depart

the voice kept calling her name, she now passing by the hall of the Nera family mansion, the cold blue light shining through the rows upon rows of windows, as she saw glimpse upon glimpse of something she remembered, she knew who was calling her, she knew why it's calling her, with every passing she sees the things she does, the things she sees, the blood trailing behind her, she can hear the sounds of her father orders "Mareah, whenever you do your missions, remember one thing, never leave any alive" "Mareah, kill it, kill it, now!" "Mareah, this is our family way, our only way to be powerful like the old days"

she remembered the last victim she killed, as clear as it was yesterday, a part of the target, she quickly crashed into the family home, Ginevra was dealing with the bodyguards outside, and with the sword from her semblance she killed the main target quickly, just as her father log off her communication device, a person hid in the shadow charge toward her, thanks to her senses, she quickly turned around and stab the person in the dark, the moon shines down the room revealing who it was, a young boy age of 6 holding a knife, with his arm stretched forward close to her stomach, this is the youngest person she had killed before the previous was only a teen, she saw the boy's eyes filled with anger and hatred, she sees the knife dropped to the floor, her hand got down as the boy fell to the floor, its eyes even in death still had his eyes on her when Ginevra arrived she sees Mareah knelt in front of the young one.

the voice stopped before she looked beside her seeing there was a door, she looked to the doorknob as a voice call to her name "Maaaarrrrreeeeaaaaah" She heard the voice come from behind this door, and she had her hand approaching the doorknob before she twists it, the door was pushed and some blue colored aura coming out flowing through the ground like dry ice, she looks in front of her was a sword, she took some steps inching closer and closer with every step, she sees the sword looks like any longsword with the only difference being that the grip was shorter, and the fact that there seems to root covering parts of the sword with some diamond-like words etched in the blade, she wonders before the voice came to her "this sword is one out of two"

"if you try to break yourself from the pact, proof it, with this, when you succeed the second one will come," the voice said as Mareah took a grip on the sword, looking at the word etched she saw it was the code she and Ginevra made as the code reads the word "REMUS" as she guesses this is the name of this sword though in her mind she thought she just gonna call it 'Blue' to make herself remember it easily "in case your wondering," the voice said "this sword came from the great war, it saves a mans life during that time"

"a man's life you say? might I ask who it might be ?" she asked the voice which simply said "Baghera" before it disappeared "Baghera..." she looked to the sword as of now she wondered how will she able to find this person, yet it seems she has no choice but to look through her connections, to get something about this person, yet she can only hope that Ginevra was okay in the meantime

meanwhile

a splash of cold water awakens the unconscious wolf, her eyes opened looking around her, the room shined with red lights behind her, she couldn't see much, trying to move her hand, she saw it was bound by ropes to the armrest, but while her body was tied to the backrest itself, she tried to move at the very least break the rope with her strength before a voice called "stop struggling, it's no use" as footstep was heard in front of her, she looks to see the same man who she fights back in the train.

"you" she kept struggling with her arm "Adam Taurus of the white fang," she said remembering this man, his extremist ideas at least now that she thought about it, hearing mentions of him on occasion "Well, that saves me some introduction" he continues his steps walking behind Ginevra chair "so, do you have any idea what was going to happen ?" putting his hand on the top of the chair, she sees the opportunity trying to use her semblance again, yet no matter what she did doesn't seem to work, she wonders what's going on before remembered the fight she had with him, she uses all her energy and aura to take the incoming blow, now she is a sitting duck in adam's hand

as soon as Adam's hand held onto the top of the chair, Ginevra heard another footstep approaching, she looked in front of her to see a young man wearing a white fang mask, he wore what seemed to be a doctor outfit, his hand skinny to the bone covered in white fur, while he was holding onto something in one of his hand, the closer she looks she sees it was a small-headed hammer, she look to the person side seeing he was pulling a roller, the light let her see tools, all are different size of orbitoclast she heard adam said "forgot to introduce this is Dr. tome, a member of the white fang, and he will make you feel much better with his teachings unless your willing to tell us, who were you working for"

she sees the doctor hold onto one of the sizes of the orbitoclast hands ready for the operation, as Adam suddenly grabs her head by his hands and pins it to the back seat ask "Tell me now, or face the consequences!" pinning her to the chair Ginevra look at the doctor said "never..." with Adam became silence as he let go "well then, you leave me any choice" with a nod of his head, Ginevra see the doctor approaches her putting the flat part of the tool on her temple, with the tool made of metal, she suddenly felt a rush of stinging shocked to her head, her hand struggled for a second before it stops moving before things fade to black she sees herself getting push back a bit, as the doctor began her procedure

meanwhile

Mareah walked toward the workroom her father used to work in, the door hadn't been used in a while as some dust and debris were covering it, she twist the knob, pushing the door seeing the piles of paper on the desk most were most likely the target he ordered either her or someone else to make it 'gone' she took a look seeing weirdly enough some were being shredded, while others were simply put into another pile on the floor, she got to the back of the desk seeing the so-called 'throne' her father usually sat on, she bends down to look at the pile of papers on the floor, seeing some interesting targets, though from the stamp used on the paper, she can assume these are not the targets she took a good look at some, noticing a few well-known faces, the Schnee family from atlas to her, this isn't a surprise but seeing the others interest her, as they also have info on them, one, in particular, was Ghira belladonna

seeing the info she sees the previous leader of the white fang, might be able to help, then she looks down, and it says 'had a pact with the Baghera family' As it all clicked as to why Baghera's name comes her, she quickly looks some more passing by many family names that were luckily aren't part of her father's assassination target, before she founded, she sees the name "Shyam Baghera" she looks down the info as she brings this paper out of the room, closing the door behind her, she needs some time to read and get to know this person so she can get the help she needs

she quickly typed out the phone number after doing some brief reading, she had been tested by her father to learn and memorize words as quickly as possible so now she put it to good use, she took a deep breath before pressing the call button, as she walking back to her table, seeing the call ring worries her, she fears that they will simply ignore it or just refuse the call, she sat there to wait and wait before the time appears

she heard on the other side of the phone a woman's voice "Hello, who is this ?" judging from the voice she seemed to be a middle-aged woman she began to suspect either it was his wife or servants whoever it was she quickly replied "hello, is this Shyam Baghera call ?" the woman simply replied "it is, but the master is currently busy at the moment, so for the time being you can tell me what you need"

"all right then, if possible can you tell Mr. Baghera for a meeting the next day, I would like to meet him," she asked politely fingers crossed hoping she could get the opportunity "Let me see, the schedule for tomorrow" From the call she heard some rustling of papers and pens before she heard her reply "lucky for you there is some time for a meeting"

"can you tell me what time it was ?" she quickly asked though she could hear she was scribbling something on paper "Let me see, around 12-2 pm when Mr. Baghera came home I will report to him this meeting shortly" Seeing the time Mareah sigh in relief "thank you for your help" with the servant simply nodded before the phone was off she looks to the paper seeing that Baghera home address, and location in menagerie, look at the time she decided to get some ticket to prepare

meanwhile

Adam arrived to see how the progress went, from what the doctor said he simply had to wait less than half an hour for the procedure to be done, he saw the orbitoclast covered in some amount of blood bits of the brain on it, seeing that it was finished, he looks to the doctor who was simply nodded "give her the orders and she should be ready" adam look at Ginevra who was awakened but her eyes lacked emotions looking down at blank space, adam look at her before asking the doctor "giving orders ? as simple as that ?"

"yes, I manage to sever some of the nerves while keeping the important ones intact, all you need is to tell her to do something and she will listen like a dotting lamb, without orders she will simply sit there like an emotionless killing machine," the doctor said as he packed his bag and tools as he said "if there is any update needed to do with this patient, be sure to call me" before he left the room

Adam looked to Ginevra whose eyes wandered the places looking at nothing while her hands moved as if it was trying to reach over at the void, "can you hear me, Ginevra ?" Adam asked as she simply ignored her, not recognizing who it was, in her mind she still and only remembered one person, as Mareah was the name and face that she knew, though considering what the doctor said Adam had his weapon ready as he call out the word "kill them" in which Ginevra chair shaken violently as she began to act like an animal cursing and even biting with its human teeth

"calm down," Adam said as Ginevra slowly calmed down and began to look at blank space once again, he then asked, "Who, do you work for ?" Ginevra had her eyes looking at him as her mouth opened as if trying to speak but she didn't say a word "Who. do. you. work. for ?" Adam demanded answers yet all Ginevra provided was nothing as her mouth was simply open yet she didn't speak a thing, Adam was simply disappointed at the result as she simply left the room leaving Ginevra alone

5 hours later in

Mareah had arrived on a continent called Anima by plane, though from what she knew you have to get to the menagerie by boat, to be sure, looking at the time, if all was well she should have arrived there an earlier pace, with a quick book of a ticket she manages to board on the fastest boat she can get currently, now she can simply wait and see how it goes, she looks out to the window seeing the murky turquoise green color of the sea while seeing some ships come and go without realizing that someone had stood beside her "excuse me ?" she heard the voice called out to her

she turned around and saw a young man around a young adult in a black suit his hand holding a cane with the grip in the shape of a leaping leopard, he wore a fedora hat which hid whether he was a faunus or not, as he politely asked: "I can't find any empty seat on this boat so, would you mind if I sat here for the time being ?" Mareah looked at the empty seat beside her and politely replied "Sure"

"great thanks" the man replied as he sat down near Mareah putting his cane on his lap, Mareah saw the man quickly pull down his hat revealing a pair of black leopard ears on top of his head before putting it on his cane "So, come to visit an old friend ?" he assumed and quite curious, at the very least better than keeping it in awkward silent

"no, I'm new here" Mareah simply replied as the man simply chuckled "I see, for a second I thought you a local" Mareah decided to ask "Are you a local ?" to which he nodded "Got back from the academy, take some time to visit family at home, what about you ?" he asked though Mareah simply cover it up under the answer "business deals" which is something random that she thinks of she didn't even know if there are any business deals there

"you made the right choice, that's for certain, Menagerie was known for its ports and harbor, not a bad pick honestly," the young man said before he realized "Silly me, my name is Krishna, and you are ?" in which she quickly replied "Mareah" to which Krishna simply "I see," he said as he quickly looks up to the television show, though due to the ship's engine, they can't hear a single word and can only rely on the subtitle to understand what they are talking about though Krishna seems to be the only one who is focus on the show as Mareah were more focus on the sea as her mind simply hope no one tries to check what's in the carry case she had recently bought to hid her weapons as this is her first time bringing a weapon, usually it was her friend Ginevra who required to use it

an hour of movie had passed as the show was finally over, even though there was a new movie going to be shown to kill some time but by that time Krishna had lost interest, as he put the hat on his face before he leaned back to get some sleep leaving Ginevra being the only one who is awake in this boat yet noticing this the voice came to her once again which she looks to the glass window to see her reflection looking back at her with its bloody red eyes enough to haunt those who dare to look at it

but she simply sighed knowing it was going to annoy her "How confident you are in saving her ?" her reflection asked from the tone Mareah could tell it was as bored as she was at the moment so to kill some time and some boredom she replied "very, if it all goes well, i think we can get her next day, now i can only hope so" her tone of voice was obvious to the reflection as it simply replied "you will" knowing at this moment acting rivalry and competitive didn't bring much help and entertainment in it's mind while Mareah was surprise from the answer or should she say encouragement

"That's surprising, coming from you," she said looking out the window, before she saw not far she seen a land of luscious green, she could see some people walking and strolling around the place, and that's when she knew she had arrived as the reflection said "well, it seems it's time for me to go, best of luck, Broker of pact" she see her reflection returned to her own, looking at the island that they are approaching slowly, she realize the engine of the ship had stopped, she can hear the television, stopping them, Krishna awaken by the sudden stop of the ship, as he put his hat onto his head, as Mareah think it's a good time to get ready, Krishna suddenly put his cane out shake his head, signaling it's not the right time yet

soon the ship shakes, as the engine goes slowly toward the port, with a sudden stop and move along the way, while it's shaking violently from the waves, Mareah who is sitting down on his seat now understands why Krishna stopped her, as she looks to Krishna who simply tips his fedora at Mareah as a gesture of your welcome, she looks out the window seeing that they are approaching close, soon a rope was thrown, with the sailor quickly tied it, and the door was ready to be opened, she sees some people were standing in line, walking out of the ship, though she can tell that most have a hard time standing still as they are gripping on a nearby pole or seat to keep in balance, while Mareah alongside Krishna is now waiting for the right time to get out of the ship