I'm going to be real honest. I'm actually afraid of what you're all going to think about this chapter. The whole point of this arc was leading up to this chapter. This went through a couple rewrites because I wanted it just right. I think I'm going to piss some of you off right now.

As with every chapter I'd like to thank everyone who left a review last chapter. I enjoyed the reactions and the comments about Russel getting tied up. I can promise it's going to happen at least one more time.

Thank you winddemon199, Bagration, jin0uga, noone297, Baoh joestar and King Edgar! I'm glad to see you all found last chapter as engaging as ever. I've also been trying my best to stay quiet when one of you gets close to guessing huge plot points. But at least I can say you didn't see this coming.

Apologies in advance.

XX

The Dance: Conclusion

The sun slowly crept up over the sky, bathing the land in its life giving light. Usual Monday mornings at Beacon would see students running around, all making their rounds before winding up at the dining hall for breakfast. But classes have since been cancelled in favor for the missions the students were to partake in. For an entire month, no class, no stress, no worry. All leading up to the Vytal Festival.

So the students who hadn't been assigned a mission this week had partied all through the night not a care in the world. But those students who did have missions, well, it sucked to be them.

Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, began to stir from her slumber. Her eyes were dull and her head ached. She'd never before tried alcohol, last night being a first. She'd only heard of hangovers in passing and often in reference to that trilogy of comedies. Never before had she imagined such a pain in her life.

So the Mistral champion jumped out of bed, intending to rummage through her team's communal cabinet as they called it. It was in reality just a drawer where Ren stashed medical supplies and herbs. Pyrrha cautiously began to tip toe through the dorm room as not to suddenly wake her teammates, but with a simple weary glance to the other beds, Pyrrha found them all empty.

Along the way, Pyrrha noticed her state of dress. She was still wearing her dress from last night. Pyrrha began to put the pieces of last night back together. After watching Weiss and Jaune take the dance floor together, she'd decided to follow up on the rumors that some kid had snuck a keg onto campus. She'd been given a drink and then after that it suddenly got a lot hazier. Pyrrha tried to recall other events, there was apparently something that had happened, something involving Russel.

The thought of the young Thrush made Pyrrha frown. She'd actually thought there was something more to the boy. More than the bully he'd been made out to be. But that had proven false.

Pyrrha reached the school provided nightstand and pulled it open, half expecting to find numerous over the counter medications and strange leafy greens Ren claimed to be for colds. But instead, Pyrrha found dozens of neatly folded socks stacked atop one another.

The Mistral native's frown deepened, after all, she'd been seeking a way to stop this god awful pounding in her head. Instead, she'd found Ren's sock collection. But the thing was, Pyrrha slowly began to realize, Ren didn't wear socks. The JNPR ninja's choice of footwear didn't require such things, so he didn't own any.

Pyrrha then assumed they belonged to Nora, who'd often made use of Ren's belongings. But then Pyrrha recalled how Nora's socks complimented her usual attire, the tip of every sock was pink or orange, as were the soles. But these were dull muted gray. And then Pyrrha began to assume they were Jaune's. That lovable goof who just wanted to be stronger person, a trait that she admired greatly. But even then he had his quirks, such as reading his comic books instead of studying, cleaning up in an odd fashion, and more famously unintentionally breaking her heart.

Pyrrha shook her head, cast such harsh thoughts from her mind. As some dark resentful part of herself noted, Jaune hurt her unintentionally. He was clueless to what she felt and innocent in his actions. At least that's what she told herself.

That pounding sensation in her head was taking its toll on the Mistral champ more than she expected. So she began to dig past the leg wear, assuming what she was looking for was somewhere beneath.

And then she finally heard the snoring. Pyrrha slowly turned around, back to the bed she'd climbed off of. She cautiously approached and on the floor on the other side of the bed was Cardin Winchester, as naked as the day he was born. Pyrrha instantly paled.

A horrified expression manifested on her face as if the mere sight of Cardin was the key to unlocking her drunken memories. Never before had Pyrrha wanted to vomit in disgust and shame than she did right now. In fact, she did.

Pyrrha heaved all over the floor of Team CRDL's dorm. She felt like her brain was running on nightmare fuel. Whatever pain she felt was completely overridden by the horror she now felt. She wiped the vomit that clung to the edges of her mouth with a hand and stood back up. There were many more thoughts that run through the Invincible Girl's head, such as her recent action of puking all over the floor. Aside from her general disgust with not only herself and Cardin, there were the other implications as well. Wasn't that morning sickness?

Her face paled even more, resembling that of a ghost. But even in her panic Pyrrha managed to keep a level head. She delved through the scattered images from last night in her head, and in spite of the cringey details of a drunken flirtation, she managed to push on and recall the use of a condom.

She cast another look of disbelief Cardin's way before resolving to leave. She gathered what belongings she could find and quickly made her way for the door. It was still early in the morning and there shouldn't be too much activity on their floor, after all, only a few first year students had missions. That was something Pyrrha had to remind herself that like many others, such as RWBY and CRDL, she and her team had missions today.

And then Pyrrha found herself struck by terror as she crept through the silent hallway back to her dorm room. Her team had a mission, their first, they would most certainly be up. With that realization, Pyrrha then slunk off past her room, heading to the rooftop. Maybe she could wait it all out there. She could look over the roof and wait to see her team leave the building then make her way back inside rather than face them.

Reasoning this to be the best possible choice available between being faced with the odd question of where she was last night and why she was still in her dress, Pyrrha headed up to roof. She pushed open the stairwell door and ascended upward. She opened the door to the roof and took in the morning air.

She thought of just sitting by the door just in case Jaune came looking for her. Barricade the door, that would most certainly work, Pyrrha thought sarcastically. But when she stepped onto the roof, Pyrrha found she wasn't alone. Standing there against the sun, overlooking the campus stood a figure hidden by sunlight.

"Sorry, am I intruding?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask. Even with all the mind numbing thoughts that burdened her, she was still Pyrrha. The Invincible Girl who said 'sorry' maybe a little too often.

As her eyes adjusted to the morning light, Pyrrha could identify the boy who stood on the roof with her. She raised a hand, about to ask why he was here of all places. But then he held out a hand, silently asking for her to hold off her questions.

The figure bathed in sunlight then dug into his pants. He then pulled out his scroll and held it up for Pyrrha to see. Without another word, the figure tapped the scroll's screen activating the pre-established prompt. Then far off by beacon tower, nearby the ballroom, a remote control lighter switched on and lit the fuses on three fireworks. The morning air was then filled with obnoxious explosions, which surely would've woken anyone not already awake and cause them to come running.

"What was that for?" Pyrrha questioned. The figure simply turned his back to Pyrrha, looking over the edge of the roof once more. As he expected, the figure could see faculty and students alike all scrambling to find out the cause of the explosion. Right where he wanted them to be.

Back in the CRDL dorm room, the burnt orange haired leader began to wake. The audible sound, a trio of loud booms was enough to shake the windows. Cardin began to gather his bearings, picking himself off the floor. The Winchester boy had to hold his hands against his head, it felt like Nora had finally made good on her threats and taken revenge on his head. Despite the pounding in his head, the leader of Team CRDL found it in himself to jump out of bed.

Cardin thought for a minute. He took into account his state of dress, the lipstick on his pillow and among other things that he fund on the floor, he began to piece together what happened last night. After a night drinking he'd wound up in bed with arguably the hottest woman at Beacon. And while any other guy would probably kill for something like that, it didn't sit well with Cardin.

The Winchester boy let out a pained sigh. He didn't want that at all. He cast a look over at his scroll. One of the last things he remembered was messaging Velvet and getting into a rather livid discussion about the current goings on at the dance. She mentioned how she wished she and her team could've been there. And then he wished she was there too. But then after that the conversation had seemingly ended. He dwelled on that for a while. Got mad then sad, he started questioning if he should've messaged her back. He didn't want to ruin whatever friendship they had going on. But before that, his scroll's battery ran out.

After that Cardin recalled him following up on rumors about a keg. In need of a drink to calm his nerves, Cardin soon found himself beyond only one. And then after that, what happened? And then Russel walked in and handed him a condom while yelling at Lance…

"Oh shit!" Cardin exclaimed after recalling his last clear memory, which was of Russel getting carted off by an angry mob. "Russel!"

He quickly grabbed his pants off the floor, left scattered with the rest of his suit. In doing so, Cardin took notice of how the room was in need of a good cleaning later. A used condom resting beside the trash can, having been lazily chucked over there after use. And there was also an alarming amount of vomit on the floor. Something Cardin could only assume was the work of either himself of his partner from last night.

One of these days both he and Pyrrha were going to have to sit down and talk about last night. But hopefully not today. Maybe, if Cardin was lucky, they would both just pretend like it never happened. But Cardin wasn't lucky at all, especially here at Beacon.

But the CRDL leader was forced to push aside such thoughts. After all, as he knew it to be, the last he'd seen of his partner Russel was him getting carted off by an angry mob or something. So then Cardin set on to get dressed, intending to look for Russel.

"Hey everyone! There's some naked guy tied up to the school's flagpole!" Some voice came roaring down the hallway outside.

With that news spreading, Cardin got dressed quicker. He was out the door before he knew it, barely grabbing his room key on the way out. Down the dormitory hall Cardin ran as best anyone with a hangover could. Was it possible for an aura to remedy such a thing like headaches? Cardin wondered as he reached the dorm's elevator. There was no telling, after all he'd and the rest of the academy's populace were drilled in the ways of killing Grimm, not dealing with the after effects of a night drinking.

But now was as best a time as ever to try. Cardin waited patiently for the elevator to arrive after hitting the call button. As soon as he reached the bottom he'd be running like a maniac to save Russel from an embarrassing fate. In hind sight, he should've brought an extra pair of clothes. As the thought entered Cardin's mind, the elevator doors opened, revealing a large number of students all waiting patiently inside.

"You going to see the poor naked sap tied to the flagpole too?" Willa, the leader of Team WILL asked Cardin before gesturing for him to step inside as she and the others made room.

Cardin silently stepped inside the elevator, not saying a word. Though the other occupants saw no change in the Winchester boy, the confined space forced them all to

"Alright, who got lucky last night?" Serin Quiet, the leader of the all Faunus Team STAG asked playfully.

And just like that, this became the longest elevator ride of Cardin's life. The elevator slowly descended, picking up students along the way until they couldn't fit anymore. Serin continued the witch hunt of sorts, questioning those who occupied the same space as her. Cardin's outward composure began to breakdown as he began to sweat bullets.

"Claustrophobic." Cardin muttered once asked about his state of being. The elevator doors soon opened, allowing Cardin to burst out running.

"Why's he running?" Willa asked as she and the rest of the occupants exited the elevator in a calm and timely manner.

"A bully like him?" Serin laughed in a sardonic fashion. "He probably just wants to get in on the mocking while its good. Too bad he's in for the shock of his life."

"Why's that?" The magenta haired Willa asked, her curiosity piqued by Serin's mysterious choice of words.

"We strung up his partner Russel last night." Serin laughed. "This is it, the fall of Team CRDL's bullshit Willa. It begins now. Nobody will ever take them serious again after this."

"Jeez Serin." Willa said, sounding slightly appalled by the vicious nature of her fellow Team Leader's words. "Dial it down a notch would you? What did they ever do to you?"

"I don't take kind to those who harm my kind." Serin stated firmly, casting an angered glance at Willa before walking on without her.

Cardin ran through campus barefoot. For the most part his body was on auto pilot while his mind dealt with the application of aura around his head. As it turned out, you could use aura to combat a hangover, what fun. The CRDL leader then found himself amongst an amassing mob of fellow students and faculty who'd only just arrived as well.

And at the heart of it all was the flagpole where the flag of Vale flapped freely in the wind. Knowing Russel was at the heart of it all as well, Cardin fought his way to the center to rescue his partner. He might not have been able to save him from the eyes of his peers, but maybe Cardin could get him out before more students arrived, or at the very least before they all whipped out their scrolls.

Thankfully they were still gawking like idiots. Cardin used this to his advantage and pushed on through the crowd. He'd ask politely, but if they didn't move, then he'd get to shoving. He'd activate that tank-like semblance of his, the one that gave him immeasurable strength and pick them off the ground before setting them aside and pressing on. Cardin reached the center, finally breaking through and aimed to rush to Russel's aid.

But instead of Russel, Cardin found Lance Grimsby tied to the flagpole.

"Wait what?" Cardin couldn't help but ask aloud.

"Come on guys you've had your laughs not help me down!" Lance shouted angrily as he continued to struggle. He was tied to the flagpole upside down, his shame on display for the whole world to see. "Get me down!" Lance snarled as he continued to struggle out of his bindings, which seemed to be his own clothes. Lance's struggling, however, had the unfortunate effect of causing his only free appendage to dance around.

The graphicness of it all too appalling for even Cardin, caused the CRDL leader to cover his eyes and throw up a nights worth of drinking onto the lawn surrounding the base of the flagpole. What an awful turn of events.

Back on the roof of the dormitory, Russel stood overlooking it all. There was a pleased look on his face. Everything was seemingly going off without a hitch. He then looked over his shoulder, seeing Pyrrha who had waited long enough for an explanation. "Bear with me now. I've got this obnoxious headache throwin' this all together." He said, gesturing to his forehead.

"Mob mentality took over when the drunks thought they could get at me. The left me in nothing but my boxers, tied upside down to a flagpole." Russel recalled last night's events. "Chief among them, Lance Grimsby, golden boy by day, scumbag by night."

"For the last month he's been desperately been trying to get laid. Maybe if he was some sort of hero he'd get the damsel, like Velvet for example. Standing up to one of her bullies would've no doubt gotten her attention." Russel rolled his eyes at Lance's logic while Pyrrha simply stood in place, listening attentively to Russel's story. "But that wasn't the case. So the guy decided to bring a keg on campus and see if he might get lucky. Get a girl while she was nice a drunk. Not at all in control of her actions."

Pyrrha paled once more at the words that left Russel's mouth, thinking back to last night. Seeing as what happened between herself and Cardin, there was a measure of truth to Russel's words. After all, as she recalled, Russel did pull proof of Lance's scheme out of his pocket in front of the assembled crowd. That just made Pyrrha feel guilty over the fact she stood by like so many others when the Thrush had been carried away.

"There was never a doubt I'd get free. Just took a bit longer than I expected." Russel said preemptively. Just one look at Pyrrha told him of the thoughts that were running around in her head. She was cleared of any fault in his eyes maybe that was enough to soothe her conscious over the matter.

"After that I spent the night tracking this guy I know in Vale. He hooks me up with whatever I need, usually fake I.D.s. As long as I'm paying he'll get it. So I had him scrounge me up some fireworks. I came back to Beacon, found Lance passed out in his dorm an hour ago." Russel dug into his pockets, revealing a room key that bore Team WILL's dorm room number on it. "That wrapper of his wasn't the only thing I snagged off him last night."

"So you got your revenge?" Pyrrha asked as she slowly walked over to see the gathering crowd down below. There should've been a scolding tone attached to her words. But after last night and waking up in someone's bed like she did, all she could do was think about how well deserved Lance's humiliation was. "It's grand, no doubt. But someone like him. Someone who'll prey on those not in control of their actions. Is it wrong of me to wish you'd done something worse to him?"

Russel looked away from Pyrrha, turning his eyes back over the roof. Watching the students below scurry around like ants, he couldn't help but admire the view. "You know there's laws about public nudity. Even if he was a victim of hazing, which of course he was. At least that's what the cops will think when they get called in by Ozpin. When they take him in, they'll do that breathe test. It's mandatory you know. And then they'll find him guilty of underage drinking."

"He's seventeen, his parent will get involved if they give a damn." Russel trailed off for a bit. He thought for a moment about what his parents would say if they saw him now. He wondered if his mother would condone his actions or whether his father would care enough to comment. "Then he'll have to explain to them the fact that while he was a Combat School, he got tied to a fuckin' pole in his birthday suit and got slapped with public intoxication to boot. His home life will be dicey, social life will be in ruin."

"He'll get put on probation, preventing him from attending missions. And maybe no girl on campus will give him the time of day again." Pyrrha surmised.

"Like I said, his social life is shot to pieces." Russel muttered.

"Holy crap Russel." Pyrrha said in utter awe of how thorough the boy standing in her presence had thought this through.

"There's no such thing as Destiny Pyrrha." Russel said he continued to gaze down over at the flagpole where students and faculty all gathered to see just what the commotion was all about.

Down below, Russel could see Ozpin waltz down from Beacon Tower. His ever present mug in hand and an unamused look on his face. Sensing a pair of eyes on his person, Ozpin glanced Russel's way. The old headmaster looked at Russel from afar knowingly. Russel raised a pair of fingers, his index and middle and waved. Ozpin just nodded and continued on his way. No words exchanged but an understanding was met.

Pyrrha looked at Russel in confusion. But then she recalled their earlier conversation. She wanted to say something, to defend the way she approached her Jaune situation, or lack thereof, but then she decided against it. She was too polite sometimes, letting Russel run his mouth the way he did. But for once she wanted to listen.

"You asked me about Oakwood, remember?" Russel closed his eyes, soaking in the morning breeze. The sun pricked his skin with its glow while the air saved him from its burning touch. "This is what they did, Marie-Anne and her merry band. They saw something they didn't like, such as a pair of lovers who'd fallen out with each other. They wanted them back together so badly, Ruddy and Burgundy's feelings were cast aside. So they put some fairytale scheme together."

Russel opened his eyes and turned to face Pyrrha fully. He took a seat on the edge of the roof and continued on with what he had to say. "Now you can argue that they were acting on behalf of some cosmic force, that they were meant to be together and all the lovey dovey jazz. But it was still the intent of man that was the driving force. Just as it was when I intervened."

"Ruddy was my friend, whatever that means." Russel muttered. "When I mucked with Marie-Anne's plans I put choice back in their hands. Ruddy standing out on the sidelines while Burgundy danced without him."

"Again, you can say I was acting on behalf of some mysterious string puller. But maybe I wasn't." Russel said thoughtfully. "In the end nothing came about it. But they were reminded on that day what they were missing. If anything will come out of it then it's of their own will, not another's."

"What I'm trying to tell you, Pyrrha, is that Destiny is just a word." Russel looked the Invincible Girl square in the eye. "We're all just a bunch of guys and gals with differing motivations and goals. We all want something, whether it be self-validation from another's life or to save them from a world of embarrassment. We make the choice to act."

"And I'll smile about it any day." Russel flashed Pyrrha a toothy grin. He then cast a look back over the edge, spotting a familiar pair of teams with blondes running out the dormitory. "I just saw your Team running out the dorm. If you hurry you can head back now and get yourself cleaned up. Less questions about your whereabouts the better, you know?"

Noticing how Russel had worded that last sentence. How he said it in a knowing tone. Pyrrha grimaced in dismay as already she could see how knowledge of her one night stand will spread. "You know don't you?"

"The first thing I did was head back to my dorm and get myself situated. A shower to get the smell of alcohol and a fresh change of clothes, that sort of thing. Just so happens, I walk in and see you two passed out in Cardin's bed."

"Will you say anything?" Pyrrha asked, afraid of how Russel would respond.

"That isn't for me to decide. That's your call. It'll always be your call." He said quelling her concerns. "Now get out of here, I think I want the roof alone for a minute."

Pyrrha smiled and silently thanked Russel. She silently thought of a number of excuses of where she'd been this whole time. But on the way back inside, Pyrrha couldn't help but look back over her shoulder one last time. "Hey, Russel?" She said catching his attention once more. "I'm sorry for treating you like the way I did."

"Take care of yourself Pyrrha." He muttered, not looking back. There was a familiar opening of the door and then sound of it shutting. And then Russel was alone.

So Russel stood there for a while longer, watching as campus police arrived and snatched up Lance. The crowds dispersed after being warned that distributing images of Lance was a punishable offense. So one by one all the scrolls were checked and any images of Lance were deleted. Oh well, Russel thought as he smiled to himself. The damage was already done. There'd be no coming back from it. So then Russel turned to leave, after all he still had business elsewhere. After all, there was still the question of what happened to the rest of his team.

Russel made his way back into the dorms and wouldn't you know it, he found Dove and Sky stumbling out of the some room that wasn't their own. "What the hell happened to you two?" Russel asked, genuinely surprised by their disheveled appearances.

"The most intense game of Risk. Ever." Dove answered smiling ear to ear. "And I won."

"Cool." Russel just nodded. He then threw a thumb over to their room. "You guys should head on back now. By my count we've got some hours before dust off."

"Big day today, how could we forget?!" Sky slapped himself.

With that, Russel just watched as his teammates unwittingly walked into their room, knowing fully well cleaning duties would fall to one of them. There was an audible yelp of disgust at what they'd found, but Russel didn't care. At least he didn't have to sort out that mess.

An hour passed and after an awkward conversation about the state of their room, Cardin came up with some half assed excuse about his drinking the night earlier. Thankfully neither Dove nor Sky had found the rest of the evidence of Cardin's drunken late night activity. Cardin and Russel shared words with one another, mostly the former apologizing about his in action the night earlier. But Russel waved it off like how he'd normally do. He thanked Cardin for at least attempting to get it right the second time.

So after hitting the showers and getting dressed properly, Team CRDL stood at the tarmac ready to go. A nice breakfast courtesy of the dining room in their guts and their weapons in hand, the four boys were ready for whatever lay ahead of them.

The first airship of the day arrived and to their surprise, Team CFVY stepped out. There was a part of Cardin that wanted to go over and talk to Velvet, see how she was fairing after the mission she'd just been on. But then the rest of him wanted to stand right behind the rest of his team and use them as a shield to hide himself from her gaze.

But then Velvet broke away from her team and came bouncing by. "CRDL." She said in a greeting fashion. In general, Velvet looked like absolute crap. She survived a plane crash, a week in the wilderness and a week without a shower. But all in all the bunny eared girl looked alright.

"Hey, Velvet." Russel waved hello.

"Would you three mind stepping aside? I hate to ask but I'd like to have a word with Cardin alone." Velvet said as best she could without sounding mean. It was something of a task, after all she was asking for the rest of CRDL minus Cardin to walk away for a moment. Russel assumed she'd picked up on Cardin's body language. It seemed asking for them to walk away for a minute was easier than asking Cardin directly for a moment to chat.

The rest of Team CRDL obliged and walked off to go airship spotting. That left only Velvet and Cardin alone.

"Hey, Velvet." Cardin waved awkwardly.

"Sorry about not messaging you sooner." Velvet said completely catching Cardin off guard. "While waiting for evac at this clearing, we got jumped by a Death Stalker. The blasted thing smashed my scroll right after I sent that last message."

"Wait really?" Cardin internally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I just wanted to apologize, is all." Velvet chuckled lightly. She then pointed over to her team who were all smiling and waving at Cardin, which surprised the Winchester boy immensely. "Thanks for lifting all our spirits while things were looking 'grim'. Heh, bad joke. But yeah. It meant a lot knowing that everyone was waiting for us and all. Glad to know we weren't written off as a lost cause."

"Glad to have you guys back." Cardin said confidently. "We'll catch up later, alright?"

"Definitely." Velvet smiled brightly before reaching up and lightly punching Cardin on the shoulder. "Good luck out there. Don't die."

"I won't." Cardin smirked before turning to leave and join his team.

"Velvet!" A voice belonging to one Blake Belladonna called out, catching both Velvet and Cardin's attention. While Blake and the rest of Team RWBY began to swarm around the part time journalist, Team JNPR was fast approaching to join in the celebration of her return.

And then Cardin and Pyrrha caught each other's eye. They both looked away and continued on with their business. But their actions did not go unnoticed by Velvet. She'd caught sight of both of their body languages and was left in confusion. It was an awkward familiarity; that was the only way the bunny girl could describe it. She said nothing of it as she walked away to rejoin her team. But it did leave her puzzled. Seeing how things went when they all got back, she might just look into it.

When Cardin returned to his team, he found them waiting beside Professor Port of all people. "Hey, c'mon Cardin we're heading out!" Dove shouted as he waved his team leader over.

"Well come along, students." Professor Port gestured to a waiting airship. "We're due in about an hour. We'd best get going now. We Huntsmen are both deadly and timely now."

With that the Team boarded the waiting airship. They threw the doors closed and then moved to take their seats. "You boys have been assigned to shadow me on this trip of ours. Expect to reconnaissance, lots of time watching grass grow, and eventually we'll get around to killing Grimm. How's that sound?" The four huntsmen in training gave a hearty roar.

"And our destination, Professor?" Russel asked as he and the other members of Team CRDL took their seats.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked Mr. Thrush." Port exclaimed in his ever jolly attitude. "There's been reports of Grimm activity to our north. We're going to Oakwood." And then Russel buckled in his seat. He was going home.

So yeah. That happened. I hope you guys at least enjoyed the WTF factor of it all.

At the very heart of this arc, it was all a discussion about destiny. You can believe in it, but Russel doesn't. I tried my best not to make it cut an dry. Russel plays devil's advocate a little bit. Which I thought was very important to build a discussion about it. It helped validate everything, if that makes sense. It made it mature enough to not just be a crazy asshole beating someone's head in with a hammer of opinon.

When I touched on everything that Lance represented, a total scumbag of a person, I knew I couldn't leave this chapter without him suffering some sort of consequence. Thankfully, I think I was able to get away with writing what Russel was able to get away with. I've spent enough time building him up, I think that's enough to justify everything.

Also, the Pyrrha/Cardin thing? I have a history of writing late at night and deciding to publish crazy things. I assure you, that was planned. I only decided to use it after I planned out where that storyline went. Which you can kind of see where that's going to wind us all up at, there at the end with Velvet.

A while back someone asked if there was going to be a pairing for Russel. I've toyed with the idea before. But now, I'm proud to announce there is going to be a pairing for Russel. Rest assured, it's not with an OC.

I'll give you all a hint who it is though. She's from Vacuo. :)

Next Arc: Who Dares Wins

'Til then! Later days!