Cassian tried to draw strength from Damocles. The weapon had been with him through thick and thin, helping him overcome hurdles unlike any other.

"One last fight, right Schokolade?" Cassian said, feeling his legs wobble.

"..." Schokolade pressed a button, calling the elevator. After a few moments, the door opened. The two of them stepped in (well Cassian stumbled in), before Schokolade pressed the button for the rooftop.

"A rooftop fight?" Cassian chuckled. "Reim certainly has a need for theatrics doesn't he?"

"..." Schokolade leaned against the railing of the elevator and crossed his arms.

"You aren't going to talk to me at all?"

"..."

"Schokolade, I know I'm rambling, but let's just blame the drugs alright? I mean, you must have kept me doped up pretty bad if I was out for two months."

"..."

"OK, I admit, I'm a tad bit nervous about this. I mean, I'm pretty sure Reim is planning to kill me."

"..."

"You're not going to say anything to reassure me otherwise?"

Schokolade shook his head.

"So he is planning to kill me."

Schokolade shrugged.

"Thanks for the moral support."

A sudden sense of nausea travelled through Cassian's body, nearly sending him falling to the ground. Before he could, Schokolade caught him by the arm and pulled him up.

"Thanks." Cassian muttered, feeling the bile rise up in his throat. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"...?"

"If I die, don't tell them who did it." Cassian eventually found his footing, gently removing himself from Schokolade. "I don't want Winter to spend her whole life trying to kill her father."

"...Are you sure?" Cassian blinked. He had never heard Schokolade speak before. His voice was deep, but cultured. "From my experience, holding back the truth from your loved ones is never a good thing."

"A-ah right." Cassian was still trying to accept that Schokolade could...well speak. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Never knew I could speak?" Schokolade sounded bemused. From his voice, Cassian guessed that Schokolade was a bit older than he was. "I stopped speaking for a number of reasons. But that's unimportant right now."

"Um, sure." Cassian wasn't sure how to react to this sudden epiphany. Just from those few sentences, Cassian felt like Schokolade was the type of person who spoke a lot without actually saying anything. "Though, I'm curious. Why are you helping me?"

"Eh, for a number of reasons." With a ping, the elevator door opened. "But the main reason is because you did something I couldn't do."

A long hallway stretched in front of them, the roof access being at the far end of the corridor.

"Something you couldn't do?" Cassian was genuinely confused. As far as he could remember, he hadn't done anything that would have caused Schokolade to be indebted to him.

"Yup." Schokolade replied, continuing to walk down the corridor. "I am eternally grateful to you for that. And that's why I'm going to give you a little help." Schokolade suddenly poked Cassian in the chest. Immediately, Cassian felt his aura refill and his strength return to his body. "Better?"

"Much." Cassian tested his arm out. He could tell that whatever Schokolade had done, it had returned him to nearly full capacity. "I owe you one."

"No you don't." Schokolade stopped at the entrance to the roof. "Like I said, I'm eternally indebted to you."

"But for what?"

Schokolade's answer was to remove his mask, revealing…

Red eyes and silver hair on a smiling face. Features almost identical to a certain girl who was in charge of Team SHYD. It was a famous face, associated with many many things.

"You made my sister happy." Schokolade, no Ferris Iscariot, said, giving Cassian a smile. "That's something I could never have done. And for that, I'm thankful."

"You're...Schokolade?"

"The one and only." Ferris gave a mock bow, his face wearing the same mischievous smile that Silvers wore. "As you'd imagine, after Gram, I kinda needed to change my identity."

"Is Fenris aware of your...alternative ego?"

"Awww wouldn't you like'ta know?" Ferris laughed. "Maybe if we get another chance, we'll have a nice long chat about me. But for now, shouldn't you be focusing on that?" Ferris jabbed his thumb at the door. "Mr. Schnee is waiting for you behind that door. And I can assure you that he isn't waiting for a chat."

"I'm guessing you won't be helping me fight him, will you?"

"Love is a battlefield." Ferris touched his nose and laughed. "I won't be interfering with this fight anymore then I've already have. I've restored your aura and semblance, what else do you need?"

"The skills of the strongest Hunter of his generation?"

"That's you, not me." Ferris patted Cassian on the back. "Don't worry, the moment you win, I'll fix you up with my strings. If I could bring you back from Adam's attack, I can certainly do it again."

"I have one question."

"Shoot."

"You knew that your sister loved me, yet you helped me propose to Winter. Why?"

"Happiness is temporary. Memories are eternal." Ferris ran his hand through his hair. " If you fell in love with Winter, what right do I have to keep you chained to someone else?"

"But Silvers-"

"Even if it was only for a while, you made my sister truly happy." Ferris interrupted Cassian. "More importantly, you helped her come out of her shell. She was friends now, people other than you that she can rely on. And that's good enough a reason for me to help you with your own love. Plus, you kind of remind me of me, back when I courted Fenris. Which isn't necessarily a good thing."

"If that's the case, thank you." Cassian took one more breath, before pushing the door open. "Wish me luck."

"You won't need it." Ferris said, smiling as he watched Cassian step onto the rooftop. "You're plenty lucky as you are."

As the door swung shut behind Cassian, Ferris placed his mask back onto his face, becoming Schokolade once more.

"Lord Schnee." Cassian said, stepping onto the roof. "It's been a long time."

"Colonel Gray." Reim Schnee turned to face Cassian. He was standing at the opposite end of the roof, "It's a pity that we couldn't meet under more fortunate circumstances." Cassian noted that his tone indicated that this was a most favorable situation of the Schnee patriarch.

"My word is my bond." Cassian replied, his hand moving to Damocles' hilt. He knew why Reim was here. "I know that the Schnee bloodline keeps their promises."

"Indeed." Reim replied. In his hands was Echtekalt, the Schnee spear. "I intend to kill you myself."

"I hope you're aware I'm going to fight back just as hard." Cassian took a combat stance. Judging from Reim's words, he was guessing that him and Winter's relationship was very much public. "Don't blame me if I kill you."

"I hope you're joking." Reim spun Echtekalt, before leveling the spear so that its tip was pointing at Cassian's chest. "Your stunt last time isn't going to work again."

"Pity." Cassian relaxed his muscles and focused his mind. The only way he was going to win was if he activated his Semblance. "There isn't any possibility that you'll just accept Winter and I's relationship, is there? Because I think that's the best solution for all of us-"

"As if!" Reim lunged forward, his spear a streak of blue light. Cassian rolled to the right, dodging the stab, before re-orienting himself and parrying the second stab with Damocles. "My daughter will not marry you!"

"That's a bit harsh." Cassian tried to strike Reim's hand to disarm him, only to nearly get skewered by Echtekalt for his trouble. "I'm an honest to good Colonel in the Atlas army."

"It's your blood that I have an issue with, Gray." Reim spun the dial built into the spear's hilt. The tip immediately glowed blood red with fire dust. With peerless skill, Reim stabbed forward. "There is no way that someone related to that Oum-forsaken wo-"

"That's my sister you're talking about." Cassian redirected the swing, his aura tanking the resulting explosion. "I suppose it's not just her you have an issue with. You hate her husband as well, correct?"

"Of course!" Reim snarled, his spear tip changing color from red to yellow. "To marry that filthy mongrel! How could I allow myself to be related to such degenerates!"

"Still as racist as ever." Cassian sighed, even as his left arm went numb from the lighting-embedded strike. This was not going well. Activating his semblance would be hard, if not downright impossible, with Reim giving him no time to prepare. Add on the fact that a single strike from Echtekalt would be fatal, and Cassian was in a bit of a pickle. "Your daughters are nothing like you."

"They were like me, but outside influences changed that!" Reim growled, his spear a blur as he launched attack after attack. "Weiss and Winter used to be perfect! Schnee heiresses capable of creating a legacy to last a thousand years!"

"They're more than capable of that." Cassian sidestepped another stab. "Those two would create a legacy of peace and prosperity between Faunus and human that would last an era."

"Peace and prosperity?" Reim snorted. "You of all people should know that peace doesn't lead to excellence! Only when war and conflict reign does the world improve! Peace stagnates, War innovates! It's the law of the world! Survival of the fittest! And the SDC is the fittest of them all!" Reim spun the spear around, creating a barrier that Cassian couldn't penetrate. "You used to understand that Colonel, back when you were a boy."

"I learnt better." Cassian pointed Damocles at Reim, focusing his aura into the blade. "Sir Schnee, give up otherwise I'll be forced to kill you."

"It should be I saying that to you boy." Reim dashed forward, his spear thrusting multiple times. Each thrust had a different element, courtesy of the dust mechanism. Cassian barely parried the attacks, each blow depleting his aura. Lightning, fire, wind, ice. The elemental dust distracted Cassian, forcing him to use multiple techniques to fully guard against each of them. "You can barely stand." Reim suddenly lashed out with his foot, catching Cassian in the stomach and sending him flying backwards. "Why don't you use Damocles' ability?"

Cassian groaned and forced himself to his feet. Damocles felt like a lead weight in his hand. While Schokolade's technique had restored his aura, Reim Schnee was a monstrous combatant. It had taken him and Winter together just to keep him at bay. "Of course you'd know about that."

"I helped design the thing. I know every trick that your sword has."

"Then you should know why I can't use it anymore." Reim was silent, before a cheshire grin slowly grew on his face.

"You...it couldn't be that you can't access your semblance anymore?"

"Ding ding. Give the man a prize." Cassian tried to sound sarcastic, but he was genuinely worried. The attack he had done in the stadium hadn't been from his semblance. Had he used his semblance, Adam would haven't been able to dodge.

Reim placed his hand to his forehead and began to laugh.

"That-that's just hilarious!" Reim shrieked, tears running down from his eyes. "Y-you have the [Constantly Shifting Semblance Blade] prototype Damocles and you can't even use your semblance anymore!"

"You don't have to rub it in." Cassian grunted and raised his sword.

"Oh but I do! For one of the strongest members of the Atlas Army, capable of slaughtering ancient Grimm with a single slash, to be reduced to this? That's hysterical!" Reim looked at Cassian from the corner of his eyes, a malevolent grin on his face. "If you could use that deplorable Semblance of yours, even I'd be hard pressed to kill you! But now? Now it's just like shooting fish in a barrel!"

Cassian closed his eyes and tried to focus. His semblance was reliant solely on Cassian emptying his mind and killing his emotions. The moment he did tried however, memories ran through his mind.

Death.

Dying.

Murder.

Slaughter.

Carnage.

Blood.

Blood.

BLOOD.

"Tch." Cassian gritted his teeth as pain lanced through his head, causing him to drop Damocles. "Still can't do it."

In that instant, something struck Cassian through the chest. Looking down, Cassian saw the hilt of Etchekalt protruding from his chest.

"How sad Colonel." Reim said simply, his face half a meter from Cassian's. "A moment's distraction, and you're dead."

Cassian tried to say something smart, some sort of taunt or the like. Instead of words, blood flowed from his mouth. With his last iota of strength, Cassian managed to grip Damocles' hilt, before falling forward onto Reim.

"There, there." Reim murmured, allowing the Colonel to fall onto him. The Schnee Patriarch wrapped his arms around Cassian and mockingly patted him on the back. "Just relax and die."

"..." A small sound escaped Cassian's lips, so soft that Reim couldn't hear it. "...mate."

"What's that?" Reim leaned in closer to Cassian's mouth. "Were those your last words?"

"...checkmate." Cassian murmured. Suddenly, Reim felt something stab him in the spine, severing his second vertebrate and killing him instantly. Reim's corpse immediately dropped to the floor, leaving Cassian kneeling on the ground with a spear through his body. "Take that asshole."

Gripped in his right hand was a thin stake, the last weapon hidden in Damocles' hilt. Secretly added on at Cassian's request, the stake was intended as a suicide weapon should Cassian be captured.

Cassian slowly stood up, Echekalt still embedded in his chest. The weapon had blue lines running through its length. Cassian could feel the ice dust slowly spreading through his wound, freezing the skin around his chest.

"Crap." Cassian placed his hand over the wound and concentrated his aura. The cold recessed, albeit only temporarily. Almost immediately, Cassian felt the ice begin to grow with even more fervor, as if feeding off his aura. "What the heck!?"

"Oh, you won." Ferris' voice said from behind Cassian. Suddenly, strings wrapped around Cassian's wound and Echekalt. Cassian could feel Ferris' aura run through him, slowly reducing the cold. "Huh, you got hit by his Semblance in the end."

"His Semblance?" Cassian looked at the wound. No blood flowed from the cut. Instead, the skin around the spear had turned blue.

"Yes." Ferris stepped in front of Cassian. He had removed his mask again, revealing his red eyes and silver hair. With deft hands, he gently grasped the spear in Cassian's chest. "It's similar to Winter's semblance actually."

"What do you-OW!" Cassian gasped as Ferris pulled Echekalt out from his chest. Immediately, blood began to pour out from the wound. "That hurt!"

"Oh don't be a baby. That's nothing compared to this." Ferris suddenly stabbed his finger directly into Cassian's wound, increasing the pain tenfold and nearly knocking Cassian out. "Now give me a minute~"

Cassian could feel something unravel in his chest, knitting his wounds and stemming the blood flow. At the same time, he could feel a warm aura remove more of the cold, until only a small amount remained.

"Aaaand, done~!" Ferris pulled his finger out of Cassian's wound, before jerking it a bit to seal the wound up completely. "Now, isn't that better?"

Cassian touched his wound, now nothing more than a perfectly done stitch. "Wow, this is pretty impressive."

"Thanks." Ferris grinned. "Back in the day, it was always Fenris who fought against everything and anything. I basically had a support role, so I got really good at patching up wounds."

"Really? She didn't let you fight at all?"

"Pretty much. She's surprisingly overprotective." Ferris sighed, a happy look in his eyes. "Though, more importantly, what are you planning to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well Reim's dead." Schokolade jabbed a finger at the Schnee patriarch's corpse. "So in theory you can marry Winter with no real issue."

"In theory." Cassian stretched his arms, realising just how tired he was. Looking around, he realised that the hospital was located in the middle of a forest. In the distance, the beginning of the sunrises were just barely visible. "But now I'm a wanted criminal, am I not?"

"You're assuming they'll know that you killed him. I mean, I'm literally the only person here."

"And how many people know that Reim Schnee was here?"

"Point taken."

"How long until I have Pale Horse and the Atlas Military black operations teams on my trail?"

"I could buy you two days at most." Ferris watched as Cassian stared at the sunrise. "You aren't planning to disappear are you? It's almost Christmas."

"What else can I do?"

"Um...go back to her?"

"I don't want to force her to choose between her family and me. The choice would kill her."

"No, I don't think it would actually."

"How would you know?"

"Gut instinct?"

"I truly want to believe you." Cassian said bitterly. "But I can't. I can't risk dragging Winter into this. Since she thinks I'm dead already and I probably will be dead within the week, there isn't really any point in seeing her."

"There's always a point in seeing your loved ones."

"Says the man who didn't show himself to his sister in over a decade." Ferris flinched, eliciting a feeling of guilt in Cassian. "Sorry, that was rude."

"You're not wrong." Ferris admitted. "But that was due to my cowardice. If I could do it again, I'd definitely do it differently, damn the consequences."

"So you're saying that I should learn from your mistakes?"

"I thought that was fairly obvious."

"I-"

"You know, if she comes with you back there, I could keep you guys safe…?"

Cassian looked up at Ferris, who gave him a gentle smile. And just like that, hope returned to Cassian. "Are you serious?"

"Very much so. I mean, to say that it would be a political shitstorm if we did anything there would be putting it gently. Plus, with your sister's influence, you'll be even more protected. So so long as you two stay on that island, you'll be safe. I'll get involved myself if it comes to it."

"I-I." Cassian placed his hand over his eyes, but Ferris could see the tears streaming down his face. "-thank you."

"Anytime." Ferris replied, smiling as he watched Cassian Gray break down in tears. "Anytime."

And now we know why Schokolade was always helping Cassian! We're coming up to the end of the story soon as well!

Comment what you think!

Ferris