Red and black

24 hours earlier...

We made it to the Scarlet Vipers stronghold without raising suspicions. As we approached the gate with the humvee, the guard signaled the gatekeeper to open the gate. When we went through, we saw that they had upgraded their defenses.

"Alright fellas you know what to do," Danny says as me and him get out of the humvee with Scarlet Viper uniforms and Benny waits for us.

We made our way through the courtyard and into the manor, which has turrets on top of the roof. As we entered, there were a lot of mercenaries guarding every door.

"Alright, you go find the leader. I'll go to the armory and plant the explosives," Danny whispers as I nod my head.

We both split up and made our way to our checkpoint. I went upstairs and made my way to Talia's room. I walked through every guard in the hallways and made it to her room, which was obviously being guarded by four heavily armed guards, so I improvised and approached them.

"This room is off limits, no one goes in unless they're invited," one of the mercenaries say as I reach for the necklace I still have that almost made them point their guns at me. I pull it out and show them, they look at it for a second and then one of the mercenaries knocks on the door KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK after a few seconds the door opens revealing Talia. She looks out from the doorway and sees that I have the necklace she gave me.

"Where did you get that?" She asks as I hand it to her. She looks at it and motions me to come in, as I went in, the mercenaries close the door behind me.

"So are you gonna tell me where you got this or should I ask the mercenary you killed to get that uniform....Beta," she says as I pull out my karambit.

"I see you came prepared," she says with a smile. She lays the necklace on her desk, and pulls out a black g10 combat knife. We both look at each other while walking circles around the room, she notices my stainless steel wing pendant and smirks.

"Only one of us is gonna walk out of here alive," she says as I stop walking.

"And it's not gonna be you," I say as I get into a fighting stance, so does she, after a 10 second stare down we both engaged each other as we both slash our knives together. For every slash we did, it was only our knives taking the most damage until, SLASH Talia finally got a cut on my arm. I looked at the wound for a quick second and made a quick one at her leg SLASH. As I got a cut on her, she looked at it and scoffed.

"Is that all you got?" She says as I flip my knife and throw it at her, which she dodges. It gave me time to run up and tackle her to the floor, and as I did, I got on top of her, but she tried to stab me in the face. Luckily, I caught her arm before she did. I quickly disarmed her and grabbed her knife, then I went for a stab, but missed as she grabbed my arms and flips me over to the ground.

As I was about to get up, she got on top of me and went for a stab. I caught the knife as she was pulling it down to me. We both held onto the knife as she tried hard to push it down to my chest.

"It didn't have to be this way you know," she says as she struggles to push down the knife, so I headbutted her in the face and pushed her off.

As I get up, she swings the knife at me and I dodge every slash until she throws her knife, and right after I dodged it, she pulls out a pistol and points it at me.

"You shouldn't have come back," she says as I look at her.

"You shouldn't have come after my family," I say as she scoffs.

"She shouldn't have gotten involved when she caught my spy and learnt about my plan," she says as I clench my fist from the fact that she's really after Lianna.

The biggest mistake someone makes is when they go after somebody's family.

I ran up to her as she took a shot. She misses and I pick her up from the spine and ram her back against the wall. As she was about to point her gun at me, I caught her arm. She kept shooting the gun everywhere as we both struggled, then the door burst open revealing the mercenaries pointing their guns at me as I quickly disarmed the gun in Talias hand, BANG BANG BANG BANG straight to the head as they all fell down.

Talia kicks me away from her and runs up to me screaming. She gets on my back and puts me in a headlock, we crash around and into the shelves and cabinets as I'm trying to get her off. I flip over to the ground and reach for the gun on the ground. As she gets up, I point it right at her. She scoffs and looks at the ground for a few seconds and right back at me.

"Why did you give me back the necklace?" I ask as she raises an eyebrow.

"You're really asking me this now?" She says as she laughs. "Because the more I look at it, the more I think about you, which I hated. So I wanted to give it back to you myself," she says as I shake my head from the fact that it's not true.

"You're lying," I say as she pulls out a detonator out of her back pocket.

"Am I?" she says as she holds it up. "Like I said,

only one of us is gonna walk out of here alive," she says as I look at her. She opens the detonator button and gets ready to push it. "Any last words? Or how about I send your family a message, maybe they'll join you soon enough?" She says as we both look at each other with weapons that could kill us both.

Then without hesitation, I shot her in the head. As I did, her dead body fell to the ground with the detonator in her hand. I walked up to her body and took the detonator, and I heard heavy footsteps and mercenaries shouting in the hallways, so I escaped through the window and climbed down behind the manor. I quickly made way to the humvee where Benny was waiting. As I did, I bumped into Danny who came out from the back door.

"Oh shit you scared the fuck outta me man," he says in a loud whispe.

We both headed to the humvee and when we did, Benny was laying his back on the side of the humvee until he saw us.

"How did it go?" he says as we all went in the humvee.

Benny starts it and drives towards the gate without raising suspicions. The guard looks at us for a second and signals the gatekeeper to open the gate. We headed out and made it on the road. When we were a few inches away from the manor, I pulled out the detonator and pressed on it, causing the manor to explode. Danny and Benny looked back to see what it was.

"Damn...ain't that a sight?" Danny says with a laugh, as does Benny as he keeps driving.

After a one hour drive we were close to New Eden until we made a stop at a small town called "Killmoor." Danny said he had to meet an old buddy of his.

We drove through town and stopped at a small house. All three of us got out and walked to the doorstep as Danny knocked on the door KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK it opens revealing a middle age man carrying a shotgun.

"Johnnnyyy how you doin?" Danny says with open arms.

Johnny says nothing and just walks away letting us in. We entered and closed the door behind us. The place was neat, and as we looked around, Johnny sat on his comfy chair with his shotgun in his arms and closed his eyes to take a nap.

Danny goes to the kitchen and sits on the table, placing down the weapons he took from the armory. Benny joins him and examines the gun. I just went to the bathroom to change and wash my face. As I got done changing, I washed my face and looked at the mirror.

"Yoooo can't believe we made it out alive man!" Benny says as he taps Danny's shoulder. They both laughed and continued to examine the guns and bullets.

"Hey Danny, I got a question," Benny asks Danny.

"What's up?" He says as Benny grabs two drinks from the fridge and hands one to Danny.

"Where do you see yourself in a couple of years?" Benny asks as Danny stops counting the bullets. He looks up at the ceiling and back at Benny.

"I would take my old man's place and run his business empire in New Eden," he says with a confident tone.

Benny turns around to me in the bathroom while I wash my face. "Hey cousin, where do you see yourself in a couple of years?" Benny asks as I look at him and back at the mirror.

As I thought about what he asked me, I looked closely at my reflection and saw myself holding a baby girl in my arms, we were both smiling and a young woman who was smiling as well, is standing right next us, she has her arms around me and the baby girl. I looked at the mirror for about a minute and thought to myself, "Is this ever gonna happen?" Having a family is something that I always wanted, I never told anybody this because I keep things to myself.

If I had a kid, i would protect them with my life, not raise them like my parents raised me. Making sure they don't go through the same pain I went through during my time of age.

I washed my face and got out of the bathroom, then I went into the living room and sat down on the couch while Benny and Danny were talking.

"So after we're done, we're gonna head straight to Tommy's!" Benny says as Danny nods his head and puts everything back in the bag. They both get done looking at the guns and counting the bullets.

As we head out, Danny says bye to Johnny, who's still sleeping. We closed the door behind us and made our way back to New Eden.

After a one hour drive we finally made it to New Eden. We went through the gates and headed straight to Tommy's bar, it was night time, so it was perfect for us to celebrate at night then day, it's more fun.

We made it Tommys and grabbed the bags. As we entered, the bar was empty with only Tommy at the bar pouring us drinks.

"Damn uncle why is it so dead in here?" Benny asks as he looks around while Danny sets the bag on the bar table and another on a regular table.

"I had to close the bar today to celebrate with just the four of us," he says as he hands Benny and Danny wine shots. As for me, he gave me ginger ale, which he knows I don't drink...like at all.

"One more for my old man, he's coming over to celebrate with us and pay y'all for helping out," Danny says with a laugh as Benny and Tommy do too.

"A toast to you three brave men, who stick their lives out to protect their family and friends," Tommy says as we all hold our glasses up and drink.

"Say uncle, where's my mom and Lacy?" Benny asks as Tommy lays his shot glass on the bar table.

"They both went out for girls night, they should be home later," Tommy says as Benny nods his head. Danny looks at his shot glass and at us for a second until he puts his shot glass on the bar table.

"Imma go check if my old man is here, y'all just sit tight, I'll be back in a minute," Benny says as he grabs the bag and heads out.

"Yo uncle since it's just us three up in here, let's get wild!" Benny yells as he sits on top of the bar table.

"Are you gonna clean up after yourself?" Tommy asks with an eyebrow raised.

Benny laughs and puts his arms around Tommy's shoulder. "Don't worry uncle I'll clean up after we get shit faced you know what im sayin?" Benny says with a laugh.

"Boyy that's what you said last time,'' Tommy says as he playfully pushes Benny. They both laughed and I just smiled.

"Man what's taking that dude so long? Like it's only three of us getting turnt up," Benny says as he is about to head out to see what's taking Danny so long. Before he headed out, he saw the second bag on the table.

"Aw man this dude forgot the other bag!" Benny said as he grabbed the bag and was about to head out I heard a beep.

"Benny wait!" I shouted as I ran up to him BOOM.

Liz's POV

We all stood in shock from those words, we just couldn't believe it, "His uncle's bar was on fire, all we know is that one of the residents heard an explosion and we got there as quick as we could and when we made it to the bar, it was already too late, we found the necklace by a burnt body" the queen says as my heart starts to beat fast from the fact that our best friend, our brother is dead, everyone was still in shock until Lianna started to tear up and bury her face on thanans shoulder, as everyone else breaks down.

I walk up to rin and gave her a hug as she continues to look at the necklace, and then walks out of the throne room, i didn't know where she was gonna go so i followed and eventually we both walked out of the castle and through the city, as we made it to the burnt down bar we look at it for a second and then went in, as we entered we looked around until we found an old women sitting at a burnt table with incense sticks, food, and a picture of a teenage boy, we both stopped and looked at her for a moment until she turns her head around and looks at us, we both bow our heads in respect of an asian elder,"What is it you want" she says with an asian language me and rin are very familiar with, she was speaking in cambodian, which is a language we couldn't speak but understand very well,"we came here to see what happened" rin says as the old lady turns her head around,"It was a setup, i knew from the start" the lady says as me and rin both look at each other and back at her, rin walks up to the old lady and takes a seat right next to her,"What do you mean it was a setup?" Rin says as the old lady continues to stare at the picture, "I tried to warn my brother that they were being set up but he never listened" the old lady says as rin looks at the picture and back at the old lady, "Is that your son?" She asks as the old lady nods her head, "His name was benny..." The lady says as she puts her arms and elbows on the table, "Did you know who else was with him" I ask as I take another seat by the old lady, she nods her head, "Yes...my nephew beta was with him" she says as me and rin looks at each other with wide eyes, "Wait.....you're beta's aunt?" I say as she nods her head, we didn't even know he also had an aunt in new Eden, the only time he talks about family is when someone mentions a relative he knows, to be honest, he never talks about anything unless he feels like it, "What do you know?" Rin asks as the old lady continues to look at the picture, "There was also a third as well, the one who set them up" the old lady says with anger in her voice, "Who was it?" Rin asks as the old lady looks at Rin, "Danny" she says in English as me and Rin looks at each and back at her, "Wait a minute Danny? As in Danny Calzo?" Rin says as I give her a confused look, I didn't know who she was talking about but it seems like Rin does since she's been in New Eden for a long time to know everybody, "Whose Danny calzo?" I ask as rin looks at me, "Danny calzo is the son Leonardo calzo a mob boss who was aiming to be the queen's ally of new Eden" rin says as the old lady nods her head, "Yeah that's them, they were the ones who set up my son and nephew" the old lady says as rin clenches her fist from the fact that beta was betrayed by someone he trusted, and I just sat there in shock, thinking about how much beta and his cousin benny trusted this guy, beta always put trust and loyalty into someone he's close with, we both got up and bow our heads as a thank you and farewell.

As we walked through the city, Rin decided to tell me a short story about herself, and lucky for her I LOVE stories, "Did you know I used to be a raider back when I lived in the wasteland?" She asks as I shake my head, "Was it before or after you became a healer?" I ask as we keep walking," Before.....I raided a lot of places to survive and killed a lot of people" she says as I think about what she has been going through for the past couple months, me and rin always open up to each other the most because we've been with each other since the war, especially with beta, he's been with us as well except he never really opens up to anybody about himself or his family, we understood that because we respected his privacy and that we would always be here for him whenever he's ready, he may seem a bit emotionless and serious but he's still has a good heart, even though he barely shows it, we still love him for it no matter what, we sometimes annoy him a lot and force him to put on clothes he doesn't like, he never said anything he just goes with whatever makes us happy.

After a walk through the city we came back to the castle and come up with a plan, we both discussed this in the library, "I will have his head on a pike....." Rin says folding her arms, I just sat there looking at her, trying to come up with a plan while rin is saying things on how she's gonna kill the whole calzo family, as I was about to say something the group came in, "Where did you guys go?" Izzy says, rin doesn't say anything until I did, "We went to where it happened" I say as Cayden raises an eyebrow, "The bar?" He says as I nod my head rin gets up from her chair and walks back and forth still thinking of a plan, as everyone starts chattering about what happened, rin quiets the whole groups, she looks at maline, "Maline you can go in place undetected right?" Rin says as maline looks at everyone and nods her head, "Good because I might know a way to get in the calzo's house" rin says as the group starts to chatter, i look at maline who's just standing there looking at the group with her hands behind her back, i walk up to her and put my arm around her shoulders,"Are you okay?" I ask as she slowly shakes her head, it seems she's still thinking about what happened to beta, i didn't know what say but hug her,"I miss him...." Maline says as i look at her and gave her a smile of reassurance, i know exactly how she feels, beta was the reason we are all here together again, that's all he ever wanted, he never mentioned anything else except reuniting the whole family, as i was about to say something, rin walks up to us,"We need to come up with a plan, so let's meet up in my room and discuss it" she says as she walks out of the library where everyone is still chattering, both me and maline went to rin's room.

We made it to her room and knocked a couple of times KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, the door opens revealing rin, she motions for both of us to get in and shuts the door behind us, i looked around her room and i'm not gonna lie she needs to decorate it more, like art or something, because this room is just sad,"Hey rin anytime you wanna decorate your room, just ask me i'll be happy to help'' i say with a smile, rin looks at me for a second and chuckles while shaking her head, me and maline sit on her bed while she gathers up a map what seems to be for the calzo's house, she pins the map on her wall and looks at it with her arms crossed,"what exactly did you want me to do again?" Maline asks, rin looks back at her and points at the map we need your help breaking in without being seen" she says as maline looks at me and back at rin,"To do what exactly?...." Maline asks, as rin walks up to her, she pulls out her knife and throws it at the map.``To kill Leonardo and danny calzo '' rin says, maline's eyes go wide from the fact that rin wants her to help us kill a mob boss. And all i could think about is how rin's room is so beige and sad, like all i want is to spread an artwork around her room like oh my goodness,"Is there anything you wanna say liz'' rin asks as i stare at the walls daydreaming, i shook my head and gave her a thumbs up for her plan even though i was barely listening to what she was saying.

After an hour of planning we got our stuff ready for tonight,"Check your gear before we go" rin says as we nod our heads, we got our stuff ready and snuck out of the castle at night.

As we made it to the calzo's house we gotten to a higher building to scan the area, we looked around a saw there are guards two guards at the gate way but there were none around the manor, it's odd that there was no guards around,"Something not right" i say, maline looks at me and rin nods her head in agreement,"You're right there should be guards around the manor scouting the area" rin says, i look through my scope to find any guards around the area but there were none except the ones at the gate way,"Liz take out the ones at the gate" rin says as i put a suppressor on my sniper rifle and aim, i hold my breath PEW PEW, after i took out the guards we got down from the higher building and made our way to the walls to climb over, we climbed over the walls and snuck across the field without a sound, as we made it to the manor, we looked around for guards and there was none, i take a look at the manor and its size wondering if i'm gonna have a house like this, rin taps my shoulder,"I think i know what happened to the guards" rin says, she points at a dead body lying on the ground, it looks like we're not the only ones here,"Somebody else is here...." Rin says, we move into the manor with caution and as we entered there was dead bodies lying every,"Who could've done this" rin says as i shrug my shoulders, whoever done this might still be here so we looked around for any survivors until we came into the kitchen, we saw leonardo's dead body on a chair and right across from him was a man in a black lightweight tactical suit, there was also a black mask with a claw mark on it sitting on the table next to him as he sits there looking at it, he also has a springfield armory 1911 pistol with a suppressor wrapped in bandages.

We couldn't get a clear sight of the man until we got closer and as we did the man turn his head....it was beta.

-----------------------------

2 days earlier after the fire.....

Beta's POV

I wake up with bandages on my arms around my stomach, i look around to see that i'm in someone's bedroom, i got up from the bed and walked to the window see where i'm at, looks like im still in new eden except a different location far from the castle, i turn around as the door opens revealing a young women she's whose a little shorter than me,"I see your awake" she says as i just stand there looking at her without saying anything,"I came to check up on you, see how you're doing" she says as i continue to say nothing but stare at her, she makes visual eye contact as well and then smiles,"I see you don't remember me, that's fine i don't blame you" she says as she slowly walks up to me but keeps her distance,"Its nice seeing you again handsome" she says, as i give her a but of a surprised look, its kehlani from the party, she was the one who rescued me? "Kehlani?" I say as she nods her head and smiles, she walks up to me and gives me a hug, i just stand there speechless for a few seconds then give her a bit of a hug, she caresses my face and smiles,"Been awhile don't you think" she says, i nod my head and chuckled, i take a look at her and i thought to myself,"Damn.....she cute even without the mask" she tilts her head and lays her head on my chest as we are still hugging,"Thank you for saving me and patching me up" i say, she looks up to me and smiles,"You're welcome! And it wasn't me who patched you up" she says ad i give her a confused look, she turns her head to the doorway,"Kathiel! He's awake" she shouts as i hear footstep, a man pops up from the doorway, he has short black hair thats combed, he's wearing a white apron with a black button up shirt underneath, white gloves, black cargo pants with black boots.

He walks up with a smile and takes off his gloves,"Nice to meet you, i'm kathiel" he says extended his hand for a handshake, i just look at him and back at kehlani who gives me a reassuring look, i shake his hand,"Thanks for patching me up" i say as he nods his head,"It was my pleasure, my wife also helped as well" he says, he walks to the doorway and stops to turn around,"She's making breakfast, if you want you can join us or stay up here and i'll bring it up to you?" He says as i look at kehlani she gently shakes my arm,"You should come down, you need the energy plus her cooking is FANTASTIC" kehlani says as i have a moment to think, i nod my head, kehlani smiles and so does kathiel,"Great! Just come whenever you're ready" he says as he head out, i put on a black shirt, grey joggers, and converse shoes (That's right, they're still rocking especially in the post apocalypse) kehlani waits at the door as i head out of the room, we both head downstairs, when we entered the kitchen there was a women which i assume is kathiel's wife, whose cooking something good, her blue hair is blue, she's wearing a grey sleeveless shirt, black baggy shorts and is wearing white cozy slippers.

Kehlani sits down at the table with kathiel as i stand and look around the place, it's pretty neat."OH you're awake! Good I've just added another plate because i knew you were gonna wake up today!" She says as kathiel smiles and shakes his head, kehlani just holds her laugh,"I didn't get to introduce myself yet! My name is Nikka, im kathiels wife" she says as she extends her hand for a handshake, i shook her hand and gave her a little smile,"Sit down! I just got done making breakfast" nikka says as she prepares the bowls on the tables, i sit next to kehlani,"So wanna tell us what happened last night when kehlani rescued you from the fire?" Kathiel says, i just sit there thinking about what happened, my blood was boiling and all i could think of was vengeance, as i sit there with my fist clenched, kehlani seems to notice and puts her hand on my fist,"Its okay if you don't wanna talk about" she says as i calm myself i take a deep breath and keep my composure,"All you need to know is that i won't be staying long" i say as nikka brings a pot full of homemade chicken noodle soup,"Soups done!" Nikka shouts as she pours the soup in our bowls with a soup ladle, after she's done we all began to eat, the chicken noodle soup was good,"We didn't quite catch your name, when we ask kehlani she said she doesn't know, you never told her" nikka says as all three of them look at me,"My name beta" i say, they all look at each other then back at me,"Well it's nice to meet you beta" nikka says as kathiel nods his head, kehlani just smiles and eats her soup.

After we got done eating i look around the house until i saw a steel green fan in a shadow box hanging on the wall, i look at for a second until nikka pops up outta nowhere,"You like it!" She shouts as I nod my head, it has a symbol that I was very familiar with, the symbol represented an all female group besides the valkyries. Last I heard about them was when they aided the valkyries in the siege. They were called the jade warriors, seems familiar? Well let tell you something about them real quick, the jade warriors used to allies with the jade dragons until a disagreement caused them to go to war with each other, since then each side has suffered heavy loses until they made a truce, the truce was for each side to not enter any of there territory's, as long as the truce remains intact, no violence will occur between them.

"You're a member of the jade warriors?" I say.

"I was.." Nikka says as she takes a look at the steel green fan,"My mother was as well, she gave me her steel fan before she passed" nikka says as she continues to look at it,"I'm sorry" i say as she gives me a half smile, kathiel then comes out of the bathroom and see what we're looking at, he walks over to nikka and puts his arm around her shoulders,"Ahhh i see you found nikka's family heirloom" he says with a smile, i nod standing right beside to look at the steel green fan,"I appreciate what you guys did to patch me up and ill forever be grateful" i say as i bow my head as a sign of thank you, they both bow as well as it seems they're familiar with the gesture as well,"Now i must go" i say as i walk back to the guest room, kathiel and nikka follow from behind, i pack my things and made my way out, as i was about to leave i turned around and gave them bow as a sign of goodbye,"Anytime you need a place to crash your more then welcome to stay" kathiel says as nikka nods in agreement, we both shake hands, kehlani comes from behind them and walks over to me,"So i guess this is goodbye then?" She says as i look at her and scoff,"Yea but it won't be the last time we see each other" i say as she gets closer to me, we both look at each other in the eyes until she kisses me with her arms wrapped around the back of my neck, i kiss her back (Of course i would) we both lay our foreheads against each other,"Why don't i come with you?" She says as i give it a second to think about, it would give us more time to get to know each other and hopefully she won't end up like talia, i nod my head in agreement as she smiles and hugs me, she turns around and runs up to kathiel and nikka to give them a big hug,"Thank you for everything" she says as kathiel and nikka smiles at her like a daughter that's leaving the nest to go out on her own, she gives them one last hug, then she runs back to me and we both wave them goodbye as they do the same, we made our way to the city.

As we walked around the city I put my hood up to make sure nobody from the calzo family recognized me, because almost everyone in New Eden thinks I'm dead including my own family and I'm gonna keep it that way,"So you wanna tell me what happened?" Kehlani says as we walk to a big water fountain and sit down on the edge outside of the fountain, i thought about what she asked me which made me think back to the fire, all i see is fire everywhere, kehlani seems to notice i was thinking about it so she holds my hand,"its okay if you don't wanna talk about it, i can always wait until your ready" she says as i give her a half smile,"It started when me and my cousin and someone we trusted a lot, all three of us got back from a HQ that was heavily guarded by mercenaries and after we got back we celebrated at my uncles bar then that's when the explosion happened" i say as i look at the waters in the fountain, kehlani gives me a long hug until a old man and his granddaughter sat not to far from us on the edge of the fountain, they're both asian as well,"Grandpa can you braid my hair?" The little girl says as the grandpa looks at her hair,"I don't know how to but grandpa will try" he says as the little girl turns around for the grandpa to braid her hair, he's struggling but he's also trying, kehlani seems to notice as she watches the grandpa mess up,"Grandpa is not good at this" he says, the little girl turns back around,"Its ok grandpa i'll leave my hair like this" the little girl says as they were about to leave kehlani calls them over, as they approach us kehlani looks at the girl with a smile,"I hear you need help braiding your hair" she says as the little girl nods, her grandpa puts his hand together,"I hope it's not a bother miss its just i'm not that good at braiding, it's something my wife does all the time" he says with a reassurance laugh, kehlani gently turns the girl around and begins braiding her hair, as i watch her braid the little girls hair it got me thinking way back from before the war, liz, rin and maline would always braid each others hair especially thanan and izzy would just watch, as she got done braiding the little girl turns around and bows her head in thanks,"Thank you sister" the little girl says as kehlani smiles,"Your welcome" she says as the little girl gives her a hug, the little girl and her grandpa bid us farewell and left, i look at kehlani until she notices me staring at her,"Anything you wanna say huh?" She says with a "wanna die?" Face, i scoff and shake my head, she scoots closer to me and put my arm around her shoulders, we both look up at the sky wondering what the future was gonna be like,"There's something i need to take care of first" i say as kehlani looks at me with a curious look,"Where are you going?" She asks as i look at her in the face, there's not point on lying or keeping a secret from her because that's something i hate doing, mostly lying, so i just straight up told her,"I'm going to kill leonardo calzo and his son tomorrow night" i say as kehlani eyes goes wide from the fact that im gonna kill a mob boss,"Seriously? Why would you wanna do that for?" She ask, she looks at me waiting for an answer,"Because i can....and him and his son were the ones who betrayed me and my cousin" i say as she buries her face in the palm of her hands, as i get we both look at each other,"You shouldn't do this alone beta, let me help you" she says as i caress her face, only reason i wanted to do this alone was because i didn't want anything happening to her like benny, i wasn't quick enough to save him,"No...i need to do this alone, its just i already lost people i care about, im not ready to lose another" i say as she hugs me and i hug back,"I have another friend in the city who i can stay with until you come back besides your too slow to keep up with me" she says with a wink, i look at her with a raised eyebrow and scoffed,"Oh really.....well i worked with a lot people and none of them even caught up to me" i say as kehlani laughs until she almost falls in the fountain, luckily i caught her which i shouldn't have....."That's funny really.....its ok to lie beta we both know who's the fastest" she says as she caresses my face, i look at her with my eyes squinting,"oh please when i was out there i worked with mercenaries, assassins, raiders, con artist, stupid sexual playboys and im not just talking about my brother, there's a lot more as well" i say rapidly while counting my fingers, kehlani scoffs and shakes her head,"Anyways.....ill meet you at your friends house....if i know where it is" i say as kehlani chuckles,"Its right next to kathiel and nikka's house, like next door" she says as i nod my head, she kisses me in the cheek and after that we both separated.

I walked through the city unseen without anybody noticing me while i have my hood on, i made my way to the bar, as i arrived i take a look at it, it hurts me to see it like this, i walked in and looked around, the pictures and everything are gone, as i look around i see a picture of benny and plates of his favorite foods and fruits, sitting on a table with incense sticks, i walk up to the table and picked up the incense stick, i light it up and stick it back in the bowl, i bow my head in respect,"I'm sorry cousin, if only i would've been more careful" i think to myself, the thing about me is that i hold back my emotions, its something I've been doing for a long time, i went upstairs and see that not much damage has been done to Tommy's office, i look around and see Tommy's desk and chair, i walk to the desk and sat on the chair, i chilled for a moment and then look through the drawers in his desk, as i look i found an old picture, it's me, benny and tommy. This was when me and benny were little, tommy was showing us how a car works and how to fix it as i see a 1967 ford mustang in the background, i put the picture in my pocket and continue to look through the drawer until i found a big book of old pictures of me and the rest of the family, they were all taken before the war, i look through it and see every picture as a memory, i see the most memorable one and i smiled, its a picture of me, izzy, thanon, rin, liz, and cayden all bruised up but still giving big smiles, except me. And maline was just born when this picture was taken, the only reason its the best one is because of what happened before this picture was taken.

------------------------

FLASHBACK

We were at our favorite park, just chilling and goofing around, we had our own group but with other kids from school, all was good until another group of kids came, our group locked eyes with the other group like another wolf pack crossing into another wolf pack's territory, "looks like we got some trouble" izzy says, we were on our guard except thanan, who decided to charm a girl from the other group, he snuck away from our group which i happened to notice,"This should be interesting" i thought, so i followed him until i found him giving the girl a flower, i was hiding in the bushes where they couldn't see me, i thought to myself "Are you serious?", after he gave the girl the flower they begin to laugh and that's when the leader of the other group noticed, i knew something was gonna happen so i went over there and when i came, the leader pushed thanan to the ground and kicked him, let me make one thing clear, thanan may be an idiot but he's still my brother and im not gonna let some asshole mess with my family so i launched myself at the leader and punched him in the face multiple times and thanan moves the girl out of the way as we both wrestle each other on the ground, our groups saw us fighting and that's when the brawl happened, izzy led the charge and thanan was just trying his best to defend himself even though he's not a good fighter, the battle lasted until sunset and when it did the other group retreated as we stood tall at our own park, we were all bruised up but we still had a good laugh, talking about how we kicked every members ass and that we got each others back, after it got a little dark we went back to Tommy's house and when we did, tommy and our family saw us all bruised up and asked what happened, we all explained what happened and tommy wasn't mad or anything just relieved that we're okay and that we should be careful from now on except our aunt adira who lectured us about fighting and how much violence it causes, my aunt kendra (Izzys mother) pulled me aside and put her hands on my shoulders,"I want you to promise me that you'll look after izzy when im gone, no matter what happens family is forever understand?" i nod my head as she hugs me, after that me and the others got our wounds treated after the picture was taken.

____________________________

My back was leaning on the chair while i was thinking about that day, i close the book and look at it, i thought to myself of how big my family is and how the rest of them are doing out there. I put the book in my backpack and got up from the chair, as i was about to leave i saw the hunters mask laying on the table, i looked it for a second and put it in my backpack, my uncle mentioned to me a long time ago if he owned a bar he would have an armory stashed somewhere, i looked around until i found a black crate under the bar table, i opened it and revealed tactical gear tommy used when he was my age, it also contains a heckler and koch suppressed pistol, even a black tactical knife, so i waited until nighttime.

Its night time and i had on the black tactical gear, i moved silently through the city and to the calzo's house, as i made it i scanned the area, i counted ten guards around the perimeter plus two at the gate, like last time i went over the wall and hid in the bushes, i looked around and silently made my way through the fields, as i see three guards talking to each other PEW PEW PEW straight to the head, after i took out those three i went on with the rest and as i did they all.....fell.....down.

I entered the house quietly and scanned every corner of the manor until I saw a group of guards hanging out in the lounge. They all turned around so I could just shoot them as quickly as I could without raising an alarm, I steadied my aim and shot them all at once.

After i took care of the guards, i head upstairs and find two armed guards waiting at a door, so i threw my black tactical knife at the one on the left and shot the on at the right, as i they fall down dead, i went up to the door and knocked on it KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK after a few i hear a voice yelling from the other side of the door"WHAT IS IT? CAN'T YOU SEE IM BUSY" i knock again and hear footsteps from the other side,the door opens revealing danny in a robe"What the fuck do you wa-" he cuts off as he sees me, i take off my mask revealing my face as his eyes go wide, i kick him across the room, i walked in and saw there was a young girl at his bed covering herself with blankets, i grabbed him off the floor and punched him in the face really hard, i tilt my head to the door for the girl to get out, she grabs her clothes and ran out of the room, i punch him multiple times until he spits out blood, as I kick him in the gut and choke slam him on his desk i brought my knife out and put it under his chin,"Benny trusted you and i did too, i even thought of you as a friend but turns out you were just like your old man" i say as he mumbles blood from his mouth, he wipes it off,"Its not like i wanted to do it in the first place, its what my old man wanted, I'd do anything for him, just like i would do anything for you and Tommy" he says as i think about his words, without hesitation i jammed the knife in his stomach, killing him.

I looked at Danny's body and closed his eyes, I took my knife out from his stomach and wiped it down on his robe. I walked out of the room and made my way to through the manor, I went to the kitchen and found Leonardo sitting at a dinner table pouring a glass of wine,"Want a drink?" He says, i point my gun at him as he just sits there, he takes a drink and looks at me,"I figured you'd survive and comeback, its like you walked through hell without getting burnt" leonardo says with a chuckle, i still have my gun pointed at him as he's still seated and drinking, i looked around the kitchen to see if he laid out a trap but seems like he didn't, its like he knew i was gonna come,"You know you guys weren't the first ones i turned my back on, i turned my back on a whole lotta people and not having any regrets about it, so every night i pour myself a couple of drinks, one for me and one for another who survived, but none have except for you son" he says lifting his glass out of respect, so apparently he knew i was gonna come, still have my gun pointed at him but after a minute of looking around i sat down, i lowered my pistol but still kept it in hand, picks a glass of wine and hands it to me, i look at it for a second and shook my head,"oh i forgot you don't drink, well more for me then" he says with a chuckle, after he finishes drinking we both look at each eye to eye,"Danny's dead isn't he? I knew the second i let him work for me, he'll have a bullseye on his back as well, that's the only thing i regret" he says as i still look at him without saying a word,"All i gotta know is how the hell do you get over the fence, only way to get in is the front gate" he says as continue to look at him until i answered,"i'm half mexican it's what i do" i say as leonardo chuckles as i point my pistol at him he does nothing but look at me, PEW PEW PEW, two to the chest and one to the head.

I sat there staring of to space while leonardo's dead body is across from me, i set my mask on the table and look at it for about a second, i began thinking about tommy and benny of what their lives would have been like if they were alive, tommy would still run the bar until he retires and benny would've been married to lacy and start a family.

As i was sitting there thinking i hear footsteps behind me, i turn my head and see rin and liz with their weapons loaded, seems like they had the same idea as well, their eyes go wide from the fact that i'm alive, we look at each other until i turned my head, liz and rin lowered their weapons and walk up to me, they see leonardo's dead body across the table and look back at me, they said nothing but hug me from behind, i still sit there as they hug me,"Let's go home..." i say as i get up from the chair and grab my mask off the table, we got out of the manor and head straight to the castle, i'm not gonna let them know about the fountain so im gonna sneak out without them noticing, as we made it to the castle the family was surprised i was alive, one hug become a group hug, they all started to ask me questions about the fire and what happened when i was out there, i answered and they were relieved but i didn't mention kehlani because after what happened with danny they're gonna be overprotective including rin.

i went to the queen and told her about leonardo, she wasn't angry or anything she just told me to tell her next time before i do anything reckless.

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Thanan's POV

After beta got back i talked to him about what happened in his room, he didn't say anything but put his hand on my shoulder,"Just so you know bro im here if you need someone to talk too or.....if your Finding a girlfriend" i say as he chuckles and playfully push me, We talked for hours until Lianna came in, Man she looks beautiful in her dress like i can't stop looking at her, she sit next to beta to look around for cuts in his clothing,"Im fine lianna, im not hurt" beta says as lianna raises an eyebrow, now recognize that look from anywhere, after my experience with women, it seems she's about to go off on him for doing something stupid OR She sense that he's lying to her, either way beta is still in trouble, i think he should choose his words wisely if not then im praying for him," Are you sure" lianna says with her eyebrows raised, he nods his head as he gets up from the table, as he turns around theres a little scratch on the back of his vest, Well then…...it's time for me to pray, As lianna spots the cut on his vest she runs up behind and tackle him.

Few minutes later she looks at his back for a scar until she see a few old scars on his back, Those are scars from the past and it makes me sad that beta went through a lot to keep us safe, even lianna was shocked to see the scars as well as she almost shed a tear,"Lucky you there's no scar, next time don't lie to me" she says as beta looks at her and give her a smile,"I wasn't lying though" beta says as lianna raises her finger, beta stops talking,"I don't wanna hear it" she says like a mom disciplining her own son for getting in a fight, i covered my laugh until lianna notice she raises her eyebrows and i kept a straight face, holding in my laugh and smiling a bit, it's not wise to anger lianna so i tried my best to not laugh, As she sits next to me and wrap her arms around mine, to be honest she's way better than the other girls i dated….Well some but she i love her the most, and all i could think of is how beautiful she is in that dress, as she lays her head on my shoulder, i spot beta looking at me with serious face, it's like he's giving me a warning to not break lianna's heart, he did told me to not treat her like the rest of the girls i dated or else he'll stick his foot up where the sun don't shine and that's badddd.

As we all chill in Beta's room Liz and Izzy come in, they both sit next to Beta side by side,"So whatcha guys talking about?" liz says with a curious look and it seems izzy is curious as well, we all look at each other until beta says something,"Lianna was just fixing a cut" he says as liz tilts her head, beta brings out a big piece of paper and start drawing something, we all crowd behind him to see what he was drawing, we didn't know what it was until he drew what looks like to be a bar."Im planning on rebuilding tommy's bar and im gonna need help doing it" beta says as everyone looks at each other and back at him,"But first i want someone to paint a mural on the walls outsides to honor tommy and benny" beta says as liz lights up with excitement she raises her hand,"Oh ohhh Let me do it pleaseeeee" liz says while jumping up and down, beta nods his head and liz claps her hands, as for me and the rest of us he asked if we can help him rebuild the bar, we all agreed, so we came up with ideas to what we should add to the bar and how we should build it, after a few hours of planning we got materials and everything thanks to the queen, she said it's the least she can do since tommy was her friend.

We all looked at the bar until beta walked in and started throwing away the burnt woods, we all helped and renovate the place, which took us two days until we were finally done, liz paints a mural of tommy and benny with angels wings and a lot of good things they've done after liz finished we looked at the bar including the sign which we haven't changed, beta suggested we keep it the same since tommy was the one who named it after him.

After awhile we went in and got ourselves a drink, beta was talking to his aunt and benny's fiancé lacy, i didn't know what they were talking about but beta told me its his concern alone, i didn't mind that at all i respected his privacy so i just drank some soda with the others, even though none of us is a drinker.

I still can't stop thinking about Lianna, our kids are gonna be beautiful one day.

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Beta's POV

So i was talking with my aunt and lacy and they thanked me for rebuilding the bar and having a mural painted to honor tommy and benny, my aunt said she'll be leader of the Family from now on and if i need anything just call her, i talked with lacy and she's still sad about what happened to benny,"Listen to me, no matter what benny will always be in our heart" i say as she nods her head and hugs me, i didn't know what to say but hug her back.

While the family was talking and hanging out, i snuck out to meet kehlani at her friends house, which is right by kathiel and nikka, maybe i'll stop by to see how they're doing, i made sure nobody was following me until i spit rin hanging outside the bar,"Going somewhere?" she says as i walk past her she follows behind,"I'm going out for a bit, i'll be back" i say as she continues to follow me.

"Alright then im coming with you"

"No you're not"

"Ha wasn't asking for your permission"

We walked to kathiels house and as we made it i knocked on the door, KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK, No answer so i twist the knob and it opened, i look at rin and we both pull out our pistols, when we went in the place was bloody, rin's eyes go wide from all the blood that's all over the place, i was pretty much shocked as well when i looked around and see bodies of the valkyries laying around until we hear footsteps upstairs,"Rin i'm gonna go check upstairs stay here and make sure nobody comes in" i say as she nods her head, i go upstairs and see blood on the walls, i walk through the hall and made it to kathiel and nikka's room, i put my ear against the door and hear loud thuds so i readied my pistol and kicked the open revealing nikka slicing off a valkyries head off with her steel fan, her clothes is covered in blood as she turns around i kept my pistol drawn at her, we both look at each other until she wipes the blood off her fan."Wanna tell me what happened?" i say as nikka scoffs she wipes the blood from her face and extends her arms around for a second,"If i told you then you would wanna kill me as well" she says, why would the queen send valkyries to their house? I slowly walked towards Nikka but still kept my pistol steady,"Why did the queen send her valkyries after you guys? What is it you're not telling me?" i askas nikka backs away, it seems she doesn't want me to come near her after what happened, She probably thinks the queen sent me to kill her but really im not, i just wanna know why she and kathiel are being targeted,"Nikka…..Where's kathiel? what happened to him?" i ask as she looks at me she draws her steel fan, well shit. she runs up to me slashing as i quickly dodge them,"Nikka you don't wanna do this" i say as she continues to slash her steel fan at me, i dodge every move until i threw an orange at her, she looks at me with a very pissed look, seems like i made it worst, she throws her steel fan at me which misses me by a few inches and drops kicks me.

She grabs her fan and starts slashing again, i dodge them until i caught bot of her arms as she's struggling to move them so she knees me in the chest,"Nikka i don't wanna hurt you" i say as she breathes heavily from the fact that she hasn't even cut me yet, rin comes in with her pistol pointing at nikka as she looks at me and rin,"If you want answers meet us at badlands, we'll be waiting" nikka says as she throws a smoke bomb and disappears.

We both got out of the house and met kehlani at her friends house, we told her what happened and asked if nikka and kathiel are alright, i just told her they want us to meet them in badlands and hasn't said anything when we met up with kehlani she just stared at her like a hawk which i noticed,it looks like she doesn't trust her so i calmed her down a bit.

We went to the same fountain me and kehlani sat at and talked about how we are gonna go to the badlands."Rin i want you to go back to the castle and tell everybody to pack their things, we're going to the badlands" i say as she doesnt say anything but look at kehlani i put my hands on her shoulders and give her a reassuring look, she nods and head straight to the castle.

When it was just the two of us kehlani looks at me with a smile,"it seems she doesn't trust me…..like at all" i say as we both chuckle, she wasn't wrong after what happened with danny she doesn't wanna trust anybody i hang out with because she think they might turn on me or something, but i don't blame her,"Give her some time she just met you" i say as me and kehlani sit on the stone seating of the fountain, she lays her head on my shoulder,"What do you plan on doing after badlands?" she asks as i think about, what do i want to do? because all i can think about is where i want the whole family to stay where it's safe,"I don't know but hopefully i'll think of something" i say as me and kehlani hold hands. it's been a long time since i've felt like this, and all i could was go with it and not let anybody fuck it up, we both look at each other and then kissed.

After that we went to the castle and packed our stuff, as we were lianna was packing her stuff too, it seems she wants to go as well,"You sure you wanna come?" I say as she nods her head, seems wherever Thanan goes, she comes with and I didn't mind that at all, besides she can keep him from flirting with other girls.

As we were about to leave the queen pulled me aside,"Promise me my daughter will be safe" she says, I nod my head and promise. We all headed out on a big truck the queen held in her garage, big enough for all us to fit, as we left lianna waved her mom, the queen, goodbye.

cayden was driving and i was in the front seat, rin pulled out my hand and gave me a necklace, my necklace, i looked at it for a moment and put it on. Badlands is the last place we wanna be, but lucky us we have an aunt who runs an inn with her courtesans over there. so that will be the first place we'll stop at once we're there.

Badlands here we come.