Kyle Jargan

  He was a wolf faunus and was one of the st two of the Jargan Family. Famous for their great ability to hunt wildlife for food. It was a tradition that he was the proudest of. His skill was as expected for a Jargan. Agile, fearless, precise, and calcuting in hunting their prey. If his ancestor could see him now. They would be very proud.

  "Big brother, stop daydreaming. you're doing it again," His little sister, Kit, said, causing Kyle to look his cute little sister dead in the eye.

  "Me? Daydreaming? Oh please, I'm merely reminiscing." Kyle brushed it off as he continued to stare at the sky.

  Kit rolled her eyes. "Ain't that the same?"

  "No, reminiscing is…." Kyle trailed off, not knowing what words to say. It seemed to stretch as long as a minute.

  "Hmm, okay, big brother, whatever you say." Kit knew of this and decided to hop off the sofa. "I'll be in my room."

  Kyle gnced at her. "Hmm, I thought you'd go and meet with Alex?" He questioned.

  "She's not here." A disappointed sigh escaped from Kit's mouth.

  Kyle knew his Little sister was quite fond of the blond girl. Thinking of it, he felt envious of Alex. Normally, his little sister would be quite clingy with him. As the years pass, his little sister has grown into a young and mature woman, though their retionship still remains the same. He still misses the days when his little sister stayed by his side and begged her to tell her stories.

  Those were the days,

  "Hmph, you're thinking of something, aren't you?"

  "Me? No"

  "Hmph," Kit huffed. "Though, I did see that Steve guy earlier in the marketpce." She added.

  "Steve?" Kyle recalled a memory. "Ah, him,"

  Kit nodded. "Yes, the guy who pissed off uncle Eldar."

  Kyle chuckled. "I never seen Eldar being pissed like that. Who knew he had that side of him? He's normally composed most of the time."

  " I guess we should thank the guy for that." Although, with a ft response, Kit found it quite funny. "I imagine what would have happened if you weren't their big brother."

  "Knowing Eldar, he probably won't hurt him that much," Kyle deduced, "But I think he will teach him a lesson or two."

  "That may be right." Kyle nodded in agreement.

  "I'll be off then."

  "Alright, see you." Kyle waved as his little sister shut the door. The smile on his face fell as he was deep in thought.

  +++===+++?"Kyle! Long time no see!" In the distance, Kyle saw his friend, Almond, waving at him. Almond was a cat faunus, famous for their remarkable stealth and agility. Almond was seen to be the best marksman in their vilge and an almost undetectable one when it comes to hunting. Often, they would csh to see who would get the most haul from the hunt.

  He was seen wearing a leather armor, slick and slum fitting for his light physique. He had a small bag strapped onto his waist. A longbow was seen at his back together with a quiver stacked with arrows.

  "Almond." Kyle shook his friend's hand, smiling. "Just got back from the hunt?"

  Like he expected from his response, Almond boasted. "You know it, brother! I killed two boars this time."

  "That's a profit." Kyle wore a smile, truly happy for his friend.

  '"Profit? I'll be swimming liens by tomorrow!" Kyle could swear he saw drool on his face.

  "Heh, don't get your heads high into the sky yet, Almond."

  "Right, a hunter has gotta be humble. Yeah, Yeah. You don't have to remind me of the oath every time," Almond rolled his eyes in annoyance. "That said, it's been a while since we st took a hunt together. "

  "I've been pretty busy," Kyle finally said after a moment of being busy.

  Somehow, his friend interpreted it to mean something else.

  "Busy trying to get i–OW!" Almond hissed in pain, rubbing his arm as he gred at the suspect.

  "Heh, that's what you get," Kyle smirked, causing Almond to scowl.

  "Hey! I was speaking the truth."

  "You're far from it," Kyle replied, meeting his gaze head-on as he crossed his arms. "So?"

  "So?"

  "I've heard the Chief had important matters to attend to. Do you know what's that about?"

  Almond showed a look of recognition. "Ah, that, I've heard it too. I think it may be reted by some tradings in the nearby vilges."

  Kyle's brows furrowed. "Trading? Was there any problem?"

  "Well, I guess that seems to be the case. The chief looked quite distraught when I st saw him." Almond mentioned, which brought a frown on Kyle's face

  "That's really serious. Trading is what kept this vilge thriving till this day."

  "I know; that's why the Chief had to settle this matter personally," Almond said, shrugging. "So, want to come with us? We're going hunting in about an hour or so."

  Kyle took that into consideration before a sudden thought came to him. "Hey, have you seen the Guy with the Blue Shirt? The Steve guy?"

  "Hmm? Oh…I think I saw him earlier. Just before arriving, I met him in Hevens Road, though I never got a chance to speak with him. He was terribly fast, I gotta admit." Almond replied, sounding baffled more than anything. "That guy is really weird ain't he?"

  "He saved my sister," mentioned Kyle.

  "And good-hearted too," Almond added sheepishly.

  "You said he was in Hevens Road?"

  "Yeah? Wait, don't tell me you're pnning on following after him?"

  Kyle merely gnces at him. "Who knows?"

  Almond shook his head. "Alright, you do you, brother. Just don't get caught in a mess you can't handle."

  "When did that ever happen?"

  "You'll never know."

  Kyle nodded, "Alright, thanks. Though, I'll have to consider your offer next time." He patted Almond on the shoulder.

  "I'll take your word for it."

  Kyle smiled, saying nothing as he went off.

  ++++===++++?Steve was a man of commitment.

  Everything that he experienced shaped him into what he is today.

  From dodging Skeleton arrows at perfect timing, anticipating surprise from Creepers, especially at caves, staring Endermans right in the way with no fear. Killing both the Warden and Wither.

  He had done it all.

  Alone.

  He always felt that was the case. In the overworld, he was all alone. Unlike the vilgers, he felt he didn't belong there. They even spoke differently than him. Yet, nguage barrier aside, he found them to be quite useful. Trading in his opinion was a great way to get his desired enchantment, better than those enchantment tables. Though, it would be my least favorite depending on if the trade was good.

  That's when Alex came. Everything he had thought crumbled down when he met her.

  He found a new purpose.

  A purpose that once faded when he was the top of it all.

  He found….a friend.

  Steve looked at the sky, his slow reminiscing of his past days paused as he felt something was amiss. Instinct was his strong suit; even Alex envied him for that.

  Someone was following him.

  He stopped abruptly, and his eyes snapped towards his left. There he saw it. In the bushes, he caught a glimpse of something moving, the leaves were swaying in an unnatural way. He equipped his bow and immediately took aim at his target.

  "Wait, don't shoot!" A voice cried out. Steve blinked in response to the familiarity of the voice.

  "It's me, Kyle!"

  Steve lowered down his bow, lips curved into a frown. A disappointed expression was seen on his face. So, it's not food. Not Grimm.

  In the thickness of the bushes, a man stepped out. The man had dashing silver hair, furry ears on stand as if alert, wearing a white shirt underneath a leather coat, and his hands were up in the air signaling he was friendly.

  "Sorry to surprise you, Steve."

  "Why are you following me?"

  "Uh, well…I was curious and all?"

  Steve tilted his head. "Curious?"

  "Uh, well, it's not often that we get to see a huntsman in action." Kyle smiled sheepishly.

  "I'm not a huntsman,"

  "And so you say after killing that big ass grimm a moment ago" Kyle recalled the memory of how Steve easily took down a beast of a grimm in a matter of seconds. It almost shook him to disbelief. Of course, judging from his sister's words regarding them, they were strong. No doubt about it.

  At the mention of the fight he had earlier, Steve almost salivated at the memory. "It was tasty." He needed more of it. More of that Grimm Meat.

  "Pardon?" Kyle's smile froze. What did he mean, tasty?

  Steve stepped forward and approached him, in his hand a piece of strange bck meat was shown. "Want?"

  "....." What the fuck is that? Kyle stared at the meat with wide eyes. It looked strange, and most importantly, it…reeks!

  His eyes snapped back at Steve, whose expression was ever so innocent, like a kid giving a candy. Where did he get this?

  "Uhh," Kyle gulped, shaking his head, "Sorry, but I'm full."

  "Oh, okay." Steve nodded and bit the piece of meat before eating it whole. A blissful expression was seen right after on his face,

  "...." Somehow, Kyle really wanted to question his strange behavior, and he couldn't help but ask, "Just to confirm, that's grimm meat, correct?" It was his guess, and it didn't take a genius to piece that together.

  "Yes"

  "....Okay." Nodding absentmindedly, Kyle decided not to question his food choice, he had a feeling that the less he wanted to know, the better it was for him. He cleared his throat and asked another question. "So, where are you going?"

  "Just roaming around….finding food," Steve answered, roaming his gaze elsewhere. He started walking, and so did Kyle, who tailed just beside him.

  Find food? Kyle wondered. "You know, you could just buy food at the marketpce back at the vilge, right?"

  "...." Steve decided to not answer. He just couldn't say that most of the liens he had were used to purchase weapons that took his interest. If ever Alex finds out about it. He felt as if he needed to be somewhere safe…and far.

  "I'll take that as you have none or little left," Kyle told him and was immediately taken aback when Steve immediately snapped his head at him. A genuine fear was seen on Steve's face.

  "Please don't tell Alex." It was almost a plea towards Kyle, who merely blinked in response.

  Kyle took a puzzled look, not knowing why he said that and why he sounded almost frightful. "Okay…right, so you're roaming around the forest finding food, correct?"

  "Yes." Steve nodded.

  "Any luck?"

  Steve shook his head, finding the thought to be displeasing. So far, he had only found four Grimms so far.

  "A-Ah I see. Well, there's no need to be down. Why don't I help you?" Kyle offered with a friendly smile. "I'm something of a hunter myself, and I took that from my father. Just so you know, he's kinda the best hunter of the vilge back in the day."

  "Really?"

  "Positive." Kyle nodded, wearing a confident grin. He put his arm over his shoulder, hand on the horizon. "Today, Steve, you will see the greatness of my skill alone!"

  +++====++++?A couple of minutes passed, almost nearing an hour.

  Kyle fell into a deep thought.

  Maybe he underestimated himself. Was the blood of the Jargan, his family name, not coursing through his veins? Why did it make him seem like every animal seemed to avoid them?

  Of course, he had few shares of hunts, and most, if not all, were successful with at least two animals caught, but today….

  "So far, we've got none," Kyle mumbled to himself. He never thought it was painful to say it out right.

  Is this what my father meant that a hunter should stay humble?

  He felt like he needed to reevaluate himself.

  Meanwhile, Steve recalled their hunt, however, he didn't find it disappointing like Kyle did. What he got was something better.

  He got grimm meat! So many. Steve saw his inventory and merely wanted to gabble them up right there and leave none for Alex. Though he had a feeling if he were to do that, he might be sleeping outside.

  "Uh, yeah..." Kyle sighed, massaging his temples. He felt embarrassed to the point that he couldn't bear to look him in the eyes, "Sorry, Steve, it seems my luck is not today. All we encounter was all Grimm."

  If it weren't for Steve handling those Grimms with ease. While he knew how to defend himself, he wasn't gonna try his luck battling three Grimm at once.

  He wasn't a huntsman by any means.

  "It's okay. I had a good haul overall," Steve replied, humming in satisfaction.

  "Hah, right. Grimm meat. At least you're satisfied." Kyle mused, shaking his head. He had a guess that the word hunting Steve used was meant for Grimm, not an animal. Looking at where they were, he suddenly found himself in another predicament.

  Where are we?

  That moment of thought turned to panic in a second. Looking around, he had no idea where they were.

  Oh no.

  "Hey, Steve…" Nervously, Kyle turned to Steve.

  "Yes?"

  "Do you perhaps know where we are right now?"

  Praying silently, he hoped his answer wasn't gonna be a -

  "No."

  Just like that, a fallen expression took over Kyle's face as he felt his world breaking down. It was the answer he didn't want to hear. He really wanted to smack himself for forgetting to put ndmarks on the way. How could he forget such an important thing? He swore he could see his te father giving him the disappointment look right about now.

  "Why?" Steve asked, curious about his sudden change of expression

  "Steve…..we are lost."

  "Really?"

  "You're surprisingly calm about this," Kyle asked back.

  "It's not the first time this has happened to me," Steve answered calmly.

  "Not the first time, huh?" Shaking his head, Kyle sighed

  "Yes, really," Steve confirmed.

  "Fuck man, what are we going to do?" Kyle felt a pang of regret following Steve and cursed his stupid curiosity for bringing him down to this predicament.

  "Hmm," Steve hummed, his eyes surveying the surroundings. Knowing fully that, unlike Alex, he wasn't keen on finding a way back to where he started, and mostly he relied on memory and luck to know where he was.

  Or possibly a compass, but he had tried that before in this dimension, and it didn't work.

  Steve gnced at the sun that was beginning to dip down below the horizon. Time was not their friend.

  "Don't worry, Kyle. We'll spend the night her,e" Steve assured him.

  Kyle didn't take that well. "Spend the night? Are you crazy?! We'll be out in the open! Might as well say free food here for the Grimms."

  "Don't worry, I've done it plenty of times. It isn't that hard." With a wave of his hand, Steve brought out a shovel from his inventory and sending him a smile. "And we're not gonna be in the open."

  "How can you be sure about that?" Doubt filled Kyle before shifting to confusion as he watched Steve begin to dig the dirt from the ground.

  He stared with eyes wide open as he saw a part of the ground just disappeared within a second.

  Most importantly, it was square!

  Then, a fsh of memory entered through his mind as he remembered how Steve used those blocky stones from the fight with the Grimm just a while ago.

  'Don't tell me, he has tons of it?' Kyle wondered; he felt like he wasn't far from the truth. 'But where would he put it?'

  Steve continued plowing down, and after just a few seconds of digging, he jumped down to the hole.

  "Uhm, Steve? What are you doing?" Kyle couldn't help but ask, looking down below.

  "Come down here."

  "What?"

  "We're gonna stay the night here."

  "....Steve, no offense but…did you hit your head when you were a baby?"

  Steve stopped whatever he was doing and looked at him, confused.

  Kyle saw that and tried to crify. "Steve, listen, we can't stay there all night." 'Not to mention, it's unlivable.' He thought at the back of his mind.

  "Yes, we can."

  Kyle shot him a strange look as a strange thought occurred to him."Don't tell me you've done it before?"

  Steve nodded without any hesitation..

  Kyle knew he wasn't lying; thus, he was unable to find the right words to say. Just what did this guy experience?

  "Look, I'll add more space for us if you're worried," Steve said, thinking that Kyle was saying it was too cramped. Steve felt it was the case as well, and decided to open more space underground.

  Won't it colpse? Kyle thought, looking at what Steve was doing. He gnced at what was above him and surprisingly, the ground above stood firm and strong. Having no signs of colpse despite no strong support from underground.

  "Okay, I'm done. You can come down now!" Steve's voice echoed from underground.

  Kyle hesitated, looking around. He saw nothing but pitch bck. From there, his hesitation went down.

  He may be hesitant to go down there, but being alone at night with no shelter was a lot worse. At the very least, Steve was strong as a huntsman, which could help him ensure his safety. "Alright."

  Kyle took a deep breath and jumped down to the hole. From there, when he set his eyes up front. He wasn't really expecting a rge open space. Looking above, he hesitated for a brief moment.

  'Won't it colpse?' He thought, gulping as he took the first step inside.

  "See? A lot of room." Steve smiled in satisfaction; a hint of nostalgia filled his mind as he remembered the first day he started out. It was the same as today but minus the mobs. "We can stay here for the night. Though I have no bed, so I have to stay awake." He frowned at the st part.

  "Can't you just sleep on the ground?" Kyle asked.

  Steve tilted his head, a genuinely confused look mixed with curiosity settled into his face. "How?"

  "Huh?"

  Silence fell upon them.

  "Okay…just—Nevermind, I'm gonna stay in that corner and maybe get some sleep." Kyle pointed out with a sigh.

  "Oh okay." Steve nodded, pulling something from his inventory. It was a Grimm Meat. "Want some?"

  Sending it a look of disgust, Kyle declined immediately. "No thanks."

  "Okay." Steve chowed down the meat, savoring the taste with a blissful expression.

  Kyle quietly made himself comfortable in the corner. He hugged his nose as his ears flopped down. Then something bugged him, preventing him from sleeping. He turned to Steve again, who was perfectly still as a statue. He might as well be if he didn't know he was a living being.

  "Hey, Steve?" He called him out.

  The person in question looked back at him. "Yes?"

  "You're gonna watch for the night? We could take shifts if you want." Kyle suggested.

  Steve shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I'll guard."

  Kyle send him a doubtful look. However, it didn't betray his emotions. Far from the looks of it, he looked quite sure and experienced on that matter. "You sure?" However, Kyle still needed a confirmation.

  Steve nodded.

  "Alright. Wake me up if anything happens."

  "Will do." Steve nodded again, which somehow reassured Kyle as he closed his eyes. It didn't take too long for him to enter a deep sleep.