John knew Helen had a lot of relatives. And he certainly that his house would be packed by the time the funeral ended.

A lot of her relatives gave John their condolences. He would thank them, appreciating their gestures. After that, however, John would always just sit alone at the table, while Helen's relatives and friends would converse behind him.

Not that he ever mind them.

Soon, they started leaving. John would just watch and thank them for coming. They would thank him back for taking good care of Helen for the past five years. John appreciated the gestures.

And then, before John knew it, he was alone again. As the last group of people left the house, John was left pondering what would he do at that point.

He closed the door and locked it. Looking at the living room and the dining room, John was kind of surprised to find them not that messy. However, he did spot a few empty glasses and plates on the coffee table and the dining table.

John decided to pick the dirty dishes up and wash them at the kitchen sink.

And all the while that happened, a figure watched him from outside of his house.

Around an hour ago...

Blake felt a breath of relief when she finally found John's house. Throughout the day, she had crossed so many wrong yards and houses just to find his house. And then she did, and it satisfied her.

However, she was not in luck's hand, as there were still people in his house when she arrived, prompting her to hide behind some thick bushes to not let anyone see her.

And then she found herself waiting, watching and counting every single person that was in John's house as they sat around, talking to each other. Her eyes scanned the crowd until they found John, sitting at a small coffee table. He seemed to be the only one without any relative to talk to.

'There you are...'

The next few minutes were spent thinking on what should she do to John. There were a lot of thoughts that came. One of them was to pretty much just to tell the cops about it. There were other thoughts. Really vicious thoughts, but she had to find the most sensible one.

And then, before she even realized it herself, almost an hour had passed. The last of John's guests were already leaving, waving their hands and saying their goodbyes to him. John just waved back.

Blake then snapped out of her thoughts when she realized the compound were silent. She peeked into John's house and found his guests were already gone.

John was alone.

While still keeping her eyes on John, Blake quietly jumped out of her hiding spot before swiftly running towards his gate. Finding his address, she brought out her scroll, opening the camera app. She peaked around and looked at John to make sure he wasn't looking her way. He was picking some glasses and plates up and washed them at the kitchen sink.

'What criminal has the heart to wash their own dishes?' Blake wondered to herself.

She was about to snap a photo, but quickly finding herself hiding behind the gate as a van approached John's house. At first, she thought it might some people who were associated with either John or Helen, but she quickly brushed off that thought when she took a peak and saw the logo on the side of the van.

Kevlin Delivery Services.

A woman came out with a clipboard and what seemed to be a small portable animal cage. She walked to John's front door, ringing the doorbell. Blake watched as John stopped from doing what he was doing, drying his hands on a small towel before going to the front door.

He opened the door. Due to her cat ears, Blake could make out what the woman was saying to him.

"John Wick?"

"Yes."

"Sign here." The woman handed him a clipboard. John signed it and handed it back to the woman. The woman then left, leaving John and the small cage in front of his doorsteps. Blake hid again as the van left John's compound.

As soon as the van was out of her sight, Blake rose again. She went to the part of the house with big mirror door, hiding in the shadows, away from John's sight.

She watched as John brought the small cage into his house, Blake swore there was a movement inside the cage. She continued watching as John opened a small letter that was attached on the cage. She couldn't see what was written on the letter since it was not in her viewpoint, so she had to rely on John's reaction to know whatever the letter was about.

And then, Blake saw something she didn't expect to happen to any criminal.

John was sobbing. He had a hand to his mouth, while his other hand kept the letter opened to his eyes.

Blake didn't know what to think of what was happening at that moment. The person she had hunted for the past few years was right in front her, and he was devastated. John then put the letter down and opened the cage, carefully retrieving a puppy from the small cage.

Blake, seeing the puppy, immediately felt uneasy. However, the small puppy seemed to still be too young to immediately sense that she was around. She let out a small sigh of relief. And yet, she still felt doubt nagging at the back of her mind.

John then went on to put the puppy on the ground, letting it to freely smell and roam the new environment. Blake became more nervous than ever.

That nervousness quickly went away as John's new puppy walked to another area of his house that is out of Blake's view. John followed his puppy to where ever the puppy seemed to go to. Blake found this to be the best moment to do it.

She waited a few minutes more until she was sure that neither John or his dog would be coming back again. And then she was back to her business of getting his address.

"...Hmm?" John didn't even get to sit for a full minute when his new puppy suddenly ran back to the big mirror door in the living room, seemingly sensing something. John looked at his puppy's behavior and decided to get up and see what was it up to.

"What is it?" The puppy just looked at John before looking back at the mirror door. John looked outside the sliding mirror door and tried to see if anything was outside that would cause his puppy to act like that.

John unlocked the sliding door and slid it open a bit, looking towards the front gate. At first there was nothing out of ordinary, and John almost closed it back when he suddenly saw a part of the gate's shadow moved away from the gate.

Moved away in a shape of a person.

He didn't know what think of it. He thought about going out, trying to confront anyone who might have entered his front yard in the middle of the night. He then looked back to his puppy, who seemed to sniff the ground and just stare at whatever that might've been outside.

John thought twice. He then found himself closing and locking the mirror door, shaking off the shadow that suddenly appeared at his gate as some sort of his own imagination.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Viggo's Empire

Viggo stood by his desk, minding his own business. Like reading his books that were filled with various names and phone numbers of his past accomplices. He also had some bourbon prepared on his table if he ever needed to quench his thirst.

KNOCK KNOCK

Viggo looked at the door for a few seconds before placing the book on his table.

"Come in."

The door opened and his right hand man slash lawyer, Avi, walked in. He had his hands in his pockets, with his face looking a bit solemn, yet so casual. Viggo went to his bourbon and decided to pour himself a glass.

"What is it? And be quick. It's night."

"Yeah, just had to tell you that, uhh, John's wife died."

Viggo stopped pouring the bourbon. He looked at Avi.

"And the reason you have to even tell me about this is...?"

"Well, I mean, you may wanna just at least know about it. And it's kind of funny as well." Avi said, although his face was far from being amused.

"Funny, huh? Do you mind telling me how is it funny?"

"The guy who left us for a woman now actually lost his fucking reason to even be out of this business. That's almost amusing, actually."

Viggo just furrowed his eyebrows. He continued pouring the bourbon into a glass, filling it till it's one fifth full.

"Does anyone else know?"

"Well...Marcus."

Viggo looked at Avi again, now holding the bourbon-filled glass.

"Marcus." Avi nodded. Viggo then drank the bourbon.

"I might talk to him later myself. Right now, leave a note to yourself. Tomorrow, make a phone call for me." Viggo instructed. Avi just nodded again, exiting the room.

The mob leader sighed. He then opened the small book again, looking at the phone numbers.

'Tomorrow...'

Blake was screwed. She missed her ride to Beacon by few mere seconds. She loudly sighed in exasperation. Having to wait for the next bullhead available was one of the most irritating moments in any of her nights out. And then she had to worry about her curfew when going out.

But alas, she managed to get back to Beacon, just a bit over an hour before her curfew set in. She breathed a sigh of relief, feeling very light in her heart. She momentarily stopped her self celebration to walk back to her dom.

A few minutes of walking later, she reached the hallway to her dorm. Bringing up her scroll, she looked at the time. She stopped in her tracks.

9:27 P.M.

Blake stiffened. She frowned. Her breaths hitched. Her amber eyes went to her dorm's door. She dreaded the things that might wait for her behind the door.

Who could blame her? She was late.

She slowly strutted towards her dorm with her scroll in her hand. Upon reaching the door, she unlocked it. Her hands went for the doorknob, but stopped it mid-air.

She couldn't do it. She couldn't just walk in there and act as if nothing wrong had happened. She arrived too late to try and fulfil her promise.

The door then suddenly opened, catching Blake by surprise. The door only opened a little, though. She looked into the little space between the door and found a pair of silver eyes looking at her. The silver eyes seemed to light up looking at Blake. The door was then fully opened, revealing Blake to her team leader, Ruby.

"Uh...sorry I'm late." Blake said. Ruby stared at her for a few moments before she sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"I can't really be mad at you. You've been going out a lot lately. I-I've been wanting to ask you about it, but you just keep going away. So please..."

"Oh, hey, Blake. Finally back, huh?" A new voice interrupted the two. Blake looked behind Ruby and found her partner and Ruby's sister, Yang, standing behind the young redhead. Blake noticed her partner's face seemed a bit down and solemn, compared to other days when the faunus would usually see her being more active than she seemed to be that night.

Ruby, noticing that Blake was distracted, then instantly grabbed both Blake's hands. Caught off guard, the faunus suddenly found herself being forcefully pulled into the dorm.

"Oomph!"

And then, before she knew it, she was on the ground, on top of her team leader. And for some reason, none of them dared to move a muscle in the next few seconds.

"Oooookay, then. Blake, please get off my sister." Yang then helped Blake, who was already attempting to get up on her own, up onto her feet. Blake just nodded at her before looking away. Ruby then got up on her own rather quick, just seconds after Blake. Ruby seemed flustered at first, but quickly got over it, faking a cough into her hand.

"Right. Back to...uhh...business. Where did you go these past few days?" Ruby asked, her eyes struggling to meet Blake's.

Blake was conflicted. She looked at Yang, who had her arms crossed. Her partner shrugged, leaving Blake to decide on her own.

The next few minutes were filled with silence. Blake looked at everywhere but Ruby, trying to see if she could avoid the question and possibly never answer it. The faunus then remembered something from earlier. Something that might help her.

"Say, Ruby. Didn't you say you need help with math?" Blake asked, smiling in the process, thinking she might get away from answering her leader's question.

"Weiss already helped her." Yang nonchalantly said, causing Blake to look at her, her smile now disappearing.

"And you didn't even try and mention to ask Weiss to help me. You just said you'll be back." Ruby said, her face dropping into a face filled with sadness.

Ruby then seemed to already give up, turning and walking to her bed with her head down.

Seeing her team leader in that condition really saddened her. But she couldn't let anyone know she was on a hunt against an assassin. She just couldn't bear to bring her teammates in such danger.

"Okay then, Blake."

Yang then threw an arm around her neck, locking her from trying to run. Blake felt her windpipe tightened a bit due to the force.

Uh oh.

"Now, as your partner, I'd suggest you say sorry to Ruby. She has been taking care of us during the past months and I'm not letting anyone ruin the happiness she brought. Capiche?"

Blake struggled to move and breathe. She knew Yang was very protective of younger sister, so much that she'd beat the shit out of anyone who dared hurt her. Blake was in the process of getting exactly that. She nodded, albeit very shakily.

Yang then loosened her arm a bit, letting Blake to easily breathe again.

"Good. Now go!" Yang then forcefully shoved her partner towards her leader's bed. Ruby was quietly sitting on her bed with her face looking really defeated when Blake suddenly entered her view. The faunus looked back at her partner, her face showing signs of irritation. Blake looked back at Ruby, who seemed to wait if she was going to say anything.

"I'm...sorry for being late. I've been-"

"Been what? Running away? Blake, you already told us about your heritage. Are you still scared?" Yang interrupted.

"Y-Yang. No. Let her say it. If you feel like it." Ruby said to her sister, with her last sentence being directed towards Blake.

Blake looked into Ruby's silver eyes. The eyes brought peace into her heart. She had to tell her. She tried forming some sentences in her head that would explain her current predicament.

'I've been chasing a criminal that's responsible for something of my past. I hope you can understand.

She opened her mouth. But nothing came out. Her words were stuck in her throat. She closed her mouth and swallowed some saliva to clear her throat. She opened her mouth again.

Once again, nothing came out.

'I can't do it.'

"Hey, Blake."

Blake snapped out of her thoughts, hearing Ruby's words.

"If you're not comfortable to tell me your reasons, I understand. Just go to sleep for now, yeah?" Ruby said, giving a sad, yet reassuring smile to Blake before lying down on her bed.

Blake looked at Ruby for a few more seconds before looking downwards, feeling very guilty. She just couldn't do it. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder.

"At least you apologized." Yang said before going to her bed, leaving Blake to be awake alone.

Well, almost, at least, as the bathroom door opened, catching Blake's attention. A white-haired girl came out, playing with her hair before her eyes settled on Blake.

"Oh, Blake. I thought I'd heard someone else." She said, going past Blake and straight to her bed.

Blake sighed. She went to the bathroom to change and to pretty much just go to sleep.

Don't ask.