Welcome back to The Fallen and boy oh boy am I happy how this chapter turned out. Originally I had planned on making another chapter with different characters reacting to the events that unfolded in Chapter Two specifically the Scarlentina's and it would be the starting point of this chapter but I decided to push that down the road a bit so it won't be in this one. Also, I decided to dip my hand back into describing combat which I don't think I'm as good as I'd like to be at it but I still tried so I'd like some feedback on that.

Another thing that contributed to this being a little later than usual is that I wrote a One-Shot called (Shameless Plug)The Shattered Familiar (Shameless Plug) so if you like this story why don't you go check that out it won't take that long. Anyway I've kept you enough so I hope you enjoy!

-OtherwiseR00K

Shirou leaned against the cold railing, looking down at the water illuminated by the shattered moon above him. The last few days had been a ride that Shirou wished he could've gotten off much sooner but thankfully the end of it was coming anytime now.

The librarian, who he now knew as Juniper Arc, managed to strong-arm him into this. She wasn't very strong physically nor was she in any position to truly make him do something with her pregnancy having been ongoing for at least six months.

So how did she manage it?

Shirou figured it out a few days later as he was traveling with her family through the Vale wilderness by watching the way she interacted with her family. The bubbly nature, the overexcitment, and the general inhaling of food.

She reminded him of Taiga.

Far too much for his liking.

Shirou remembered all the times that Taiga was like that as he was growing up. The memories were somewhat foggy but her smile and exaggerated nature shone through the fog as if it were a beacon. A beacon that brought a sorrowful feeling to him.

Shirou had made the steel recede after he'd gotten away from the Arcs on the ship so he could simply reminisce. This is what he'd wanted but since arriving in Remnant he'd had to push it off and get moving.

Now that he was alone and simply waiting he could try to grieve-

BANG!

And Taiga Fujimura fell to the floor with a bullet in her head, the gun held by your han-

-but did he deserve to? He'd killed her after all. Did he have any right to? She was simply trying to help her son who he had no idea existed until she admitted it in front of him. Did he have any right to?

Did he?

He killed her.

Murdered her.

Put her down like she was nothing but an enemy.

Murdered her.

Took her chance to save her son.

Murdered her.

Did he have any right to-

Shirou heard footsteps and let the steel push the memories away. The blank mask reformed over his face, hiding the anguish that occupied it a moment before. Shirou turned around to see the patriarch of the Arc family walking up, a man named Nicholas Arc with his sword Crocea Mors on his hip.

Shirou had seen the sword sitting on the mantel in the Arc household and was intrigued by its history and the fact its name is the same as Julius Ceaser's sword. He was surprised by the coincidence but otherwise left it alone.

The sword itself had a storied history, not as long as some of the others in his inner world, but that didn't take away from its legacy. The sword was made decades before the great war, a conflict raged over the right to express oneself. The sword's original owner was a hero of the war and was just as responsible for Vale's victory as the King of Vale had been and relatively recently passed down to Nicholas who had wielded it with a sense of resentment toward it.

Nicholas had problems with his ancestry and wanted to break the cycle of his family being huntsmen and huntresses and so has done his best to get the idea out of his family's head. It worked for his daughters but apparently, his son was different.

Shirou had seen the boy several times, watching Shirou with a look of awe.

Shirou didn't know why the boy looked at him like that, he'd done nothing to earn it and wasn't worth the look the boy gave him.

"I know I already said this but I still have to apologize for Juniper dragging you with us," Nicholas began. He'd said something similar the first day as well.

"Hmph, it's not so bad. I was heading to Mistral anyway, though you should try to discourage your wife from doing similar. From what I've gathered it's a common occurrence," Shirou replied.

"I've tried but that's one of the things I love about her, she tries to see the best in everyone. Even though I would rather her not but I think she knows that and I trust her to see through people most times."

"And what of the other times?"

Nicholas loses his friendly demeanor and looks at him not as Nicholas Arc the husband the loving husband and father but as Nicholas the veteran huntsmen, "The wool can be pulled over even the best person's eyes. Especially someone as good as her."

Shirou just chuckles bitterly, "What gave it away?"

"Your eyes. They're the eyes of a killer and I don't want someone like you near my family."

"Little too late for that."

"I'm aware, which is why you'll be gone the moment we get to Hoana Lu."

"That was the plan anyway."

"Good," with his piece said Nicholas marched away from him.

With Nicholas gone the steel receded from his mind and Shirou looked back over the water thinking back over the conversation without the steel's interference. Shirou couldn't blame the man for his belief.

He was a killer after all.

-Hoana Lu-

Shirou looked at the dock town as the ship came into the custom watergate the town had connected to the large metal walls surrounding the town. Hoana Lu was smaller than Ansel, about the size of a rural town out in the country.

The buildings vaguely resembled traditional Chinese designs that seemed mixed with Japanese in an odd display of culture. Shirou was curious about the similarities between Earth and Remnant but decided not to question it.

The only building breaking away from the mold was a three-story building in the center of town. It was an ugly thing, at least compared to the buildings around it, large metal reinforcements lined the building with watchpoints on the roof. He was sure it was some kind of command post.

Shirou stood near the extending ramp, lowering itself to the dock a few feet below the ship's deck. He'd avoided the Arcs throughout the night and most of the day so as to disappear from their lives as Nicholas had told him to. Shirou would've done it anyway but Nicholas only confirmed his direction.

The ramp fully extended and he began his first steps on Anima.

"Hold it!"

And was stopped by a voice he wished to avoid.

Shirou turned around to see the Arcs all walking toward him, Juniper leading the pack and waving at him with a smile. Nicholas was directly behind her and didn't even try to hide his displeasure.

"Where're you going?" Juniper asked as she got closer.

"Leaving," Shirou said.

"No you're not," Juniper said, "You're a guest on this trip and as such you will be treated as such."

Shirou only glanced at Nicholas, which Juniper seemed to notice if the betrayed look she gave her husband said anything, "Really Nick? You threatened our guest?"

Nicholas didn't say anything. Shirou assumed that Nicholas knew better than to fight with someone like Juniper, Taiga was simil-

Shirou purged the thought from his head before he could finish it.

"There is no reason for me to stay," Shirou tried, "I'm in Anima I can make my way to Mistral from here-"

"Nope."

"I don-"

"Nope!"

Shirou tried. He did. But if his comparison to Taiga held any grounds, he knew Juniper wouldn't stop trying and he didn't want to hurt her. If he had left without her knowing, he'd be gone, but he'd been caught.

He looked at Nicholas who looked back with an icy look.

Shirou decided at the very least he could get something out of this.

"Fine."

"Yay!" Juniper cheered, "Now follow us dear we're heading straight to the hotel."

Juniper walked past Shirou followed by Nicholas, who once again shot him an icy glare, which he shot a small smirk back. He couldn't help it and didn't know why but seeing Nicholas' face gave him a hint of sadistic amusement.

That amusement dried up and fell off as the oldest Arc girl walked past with the young boy in her arms though. The boy still looked at him the same, though muted. It confused him to no end, why would he give Shirou a look reserved for heroes?

He was no hero.

Shirou watched as the pack passed him and he stood watching for a moment before eventually following them.

-Later that day several miles from Hoana Lu-

A twelve-year-old Adam Taurus grumbled as the truck bucked over the dirt road having gone over a large bump. He hated the bumps and considering he was sitting in the back of the truck on watch for Grimm he was in the worst spot for it. Aura was great and all but you could still feel pain through it.

The truck he was in was the last of a three-truck convoy heading through Anima to Mistral. The first truck was filled with volunteers from Menagerie as well as a huntress. The second truck held the actual White Fang members and the Belladonna family. The third truck, which he was on, was just equipment they may need and Adam was here to keep an eye out for hostiles.

The whole convoy was heading to Mistral for a rally, Ghira had hopes that this could help their image as well as help Menagerie on the world stage.

Adam had his doubts though.

Now don't get him wrong, Adam respected Ghira. Ghira was there for him when he first came to Menagerie, practically opening his own doors for the young bull faunus. Adam would never admit it but he saw Ghira as a father figure but he still had doubts about the way things were going.

Ghira had been doing this for nearly a decade before Adam had shown up a few years back and nearly nothing had changed. Adam believed that they needed to push more forcefully, an opinion shared by a fellow White Fang member, Sienna Khan.

Sienna was a tiger faunus and a few years older than Adam. Sienna and Adam had talked on more than one occasion, and both agreed on the idea that the White Fang needed to push harder than these talks with humans had done. They've even gone to Ghira with their opinion and while Ghira respected it he felt it would only increase tensions.

Adam knew Ghira was no coward. A trip to Mantel a year back had cemented the image of Ghira in his mind. Ghira wasn't afraid of violence but he was afraid of his family getting caught up in violence. Adam knew that Ghira would not risk his family's safety as it already hung in the balance with what he did alone. Add violence on top of that? His family would be hunted down.

Adam couldn't blame Ghira for wanting to protect his family.

He absentmindedly caressed the blindfold over his eyes. Adam would've done anything to protect his own if they-

"RUN ADAM!"

-Adam shook his head. He wouldn't go down that lane of memories, not when he was on guard duty. He was distracting himself enough just by thinking about his doubts with Ghira, he couldn't afford the distraction those memories cursed themselves with.

Bump

That wasn't the normal bumping of the truck. Adam turned his head and looked at the crates all lined on the truck bed, some large, some small, all carrying equipment for the rally, but some were large enough to hide in.

Bump

Adam snapped from his sitting position and placed a hand on Blush's handle, ready to cut down whatever stowed away on the truck. The crate opened and soon two black cat ears were visible as two hands grabbed the side of the crate and heaved the body attached to them up.

Adam let his hand holding the hilt of Blush relax when he realized who this was.

A five-year-old Blake Belladonna tumbled forward from the crate landing in a sprawl before scrambling up and staring at him. Two amber eyes met the black blindfold covering Adam's eyes.

Blake Belladonna was the daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna, the princess of the White Fang in a sense. Adam had met Blake after a training session with Sienna, apparently, she was watching the whole fight and was enamored by it.

Blake had then proceeded to bother Adam at whatever chance she got. She'd followed him around Menagerie like a little duckling following their mother, that's what Kali said at least. Adam didn't know why this kid followed him but this was a recurrent situation.

"What are you doing here, Blake?" Adam asked, having relaxed from his original combat-ready stance.

"What are you doing here?" she instead asked.

"Keeping watch."

"What for?"

"For-" Adam shook his head, "Doesn't matter right now. Why are you here? More importantly, how did you get away from Kali?"

"I'm very sneaky."

Adam sighed, "I'm aware of that yeah. Do they at least know where you are?"

Blake shrugged, not seeing a problem.

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Of course, a five-year-old wouldn't see the issue with sneaking away from their parents. He'd have to notify them quickly.

"Why do you always wear that?" Blake asked.

"Wear what?"

"The blindfold. Are you ugly under there or something?" Blake asked with all the tact of a five-year-old.

Adam flinched slightly at the words but knew it wasn't anything but genuine curiosity on the young girl's part. It still brought up things he'd rather not-

"PLEASE NO!" Adam screamed as he was held down and the searing piece of metal got closer to his eye-

-go down again.

"It's to cover a burn," Adam said.

"Oh," Blake said, as if that was all it was. Which to Blake was all it was, Adam would prefer it stayed that way.

-Hoana Lu-

Shirou stood in the middle of the room provided to him by the Arcs, a hotel room across the hall from the Arc's own room. The room had only a single bed, a small wooden desk, a framed picture of what he assumed was Mistral, and a lamp sitting on a nightstand directly beside the singular bed.

It turned out that the large building in the middle of Hoana Lu was the hotel but it also doubled as a relief center for a possible Grimm attack. The whole building could be sealed off from any breaches and the blast doors over the normal front door were very thick.

Shirou unslung the case from his back and placed it on the bed. He lifted the locks on it and opened it, grabbing the cultist journal wanting to see if the journal makes any mention of places in Anima. He'd be heading to Mistral so he may as well deal with anything on his way.

Once more he read through the pages, ignoring a large amount of religious jargon, searching specifically for anything related to Anima to find any strongholds, settlements, and worship sites on the road to Mistral.

Unfortunately, he didn't find anything new, he did see a mention of Hoana Lu. It was mentioned as relatively close to a place of worship for the cultists. Shirou had his destination, though it seemed he'd expended most of the information from the journal. He'd keep it to compare things but he'd need something else so he can keep on the cult.

Shirou planned on heading out early in the morning, so he could get out of the Arcs' hair and become just a small footnote in their history to be forgotten.

Shirou placed the journal back into the case and closed it. He grabbed the case from the bed and leaned it up against the nightstand before moving toward the desk and taking out his pistol, placing it on the desk and then taking off the shroud and then the coat. He placed them all on the desk before picking the pistol up again.

Shirou walked over to the wall on the far right of the door and leaned up against it. He slid down and rested his hand on the ground still holding the gun, he looked toward the door watching it for a moment, and then leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

That night Shirou dreamed of blood and steel.

-

Shirou walked through Hoana Lu under the dawn sky, the sun just beginning to peak over the horizon. He'd gotten up early enough to leave with the Arcs being none the wiser though he had a feeling Nicholas knew. He wasn't sure why but his instincts told him that the Arc patriarch was aware of his departure.

Not that Shirou cared and he doubted Nicholas would shed tears over him leaving.

Shirou turned around and looked at the hotel/Grimm shelter before turning back to the road and continuing on his way. He had a job to do and there was nothing left for him here.

Shirou rounded a corner and the wall gate wound itself into his view. It was opening, surprisingly, he thought he'd have to scale the wall as he did before but he guessed it would be easier this time. He traced the same nameless Noble Phantasm he used back at the Vale hospital and continued walking.

The reason the gate was open was due to a small convoy of trucks coming in. Large transport trucks, an emblem on the side was of an artistic rendition of an animal with blue and white colors. He recognized it from the books he read back in Ansel.

The White Fang.

A Faunus Activist group founded and led by Ghira Belladonna. The organization has existed for close to a decade and in that time has made some pretty hefty strides, at least in comparison to where it began. Racism toward the faunus was still prevalent in Remnant and Mistral was the second worst offender.

It made sense that the organization would be in Anima, they were probably heading for Mistral. Same as him but he was going the long way around.

Shirou watched as he walked, watched the trucks slow to a halt and faunus get out of the trucks. A large man with a full beard and purple outfit got out of the middle truck and turned around to help a woman with cat ears pierced by gold get out of the truck. Both turned toward the last truck and began walking with stern looks on their faces.

From the final truck emerged a young teen with red hair, horns, and a black blindfold. He was carrying a young girl with cat ears which seemed to flatten as she noticed the two other faunus approaching. It seemed those two were the girl's parents and they were none too pleased with her.

Shirou stopped watching as he passed them and headed toward the gate. Shirou slipped through the gate as it began to close with no one noticing him leave.

Shirou had been walking for nearly two hours. The docktown was long from his view, he could be jogging but he decided to walk so he could come up with a strategy to deal with the cult. He needed to be surgical, cut out the cancer, and leave no traces but he could leave some so he could find more pockets.

Shirou knew there was a small settlement a few miles further, most likely a few hours down the road he was walking on. Once he got closer he'd walk off the main road and continue forward off the beaten path before coming to a-

Shirou stopped walking.

Something had changed once he had begun planning.

He hadn't noticed it.

He turned his head looking around at the horde of Grimm that passed him by.

How had he not noticed them?

Everything with hostile intent emitted some kind of presence to him, his Eye of the Mind was a practiced thing and it always gave him a hint of an attack.

Why hadn't