AN: Much like most of the chapters this one is still edgy but leaning on the more serious side toward the end after some lighter stuff at the start.

Chapter Title: Breaking Character and Trading Sides
Arc 1: Bubbles of Futility Chapters

"The Dance is tonight are you going to it?" Serqet asked me as we walked through a mall in Vale, it was one of the smaller ones that had less people.

We had come here because she wanted something and besides that I still wasn't good with crowds and had quite a bit of anxiety around so many people, it's why I wasn't looking forward to the Vytal Festival and Tournament based on what I've seen and heard about it.

"My team is going, but I'm not really all that interested in it." I watched as she perused a rack with shirts on it, picking a few out and passing them to me to carry for her.

"So you're going then?" she asked for clarification.

"Yeah I guess I am." I shrugged, it wasn't like Yang would let me get away with missing it even if I had been to big festivals back in Valor that were far more exciting than this was supposed to be according to her.

She was very adamant about this being a once in a lifetime event, even though they were yearly and we'd be going to one next year… well they would be going to one next year.

"Is Castus going with his team as well?" Serqet looked back at me from the rack of clothing with a raised brow.

"He said they would be since they're required to make Shade look good while they're visiting which means attending the dance and showing off basically."

"I got that much when you said they were here for the tournament." She said, rolling her eyes at my over-explanation.

Another half hour of shopping went by before we left the mall and I was dropped off at Mauzers where my brother had wanted to meet up since I told him about where I got my sidearms from. Upon stepping out of my girlfriend's car I found my brother standing outside the shop in conversation with the owner who looked very impressed with whatever my younger brother was saying.

They noticed me approaching and I was greeted by the man and Castus who then dragged me into a conversation about something that just sort of flew over my head so I didn't say much as we went inside. I didn't really have much money to throw around on anything while I was here so I just bought a few paper targets and went into the range while Cas did whatever it was he wanted until he needed me.

Later on when my brother was finished and we were on our way back to Beacon I got a chance to ask him about what it was like in Vacuo since I didn't remember any of the time I spent there. He liked the culture saying it wasn't too different from how Mum had raised us to be, he enjoyed how warm it was all the time, he liked all the old ruins of the temples and palaces from a time when the country was more split and held smaller kingdoms within itself. One thing told me he hated was the sandstorms and stuff like the bandit-like thugs that walked around some streets acting like they owned the place. Which sounded odd because often when I heard people discuss our homeland it was like it was some sort of paradise country where everyone was basically a resort where nothing could go wrong.

But what he described to me as he continued was more fitting of a real place rather than this weird idealized version of it.

"Other than that I think it's a pretty great place Az- you gotta get your ass over there some time so I can show you around or have Sis do it since she's probably more familiar with it." Castus said as he rolled his shoulders and stretched out his arms.

"You do realise it costs Lien to do trips like that?"

"Huh? Yeah no shit 'course it does, get a job then." That was my brother, ever the poet.

Castus was the kind of person to tell people how it was, be overly blunt and had a mean streak a mile wide if you made him angry. I once watched him make a forty year old man cry from something he said, it was funny for the first five minutes then it became sad.

Anyway,

"Will do." was all I responded with and he gave me a look that suggested he thought I'd never get around to it.

"Do you have a suit for the Dance?" my brother asked me after a few minutes of silence between us.

I shook my head, I didn't have one for it specifically but I was sure I could just use that suit that I wore when we fought the giant robot since it was still intact.

"Me too, I'm thinking of just coming in this." he motioned to his outfit which hadn't changed since he arrived, I guess he must have packed multiple versions of it.

"Fair enough."

"I heard you almost got kicked out of Beacon." he said changing the topics.

"Yeah, but for some reason the headmaster didn't and that's kind of got me concerned and confused, even if I hadn't meant to do what I had done I did stay around actively afterward." He looked at me a little confused.

"What did you actually do though? 'Cilla didn't tell me."

"Oh I eavesdropped on a meeting with the Headmaster and the deputy Headmistress as well as this other guy who had ratted me out- also I think he's a bird, but that's not really important to the story." I explained.

"Are you retarded?" Castus asked, looking at me like there was a golf ball sized hole in my head.

[Hanging Out]

"Oh hey Yang." I greeted my team leader as she was leaving our dorm, she almost jumped in fright so I assumed she had just played a prank on Blake in some fashion like making a dog bed for Zwei out of her books.

I have that example because she did that to her not too long after the Dog arrived when Blake was ignoring everyone to investigate the White Fang, though that problem had been that half of them were my books and the dog had pissed on them. I hadn't finished the books she used either so I had threatened to castrate the mut and throw him off the tower of Beacon if she used my things again.

"Ah! Azrael!" she said face flashing with a brief surprise before her eyes settled on my mask. "I thought you were out with your girlfriend?"

"No? I was this morning, but I said I'd be back by afternoon after hanging out with my brother." I answered watching as the realisation set in on her face.

The realisation for what? I wasn't sure.

"I remember now..." she trailed off looking past me. "Hey how come you never introduced Castus to us? You introduced your Mum and Sister, but not him. He's here for the tournament as well right?" The blonde said, steering us away from the door and taking me along with her down the hall.

I actually needed to get something from the Dorm and make sure my suit was clean for the dance, but I guess I was doing this now.

"Alright Yang what are you hiding from me or why can't I go back to the dorm right now? Because I do need to do stuff as well, you know that right?" Like I said I did have things to do.

"Pyrrha and Blake are trying on their dresses, so no boys allowed!" She said as she crossed her arms in front of her in an X.

Alright then.

"Also what does the suit you're wearing to the Dance look like?" Yang asked as she directed me away from the hallway out into one of the large courtyards around the school.

"Huh? Oh I was just going to wear that one I wore the night we fought the robot since it's my only one and I like the way it looks." My blonde friend looked at me like there was something seriously wrong with my plan.

"..." She made several faces as she attempted to formulate a response before finally settling on shaking her head and rolling her eyes at me. "That sounds like you, I bet you're taking the Nurse then right?" Yang asked.

"Actually she said she's been assigned to being one of the chaperons at the Dance along with Dr. Aoi, Professor Alexi and Mr. Akabayashi."

"That's an odd selection of staff for the chaperons." She commented looking out at a tree nearby probably trying to imagine them. "So we'll have a Nurse, a Doctor, a professor who talks about laws, and I'm not really familiar with Akabayashi." she shivered at the mention of Prof. Alexi's classes.

"He's the head of Beacon's security, and I think he teaches some of the combat classes for the upper years." I met him when hanging out with Manus and Yan-Qing a few months ago, he was a nice enough guy from my brief interaction.

"Huh, guess that's why I hadn't heard of him." Yang commented.

As for Professor Alexi, his classes and lectures were the most wordy and boring of all the ones we had for sure, but he seemed like a nice person who just happened to be really enthusiastic about teaching people about the intricacies of Huntsman regulations, laws and economics regarding selling our skills and whatnot so that everyone was well informed about things that we were going to encounter once we left Beacon, be that in a year or finishing the full four.

"They're all the kind of people to be keenly aware of any problems though, which is why I bet they were chosen." I said, earning an understanding nod from my Leader.

She directed us around the school grounds for another twenty minutes before we ran into Shamhat who was picking flowers from one of the gardens. Once again she was in a sundress and sandals, though the dress was a light blue, the wreath she had on her head was made up of red Tulips and Iris' with a vine holding it all together. In her hands were roses, when I asked who she was picking them for she said-

"Nereius said he liked roses." Was all my odd friend said continuing to prune the ones she wanted.

"Oh, are you going to ask him to the Dance?" Yang asked, attempting to find footing in the conversation as she often found herself at a loss when talking to Shamhat due to the flowery girl's distinct way of conversing.

"Courting him sounds pleasurable." The implication was left unsaid.

What

"What?" The blonde next to me said aloud, voicing my thoughts.

Shamhat's eyes crinkled as she smiled sincerely looking at us as she stood with a straw basket that had the flowers in it.

"You two are very easy to fluster." The green haired girl laughed at Yang and I as my teammates' cheeks became rosey though my face was hidden. I suppose it was easy for someone like her to figure that she had gotten us both.

"So you are going with him then?" I asked moving past that.

"I am, yes." She answered properly before dismissing herself as she left to get ready for the dance.

Once I was left alone with Yang again I had a thought and so asked a question.

"You asked me if I was going with Serqet, but I never asked if you're going with anyone, so are you?" I turned to face her.

"Uhm..." she stalled looking away. "No one" the words mumbled under her breath.

"Oh well that's a tad depressing I was sure you'd have tens of guys lining up to ask you to the dance." My words seem to strike a cord in her making the blonde's expression turn to something akin to a scowl.

"Well I didn't get any Okay?" She growled in a low tone, completely changing moods.

"Ah… sorry I didn't mean to press, if you'd like I can go with you." I offered trying to lift her mood, there wasn't much I felt like I could say.

Yang laughed, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it, I'll just make sure Blake doesn't run away and enjoys herself since that was the point of nagging her into going, plus I'm sure you've had at least a few girls throw their weight your way?" It was one of those things Yang had basically mastered, changing moods and topics as fast as they came up.

"Did I?" I asked myself aloud trying to remember but I couldn't think of any since I never really put myself in a position to be approached with the Mask and my general demeanor since I was quite distant and never really socialized outside of my current friend group except for well a few exceptions.

"So you haven't either then." Yang stated more than asked. "Seems like none of us had any luck."

"Huh? What do you mean I thought that blonde guy from Haven asked Blake? Also surely Pyrrha has been asked?"

"Blake turned him down since they'd never spoken and she didn't feel comfortable going with some random guy from a different school, as for Pyr… well I think she's been approached but I don't know anything about her going with anyone."

"Okay." I gave pause. "By the way, why did you pull me away from going to the dorm?" I asked about going back to the most important thing.

"That? Oh I just saw you walking and thought I'd take you on a walk while I cleared my head before the Dance in a few hours."

"Are you serious?" She had wasted my time just for that?

"Fuck no! I grabbed you because Blake and Pyrrha were changing between a few of the different dresses we chose out so I didn't want you walking in on our team member while they were naked again." She smirked at the last part.

"You heard about that did you?"

As we walked back to the dorm now that Yang would finally let me I ignored the dumb smirk on her face since she called me out about the walking in on Pyrrha on accident, she grilled me about it for five minutes straight before stopping leaving us in a silence before she piped up again.

"Hey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever feel drawn to using your Semblance? Or like you're over reliant on it?" It was an odd question, but I guessed there was more to it than that.

"Yes, alot, actually all the time." I answered honestly. "That's why I wanted to learn cqc from you and Manus whenever we are with him so I could rely less on the stopping power of my Semblance and the nature of it." she nodded along. "Why do you ask Yang?"

Whatever she had been going to respond with was cut off when someone called our names as they approached.

"Xiao-Long, Solatium!" Our Survival Studies professor called coming to a stop in front of us.

"Sup Mrs K." Yang said

"How are you doing Mrs. Khthónios?" I asked the Professor.

"I'm well, I just came to find some students of mine that would be willing to join me for some extracurricular activities." She gave us a raised brow indicating she wanted to know whether we were up for it.

"Sorry Mrs K, I'm ahead of my work so I don't need the extra credit." the blonde next to me answered easily.

"I just don't want to go, there's something I need to do." I responded with a shrug to the woman.

Mrs Khthónios smiled knowingly and thanked us for our time before leaving, hoping we had a good rest of the day and that we had a good time at the dance.

[Questions Without Answers]

"I'm surprised you even have a suit." Castus said as I stopped in front of him outside the main hall which was being used for the Dance.

"You're one to talk, you're half naked." I replied looking pointedly at his Shendyt then at his bare chest where he y'know wasn't wearing a shirt.

My brother rolled his eyes.

"If you'd be so kind as to move out of the way, that'd be great." a deep voice said from behind us.

Turning I found myself looking at a man, about five feet eleven inches tall, wearing a dark coloured suit with a similarly dark red shirt poking out, tinted sunglasses(despite it being somewhat dark out), with a white handled walking cane. He had maroon hair slicked back, fair skin and a massive scar from his hairline down through his eye over his cheek to his chin.

"Sure thing, Mr Akabayashi." I said nodding to the man, his tone still had some of his Mistralian accent coming through his words so it was easy enough for me to remember him by that, let alone his appearance.

Castus moved with me as I got us out of the way and headed for the entrance to the dance, music could be heard as we closed in. Outside the large doors that were parted for the occasion sat a somewhat fair, lightly tan skinned woman in a mocha coloured cropped blazer with black cuffs at her elbows over a dark lace camisole, with pristine white jeans done up with a black belt that had a golden buckle. Alongside that was a silk choker and gloves with an expensive looking watch on her right wrist, her makeup looked like it was done professionally and ultimately made her look really beautiful. Plus there was her chocolate coloured hair with a bang that twisted down the left side of her face blended with blonde creating a caramel like colour.

Though her shoes were out of sight behind a pedestal where she had a log book presumably where our names would be signed in so the school knew who came to the dance.

"Ooh tall, dark and handsome- dressed to kill?" She said with a sly look as she eyed up me and my brother before getting us to sign the book. "Castus and Azrael, brothers too huh?"

"You're Coco Adel right?" I had heard about her and her team before they were somewhat of a known entity among the students at Beacon for their skill, but also apparently Coco was an authority on fashion amongst a large group of girls in the Academy.

"That I am, asking for a particular reason?" her eyes said something that I wasn't really looking to decipher.

"No not really, I've just heard your name before and wanted to put a face to the name." My answer seemed to bore her and she waved us along.

As we walked along the wall keeping out of the path of people my brother said something that I suppose we were both thinking but probably ought to have gone unsaid.

"She was hot." He said with his eyes likely focused on her ass through the walls, since my brother's Semblance was effectively x ray vision.

"Try your luck if you think she'll bite." I sighed trying not to think too much about how stupid my brother was.

He made a noise that I assumed meant he didn't feel like getting kicked in the balls.

I spotted Blake and Yang off to the side of the dance floor where an arrangement of tables and seating with several teams sitting at them spread out from one another, mostly talking in their own groups. The blonde was dressed in a black Qipao with golden accents that had a heart shaped keyhole showing a decent amount of cleavage, lastly she had on dark steel coloured two inch heels. I'd never have expected her to show up in a dress like that, but then again I couldn't really say much since I showed up in what was effectively fucking cosplay my girlfriend had gotten as a joke.

Anyway Blake was in a burgundy halter chiffon dress with black heels, as much of a mouthful that was to say, gods by glad I was paying attention when I went shopping with Serqet otherwise I never would have known what any of these things were called.

"Takezou!" Yang said, dragging me into a hug like we hadn't spoken in weeks even though we saw one another earlier.

"Where's…?" I made hand gestures.

"Around." The blonde responded. "Your brother then?" she asked.

"I'm Castus, it's good to meet you girls." My brother held out his hand and both girls shook it introducing themselves.

It was their first meeting and my brother hadn't managed to say something that would end in his death yet, so that was an improvement on his normal social skills. But it wasn't like I could say much, after all I was me. We ended up chatting for a few minutes before Yang was taken away by her sister for one reason or another, then Cas' also got called off to join his team. This left me and Blake alone since Pyrrha still hadn't shown face yet.

"Blake" I got her attention as she had been staring into the abyss of the dance as the song changed from what I assumed played in nightclubs to something slower and more smooth like jazz. "Want to dance?"

"Sure." Her response was brief and came with a smile.

I wonder what Yang said to her to change her disposition so much? She had been so clammed up and reserved with all that White Fang crap going on. Anyhow I took her hand and led her to the dance floor where people had the same idea as myself and had started pairing up whole the music was slower. I had been taught how to do a few slow dances by my mother and sister for formal events when I was younger, but it didn't seem to matter much as despite her looks or outward disposition my feline friend knew some moves as well.

Guess there was no end to the surprises among our team? We had a plethora of secrets held under our belts just waiting to wriggle their way out.

We made quite the show moving pretty well together despite the impromptu nature of it, especially since I hadn't actually done anything like this whole ball/dance thing in my life let alone randomly decided to start dancing with a close friend. Though I had my reasons, I wanted to talk with Blake about something and this seemed like a good chance to do it.

[The Dance of Cat and Bird]

We were now two hours into this event and I had still yet to see even a fleeting glimmer of my partner who had eluded our group for the entire night. Yang wasn't of any help when I eventually pressed her to find out, saying that our redhead had taken off before she and her own partner dressed for the occasion, but hadn't seen anything yet either. Which meant she hadn't actually dodge my question when I first asked when Cas' and I arrived.

But I was tired from dancing with the blonde, offering to with Ruby only to get thrown around in what I would consider some form of interpretive dance by how the hooded girl went about it. As well as dancing with Serqet as well who managed to find a spot out of sight to prying eyes to do it in for a few moments before she needed to continue her job.

Which led me to the second floor of the hall we had been in, as I headed up the stairs I was almost immediately met with the sight of a taller looking male student in a dark suit I didn't recognise very clearly helping presumably his lady friend enjoy the wall. Not wishing to watch random students fornicate in public view I walked past them at the top of the stairwell walking along the railed side that lent out over the dance floor looking down at the people below.

Just about everyone seemed to just be sitting around at the tables talking, eating, starting to fall asleep or in the case of a few leaving.

I opened a door at the end of the long walkway that opened out onto a massive balcony outside where I found my redheaded teammate. It wasn't actually my goal, but I guess I managed to hit two birds with one stone seeing as I just wanted to find a spot to smoke and relax. This worked too though.

First thing I did was put a cigarette in my mouth and light it as it hung from my lips before taking a long drag that resulted in a pleasurable sigh afterward. My sigh attracted the attention of the gir- woman. She turned my direction and I realized…

Well she looked absolutely beautiful tonight, just like Blake and Yang had. They had all really gone all out for tonight, though in Pyrrha's case it seemed like it wasn't for anyone since she hadn't even made an appearance down stairs.

Almost like it had heard my thoughts about things slowing down, I heard the music pick back up again and a cheer erupted from inside the building as I approached Pyrrha.

Doing my best to keep the smoke from wafting in her direction I tried not to stare too much at her outfit. She was in a scarlet a-line scoop neck asymmetrical satin evening dress, her hair was down once again and her gorgeous emerald eyes sparkled as moonlight reflected off them. Which made it hard not to notice the slight bloodshot to their edges and the way the corner of her eyes looked like she had been rubbing them.

Upon seeing that I dropped the cigarette immediately crushing it under my dress shoe, I had been smoking with the mask tilted to the side of my face and decided now was the time not to be wearing it. So I removed it, putting the mask in my coat pocket.

"You look gorgeous." I said genuinely.

"Thank you," Pyrrha looked away, her face blushing red. "You look smart."

I could tell she wasn't actually sure what to call what I had dressed in as, but it was the thought that counted.

"The fresh night air is good, yeah?" I received a nod from my partner as she followed beside me when I took steps toward the balustrade of the balcony.

Looking out over it I could easily make out the details of people walking around the school grounds, mostly it was soldiers that were guarding the CCT. Seeing as the balcony overlooked the large tower where it was housed, I was sure the only reason the tower was here was that Beacon was the only actually 'Safe' place in the entirety of Vale.

A few moments of silence passed between us as we looked out over the area below.

"Pyrrha." I spoke her name, eliciting a slight jolt of surprise from her. "I don't pretend to understand anyone, or think that I can read minds, but I feel like I'm halfway decent at reading obvious expressions." I paused for my words to rest in the air. "So please tell me why you were crying and why you didn't join the rest of us?"

She choked out "D-Do you h-hate me?" sounding as though she was moments from bursting into tears.

I didn't enjoy seeing her like this, she was strong, one of the strongest people I'd met, but I suppose we're all human at the end of the day. Or well I was Faunus and so was Blake- but that's not important to the idea.

"Of course not, why would you possibly think that I did?" It was hard not to show my confusion at the idea of it.

"But- you never talk with me, you're always avoiding getting close to me- you run away for no reason-" She continued listing stuff I had done to her, none of which were her fault.

I'm so sorry Pyrrha, I never thought my emotional instability would affect you or the others…

My wishy washy nature was something I was still trying to deal with and properly understand with Anastasia, that had become a focus of the sessions we had. Often enough it was just me talking to myself out loud wondering things or asking for answers regarding our issues…

And so I felt myself stumped to answer her realizing how much of a fuck up I'd made of our friendship leaving the person who I was supposed to rely on the most and rely on me the most thinking that I hated their guts for who and what they were instead of not caring who she was the way she always dreamed of someone doing.

"Its the opposite Pyrrha, if anything I love you." the words falling from my lips more like a confession than I had intended leaving her in a stuttered silence turning to face me fully, our eyes meeting briefly before I turned away flushed realizing how that could have sounded.

"I just didn't want to drag you girls into something that might hurt you, I didn't want to hurt you." I clarified. "All my life my Semblance has done nothing but hurt the people around me and cause problems- I… I've never had friends before this Pyrrha, all I ever had was my mother, brother and sister so I never learned how to deal with people properly..."

"I never meant to hurt you or make you cry, I just… I just didn't want to pull you all into my problems, like I said I love you, Yang and Blake. You're all like sisters to me, I'd never want anything to happen to you, s-so I kept it all to myself where it belongs- I'd run because you'd catch me when I was in the middle of a breakdown or something similar and I didn't want to drag you into it-" I poured my heart out, hopefully she'd understand I never wanted this.

"But we're your friends! You team! that's what we're here for!" she fought back raising her voice slightly though not enough for anyone inside to hear over the music. "Wasn't it one of your ideas to continue helping Blake? Why would you want to shoulder our burdens but not let us help with yours?!"

"As Anastasia tells me often- it's a side effect of the type of depression I have." My life was worthless compared to theirs, I was a good for nothing murderer playing at being a normal kid to hide away from my past, there wasn't anything in this world for me…

Nothing…

I didn't really know what I wanted or how I was to go about doing that…

Someone like me didn't deserve to walk among kids like these, people who would become true heroes. Manus had said it to me perfectly 'We're all here to be the makings of Heroes, the kind that come from storybooks and fairytales, you're nothing but a fake trying to imitate flesh without the understanding of what makes them want to be Heroes in the first place.'

A Murderer.

That's who I was.

"What do you mean? What could you possibly be dealing with that we couldn't help you through Azrael?" Her tone became soft like this had become my moment as if this wasn't about how I was trying to help her.

But it didn't change the fact that the words erupted from my lips without thought

"I've Killed people Okay! Do you know what it's like to put your hand around someone's neck only for their pulse to stop and their body to go limp? What it's like to reach your hand out to someone extending their help to you only to slip and cut through their life causing their lifeless corpse to fall on top of you?! Do you understand what it's like to Enjoy the feeling of doing it! No, how could you! You're just a sheltered girl from Mistral who fights for a living and gets off on fighting stronger opponents! You've never and won't ever understand what it means to watch the life seep away from everything you touch! That's why I wear this FUCKING MASK!" I yelled, straining my throat, it hurt, my heart was heavy, my mind was clouded.

Her face looked distraught, terrified and mostly importantly hurt.

I looked away from her as the realization of what my outburst cost me set in-

My wings spread their full span and I threw myself from the balcony into the sky flying away from the scene.

There was no turning back, I don't know if I could ever return, not if they knew my secret. It had been something I kept neatly tucked away, but I guess not as hidden as I would have liked.

They'd never talk to me again if they knew, they'd never want to do anything regarding me- hell I wouldn't be surprised if a huntsman is sent to track me down and put me in prison for the rest of my life.

[Not all words are equal]

I flew off into the night, the wind carrying my wings toward the large CCT tower where I could sit on top of and think, I enjoyed those high places for that reason alone. The time I had been nearly expelled for eavesdropping on the Headmaster I was up there because I liked how freeing the air felt, being able to see the world around me and the solitude of it.

As I flew closer to the structure preparing myself to land I watched as glass was shattered from gunfire and a woman threw herself from the highest floor where the window had been shot out. They were dressed in all black looking particularly conspicuous with a black masquerade mask over her eyes, her just as dark hair flailing around as she plummeted toward the ground catching herself in a burst of flame as it shot out in small torrents from her feet and hands stabilizing her. Allowing the woman to continue running into the night away.

I wondered if I should intervene in what I could only assume was someone sabotaging our main source of communication with the rest of the world.

A minute passed as I began following high above the woman deciding whether I really cared, what was destroying more lives by helping this woman escape compared to the killings I had already done?

She was beginning to reach the edge of the plateau Beacon resided on when I decided to stop her- flying down in a flash of speed I crashed into her from behind pinning the woman to the pavement. She grunted out a curse fighting back against my weight that was keeping her down. My knees and legs were on her arms with her face looking back up at me.

Something about the green eyes she had looked familiar, she seemed to think I looked familiar as well because of the hitched breath she took upon staring directly in my eyes.

"You're Cinder Fall aren't you?" I questioned realizing it was her again, that she was not only up to stealing Dust but destroying communications for the city.

"You again." she said glaring through the mask.

I removed the black masquerade mask so we were on equal footing, her eyes burned with a passionate flame. I meant that literally as they sparked with fire, it must've been her Semblance. I had no interest in letting her use it on me, so I jammed my finger in her left eye, muffling the scream with the tail of my coat only stopping once blood spilled from the socket in her head.

"Tell me why I should let you go, I saw you flee the CCT." My question made the woman pause from her pained silent suffering.

"I'll Kill you!" she spat in a low growl holding back another scream of pain.

"Death Huh?" I posed looking at her with a deadpan expression, my eyes were lidded and uncaring.

"Are you that stupid?! I'll burn you alive and hang your corpse in front of your friends and family." Her words seemed more like empty descriptors of something she'd seen rather than something she'd do.

"Then why haven't you already? I destroyed your warehouse, I took your eyes and now I've got you pinned under me as you flee the scene of a crime having destroyed your eye again." there was a look of defeat that was underlying her fierce glare that she held on me.

"... " she said nothing.

I rose from the ground and stopped pinning her.

"You can go now, I don't really care what you do, I'm no better than you anyway" I pulled the woman to her feet, her eye socket still bleeding, somehow she hadn't passed out from the pain. "It probably sounds stupider than anything you've ever heard, but I'm willing to take you back to your hideout or whatever you have to make up for this."

"What?" Cinder asked dumbfounded, staring at me with an incredulous look.

Honestly I was surprised she still hadn't taken the opportunity to make good on killing me like she said, maybe she was bluffing?

"Like I said I'm no better than you, I don't really care what happens and the only reason I stopped you was because I wanted to let off some steam- the reason I destroyed your eye because you've shown that you can recover them somehow- Gods know I'm bound for the Duat never to find piece so if you'd be willing to look past what I've done I'm willing to work for you."

She seemed like she still didn't know how to process what I had said.

I watched as the woman left and when she was gone from my sight I left as well.

AN: I like this chapter quite a bit, but my only problem is that it shows probably the best description of what I understand it being like to have bipolar depression ruined by the fact that its being worn by a self proclaimed murderer. Also if you actually are someone who is bipolar depressed and this isn't how you'd describe it then tell me and I can change it, I'd rather not misrepresent such a serious thing anymore than I already have with Azraels reasons for being someone with it.

After all I take stuff like depression and suicide very seriously due to having almost all types of either in my life so I'd hate to misrepresent the core of it like I already said.

Anyway this is the start of the final sub-arc of this Arc. As well as that for those who are wondering why Akabayashi sounded familiar and couldn't place it, I for the most part based him on the character of the same name in Durarara since I had been rewatching it a month or so ago when I had started writing the chapter.