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I am making no money from this.

Chapter 34: We Need To Talk

Arctus sat alone in Team FADE's dormitory, flipping through channels on the television as nothing seemed to hold his attention or force the jumbled mass of disconnected thoughts occupying his mind into something approaching order. He wasn't sure if it was late morning or early afternoon at this point. Felix had left stating that he'd had a message from his mothers and needed to head back to Patch, his cousin hadn't gone into specifics but his obvious unease made it clear what he was expecting to face when he arrived home. Eagle had offered to train in the gym or go for a walk with him as an obvious way to distract him from thoughts of the previous night; Arctus had politely declined as he currently lacked the motivation to do anything at all. He hadn't seen Diamond all morning, upon returning to his dorm the previous night she'd already been in her own bed and had awoken early, leaving for breakfast while Arctus was still asleep. The Bear Faunus's stomach plummeted at the thought of his partner and his hand twitched towards his Scroll which was currently charging nearby as he contemplated the idea of calling her and meeting up so that they could talk things out, despite the fact he had no idea what to say to fix the situation. Turning off the television in an acceptance of the fact that he would find no distractions there Arctus flopped down on his bed, reaching for his Scroll and searching for his earphones, the first song on the playlist he selected was by the band Raphael Lake, a band he associated with Diamond due to how much she enjoyed their music. Arctus was prevented from throwing the Scroll across the room by the sound of it ringing, the tone indicating a video call. The momentary spark of hope that it might be Diamond being extinguished when he saw the caller ID; it was a call he'd been expecting but was decidedly not prepared for

"Hey Dad" he murmured as the image of his father, in full uniform wearing an annoyed scowl appeared on the screen, the older Faunus wasted no time on pleasantries

"Normally I'd ask for your side of the story, but considering that there shouldn't even be a story as you promised me you'd stay out of this I'm not really in the mood" Gangrel Slate hated raising his voice to either of his children regardless of what mistake they'd made or rule they'd broken, Arctus knew this and realised that the fact his father seemed to be making a conscious effort not to lose his temper with him was a very bad sign indeed

"So you've heard from Kafsi then?" Arctus sighed, sitting upright and squaring his shoulders

"You mean that you committed a war crime by firing a plasma weapon at her, right after doing favours for the mob. Yeah I heard about that"

"We weren't doing favours for the mob" Arctus growled irritably "Okay, well we were but we were doing it to get information about where Antonia Arc is-"

"Contacting the current undisputed boss of the criminal element of New Vale and getting them to help; it's a good idea Arctus I'll give you that" Gangrel paused and sighed "The problem is I had the same idea, I lived in Vale for seven years, I know the Malachite family-"

"And the best you could send was Kafsi?" Arctus demanded incredulously "She doesn't care about finding-"

"Operative Asteri doesn't care about Antonia Arc as person" Gangrel interrupted "You're right, she's a nasty piece of work. She's made no secret about the fact she wants your Aunt Winter's job but she'll settle for mine. She's a bigot, a bully and a narcissist. She doesn't believe I'm capable of running the specialist branch and to be honest she's got all the makings of a megalomaniac-"

"Then why in Oum's name did you send her here?"

"Because" Gangrel growled out "She's got a perfect record, one hundred percent success rate. She may not care about Toni as a person, but she does care about her as an objective. She would have done the job and came home with bragging rights; but you chose to interfere"

"She attacked my partner" Arctus tried desperately to defend his actions

"No, she defended an asset from your partner" Gangrel countered bluntly "And it still doesn't excuse what you did. I don't think you fully appreciate how much damage you've done" the older Faunus's voice rose with every syllable and Arctus couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his father so furious; even the time Arctus had found where Gangrel kept his weapons stored while at home seemed to pale in comparison. Hanging his head, shoulders slumping he mumbled out

"How bad is it?"

"If you were anyone else the death penalty would be a serious consideration, twenty years inside if not" the words hit Arctus like freezing water and Gangrel watched the way his sons' jaw dropped and eyes widened, seeing that he was beginning to understand before continuing "Thankfully me and Winter have managed to do damage limitation; paid service to the Kingdom after you turn eighteen. On my ship" Arctus seemed to perk up at that, his birthday was at the beginning of the summer vacation and the idea of spending some of it with his father hardly seemed a punishment. Gangrel seemed to be able to surmise his sons' thought process and growled at him

"Don't you dare think this is a fucking reward. Winter has two seats on the council, her brother and sister run the SDC, her brother in law is head of the specialist branch and everybody knows her and Matte, the head of the fleet, had something going on for a while. A lot of people think the Schnees have too much power and are a threat that needs to be dealt with. You just gave them proof" Arctus seemed to fold in on himself, he'd been away from the political machinations of Atlas's ruling class and frankly he hadn't missed them in the slightest, his fathers' warning seemed to serve as a stark reminder that he would never truly be free of them

"I'm sorry" Gangrel nodded and took a deep breath, evidently far from calm before speaking again

"Take the plasma cell out of your weapon and take it to Rover and Missy's place. They'll message me when you do" Arctus was dumbfounded at the request, momentarily forgetting who he was speaking to

"You can't be serious-"

"You clearly can't be trusted with it!" Gangrel snapped "You've got one mission left on the year and that's inside the city, I checked with Goodwitch. You can make do with your Semblance and your sword or you can make yourself a new weapon. If you don't appreciate how dangerous a plasma weapon is, or why they're only for use against Grimm then I can't let you run around with one" the younger Faunus bit his tongue, fists clenching in frustration as he wanted to protest but knew that it would be futile, he'd made a mistake and now he was paying dearly for it

"Fine"

"Good" Gangrel nodded, flexing the clawed fingers of his cybernetic hand "And this had better be the last I hear of this. Stay out of the Arc situation"

"I can't do that" the words left Arctus before he could stop them, surprising even himself with the boldness. Seeing his fathers' raised eyebrow, amber eyes boring into him intently through the screen he continued "I'm sorry but I can't. Eagle's a friend, I can't leave this to someone like Kafsi; not when I was the one who gave you intel on the Shadow Cadre in the first place" there were several moments of silence between them that the word 'tense' utterly failed to do justice, Gangrel eventually ran his mechanical left hand through his greying hair and let out a sigh that spoke to weariness beyond belief

"You're on your own then kid"

"Dad-"

"Arctus you're my son and I love you, but if you won't listen then there are going to be consequences. This isn't just us having a disagreement, this is you telling me you're going to interfere with a covert mission in another Kingdom. If you risk Specialist Asteri's mission you're on your own. If she has to use force to stop you then she can and will" Arctus didn't have enough false bravado in him to make a comment about looking forward to it, it was a fight he would lose and he knew it.

"I hope it doesn't come to that, but if I see a chance to get Antonia Arc home faster, then I can and I will take it….and I love you too Dad" silence reigned again after that, both men wishing they could make the other see reason but neither knowing how. It was Gangrel that eventually broke the silence

"I've gotta go, I still have reports to file and operations to co-ordinate….Oum I actually miss being in the field"

"Bye dad" the call ended and Arctus huffed, sliding off of the bed and to the stand Team FADE kept their weapons on, removing Gefroren-Erbe he examined the oversized blade and noticed several scores in its' matte black finish that would need to be fixed after he was done gutting the weapon. With a sigh he sheathed the sword and made his way out of the dorm silently wondering how much worse things were going to get before they got better.

Felix manoeuvred his muscle car through the streets of Patch, listening to the Killer Bees' engine purr as he drove away from the docks and the more developed areas of the island and towards the Xiao Long family home. Upon receiving the simple message 'Come home we need to talk' from Yang the Lion Faunus had immediately contacted his sister and been surprised to hear that Corvid had not been sent a similar message, though that was far from enough to abate his nerves. Turning the radio up a little louder he tried to clear his mind by simply drowning out his thoughts with heavy bass and a roaring engine as he decided to push the car a little faster now he was away from the centre of the island before finally bringing it to a stop outside of his home, the sound of his arrival no doubt alerting his parents that he'd arrived. Exiting the car his eyes honed in on something visible from the corner of the fence at the front of the house, The Pearl, Aunt Penny's personal Bull-Head was situated in the clearing just beyond the garage and back yard. Intrigued and feeling slightly better he made his way to the front door and knocked before simply letting himself in

"Hey Blake, Yang, I'm home!"

"FELIX!" he barely had chance to prepare herself before twin streaks of hyperactivity given form collided with his legs

"Hey" the chuckled as he lifted each of the twins in one arm and having a somewhat devious thought as he stared at the freckled faces and silver eyes of Tai-Jaune and Summer-Pyrrha "I think I might be in trouble, have either of you heard anything?" they both giggled at his stage whispered question before Summer answered with a shrug

"Drunkle Qrow was growling about something" that caused Felix to nearly drop them, setting the twins down carefully and refraining from swearing in front of them he made his way into the living room to see five people already waiting for him. Blake and Yang, Penny and Ruby, the wound she'd received before his initiation to Halo Academy had faded to a barely distinguishable scar across her face. The fifth person was Qrow. Felix fought the urge to audibly gulp when Yang turned to him and gestured to an empty chair

"Sit down" her tone wasn't harsh but still lacked any of the usual warmth that most people would associate with Yang Xiao Long. When he was sat Blake spoke up

"I think we all know what this is about, but would you like to tell us your side of things" as Felix feared, it was obvious that they knew about last night

"I think we do but before I start; what have you heard and from who? I just want to know what I'm being accused of"

"You just want to know how many names to leave out of it" Blake countered, this was far from the first time his family had needed to have serious words with him about his behaviour, his temper and skill in a fistfight was notorious on the island

"Okay yeah" he paused and contemplated exactly what he was going to say and found words pouring from his mouth seemingly of their own volition "I think I messed up Mum, I think I got my team over their heads in something"

"Oum damn it" Qrow growled

"Hey" Felix almost jumped as he realised that Ruby was suddenly beside him "It's okay, talk to us. We're trying to help"

"So was I" Felix chuckled bitterly "I just helped hook Melanie Malachite up with everything she needs to start selling Booster on an industrial scale" his head sunk, he didn't want to see the looks on their faces. It was Penny that spoke first

"It was my understanding that you'd helped out members of the narcotics division before? Would they not be able to deal with this?" the first response she received was open laughter from Qrow, before Blake explained

"Melanie Malachite inherited her crime syndicate from Hie 'Junior' Xiong; currently Councilman Xiong"

"Oh" Penny said simply, the fact that the former gangster had progressed far enough in the political arena to have a seat on New Vale's governing body spoke both to how much dirt he had on his opposition and how futile any attempt to have his niece stopped or brought to justice would be

"That doesn't fit" Yang murmured "Melanie called me this morning, she said she'd been thinking on it all night and finally decided that she wasn't going to have your whole team killed in alley but all debts and favours are settled" the fact that he was being spared the mobsters' wrath felt like a weight being lifted from Felix's chest, only to be replaced by another with the shame of being such a source of trouble

"Why would she be that angry with your team if you just gave her something that useful?" Blake asked, doing her best to keep the judgement out of her tone

"I think we're missing a more important question here" Ruby gasped as she placed her hands on Felix's shoulder "Felix why?"

"I was trading a favour with her" the Lion Faunus paused for a moment to collect himself "She has her people keep their eyes and ears open for any information about Antonia Arc; we hit a shipment of drugs that Torchwick's crew are bringing in, we thought we were just crippling the competition. We handed them over to the Narcs….then we found out that she'd be able to get her hands on it and Diamond lost it, tried taking a shot"

"Wish she'd took a better shot, New Vale would be a nicer place" Qrow grumbled "You fucked up kid, you fucked up real bad"

"I had to do something!" Felix shot back "All these Hunters looking for Eagle's Mum and nothing's happened"

"Nothing that you've been told, because you're seventeen and don't need to be concerning yourself with this" Qrow countered easily

"This isn't solving anything" Blake interrupted

"Neither is letting the kid run rampant" Qrow argued, rising from his seat "Look Blake, Firecracker I love you both but someone needs to talk sense to the kid"

"Hey!" Felix barked, stunned everyone in the room with the venom in his voice "First of all old man don't ever talk to my Mum like that again. Secondly why are you even here?"

"Because" Qrow stepped directly into Felix's personal space "I'm one of those Hunters whose life you're making difficult when you get the mob involved"

"That's enough. Both of you" Yang stepped between them and physically broke the two apart, just as Felix decided to throw another barb

"Why though? What did you sleep with Eagle's Mum back in the day or something?" the atmosphere in the room changed, everyone was suddenly silent and the tension was palpable. Qrow ran his hands through hair that had been grey for years and something clicked in Felix's mind, he was right

"Oh for Oum's sake, you've gotta be-" he trailed off as a realisation hit him like a truck, staring at his Great-Uncles' annoyed face it became clear that the deep crimson eyes currently narrowed at him were identical in every way to those of Eagle Arc "No, no way"

"Whatever you think you just figured out" Qrow snarled "You forget about it right now"
"You're Eagle's Dad!" Felix gasped, sinking back into his chair "Holy shit!"

"Felix you can't tell her" Yang warned him

"I can't not tell her!" he shot back "Uncle Qrow what the hell? How could you not-"

"Because I didn't know!" he bellowed, frayed nerves finally snapping "I hadn't seen Antonia in years, I only knew Eagle existed when I saw a photo of your team!"

"Why haven't you told her?" Felix demanded, the urge to fight leaving him as he struggled to process the information

"Because Toni begged me not to" Qrow answered quietly "She wanted to be the one to tell her"

"Well that's not looking likely right now is it?" Felix sighed bitterly

"Yes it is" Ruby assured him "Because we're going to find her. We just need you to focus on your training"

"Kinda the last thing on my mind right now"

"Fluffy please" Yang breathed out "I get it, I know this is going to be hard to keep to yourself. But do you really think Eagle needs any more on her plate right now?" the Lion Faunus growled, knuckles cracking

"Fine. I'll keep quiet"

"Thank you" Qrow murmured as he gently squeezed Felix's shoulder before turning to Penny and Ruby "We need to go"

"We're co-ordinating the efforts to find Toni" Penny explained upon seeing Felix's confused face. He watched the trio leave, Ruby thanking Yang and Blake for looking after the twins as she did so and giving the children a hug and assuring them she'd be back later before leaving. The sound of the twins playing in the next room was the only sound while Felix sat in silence, waiting for either of his mothers' to speak. When neither of them did he finally sighed

"You're mad aren't you?"

"Oh I was furious Fluffy don't worry about that" Yang answered with a frown "But I got most of it off my chest telling Melanie exactly what would happen if she ever threatened my son again"

"What you did bothers us Fluffy" Blake added "But we understand that you did it with the best intentions. This needs to stop though, you need to keep your nose clean before you get into something you can't get out of" Felix remained silent, his experiences with Melanie Malachite had been something of a wakeup call for him; though he was still determined to help his partner in any way possible

"So on a lighter subject" Yang grinned, clearly sensing how uneasy Felix was "How's school? We heard from Corey there's a redhead you can't take your eyes off"

"Oh for Oum's sake!"

It was late afternoon as Diamond wandered through Halo Academies' corridors, a vague destination in mind as she did so. She'd not been back on the campus long after leaving that morning. Diamond hadn't wanted to deal with the fallout of the previous night and had left early only to run into Helios while meandering the campus with less purpose than she was doing now; the two of them agreed that they'd spent far too little time hanging out and reconnecting since being placed on separate teams and decided to head out for breakfast for a catch up that seemed several years overdue after the summer they'd spent together when Diamond moved from one of Mistrals' cities to another. Over the course of the breakfast at what Helios agreed was the best Mistrali place in New Vale Diamond had teased, prodded and fished for information in an attempt to confirm or deny whether the redhead had a slight crush on her own team leader; admittedly it had been a distraction from her own problems but had been interesting nonetheless, Helios hadn't verbally confirmed anything but his body language spoke volumes. Later on they'd been joined by the rest of Team NEON and somehow ended up at an arcade where Diamond had proceeded to thrash Nyanza at every game they played while Ether and Olivine won several handfuls of prizes for each other.

Then they'd decided to return to campus and double check the assignments that were due to be handed in the next day, leaving Diamond roaming the campus in the direction of the canteen. Breakfast had been hours ago and she was famished, the fact it further delayed a conversation that she was by no means prepared for also played a larger role in the decision that she wanted to admit to herself.

"Oh come on!" she gesticulated wildly for the benefit of nobody in particular when she arrived at the canteen only to find it closed, Sundays not having the same service for the students as weekdays. The silver haired teen made herself comfortable sat on the floor as she contemplated heading back to Team FADE's dormitory and clearing the air with Arctus or finding something else she could do to stall for time

"Oh this is fucking ridiculous" she muttered to herself, realising just how much of a coward she sounded to herself; yet barely a moment later a thought occurred to her. There was someone she hadn't spoken to in so long it was frankly a little shameful and whose advice Diamond would greatly appreciate. Withdrawing her Scroll she found the contact in question and decided to make it a video call, a few rings later she was rewarded when a familiar face appeared on her screen

"Dee Dee!"

"Hey Mum, how've you been?" Diamond beamed at the sight of a face that bore striking similarities to her own; Emerald's tied back hair was a pale mint green and her eyes were perhaps not as narrow as Diamond's but the relationship was undeniable

"Busy and a little annoyed that my daughter never calls" Emerald's answer came with a pout that was clearly for show

"I know I know, I'm sorry" Diamond sighed at her mothers' good natured teasing "I've been busy with training and volunteer work and getting to know New Vale"

"And boys, unless I misheard Merc" Emerald winked "And something about you blowing up drug factories….good work on that" Diamond's face fell at the praise

"Yeah well the mob are still gonna be selling Booster for the foreseeable" she muttered "And it was a boy, singular" there was a rustling sound and Diamond returned her gaze to the screen and saw that Emerald had made herself comfortable on her bed

"Details child, I must have them" Diamond chuckled despite herself

"Arctus Slate, my partner….I actually choked him out at the airship docks on the first day-"

"First impressions and all that"

"Oh my Oum shut up" Diamond laughed "He's great. Really sweet, tall, nice shoulders, gives the best hugs. He had this really adorable crush that was super obvious but he never acted on it. We just seemed to click naturally, saved each others asses a few times and were just always hanging out; I think it was after our first mission that I kinda realised I'd gotten attached to the dumb-ass"

"Glad to see you're doing okay over there Dee Dee, I know you're smart but I still worry about you. He sounds nice"

"Yeah he is" Diamond breathed out, trailing off in away that immediately gave Emerald cause for concern

"What's wrong?"

"We argued last night….You know about the whole Antonia Arc situation right?" Diamond was aware that both New Vales' government and Poly-Tech had tried to keep the story as quiet as possible but there was no conceivable way that Emerald Sustrai wouldn't have heard something

"Heard a little, she went missing right?"

"Kidnapped, a group of pirates from one of the Anima tribes. Well her daughter is on my team so we've been doing what we can to help-"

"Oh I don't like where this is going" Emerald interjected

"Mum please" Diamond huffed with a roll of her eyes "Well we had the idea of talking to one of the biggest mob bosses in town and trading a favour. That drugs lab that got blown up was run by her competition, we take out one of their shipments and she has her people keep their eyes open. It went well until we got back to her office and she basically told us we'd been played. I did something stupid, Arctus did something even stupider to try and help and we ended up arguing about it afterwards. Oh and he told me he loved me" Emerald took all of this in and massaged her temples while letting out a slow groan

"The sad part is I can't even say it was simpler when I was a student, there was a war and I was on both sides" the older woman allowed herself a small smirk at the thought before continuing "Okay so the whole mob thing is an issue we need a whole separate conversation for Dee. Look I get wanting Booster off the streets and I get wanting to help your team but everything about this seems stupidly risky. You've seen what gang violence looks like as much as I wish you hadn't….You know better"

"I know Mum but none of us could sit around doing nothing"

"You're a go-getter and a helper. I'm proud of you" Diamond swore if she rolled her eyes any harder that she'd be able to see the inside of her own skull, Emerald continued on regardless "Now about your boy troubles….How bad was it?"

"I said if being together is going to turn us into idiots then maybe we shouldn't be" the silver haired sniper mumbled

"Dee-Dee I love you but if that boy from Signal you dated for years proved anything it's that love will always turn you into an idiot" Diamond's only answer was a wordless groan of frustration "And do you honestly think working with your ex is gonna be any easier than learning how to work with your boyfriend and not let it interfere with the job?"

"I didn't think at all" Diamond admitted "I was just angry at everything. It's like he didn't get that he could have gotten himself killed"

"Oh this sounds familiar" Emerald laughed "Merc and I have had arguments like that a few times. Sounds like you've both got each others' backs to the point of not having your own"

"I mean kinda"

"You're an idealist at heart Dee Dee I get it, but arguments happen" Emerald sighed "I'm not saying take him back and let him be an idiot….I'm just saying maybe you two should have another talk now you've calmed down a bit"

"You're probably right" Diamond sighed, not wanting to admit that was in fact something she was putting off out of sheer apprehension though Emerald seemed to pick up on it anyway

"Merc's gonna be back soon, I sent him to pick something to eat up. I'll tell him you said hi. Try and call more often please, I miss you"

"Miss you too Mum" Diamond replied with a soft smile "Okay wish me luck. I'm gonna go talk to my dumb-ass"

Eagle had originally intended to let off some steam in a rigorous training session in the gym when she'd left the dorm that morning; her plans had changed when she ran into Team AQUA in the canteen, her classmates had informed her that while not exactly pleasant outside it was the best weather they'd had for a while and were planning on using one of the less known settings on the outdoor training area, redirecting the hard-light projectors and nanobot caches from their usual purpose of simulating Grimm attacks to creating an artificial assault course for a more varied work out, this had naturally devolved into countless fits of laughter and something Eagle realised as she watched Aqua Tsuyu and Quartz Murus interact like the lovestruck couple that they were was that her bumbling shyness around the frog Faunus seemed to have vanished almost completely. Eventually they'd parted ways, Team AQUA returning to their own dorm leaving Eagle in search of something else to occupy her time; she wasn't sure she wanted to return to her own dormitory until whatever was happening between Arctus and Diamond was resolved. She found herself in the fiction section of the library, searching for something to indulge her love of tales of heroism when she heard someone clear their throat behind her, turning she saw her honorary Aunt and Uncle and gave Ren and Nora a bright smile, remembering where she was and catching herself before she greeted them far louder than was appropriate

"Eagle can you sit down with us for a moment" Ren may have asked but in reality it wasn't a question. Eagle nodded silently and made her way to the nearest table, caught completely off guard by the situation. Ren and Nora sat opposite her and exchanged looks before Ren placed something on the table that under normal circumstances would have made her smile fondly but now made her stomach plummet; a copy of the tales of the first Huntsman.

More precisely, her copy. The one she'd left with Hellion.

"I think we both know what I'm going to ask you" Ren sighed "I was the one taking her meal to her last night and I found this in her cell. Eagle, what's going on?"

"Nothing" Eagle tried to sound innocent "I mean not really"

"Please don't lie to us" Nora sighed "You're not in trouble-" Eagle couldn't help but snort at that

"You shouldn't even know she's here" Ren added

"I saw her when Uncle Flax was bringing her here" Eagle admitted "I didn't mean to, I was just out trying to clear my head. I couldn't pretend I hadn't afterwards, I had to talk to her, I wanted to know why they took Mum" Ren raised his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose while Nora visibly sagged in her seat before reaching over and gently squeezing the blondes' hand

"I understand, I really do. When I lost my parents I would have done anything for answers so I feel like trash telling you that you can't be involved in this but it's for the best"

"No it's not" Eagle answered bluntly "We're Hunters. We fight the Grimm and uphold justice….whatever she's done she shouldn't be tortured the way she was"

"Tortured? I don't know what she told you but nobody has laid a hand on her" Nora was clearly affronted by the suggestion, Eagle explained

"Not physically but she's never been alone like this before; the isolation is torture for her" her voice dropped to a whisper "She was cutting herself when I first found her, that's why I went back. I can't sit back and do nothing about Mum being taken and I can't sit back and do nothing about this either"

"Oh my Oum" Nora breathed out, Ren looked physically ill at the thought of what he may have contributed to before speaking up

"We have to tell Goodwitch about this-"

"It won't matter" Nora sighed "Qrow asked her so it won't change anything, besides it's not safe for her to be in a regular prison"

"But still"

"I'm still here" Eagle interrupted with an annoyed pout "I told her I'd keep coming back and she hasn't hurt herself since. She talks to me" Ren and Nora looked first at their niece then to each other, a silent conversation clearly taking place between them

"She hasn't said a word whenever Qrow's tried to get information out of her" Ren finally admitted

"If we okay this you have to promise us you have to be careful" Nora added

"I promise"

"You stay on the outside of her cell and you take Sentinel with you every time" the redhead insisted

"Don't you think that's a little overkill?"

"No" Nora answered bluntly "I've seen those knives of hers, Qrow asked us to keep her stuff for her. I want a weapon on her at all times whenever you're near her"

"Will a camera do?" Ren asked with a wry smile "Her cell isn't actually monitored visually. I'll tell Goodwitch I want one installed"

"I'll take both" Nora's tone made both Eagle and Ren chuckle despite themselves

"So it's settled then?" Eagle asked hopefully

"It's not ideal" Ren murmured "But nothing about this is. You've always been smart and you've always done what you thought was the right thing. I've never had a reason not to trust you"

"Just promise us that if she tells you anything about where her friends are hiding that you'll talk to us. Please don't rush in without thinking"

"Okay I promise" Eagle nodded, it was a promise she had every intent on keeping. Recent events had proven that a more experienced opinion was sometimes needed. Nora gave her a weak smile and slid the book across the table before adding

"And next time give her a library book or something, not one of your old birthday presents"

Gangrel Slate reclined on the sofa in the living room of Schnee Manor gently and absent mindedly stroking Weiss's hair which had been let down when she arrived home from the SDCs' primary research facility, while his wife made herself comfortable leaning against him in a display that would no doubt have caused her Father to criticise her posture. Weiss almost snorted, 'As if that would be the first thing he'd complain about' Athena-Jade had been put to bed for the night, though Weiss suspected her daughter would have slipped out of her bed by now and was most likely playing in the dark. Winter was almost never at the manor, her flagship was more of a home to her than the place she'd grown up. Whitley was elsewhere, Weiss was never sure of more than that, her brother could be at the SDC head office attending to business or he could just as easily be out committing the kinds of debauchery that would doubtless make the front page of tomorrows' gossip rags. Weiss herself had a busy day ahead of her and was currently enjoying a lamentably rare chance to just drift off in her husbands' arms. Her eyes opened slowly as she felt the towering Bear Faunus adjust himself and peer down at her

"Do you think I was too hard on him?" Weiss pondered for a moment, she'd been furious upon learning what her son had become involved in before managing to calm herself down and look at things objectively

"I'm glad it was you that spoke to him, you have an understanding of things like this that I don't. He needs to understand Gangrel"

"I know, I know. I kinda feel like a hypocrite though….what he did was stupid and dangerous but he did it to cover his partner who's also his girlfriend. I'd have done the same for you" he paused for a moment "Not that you'd actually need me to cover you" Weiss smiled and swatted his arm playfully while nuzzling in a little closer

"Dolt. You're a good Father Gangrel….far better than mine ever was"

"That bar's so low I tripped over it" he snorted in response, earning himself another playful slap before Weiss turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling his lips down to meet hers

"Try not to be away too long"

"I'll try" Gangrel promised, sighing with annoyance that his duties would see him leaving the Kingdom the following morning. He gently extricated himself from Weiss and answered her confused expression with a smile "I promised Athena I'd read to her tonight; she already told me I'm the suckiest for leaving"

"That's just unacceptable" Weiss managed to choke out through her laughter "The attitude is bad enough but must she butcher the language as well? Oum she is so your daughter" Gangrel merely beamed with pride, as he did almost any time his children were mentioned

"I'll be back soon, she'll most likely want the story about the Maidens again….One day she's gonna ask why I give the Winter Maiden a Vaccuan accent" Weiss moved gracefully from the sofa, arms wrapping around her husbands' waist as she stood on her toes to whisper in his ear

"If you're going away then I want to do a lot more than cuddle…..I'll be in our room" Arctus watched her leave and began trying to figure out just how many pages he could skip in the book he was going to be reading to Athena-Jade without her noticing.

The nights weren't as cold as they had been previously, snow having given way to a fine misty drizzle which soaked deep into Arctus's clothes. The Bear Faunus was currently sat on the roof of Halo Academy above his teams' dormitory. He'd returned from Rover and Artemis's home almost an hour ago having left the plasma cell from his weapon in their keeping. He'd made his way onto the roof after returning and finding the dorm empty and feeling as though it were more of a prison than a home at that moment, it just felt far too small. He told himself he was sat outside in the rain because he needed to clear his head and because it had been far too long since he just enjoyed the view; in truth he was sulking and he knew it. Eventually he heard the sound of someone approaching, from below, and was left nervously fidgeting as Diamond came into view simply walking up the wall with the aid of her Semblance wearing one of her baggy hoodies to fight the cold

"Hey….You left the window open"

"Yeah it only opens from inside, I can't get back in if I close it" Diamond nodded in understanding before sitting down beside Arctus, a little space between them that they were both painfully aware of despite their best efforts to ignore the awkwardness

"I get it" she shrugged "More than once back home I had to break into my own building 'cos I got locked out while I was on the roof….I used to play bass to myself up there sometimes, I thought I looked kinda brooding and bad-ass" she admitted with a snort

"You've got a Coal-Metalman Z right?"

"Oh my Oum! You remembered that?" Diamond couldn't help a soft laugh that escaped her even as her eyes widened; Arctus merely shrugged and the silence between them quickly grew tense until Diamond took a deep breath and decided that the direct approach would be the best

"So let's talk about what happened last night"

"Diamond I'm sorry, I messed up okay" Arctus looked utterly dejected and Diamond instinctively moved closer to him

"Yeah we both did, I'm sorry too….Neither of us were thinking in Melanie's office. I saw red and attacked, you panicked and attacked. We just need to work on it"

"There's still a 'we'?" he sounded frankly terrified, Diamond hesitated before continuing, the potential answer frightening her

"There is if you want there to be"

"Of course I do" Arctus's reply came quickly, as if the words were spoken of their own volition; Diamond's answer was to close the distance between them and rest her head on his shoulder while his arm found it's way around her waist

"So I told my Mum we're dating….no doubt my Dad will find out, you may want to write a will" Diamond noted jokingly, honestly just happy that things were going so well

"Great" Arctus chuckled "I'd promise not to pull a plasma gun on him but I don't have one now anyway"

"What?"

"Kafsi told my Dad what happened….he was beyond pissed, told me take the plasma cell out of my weapon and give it to Aunt Missy" Arctus frowned as Diamond burst out laughing "Thanks for the support"

"Dude I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at her" Diamond managed to gasp out before utterly failing to compose herself and giving into another fit of laughter "I mean wow, I knew she was probably middle class but come on she actually went to speak to the manager" it took a moment but a grin slowly spread across the Bear Faunus's face

"Okay when you put it like that it's funny" he admitted "So are we okay?"

"Yeah we're okay" Diamond leaned up and kissed his cheek "Wanna stay out here for a while? I know you enjoy the view….even if it's not Atlas"

"Wait, you remembered that?" Diamond rolled her eyes and pushed him back, resting her head on his chest while Arctus laced his fingers through her. There was a peaceful silence for a few moments before Arctus spoke, his voice quiet and somewhat timid

"Hey….I didn't tell you I loved you yesterday just to get out of an argument with you. I just want you to know that. I really do love you" Diamond exhaled slowly, this part of the conversation was not one she had been looking forward to

"Big Guy, I don't want to say it back. Not yet anyway"

"I-"

"You're great, you really are" she assured him "I just need time, don't want to start throwing words like love around after a couple months. I'm not saying that I don't love you or I never will, I'm just asking you to let me get there in my own time"

"Okay"

"Okay? That's all?" Diamond had been expecting it to become an issue; Arctus squeezed her hand and held her a little tighter

"Dee take all the time you need, I'll be right here" she chose not to answer verbally, instead rolling over so that she was on top of him and cupping his cheeks "You're gonna tell I'm a dork right?"

"No" Diamond grinned with a roll of her eyes "You're a dumb-ass….but you're my dumb-ass" whatever Arctus intended to see in response was muffled by her kissing him

Authors Notes:

You can all put the torches and pitchforks down now.
Anyway, I may or may not be taking a week off of this story. I have a rough idea of what needs to happen between now and the finale of First Year but I want to take some time to get it all planned out.
Also I had an idea for a Pokemon survival horror story that I might do something with.
I got laid off a couple days ago so I've got a bit more free time to write but honestly I hope the situation doesn't last; either way don't expect the daily uploads of The Downward Spiral to make a comeback.

Now let's summarise:
Poor Arctus, I'm imagining "No sunshine when she's gone" playing.
Oh yeah, Gang is pissed; rightfully so.
The "Unpaid service to the Kingdom" on Gang's ship is me setting something up for second year.
I mean when you put it that way, the Schnee family does actually have too much power.
Again, Gang is right to be pissed and he has a point.
Arctus just directly put himself at odds with the entirety of Atlas's military; Gangrel is probably the proudest he's ever been but can't show it.
The twins, since they're a fan favourite.
If you remember in Chapter 2 Ruby had a slash across her face from a mission, now it's just another one of her scars.
"We're trying to help" "So was I" damn, I could actually feel Felix's soul fracture there.
Yeah Melanie is effectively untouchable, as far as we're aware the Kingdoms don't have an elected leader. The fact that Junior is now on New Vale's council makes her above the law.
I know Qrow seems a bit of a dick in this chapter, he's dealing with a lot. Antonia is someone he knows and also the mother of a child he never knew he had which is a whole different situation, he's also still the one searching for the new Maidens and Wizard, then his nieces son decides to get involved with the Mafia; he's trying his best.
Does it seem a bit too much like pot convenience that Felix figured it out like that?
Just imagine that conversation between Yang and Melanie, it was glorious and we all know it.
Had to end that scene on a lighter note.
I haven't done as much with the fact that Helios and Diamond already knew each other as I could have.
Nyanza's Semblance still doesn't extend to video games apparently.
A Diamond and Emerald conversation, because I know you all wanted it.
"My Dumb-ass" is a recurring thing at this point.
So Eagle is over her crush on the leader of Team AQUA, character development….and I know certain people can guess where I'm going with it and are already squealing.
I can't imagine either Ren or Nora being okay with Hellion being kept in solitary if they knew what it would do to her.
So Eagle sort of has permission to interact with Hellion now.
The trust that Ren and Nora have in her is great.
Athena-Jade has no respect for bedtime.
Whitely just being the personification of "Antics" is the kind of thing I'm here for.
One day she's gonna ask why I give the Winter Maiden a Vaccuan accent….If you read The Downward Spiral you'll get it.
The Weiss and Gang scene is mainly for the old readers who've been here since The Downward Spiral, but also Gangrel is leaving Atlas for a while, wonder where he's gonna turn up.
Anyone else think it's cute that Arctus and Diamond randomly remember little details from their conversations with each other like that.
Special Operative Kafsi "I want to see your manager" Asteri.

Thank you to SumoSnipe, Araniladin, ShadowAlex2000, TigerRose, FleetOfWarships, Unstoppable Cyborg, Arkanes Shippou, Ferrous and FluffyFirefly for their reviews on the last chapter.
You really doubted me? Me off all people?
Is it really arrogant if you know for a fact that you can't be touched, she's like Ozymandias in the Watchmen when it comes to this business.
I have plans for Kafsi, they're not pleasant but I'm not going to explicitly say I'm killing her off yet.
The thing about Eagle and stuffed animals has been mentioned a few times, Nora gave her a three foot tall stuffed Ursa for her birthday.
Corvid's Semblance doesn't actually work that well with the Omega Wing, she needs to be on the ground and stationary in order to use it. Also the Omega Wing in battle suit mode is so big that not all of it is covered by her Aura, which is how the wing was damaged in the first place.

As always thank you to everyone that reads this, with a special thanks to those of you that follow, favourite and review.