Blazblue: Ashes to Ashes

Returning Home

Red hot flames burned and ate away at the architecture of the NOL branch. Standing amongst the flames was a young man with hair as black as charcoal and eyes as blue as the azure sky in an empty branch base that he himself had set aflame. "No one was here. Well, it only makes my job easier. I couldn't bear to silence any familiar faces."

At the 13th Hierarchical City, Kagutsuchi…

The white-haired man lay down, looking up at the cloudy skies, not a care in the world. At least, he didn't have any cares YET. He gave out a big yawn and closed his eyes, welcoming sleep. It was a nice day and it would be a waste to spend it fighting.

Just as he was slipping into slumber, he felt a slip of paper land on his head. Aggravated, he took the paper and looked at it.

It was a wanted poster of the man with the highest bounty in history. The SS-Rank Criminal wanted by the NOL, Ragna the Bloodedge. The man looked at the wanted poster and grinned. They finally managed to get his face right.

Ragna may be a criminal that was constantly hunted down by many Bounty Hunters, but ever since his first day as a wanted man, the terribly distorted face of what the NOL passed off as him just pissed him off.

"It's about damn time they got it right. All those previous posters were horrible." He chuckled a little before he crumpled the poster into a wrinkled ball and threw it away.

"There you are, Ragna!"

Ragna looked over at Noel, a former NOL soldier. After recent events, she had officially deserted the NOL and after that, she went off on her own for a bit.

"I've been looking all over for you," she said as she looked around, "I heard that Tao would be with you. Where is she?" Ragna groaned exhaustedly, "This is just my luck. I finally manage to ditch that damn cat and now you show up. I thought I could finally get some peace and quiet for once."

Ever since the recent disasters, Noel has managed to learn to put up with Ragna's rude attitude. However, there were some moments here and there where he ends up saying something completely wrong.

"Wouldn't it be safer for you if Tao were with you?"

Ragna remained silent, trying desperately to get some sleep.

About Ten Years Ago…

Ragna was laying on the soft grass, gazing up at the blue sky without a single care in the world. He smiled, enjoying and holding onto this moment, hoping it would last forever.

"Brother!"

Ragna sat up and gazed off into the distance to see Jin and Saya run over to him. He was about to greet them when he noticed someone else approaching. He couldn't make out who that third person was. When he looked at Jin and Saya, he could see their faces clearly, but when he looked at this third kid, his vision got blurry and fogged. All he could make out was his coal black hair.

Ragna woke up and found Taokaka sitting on his chest, his head clenched between her hands, er, paws.

"Hey, hey, Good Guy, you need to wake up, meow! Tao is starving to death. Tao needs to eat neow!"

Ragna groaned and pushed the Kaka warrior off of him. He stood up from his resting spot and started pacing off towards town, with Taokaka and Noel following after him.

"Who was that other kid?"

The Burnt Ruins of the Ibukido NOL Branch…

Jin stood there, looking upon the freshly burned NOL branch. He shuffled through the ashes, investigating, looking for clues as to what happened. After a few dull moments of finding nothing, he managed to find something abnormal. It was an entire bookcase full of documents, files, and records untouched by the flames that brought the building to its destruction.