![Image](https://i.imgur.com/eNryWVu.png)
Five Years Ago - Altesian Military Hospital, Atlas
Claret's visit with her brother went as well as she could have expected, considering...well, everything they'd been through in the last half dozen or so years. It was awkward, and mostly small talk, even though he was still recovering from the injury -- an injury he said he'd gotten from a Manticore. They both knew how nasty those type of Grimm could be. Mauve had experienced that first hand, after all. Claret would start on a topic, and Mauve would give one word responses or short sentence answers. Even when she asked about Lyall, his answer was half-hearted. Or, knowing him, half-assed.
So, she left. She sighed, walking past the man walking into the infirmary, but she didn't pay much attention to him. He was probably just a guard, but his weapon looked vaguely familar. Not that she cared much at the moment. Mauve had lost an arm, and he was sulking. Honestly, if she had known he would be such an ass, she wouldn't have risked so much coming to see him in the first place. She thought she was being nice to him.
At least he had a cybernetic arm, but he didn't seem too sure about it yet. He'd said he wasn't sure if he wanted it or not. Claret made sure she asked him to try it, for her. Because with only one arm, Mauve couldn't be a Huntsman anymore, and that was one thing both of them had wanted more than anything. Oh well, there was nothing more for her to do here. She debated leaving Mauve behind, leaving Azure behind, and just finding her way in Atlas. But, she was still recovering herself and had no weapon to defend herself. She'd be a nobody.
Again.
She started back to the wagon. Maybe he would be willing to take her to Azure.
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/JKprlx4.gif)
Once at the wagon, Claret found the man was nowhere to be found. Instead, a small note scribbled on a worn piece of paper read, "Went to the market." So, not really knowing what else to do, she headed for the market.
Claret heard the shouted bargining well before she reached the market, and was only mildly surprised to find the man who'd given her a lift to Atlas had set up a makeshift stall and was in the midst of a rather vigorous bargaining war with an eldery woman over... Was that [something ridiculous]? She sighed and made her way over, raising an eyebrow as the bargaining came to a spectactular conclusion.
The customer grinned. "It's pleasure doing business, Mr. Carran."
"The pleasure was all mine," he replied before turning to get something else and spotting her. He looked mildly surprised for a moment before grinning and continuing to finish his transaction with the eldery woman. "Have a good afternoon, Mrs. Gorlassar!"
The elderly woman grinned, picked up her purchases and gave him a wave as she disappeared into the thinning crowd. Claret blinked slowly, eyeing all the different people carefully as they drifted off to other stalls in the market. Apparently the show was over...
"Your name is Carran?" she asked, once the last few people--a pair of tiger-eared faunus--had wandered off. "Were you ever gonna tell me?"
"No," he said, turning to her and planting his hands on his hips. He studied her for a moment and then sighed. "I was wondering if you'd come back, y'know." He eyed her thoughtfully again and then turned to begin packing up the stall. "Something tells me you aren't Azure's usual business partner."
"I'm pretty sure I'm not," Claret muttered with a snort, and then turned away, quietly considering what he'd said. She really didn't have anywhere to go, to be honest. She wasn't exactly on speaking terms with her parents and she doubted Mauve would want he to be hanging around with him and his two partners, let alone weaponless.
Well.... She could go collect the payment from her last mission, but there was no certainity that they'd honour it now. They probably thought she was dead, to be honest. And she may as well be dead in the eyes of anyone who cared, especially her parents. But not her brother. Mauve had seen her, and he knew she'd been injured and no longer had her weapon.
Claret sighed. No weapons, nowhere else to go, not even home... What was she supposed to do now?
She turned back towards Mr. Carran, frowning. She could disappear into the crowd... or she could go back to Azure. She did owe Azure for saving her life, and without her Huntress weapons, or her scroll, or well, anything really... What reason did she have to stay in Atlas anymore? She had no reason to live anymore, not here anyway. Claret watch the man for a few more moments. What did she have to lose? She may as well go back to Azure. That choice, no matter how dangerous, was probably a better fate than having no reason to live.
"Let's go back to the cabin," she said, startling Mr. Carran in the process. He glanced at her so she shruggged. "I don't have anywhere better to be, so I might as well head back."
![Image](https://i.imgur.com/JKprlx4.gif)
Claret woke abruptly, disorientated and in darkness. She sat up slowly, not realising she'd fallen asleep or when. Blinking slowly to clear the confusion from her sleep-fogged mind, Claret shifted to glance over the edge of the wagon since it wasn't moving and she couldn't hear anyone--or anything--nearby. There wasn't anyone sitting on the driver's bench, and she couldn't see the horses anywhere, let alone Mr. Carran.
Cautiously, she edged towards the closet side of the wagon and swung down onto the forest floor. She'd been left in a tiny clearing, the trees surrounding it dark and foreboding. Claret shivered and reached for her staff before remembering that she didn't actually have a weapon anymore.
"Shit," she muttered, pressing back against the wagon. She was alone--essentially abandoned--in a dark forest with no weapon and no idea where in the hell she was. This is not good, she thought, gaze darting every which way as the forest seemed to shudder before an invisible breeze. Not good at all...
A caw echoed through the trees, followed by a dreadfully familar chittering sound. Dread pooled in her gut and she pushed off the carriage to search it for a weapon. There wasn't much left in it apart from a small metal rod. Claret picked it up; something was better than nothing at all. Rod in hand, she turned to study the tiny clearing again.
Another quick search of the clearing revealed the remains of a small camp fire. Claret frowned at it, a little confused. Before she could linger on it for too long, another shrill caw echoed through the forest again, making her flinch. Claret's grip on the short, metal rod tightened. That caw was so damned familiar, and it was making her pulse race. She really didn't want to think about why it was familiar. Her pulse quickened as her heart jumped to her throat, and her wounds pounded to the beat of it, as if they threatened to rip open.
Shaking the feeling off, Claret moved to scout ahead, slowly weaving her way between the trees. A shrill, bone-jarring chittering noise started up and Claret's heart sank in her chest. It couldn't be... She shifted to put her back against a tree, breathing heavily and then faster, and faster. It can't be! I thought Azure killed it--
The chittering grew louder and Claret froze, breath catching in her lungs. Slowly, very slowly, she shifted to peer around the tree. Her heart sank down into her stomach. There, on the other side of the clearing, stood the bird grimm. The...what was it that Azure had called it? Oh, right, the Trochilidae. Claret frowned at it, watching as it twisted this way and that, trying to dislodge a long, whip-like tail feather from a tree.
Sunlight glistened off it's sleek, black feathers and off the white-red, stone-like patches trailing over the bird's head. As she watched, the tail feather finally came free with a mighty crack! and the tree bgan to fall over, crashing to the ground rather hard. Claret gasped, and the Trochilidae's head twitched. It turned towards her slowly. Claret clutched the rod harder, shifting into a ready position. Ready to fight or flee, she wasn't sure.
The Trochilidae caught sight of her and seemed to hesitate, head tilted to the side. Claret shifted back a step. The bird grimm chittered at her, and then launched itself towards her--
--only to come up short as Azure stepped between them.
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