25 Ch: 24 Stray II

With a noticeable sway in her step Maru made her way back through the streets of Mantle. Whilst walking past an alley she heard an annoying whistle, turning towards it she could see four very visibly drunk men.

"Heeyyy a-a y-younnggg ladddy like ya shouln't bbeee ouutt byye herseelf!" The first man slurred whilst swaying up to her, he put his arm around her shoulder and all Maru could smell was the pungent smell of alcohol though she couldn't say much about smelling of alcohol due her current state. "Hoowww….bbbout yaaa come hanggg wit me an mmma frieeenns."

The man had a lecherous grin on his face as Maru stood there but suddenly she grabbed him by the hand on her shoulder and threw him in a clumsy but still effective throw causing him and his friends to sober up very quickly. "Wat da hell I was being nice an was gonna let you hang wit us even if you're a filty faunus, an this is tha thanks I get."

In her drunken state Maru just found this amusing and with a smirk she steps forward her foot dangerously above his crotch. "Sooo beeein a raacissst an hittin ooon ranndomm giiirls is fuun isit." She slurred as her hood slipped off her head due to all her movement.

All the men froze in fear at seeing her face."It's the Crimson Fang." Suddenly a lot more sober and very much regretting going out that night the three friends of the first man start to back up leaving him alone to face Maru's wrath.

Noticing this Maru smirked and pressed her foot down, the man underneath her let out a pained squeal, Maru just laughed at this and called out. "Hey if you want me to stop you guys better come back!" The men turned around to see the pleading face of their friend but ultimately decided to run, leaving the guy that even Maru was starting to feel sorry for, to his fate.

"Damn some friends you got." She looks down at the groveling man under her for. "Now even im starting to feel sorry for ya so how about this i'm in a shitty mood and am unfortunately now more sober then I wanna be, if you wanna get drunk properly don't get your aura unlock trust me anyway i'll let you off with this if you give me whatever's left of ya booze got it?"

The pitiful man nodded clearly in a large amount of pain, Maru laughed and stepped past him giving him some relief and headed to their cooler pulling it open she spotted two bottles one of them was half full, checking the labels Maru whistled. "Nice choices: half a bottle of Wonderland whisky and a full bottle of White Rabbit vodka, my dads favorite and that shits hard to get." She grabs the man by the collar before he could fully get up and flee. "So the fuck was up with that cringy ass Crimson Fang shit."

The man was shaking like a leaf now. "I-i-it-t-t's w-what p-pe-people are c-calling you."

"I know figured that stupid but seriously Crimson Fang what am I a cliche villain from some Mistrali cartoon, soon there's gonna be some fucking little shit of a hero trying to find my lair to take down my evil ass." Maru started to cackle, taking a sip from the half full bottle and dropping the man who sprinted off. "Hey dipshit if you hear anyone calling me that tell 'em off for me will ya."

She didn't get a response which amused her, taking another sip of her drink she sighed. "Welp when that gets out Sienna's gonna be pissed but what's another theft on my already amazing record."

Before she could walk away due to her enhanced hearing she heard a small sobbing coming from further in the alley, Maru froze conflicted before a tiny version of her appeared on her shoulder smiling warmly. 'Come on Maru you just gotta go check to make sure whoever that is is alright.' Another small figure appeared but this one looked very hyper and had a large smirk on its face. 'Or you could just leave, you already got more booze and an airship waiting for you.'

Maru sighed and flicked the tiny smirking figure off her shoulder and headed towards the small sound. Behind a rather large dumpster that was blocking most of the view from the street, was a young pink and blue haired girl, the girls' clothes were caked in dirt but it was very clear that they used to be nice and expensive looking.

Slowly the sobbing girl looked up to see the concerned face of Maru peering at her from her position from atop the dumpster, the girl's face morphed into one of fear as she screamed and a rock was rocketed past Maru's face nicking her cheek.

Reaching up and running her finger along the cut in her cheek she smiled. "Well that's an interesting semblance."she commented at the floating rocks around the girls that seemed to be stuck frozen if they had just been thrown.

Maru jumped down and squatted to be at the terrified girl's level. 'So what do I do now, dads training does not tell me how to help a crying kid.' The girl's sobbing was slowing down slightly so Maru grinned. "See no need to cry."

The girl stared at Maru for a few seconds before her tears began flowing even more. "Please don't eat me miss fang!" She cried, causing Maru's eyebrow to twitch.

"What makes you think I would eat you?" She looked as though she was calm but her eye was starting to twitch.

The girls crying calmed slightly when she looked up with a slight bit of hope. "M-my m-mommy and daddy said that the people with the animal ears eat little kids like me and y-you're like the l-leader of the animal ear people- t-there's p-pictures of your face everywhere."

Maru's face was a twitchy mess as she face palmed with a sigh. 'Racists really should all be fucking infertile.' Looking up she smiled warmly at the girl. "Well I can tell you that the animal eared people don't eat children, but beside that let's get you to your family." She then whispered to herself. "Even if I may get really tempted to stab someone." Whilst Maru was talking to herself the girl looked down sad, it took a minute for Maru to notice. "What's wrong?"

The girl didn't say anything at first she eventually looked back up with fresh tears in her eyes. "My mommy and daddy are gone. I can't talk to them anymore."

Maru sighed. "Fuck." She then pulled out her scroll and checked the time, starting to panic, she looked around trying to figure out what to do. "Okay kid listen I really need to go so uh take this." She held out her quarter drunk bottle, but then she thought better. "Oh wait you probably shouldn't have that uh take some lien try to survive." Maru took out some lien from her coat before getting up and trying to leave.

The girl grabbed the hem of her coat causing Maru to stop and turn to see the girl in tears again. "Please don't leave me miss fang."

Maru stared at her and sighed at what she was about to do, dropping down back to the girl's height she asked. "Okay short stuff, what's your name?"

The girl looked up. "R -Rosa."

Maru smiled. "Ah yes, pink in old Mantle fitting, mine's Maru."

Rosa looked confused. "But isn't your name Crimson Fang?"

The woman groaned, already sick of that stupid nickname. "No kid it's Maru Arktis, that's a dumb name that people are calling me, okay?" Rosa looked at Maru even more confused, causing her to sigh. "Anyway I'll take you with me for now but in a few days I'll take you to a place that can look after you, you got that." The girl nodded, Maru smiled and picked her up. "Good now hold on tight I need to be back before that snitch Nyx tells Sienna I was late." With this Maru took off running to her meet up spot.

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Yo hope everyone enjoyed, I finally finished a bunch of assessments (school is a bitch) they where painful and the fact I nearly lost all my progress on an animation I made for one of them the day before did not help, gotta remember to save copies more often next time anyway so yeah having like four really annoying assesments due in a span of a week was painful but I somehow managed anyway if you have any questions about or suggestions for the fic do tell and Thx:)