for news on Yasha's past throughout the day. It had been one of the most favorite days of his life. That had been seven years ago now, before Yasha began to send him on "assignments" – the things which would eventually make Vili realize how far he and Yasha had gone from any sense of ethical boundaries.

Looking ahead across the water, he could see it now. The green lights shone over the city in the evening sun, high up on its ridge. Beacon Academy watched over the grand city of Vale. The light of Signal was coming up closer, sitting on the small island off the coast. Flying past, he eased off his aura to slow for air traffic in the area, noticing the students at Signal. It would be interesting to see students at Beacon, but it would have to wait. The sun was getting low on the horizon, so he set his eyes on the commercial district in the northeast. He should be able to find a hotel there, and then head off to Beacon in the morning. Cutting off his aura from Alas De' Luz, which began to retract into silver bands around his wrists and ankles, Vili activated his semblance. Black feathers fell from him as his body turned to aura, spiraling through the air into an alley.

As his body reformed, he noticed a guy creeping along the wall of a small restaurant, eyeing some fruit through an open back door. His blonde hair was a bit wild, the white shirt hanging open was ratty, and his red bracers were a bit scuffed up. Even so, his body was incredibly well toned, and his aura seemed strong – Vili couldn't imagine that he really needed to steal for food. He began to shadow him as the guy grabbed the fruit and began to hop to the rooftops. His body, still made of feathers while maintaining its form, allowed him to easily follow the yellow tailed faunus as he ascended the building walls. Running along the rooftops, Vili almost lost him because of his quick progression over and through any obstacles, running along walls, jumping some things, and sliding under others. It was quite a sight as Vili utilized his still ultra-light body to mirror his actions in an effort to keep him in sight.

The end of the guy's journey almost gave Vili the slip as he suddenly ducked into an alley way. Vili had gone past it, narrowing his eyes as his ears perked up, swiveling to scan for any sounds. Both ears and eyes swiveled to his right as he picked up a noise. Turning to the right, an alley sat below him. A fire escape ran down the building, a window sitting open two down. Soundlessly making his way to the window, Vili peaked in to find the guy lying out on a couch, one hand holding a bitten banana, the other a scroll, and his tail operating the screen.

"You have an apartment and you stole food?" Vili said as he stepped into the room and his semblance faded out of effect. The blonde, his head toward the window, looked at him by tilting his head backward.

"You are trespassing and you're trying to lecture me?" he responded, his green eyes catching Vili's eyes. Vili smiled and shook his head.

"I suppose that is pretty bad. Not the worst thing I've done though." That last part was quietly muttered. "I'll admit I'm not the most, uh, upstanding of citizens. But really, I meant why are you stealing food when you are obviously well off?"

The monkey faunus sat up, turning to face Vili. "I could have bought food, but why do that when there's free food lying around? Besides, this is a pretty new situation for me, and old habits don't exactly die easy," he said merrily enough. "But really, I meant why are you in my apartment?" he added, mocking Vili's response.

"Good question," Vili said, leaning against the window sill, his head tilting to the side as he seemingly thought about an answer. He hummed in contemplation before responding, "I guess… because you seem like an interesting person. You look and dress like you are from Rakuen, but here you are in Vale. I feel like you have lived an eventful life, even though you seem young."

Sun Wukong considered his words, feeling that much of the same could be said of this strange dark haired man standing in his apartment. Short leaf shaped ears revealed him as a faunus – though what type he didn't know. A vest of black feathers and black pants covered his legs and torso, silver bands hung on his wrists, ankles and neck, and dark piercing eyes hinted at a level of knowledge beyond his years while still holding a glimmer of sincere childlike curiosity. Making up his mind, Sun responded, "So, you want to know more about me?" A smile and a nod were his only response. Sun sighed, "It's a long story, might as well get comfortable. It all began when I first came to Vale two years ago and ran into this cute cat faunus…"