"To abandon one's self in search for strength… How tragic…"

Third POV:

The carriage had been going the whole day, it had to stop at midnight in order to let the horses rest before continuing tomorrow. It was now at the side of a dirt road in the middle of the forest.

Ahri sighed as she came out of the back and jumped down. She stretched her limbs that were slightly cramped from not moving for a few hours. This is why she preferred traveling by foot, having her movement restricted didn't feel nice.

The Abyss Watcher jumped down after her but he barely did anything else. It's like sitting down for hours didn't bother him at all. Which, in all honesty, was the case since he was used to sitting in front of a Bonfire for who knows how long.

"Now, we'll just stay put until dawn, at least to let the horses rest," the carriage driver said from his seat at the front. He then remembered something the made him flinch. "Oh, right," he said and the two passengers looked at him noticing the tone in his voice. "I just remembered that I only brought food for only one person, I didn't think on anyone joining," he said before motioning to the carriage. "Normally, I would allow you to take something from the carriage… but, I promised that I would deliver all of it, so I can't give you any."

Ahri sighed with a hand on her face, she really should have prepared herself. She didn't feel right doing this, but seeing that she didn't have many options, she decided to use her magic on the driver again to at least share his food.

"It doesn't matter," Grey said catching both Ahri and the driver off guard. "We'll just hunt for something," he said making their eyes widen.

Hunting deep in the forest this late at night was one of the stupidest things any of them can think of. Mostly because anything worth hunting goes into hiding and the predators start venturing the forest.

"You can't be serious," Ahri stated. If he was that desperate for food, then she can use more magic on the driver to share his food.

The Abyss Watcher simply glanced at her over his shoulder before he started walking towards the forest. He was obviously serious about hunting for something to eat.

"Is he going to be alright?" the driver asked, concerned about the Undead Swordsman.

Ahri just silently stared at where he went off. He didn't strike her as the person who wouldn't know how dangerous the jungle can be at night, so he was either brave or foolish, she couldn't tell.

She decided that it wasn't her problem. If he dies, then it was because of his own actions, not hers. Just as she was about to turn to the driver and use her magic on him, she stopped. Her gaze fell to where the Abyss Watcher had gone again.

The black-haired Vastaya scowled. It seems her conscience didn't want her to go through with it. First, she was almost brainwashing the driver into giving her his food. Second, she felt that simply ignoring Grey's actions was just downright cruel.

So, with a sigh, Ahri walked to the carriage and climbed to sit down on the edge. "Go ahead and eat before sleeping, I'll wait for him," she said putting her elbows on her knees and resting her head on her hands.

The driver looked at her surprised. He was expecting her to ask him to share some food or to allow her to take some food from inside the carriage.

However, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he walked towards his seat, climbed on it, and took out a bag from his side that contained some food and water.

Meanwhile, Ahri kept looking at the direction of the Abyss Watcher's departure. She told herself that she'll give him thirty minutes. If he's late, then she'll consider him dead, and her conscience can't bother her since it was his fault.

…

Grey had been walking through the trees for a few minutes now. He was slightly enjoying the quiet atmosphere that the forest had. But, he still had a job to do, so after kneeling down, he started searching the ground for any kind of tracks.

He looked at the ground looking for marks, broken tree branches, or even rubbish. You can't be too picky about tracks at a time like this.

He finally found something, paw marks with some claws visible. From his training, he realized that they were possibly marks left by a tiger, because of the shape and size. Normally, this would be a cause for concern for most people, but the Abyss Watcher was actually pleased.

'If there is a predator, then there is a prey,' that was one of the things his foster father taught him. It meant that if a tiger was around, then there's is something worth hunting for it to be here.

After standing up, the Abyss Watcher started following the trail left by the jungle cat. He found the rest of the claw marks, along with broken tree branches, and even signs of another animal, which confirmed his earlier thoughts.

He finally found his target or two of them to be exact. A tiger that was apparently stalking a lost deer. The deer was drinking from a small bond of water, while the tiger was stalking towards it from between the bushes.

Grey had two choices in this situation. He could either get rid of the tiger first, then get the deer, or he could attack the deer now, and deal with the tiger, who is bound to be angry about losing his prey, afterward.

The first choice would give the deer a chance to escape, so he opted to take the second one. Grabbing the handle of his sword, he drew it, positioned himself by moving his left leg forward, raising his sword, and pointing the tip at the deer.

In nothing but a second, Grey dashed forward swinging his sword, cutting off the deers head. The body fell lifeless on the ground as the neck started spelling blood.

The Abyss Watcher swung his sword, cleaning the blood on it as he looked at the deer. He looked at where the tiger is, and it seemed to be taking a few steps back. Unsurprising, seeing the difference in size between those two.

Noticing that the tiger was already getting back, Grey swung his sword again turning around to the tiger for intimidation. Thinking that the body of a deer wasn't worth it, the tiger walked away.

The Abyss Watcher sighed as he looked at the body again. Now, all he has to do is take it back, probably grab some firewood for cooking, too.

…

It has been thirty minutes, and Ahri was still in the same spot she was in, sitting on the edge of the carriage, waiting for the Abyss Watcher. The driver had already fallen asleep where his seat was.

She didn't know what she was thinking. She should have known better than to think he would actually come back, let alone find something.

Ahri sighed knowing that her haunting conscience is one of the reasons she's heading towards the Institute of War. She couldn't help it.

She turned to the carriage, ready to take something to eat. Maybe a couple of eggs and some milk. If the driver is mad, she'll just use her magic on him.

Suddenly, her ears started twitching as she heard something. It sounded like something was being dragged through the ground.

Ahri looked at the forest and raised her hand, preparing to use some magic just in case whatever was coming is hostile.

What came from the forest, much to her surprise, was the Abyss Watcher, dragging a headless deer by the feet while holding a stack of wood in his other hand.

Ahri couldn't hide the shock from her face. Finding an animal in the forest this late was really hard, one that doesn't want to eat you that is. But the Abyss Watcher had come out with an actual deer.

She was broken out of her thoughts by hearing the Abyss Watcher's voice. "I apologize if I was late," he said with little to no emotions. "Why don't you start a fire to cook while I prepare the meat?" he asked as he dumped the stack of wood on the ground before turning to the deer and taking out his dagger.

Ahri just stared at him as he started skinning the deer. This person just kept surprising her. No matter how she saw it, nothing about him made sense, and this was HER of all people that thinks that. Her life couldn't be further than normal if she tried.

She shook those thoughts out of her head and decided to actually set up the fire. After gathering the firewood and organizing it near the carriage but not close enough for it to catch fire, she waved her hand sending a small, fox-shaped blue flame that struck the wood and set it on fire.

She sat down with her back resting on one of the wheels of the carriage. Not the most comfortable spot, but she had to make do.

Grey then came in with pieces of meat on sticks with him. He positioned the sticks near the fire for it to cook while he sat down on the opposite side of Ahri and the carriage in the same position he had during the ride.

They just sat in silence, with the only sound being the crackling fire between them as they looked at the meat as it cooked.

Ahri decided to break the silence. "Tell me, how did you find a deer this late?" she asked curiously.

The Abyss Watcher glanced at her before looking back at the fire. "I'm used to hunting in hard situations," was his blunt answer. Of course, that was an understatement.

The woman sighed. She knew that his answer was an honest one. But, that didn't mean she was rather annoyed by the bluntness.

"I must say, I never saw armor like yours," Ahri said implying that she would like to know where he's from.

However, much to her disappointment, Grey just gave her another blunt answer. "I don't come from around here."

Ahri sighed again. His blunt answers were honest, she can tell that much, but that's it. She can't tell anything else. Like his posture, his voice didn't give any emotions.

However, she thought back on how he managed to hunt a deer, this late at night, and making it sound easy. Ahri remembers a suspicion she had when she first saw him. "Are you a Vastaya?" she asked.

The Abyss Watcher looked up at her and tilted his head. "A what?" he asked confused.

Ahri shook her head. "Never mind," she said and Grey shrugged it off. If he was a Vastaya, he wouldn't have asked what it was.

The meat looked finished and she couldn't help but take a whiff from its smell. Deer meat was always one of her favorites. She always hunted for it when she was still a fox.

The Abyss Watcher then took half of the sticks and gave them to her while he had the other half.

She would have started to eat immediately, but she didn't. She saw it was a chance to see the Undead Swordsman uncover his face because she would be lying if she said she wasn't curious.

Grey took down the neck of his shirt to uncover his mouth. While she did get to see his slightly pale skin, she didn't see other than his mouth, because the small mask that was connected to the hat was covering everything else.

They started eating in quiet, just sitting while having their meal. When they were done, they threw the sticks into the fire to burn.

Silence loomed over. The only sound was the crackling of the fire, the Abyss Watcher actually found it to be nice. It was quite nostalgic, mainly because all accursed Undead are used to sitting in front of the Bonfire. However, this got him wondering: if there are no Bonfires… does that mean the curse doesn't exist in here as well?

Ahri, meanwhile, didn't find it as appealing as Grey did. Not being able to read someone annoyed her and, to some extent, scared her, even.

She decided to speak again. "Why don't we pass some time by talking?" she asked hoping to get some knowledge. The Abyss Watcher looked at her with what she can guess as a confused look, he had already covered his face again. "Tell me a little about yourself," she said while her eyes glowed a faint pink light. She didn't enjoy charming people anymore, but she just had to get some kind of reaction from this person.

However, much to her shock, he just looked back at the fire. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't feel like sharing anything about myself."

Ahri could only look at him with a mixture of shock and disbelief. Her magic… had failed? That was something that never happened to her. No matter who or what it was, her magic always worked, but this person didn't even seem to notice.

The woman decided to simply shake her head and focus on something else. She remembered that after this ride, they might not even see each other again, so she might as well forget about getting to know him.

Even so, Ahri couldn't help but be curious about this person. Someone who wasn't charmed by her looks had no emotions and desires or even affected by her magic. Her curiosity about someone has never been so high.

…

The next day came. Grey and Ahri were inside the carriage again as it traveled through the road, listening to the sound of the rattling wheels.

The driver was surprised when he woke up and found the remains of a deer on the side of the road, he was even more surprised to hear the Grey had caught it. However, he just brushed it off since he saw that the food inside the carriage wasn't touched.

They exited the forest and were now on their way to enter a town that was close by. The houses in this town were made of grey stone walls, but a wooden ceiling. This town was fairly small, mainly because it was like a resting place for travelers, but it still had a decent size to it.

The carriage entered the town and went to the shopping district to drop its supplies. This shopping district looked like the one in the last town.

The carriage came to a stop and the rider called for the two that were riding with him. "Alright, we're here!"

The first to come out of the carriage was Ahri, who had her cloak around her this time. Grey came out afterward, uncaring that the woman covered herself with her cloak all of a sudden.

"Thank you," the Abyss Watcher said to the driver, who nodded in return.

Grey and Ahri walked away from the carriage, going through the town's shopping district. The Abyss Watcher was planning to ask around, hoping to find more information on where he is, and where to go next. Ahri, however, already knew where she needed to go.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways," the woman said before looking at Grey. "While it was short, it was nice to meet you, Grey," honestly, she would have liked it if she learned more about this strange man, but you can't have everything, she supposed.

"Likewise," Grey replied, again with little emotions. The Undead swordsman didn't particularly enjoy the ride, but he thought that it could have been worse. "Take care of yourself," he said before turning to the left and starting to walk away.

Ahri simply looked at Grey as his form disappeared between the crowd. She can still see his pointy metal hat moving away. "I wonder where he could be going?" she asked no one in particular. She shrugged her shoulders and turned around, walking towards her own direction.

Unknown to her, two men from in front of a weapons shop were following her movement with their eyes. "Is that her?" one of them asked in a hushed tone.

The other one, who managed to see Ahri's face under her cloak, looked at a piece of paper he was holding. The paper had a slightly rough black painting of Ahri. "Yes, that's her."

"Alright, do we go now?" the First one asked thinking it would be a good time to move.

"No, too many people," the second immediately denied seeing the crowded shopping district. "Plus, we're supposed to call for the others. Let's follow her for now."

The first one nodded seeing the logic behind what his companion said. They both then started following Ahri, making sure to keep distance in order not to be spotted.

When they were gone, however, Grey came out from behind the weapons shop that they were standing in front of. He had already spotted the two staring at him and Ahri since they came out of the carriage, but he wasn't sure who they were after.

Normally, if they were after him, he would pay them no mind and continue on his way. However, seeing that they were after Ahri, he couldn't simply turn his back on it. He might turn his back on his emotions and what makes him a person, but not on what makes him human.

So, with his goal clear, he started secretly following the two men, doing a far better job at hiding then they are, despite his taller body and his equipment.

(A/N: Thank you for reading this.

This chapter was supposed to show how Grey caught Ahri's interest, or curiosity to be more precise.

I hope I didn't mess it up. Because I think I have some writer's block lately.

This chapter is also meant to show some of Grey's skills, as well as a build-up for the next chapter.

Again, thank you for reading this. Please comment, review, and give me your thoughts on my story.)