This was the first time Reid dreamt about something other than the night of the fire.

It was the day he was well enough to leave the hospital. He had gotten into a fight, not knowing the other kid had a damage reflecting semblance, and ended up with two broken arms. His father had to take the day off to bring him home so he was in a foul mood. The drive home was incredibly uncomfortable.

"You shouldn't be fighting at school. I'm not paying tuition so you can jag off your education. " his father said.

"That other kid started it" Reid said.

"Doesn't matter who started it, you shouldn't be fighting in school. You keep that up you'll end up like me doing shit work for shit pay. I want better for you than what I got, you understand?"

"Yes sir." Reid often found it difficult to talk to his father. He was a nice person, but the stress from his work weighed on him and made him prone to lashing out at those around him. Reid found himself on the receiving end of his father's rage more than once. It was not a fun experience.

His father looked at him and smiled. "So you really punched him with a broken arm?"

Reid's face lit up. "Yeah. It really hurt, but I won." The two of them started laughing.

"What was the fight about anyway?" his father asked.

"He was being a bully. I told him to cut it out but he wouldn't listen."

He placed a hand on Reid's head. "Good job."

His father got a call on his scroll. He pressed a button on the car's steering wheel and answered.

"Hey John? It's Wave."

"What do you want? I'm not loaning you money again."

"No, it ain't that. I didn't wanna tell you this over the phone."

John was getting annoyed. "Spit it out man"

"They killed Paul, man."

John paused. His face was a mixture of shock and disbelief. "What?"

"Yeah man, they got him over on 85th and Bell. Just walked up and shot him."

"What happened to the shooter?"

"He's dead too, soldiers got him. He looks like he's twelve. They've got fucking kids doing this shit now. Shit is fucked up. I gotta go, I'll call you back." Wave hung up. For a moment the only sounds in the car were the sound of the engine, and John's ragged breathing.

Even though he was only nine, Reid knew who "they" referred to. Everyone who lived in Atlas knew about the White Fang for one reason or another. Because both of Reid's parents work for the Schnee Dust Company they were all more than familiar. However that wasn't what was on his mind right now.

Paul Umbra was like an uncle to Reid. He and John grew up together. He was the one who introduced him to the woman who would later become his wife, he was the best man at his wedding, and he was even there when Reid was born. Every other weekend he would come over to spend time with John and his family. He treated John like a brother and Reid like his own son. He was the nicest person either of them knew, so why would anyone want to kill him?

"Fucking animals!" John shouted as he punched the steering wheel. The horn wailed, making Reid jump in his seat. John looked at Reid and saw the tears and the hurt in his eyes. "Shit, I'm sorry" his voice trailed off. He stepped on the gas not saying a word.

When they got home Reid's mother Jade was there waiting. She was sitting on the couch crying. Someone had already told her about what happened to Paul. When she saw her husband and son walk through the door she ran into her husband's arms and sobbed into his chest. It hurt the both of them to see her this way.

"Are you alright?" John asked her. She tried to answer but couldn't. All she could do was cry.

After a time they had all calmed down. John was the closest thing to Paul's next of kin, so responsibilities for the funeral arrangements fell to him. He left to go take care of that and had Reid take care of Jade.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at him. "I'm much better now that you're here."

"Why did they kill Uncle Paul?" Reid asked his mother.

She ran a hand through her hair. "People are angry. When people get angry they sometimes do things that end up hurting a lot of people, sometimes they even end up hurting themselves."

"Why are they so angry?"

"It's complicated. You're far too young to be worrying about all that."

Reid looked down at the ground. "Dad was really mad."

"I'm sure he was. He lost someone very important to him. He just needs time to sort himself out." She picked Reid up and embraced him. He could smell flowers. She must have been in the garden earlier.

"He said they were animals. Does dad think I'm an animal?" Reid asked.

His mother set him down and looked him in the eyes with a stern expression. "No. Don't pay any mind to what he says when he's angry. He saw what you looked like the day you were born and he's loved you ever since. Don't you forget that."

"Okay."

She smiled at him. "I love you too. You're such a good boy." She stroked his hair. Reid's tail swished back and forth.

"Really?"

She held him even tighter. "Really. You're a good boy." She scratched under his chin and he started laughing.

Reid's eyes snapped open and he laid in bed with a splitting headache. It felt like his skull was about to come apart. He went to the bathroom and threw up into the toilet. He splashed some water on his face from the sink and looked at the time. It was one in the morning. His head was full of fog, and there was no way he would be able to get back to sleep. He stumbled out of the room and into the night.

OoOoOoOo

He wandered through the city, his head still pounding. He had no idea what he was doing, but he kept going. Eventually he ended up in the park, and laid down on a bench. He wanted to sleep, but his headache kept him up. He thought about what he's been doing so far. It was good to be out of prison, but he would rather have spent the rest of his life in an isolation cell than do what he was doing now. How could he say he wanted revenge against the White Fang when he wasn't any better than they were?

"You look like you've got something on your mind." A man's voice called out to him. It was an older man wearing a trench coat and a bowler hat. He smelled like cigar smoke. Next to him was a small girl. She smiled and waved at him. Reid's nose twitched. The girl reeked of blood, like she bathed in it.

"Do you need something?" Reid mumbled.

"I saw someone in need of guidance and figured I have nothing better to do than help them out" the man said. He pulled out a cigar and lit it. "So, what's eating you kid?"

Reid had no idea who this person was or why he was so interested in him. Maybe it was the headache, but something made Reid open up. He told the man everything. About his parents, how he lost his tail, the night of the fire, his time in prison, and what he'd been doing since getting out.

When Reid was done the man let out a low whistle. "That is some heavy shit." The girl put a sympathetic hand on Reid's shoulder.

"I don't know what to do. I hate this shit, but I can't stop or they'll kill me."

"Sometimes there's nothing you can do. That's the lesson of the day kid: sometimes life will just shit on you. All you can do is make the best of it."

The girl didn't talk. She made these strange motions with her hand, like she was trying to signal something to him. Somehow Reid understood what she was trying to say.

l-i-f-e i-s h-a-r-d f-o-r e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. i-f y-o-u d-o n-o-t h-a-v-e a c-h-o-i-c-e, a-t l-e-a-s-t t-r-y t-o e-n-j-o-y y-o-u-r-s-e-l-f

Reid didn't know how to respond to that. The smile that girl gave him made his skin crawl. "Thanks." As soon as Reid said that the two of them disappeared. All traces of them had vanished, even their smell. Reid shook his head. "I must be losing it." He got off the bench and went back to wandering. His headache had gotten worse.

He saw warehouses. He was near the docks. The smell of seawater reminded him of Maggie. He wanted to be near her, to see her smile, to hear her voice, to breathe her in.

"I really am losing it" he said.

He voices. Reid walked up and saw a someone nears the water's edge. It was a man wearing plain clothes, but when he turned Reid saw that he was wearing a mask. It was white, like a Grimm's mask. He was White Fang, probably unaware that the members who had occupied the docks were all arrested.

There was silence. Neither of the two said a word. Reid's heart was pounding, he was breathing heavy, his head felt like it was about to burst. He was seeing red. Reid blinked and the man was on the ground holding his nose. He looked like he was saying something, but Reid didn't hear him. Reid blinked again and his hands were around the man's throat. His mask had fallen off and Reid looked as the light faded from the man's eyes. Reid blinked again and he was all alone on the pier. There was no one around. He went back towards the school. Maybe the nurse could give him something for his headache.

OoOoOoOoO

"Reid. Reid get up"

Someone was shaking him by the shoulder. He opened his eyes and winced at the blinding white light. Once he adjusted he opened them again. He was in the nurse's office, on the floor next to Maggie's bed. He had no idea how he had gotten here, but at least his headache was gone.

"What time is it?" he grumbled.

"It's one in the afternoon. I've been trying to wake you up for an hour" Maggie replied. "How long have you been here?"

"I don't remember." He got up and felt sore all over. He looked at his hands and saw that his knuckles were scraped up. He wondered what he'd been doing last night. "You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I should be out of here in a few days. I've never had the best aura control so I don't heal as fast as other people."

"That's good." He looked at Maggie. The injuries to her face was gone already, and her breathing was more even than it was, which meant her ribs had healed. His eyes went to the top of her head and a strange urge came over him. "You know, I might not ever get another chance to do this."

"Do what?" she asked, sounding concerned. Reid got closer to her. He reached out his hands and began to play with her ears. He gently stroked, plied and pinched them. Maggie's face went red and she squirmed with discomfort. "Cut that out."

He ignored her. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he found himself unable to stop. The soft yet rough feeling of her ears was irresistible. He scratched at the base of her ears. She gave a small groan. He wondered how far he could take this. He stroked the inside of her ears, running his fingers through the small tufts of hair at the base. Maggie grinded her teeth in frustration. she was mortified by how much she was enjoying this. As he was harassing his friend someone came into the nurse's office. She saw Reid's hands on Maggie's ears and Maggie's red face and turned around.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Maggie regained her composure. "Velvet, come back. It's not what it looks like." She buried her good fist into Reid's face.

"Worth it" Reid said as he clutched his bleeding nose.

"Did you need something?" Maggie asked.

"My team's about to head out on a mission. I just wanted to see you before I left" Velvet said.

"Good luck, hope you get back soon" Maggie said. Velvet smiled and left to join the rest of her team.

"I didn't know you were friends with Velvet" Reid said.

"Kind of. She's nice to pretty much everyone." She thought for a moment. "Do you think I'd look better if I let my hair grow out?"

Reid laid back down next to her bed. His eyelids felt heavy. He was more tired than he thought. "Maybe. I think your hair's fine the way it is"

"If you say so. Hey Reid?"

"Yeah?"

"If you touch my ears again I'll kill you"

Reid's eyes were closed. He was on the verge of falling asleep. "Okay." He yawned again. "I love you."

There was a long silence. Maggie sat up and looked down at Reid.

"What?"

OoOoOoO

Hei Xiong was having an awful year. Between his club getting destroyed, the appearance of Roman Torchwick, and his sudden personnel problem he was up to his neck in it. That kind of stress may lead one to do things they might not consider otherwise. One of his henchmen tried his best to talk over the blaring club music.

"Those two hitters you called for, they're on the way"

Hei took a drink of brown liquor. "Good. They know who they're after, right?"

"Yes sir; Oriana Blackstone along with the rest of Team NGRO. Listen, are you sure about this? These aren't some rough and tumble assholes from around the way. We're talking about kids from Beacon. Even if this works we're gonna have the cops on one end and fucking Ozpin on the other."

Hei took another drink and crushed the glass in his hand. He grabbed the henchman by the collar. "Twenty. I lost twenty men in that warehouse. Do you have any idea what that means? That means twenty retirement packages, twenty funerals, and twenty crying mothers asking me what I had their children doing that they ended up getting blown up and hacked to pieces. I'll do what I have to do, and if Ozpin, or Ironwood, or anyone comes back at me I'll deal with them too."