Don't Give Him a Reason... (now with story!)

What's a great way to push down all that depressing talk so it's less noticeable? Why, with a story no one asked for of course!

Oreonna let out a groggy groan as consciousness returned to her. Gods, everything hurt, like she'd been hit by a truck... or more accurately, several trucks... repeatedly. She tried to open her eyes, but she barely cracked an eyelid before she had to tightly close them again as a feeling of nausea washed over her. Ugh. Did she have a concussion? There was a coppery taste in her mouth, never a good sign. Everything was just so hazy...

Oreonna tried to remember what had happened, but she could barely remember where she was right now. She was laying down, that was for certain, and her head was resting on something comfortable. The cat girl tried to move, but a sharp pain shot through her ribs when she did, a quiet gasp escaping her lips. Suddenly, Oreonna felt someones hand running through her hair and a quiet voice shushing her in familiarly soothing way.

Mom?

Everything was hazy, it hurt to even think right now, but there was some part of her deep down that knew she had to stay awake. She'd gotten a hold of a tiny sliver of awareness now and knew if she let that go in her condition, she might not get back up. So Oreonna decided to try and focus on the sounds around her, the cat ears sticking out of her half black, half white hair twitched as she tried to home in on any noises. She heard voices; one was unfamiliar, but it was deep, dark, and sent chills down her spine-

Wait, she'd heard that voice before... she tried to remember where but her head just hurt too badly. The second voice however, she knew well.

Dad?

It was definitely her fathers voice, she couldn't make out the words, but the tone seemed different, unlike anything she'd every heard from him. All her life, Oreonna had only heard her dad speak in a calm, jovial manner. He was a nice guy, a little goofy, and his sense of humor was right on "dad" level, but that's just another reason she loved him. This tone he was using now though, it was almost a low growl, burning with intimidation and rage,

It sounded like the snarl of a wild animal, one that was ready to attack.

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Neo blinked back another batch of tears as she stared down at her daughters prone form. Oreonna breath was shallow, a large bruise forming just below her right eye, and a thin trickle of blood was leaking out of the corner of her mouth, a result of the list of internal injuries she probably had. Neo ran her finger through her daughters multicolored hair, just like she had back when Oreonna was a little girl and the faunus child wouldn't go to bed unless Neo did this till she finally relaxed and went to sleep. This time however, she was hoping the familiar action would wake her daughter instead, pull her back from the dark that was calling her.

Oreonna's aura had come back a minute ago, a flicker of pink as the souls natural protection returned, that was a good sign. This meant her body was healing itself... slowly, but Neo knew her daughter wasn't out of the woods yet, she needed to get her to out of here and to a hospital, fast.

The small cat girl let out a small cough that seemed to rock her whole body and Neo felt the invisible grip on her heart tighten. There was nothing she could do right now, just stay put, and try and keep Oreonna comfortable until the threat was dealt with, then they could move.

For a moment Neo looked up with hate in her eyes at the man responsible for her daughters condition. If her daughter didn't need her right now, she'd be right there, in his face cutting his massive form to ribbons with her umbrellas blade. She wanted to hurt him, like she used to, like she hadn't hurt anyone in years. The old dark thoughts had never really gone away, they'd just been overshadowed by the happiest times of her life, but the old Neo had never really left and right now, she was more than willing to let her out. But despite her bravado, the small ice cream woman knew that their really wasn't much she could do, she wasn't exactly in much better shape than her daughter if she was honest. Her own head was killing her, not to mention her back, hell,  she wasn't even sure if she could stand right now. How did this happen?

She'd been sloppy, that's how. When that giant man showed up, she was certain Oreonna and herself would be able to handle him, but no matter what they hit him with, her just kept coming. Neo's usual strategy of "Twist and twirling out of harms way until the enemy gets tired and angry" wasn't gonna work with this one, and eventually he got a hold of her and when he did, her aura didn't stand a chance. She'd been down for the count and the muscular man was moving in for the kill, but then Oreonna; her stupid, wannabe huntress, brave, amazing, beautiful daughter had leapt in his path. Neo had never been so furious and proud at the same time, her little girl had put up one hell of a fight, but she wasn't ready for anything liker this, and then...

Neo sighed quietly, she didn't want to think about what had happened after that, and it didn't matter anyway, this man was about to get everything that was coming to him and more. The smaller woman looked up at her husband with a sad smile as he growled lowly at the monster of a man. This was the side of him that Tukson always warned her about, people said she had a violent streak, but they always forgot that her husband had been just as viscous back in the day, maybe even more so. There was always a darkness in his eyes, he'd seen things, done things, if she was honest it was one of the reasons Neo had fallen for the guy so quickly. But right now, that darkness that represented the old Tukson, was burning a hole through the man that had attacked his daughter.

"Give him hell," Neo whispered bitterly as she clasped her daughters hand tightly in her own.

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This was all his fault.

That was the brutal truth going through Tukson's head as he looked back at his wife and daughter once more, both bloody and beaten on the ground.

Tukson's life had been defined by cowardice. When he was a kid, and those men came to his mothers book shop, killing his parents before burning the store to the ground, he'd been the scared child running out of the back door. He swore he'd never feel helpless like that again, and that's what lead him to the White Fang.

Years of violence and anger tore his soul to ribbons, haunting the puma faunus to this day, but in the end, he hadn't changed at all. When things got too hard, when loosing friends became to horrible to bear any longer, he ran again. Sneaking away in the dead of night with his metaphorical tail between his legs, no less the child he'd been all those years ago.

You'd think that he'd have learned his lesson by then, he tried to live a peaceful life, open another bookstore, enjoy a happiness he didn't really deserve. The Fang had come after him of course, sent their goons to try and stop him, but it didn't exactly work out for them, but maybe he should be thanking them. After all, if it wasn't for their attempts on his life, he'd have never met Neo.

It's not everyday a beautiful woman walks into your life, fewer days when said bombshell came to kill you, and even fewer when you've already set up a complicated booby trap for said assassin. Yeah, not exactly a storybook romance, but it worked apparently. A few visits to the hospital later and the rest of history, they got married, had a kid, so in that sense, maybe it was a little storybook-esque. However, again when trouble reared it's ugly head and Tukson got wind of the Fang's true plans, he did what he always did; he ran, this time with Neo and their infant daughter in tow.

Tukson knew that running had never set well with Neo, it wasn't her style, not by a long shot, but with a daughter to look after she knew it was the only choice. Then, Oreonna grew up, seemingly in the blink of an eye to Tukson, and when a new threat appeared on the horizon both her and Neo wanted to do their part to fight it and Tukson found himself out numbered.

So he agreed to go with them, if only to keep them safe, and he'd done a fantastic job of that clearly. He only decided to join them on the condition that he didn't fight, years of violence still weighed heavy on the faunus man and he didn't think he could take any more blood on his claws. That led him to this moment.

His wife and daughter fighting for their lives against a new threat, a giant brute that threw them around like rag dolls, and Tukson had stood their and watched, paralyzed by his own fears and doubts. He'd heard the legends of this man, Hazel Rainhart, they said he tore a path through entire armies, not even flinching as blades and bullets tore into him, and his aura was the stuff of nightmares with how fast it regenerated. He was called a monster, whether he was working for the Fang or the Fang was working for him, it hardly mattered, he was more of a force than a man. It was funny, people used to say the same thing about Tukson back in the day.

But reputation didn't matter anymore, Tukson had failed as a terrorist, a business owner, a father, a husband, and a faunus in general in his own eyes.

He ran after his parents died,

he ran after the Fang turned him into a monster,

he ran when Vale was in need of heroes,

they practically had to drag him here to do the right thing,

and he'd stood and watched as his daughter was spiked into the ground by that brown haired bastard.

He didn't have anything left now, no honor, no fear, no anger, the only reasons he had left to live were the people barely clinging to life behind him, and the monster standing before him. No need to hold back now, the Fang had made him a killer and he'd spent what felt like a lifetime holding back those instincts, but not anymore.

He relaxed the muscles in his fingers, allowing those inch long brown claws to pop out, eager to taste the flesh of another victim.

They called Hazel Rainart a monster, but the world had forgotten what a real monster looked like. It was time to remind them.  \

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Welp! There that is! Now for the depressing rant!

So here's a comic that was supposed to be much better, but I gave up halfway through coloring it. 

I don't know what my problem is lately. You might have noticed a slow down in output here, well shockingly, I actually have been drawing a whole bunch of stuff, but I just can't bring myself to post any of it. I'm not sure when or how, but I've just lost a lot of confidence in my own work recently. Maybe I'm just going through some burn out as I do every once and a while, I just can't push myself to work on big projects these days.

For example, I've started the next Grimmwalker like three times now and scrapped every single page. It sucks, but hopefully I'll finally get it done.

Man, I planned on complaining a whole bunch here, but I guess I'm done.

Anyway, title speaks for itself I feel. Wanted to draws some Hazel, actually had a comic planned about him, not sure if it'll ever see the light of day though.

I might type up a story for this tomorrow or something, so check back then I guess?