"Why would Blake just run away from us like that?" Ruby asked, her voice raising in pitch just a little too much as she paced back and forth in her team's dorm. She didn't know what to make of things anymore, not when Blake was missing for no reason that anyone could figure out. If left Ruby feeling worried- more than that, she was scared, and she knew that her teammate had run off into a forest where they all knew grimm existed.

She also knew that Yang was angry, and for that reason it felt like the only one that she could talk to about Blake's disappearance was Weiss. And even then, she couldn't exactly get a good feeling for what Weiss felt- regardless of whether she was probably the most neutral party there.

"I don't know, Ruby." Weiss sighed, sitting on her bed with her legs tucked in neatly beneath her. "She ran for a reason. She didn't tell us anything, but..." Weiss' eyes flicked away from Ruby, like the heiress was steeling herself for something. It left Ruby feeling like there was an uncomfortable stirring down in her stomach. "I don't think Blake does anything without a good reason first. And I'm worried."

"So am I." Ruby mumbled, flopping back onto her bed and letting her legs swing a little bit as she did so. "We know what's out there, and if Blake is out there alone-"

She shook her head, curling up on her side and turning to face Weiss. Her teammate had a notebook open in front of her, a pale blue and silver pen resting on top of its pages like Weiss had decided to take a study break. Weiss paused, sighing.

"I know, Ruby." Weiss murmured, sadness flicking across her expression that Ruby couldn't quite read. "We're all worried about her. Just... in our own ways."

"Yang didn't seem worried." Ruby muttered, and she sounded frustrated. "I know that Uncle Qrow said he'd go on patrol and look for her, but..."

"But he isn't back yet." Weiss finished for Ruby, and that only managed to bring a rather significant feeling of relief. "I get it."

Ruby nodded and closed her eyes. "I just wonder what she was so afraid of out there..."

"As much as I want to know," Weiss began, reaching for her pen again and uncapping it. "I get the feeling that it probably isn't our business. If Blake feels that she needs to tell us-" Weiss pulled her notebook back closer to her. "She will."

Ruby nodded and forced herself to sit up. Maybe sitting around while Weiss was trying to study wasn't the best idea. Maybe she should have gone off to find Yang, because at the very least she could see how her sister was doing. It was likely that Yang was either in one of the training rooms or that she'd gone back home to see their dad for the night. Maybe she just needed to be seperate from the rest of them.

Really, Ruby just didn't know what to do with herself.

She sighed heavily. "I think I'm going to go for a walk." Ruby said, blinking as she hopped off of the bed and stretched. "Is... that okay?"

"Of course it is." Weiss replied, glancing up at her with wide eyes. "You know how to get ahold of me."

Ruby smiled. "Yeah," she began as she walked to the door and pulled it open. "You're right. I'll talk to you later?"

"Of course." Weiss said, clearly already focused back on her work instead of what Ruby was doing. "Just try to stay out of trouble."

"What?" Ruby exclaimed as she held the door open behind her. "I don't get into trouble."

"Goodbye, Ruby." Weiss repeated, still focused on her work. This time, she sounded distinctly annoyed.

Ruby frowned and stepped out, letting the door close behind her before she finally began on her way down the hall. Standing around in the dorms didn't feel like it was going to make her feel better at all, so the idea of wandering for a bit around campus didn't seem terrible.

At the very least, she would be able to get a good view from the docks. Vale always managed to look beautiful at night, and there weren't usually people there at the docks late in the evening.

But, Ruby thought to herself, a snack wouldn't hurt. She decided to head towards the Great Hall. The walk through campus was calm. The air was cool, and there was a light breeze that blew through her hair and made Ruby feel just a little bit lighter for it.

She pushed her way into the great hall and saw that one of the tables was occupied, by someone that had decided to come out late at night to enjoy an evening snack and study.

The girl at the table looked up at her and smiled almost as soon as she saw Ruby.

"Hey, Pyrrha." Ruby greeted the older girl as she made her way in. "Uh... how are you?"

"I'm quite well, Ruby." Pyrrha responded, smiling as she sat up straight. "Ren and I come here to study sometimes since it's usually quieter. Would you like to join us?"

Ruby hesitated, because she didn't really know that she wanted to join them. At the very least, it was a chance for her to sit down with someone that was outside of her team.

"Uh, I dunno." Ruby said, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. "I don't want to interrupt or anything."

"It's quite alright." Ren said, coming in from the kitchen. He was carrying a pot of something, and Ruby paused because she didn't even know if it was possible for people to use the kitchens there. Whatever it was that he'd made, it smelled amazing. "We don't mind the company."

Ruby paused and sighed before dropping into the seat across from Pyrrha. "Thanks." She said, making herself as comfortable as possible in her seat. That didn't necessarily mean that she was comfortable there, but it was a chance to relax. "Things have been kind of... crazy since we got back."

Pyrrha and Ren looked at each other, their eyes meeting for a moment. Ren didn't say anything, just set the pot down in the middle of the table before excusing himself to go and get something. Pyrrha hesitated before speaking up.

"Your teammate is missing, isn't she? There was a rumor but-" Pyrrha began but stopped herself, closing her book and sliding it off to the side. "Are you all... doing okay?"

"Uh, I dunno." Ruby sighed. "There's a hunter out looking for her, but the three of us aren't feeling that good about it. Weiss is worried and Yang is..." Her voice trailed off. "More angry than anything else, I think. But she's worried too."

"And what about you?" Pyrrha asked. "Are you holding up alright?"

"I don't know." Ruby sighed, dropping forward and pillowing her head on her arms. "Things have just been so crazy lately that I don't know what to do." Her voice dropped in volume and Ruby couldn't help but think that she wanted to tell someone about the Beringel.

Someone that didn't already know.

Ren nudged Ruby's arm gently, and she picked her head up and watched as he set a few bowls down near her. She sat up properly and reached out for one of them. She hadn't really been expecting to be offered a chance to have anything to eat. Especially not something that looked like it was homemade.

Pyrrha picked up one of the bowls and stood up, moving towards the pot before she said anything else. "Your team is new here," She said calmly, smiling down at Ruby with so much more warmth than Ruby felt like she'd seen from anyone in some time. At least since Blake had decided to run. "It's okay to feel a little bit caught up with things. I would even say that it's normal. You're still all trying to get used to Beacon and being together."

And yeah, that did leave Ruby feeling a little bit reassured over things, but not by much. People running away from their teams wasn't normal, neither were grimm in the forests or countless teams being sent out into the field on patrol looking for something.

So many people had absolutely no idea what was going on, and Ruby was afraid for them because when they did find out-

Well, what were they supposed to do? It wasn't really like any of them were being given really clear directions about anything. Ruby felt lucky that she and her team had been sent out with Qrow before, but once more people knew about there being any grimm out in the forests that weren't the gigantic one, what if things just got worse?

For a moment, Ruby thought back to her classes and to her family's stories. There had always been that belief that negative feelings- anger and sadness would bring the monsters. Maybe her team was being kept quiet about what they had seen out in the forest for a reason.

But the secret couldn't stay forever.

"Pyrrha is right." Ren said calmly, holding his head up high as he stirred the pot and began to spoon some into his own bowl. "These feelings of trepidation are normal for any other student. Everyone on JNPR felt such things when we were first placed together."

"But what about Blake?" Ruby asked, because ultimately it was her teammate that was on her mind the most. "I mean, she ran away from the team when we were on a mission and..." Ruby's voice trailed up and she picked her hand up so that she could wipe the tears that were beginning to prickle at her eyes away with her sleeve. "That's not normal and we don't know anything about what is going to happen."

There was some quiet, and Ruby looked up to watch as Ren set a spoon down beside her bowl. He was there, stoic as ever and having him there and that quiet and calm was nice. It was almost comforting, even, and Ruby was glad for it. Especially when Pyrrha was also there, as calm and kind and sweet as ever.

The red haired girl took her seat at Ruby's side and set a careful hand on her shoulder. "It's okay." Pyrrha said, and her words only managed to feel close to meaningless. Ruby didn't blame her for that though, because Pyrrha really didn't have anything to do with what was going wrong. "Nobody expects you to be okay with one of your teammates missing. Anyone that does is expecting too much from you."

Ruby sniffled, picking up the spoon that she had been given and pulling the bowl that Ren had made her closer to her. When she looked down into it, she couldn't help but wonder exactly how long he'd been at work on the meal. It made her wonder whether or not she was intruding on something that she wasn't supposed to.

"I know." Ruby mumbled, looking down into her bowl still. "I'm just afraid for Blake. The forest is..." Her voice trailed off as she began to realize that she was already beginning to stray too close to saying more than she should have. If she did, then she was sure to get her team in trouble, and that was something that Ruby definitely did not want to deal with.

Not now. Not with Blake missing, and grimm in the forests of all manner of sizes, and who even knew what else was out there.

Blake had figured something out that the rest of them hadn't. That much was obvious.

Ruby bit her tongue and forced herself to continue in a way that would be less likely to lead to her saying too much. "It's dangerous out there, and Blake is alone. If we could be out there looking for her, I know that me and Yang would be there for sure. I don't know about Weiss, but we could look for Blake, and-"

There was a moment of silence, and Ruby looked up, glancing between Pyrrha and Ren. The two of them had pulled their attention away from her, staring at each other like the two of them were sharing a private conversation. Once again, Ruby was left feeling like she was only managing to intrude on things.

Finally, it was Pyrrha that spoke up.

"I think that everyone that could help and look for your teammate would do it." The red haired woman said, holding her head high and beginning to pull herself away from the table. "You said that there were hunters out looking for Blake?"

Ruby paused, her eyes going wide as she realized just what was being suggested. It was dangerous, and it was sure to get everyone involved in trouble and-

And she would be a fool to turn it down, when Blake needed help. Ruby nodded, clamping her mouth shut. Pyrrha looked at Ren, who just sighed and nodded before reaching for his pocket and pulling out his scroll. He took a few steps away from Ruby and Pyrrha, and it took Ruby a second to realize that Ren had been asked to rally the troops for them.

Pyrrha was suggesting direct action, and they were going to take it.

She locked her eyes onto Pyrrha's. "Do you mean it?" Ruby asked, feeling a little more than unsure of what to do at this point. She figured that she should have been calling for Yang and Weiss, but Ruby really didn't want to misread things and make matters worse.

"Of course we mean it." Pyrrha said smiling.

Even there, with all of them out of their battle clothes and sitting in an empty dining hall, it felt like Pyrrha was preparing for a fight. And Ruby… didn't really know what to think of it, for so many different reasons. It wasn't as though she was best friends with anyone on team JNPR, and yet here was half of that team preparing to go looking for Blake.

Ruby nodded and stood up. "Should I… call my team?"

Pyrrha tilted her head to the side just slightly and watched Ruby, in a way that made Ruby feel as though she was about to be taken apart and examined. But there was no cruelty to it, only a genuine sort of kindness that Ruby admired. "I would think that you would."

Ruby nodded and reached into her pocket, removing her scroll and dialing Weiss first because she knew for a fact that the heiress was going to be easier to get ahold of regardless. Yang had decided to get away from Beacon for the night, but Weiss was at the dorm.

There was a ring, followed closely by yet another before Weiss' voice came through. "What do you want, Ruby?"

"Uh, well there was something that I wanted to ask you." Ruby said, getting up and taking a step away from the table and turning away from Pyrrha and Ren, who had just come back in. "I talked to someone about what happened and..." Ruby paused, glancing back over her shoulder to see the others before allowing herself to say anything else. "They want to help us look for Blake."

"What?" Weiss asked, her voice dipping in volume, like she was afraid that she was suddenly being listened in on. "What are you talking about?"

"Blake!" Ruby repeated. "Pyrrha wants to help us find her, and-" She cut herself off before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down before she could allow herself to say more. "And I want to take the chance to do that if we can. If I could go with you and Yang, it would be better."

There was the sound of a sigh, and over the other end of the scroll, Ruby was able to hear the sound of a book being closed and a pen being capped. It was more than enough to make her heart jump up into her throat, because it meant that she at least had Weiss on her side.

Finally, she heard some quiet beeping that Ruby recognized easily as being the sound of Weiss opening her locker. "Where are you?"

"The great hall." Ruby responded, looking back at Pyrrha and Ren. The two of them were talking in a way that made it look like they were trying to conspire over something. It was possible that they were even waiting on Ruby to finish what she was doing so that they could make plans. "But... I might be coming back to the room in a few minutes to get Crescent Rose anyways."

"Just keep me updated." Weiss demanded before logging off of the call with a quiet beep.

Ruby sighed and sent off a message to Yang before turning to Pyrrha and Ren. "So..."

"We aren't going to want to go looking for your teammate in our uniforms." Ren said calmly, stepping forward with his hands resting together behind his back. "We should each go and prepare for a mission and then meet back here at a specified time."

Pyrrha nodded, standing up tall. "Of course. It will also give you a chance to get your teammates together before we leave." She turned slightly, looking down into Ruby's eyes while still smiling. "I'm sure that we will be able to find your teammate."

Ruby nodded and wiped at her eye so that she could stop any tears before they could get to be a problem. "Okay." She said, taking a half-step away from Ren and Pyrrha. "So..."

"We'll meet back here in an hour." Pyrrha said, smiling at Ren. "And we can try to get the food in the fridge so that we will have something to eat whenever we get back from finding Blake. I think everyone will probably want it."

"Right." Ruby forced on a smile before turning and bounding out the door and practically sprinting the way back to her dorm where she found that Weiss and Yang had already met. Weiss was there, half into her battle clothes and with Myrtenaster lying on her bed, and Yang was in the process of opening the locker that Ember Celica were in.

They both looked at Ruby, and smiled like they had never been more glad to see her in their lives.

Ruby nodded to them and went to her own locker, opening it up and reaching in so that she could start doing the same.

Tyrian twitched as he waited by the city gates. He had been told that he needed to be prepared to leave as soon as the rest of his team arrived there, but that did absolutely nothing to calm his nerves. Not when they were so close to fulfilling a task for their Goddess, not when things were apparently about to change drastically.

The girls would be the first to meet him. Cinder, walking tall like she had gone all but entirely uninjured over the course of their travels. Of course, the green haired girl was still trailing behind her, nervous looking and still seeming entirely too frail.

It made a pang of something terrible echo deep in Tyrian, a sort of familiarity with the girl's situation that he had thought he'd gotten far from over the course of his time with the others. After all, a child joining with thieves and murderers for the sake of a meal?

Why, it felt nearly autobiographical.

Tyrian grinned wide and forced back a giggle before dipping low into a bow, his tail tightly curled around his body as he greeted them.

"My dear Ember and the gem." He said, smiling all too wide and peering up at the two women from where he was standing. "Are you prepared for a journey?"

"Hello, Tyrian." Cinder deadpanned, already sounding annoyed with him. Tyrian forced down a tweak of annoyance and stood back up straight. "And yes, we are."

"All the better so that we may serve our Goddess." Tyrian said, smiling wide and feeling rather twitchy as he waited for the rest of their group to arrive. He looked between the girls and saw as a look of confusion flit across Emerald's face. In a way, it managed to answer some of his questions that he hadn't dared to ask just yet. "Dearest Watts has made it sound as though we will be leaving for Oniyuri. It will be a rather difficult journey ahead-"

"Enough, insect." Watts' voice was enough to make Tyrian jolt in surprise because he hadn't been expecting to have any company just yet that day. He blinked and stood up straight, rearranging himself a little way away from the two girls and trying to brush off his teammate's comment. Emerald and Cinder looked a little bit relieved, but Tyrian didn't say too much. Instead, he wanted to shrink back as the protests that he wanted to make died on his tongue, easy as breathing. "You truly do nothing of use."

"That isn't true." Another voice broke in, this one much lower in volume and much more broken and craggier. Hazel, of course. With him there, that meant that they would be prepared to leave the city. "He has been useful."

"And yet he's never contributed anything of use." Watts said, frowning rather obviously from behind his mustache. "And standing by here aids us in absolutely no ways."

Hazel groaned and looked away from Watts before nodding towards the road and taking the lead for their group. The two girls looked from one to another before deciding to follow after him, almost like Emerald and Cinder were afraid to be left alone with Watts or Tyrian himself.

It should have felt like an insult, but at that point in his life, it was something that Tyrian was entirely too used to. So he just decided to duck his head and follow after, tugging his coat over his body a little bit tighter. Watts took the walk at his own pace, almost leisurely.

Their group travelled in near silence until they were nearly a full mile away from the city. It was only then did Watts allow himself to begin to explain things and tell them what he had learned in his supposed meetings with his contacts of choice.

"Grimm have reached the other continents." Watts said, announcing it as though the words held no weight to them at all, either that or he simply didn't care and-

It was Watts, so Tyrian was much more willing to put his lien on that particular possibility.

"Grimm?" Emerald asked, her bright red eyes widening in something between surprise and shock. "You mean-"

"I mean that there are grimm around the other kingdoms, are you daft?" Arthur snarled. "The point is that they have been spreading and so some of us should try to remain more aware than others." He peered at Emerald, a devilish sort of grin stretching across his expressions. Cinder looked from her chosen companion and then back to Watts with surprise on her face.

Tyrian couldn't restrain himself when the laughter started, shaking his shoulders and making him stop dead in his tracks because this was truly something that could have been expected. These children would not know the true weight of their Goddess' blessings.

"What's so funny?" Emerald all but snapped, dropping down into a position that made it look like she was preparing to reach back for her weapons. Too attuned to having to operate on a hair trigger, like she had fought her entire life against people that wouldn't hesitate a second to hurt her.

Tyrian knew the feeling and so he did his best to ignore the tears that were beginning to bead at his eyes from his laughter. He brought a pale hand up to wipe some of them away from his face, but they only continued to come and the giggles that shook him and controlled him refused to stop.

Watts reached out and grabbed at Tyrian's shoulder with a steely grip, the message that it communicated coming through to Tyrian clear as day because how could he mistake it? He clamped his mouth shut and let his head hang before continuing forward, cowed and submissive because he truly didn't want to start a fight, not with those that should have been his allies, no, Tyrian merely wanted to serve their Goddess.

He ended up being walked to the front, leaving the two girls behind with Hazel. It took nothing for Tyrian to listen in, his hearing attuned to the conversation that was now being held behind him.

"Some of us are protected." Hazel said, keeping his voice as low as he always did. There was a quiet clinking sound, the obvious sign that the man had his hands buried down in his pockets and he was fiddling with one of the Dust crystals that he liked to carry on him. "From the grimm."

"How is that possible?" Cinder asked, almost like she was lagging behind in everything that had happened to them. "I fought one."

And there was a long moment where Hazel just sighed and the clinking in his pockets got a little more frequent as his frustrations over the conversation at hand began to build higher and higher. "As with most of the things that we do, it's complicated." Hazel finally began to explain further, his voice still kept low in volume. Tyrian blinked and stopped where he was standing, waving a hand out behind him to let the others know that it was for the best if they stopped moving for a moment.

Watts stopped first, then the others did shortly after. Tyrian took two steps forward, his arm still splayed out before he began to lower himself into place on a patch of clear ground. For the first time that day, he allowed himself to unwrap his tail from around himself and Tyrian closed his eyes as he pressed his bare hands down to the ground and let his mouth hang open, just a little bit as he tasted the air.

His eyes were rarely ever good, but Tyrian knew that he could trust in his other senses. If they were being watched, he was confident that he would be able to find that information out before it could come to light as a problem for them.

It took some concentration for him to be able to reach out in the way that he needed to. It started as just him feeling for any sign that they may have company. Any tremor would have done the trick, and so Tyrian concentrated and tried to look for them.

Unable to find anything on the first attempt, Tyrian allowed himself to reach out further in his efforts. He summoned his aura up from within him and it felt like a wave of warmth, crashing over him in impossibly gentle pulses. It was almost enough to make Tyrian feel safe and warm, but with the circumstances that were already at hand that simply wasn't possible.

He had to force it out of him, his aura. Had to force it as far away from him as possible in a radius in search of any sign that they might have company or be overheard. Tyrian reached his limits and felt nothing, and so he allowed for his aura to snap back to him and stood up straight.

The man turned just slightly and locked his eyes with Hazel's before nodding. It was all of the reassurance that Hazel needed, and so the man moved forward with his explanation of what their being hunting or not hunted meant.

"Some of us," Hazel muttered, his hands still buried down deep in their pockets and his head hung low. "Have been given certain gifts by our... employer. Those of us that have been given those things, are supposed to be ignored by the grimm should we come into a position where we are surrounded by them."

"But many of these things are unclear to us." Watts broke into the conversation. Tyrian didn't say anything, just decided to fall back in with the others so that he could walk alongside them. "So if something doesn't match with what we know, then it isn't going to make sense."

"So then me fighting one-"

"It means that our Goddess must have wanted you to fight one." Tyrian cackled as he fell into place, his tail twitching behind him. "If you have faced a beast."

There was a silence, and Tyrian watched Cinder's expression as it twisted into one that was much more unsure of herself. He was sure that she was now in a place where she could only question what she knew about things, and Tyrian-

Well, he only really knew as much as the others. And Emerald seemed even more confused than Cinder was by it all. Of course she would be though, Tyrian thought. The girl was new to their cause. She hadn't been chosen like the rest of them had been, she had ended up with the rest of them by chance. Because Cinder had chosen her for their cause.

The poor thing, not a clue as to what great destinies she was now playing into.

"None of this makes sense." Emerald mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself and hugging herself. It looked like she was gripping at her arms a little too tightly, and Tyrian smiled. Just turned and prepared for them to continue to walk.

"None of it does." Cinder muttered, her voice dark and frustrated in the same way. "And since some of us insist on keeping secrets-"

Her gaze travelled, levelling on Watts, and then on Hazel. Both of the men glanced at each other, pure hesitation showing clearly on both of their faces. Watts looked mostly displeased with the challenge and Hazel-

Hazel looked like he was about to slink off to somewhere quiet if he got the chance to. Like if he could have simply avoided the problem, he would have gone ahead and done so immediately.

It made Tyrian glad that he wasn't being placed under the same scrutiny as the others were, if only because he wasn't anywhere near as well initiated into their cause as some of the others were. He was too young to have the same experience as Hazel or Watts, and when the others had been serving their Goddess for years-

Well, he wasn't the best one to answer questions.

"We aren't keeping secrets." Hazel muttered, and his voice came out as being little more than an unadulterated growl. It almost made Tyrian feel like he needed to shrink back and out of sight. "Everything that you need to know, we have told you."

"Then why don't I believe you?" Cinder asked, taking a step in towards Hazel and meeting his eyes. "Why does it feel like-" She grit her teeth in frustration, and for a moment Tyrian could have sworn that he'd seen Cinder's eyes burn brighter and more violently as their hue turned to violent red.

Tyrian was stopped dead in his tracks because that was something that he had definitely seen before, but never in humanity. Never outside of dreams of visions of whatever it was that plagued him at night. He had only seen that look on-

It made him shake. It felt like his skin was beginning to vibrate, and Tyrian wanted to let himself have an outburst and make his excitement known. Perhaps the others hadn't noticed it, but if they had-

What was he supposed to do? Was he meant to stay back and bite his tongue and play along as though he hadn't seen something akin to the visage of their Goddess in person, right in front of them?

"Nobody is keeping secrets." Hazel grumbled, turning his back on the rest of them as he began to walk away from the rest of them. It was as obvious of a sign that they needed to leave as the man could give, and Tyrian knew that he needed to follow himself, but that didn't mean that he wanted to go. Not when his stomach was churning and he was so excited that he felt like he was going to explode.

On a normal day, Tyrian knew that what Hazel would have said would have been law. They would have just moved on. He let his tail drop behind him and then picked it back up so that he could wrap its length around his body. Tyrian glanced at the others over his shoulder and dropped his head before moving to follow after Hazel.

But there was a voice that interrupted it all.

Watts' voice.

"You know that lying won't get us anywhere, Hazel." Watts said, keeping his voice surprisingly even but as biting as was possible in the process. "And if you intend on continuing to withhold information from the rest of us-"

Tyrian blinked, because he didn't know that anyone was lying to anyone. He had been under the impression that they were simply following the orders that their Goddess had passed down for them. Anytime that she would come to him, Tyrian had always gone to the others to announce what he knew.

He allowed himself to stop, and the feeling of Watts' hand settling on his shoulder made Tyrian shrink back further. He was nearly expecting something- a shock, something to remind him that he was out of his place.
But instead, Watts continued to speak, his electric green eyes still locked securely onto Hazel's back.

"You could do the class a great favor by explaining what you know, Hazel." Watts' expression sank into a grin, the corners of his mouth twisting up and his eyes narrowing dangerously. Tyrian finally took that as his cue to get away from the others because he needed the space so badly. He knew that look on Watts' face all too well. It was one that was only ever associated with hurt. "After all, we are in your old stomping grounds, aren't we?"

With those worlds, Tyrian felt his heart speed up too much because of how much that said on its own. The way that Hazel hesitated and stopped was... too much.

Tyrian wanted to ask some questions. Important questions, things that would hopefully be able to clear the air or at the very least make something make sense, but-

It wasn't his place. No, Tyrian knew his place. When his Goddess needed him he was always the one there to serve her. He had no place asking the others for help, or offering himself up to them. No, he obeyed their orders because they had been involved for so much longer. He slept in the corners and stayed out of the way, and he-

He-

He didn't know his place all of a sudden and he was afraid.

"Yes." Hazel muttered, his voice dark. "I used to live in Mistral. That isn't relevant to anything."

"Is it now?" Watts taunted, slinking away from Tyrian and taking a step in towards Hazel. "Because I have been getting the feeling that it's very relevant and that you haven't felt the need to inform any of us."

"There is nothing that you need to know." Hazel responded, taking a step towards Watts with his hands balled into fists at his sides. He looked furious, but Hazel was calm- he never would be the type to lash out in anger. He would keep his fury to himself, Tyrian knew that and he could trust in that.

He stole a glance at the girls though. Emerald had decided to shrink back behind Cinder to some degree, and Cinder looked aggravated, but also seemed to be keeping herself from becoming involved with the conflict that was beginning to bloom between their teammates.

Although, on second thought Tyrian couldn't help but thinking that this conflict was new was incorrect. Even before the girl had been in the picture the two men had been constantly at odds, but it had only gotten worse.

"I truly have to say otherwise." Watts said, still glaring Hazel down. "And your refusal towards having any transparency over matters isn't helping your cause."

Hazel groaned and dropped his head. It wasn't something that he was doing for the sake of submission though, Tyrian was sure of that. Instead, it was just pure frustration in physical form.

"We need to keep moving." Hazel finally said, levelling a glare on Watts and growling the words out. "I will explain things when I need to. But these are personal matters."

Watts just paused, staring Hazel down and sighing a moment later. "Don't expect for this to go away, Hazel." He muttered, and Tyrian just watched as the two men began back down on the road.

The two girls walked up, almost positioning themselves at his side before one of them spoke up.

"Is that... normal?" Emerald asked, standing up on her toes and craning her neck to get a better look at Hazel and Watts, who were walking on opposite sides of the trail and obviously doing their best to ignore each other.

Cinder looked like she wanted to answer, but she just looked to Tyrian instead.

He hanged his head and began on the walk forward. "No more normal than anything else." Tyrian replied. The girls were following after him within moments, the two of them looking to each other for help.

Tyrian wished for help, but couldn't stop his mind from jumping from thing to thing and topic to topic in the excitement and fear that had built up all in one go.

He just hoped that whatever happened in their near future would be productive rather than bringing them more problems.

He prayed for his Goddess, in the hopes that she would listen and reach out for him once more.