Part three.

…

A day later. Evening. Tai's room.

"Dad, there's something we must tell you," She said, and Tai could immediately tell it was something serious. Neither hers or Jaune's face spoke of any nonsense or amusement, and truth be told, it made him feel on the edge.

"Just please, get straight to the point," He said, because he knew the longer she'd take to say it, the more nervous he'd get.

"Okay," She said with a nod, briefly pointed her eyes to Jaune, and after he nodded too, she looked back to her dad. "The truth is, we've been lying to you about us not knowing where Ruby was heading to. We actually knew this whole time. It's Haven, or at least it used to be, but by now, who knows, really," She said, and immediately felt her heart clench painfully, and a wave of shame wash over her as she finally admitted the truth. But honestly, she was prepared to feel this way, so it didn't come off as any surprise to her.

What she wasn't prepared for, however, was her dad's reaction.

Truth be told, she believed he would burst into a fit of fury. His voice raised tremendously and flailing his arms about, perhaps even breaking a thing or two, yet instead, he remained where he was, almost still, and didn't utter a sound for the longest of time. One thing however, his stare was so incredibly intense, it felt like the air itself was being sucked out of the room.

He's just holding it in.

She figured, and truth be told, she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Be it as it may though, she at least had the opportunity to continue, and so she did. "One more thing, we're planning to go and look for her."

"…"

A moment of silence. He deeply breathed in, and out, and then nodded a couple of times to himself. "When?"

"Soon. We can't really tell you the exact date because we don't know it ourselves, but definitely sometime soon."

"…"

Another moment of silence. Another rising and falling of chest as he deeply breathed in, and out. Before he nodded again, and then parted his lips.

"Okay. I understand. You can go now," He said with a quieter, even voice, and the pair quickly agreed that leaving him alone with himself was exactly what he needed right now.

"Sure," She said, and moments later, a door opened and then closed as they exited his room.

He balled his hands into two, shaking fists, the knuckles turning bone white, and then, as he wanted to slam one into the bed, he let out a deep, deep sigh. His fists no longer shaking, and aplenty of wrinkles disappearing from his face. He bent forward, and let his elbows sink into his thighs. Fingers crossed, and his expression speaking of nothing in particular.

Honestly, he wasn't sure how exactly he felt about finally learning the truth. Well, he did know he was upset, angry and hurt that they lied to him this whole time, but on the other hand he…he didn't blame them. Or at least tried not to, because he knew they simply didn't want to betray Ruby's trust. Of course, whenever or not it was morally okay of them to do so was very much debatable, but he at least understood their reasoning.

Letting out another deep and heavy sigh, his lips curved into an utterly dry, humorless grin.

"Fucking kids, I swear." He quietly uttered while gently shaking his head.

They really do bring a lot of trouble. At times, nothing but trouble.

He thought to himself, and a couple of moments later, shifted his mind to the second thing that she said.

"So, you plan to go and look for her, eh?" He quietly said to himself, and his fingers then dug deep into the backs of his hands. "Have you really become that strong already?" He asked himself, and as he briefly reminisced about who and how they were back then, compared to now, he figured they were.

After all, you both have changed tremendously.

He knew it to be true, and hence, even if part of him didn't want to let them go, he knew better he shouldn't. Probably couldn't.

If both of you have decided to do it, then who am I to stop you?

He thought with a heavy heart, a powerless smile etched in his lips, and he then rose to his feet. And started to aimlessly pace about the room.

But now as for myself; what the hell am I going to do?

He started to wonder, his helpless smile slowly fading away.