Here we go. Sorry about the lack of an update for this story last week. Had some other things to worry about, of course, everything I said a few chapters ago remains. But I am back and I have this chapter all planned out and ready to be written. Thank you all for the support this story received after last chapter, and welcome all you new followers!

Beta: CrowSkull

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 58- Volume 2, Episode one

New and Different Approach

The three heart monitors kept a steady beat, and there was no point where there was a moment of silence for the hospital room in which the three female members of Team KRBR were being treated in. Their friends visited earlier yesterday night, and it took Glynda Goodwitch herself to get Yang to leave the hospital room where her sister was in bed. Not even Ruby's assurances helped stave that natural older sister instinct she had. It was bright and early in the afternoon now, and Ruby yawned. She was barely able to get any sleep last night, which made some sense given that she and her teammates just finished fighting the White Fang, their leaders, Torchwick and his lady friend, and Mercury Black two nights before. The consequences of the toll it took on their bodies was making itself known every moment of their awakening.

Thankfully, there was a message in her scroll which told her that Penny and that Sun guy were okay. Sun was in the same hospital but in a different room, and according to the message so was Penny. That was good to know. Really good.

"Oh, you're finally awake?" Orchid asked her, she was lying on her side on the bed placed beside hers to the left. "Got caught crossing the border- I mean," Orchid, breaker of the fourth wall of meme's, chuckled to herself nervously as she retreated and let another personality take control. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Blake is being a meanie and not talking to me. It got pretty lonely."

Ruby's eyes lit up and she looked toward her right side to see her other teammate, still in bed. She would say she was resting peacefully, but with Orchid in the room, an actual restful rest wasn't entirely possible. "I think that's because Blake is still asleep, Orchid." She laughed.

"No she's not, I can see her breathing from here!" Orchid exclaimed.

"People still breath when they sleep." Ruby pointed out.

"We do!?"

Ruby giggled. Count on Orchid to make her giggle despite every muscle and bone in her body threatening to burst out of her skin and run away. She remembered everything very clearly from the other night. Blake and Sun lead them toward the docks after an explosion went off in the distance, they saved their new friend Penny, and they fought and fought for what felt like hours. Her eyes were especially sore, but thankfully not unbearably so. All in all, besides the many weeks of detention they had, everything went really well.

"Stooop," Blake whined and rolled to her side, pulling her pillow with her and squishing it around her entire head. "Just let me sleep, please."

"Ah-ha! I knew you were awake." Orchid said as she slumped back down in her bed with her hands placed behind her head. "Us girls have to stay together, even if that means we have to stay awake together. You've had a good ten hours sleep anyway, its time for sunlight!" She tried and failed to reach the string that controlled the amount of sunlight was allowed into the room. In other words, the blinds. "I mean, it's time for chatting!"

"Unlike you Orchid, I have more than a few bruises and aura exhaustion," Blake said as she lowered the covers down her body and lifted up her hospital gown. She wasn't naked underneath, but she would have been if it wasn't for the bandages all around her hips, torso, and breasts. She was the only one who received the most serious laceration wounds, thanks to Sienna Khan. Fighting her by herself didn't seem like the best idea after all, and when they first woke up Ruby was sure to let her know of the stupid mistake she made just so Ruby didn't have to worry about sticking with her the entire time.

"Psh, you're fine. Just a few little cuts and scrapes is no problem." Orchid dismissed the idea of her teammate being seriously injured. Because in all honesty, she wasn't. They were all lucky enough to get help from the other students of Beacon, the police force, and huntsman who were just in the area at the time. Very lucky. None of them said it, but they knew that if they arrived any later than their wounds would have surely been much more serious. If that Stone Face vigilante didn't show up when he did, some of them may have died before help arrived. They were only able to joke around and laugh now because of that fact.

"Whatever," Blake said, then sighed heavily when she realized that she was now too mentally active to go to sleep now. "Do we know if that Stone Face guy is alright?" She asked the question her other teammates were too afraid to ask.

"I… I don't know." Ruby shrugged helplessly. "My uncle told me that he dove into the water to save him, since he apparently jumped off soon after Qrow saw him and Cinder fighting. He was afraid of being caught, more afraid of being caught than dying for some reason. He had a sword stab wound through his side."

Orchid let out a hissing sound at the news. She knew what a stab wound felt like, and it was not pretty. Granted she never got fatally wounded before, but a stab wound never felt good. She felt bad for him instantly, she owed him her life for saving her from Adam Taurus before he could use that crazy overpowered semblance of his. Seriously, what God decided it was okay to give a guy like him a semblance like that? If she died then, she would have had a serious talk with that God.

"We owe him, for helping us like he did." Blake pointed out.

Ruby agreed with a nod. "I just can't help but feel like we let him down. I mean, we just left him to fight Cinder on his own when he got taken away like that. We should have done something, anything, but we did nothing."

"I think you made the right call," Blake said. Ruby looked to her for a more elaborate explanation. "If we went off to help him we would have left ourselves open to attack from the others. For all we know he could be huntsman level, and he has to have some kind of skill to be able to fight off Adam and actually manage to injure him a little. It's not your fault."

"His sword…" Orchid spoke up, tracing a hand across her chest as she remembered what happened after he saved her. "His sword had blood already had blood on it the first time he showed himself… that means he killed people. I'm conflicted, honestly. I feel like I owe him my life, but I don't know if we can exactly be friends because of what he does."

"Yeah…" Ruby felt the same way. She didn't have nearly as long of an encounter with the strange masked man with the tail, and she couldn't help but compare him to her leader. Would Kai end up like that if his obvious mental problems went on without treatment? She didn't want to see her friend end up like that, not after everything he did to help her. He trained her to use her eyes, and because of that, she was able to save Blake and hold out long enough for help to arrive. And recently she hasn't been a good enough friend. "Have any of you heard from Kai?" She asked while she was on that train of thought.

Blake and Orchid winced before shaking their heads no. Then it was Ruby's turn to grimace. He had to have learned about what happened two nights ago by now, the headmaster himself told them that he would be obligated to tell the leader of their team what happened no matter what. It made these last few days of waiting all the more tense.

Their other friends visited, Brick and his team were first. She was thankful for them. Rick and his team came as well, it was all one big package of friends. Since Brick and Rick were twins and really close with each other, that sort of melded RWBY and JNPR together into sister teams. Then with Ruby being sisters with Yang, that brought KRBR into that mold as well. They were like another family besides her uncle, sister, and father, and it was always a fun experience hearing Brick and Weiss bicker while Rick complained about Pyrrha being taller than him. Oh, and Nora literally being all over Jaune was another thing to keep an eye on, at this point they were all wondering when Nora was going to stake her claim on the very dense Jaune Arc. Although she had to hand it to her, it seemed like Jaune, as dense as he was, was actually noticing Nora's affections.

"We have good friends," She said with a happy smile, Orchid and Blake smiled with her. "Kai is our friend too, so whatever he has to say to use, we should just listen."

"But I don't wanna be yelled at…" Nervous Orchid nervously whined in a nervous way that showed how very nervous she was. Nervously.

"It's my fault that we didn't let him come," Blake said. "I'll take responsibility. If it weren't for me, Kai would have came with us, and despite any problems he may have, he is strong. He would have been able to help us, and we got hurt because he didn't. I won't have him yelling at all of us when he should only be yelling at me."

"No, Blake," Orchid surprisingly interjected. "We all decided to not let him come with us, and if I could go back in time I would have said the same thing as before. You may have brought it up first, but we were all thinking about it anyway. Don't take it all for yourself."

"She's right," Ruby continued for her. "We're a team, and so we'll stick together. Even if that means getting yelled at by Kai."

"Hmph," Blake wanted to argue back, but her ribs hurt too much for that. She thought her teammates naivé, but she was thankful to have friends like them. "Together then." She said, nodding her head.

There was a knock on the door a few minutes later while the girls were all chatting with each other. They all felt their hearts leap into their throats at the sound, the only ones who actually cared to knock were the nurses, professors, the headmaster, and one of their friends. Ruby nervously took on the role of asking who it was for the sake of her friends.

"It's me," The leader of Team KRBR announced through the door.

"And me," Qrow's voice sounded off next, making Ruby sigh out of relief. She knew that her uncle was okay, but she didn't know if he was hurt or not. Fighting Cinder Fall didn't guarantee anything for one's physical health.

The door opened a second later. Kai stood in the doorway, his blindfold was not around his eyes, letting them all see the full extent of the stone-cold expression he had on his face. His silver eyes with cloudy white pupils seemed to stare at each of them all at the same time. On top of that he looked exhausted, there were dark spots under his eyes, and he looked like he was limping slightly as he walked. Probably because of whatever training he would have put himself through as a way to calm himself down.

Qrow leaned on the doorframe and closed his eyes, content with just listening in on what was said. It was clear that whatever happened, he wasn't going to interject and stop Kai if he got angry with them. He would be in the right, anyway.

"So," Kai spoke up after a few moments. He sounded cold, tired. Passive-aggressive. "I-"

"It's my fault," Blake cut him off before he could continue, Ruby and Orchid yelped as she forced herself to stand and walk toward him. "I was the one who suggested that we don't bring you, because I thought it would do more harm to you than it was worth. If you're going to be mad, be mad at me." She said, standing shakily before her silver-eyed partner. Never before did Kai seem so tall and intimidating than he did now, but his eyes spoke a different story. Blake never really did get a good look into her partner's eyes, but the silver of them seemed darker all of a sudden.

"Blake, no!" Ruby tried. "We agreed that we were in this together, and get back in bed!"

Blake was a strong person, but she was injured and she hadn't gotten out of bed and walked around in days. Her legs were only able to support her body weight for so long, and she stumbled forward and started to fall to the floor. But a pair of warm arms wrapped around her before she could, Blake widened her eyes as she felt her face get pressed into the crook of her partner's neck.

"I'm glad that you're all okay," Kai said, his voice sounded so defeated and sad, but he hugged his partner and hugged her tight.

Blake's eyes turned glossy with tears as they threatened to drip from her eyes, but she stopped herself as pressed her eyes into Kai's shirt and let her tears get absorbed into the material. She entrusted herself with Kai and let her full weight push forward, not even making Kai strain as he held her up in his hug and stroked her hair like he was someone she was close with but hasn't seen in a long time.

He faux carried her back to her bed and knelt down, Blake let go reluctantly, and wiped her face of the minimal amount of tears. She saw the upward curve of his lips as he turned around to catch Ruby right as she threw herself off the bed to hug him next. She cried and giggled at the same time as she rubbed her cheek against his, the sight was very heartwarming. Kai and Ruby really were like unrelated brother and sister. After a minute Ruby finally had her fill and let Kai set her back down on the bed.

Kai patted her head before he went to the other side of her bed to where a pouty Orchid was sitting up. She had her arms crossed and magenta eyes glowering as Kai made his way to her. "Don't worry, I'll never forget about you." He said as he sat down on her bed and hugged her close to his chest. Orchid relaxed the moment his hands touched her, and she purred amusingly as she let her head rest on Kai's warm shoulder. When they were done, Kai stood back up and sighed heavily as he sensed the whirl of emotions all around the room.

"I won't yell at you guys, I can't. I won't say that I'm not upset, because I am. I really am. But I am just more glad that you guys are all okay."

"Yesss," Orchid said as she traced a finger around his bicep. "Say it again, say it~"

Kai snickered and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'm glad you're all okay."

Orchid squealed happily like a little girl who tasted sweet candy for the first time.

"You have no idea how relieved we are that you aren't going to yell at us," Ruby said a few moments later. "We were sure that you were going to be mad, it really makes us feel better that you're not."

"Someone is a little mad," Qrow muttered to himself.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad that is the case," Kai said as he stood up. "Because I can't stay long, I have… someone to talk to." He said as he tilted his head toward Qrow. "I'm sorry I didn't come see you all earlier, after Ruby talked to me I just sorta went off with Raven and stayed in her tribe for a bit, I only heard about what happened when Qrow told me."

"It's okay," Ruby said, already not looking forward to having to explain that to Yang, because she knew that Kai wasn't going to tell her. "And I am just glad you came, we were wondering if you were even going to come back for a bit there."

"Trust me, I'm never going to leave you guys," Kai said as he rubbed a hand over his heart. "No matter whatever amount of stupid and idiotic things you may do."

"Good to know," Blake said with a nod.

"Come back soon Kaizy!" Orchid replied.

Kai stopped at the doorway beside Qrow. "Yeah." He left the room a moment later, leaving the girls to celebrate their second official victory. As Kai walked off Qrow went on with him.

"You're not going to talk to Ruby yourself?" Kai asked as he walked forward.

"Nah, she is okay. That's all I need to know." Qrow said blankly.

"I did what we agreed on," Kai said. "I didn't let my anger control me, and I made them happy. Just like you wanted."

"I want a lot of things," Qrow corrected him. "Unfortunately, some of those things just ain't possible when it comes to you."

"What do you want from me Qrow?" Kai asked as he stopped walking. "We already talked about this, I didn't yell at Ruby, and I'm going to go talk to Ozpin. I've done what you want, and you are going to do what I want, right?"

"Yep," Qrow replied just as coldly. "Stone Face is MIA at the moment, I couldn't find you- oh sorry, him, and I think he is dead."

"Good enough," Kai said as he kept moving forward. He then reached into his pocket and dragged out his blindfold, tying it around his eyes and tightening the knot behind his head, hiding his blind eyes from the world once more.

"Your mother is worried about you, y' know," Qrow said before Kai could get out of hearing range. "Your sister too, you haven't stopped by for days."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kai said as he kept walking forward. He'll visit them soon enough, but he could only do one thing at a time.

The stab wound through his side stung as he forced his tired body to keep walking forward. It also reminded him of the lovely talk he had with Qrow when he woke up. It wasn't very pleasant, but some things needed to be said and an agreement was made. That was all that mattered there.

Yesterday Morning…

The bed he felt himself lying on felt like it was used by a thousand other people before him. Kai woke up slowly and in a heap of sweat and ragged covers sheets covering his body. His eyes flickered open and immediately he felt the airflow over his eyes. He felt a sharp pain in his side and winced loudly, and when he tried to bring a hand up to feel the wound, he heard the jingle of a chain bolted to something attached to the wall. At first, Kai panicked and thought that he'd been captured, but his other hand was free, and he was able to feel the bandages that were wrapped around his body and shoulder.

"You're finally awake, eh?" A very familiar gruff voice asked him.

Kai felt his heart leap into his throat at the sound of Qrow's voice. But then he remembered what happened the night before, he jumped into the water to get away from both him and Cinder. Did that mean that Qrow jumped in after him? He supposed that he should be grateful, because if it weren't for him he would be dead. Drowned at the bottom of the ocean with his body getting picked apart by the fish.

"Nothing to say?" Qrow continued, raising an eyebrow as he pulled up his chair closer to his bed. "I guess I should have expected that your dad wasn't a very talkative person back then either. Guess it runs in the family."

He knew. Kai sighed and shook his head. Qrow knew that he was the vigilante with the stone mask the public has nicknamed Stone Face. It was obvious in the way he spoke.

"What happened to the others?" He asked in a pathetic attempt to change the subject.

Qrow allowed it for now. "Ruby, and Orchid are okay, just sore and with a bit of aura exhaustion. Ruby used that technique I told you to teach her, it probably saved her life. So I thank you for teaching it to her. Your other teammate, the faunus who thinks she smart by hiding her ears with that bow, got a gash on her stomach. Other than that, no one was seriously injured."

"Mm," Kai nodded his head. That was a relief, he wouldn't be able to get angry if any of them actually got seriously hurt.

"There was also a few dead White Fang members over there," Qrow said, Kai kept his expression blank. "Slashed throats, stab wounds, bludgeoning, a few different ways to kill a person. I take it you know that your teammates don't have the guts to take a life just yet."

"I do." Kai nodded.

"And those other two, the ginger and the blonde monkey kid, swear that they didn't kill anyone. Which only leads to the most obvious answer." Qrow threw his flask into Kai's lap. "Drink." He demanded.

Kai lifted the flash and sniffed the alcohol reeking from the opening. "I'm still not old enough to-"

"Drink the goddamn booze before I lose what little patience I have left." Qrow snapped.

Kai resigned himself and drank from the flask. His throat burned and he felt his stomach get warm once it settled there. He coughed a few times once he finished downing the whole thing in one go. He was thirsty, and nowadays alcoholic beverages were actually able to quench your thirst. It didn't make it any easier to force the… whatever it was that Qrow drank, down into his stomach.

Qrow caught the flask when it was tossed back at him, and let the last few drops fall into his mouth before putting back into his pocket. The two of them sat in a tense silence for the next few minutes, neither of them knowing what to say to start what was going to be a tense argument. Until finally, Qrow got himself to ask the first question.

"Why did you do it?" He asked bitterly. "Why got out in a silly mask and do what you did?"

Kai kept his face hanging, refusing to let his body turn to face the older man. "Someone had to do something." He said, not willing to disrespect Qrow by trying to lie about it in the position he was in now.

"Not you," Qrow whispered. "Not a kid, not you." He repeated. "Do you have any idea what you've done, Kai? Any idea at all?"

"Hunting monsters. Killing them." Kai answered flatly. "I did exactly what I told you I was going to do. K-"

"Kill them all, I know. that line has been haunting me all night," Qrow said. "Didn't think you'd actually go fucking do it though. You know that technically I am obligated to turn you into the council and let them do what they want with you."

"It's not my fault that their police are full of weaklings and people who don't know what they're doing," Kai snapped. "And I know you won't turn me in, what would my mother think when her boyfriend gives her son a death sentence?"

"Jesus, Kai." Qrow was in disbelief. "Using your own mother as leverage over me, what the hell happened to you!?"

"I grew up."

"This is not growing up!" Qrow snapped, slamming his fists onto the bed frame and startling whoever lived next door. "Growing up for teenage boys is supposed to be nervously thinking about their first girlfriend and how they are going to get a girl to notice them, about going through puberty and all the bullshit testosterone-induced masculinity that makes you train harder. Not… Not this. You are seventeen, Kai. Seventeen."

"My childhood ended two years ago!" Kai snapped back. "After I witnessed Shae getting burned to death in front of me, having another friend get fucking paralyzed, holding my dying father bleeding in my hands as he made me promise him to live on, and being forced into a war that decides the fate of humanity." Kai turned to face him, his blind silver eyes were burning with anger. "No, my childhood ended even earlier than that… When I found out about the maidens and Salem in that message dad left for me when he thought he was going to get killed by her followers. When Raven started training me herself. My childhood was over a long time ago, you should have expected to do something like this sooner or later. I'm not like Ruby, I'm not stupid enough to think that no matter what there is good in people."

"Don't call her stupid," Qrow hissed. Ruby was like her mother, and Summer was a saint sent from the Gods, there was no way Qrow was going to let her legacy be insulted. "Ruby may be idealistic and naivé, but she's also fifteen years old. She's expected to make mistakes like that, she'll grow to treat her enemies like enemies eventually. You, on the other hand, have gone beyond that."

"If we fight Cinder and the White Fang on their terms, this whole city is going to fall," Kai said with balled fists.

Qrow widened his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "What do you mean by that? She's in Vale for the sole reason of killing Amber, the last fall maiden, and gaining the rest of her power."

"Is that what you and Ozpin think?" Kai asked, laughing bitterly. "You're idiots if you think that's the only thing she's after. She has the entire White Fang under her beck and call, she has an army over a million strong."

"That's impossible," Qrow said. "That'd have to take up all of the White Fang from all over the world, and we've been hearing reports about their activity from the other cities."

"Well, you're being manipulated by what they want you to see," Kai said. "Cinder boasted about it to my face when I was fighting her, she's going to destroy this whole damn city, Beacon included probably, and my guess is that she's going to do it during this upcoming festival." His fists tightened even harder, his nails biting into his palms hard enough to draw blood now. "It's going to be another Mistral incident."

"Stop assuming the worst is going to happen," Qrow said. "I doubted that she let out all of her plans like that, but if all of the White Fang is here like you said, and let's assume she wasn't lying and there is actually an army a million strong here stocked away in Vale, then they won't be able to take the city. The amount of huntsman we are going to have in Vale pretty soon is going to be more than enough to beat them back."

Kai scoffed. "I wouldn't hold my breath, it seems like you adults are late to everything all the time. Like that time at the bank."

Qrow glared. "Robberies in the middle of the night tend to be difficult to track down, and Vale is a very large city. Put more faith in us."

"I did," Kai said. "I kept faith in all of you. But Cinder has been running around doing what she wants for months, and she only gets more dangerous every day. Whatever you were doing, it wasn't enough. But I… I put a dent in their operations. I was able to do more as one seventeen-year-old kid wearing a mask than the entire police force. More than you, more than Ozpin."

"You haven't done nearly as much as you think you did," Qrow growled. "Ozpin has been beating back Salem for a lot longer than you think,"

"Centuries?" Kai guessed. Qrow glowered. "I've been training with Raven for a long time, and she's told me a lot about what Ozpin did and has been doing. I know more than you think."

"I guess so…" Qrow sighed. "Was she the one who planted that idea in your head? How often have you been seeing her?"

"That's none of your business."

"Fuck yeah that's my business. She is my sister and you are Marron's son, everything about that screams my business."

"Well I am not telling you, make your own guesses." Kai shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms. Closing himself off.

"Damn it, Kai." Qrow leaned forward on his elbows and dug his fingers into his hair. "You're killing me, I'm trying to find a way to help you, despite all the stupid shit you've done, and you're making that very difficult."

"Maybe you should just take me back to Beacon and we can pretend none of this ever happened," Kai suggested pettily.

"Not happening," Qrow said. "You're not going out there as 'Stone Face' anymore either."

Kai's eyes flashed angrily. "Are you going to try and stop me?"

"Let me finish," Qrow continued. "You're not going out there on your own anymore."

Kai's shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. "You mean…"

"Against my better judgment, yes." Qrow sighed. "You're going to have Raven portal you into Vale anyway even if I kept an eye on you twenty-four-seven, and I can't turn you in. So instead of me waiting for you to eventually get yourself killed, you're going to bring me with you wherever you go."

"What's the catch?" It wasn't a bad deal, not a bad one at all. He'd get to keep stopping the White Fang and he would have Qrow with him to help him do it, and he could get by being forced to fight nonlethally. But there was no way that was all there is to it.

"First, after you get the rest of your aura back you're going to visit your teammates, and you're not going to get mad at them."

Kai grit his teeth. "They didn't let me come with them, and look at what happened."

"I'm not saying you can't be upset, but I can bet you my flask that they are anxious about what you're going to say to them. Promise me that, and we can get on with the rest of the terms."

"Fine," Kai crossed his arms and huffed. "I won't yell at them, is that enough?"

"Good enough," Qrow said. "Second, no more killing people unless there is no other way to get past them, and you are going to need some better clothes."

"Okay." That was no problem for him there, there was no point in arguing.

"And third… you have to give Ozpin a chance."

Kai opened his mouth to argue.

"I'm not telling you to become his best friend or to let him do whatever he wants with you, but despite what you may think, he is our ally. His end goals are to stop Salem once and for all, and from the sound of that, you are trying to do the same exact thing. It's a simple thing that I'm asking, if you just give him a chance, that'd be enough."

"Are you telling me this because you want me to work with you guys, or because you don't want Ruby replacing me as Ozpin's little champion?" Kai asked.

Qrow didn't answer.

"Not answering? I guess that's smart of you, I can tell whether or not you are lying to me." Kai said. "But your lack of an answer is an answer in itself. But here are my conditions to me agreeing to this."

"You're not exactly in a position to bargain," Qrow pointed out.

"I think I am. Because you can't do anything to stop me otherwise." Kai smirked triumphantly at him. "I can have Raven take me out of any prison you put me in, and you won't be able to do anything to stop her. Despite how it looks, I hold the cards here."

The worst thing about it was that he was right, Qrow was forced to listen to what he had to say, and he couldn't really say no to any of it.

"First, Raven and I will continue training. You won't try to stop that. Second, Cinder is fair game, if we run into her, she isn't to be put 'under arrest', I'll kill her before she makes it to any prison."

"Fair enough, I had no plans to arrest her anyway." And the first he wasn't going to stop anyway, much for the same reason that if he did try to stop him, Raven would just take him to the tribe to train him there. "I'm guessing there's a third too?"

"Yeah, the third is that this is going to be our secret. You're not telling anyone about this."

"That…" Qrow felt a headache coming. In truth, he was going to tell Ozpin about who Stone Face really was. Ozpin would be able to use his power and high position to try and help Kai and the vigilante he turned himself into at night, as well as hold some leverage over the kid's head to not get out of line. But if he said no, then it was no deal and Kai would do something insane like leave Vale. He just couldn't risk that. If he did, then another silver-eyed warrior would just replace him… "Okay… I'll agree to that."

"Then we have a deal," Kai said as he let himself fall back in the bed, his body relaxing the moment it hit the mattress. He looked so tired, and older than he really was. He could easily be mistaken as nineteen or twenty years old. Qrow, despite his shock and anger, really did feel sorry for Kai.

"I'm sorry you got roped into all this," Qrow said with genuine sorrow. "Kids your age should have to fight like you are."

"Yeah…" Kai said, there was nothing else to say.

Qrow took off the chain and left him there. They couldn't go back to Beacon the way they were now. All of Kai's clothes were drenched and torn apart, and his own clothes were air-drying the whole time. Not to mention Kai had wounds on his body and needed rest, they couldn't travel to Beacon like this, not and get asked questions they couldn't answer truthfully.

He felt his scroll ping with another message sent to him by Ozpin, asking him if he was okay this time. It has been a handful of hours since they last heard of him, and he never replied to the first message he sent him.

He pondered for a moment on what to say, but ultimately went for something simple that explained what happened. Most of it not true of course, but he would believe him if he said that he went for a drink or two.

Present…

Cinder pours herself a beverage with a wide smile on her face. The part of her face that wasn't human hid behind a mess of black hair, and she stood in the middle of Adam, Sienna, Roman, Neo, and Mercury all sitting in a circle around her. This was usually a hangout spot for her forces, but tonight was a special night.

"That foolish vigilante is dead," She celebrated as she downed another shot. One might have feared that she got drunk with how much she has drank so far, but it seemed that even her genes made her resilient to even becoming intoxicated. "We may have lost some of that dust, but getting rid of that fool far outweighs a few extra guns for your forces."

"I lost good men that night…" Adam pointed out.

Cinder raised an eyebrow. "They died for your revolution," She said flatly, tauntingly. "I'm sure you feel the same way, you were all about 'revolution' and 'doing what needs to be done'. Besides, in the long run, they held no real place in this world."

Out of Cinder's sight, Adam balled his hands into fists. He looked like he was about to explode with anger, but Sienna placed a hand on his shoulder, calming him down with her demanding presence.

Roman faked his own happiness over Stone Face's apparent death. He would have liked to think that the kid got away, but Cinder is not known for her mercy of those she considers useless or annoying. As much as he would have perhaps hoped that maybe he wasn't really dead, it was a ninety-ten chance. Neo looked at him and her eyes told her that she thought the same thing, despite almost being killed by the guy, she didn't seem to hold a grudge, but he was smart enough to know that something was going to be in store for the kid either way. That's what nearly killing a person by fire does.

Mercury fixed his legs as Cinder went on her one man celebration for what happened at the docks the earlier night. It was sort of a victory, but more of a draw if anything. So what if that Stone Face guy got offed, it wasn't like he was important anyway. Besides, the threat that put all of Cinder's plans in the most danger was sitting all around her in the form of Sienna, Adam, Roman, and Neo. None of them were truly loyal to her and were only there just to keep her happy so she wouldn't go and abuse her power on them. To be fair, he wasn't either, aligning himself with the leaders of the White Fang in secret and telling them whatever Cinder deigned to let him know. He just wondered where Emerald went, he hated to admit it, but he missed the cute gem. It felt like Cinder was keeping them apart just to keep them loyal. He wouldn't doubt it. Maybe later he would shoot her a scroll call.

His mental distraction caused him to tighten a bolt a little too tight. Making him curse as he quickly made to grab some grease and loosen it up a little. Damn his dad for giving him robot legs… and damn that weird ginger for being so dense! It still bothered him how his top of the line legs managed to get their striking force matched by some petite girl. Ugh, so annoying…

Well, at least Cinder started to get bored when he started working on his other leg, and by the time he was done and after a few more boastful lines about how Cinder couldn't wait to bring down Beacon she finally left the room, leaving them all alone. The amount of relief that was instilled because of that was enough to make Mercury laugh.

"Thank god she left," Roman said as soon as Cinder was out of hearing range. "I thought she'd never shut up about how she killed that guy or about destroying Beacon. Sheesh, who's idea was it to give her power like that?"

"A sick play of fate," Sienna scoffed.

"Sure you wanna be badmouthing the big bad queen of Vale?" Mercury asked boredly. "The walls have ears as they say."

"By all means, tell on me," Roman said with a chuckle. "It'd save me the trouble of betraying her."

Sienna, Adam, and Mercury stared at him with shocked expressions.

"Oh, don't give me those looks. We all know none of us are really loyal to that woman, don't act like you are. It's going to make me sick." Roman teased.

"It is not something that should be spoken of so casually," Adam said quietly.

"Ah, but everyone in this room and the entire White Fang doesn't want to work for her." Roman leaned forward. "Now, I'm not saying that I am going to help you or anything, because Neo and I got a plan of our own. But I'm just letting you know that I know, and also, I didn't know you and Mercury were so close Adam," The scarred man looked at him, not smiling. "Is there something you two wanna tell us? Hm?"

"You've made your point, human." Sienna hissed. "We all have our own hidden agendas, and I will not dare pry into yours."

Neo clapped her hands and rubbed them together, then made wild gestures as if the entire room was on fire, before finally punching her fist into her hand.

"Yeah, maybe we should tell them, but should I?" Roman asked her.

Neo just shrugged.

"Eh, guess it can't hurt." Roman looked to Adam and Sienna. "We figured out who Stone Face really was behind the mask, and you'll never guess who it is! It's the one Cinder is always bitching about, the one who gave her those scars of hers."

"You mean that Kai kid that I had to pretend to be friends with a few years back?" Mercury asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hm, didn't think he had it in him to be a killer. Respect earned."

"You mean… he is the one responsible for everything that has happened to my men these past weeks?" Adam asked, his voice slowly growing louder with anger. "Damn him… I'll kill that little shit…"

"Adam," Sienna once again placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked over to see into her eyes, and the shared a tense nod of agreement.

"Ah, did I throw a wrench in those plans of yours?" Roman asked with a laugh. "That sucks, since Little Kai seems to have just been killed. I wonder how that'll go for you guys? Nah, don't tell me. I like to be surprised."

Adam and Sienna remained silent.

Mercury gave Roman a knowing look. The thief stared back and shrugged, after giving Neo a look she gave him a shrug as well, along with a wink on top of that. She warmed up to him after being in the same room as him recovering for a few days. There was no one else to talk to, so Mercury decided to spend the time bugging her. Apparently, that was enough to get on the girl's good side.

And man, were these secrets really getting out of hand. First Adam stopped Cinder's little plan and now Roman knows a lot more than she gave him credit for. It was a wonder how Cinder managed to stay in control as she is now.

No, he did know. It just scared him a little too much to think about it.

Ozpin sat at his desk as he filed some more paperwork. Because of the most recent incident at the docks, he had to make several statements in defense of his student's actions, and then be forced into accepting an interview with one such Lisa Lavender. It was all a tiring experience and his tired eyes grew more tired by the minute, despite it being not too long into the afternoon. Such was the job of the headmaster of Beacon, with Glynda too busy with combat class to assist him in any way, he was on his own this time.

The message Qrow sent him earlier was most interesting as well, it seemed like Mister Stone Face was still out and about and managed to give him the slip after the huntsman nursed him back to health. He would have preferred that Qrow bring him to Beacon, but a man like that vigilante was bound to have enemies, he most likely would have been noticed before they could get to a Bullhead, and Qrow's bird form was only so strong. A pity, he would have liked to meet the man in person if only he was given the chance.

Stopping his work, he looked over to the sound of his elevator doors opening with a ding, and then raised an eyebrow at the unexpected visitor being one such Kai Matsuoka walking toward him.

"Mister Matsuoka," Ozpin set down his work to give the boy his full attention, I worried that you dropped out, no one has seen you for days."

Kai scoffed. "No, not yet anyway. It depends on what happens in the future."

"I see," Ozpin sat up straighter. "Well, let us not waste time then, you are here for a reason, tell me it."

"You offered to train me at the beginning of the year, right?" Kai asked straight away. Now Ozpin felt even more surprised. "Well, I am here to follow up on that offer."

"Are you now?" Ozpin felt himself smile as he stood up from his seat and walked out from behind his desk. "How interesting, I was wondering when you were going to take the opportunity I provided to become more powerful."

"Our goals align," Kai said, echoing a certain someone's earlier words. "I might as well make use of that."

"And I am glad that you have made this decision," Ozpin placed a hand on Kai's shoulder. "Starting tomorrow after classes, I shall begin training you to become even stronger than your father was. But I shall warn you, it is not your typical everyday type of training. You will be pushed hard in every attribute."

"Fine with me," Kai stepped away and walked away from the headmaster. Their business was done. "See you tomorrow then."

Ozpin smiled. "Yes, I shall look forward to your arrival."

Well, it's been a while since I did this. Write a whole chapter in a day, but something just gave me the drive to just write. Man, good times. Now I am left wondering if I should make a Keen Halloween Dream Part 2. I don't know about all the rhyming, and October is always a shitty month for college. So I might not get around to it this year. Maybe next year in 2020.

Please review and let me know what you think!

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