This might be a stressful chapter for some. You might want to skip, but at the same time, it's kind of important. It's your choice really, so what are you going to do? Anybody else reminded of a Weird Al song right now?

Shortly after they left the sparring room, dinner was served in the cafeteria. It was nice; it was mostly breaded chicken, chicken nuggets, and fries. But Faye was not entirely focused on the food.

Memories from her Asylum days plagued her. Memories of Talon, Lorna, Kit, and herself at a younger age, and getting into all sorts of situations that Faye found both nostalgic and regretful. Those memories came to mind because of what she and Storm had done earlier that day. But they were not the only ones.

She kept reliving the moment that Talon shot her. The pain, the sense of betrayal, and even the smell of the air she remembered with perfect clarity. But that was the past, and she could not do a thing about it.

Though she did have to get her the body glove she wore with her armor mended. She had been meaning to have it repaired since she returned, and yet it had always slipped her mind. She would have to take care of it after dinner.

Glancing at the rest of her team and team CCRE, she realized one other thing that needed to be taken care of. Azura's brown leather duster had bloodstains from when she helped carry Faye after she was shot. Why had she not taken care of that?

"Um, Azura," Faye said, unsure of how to phrase this.

"Yeah?" Azura replied.

"I think that… you should have your duster cleaned." Azura cocked an eyebrow. "It has bloodstains on it."

"Yeah, it does," Azura said, picking up a chicken nugget.

As Azura bit into the nugget, Faye asked, "So are you going to take it down to Laundry?"

"No," Azura said as she chewed.

"Ugh," Storm groaned. "Weren't you taught not to talk with your mouth full?" Azura scowled at him, and kept eating.

Crystal looked at Azura questioningly. "Why don't you want to have your duster washed?" Crystal asked.

"I don't see the reason of doing it," Azura said.

After a pause, Crystal asked, "Would you care to elaborate?"

"Fine," Azura sighed as she put down a chicken nugget. "We wouldn't wash laundry often in my village, so I don't feel as strong an urge to wash stuff as you. Beside, my dad gave me this, so I don't want it ruined."

"I think the laundry staff knows how to clean leather," Storm noted.

"Right," Azura said. "If you're going to make a fuss over it, I might as well."

"So you will have it washed?" Faye asked.

"Yeah."

"Great," Storm noted.

There was a quiet for some time after that. In that time, Storm and Rayne finished dinner. As soon as both of them did, Storm stood up and said, "Hey, Rayne, time to go."

"Right," Rayne said, and got up.

"See you later, everybody," Storm said. With that, the two of them left to go talk.

Faye wondered what it was like to have a sibling—an actual sibling. She imagined it was something like having a best friend who would never leave you, whether you wanted them to or not. Of course, she could be completely wrong about that.

After finishing her own dinner, she excused herself from the table, and left the cafeteria. She walked with no one, as no one else had finished. She remembered that she needed a new book after finishing the last one, so she went to the library.

She wondered where Lorna was. As good friends as her teammates might be—with the exception of Rusti—, Lorna had been her best friend for years. Of course, since coming to Haven, Lorna no doubt had made new friends. Faye hoped that Lorna still wanted to be around her.

As she was right outside the library, a voice came from behind her. "You know, Faunus," she turned around and saw a tall young man with burnt orange hair and blueish eyes who she did not quite recognize, "your people are real villains."

That angered her. While on another day, she may have run or something such as that, she did not feel like backing down today. "Not every Faunus is like those in the White Fang," she said defiantly.

She thought she remembered him now. He was a new student from Beacon named something like Cardinal or Cardin. She did not remember much about him though.

"No, those at least have decency to tell you they're attacking you." It was strange hearing the White Fang being described as "decent" when they were anything but. "But then you look at how they're taking jobs and being paid less so that some businesses only employ Faunus for those jobs, and being allowed to publish works that make people sympathize with them. No, the only thing worse than a murderer is a liar."

Angry, Faye threw a punch. She forgot her fear, aiming right for his jaw. He stepped out of the way, and grabbed one of her feather.

Pain shot through her skull. She crumbled to the ground and tried releasing his grip on her. It was incredibly painful to have something growing out of her scalp being yanked on.
Then she remembered a trick her mother taught her. A trick she told her to use with young ones or her father when his mouse was stuck in his hand. She grabbed his hand, and pressed on the center of it. It loosened his grip enough to escape.

She rolled away from him, and assumed a fighting stance. She now remembered her martial arts training from Asylum, and was ready to fight Cardin. She would let him make the first move though.

He charged, grabbed her wrist, and she countered by hitting one of his pressure points. When she hit it though, it did not have the effect she wanted. He'd raised his defensive aura, stopping her from doing anything.

Before she raised her own aura, he kneed her in the stomach, and she fell to the floor. It hurt, and a groan escaped her mouth. "Maybe that'll teach you a lesson, Faunus," he said as he stood over her.

All of a sudden, there was a scream of fury, and Cardin yelped. She looked up to see Lorna pinning Cardin to the wall with her forearm against his neck. Her aura burned with orange flames that everyone could see. Faye smiled lightly; Lorna had come to the rescue.

Then, an arrow whizzed by Lorna's head and hit a nearby wall. Faye looked to the source of the arrow and saw Mrs. Sapphire standing with her longbow drawn at the end or the corridor. At last, an adult with authority. Perhaps she would grant punishment to Cardin.

"Miss Sionn," Mrs. Sapphire said, "please back away from Mister Winchester." Lorna did as she was told, and backed away. Mrs. Sapphire helped Faye up, and after checking if she was alright—and she was, as far as she knew, just in pain, which was fading—she handed out punishment. "Miss Elric, Miss Sionn, you both are temporarily suspended from sparring matches."

Faye was confused, and Lorna was outraged. "Suspended…! We weren't the ones who…"

"Quiet, this is for your own good," Mrs. Sapphire added. Winchester had a smug smile on his face which disappeared when Sapphire looked at him. "And you. If you weren't in the tournament, I'd suspend you as well. But for now, you'll just have to wait for your punishment. And believe me; it'll be far worse than anything you're thinking of."

Faye wondered what that meant. Then Mrs. Sapphire dismissed them all, and they went away.

Lorna was still angry. "I can't believe Mrs. Sapphire didn't do something more severe, like expelling him!"

"I am not sure she has the power to do that," Faye said. "She is only a visiting professor. I am not sure if we even have anyone who can expel students anymore."

Before Lorna could say anything, Mrs. Sapphire's voice came from behind them. "Excuse me, girls." They turned around. It seemed from Sapphire's tone and expression that she was apologetic. "I'm sorry for suspending you both, but I didn't want you trying to kill him in a sparring match." When neither of them accepted that apology, as they were more confused than forgiving, she said, "Despite what you may think, I hate bullies, but I only let him go easily to avoid the sort of unsavory mess that would come up if I did what I wanted to do—which is, at the least, expel him. He'll get his punishment though; I'll see to that."

"What kind of punishment is that?" Lorna asked.

"Well, I'm in charge of the tournament, so I think I'll find something." Faye thought that sounded like abuse of power, but that seemed like a good idea in this case. "You girls just go about your day the rest of your day, and leave it all to me."

As Mrs. Sapphire was about to go, Faye said, "Thank you. I can see where Storm gets his sense of nobility."

"I guess so," Sapphire said with a smile, and left. Winchester would get what was coming to him, she had no doubt.

Storm and his brother Rayne sat outside on a bench of one of the balconies. The sky was gray that evening, so no sunset was to be seen. It was nice to be outside in the fresh air, whether or not it might rain soon. They hadn't come there though for the view.

It had been too long since they had talked, as brothers. Too much had happened since they last talked, so they needed this.

Storm didn't know where to start. Rayne did though, saying, "So, Ember forgives you for shooting her."

Storm was caught off guard by this. Shortly before the Grimm invasion, he and Ember fought, and during that battle, one of his rounds went through her aura and injured her. It was a painful memory, despite his intentions beforehand. "I'm glad," Storm said, "but why didn't she say it?"

"She still doesn't like you," Rayne said.

He cocked his head. "When did this happen about Ember disliking me?"

"Oh, she's never liked you," Rayne said. "She really didn't like it when you mistook her for a Goth."

"She practically looks the part, okay? And her attitude just enforces this theory." There was a pause, then he asked, "So are you two I thing?"

"Yep." Somehow, he knew it before Rayne even asked. But he was happy for his brother; it wasn't every day Rayne actually got a girlfriend.

"So how far along in the relationship are you?" Rayne was about to answer when Storm stood said, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

"What, talk?"

"It's just that you were involved in things that I don't really understand, and I want to know: what happened?"

"I don't remember!" Rayne stood up, angry. "I've told everyone that, and nobody seems to believe it! I don't remember why I did what I did. I don't remember what I did exactly. All I remember is that I don't remember! Got it?"

Storm glared back at Rayne. He fought the urge to push him off the balcony. "Rayne, I have one question: does it involve Cinder?" Cinder Fall—who was related to Ember in a way that he either couldn't remember or didn't know—had gone missing shortly after the battle of Beacon. Her name was also mentioned once by Ember in a context that made him think that Cinder was the reason Rayne and Ember disappeared for weeks.

Rayne shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, if it did, I wouldn't know it."

Storm quickly realized he wouldn't get any answers. Obviously, someone had wiped his memory of those things. How, he didn't know, but he wasn't going to get any straight answers about that. So he'd ask questions. "So is your relationship with Ember?"

"Great," Rayne said. "So far, it's been wonderful."

After a pause, Storm asked cautiously, "So have you…?"

It took a moment, but Rayne understood what he meant. "No, I'd rather save that for whoever I marry, after I marry them."

"Great, cause mom and dad would have a fit if you did."

Rayne looked suspiciously at Storm. "You wouldn't tell them, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't. My days of being a tattletale ended shortly before my single digit age." Storm then said, grinning, "But I don't think they need me to find out."

Rayne nodded understandingly. "Good point."

After that, they talked about all sorts of things. It didn't matter what it was about to Storm, as long as he could just talk with his brother. With all that had happened, and all that might, he wanted to make sure he knew who it was who had his back—whether it was Rayne or someone else.

The next chapter will be enjoyable for everyone who hates Cardin, if anyone does.