Several weeks had passed by since (Y/N) had taken on the job of becoming Aerith's bodyguard, so far it hadn't been too much trouble, all he did was stay close to Aerith as she went out to sell her flowers to the people of Mistral.

He did have to step in a few times, usually with thugs trying to harass her, he did also have to scare a business owner who pushed her and yelled at her about selling her flowers in front of his shop, but for the most part he didn't have much to do on this job.

Right now he was standing a few feet away from Aerith, watching her as she stood with a basket full of flowers, offering to sell them to passing people and Faunas, some of them bought her flowers, usually couples who were out on dates, or wanting to give a flower to someone they liked.

(Y/N) found this work easy, most people here in the city were easy to scare off if they bothered Aerith, and having Aerith's company was quite nice, she would ask him questions about his past, usually about his time with Vergil and his training, he'd also told her of his abusive family, though, he'd never told her exactly who it was.

"So... (Y/N), what do you plan to do now? Since your away from your old family, what are your plans?" Aerith asked him gently as they both walked back to her home after another day of her selling flowers, her basket quite light now from the couples that were buying her flowers for their dates and other reasons.

"Well for now, I'm working as your bodyguard, after that, I'm not certain, perhaps I'll wander around Remnant for some time, and see what comes my way" (Y/N) said to her as he walked beside her, keeping himself on alert in case they were attacked on the way home.

"I see... wouldn't that be lonely? Wandering around all by yourself?" Aerith asked curiously as she looked over to him, her lips pulled back into a small smile as they walked.

"Maybe, but I'd rather not be a Huntsman, I prefer the freedom and not being held up to the same standards and scrutiny as they do" (Y/N) replied to her as he looked up to the sky above them, his eyes scanning the clouds for any flying Grimm.

"Hm, okay, I understand" Aerith said as she gave him a closed eyed smile, they soon reached Aerith's home and walked through the front door.

"Hello, how was it today?" Ifalna asked as the two walked into the house, Aerith went over and hugged her mum as a greeting, while (Y/N) stood back and watched the warm family moment with a stoic look on his face.

"I did well, a lot of couples were interested in buying them today, and (Y/N) kept me safe" Aerith said as she let go of the hug she had with her mother, and looked back to (Y/N) with her smile still on her face.

"That's wonderful, thank you for protecting my daughter so well, (Y/N)" Ifalna said as she gave him a grateful smile and nod, truly appreciating him protecting her daughter so well.

"Of course" (Y/N) said to her as he maintained his stoic demeanour, walking further into the house with one hand close to the Yamato.

"You know we're home now, right? You can relax and not be so serious here" Aerith said to him, wondering why he was being so on edge even now that they were back at her home, even her Mother, Ifalna was wondering why he still seemed to be on edge.

"No, if I allow myself to relax and get complacent, I'll lose my edge" (Y/N) said to her with a serious frown on his face before he went back outside, Aerith sighed to herself from how her bodyguard seemed so rigid, even when they were at home.

(Y/N) began a slow walk around the garden of the home, his eyes glancing at the many colourful flowers that were growing in the sun, he let out a breath and continued his walk around the garden, he then stopped as he saw a white rose bush that was growing next to a fountain.

His Ice-Blue eyes glared at the roses, as unwanted memories of his former twin sister and the other tormentors he grew up around invaded his mind, his body tensed and he started flicking his thumb, sheathing and unsheathing Yamato as he imagined having them all in front of him, at his mercy.

"You seem upset" a familiar voice said behind the young man, he took in a deep breath through his nose and then let it out from his mouth before he looked over his shoulder at Aerith, who was looking at him in concern.

"It's nothing..." he said to her as he pushed those painful memories back down deep into his mind, sighing to himself at the weakness of allowing his old pain to resurface and affect him like that.

"It's okay, to talk about these things" Aerith said as she walked closer to the White haired young man, frowning at how upset he seemed and wanting to know why he always seemed so serious and wouldn't relax or smile.

"There is nothing to discuss, it's in the past, where it should remain" (Y/N) said to her dismissively, keeping his back to the younger woman as he faced out toward the city.

"It seems like whatever it is your upset about doesn't want to stay in the past, it might help if you talk to someone about it?" Aerith offered to him, with some concern lacing her voice now, before it was just playfully trying to tease the problem out, but now it seemed like it might be something far more serious than she had expected it to be.

"There's no point in it, it won't change anything about the past" (Y/N) said to her with some annoyance lacing his voice, he didn't want to talk about his past, or the nightmares or the memories, he wanted to bury them and live his life, far from them.

"Maybe not, but perhaps it'll make the memories less painful, sharing that pain with others will lessen the burden, and perhaps ease your mind?" Aerith suggested to him gently, but all she got in response was a cold silence.

"Okay, well, if you change your mind... I'll be here to listen" Aerith said to him with a small frown on her face before she turned and walked back to the house, (Y/N) glanced back at her over his shoulder before he walked further into the garden.

"Why do these memories haunt me still? After all these years I had hoped they would remain buried... maybe I shouldn't have returned to Remnant?" (Y/N) said to himself as he walked into a clear area and was stood in the moonlight, he looked up to Remnant's broken moon with a serious frown.

He stood there for a few seconds before his hand gripped the sheath of Yamato, still frowning to himself as a new presence joined him...

They had long, Black hair and wore an outfit that was Dark-Red and Black in colour, with armoured gauntlets on their hands, and they wore several necklaces around their neck, but the most notable feature was the White Grimm-styled Mask that covered their face and they were also carrying a sword, similar in design to Yamato, but with a very bulky-looking scabbard.

"Who are you supposed to be?" (Y/N) asked as he turned and looked back at this new arrival, who remained silent as they swung their sword and lunged at him!

He quickly unsheathed Yamato and clashed blades with this new opponent, he looked at the Red blade and noticed that it was made out of Dust, he also felt the heat from the Fire Dust blade, before they broke apart and clashed a few more times.

"This may be fun" (Y/N) said as he cracked his neck and fixed the dark haired stranger with a deadly glare, then he and the figure started to fight again, clashing blades and trying to overcome each other as they broke through one of the walls around the garden and the fight spilled out onto the street!

The two fought each other and made the citizens run in fear from the two fighters, worried that they would get caught in these deadly attacks, (Y/N) went to overwhelm them with power, to test their abilities and see if they could be a challenge, but his opponent seemed to be smart and tactful, dodging his attacks and counter attacking, striking his Aura and making him back off.

"Okay, your strong... but are you fast enough?" (Y/N) said to the person as he gripped his sheath and the hilt of Yamato, before he partially drew the blade of Yamato with a flick of his thumb and then vanished in a flash of rapid movement, the person looked around in surprise before they were suddenly struck from behind with a slash across their back, which made them stumble forward as their Aura shielded them from the attack.

Then the figure looked back only to be struck across their mask by Yamato's sheath, making them stumble before they jumped away from another slash, however the attack had managed to cut some of their long, Black hair.

The two continued to trade blows and clash blades with each other, until a gunshot made the two jump apart from each other, (Y/N) looked over and saw that a team of Mistrali Huntsmen had arrived on the scene!

"Stop right there you two! Drop your weapons and put your hands up in the air" the man who seemed to be the leader of the Huntsman Team, a man who was holding a sword and a shield, followed by a girl with a bow, a man with a whip and another man with a spear.

"Wait a minute, I know her, that's Raven Branwen!" the girl with the bow exclaimed as she pointed at the person who was fighting with (Y/N), this caused the white haired young man to look at her with a raised brow, it seems that this woman was well known here.

"Well well well, the Chief of the Branwen Tribe, what's Bandit scum like you doing here in our city?" the one with the whip asked arrogantly, however, Raven simply remained silent as she looked at the newly arrived Huntsmen Team.

"No gonna say, huh? Well, that doesn't matter, we'll get answers from the both of you once your behind bars!" the Leader said as he charged ahead with his team following behind him, The leader and the girl with the bow went after Raven while the other two boys went after (Y/N).

The boy with the whip lashed his weapon at (Y/N), who used his speed to seemingly teleport away from the lash and reappeared on front of him, the whip kid's eyes widened before (Y/N) closed the distance and whacked him twice with the sheathed sword, before performing a upward quickdraw slash with the sword, making the Huntsman be launched back as he sheathed the blade, his Aura taking quite a hit.

"Brad! You son of a bitch!" the boy with the Spear shouted before he rushed at him with his spear ready to attack, however as he thrust his spear at the young man he whacked it aside with the sheathed Yamato, before he lunged forward and struck him in the spot just below his ribs with the end of the Sheath.

"Too weak" he said as the two boys got back up, both looking at him in annoyance when suddenly the other two members of their team were knocked over to them.

They looked over and saw that Raven had also managed to beat the two, before she got a message on her scroll, she briefly looked down at it before she swung her sword, opening up a Red portal!

(Y/N)'s eyes widened slightly at that, she had a power similar to the Yamato, before she casually turned and walked through the portal which closed behind her, (Y/N) frowned and looked back, only to see smoke rising from where Aerith's home was!

(Y/N) quickly teleported several times until he reappeared at Aerith's house, only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he saw that the house was on fire! There were large flames consuming the cosy home, and the door had been broken down!

He then ran inside to search for Aerith or her Mother, but he saw that a lot of their furniture had been destroyed and the fire was beginning to burn out of control, he also saw blood on the floor.

"That woman, Raven... she lured me away while her men attacked, Aerith! Ifalna!" (Y/N) called out as he followed the blood trail, seeing that the furniture was smashed and the comfy home was now burning, he followed the blood trail out of the house and into the garden area.

"(Y-Y/N)... over here" (Y/N) heard a voice call out, he then found Aerith's Mother, Ifalna, who was laying on the ground with a bleeding bullet wound in her chest, he walked over to her and knelt down next to her.

"Ifalna, what happened here? Where is your daughter?" (Y/N) asked her seriously as his eyes went to the bullet wounds in her chest, his frown deepening as he saw the amount of blood oozing from them.

"Th-They... took her, I tried to protect her but... they broke my Aura, my... combat skills have gotten rusty" Ifalna said to him with a smile before she started coughing and coughed up blood into her hand, (Y/N) knew she didn't have long left...

"Who was it? Who did this to you and took Aerith?" (Y/N) asked her, his voice serious and with a deadly edge to it now.

"The Branwen Tribe, Bandits... they have been after Aerith for a while, I don't know what they plan to do with her but..." Ifalna said before she coughed up more blood, her breathing growing weaker as she reached out and grabbed (Y/N)'s hand.

"(Y/N)... please, save Aerith, save... my daughter!" Ifalna begged him as she gripped his hand tight, looking at him with tears of desperation in her eyes, he looked to her and nodded silently with a serious look on his face, Ifalna smiled to him before her eyes closed, her breathing weak as her hand fell limp in his when she lost consciousness from blood loss.

(Y/N) looked down at Ifalna and saw her breathing lightly as she was unconscious, he stood up and heard voices approaching them, he then used his power to speed away and watch from a distance as Mistrali Police arrived and tended to Ifalna.

(This is my fault... I allowed myself to get too complacent here! I allowed my senses to dull and my blade to slow) (Y/N) thought to himself as he gripped the sheath of Yamato tightly, angry at himself for allowing himself to lose his focus and also for the fact that Ifalna and Aerith were the ones to suffer for that.

"Well, not anymore... prepare yourself, Branwen Tribe, you shall all die tonight" (Y/N) said in a cold voice with an edge of fury to it, his Demonic Power growing before he seemed to teleport himself off to hunt down the Tribe and rescue Aerith.

BRANWEN TRIBE CAMP

At the Branwen Tribe's Camp the men were laughing and drinking, or playing games, feeling very confident and pleased with themselves after sneaking into the Capital City and managing to kidnap the daughter of a well know family in Mistral too.

Meanwhile in a cage close to the group, Aerith was sat there looking worried now, she was there and saw these people raid her home and attack her mother, she hoped that her mother was okay and that she'd be saved soon.

"(Y/N), please come find me..." Aerith said to the air as she sat in the cage, despite her serene look she was very worried about her mom and her home.

"So, your the girl that Raven wanted us to catch? Gotta say, you got quite the pretty face" said one of the men, a greasy looking man with dirty Blonde hair said with a smirk as he leaned against the bars of the cage and eyed her up with a lecherous look on his face.

"Yes, and that pretty face will fetch a hefty ransom from her family, once they find out that she's been taken" said a young woman with short, Dark Brown hair and Light Blue eyes and Tanned skin, wearing a rough looking outfit.

"Oh, hey Vernal" the guy said to the short-haired young woman, standing straight before Raven's second in command.

"The only family I had was my mother, and she was there when you kidnapped me!" Aerith said to her with no fear in her voice at all, showing her defiance at her kidnappers despite the bad situation she was in.

"Good, then she'll know to hurry up and pay whatever we ask for to get you back" the short haired girl said to her with a smirk, however... she didn't see the look on the blonde's face behind her as he quickly walked away, looking very worried now.

"You just wait, (Y/N)'ll come and save me" Aerith said to Vernal defiantly, she had faith that her bodyguard would come and save her from these creeps, save her and bring her home.

"Heh, you keep telling yourself that..." Vernal said dismissively as she got up and left the girl in the cage, walking back into the camp where the other men and women were celebrating their latest successful job.

"You really think someone's going to come for you?" a quiet, timid voice asked, Aerith looked over and saw a young-looking girl stood there, she had green eyes and blonde hair, and she looked very timid and weak.

"Who are you?" Aerith asked the girl in confusion, but still being cautious about the fact she was here with Bandits.

"I'm a part of this Tribe, here to get stronger" the girl replied to Aerith, sounding determined to prove herself and get stronger, though she looked very weak.

"Joining a group of thugs and criminals to get stronger? You know there's Huntsmen Academies for that, right?" Aerith replied to the young woman with a snarky attitude, looking very unimpressed with the girl's reasoning for joining up with a Bandit Tribe of all things.

"The Academies wouldn't give her the strength she needs" Raven said as she walked over to the cage as well, looking down at Aerith with a stoic face, when she approached the girl who spoke to Aerith quickly stood up straight.

"Besides, she knows better than to trust someone affiliated with Ozpin" Raven said as she looked to the young woman, who looked down to the ground.

"Yes, she can completely trust a group of people who attack and kill people and kidnap young women to hold them hostage" Aerith said sarcastically, seeming like she wasn't afraid of Raven at all, despite being inside of a cage, Raven just shook her head dismissively and walked away from the cage, the girl also following after her hesitantly.

Aerith watched them leave with a frown, before she closed her eyes and clasped her hands together and began to pray, feeling a sense of serenity come over her as her Aura stretched out into the earth below her, seeming to get her in tune with what was happening around her.

She could sense the people walking around in the Bandit Camp, and the Grimm that were prowling the forest beyond the camp, before... she felt some of their dark presences disappear, before she felt a familiar presence enter her senses.

During her time spent with him, she could feel his ark Aura, it didn't feel like the aura of a Grimm, it was something more... sinister, but Aerith liked it, and she felt him getting closer to the camp, she smiled to herself as her eyes remained closed...

OUTSIDE OF THE BRANWEN CAMP

"Ah shit! This is bad... Raven's gonna kill me for this!" Shay D. Mann said as he paced back and forth at the entrance to the Tribe's Camp, he knew after hearing what that girl just said that he may have majorly screwed up Raven's plan!

He had been there to kidnap Aerith from her home, but... he was also the one that shot her Mother and likely killed her, meaning no ransom will be coming and Raven would be very angry!

Then he heard growling and snarling from the forest, damn... was his fear of Raven's wrath bringing Grimm over?

"Get ready, we got Grimm coming in... probably a bunch of Beowolves" Shay said as he got his Pistol ready, along with a few members of the Branwen Tribe, armed with Machete's and Rifles and kept their eyes open for any oncoming Grimm.

However, instead of a Grimm, they saw a young man with White hair emerge from the darkness of the trees, wearing a (F/C) coat and carrying a Katana in his hand, his Blue eyes had a deadly edge to them and his face was cold and stoic.

"Heh, lookie here, who're you supposed to be?" Shay asked the young man mockingly, while the othert bandits held their weapons ready to fight, however, the young man didn't answer him, he just kept walking toward them.

"Great, some punk kid who wants to be a hero, get 'im!" Shay ordered the others, the ones with guns then started shooting at the new arrival, who vanished in the blink of an eye and seemed to appear right in front of one of the men, before rapidly slashing them to bloody ribbons!

The sight of such a gristly death seemed to scare the hell out of the Bandits, who saw the bloody chunks of meat that was once their fellow fall to the ground and bleed out into the soil.

"Foolish worms... you can't touch me with such weak attacks" (Y/N) said as he glared to the other Bandits in utter disdain, swinging the Yamato and flicking the blood off of the blade as he turned to face all of them.

"Damn it, who the hell are you?!" Shay said angrily but also looked very scared, the other Bandits also getting their weapons ready and pointing guns at the White haired young man, who glared at all of them as if they were beneath him.

"None of you are worthy to know my name, just die, like the vermin you all are..." (Y/N) said coldly as he pointed Yamato at Shay D. Mann and his fellows, killer's instinct radiating off of him in waves, he came her to kill and fulfil his duty as Aerith's Bodyguard.