Papers flew around the dorm of Team ARTS like a miniature blizzard. Thousands of newspaper clippings, articles, and photos zoomed around the room at subsonic speeds, some freezing in the air for a moment before continuing their hellish ride around the room. This normally would have tired Roland out, but the thought of exhaustion had disappeared from his mind days before.

"It's gotta be here somewhere. I felt it earlier…" Roland paced around the room while snatching papers out of the air and tossing them back like minnows, "Where is that article on the robberies…?" he blinked his dark ringed eyes one at a time.

A light across the room turned on. Arty's desk lamp helped light up the rest of the room, much to Sepia's disappointment. Instead of a violent outburst, she just buried her head in her pillows. Even she was too tired to move much.

"Roland?..." Arty said groggily, his hair a mess of bed head, "We have our mock mission in Forever Fall for Grimm Combat in three hours… If you're gonna cram for a pop quiz, can you at least do it with the lights off?..."

"I have the entire textbook memorized. I'm fine," Roland flicked his wrist.

A book flew into the lamp beside Roland's bed with a crash. The lamp laid on the ground in shambles. The broken lightbulb made a vain attempt to still burn its filament and live out its purpose, but it slowly gave up and began to dim. Roland went on with his search in the paper storm, "Better?"

Arty wanted to retort with the usual 'Roland stop breaking things,' but he was so exhausted that he decided to leave it alone. "Okay, thanks..." He turned off his own light in a less violent fashion and fell back to his sheets. Within seconds he began to snore again. Team ARTS's shared dislike of McGouran's teaching methods wasn't unknown, and preparing for an outing to fight Grimm with the visiting teams was a breath of fresh air compared to the usual intense fights with Grimm in the classroom. Knowing McGouran, he'd still find a way to make it miserable and draining, and he didn't need Roland's sleep-deprived attitude to make it worse.

Sepia slowly looked up from her pillow. Even in the dark, she could make out Roland's hate-filled eyes. As much as it worried her, it also made her even more frustrated with him. She slowly reached up and snatched a piece of paper out of the air. Once the rest of them froze in place, she ripped the paper in half and threw it off the side of her bed.

"Seriously?!" Roland shouted from across the room, "Again with this, Sepia?!"

Sepia looked over to Timbre, who'd been the only person she'd been willing to confide this issues with. Even in the dark, she could see Timbre's headphones perched around her head, blaring music into her ears as she snored. She obviously wasn't going to be of any help this time around. Unless…

Her hands shot down to the MP3 player hanging by a cord off the side of Timbre's bed and yanked it. The cord came out of the audio jack with a 'pop'.

The sudden ending of her tunes wasn't what woke Timbre up, it was the sudden jerking of her headphones to the side. The force made one of the ear pads land on and effectively cup her nose in its cushioning. "Wha-what the?!" She stumbled, gripping the end of her bed to keep from falling onto the floor.

Sepia pulled up her scroll to use as a light and started signing, 'Roland and I are about to have another fight about this symbol thing...'

Oh no. Timbre groaned as she threw her legs over the side of the bed, removing the headphones from her face. She stretched, using it as cover to sign back in the dim moonlight flooding into the room. 'I know you must be mad. You wanna borrow my headphones to try and tune him out for a little bit?'

'I just want you on standby for if this comes to blows…' Sepia slowly stood from her bed and flipped on the lamp by her bed. She met Roland's seething glare. This was the fifth time this week alone, 'Listen. I just want you to get some sleep. That's it. Please.'

All of the papers began stacking themselves around his bed, "Sepia, please don't start with this again. If I need sleep, then I will sleep. I'm okay right now though. I am functioning. Do you have any idea how close I am to finding something else new?!"

'You've been saying that since you blackmailed the general's daughter last week,' Sepia rolled her eyes, 'Go to bed. Now.'

"No. I will not be going to bed. Quit acting like you have any idea what I need and don't need to do. I don't need you watching out for me every second of every day!" Roland shouted at her from across the room.

'Maybe if you actually gave me a reason to think that you were fine, I'd get off your tail about it! It's been three weeks since we've actually been able to sit down and watch our favorite show together, and Rime keeps spoiling things for me! I have to sit there and tell her that everything is, in fact, fine between us, and I don't think it is right now! I thought that your obsession was bad after you found that symbol, but that's nothing compared to all that's turned into!' Sepia franticly signed.

Arty groaned and held a pillow to his face. Either he'd drown out the noise of the one-sided conversation or smother himself. He would welcome either gladly, whichever of the two came first.

Timbre stood and put her hands on Sepia's shoulders. "Okay, Moviemaker. Obviously you two need some cooling down time." She nodded towards the door, "How about you and me go ahead and get ready. Get some breakfast, enjoy the sunrise… you know, before we go off killing Grimm."

'You know what? That sounds great.' Sepia grabbed her choker and tied it around her neck, 'I don't need to deal with this right now. I'm going to end up saying something about how much he's acting like his stepmother.'

"Excuse me?!" Roland stomped over in front of Sepia and glowered down at her, "You cannot be serious with me right now. It is four o'clock in the morning. I get it. You're not a morning person, but that was below the belt."

'Right, because you're the most civil person in the room, huh? You know what you're talking about, and us three are just being unreasonable for telling you to calm down. Blackmailing and manipulating people is all fine and well as long as you're the one doing it, right?' Sepia pushed past him and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Timbre looked to Roland. She wanted to be angry, but at that moment she was just concerned for her partner. The door slammed again as she followed after Sepia.

Arty groaned in annoyance again, "Guess it's time for me to get up finally!" He slumped out of bed, looking like a disheveled mess. "I'm going to get my shower and I'm going to ask for the Rhea Special Caffeine Deluxe." He turned to Roland before closing the door, "Can you please try not to make this morning any harder than it already is?" He gestured to the papers scattered around the room, "I told you I'd help, but it's kind of hard to do that when you can't even help yourself and get some rest."

"I've been so close, Arty. I just got new information from Khimera yesterday… it hasn't gone anywhere, but it will eventually. I also keep finding things," Roland held up a piece of paper from the floor. On it was an article from a cooking magazine with the first letter of every sentence highlighted, "Look at this. The first letters of the sentences of the fifth paragraph spell out 'GRIMM', Arty. They might be syphoning money from whoever prints this. They could be anywhere, Arty! What if someone in the school is with them, huh?!"

Arty cocked an eyebrow, obviously concerned and a bit frightened. "Roland? You… really need some sleep, bud." He pointed to the third sentence, "That's an 'N', not an 'M', by the way. So unless there's another group called the Grimn Brotherhood out there plotting to steal cakes and cookies across Remnant, I don't think you're finding anything here." He sighed, "Remember what I said about chasing facts instead of fantasy?" He took the magazine from Roland's hands and held it up, "This right here sounds pretty out there to me."

"Then how about something you've dealt with first hand?" Roland grabbed a sheet of paper with a photo of an illustration from a book, "This is one of the pictures that you had to redraw after that night with Yamuna. I know this for a fact. It's an illustration of one of the major battles in the Great War," he pointed to one of the banners depicted in the image, "What do you see there?"

Arty had to redraw so many images his mind was a blur. Unlike Roland, he couldn't remember every individual detail of his preferred art form.

The picture on the page before him was of four armies of soldiers, two against two, fighting in the sand dunes of the deserts of Vacuo. On one side, Vacuo and Vale, on the other, Mistral and the defunct kingdom of Mantle. They all had old-fashioned basic weapons raised, ready to strike.

"Roland, what am I supposed to be see-"

"The banner! Look at the banner that Vale soldier is carrying!" Roland shouted at his partner, "Right there in black and white is it!"

Arty had to squint to see it, but sure enough, among the hundreds of soldiers was the symbol Roland had found in his mom's book during his scuffle with his stepmother. "Wait… this is a drawing of the end of the war… the Vacuo campaign when Mantle and Mistral tried to cut off their enemies' Dust supply by taking over the mines in the kingdom."

"And the king of Vale came in and personally helped kick everyone's asses, yeah. And here's the kicker. This book was written immediately after the treaty was signed at Vytal. This is even a first edition that was printed on the island!"

Arty leaned against the wall. It was still way too early to be thinking this hard. "So… wait… why was a symbol from the first storybook about the Great War in your mom's book? Why would an artist put that there and what does it have to do with the Grimm Brotherhood? The Grimm Brotherhood can't be that old… can they?"

"If they are, then it explains why they seem to have so many resources. They've had time to get money and infiltrate businesses and the like! This could be huge, Arty!" Roland threw the paper back down and went back to pacing, "They must go way back. What if they're hatching some kind of crazy plan or something?! Another Great War! What if they started the first one?!"

Arty felt the headache coming, "Roland… I was following you for a bit there, but now you're starting to sound like one of the conspiracy nuts back home that think the military tried to brainwash people with drugs and video games about twenty years ago. The Great War was building for years. No one power could make something like that happen. Not then and not now." He continued on his path to the bathroom for his shower, "I know you have facts here Roland. I really do. Just don't go screwing them up and making them some lunatic fantasy."

Roland looked at him with disbelief, "But the symbol, Arty! It is everywhere they go, and now it's magically here! Don't you get it?!" he slowly sat down, "I just… I…" he hung his head down, "I want to be done with this… Last week told me that it wasn't just about Mom… The wheel keeps coming up in places completely unrelated to her. I just… I need something that ties what happened to her with everything else. I just need… some kind of closure on this…"

As Arty was about to close the door, he couldn't help but pick up on the weariness in Roland's voice. "Hey, Roland. Why don't you stay here today? Catch up on your sleep. You can't be going to class and fighting Grimm like this. You'll end up getting hurt."

"Believe me, if I can shake off a hit from Oro long enough to help you guys get a solid hit in on her, then I can handle a few Grimm…" Roland lifted his head up to look at Arty, "I'll be fine. It isn't like McGouran is throwing us at Rippers or anything."

Arty noticed Roland was having a bit of trouble keeping his eyes open as they occasionally fluttered before he stopped himself and opened them again. "Two things. One, you can barely stay awake right now, which is pretty different than getting hit with a crazy weapon that completely bypasses aura. Two, that's exactly what he's doing to us today…"

"Wait, what?"

"The Rippers thing. That's exactly what he's doing. Although I think I remember him saying there might be a few Echos and Camolurkers thrown in there… along with the usual Beowolves, Ursas, and Nevermores thrown into the mix. Point is, it's dangerous to go up against those things in the state you're in. I've never doubted that you could hold your own, but… right now… I'm not so sure."

"So what? You're just going to tell McGouran that I'm sick? What am I going to do all day?" Roland's head bobbed after finishing his question, but he managed to bring it back up.

"I'd like to believe that you'd catch up on your sleep and clear your head of all the crazy that's apparently stuck up there, but I know you'd probably keep doing…" he gestured to the cooking magazine again, "this… I'd also like to think you'd use the time to figure out how to make things up to Sepia. I know I'm not big on the whole emotional stuff, but I can tell when someone's upset and right now, that'd be her."

"I… I guess…" Roland grabbed his scroll, "I'll tell Khimera and Dante that I'm taking an easy day… I know Khimera wouldn't mind some breathing room, and Dante's probably worried…" he finished off the texts and threw his scroll back onto his nightstand, "If you need me to, I can jump into class later on. It'll be hard fighting Rippers and stuff. Who is the backup team for us, again…?"

"McGouran made the mistake of pairing us with my friends in MTLC. I know you're not a big fan of Midas and Titian, so maybe this is a win-win for you."

"Send Curie and Ledning my regards…" Roland rolled his eyes and pulled his blanket over himself, "Don't get killed. Take some Nova Dust with you just in case. Maybe some of the Nova and Gravity mixture that we've been too scared to try out."

"Yeeaaaaah… no. I'd rather do some testing with that outside of class. I've gotten better with Nova, but that Gravity stuff is… objectively more dangerous. Not sure it's a good idea to use it around, y'know, people."

"Yeah, okay. I'll give you that much," Roland shut his eyes, "Go get ready. I'm just gonna try and… and… ge…" and with that, he was out.

Arty rolled his eyes and closed the bathroom door. He could already tell it was going to be a long day for everybody.

The baneful light of day burned through the curtains of the Team ARTS dorm and right into Roland's eyes, "What the…?" he mumbled.

Upon sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he snatched up his scroll to check the time, "It's… it's three in the afternoon…?"

"Yeah, you've been out for about eleven hours according to Burnie," said someone who must've been sitting on Timbre's bed just to his left.

"Wait… Dante?" Roland looked over to the source of the voice, "How did you…?"

"Roland? Did you really skip class today to sleep and work on your conspiracy web?" Another voice came from over by his desk.

Roland turned around to see Epazote inspecting the various articles pinned up on the walls, "Arty made me stay behind because I apparently haven't gotten enough sleep."

"By that, you mean to say that you haven't slept in a week," Dante sat with her arms and legs crossed. She clearly wasn't happy with the situation, "You know, I thought you were obsessive when you left Mistral, but this is a whole new level."

"I'm actually getting closer. When I left Mistral, I just got mad and hit people to solve my problems. I know how to get information out of people, Dante," Roland grumbled and fell back down against his pillow.

"You're starting to act the way that you always accuse Mother of acting towards you," Dante shook her head, "You're getting manipulative."

"I am not acting like Shirley." Roland shot back.

"Well you're definitely not acting like… you, either, dude." Epazote noted as he picked up a stack of cooking magazines. "Look… I get why this whole Grimm Brotherhood deal is getting to you. It's scaring a lot of people back home, too, but I doubt there's a huge conspiracy going on here."

"The general's daughter says otherwise," deciding that this intervention wasn't going to stop anytime soon, Roland slid out of bed and stood up, "Keep this on the down low, but I've been told that the Grimm Brotherhood stole some airships from the Atlas military and painted that symbol on the sides," he pointed to the page from his mother's book that served as the wall's centerpiece, "Last time I saw your mom, I told her about it. It was in my mom's apartment on the day of… you know."

"Then it's also the tag that they use when they stage robberies in Vacuo," Dante sighed, "You've gone over this a thousand times…"

Epazote nodded, "Yeah… that too. Look, Rol. We're all worried and want to know what's going on, but we're also just first-year Huntsmen-in-training. Why can't you just leave it to the authorities and real fully-trained Huntsmen? Try to enjoy the time you have here before the world really tries to bite you in the butt?"

"It's already nipped at him a few times, so you can't blame him for getting this paranoid," Dante explained while her brother got ready, "I'm more worried about his conduct, Episo-... Epazote. Sure, this obsession is an issue, but he has a bit of a point. Between what they might have done to Professor Oscura and what they have done to the Mistral Trading Company, it seems like they've struck way too close to him."

Roland froze in the middle of buttoning his shirt, "What about the company?"

"The attacks on the shipments across the kingdoms. Has Father not told you? The Grimm Brotherhood has been stealing goods from us for months now," Dante absentmindedly twisted a stray curl of hair, "We're losing shares because people don't trust that we can make shipments like we used to, and now we can't afford the needed security because we're losing money so fast," she thought for a moment, "Don't let that leave this room, Epazote. Father's been going through a lot of deals in order to prevent the news getting out and causing the worst PR nightmare of the century."

Epazote seemed shocked to hear that those carrying out the string of 'Mistral murders' were also successful bandits. The Mistral Trading Company had some of the best defense and transportation tech in the world thanks to its ties across kingdoms. Atlas mechs and security systems were on every train and every boat. If those didn't work, there was always a spare Huntsman or two hired as head of security for the more sensitive and expensive shipments. "Wait… so…" Epazote looked at the papers surrounding him, "I mean… I get it, there is something going on, but like I said, why can't the authorities handle this? Your dad's talking to the cops in Mistral, right?"

"He has Huntsmen on it. Mother thinks that word might get out more if we get the police involved. It's more of a Huntsman's job, anyway. With as much ground as the MTC covers, we'd have to deal with law enforcement all over Remnant and hope that they would work together," Dante tossed Roland his hat, "I'm not supposed to tell you that part either, so you keep this all between us as well, Roland."

"Right…" he finished buckling his belt and threw his hat onto his head, "It's all really concerning, but…" he looked over to all of the notes posted on the walls, "Listen, my team's worried about me. As much as I want to go into this further with everything that is apparently going on with the company, I do need a break before I just completely crash…"

"Then do that. I mean, you've already cut class. Why not try to relax a bit?" Epazote suggested with a smile, "Maybe we could go to that Dust shop you're always talking about? I'd definitely like to meet the lady that's always doing the crazy Dust combinations. She sounds psycho, but a fun kind of psycho, like Cai." At this point, he was trying to think of anything to get Roland's mind off of the Grimm Brotherhood.

"Or we could head over to the CCT and look at news stories from every kingdom. It would be a relaxing way to keep getting more information," Dante suggested.

Epazote looked to his best friend's half-sister incredulously. "Um… what about an actual break, Dante?" For the years he'd known the Wells family, Epazote had learned that, besides Roland's biological parents, Dante was the primary source of support and concern. Why was she egging this unhealthy habit on?

"If we help him get this done faster, then this madness might come to an end. He's going to obsess either way-"

"Not right now," Roland shook his head, "Look, Sepia and I are spending most of our time together fighting right now. A lot of it is because I won't leave this all alone for even five minutes… that was made clear this morning."

"Well," Epazote checked his watch, "She should still be with your team out in Forever Fall with your Grimm Combat instructor."

"Seriously?"

"He told you guys that it could end up being an all-day deal."

"Hold on, I'll text her," Roland typed out a message and sent it. A response came within seconds, which he read aloud, "She says that she's busy talking to… her auntie-mom."

"Auntie-mom?" Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Her aunt raised her, so she calls her that instead of Aunt Aubrey. Apparently Sepia ended up skipping class too, though," Roland shrugged, "Look, how about we just head down to Vale and try to relax? Go to the Dust shop, the cafe, and maybe somewhere that I can pick up some flowers to beg for forgiveness? A break honestly sounds better and better every time one of us mentions it."

Epazote clapped his hands and nodded, "Great! Yeah! Like I've been saying! Let's go look at Dust and take a break." He said, glancing over to Dante.

Dante went to retort, but was cut off by the door to Team ARTS's room opening.

In the doorway, a heavily battered, soaked, and somewhat crispy Arty stood, Palette to his side and his clothes covered in scratches and rips. He obviously wasn't very happy.

"You… you look worse than I did earlier…" Roland looked Arty over from head to toe, "Looks like the Rippers had a field day with you…"

"Not just them Roland…" Arty grumbled as he dropped his weapon on the floor and flopped onto his bed.

Epazote, Dante, and Roland looked to each other with a look of concern.

"So… what else almost made a meal of you?" Epazote asked, trying to lighten the mood and start Roland's 'break'.

Arty groaned, "Well… first it was just McGouran's Rippers. Of course he had to give a twenty minute speech about how they were special ordered from Vacuo and delivered with the help of that Vincentas guy's team, you know, that anger-management coach slash Huntsman that followed you around last semester and almost killed me with a door? Yeah, so it was them at first, but then the Echos showed up, and I hate, and I mean hate flying Grimm… But then, oh, it got so much better. Right there, near the end, our caravan gets to the river and McGouran had a little surprise for us like he always does."

Roland looked at the others in hopes that they might say something. When it was clear that no one was going to say anything, he decided to take Arty's ensuing rant head on, "Was it the Camolurkers…?"

Arty scoffed, "I wish! I love it when he tells an eensy weensie tiny white lie like 'oh you'll be fighting Camolurkers as well, have fun' but then it turns out that there's something I hate more than flying Grimm!" He sat up, a look of bewildered frustration across his scratched and singed face, "Aquatic Grimm! As Alice would probably say, they're pretty bloody horrible! You know, living in the frozen wasteland of Atlas means that most of the Grimm I'm used to are tiny and usually land based. Nobody takes a trip to the beach on a glacier. I've never dealt with anything likes this, and it didn't help that I was the only one on my team to show up for the mock mission."'

"I know that Sepia didn't come along, but Timbre didn't either?" Roland was taken back. He and Sepia had ditched plenty of times, but not once had Timbre tagged along. She was always the one to preach about setting a good example and keeping a good attendance record, "Did she say where she went?"

"Yeah, she started feeling pretty bad, too. She said something about going off to talk to your mom today at the clinic downtown about her nightmares," Arty said, pointing a yellow-paint covered finger towards Epazote. "I said that would be fine. I don't want my team fighting if they don't think they can handle it right now, but that was still at the point when I thought Sepia would still be there. When I showed up at the airship to meet up with McGouran and MTLC, I was so surprised to find out she was gone too!" Arty held his face in his hands, "I'm all for trying to get over issues, but I just have to say it wasn't too fun finding out the day of that I'd be the only one on my team going out on a mission representing our entire grade for an assignment. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of the biggest screw up on this team and the last person you should leave an entire project to."

"I wouldn't say that, Burnie. You wouldn't be a leader if you were a screw up," Surprisingly, it was Dante to offer words of encouragement to someone other than Roland, "Look, us three are about to go down to Vale and relax. You can come with us if you would like."

"We might even run into Timbre again when we're down there. The clinic that Mom's temporary office is in isn't too far from the airship docks," Epazote pat Arty on the back, "Besides, you look like you need a break too…"

"Thanks, but no thanks," Arty said as he reclined back on his bed, wincing from the soreness in his body, "I'll stay here and… recover for a bit. You know, let the aura stew around a little bit and get these cuts and scrapes taken care of."

"Right…" Epazote headed out the door with Dante close behind, "Feel better, Art."

Dante waved goodbye, "Yeah, take it easy, Burnie."

Roland started to leave, but stopped in the doorway, "Sorry that I started this mess. If I hadn't gotten so bent out of shape, then maybe I wouldn't have started fighting with Sepia. Then maybe Sepia and I wouldn't have added to Timbre's stress on top of her nightmares, and we might have all been in class today."

Arty held a hand up, "No… honestly, I don't mind at all. You guys have stuff you're trying to get over. So do I. I'm still trying to get over my crap too, but the only way I can cope with it is making sure you guys are okay and at your best." He winced again, "I'd be telling you the same thing if I had come back without a scratch and feeling like a truckload of Lien."

"Then if you're not pissed at us, then you should at least meet up with us later tonight. If we're all down there tonight, then Sepia is bound to come down too. Hanging out with everyone and attempting to believe that everything is okay doesn't sound bad, you know?" Roland went to close the door, "I'll buy."

Arty gave him a thumbs up, "Yeah… sounds good. Just let the fight between my lungs and my heart stop first and I'll be down later."

"Sound's good," Roland shut the door only to see Epazote and Dante waiting, "Let's grab my bike and attach the sidecar, and we'll head out."

"Listen, just make sure that you never take a Dust mixture from a girl with dark brown hair with a red streak through it. The first request that she'll probably give is for a Fire and Magma mixture, then the Nova Dust mixture that Rol always speaks highly of," Epazote pointed to a picture of Cayenne that was resting on the glass counter of the 'Bite the Dust' Dust shop.

The shopkeeper, who Team ARTS was now on a first-name basis with, raised an eyebrow at Epazote and the picture before her.

"Okay?..." Perry said as she tied her bright green hair back, "Is she like… a criminal or psycho or something?"

Epazote leaned in close, "Close. She's my girlfriend."

"Ohhh… Oh!" Perry jumped back, "Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate-"

"She's a raging pyromaniac that has 'accidentally' burned down buildings inside Haven Academy. We have a permanent ban on fireworks on campus because of her," Epazote explained further, "She has an issue, but it works really well for killing Grimm." He glanced to the racks of Dust-infused clothing at the other side of the shop. "I'd also hide the cloth if she comes by. She has a knack of sewing that stuff into all of her clothes… even her uniform and casual wear."

"Right…" Perry slowly took the picture that Epazote had, "I'll keep this for reference in that case. I don't want the shop burning down… and exploding."

Roland leaned on the counter, "Not to interrupt, but how is that modified Nova Dust mixture coming? I haven't gotten a chance to try those samples because Arty's too scared to, but I was wondering what the guy that mixes this stuff has experienced when working with it."

Perry fell into a fit of laughter that lasted for an uncomfortable couple of minutes. When she was done, she wiped a tear from her eye, "Yeah… I don't know why, but every time you ARTS guys come up with something, my friend has to end up rebuilding his workshop."

"Wait, this has happened before?" Epazote stepped away from Roland, fearful that some of Cayenne's pyromaniac tendencies might have rubbed off on his best friend.

"Hey, we just order the stuff. Chill," Roland waved off his concern, "So did the workshop explode or implode this time?"

Perry thought about a way to word her response. "Can I say both?"

"Oh gods…" Dante said wide-eyed.

"Yeah," The shopkeeper began scrolling through some images on the monitor in front of her. "Turns out adding Gravity to the explosive nature of the Nova's plasma kind of… creates a…" She showed them a picture of what appeared to be a crater. Around the crater was a wide clearing carved out of the trees and rocks nearby, almost as if a large sphere of matter were simply removed from the area and everything around it was pushed outwards. "Black hole type-explosion that drags everything inward before exploding outwards… He actually ended up getting stuck in it. Got banged up quite a bit and then launched into the road nearby when the pent up energy was released." She chuckled, "Don't worry, he's fine. He's gotten caught up in a lot of explosions before. He actually finds it fun at this point. He says that high concentrations like the vat he was working with is very very very dangerous, but should pack a punch without causing too much collateral damage if used in small amounts like say, your team leader's paintballs or in a few lines of text in your typewriter."

"Right on," Roland nodded, "Think you could infuse a few dozen pieces of paper with it? Maybe some Nove Dust paper too? I think that stuff would work great with my sister's Semblance."

"If you get me a vial, I think I could recite a poem from memory to use, but… I don't know if that's a good idea with the way that Dust mixture works…" Dante looked at Perry pleadingly, "If you would like to know, I can use poetry to strengthen my allies or weaken my enemies, and I can add Dust to that for various effects. Would you like to see a demonstration?"

Perry put her elbows on the glass counter and perched her chin on her hands, "Heck yeah! I love to see what you Huntsmen-in-training are working with."

"Roland, some of that Lightning Dust that you purchased. Please," Dante held a hand out to her brother, "I'm about to make Epazote my guinea pig."

Epazote shook his head, "Wait what?!" He watched Dante as she took a small vial of bright yellow powder from Roland. "I didn't agree to this! I actually don't think I was asked in the first place!"

Dante walked a few feet away, creating some space between her and Epazote, "Relax. I'm buffing you, not debuffing you. You'll just feel a little… tingly…" she broke the vial of Lightning Dust in her fist, "Let's see… how did it go…?"

"Are you thinking of that one about bringing light?" Roland asked.

"Ah, yes! I think I remember it now. Stand still, Epazote," Dante took a deep breath to begin her spell, "Bright light to the bleakest night," she tossed the Dust into the air to form a yellow mist in front of Epazote, "To end the struggles of this plight."

The Dust began to glow bright, which made Epazote's heart race. He had only ever experienced a debuff from Dante, and that certainly was one of the worst experiences that he had ever had, "Can we talk this over a little more…?"

"Strike down those that stand too high," Dante's aura seemed to shimmer around her as the spell neared its completion, "And flash bright like the stormy sky."

Epazote felt a jolt pass through his body, but as the initial stinging pain passed, he felt as if he had drank a full coffee-shop's worth of espresso. Running a few miles seemed like no challenge all of a sudden. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, unable to hold still anymore. "Wowee!" He shouted, shaking his head, running his hands through his hair, which was now standing straight up on end, the green streak in his bangs looking like a makeshift unicorn horn. He couldn't help but laugh at how great he felt.

"Don't touch him. You'll get a bit of a shock if you do," Dante warned, "I considered debuffing him for demonstration purposes, but I didn't want to hurt your business with the screaming that would ensue from the uncontrollable muscle spasms he'd experience."

"Glad you… considered that…" Perry took a step back to put some more distance between her and the witch, "So did you inherit that Semblance like Roland did, or…?"

"I developed it when me and Roland were fighting as kids. I remember shouting a poem from a book that we read together because I thought it sounded really mean at the time. Then he sort of… doubled over in pain," Dante passed a glance over to her brother. It was clear that the incident still bothered her.

"Then I got to be your test dummy when trying it out with Dust. Good times…" Roland picked up one of the vials of Nova Dust, "So, is it possible to get this stuff into paper without the paper exploding?"

Perry pulled out a few containers full of powdered Nova Dust. "I mean, yeah. Possibly. I mean…" She looked confused for a moment, "Maybe? I don't know, I've never made paper with Dust and I've only sewn Dust into cloth a couple of times, but I guess I'll see what I can do." She didn't sound too particularly sure of herself.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just mix the Dust with water and soak a notebook in it. If I get the water-to-Dust ratio right, it should soak it into the paper. I wouldn't mind breaking out a Nova Dust debuff in a fight with a particularly strong Grimm… or in the tournament... or Ahab if he acts up again…" Dante tapped her Lightning Dust coated finger against her lip. After a third tap, her face contorted into a wretch, "Gods, Dust really tastes awful…"

Perry reached over and pushed Dante's hand away from her face, "Yeah… I really don't recommend eating the stuff… I know how the urban legends and stuff go, but it's really not good for you… So, is there anything else I can do for you guys today?" She looked over and saw Epazote bouncing and jittering around, his smile wide and his pupils dilated, "Like maybe call a doctor for Sparky the Spaz over here?..."

"He'll be fine. His mother works in… health," Roland shooed Epazote out the door, "Dante, keep an eye on him."

"Right. Got it," Dante led Epazote out the door and towards Roland's bike.

"Alrighty, see you around, Perry. Arty might come by later," Roland packed up the newly purchase supplies into the violet satchel he had brought along, "If you see Sepia, tell her to meet up with us at the cafe. She's not responding to texts, so her scroll might be dead."

Perry smiled and gave a small salute, "Will do, Roland! See ya around!"

As they exited the store, Epazote excitedly grabbed Dante by the shoulders and began bouncing, almost throwing her off balance. He certainly wasn't making it easy to push him down into the sidecar.

"Epazote?! What-" bounce, "are-," bounce, "you-," bounce, "doing?!"

"C'mon! Let's go try to make Nova Dust paper! I wanna see what you could do to buff me with that stuff!" He let go of her and began running down the sidewalk towards a small local park, cheering and trying to high five random people that he passed by.

"I am not going to buff you with Nova Dust, Epazote!" Dante shouted. She held her arms close to her chest and hurried after him, "I have two options for you! Control yourself and wait for the buff to wear off, or I will punch you hard enough to remove it!"

"Good luck catching me, sister! Woohoo!" He jumped and latched onto a lamppost, nearly taking off a young Faunus couple's heads as he used it to swing a full 90-degrees around the corner and quickly out of the Wells kids' line of sight.

"Damn, I don't have any Air Dust…" Dante ran to catch up with him.

The roar of an engine made her whip her head around. While she didn't have anything to cast a mobility buff, she did have a brother with a 150 horsepower bike. That typically made it easier to catch up to people.

Roland rode up next to her, "Come on. I'll punch the Lightning Dust out of him when we get to the park," he held a blood red helmet out to her. Somewhere between researching that stupid symbol, he had made time to special order a helmet for her with a 'Dante' scrawled on the side in calligraphy, and with her favorite poems all written out along the domed surface of it. It made her smile when he passed it to her for when they were making their way to Vale, and it made her smile again now.

"Sounds fair enough!" Dante pulled the helmet on and hopped on behind him. She hadn't wanted to simply enjoy the time that they could have in Vale at first, but racing after Epazote with her brother at her side reminded her of far simpler times. If only she could've gone back to that.

"C'mon! Do it already!" Epazote chittered impatiently as he sat in the grass in front of Dante.

"I need to think of a poem…" Dante stared at the vial, "It is a lot harder to use a poem that I come up with on the fly. It makes for a far less stable buff or debuff."

"Hey guys… what's going on here?..."

Watching Dante from a nearby picnic table, Roland hadn't even seen Arty walk up. Night was slowly falling on the city and their small section of the park was lit by a single light-post.

Roland's senses were still out of whack from not sleeping for so long, "Hey Arty. We're seeing what happens when Dante uses Nova Dust for a buff."

Arty looked around to the people enjoying the late afternoon at the park. Some ran around playing, some were enjoying a late picnic, a few couples were even sitting out to have a romantic moment while watching the sun set over the ocean. "In a public park?..." He knew he'd made some mistakes blowing stuff up in places where he shouldn't before, but this seemed to be a new level.

"Yeah!" Epazote said excitedly, "Now shut up and watch! I wanna see what happens!"

Arty was confused as to why Epazote was so jittery and... seemed to be sparking. "Did you guys already hit the cafe? Cuz it looks like he's had a bit too much coffee."

"Lightning buff. Dante didn't have her spellbook, so he got a little… too much Lightning Dust," Roland explained, "We saw Perry, made sure that she wouldn't sell Dust to Cayenne, and talked about the new Dust mixture that we thought up. By the way, it explodes and implodes at the same time apparently."

Arty took a seat on the same table, "Huh…"

Roland thought that something didn't seem right about his leader. He looked a bit jittery or nervous. For the time being, he just associated it with witnessing somebody else having their first run with Nova Dust. As he tried to gauge his partner's mood, he noticed a familiar grip sticking out of his backpack. "Why do you have Palette with you? You never bring it into town."

Arty looked back at his backpack with concern, as if he'd been caught making a mistake. "Oh… I just… wanted to take it down to see if I could get a… a..." he snapped his fingers as he found the words, "a shoulder strap! Yeah. Palette's been weighing my bag down, especially since I've started carrying spare ammo and stuff for you guys. Thought I could clear up some room if I could just have her resting at my side, you know?"

Roland nodded, unconvinced, but he remembered how exhausted Arty was earlier. He was also an idiot who was bad with words at times, so that could've been another explanation. He turned his attention back to his sister.

"Alright, here goes nothing…" Dante crushed the vial in her hand, "Keep clear of the area. Burn like th-"

A surge of plasma rippled out from her hand. The air suddenly smelled strongly of ozone, and then a wave of heat crashed through the area. Trees were stripped of their leaves, the grass directly around Dante's feet vaporized, and a thunderous boom shook the very ground around the park. When the light faded, Dante laid in the epicenter shaking.

"Dante!" Roland shot up from his seat and ran to his sister, "Are you alright?! What the heck just happened?!"

Dante slowly leaned up, coughing a few times as she did so, "I think… I think I just made a little star around myself… and it exploded…"

Arty looked at the singed edges of Dante's cloak and the dark soot coating her face. It reminded him of how he looked most days after class. "Wow… that… could've gone a lot worse."

"Woohoo!" Epazote cheered. "That was awesome! Did you hear that explosion!? You blew up so bad the ground shook and now there's smoke from blocks away!" He pointed over some nearby rooftops, where pillars of black smoke towered into the now darkened sky.

"That… that wasn't me…" Dante's eyes widened at the sight of smoke. There were at least three pillars of black smoke stretching into the sky. Either something was burning, or… "Bombs…"

Roland froze while staring at the rooftops. In the moments that he took his eyes away from his news articles and bits of hair-brained 'research', an attack on Vale had begun. He stood and looked onto the pillars of smoke, listening to the waves of screaming beginning to pour through the streets.

Vacuo saw the Grimm Brotherhood as thieves. In Mistal, they were killers. To the north in Atlas, they were merely a growing nuisance. Now they were further cementing a name for themselves in Vale. The Grimm Brotherhood were about to be known across Remnant as they were known in Vale: terrorists.