Team ALLY

Chapter 1: Brothers in Arms

A crisp breeze, golden leaves, and the gentle crunch of the dying foliage under my feet. Just another autumn day in Vale. I'm out checking the fish traps, someone has been raiding them recently so I've increased the checks. A girl, no, a faunus. She seems to be caught in our net. I walk up and she doesn't move. I walk closer and notice the wound to her leg. I notice something on the ground. A small, white mask. I tuck it in a bag lying near her and sling it over my shoulder. I pick her up and start running back to the house.

"Grandma! Grandma!" Her and Leo step out to see me sprinting toward the door. "I found her near the creek. She doesn't look so good." They rush her inside and clear the table. Grandma dismisses us as a patches up the faunus girl.

A little while later she's conscious. She runs out of the dining room and locks herself into an upstairs room. "Stay away!" She shouts. Grandma tries talking through the door but to no avail. I walk up and try my hand. I close my eyes and put my hand to the door "It's okay, we mean you no harm."

"Are you in my head?"

"It's telepathy, you have an open doorway into my mind. I thought by giving you that access then you would trust me more." She cracks the doorway and gestures me in. My eyes go from amber to brown as I cut the connection. "Who are you?" She asks, pointing a blade at me.

"Aries, Aries Paladin. I was checking the fish traps when I found you lying wounded. I brought you here because it's closer than any hospital. By the look of it grandma got you mended up pretty good."

"Your eyes changed, why?!"

"It's a part of my semblance. When I link minds with someone, my eyes change to match theirs. Watch." I link minds with her again and my eyes turn amber. The world around us changes as we enter my mindscape, or a metaphysical illusionary environment created by delving into my subconscious mind. "This is my mindscape. You're inside my mind, kinda." Around us is a lavender field, with a photo album resting on a rock. "Those are my memories. Not much to look at seeing as I don't remember much about my past."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"To show you I have nothing to hide. You can trust us, we're good people." I hold my hand up and her white mask appears in it. "Not all humans are bad." The mindscape and the mask disappear. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." My eyes turn brown and I manage to convince her to come out so grandma can check her stitches.

While she's getting the girl patched up, I begin on dinner. Just some jambalaya so it's not too difficult. Leo sets the table and I set out the food. "So, a girl like you have a name?" Leo asks.

"Blake." she says, cautiously taking a bite of the jambalaya. She seems to like it, or she's determined it's not hazardous to her health. So she seems to take a more confident bite. We finish up the meal and take a walk outside. "White fang, huh?"

"Guess you could say I was born into it." She says looking down.

"Then why did you leave?" She looks over at me in confusion. "The pathway between our minds went both ways. I was able to sense what was on the front of your mind. The fear of us, and your uncertainty about leaving." She looks straight ahead and takes a deep breath. "What's pushing you?"

"Excuse me?"

"What's driving you and Leo? Why do you want to become huntsman?" I look up at the stars and smile. "Before we adorned the name "Paladin," My family went by the name "Celestian." One day, the king of Vale called for brave volunteers to take on a battle of impossible odds. Out came three brothers: Capricious, The mighty; Saggitarius, The noble; and Aries, the enlightened. The King smiled upon these three and marched alongside them into the battle. The four returned alive. For their valor, they were honored with the name "Paladin." It's my duty, nay, my honor to follow in my ancestral footsteps. Every generation after those three became noble huntsman. Including my father. Guess you could say I was born into it." He hears a howl in the distance and looks back at the direction of the house. "We should head back, the woods get dangerous after dark."

We start to head back only to be ambushed by Grimm. I concentrate and form a barrier shield around Blake. "Leave it to me, you're in no condition to fight." They charge and I levitate out of the way. One charges and goes to slice but I redirect the blow with telekinesis into another beowolf. The second one goes down but the remaining pack start to circle. Blake pounds on the inside of the box, screaming that I let her out. One from behind pounces but I sense it and push it hard into a tree and the beowolf collapses to the ground. Another one slices and I duck. Using a barrier to leverage the wolf over myself and into another one. I shoot a small barrier spike from my hand through both wolves, killing them. Leaving the major and one other. The major charges and I pull the other beowolf to use as a body shield. The major tears right through it without even slowing down. Fear starts to fill me as the wolf ends up right on top of me. I brace for the hit when I hear the familiar sound of two magnum hand cannons going off. I look up to see the major slump over with Leo standing behind it, the mangums retracting into his gauntlets. "You're always trying to take all the fun." He jokes. I laugh as I drop the barriers. "You could have died! Why didn't you just let me help?" Blake shouts.

"Because if you would have fought, we would have been stitching you back together again. Besides, I had it all under control. Leo gives me a "yeah right." kinda look and we all walk back to the house. The next morning Grandma goes to check on Blake to find her gone. I doubt it's the last we'll see her.