In the six months he'd known Kobalt, Tristan had never seen him training angrily before. Sure the guy could look intense at times, but when he was training or fighting off Grimm he seemed to be having fun. Today was nothing like that though, Justin had offered to help Kobalt practice for the tournament the next day after their run in with his father. Even Tristan thought it was a good idea, let the guy blow off some steam he'd gotten himself pretty worked up during the ordeal. And to make sure he was safe against Kobalt going all out, Nickole was putting her invulnerability rune on Justin. It only gave Kobalt a short time to train in between Nickole augmenting Justin, but in the short ten seconds he was safe, Kobalt was going off delivering attacks Tristan thought might break the rune and harm his brother. The whole time his eyes were burning with anger and his attacks knocking a usually immoveable Justin around the arena.

"Maybe we should stop before someone gets hurt." Tristan suggested to Nickole after over a dozen rounds of Kobalt burning through her rune.

"Its fine, Kobalt knows the limit I put a timer on his HUD." Nickole said

"That's not what I'm worried about." Tristan said as Kobalt unleashed a huge wave of energy right on top of Justin.

"The rune?" Nickole asked "My father and I tested it, nothing he used or even my grandfather used broke it."

"Kobalt's not them." Tristan argued as the rune faded and Kobalt took a step back.

"Maybe not, but can you think of any other way to help him through this?" Nickole asked "The dance is in a few days and I'd prefer it if my boyfriend wasn't ready to burn the school down during it."

"Maybe he should just talk to his dad." Tristan suggested, in that moment he felt Kobalt's eyes boring into him, he turned to feel a look that terrified him more than when Kobalt nearly decked him during the 'bookshelf incident'. His helmet might still have been on but the air around him grew dark as he looked at Tristan. Nickole sighed and put her rune back on Justin, drawing Kobalt's attention back to training.

"Bad idea, Kobalt got pissed thinking about his father before he came back." Nickole told him "And after all that, I don't think it's a good idea for Kobalt to see him for the rest of the day, maybe even more than today. So don't bring it up."

"But it's his dad," Tristan whispered "I get that he messed up and Kobalt was in the right, but he can't just cut him out of his life."

No sooner had Tristan finished then Kobalt's sword came flying through the air and impaled itself in the wall next to Tristan's head.

"Warned you." Nickole sighed

"You don't understand!" Kobalt raged throwing his helmet to the ground. "Your parents were there for you, they were around for your childhood. My father, yeah he was a Huntsman, but was never around to begin with! And when he was home, all he would talk about were the crazy adventures he was on all across Remnant, like he'd rather be out there than home."

"Yeah but-"

"And when I left so did he." Kobalt continued "I asked my mom, over the years he came back less and less often until he just stopped all together. My mom had to deal with everything all alone! If he had just stayed…"

And before Tristan knew it Kobalt had gone from out of control angry to visibly sad. The rapid change came out of nowhere, it was as if Kobalt had changed into a different person. He walked past Tristan and grabbed his sword, sheathed it and started walking for the exit. It was as if he didn't want to be seen. Tristan caught up with him before he could reach the exit.

"Hey Kobalt, come on man you can talk to us." Tristan said grabbing his shoulder to keep him from leaving. "It's us, you think were gonna judge you for this? We've been with you from the beginning."

"I never should've left," Kobalt said taking a deep breath "I never should've joined Black Knight."

"Come on man you were a kid." Tristan argued "You said it yourself you didn't know any better."

"Yeah but the things I must've put my mom throu-"

"Stop, we've had this conversation haven't we?" Tristan reminded him "You're mom doesn't care, all that matters is that you're back now. And you're dad, I'm not going to excuse what he's done, but can't you give him a chance?"

"He looked so…lost, when he first showed up." Kobalt said "It was like he'd gone crazy."

"His son disappeared out of nowhere and after years he couldn't find him." Justin said coming up from the back "That's got to mess with his head, probably drove him nuts."

"I'm sure by now he's gone to see your mom." Nickole added, walking up with Kobalt's helmet in hand. "He seemed…better after you uh, went off on him. Maybe he just needed someone to set him straight."

"You think that's it?" Kobalt asked

"He did say he was going to go see your mom right?" Nickole asked

"He did, and Kobalt please don't hit me for this," Tristan started "But he seemed fine when he left."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Kobalt said "But that doesn't mean I'll forgive him."

"Who said you had too? There are things my family's done I won't forgive." Nickole reasoned, Tristan raised an eyebrow to that very statement. "I mean yeah it's nothing like this but family is always messy, right guys?"

"Yeah, you think there aren't times I want to punch Justin in his face?" Tristan asked Justin looked at him confused after that "Okay there aren't, but my cousins-"

"I get it." Kobalt cut him off "Its fine, it's not like I can just ignore my father for the rest of my life. Just don't expect me to be best buds with the guy."

"I'm sure he'll find some way of making it all up to you." Tristan said

"He's got eight years' worth of shit to make up for," Kobalt said "But it's not me he needs to make it up to. He owes me a different kind of thing entirely."

"Are you all done with your little team bonding exercise?" Amber called from the top of the arena, "I'm kinda bored over here."

"What are we not entertaining enough for you?" Tristan asked

"As good as it was for Kobalt to literally burn off his frustration," Amber said "Watching it isn't exactly like watching a real fight."

"Sounds like I've got to live up to your girlfriends expectations when the tournament starts up Tristan." Kobalt laughed

"You can thank him for setting them so high." Amber smiled

"Really, I didn't know you thought so highly of me Tristan." Kobalt smirked

"Oh shut it." Tristan fumed "Come on let's get something to eat."

Lunch turned out to be just the thing Tristan needed, his stomach was growling and he needed something to get his mind off the whole day. What had gone from him helping out Kobalt and getting things squared away for the dance turned into Nickole getting in a fight, Kobalt tearing into his father, and then nearly literally the same to Justin. It was a damn good thing they were allowed in the dining hall at Haven, because none of them felt like going into town for dinner after the day they'd had. Of course with all the students from Haven already here, and the few teams from the other academies, the whole place was packed. Finding a table that could fit them all was pretty surprising, they wound up taking up part of a large circular table.

"So what's the plan for the week?" Tristan asked once they all sat down, "We've got plenty of time before the dance."

"Sleep?" Kobalt suggested "I feel like I haven't slept in months."

"You were sleeping four hours ago." Justin pointed out

"Yes and I'd like to do more of that." Kobalt added "I swear ever since the Tundra its felt less like sleeping and more like changing settings."

"Memories?" Tristan asked

"Yeah, and they're getting less clear each time." he said "I can recall the basics but that's it."

"How about we change the subject for now." Nickole suggested "Haven't we dealt with enough for the week? Can we just act like a normal team for a few days?"

"She's got a point." Amber hummed from the side of the table.

"So who's ready for the dance?" Tristan tried to ask nonchalantly "I can't help but wonder how it's going to be."

"Well hopefully it'll go over fairly well, we did plan it." A voice said to his left, Tristan turned to see a group of four people standing next the table, three of them he didn't recognize two guys and a girl, one he did. It was the white haired guy they saw fighting the other day, the same one who spoke up after the fight with Nickole and Luna.

"Sorry all the other tables are full, do you mind if we sit here?" the girl asked, she was darker skinned with short white hair and wore a light grey tunic. The guy next to her was lighter and only a few inches taller than her with long orange hair and a blue jacket, but something about him seemed off, he was super jittery. The last guy was absolutely huge, and would make Jon Umber and Justin look normal sized. Dark skinned like the girl with buzzed black hair and arms that looked like tree trunks, the guy could probably bench press a car. He was wearing a plain t shirt and a set of greaves that seemed to be made of stone, he must've taken most of his gear off. The all seemed pretty tired, probably just came from their own training session.

"Yeah go ahead," Kobalt offered letting the team sit down with them. "So if you don't mind me asking, what was that about planning the dance?"

"We were asked to plan and set up the dance," the girl said "And I'd like to think we did a good job."

"Actually it was your mother who asked us to." The white haired boy said "You're Professor Ward's son right?"

"Yeah and you're Professor Midori's." Kobalt answered.

"Did the hair give it away?" he asked

"No the plasma did." Kobalt chuckled

"You saw me fight?"

"The other day." Kobalt nodded

"You were in the arena with a girl in yellow if memory serves." Tristan said

"It's Furi right?" Nickole asked "I think that's what Luna said."

"Yeah, Furi Midori." He nodded "Sorry we should've introduced ourselves by now, this is Octavia Ivory." He added pointing to the girl next to him.

"Nice to meet you." she smiled "I've been hearing about to infamous team KNGT for a few weeks now, glad to finally see what you're like."

"Infamous?" Tristan asked

"You four have built up quite the reputation since you got here." The larger guy said "Name's Onyx Rhodes."

"Yeah from your leader here fighting our headmaster, him being Prof Ward's son, and then the thing with Luna the whole school knows about you by now." The last guy said without a breath.

"And this is Nitrous Eden," Furi added "We're still working on his manners."

"Well you've obviously heard my name if you know who I am." Kobalt said "Still weird for me to call myself Kobalt Ward after all these years."

"I bet, something about amnesia I heard?" Furi prodded

"It's a long story." Nickole said

"Another time then, and your name is…" Octavia started

"Nickole Gareth," Nickole said shaking her hand "I'm surprised my name isn't well known after that fight with Luna."

"Well, your face is, but no one knew your name." Octavia laughed

"Go figure."

"Meanwhile you two are a mystery." Furi noted pointing towards Tristan and Justin

"Not much to say, were not trouble makers like the other two members of our team." Tristan laughed

"Well that's a load of crap Tristan." Amber said "You've made more trouble in a day then the rest of them will make in a month."

"Come on Amber, I've been good for a while now." Tristan argued

"Yeah because we've been busy with other things." Justin said "I'm his brother Justin by the way."

"So should we be looking forward to a nice evening?" Nickole asked "If Mrs. Ward asked you to manage the dance I imagine she's got faith in you."

"You could say that." Octavia laughed "Furi here is probably her favorite student."

"That's interesting I'd say Kobalt is Kage's favorite student." A voice chimed in. Tristan turned to see Professor Viridian sliding into the last seat at the table. "Pretty funny actually."

"Aunt Alexis, what are you doing here?" Furi asked

"I'm not your aunt Furi don't call me that, it makes me sound old." Viridian said "And I'm here assisting your father clearly."

"What so funny?" Kobalt probed

"Isn't it obvious? I made it clear to Kage that you two would get along great." she added "I wasn't wrong from the sounds of it, and I hear that Furi gets along well with Professor Ward. If I didn't know better I'd say he picked the professor most unlike his father for a reason."

"What?" Tristan asked

"You recognized Furi as Kage's son immediately didn't you?" Viridian asked "Kage's made a name for himself since he graduated from Atlas. Not many Atlas academy students stay out of the military, and even less had Kage's skill. Imagine being his son."

Thinking about it Tristan remembered when his father first started taking him to sharpshooting contests, everyone knew pretty quickly he was his father's son. But after a while Tristan had managed to make a name for himself and he was recognized as Tristan Glaucous. But his father wasn't a Huntsman or a cyborg. He looked over at Furi, and it was clear he was getting frustrated at the mere conversation.

"Even here at another academy he can barely get away from his father's reputation." Viridian said

"That's enough." Kobalt and Furi said together

"Who are we to live up to our fathers' standards?" Kobalt asked, it was clear there that he wasn't as over seeing his father as they had thought. "What the hell is so special about them anyway? Maybe if they weren't so focused on being Huntsmen this wouldn't happen!"

Everyone at the table had the same look on their faces, even Furi who was the one most of the conversation had been about looked shocked. Of course an outburst like that from Kobalt was occasionally accompanied by the occasional burst of blue fire from his shoulders which only added to the tension at the table.

"Okay, what's got you all worked up?" Viridian asked

"Kobalt ran into his own father earlier today." Tristan said "It wasn't exactly pretty."

"Well then you and Furi have something else in common," Viridian said standing up "The last time he spoke with his father it didn't end well either." She left without another word

"Family huh?" Furi asked taking a sip of his drink

"Don't even get me started." Kobalt sighed

"There's a fire extinguisher by the exit if you do." Furi added

Even Kobalt couldn't keep a straight face with that joke, the two teams found themselves cracking up over the slightest of jokes.

A/N

Not much to say about this one, mostly new character introductions and setup. And a short showcase on Kobalt's current mental state. While not great, it's not getting MUCH worse. He's kinda stagnating where he's at right now.

Frankly the main reason this chapter is a thing is to introduce Team FIRE, who'll be popping up more often than Team JADE or UMBR. JADE wound up turning into a group of sub-sub-plot character with UMBR mostly existing as a inside joke between me and one of my friends. FIRE is going to have a much bigger role later on, with Furi taking up most of the spotlight for a while.

As always; comment, critique, tear my work apart and point out all the glaring flaws if you feel like. Just try to be constructive, I can't fix anything if all you do is slam it.