Here we are and here we go again. And a Merry Christmas to all of you. We have returned with another chapter, and I had some thinking to do regarding this story. I am sorry for what some of you considered a disappointment last chapter, and I will aim to improve on my skills in this chapter. Also, I did not mean to try and guilt-trip you guys into reviewing, I was attempting to be sarcastic but WiThOut DoInG ThIS in text is difficult in some cases. On another thing, regarding the future of this story, this is a LONG story. And I mean LONG. 550k words so far, and we're just halfway through Volume 2… TWO! Man, at this rate by the time we get to Volume 6 we'll be at 2 million words. As a way to fix that, I have been trying to speed things up a bit in terms of pacing. I will do my best to keep up with the quality as I cut out some plans and add others. In the meantime, enjoy what I have in store for this chapter for now.

Beta: CrowSkull

Coverart: Nova

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 65- Volume 2, Episode 8

Haze

Ruby didn't know what to say when the rest of her friends caught up with her and the unconscious Kai being that was being carried over her shoulders. It all just happened so fast. She was beaten by Tyrian, used as a meatshield to stop Kai from attacking him, and then cut off her pinky and ring finger off of her right hand. In the grand scheme of things, like her uncle Qrow, those two fingers didn't really do much besides provide some extra grip strength, but it definitely hurt a lot more than she was prepared for, getting them sliced off like they did. After that everything went black and the next thing she knew, all the fighting stopped.

During the chaos, she was able to look around as waves of black overwhelmed all of the White Fang terrorists around them. But none of them got within five feet of her. Somehow someway, Kai was able to control the new power of his eyes, even if that new power was to turn people into stone, it might as well have saved everyone from being overwhelmed and being captured or killed. However, what she has learned about her endangered race, silver-eyed warriors were meant to protect people and be the nemesis to Grimm, not be their bane. Knowing that made it difficult for her to look around and see what has become of the people around them. Terrorists yes, but still people.

She rid such thoughts from her mind because she knew Kai wouldn't ever be the kind of person to turn into a monster like Tyrian and Cinder. This had to be an accident because there was no way he would just up and kill dozens of people on command like that… right? After ridding that notion from her mind she quickened her pace and let Nora catch her before she could fall forward from her exhaustion. She went far past her limits in order to keep up with the likes of Neo and Tyrian, she still wondered how Kai was able to hold out for as long as he did before she caught up with him. After nearly dropping Kai off of her shoulders, Jaune was quick enough to catch him before he could slam against the cement floor. She let him take his weight off her shoulders and gave him a quick thank you for his service.

"Oof," her blonde friend groaned as the body of Kai dropped into his arms. "He's heavier than he looks."

"What happened?" Blake spoke over Nora before she could ask a question herself and asked as she went down to one knee, just as exhausted as she felt. "One moment we were fighting Hazel and Roman, and the next they dive for cover from a wave of… I don't even know how to describe it." She noticeably bit down a shudder. "We barely got away in time ourselves… all those people were not so lucky, it seems."

"I-it was something Kai did," Ruby carefully admitted. "After I got hurt," Her friends gasped when they noticed that two of her fingers were now missing, but she quickly spoke over any concerns that they may have voices for it. There was no time to worry about two useless fingers right now. "Kai got angry, and I'm guessing he pushed past his own limits to try and save me and stop Tyrian. But he ran away before any of it could catch him..."

"How?" Nora asked, bewildered as she looked around the building.

"He has a strong semblance, but how could he do this?" Jaune asked as he quivered at the sight of stone statues perfectly in the shape of humans, frozen in whatever positions they were in when they could still move, and some of them were even fallen over and shattered all over the place. In some places, their comrades were trying to piece them back together in a vain effort to bring them back to life. "This is just… scary, and sad. I don't know if I want to even call this a victory."

"I-I…" Ruby choked on air for a moment, she looked to Kai, still being carried in Jaune's arms and his exhausted face stared back at her. He looked so tired and spent, so much so that she felt guilty for letting him get to that point even if it wasn't her fault in the first place. If only she didn't get beaten so easily… if only she was stronger! "I don't know," She lied for his sake, she couldn't reveal what she's seen and potentially make things even worse for Kai socially. He couldn't have any more stress in his life. "Like I said, once Tyrian caught me and hurt me, everything went black. I couldn't see really see what happened during that, only what happened at the end." She did her best explaining what happened from her point of view. She hid the fact that she used her own eyes to somehow stop Kai from doing whatever it was he was doing. Her friends couldn't know what the color of her eyes meant, not yet. It would only put them in danger especially with Cinder present in Vale.

Jaune and Nora looked like they accepted her half-truth of an explanation and nodded, Blake did as well but there was a certain glint to her eyes that suggested that she knew that there was something more than that, something that involved her team leader and partner, and friend. But like Ruby, she didn't want to make anything worse than it already was. So, for now, she remained silent and made a mental note to talk to Ruby or her partner once they all returned to Beacon.

"Alrighty, sounds alright to me." The ginger of the group said with a shrug of her shoulders. "So, did all the bad guys run away?" Nora asked next, thankfully changing the topic for Ruby.

"Torchwick and Hazel would have continued attacking us by now if they were," Blake pointed out. "They've most likely retreated after the White Fang were defeated." It was a back and forth battle yet Blake knew that if Hazel really wanted to he could have defeated them much faster. They were going to lose either way because Hazel is just leagues beyond to the point that he is probably ahead of some of the strongest huntsman today. The fact that he let them live had to be nothing short of a small mercy from him. It constantly made her wonder why a man like he who was gentle at heart would be working with the likes of a monster like Cinder and Tyrian. Though, she is thankful for what he did or for the lack of action in this case.

"Neo ran away after what happened," Ruby reported next. It still wrecked her mind as she thought about it now. Neo had the perfect chance to not just kill her, but Kai as well. If she did she was sure that Cinder would have been happy for it, so why did she just run? Nothing made sense, nothing about this night did. They were all at their mercy the entire time and should have been punished for their many mistakes throughout the raid they were supposed to conduct.

That was a question to ask her and think about another time, she ultimately decided.

"Well, I don't think these guys are going to pose a problem anymore," Jaune said with a troubled look on his face as he double-checked to make sure that the White Fang still present in the building would try and attack them from behind as they made their way to the exit to the building. A majority of them were caught up in stone, while some of them were partially petrified and unconscious from the pain. The ones who were lucky enough not to be engulfed by the black light had no more will to fight within them and were just trying to help their friends or escape. Upon seeing this, Jaune, Ruby, Blake, and Nora all made the decision to just leave the building. There was nothing else for them to do here, no one else to fight. The mission was a bust and it was time to find the others and leave.

Doing their best to ignore the statues and defeated cries of the White Fang around them, they made their way toward the torn-down wall that started off this entire fight.

Qrow widened his eyes as he saw the torrent of black energy blast out of the hole that was created earlier to begin this entire shit situation. The young man that he was fighting stopped fighting just as he did once it happened. It was unbelievable, Qrow never saw anything like it and it looked like Adam didn't either. After the black wave of light dissipated the screaming stopped, just for them to increase in volume as the time passed by. Adam took one look at Qrow, and the older man stared back in kind. They didn't know how, but a mutual agreement was made to finish their battle another time. Adam ran off in Sienna's direction, and Qrow almost followed him if it weren't for Pyrrha behind him on the verge of being defeated.

He had to make the choice to either go after Adam and Sienna who might go on to kill Orchid, Ren and Weiss who were all fighting against Sienna on mostly even ground just a few minutes before, stop them and potentially lose the champion girl in the process. Or turn around and save her while potentially dooming the others.

Cursing, one set of people were in more trouble than the other person who was a championship fighter. Besides, Rick and Brick were still around somewhere, one of them was hurt but the red one could very well jump in at any moment to help protect his friends. Decision made, he sprinted forward to stop Adam and Sienna from potentially killing off the heiress of the SDC. He cried out once Adam caught up with the supreme leader of the White Fang, and was fast enough to get in the way of them as they bickered and argued for a few moments. Eventually, a decision seemed to have been made when Sienna shook her head and let Adam pull her away. Again, Qrow was given the choice to try and go after them, but ultimately decided to stay with the kids. He couldn't let them come under more harm than they have already gone through, not anymore. He wouldn't be able to call himself a huntsman anymore if they were hurt or worse. Once the two leaders ran off and picked up some unconscious girl that was on the ground before them, he made sure it was safe before letting his guard down even in the slightest.

"Everyone okay?" Qrow called out over his shoulder.

"Good," Orchid slumped down and sat on the hood of one of the cars behind her. Then put up a thumbs up as she recalled her personality clones and started to rest.

"Alive," Ren called out next. He had a small shallow cut across his chest that ripped a part of his shirt, but other than a very slight trickle of blood that didn't even need a bandage to heal well enough.

"I'm okay," Weiss answered lastly. She was the most exhausted out of the three, and for good reason. She was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Sienna must have lost her mind the moment she saw her and focused on taking her down for most of the battle. Qrow wasn't able to see it, but the fact that these three hunters in training were able to hold back the supreme leader of the White Fang by themselves was nothing short of impressive.

"Good job on holding them back," Qrow said with a nod as he turned to face them, they all nodded back and accepted his praise. "Make your way back to the Bullhead, I'll go and get the others."

"But what about-"

Qrow cut off Orchid with a snarl. "I'll get Kai and the others, you three kids need to leave. You're all exhausted and running on fumes as it is."

"But-" Weiss tried to interject but stopped when Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see him shake his head and sighed. Qrow was right, they'd just get in the way if they forced themselves to align with Qrow and therefore force him to keep them in the back of his mind as they fought.

Qrow nodded his head toward Ren in thanks and then sprinted forward. Those three were safe, so now it was time to get back to the redhead. She was still in combat with Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, but at times she would swing her weapon at nothing, and block in the completely wrong direction. He's watched some of her fights on television sometimes as he went on missions throughout the recent years, she was a capable fighter against humans, and she wasn't that kind of person to make stupid mistakes like that.

It's her semblance… Qrow realized as he saw Emerald on the sidelines keeping a focused yet exhausted expression on her face as a vein popped out of her forehead. She was using her semblance on Pyrrha and most likely was making the champion see more attacks than what was really there. It was here that he went after first. But before he could get there, his earlier hypothesis came true in the form of Brick Violet sneak attacking Emerald from behind with his lightning semblance.

Emerald, not expecting nor was prepared for a torrent of red lightning to tense up all of her muscles and shock her entire body, fell forward onto her hands and knees, losing focus of her semblance and breaking Pyrrha free of its influence.

Qrow smirked as he noticed Pyrrha figure out that the illusions were gone and help has arrived. Mercury Black, who was actually a really good fighter himself capable of potentially beating even Pyrrha in a fair fight stood no chance against her when she had help.

"Any chance that I can say sorry and we can pretend that this never happened?" He tried as he noticed Emerald on her hands and knees still shaking from the lightning strike into her back.

"You tried to kill my brother before," Brick pointed out, enjoying the sight of Mercury wincing at the reminder. "You'll get no mercy from me."

"Right…" Mercury stepped back from the approaching Pyrrha, Qrow, and Brick coming at him from three different angles. "Em, I think it's time for us to go…"

"You think?" Emerald asked as she forced herself back up to her two feet. She looked at the dire situation that surrounded both her and her partner and came to the easiest solution in her mind.

With no warning, her eyes widened and every vein in her face popped out. Pyrrha, Qrow, and Brick all felt the influence of her semblance despite not even looking into her eyes, and Cinder herself seemingly appeared from the sky and landed in front of them. They all prepared for combat, but Cinder simply hovered into the air and prepared a powerful blast of fire. With no cover to dive behind and very little time to react, Pyrrha, Brick, and Qrow all activated their auras and stuck close to each other as they thought they were about to get engulfed by fire. However, when the fire touched their bodies they felt no pain and no heat.

After opening their eyes once more, Cinder was no longer there, and neither as Mercury or Emerald. "Damn it," Qrow spat to the side as he holstered his weapon. "Didn't know she could do that…"

"Me neither," Pyrrha huffed as she holstered her weapons as well. From head to toe, sweat dripped down her body and her hair was frizzy in places and let down during the fight she was committed to since the start of the raid. She was exhausted. Honestly, the one who had the most stamina left was Brick. Which meant that it was time to go.

"We'll have to remember that for next time," Qrow said. He wasn't too concerned with the fact that Mercury and Emerald had just escaped from the grasps of defeat and capture, they weren't that big of threats and it wasn't like they were the ones calling the shots. That one would most definitely be Cinder, the one who had a major hand in orchestrating the attack at Mistral during the last Vytal festival tournament. "Where's your brother kid?" He asked Brick next.

"I brought him to a safe place," Brick said, then looked to Pyrrha. "He's fine, he just got a little roughed up by that cool but edgy guy with the red hair and horns." He told her with a soft smile. Pyrrha looked visibly relieved and let out a sigh as a small smile curved up from her lips.

"You two go get him and bring yourselves back to the Bullhead," Qrow ordered them, leaving no room for them to talk back like Weiss and Orchid tried to do earlier. "I'll go get the others and we can all get out of this shit hole before Cinder decides that she actually does want to show up."

"Yes sir," Pyrrha answered without question, and while Brick did look like he wanted to protest and say no, he held his tongue. Good, it wouldn't do any good for anyone for them to argue at that point in time when everyone was in a vulnerable spot.

So with them on the way back to the Bullhead with the injured Rick, Qrow made his way back to the entrance to the building there was no signs of fighting, or sounds of it either. So one of two things occurred inside that building that everyone was supposed to raid tonight. Little did they know that more than half of them wouldn't even be able to get in the building.

That blackness… or darkness… Qrow knew that it had something to do with Kai. It was too similar to the light of silver-eyed warriors, the energy looked the same, and yet the color was way off. Instead of the pure white that he was so used to seeing from Summer and Malikai over the years, it was a deep black like the fur of a Grimm. It couldn't be Grimm related, that one was for certain. No Grimm were even around to fulfill the requirements of even using one's silver eyes, so it had to be activated by something different… Qrow didn't know what it was that caused Kai to activate them the way he did, but a part of him wanted to know and another part didn't. But either way, at the end of this night, Ozpin needed to know what happened. If there was one person in the world who could explain this dark activation, it would be him.

He ran past the shattered debris that was exploded out from within the building and came across into the opening, he felt his heart release a pressure he didn't know he had pent up at the sight of Ruby and the other hunters in training he was charged with leading and protecting into this night. As well as Kai, no matter what intensity the two of them may be at each other's throats, he was still the same kid he became fond of a few years ago to him. It was like seeing family he hasn't seen in a long time with the way he ran forward and took Kai out of Jaune's arms and hugged Ruby to his side.

"Are you all okay?" He asked the moment he looked over the others.

"For the most part," Jaune answered with a nervous shrug. He still wasn't entirely used to speaking with an actual trained huntsman other than his father.

"Just some aura damage for all of us," Nora said in a cheery attitude, yet even that was strained as it is. "We'll be fine once we get back to Beacon."

"Yeah," Ruby finally spoke, hiding her wounded hand in her pocket so Qrow wouldn't freak out too soon. "Let's just get out of here, please."

Qrow noticed the strained looks on their faces and looked over their heads with his height. What he saw was shocking, and shook him to his core. Easily hundreds of members of the White Fang were petrified, literally, in stone. Some were in positions of running away, others were charging toward something, and others were on the floor already wounded when it happened. Dead, almost every single one of them. The ones that still lived were scrambling to get away, calling them names and cursing at them as they did so.

He looked down at Kai, who he was now carrying in his arms.

Ruby couldn't do all of that with her eyes, she was experienced enough and didn't train as much as the only other silver-eyed warrior that he knew was alive today. it was him. It had to be.

With a heavy sigh, Qrow shook his head and decided that now was not the time to wonder how Kai could unlock something like that. The terrifying ability to use the silver eyes as a means to hurt people instead of Grimm like they were intended to would be a topic to bring up with Ozpin. "Let's go," He barked to them.

No one thought to challenge this time, and he pushed them along ahead of him while he carried Kai over one of his shoulders. Thankfully, the treck on the way back to the Bullhead was pretty much completely safe with no signs of hidden attackers, the Bullhead was even still there and the pilot was still the same guy. There was no trick where he was secretly killed off and replaced with some crazy lunatic or villain. The owner of the building they landed on let them through without issue. It was too safe and Qrow was easily suspicious of the situation, even as the Bullhead revved up its engines and started floating up in the air and heading back to Beacon. A text from Brick and Rick let him know that the other group made it to their Bullhead, and everyone was present.

Someone should have died that night, someone on their side at least. Of course, he was glad that no one did and more than glad that his nieces made it was well. More information told him that Yang beat two faunus officers and chased after them, they got away and once Yang calmed down she was smart enough to turn back around and radio for the second Bullhead to pick her up in an authorized location. He knew she was okay, and she was in the back of his mind as he collected the others, but he couldn't spend the time looking for her while he had injured kids with him. Thankfully, his faith in her was well rewarded.

Now that they were all safe however, therein lied the most obvious concern in his mind. Kai was laying down asleep across one of the benches and Ruby and Orchid refused to leave his side, even going as far as to let him use her own lap so that his head didn't have to rest on a metal seat. His face was bare to the world for once, and while the girls neglected to notice it, he had a sharper eye and a more logical way of thinking. Small black wisps, almost invisible to the naked eye, were still seeping out of the corners of his eyes. No amount of black wisps should be coming out at any amount from anyone's eyes, especially one of a silver-eyed warriors.

He didn't know what to make of it. But he was sure Ozpin had an idea of what this meant. He's been hearing plenty of news from the old wizard about how good and obedient Kai was being to him recently during their little training sessions. And honestly, the headmaster might even be on better terms with him than he is at the moment. It pained him to think of that, but there were other things on his mind that helped him get over the thought.

He thumbed the send text button on his scroll and opted to wait for an explanation later. For now, he had a call to Marron to make to tell her about what happened and an official report to write out. On a brighter note, he wondered what a certain specialist would think about his new and improved acts of professionalism.

Cinder waited patiently yet eagerly as she sat in a chair similar to that of a throne. It wasn't at all glamorous or that special looking, but it was the chair she sat in when she had to do some thinking or was waiting for something. And in the past couple of days, she's been doing plenty of thinking. It was almost too irresistible to sic the ambush on those children and Qrow Branwen herself, and if it weren't for the presence of Hazel, Watts, and Tyrian, she would have most certainly sent herself out there to punish those foolish- No, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Salem warned her not to her emotions get in the way of what she wanted. She and her associates were warned time and time again, never let your own desires rise above her own, or else you would be lost…

Thankfully, she was able to get her thoughts under control in time for when Tyrian arrived. Being the first to return from that White Fang warehouse, there were many obvious questions in the air before the man even fully entered the room, walking hunched forward with his scorpion tail wrapped around his waist as he always does when he is not chasing after some poor innocent.

"Well?" Cinder raised and eyebrow, expecting the crazed man to tell her what happened without her asking. That proved to be a mistake.

Tyrian cackled. "Cinder oh Cinder! Haven't you learned anything about patience?" Cinder grit her teeth, but restrained herself. Salem wouldn't like it if she burned Tyrian to death with her powers. "Yes? Ah, you hear that?" He put a hand up to his ear and twirled around on his heel. "Silence. Oh so gratifying, wouldn't you agree? Without your voice coming out your mouth everything just seems so much more peaceful!"

Cinder slammed her fist into the table in front of her. Destroying it with her powers. "Explain yourself Tyrian!" She snapped, her Grimm eye glowing brightly with anger.

"Ah, there is the reaction I was looking for," Tyrian said, laughing. "Well, since you are so eager I believe I can bestow upon you the knowledge of what has happened this night, and I'll have you know that it was a major success!" He spread his arms out to his sides and cheered as if he should be the one to receive all of the credit. "The little ones walked right into our trap, and they made it all the more easier for us by sending just two of them in as scouts first. Can you believe it? Me neither! Anyway," He was dragging it on to bait her, she had to remind herself. "One of those two kids were the little blind one himself, the spawn of Malikai Matsuoka… My, I do miss that man." He wiped a fake tear from his eye.

"He was able to bring such joy to my heart as he tried to kill me. So, his spawn just walks in, walks in, and even with his seismic sensing or whatever its called, he didn't know I was behind him until I was already striking! One thing lead to another, and I even managed to catch one of his dear friends-"

"Get to the point, Tyrian." Cinder hissed, annoyed. "I don't need to know every little detail of what you did."

"Very well, very well." Tyrian snickered, satisfied with her reactions so far. "Long story short, I cut off two fingers from the younger silver-eyed girl, it was going to be an arm but I changed my mind at the last second before my blade crashed against her aura." He smirked when Cinder's eyes flamed up in warning. "And just as Salem wanted, he ended up killing almost every faunus in that building with those pretty little eyes of his."

Cinder sighed through her nose, her human eye was widened slightly and slowly shrunk down to its usual size. "I didn't think he'd be able to unlock it so quickly…"

"Never underestimate the intelligence of the queen, dear Cinder." Tyrian chastized.

"I never claimed to do so," Cinder pointed out. Though she did have some doubts about the existence of what Salem referred to as a 'dark silver-eyed warrior', after going through everything that she has throughout her life, becoming the fall maiden, meeting the queen of the Grimm herself, learning about the existence of magic and how to use it and of course, the very true tale and existence of silver-eyed warriors. Protectors of humanity and destroyer to Grimm among many other countless amount of myths and legends that turned out to be nothing but the truth. Almost all of them were proven real to her. "I suppose it was correct for me not to be present along with you all."

"Yes, yes indeed it is." Tyrian easily agreed. "You may have well been frozen by the eyes as well, or maybe just be turned to dust instantly. While it would have been very amusing to watch I believe Salem still has use for you yet."

Ignoring that last part, Cinder once again found herself agreeing with the crazed man. Silver eyes already hurt her before she was turned into the partial Grimm monster that she was now. If by some chance little Kai's dark eyes were able to hurt humans and Grimm than she might have felt a pain she has never felt before.

"What of Hazel and the others? Did they make it out?" She asked next.

"Your little pets should be returning to you within the hour I presume, and to my knowledge, everyone else made it out as well. However…"

Tyrian giggled as he heard the sounds of screaming and slaughter behind him, as well as a very angry Adam Taurus screaming Cinders' name from behind the door he walked through earlier. "I imagine not everyone is okay with the little sacrifice we've made."

Adam Taurus kicked through the door with his weapon drawn. Tyrian laughed and turned around with his wrist blades and scorpion tail at the ready, Adam scowled at the man and prepared to fight him, Sienna coming through behind him with her chained whip dragging the dead body of one of the goons that they borrowed from Juniors club.

"Cinder!" Adam screamed her name. "You did not tell me that it was going to be that powerful! Over a hundred of my men were turned to stone. STONE! How is that going to help anybody!?"

"Watch your tongue Adam," Cinder warned as she stood up and summoned forth one of her swords. "You're a necessary evil for now, but push your luck too far and you'll meet the end of your destiny sooner than expected."

"Or don't," Tyrian offered, Adam turned to him and pointed his weapon at the man in defense. "Why, I've heard that you are a very dangerous man and I'd love to see for myself how…"

"Damn monster," Adam spat to the side, wincing as he felt his still healing wounds singeing with pain. "I should have never agreed to work with you, this is not what you promised us!"

"Adam!" Sienna called to him in warning.

Adam looked to her with shock in his face, Cinder raised her off-hand and summoned fire, silencing everyone before a full-blown screaming contest could blow out.

"To my knowledge, you are not the supreme leader of the White Fang, Adam." Cinder told him. "A high ranking officer, and perhaps next in line to take on the role, but even then that is all it would be. A role." Her eye flashed brightly as her maiden powers engulfed her in a fiery aura. "Sienna, control your bull-brained asset before I do."

"Stand down," Sienna ordered. Adam did anything but. "I only came here with you because you would have gotten yourself killed if I didn't, stand down and return to the home base with me. That is an order. You know that we can't hope to fight her, especially not now."

Adam felt his eyes widen and he took a labored deep breath. He looked back to Cinder and Tyrian, the latter practically frothing at the mouth to take a shot at him, and slowly lowered his weapon. The hidden message in Sienna's voice was clear, they couldn't hope to fight her, yet.

"Yes. Mam." He said tensely as he slammed his sword back into his sheath. He then walked out the room as fast as he could, not turning back even for a single moment to see what Cinder or Tyrian had to say to his obedience.

"I apologize for his reaction…" Sienna said through grit teeth, she didn't like this any more than Adam did. She was used to losing people and even sending them to their deaths, but she didn't expect it to be of that caliber. All those recruits… her men and women… even Ilia and the Albain brothers were almost killed because of Cinder's gamble of a plan. She wanted to blow up on her, kill her, make an example out of her, but she had to remain calm. Her plans needed to stay the same, which was why Cinder still deserved all the blame. If she and Adam blamed this on the blind boy, then their future plans would be impossible. He was needed on their side if they even wanted a chance at overthrowing Cinder. She had to tell herself that it was Tyrian and Cinder who made him do that and go crazy with those weird eye powers of his, no matter how forced it really was.

"Good." Cinder said with a satisfied smile. Her powers simmered down and she sat in her chair once more. Tyrian then whined softly and holstered his weapons, he looked like he really wanted to tear her apart right there. "Now leave, I have other things to conduct and your presence here is not needed."

Sienna kept her head up and holstered her weapon. With a great amount of determination, she obeyed the woman she hated so much and walked away. This wouldn't go unpunished, even if Cinder let them get away now. It wasn't in her nature to forgive and forget like that.

"Well," Tyrian said once the woman was gone. "I am no longer needed here as well, so I will be taking my leave to Mistral."

"Mistral?" Cinder asked. "For what purpose."

Tyrian looked all too happy to answer her. "The headmaster of Haven has been coming through on his end of our little deal… I have a whole list of huntsman and huntresses to kill to my pleasure."

"I see…" Cinder said with no real interest, Lionheart was such a weak man. She looked forward to the moment when he ran out of usefulness. "What of Hazel and Watts then?"

"Ah, you don't think I am going to tell you everything do you?" Tyrian asked her softly. "Figure it out yourself, I have other things to do. Ta ta!" He ran out of the room and Cinder shook her head as he did so. That man took every opportunity to annoy her, and he very well knew that she could burn him to a crisp if she really wanted to. Which was probably why he was doing it in the first place.

Very well, if he wanted to play his games than he would just have to wait for Hazel to come and explain himself later. She had things she needed to think about for now and plans to adjust for Little Kai's new ability. And now was the time to make them more than any other.

Kai groaned as he felt himself float in some kind of mass. He could feel his body still asleep, but he couldn't move at all. He was conscious, yet it was hard to think. His senses were impossible to distinguish, but deep inside he knew that he wasn't alone. His teammates and friends wouldn't leave his side, they were kind-hearted like that deep down. While he was not.

It was hard to remember what happened, one moment he was about to attack Tyrian and the next… the darkness got even darker and he felt… strange. He couldn't say it was bad, but he knew that he did something, he knew that he killed people. That lingering feeling of guilt was ever-present in the back of his mind. Something about that made him wonder if he should feel more concerned about it than he really is right now, but there was just nothing. He just felt… cold, almost numb in a way.

He could feel something though, he felt his head pound and a certain ache in his eyeballs that made him want to scream out in pain. But more than that, he just kept hearing a voice. Something calling out to him, it sounded like the voice of his own mind but deeper, stronger, he couldn't place his finger on it. He felt something slither all around his body, a warm coolness that was difficult to describe that sent shivers up and down his unmoving body.

His senses, or what he could feel right now, were going crazy. He didn't know what to make of it, but he knew that his body needed rest. His mind didn't, he could deal with this for now, and if anything went wrong then his friends would help him.

"I… wanted… you… to live…" The voice continued on. Yes, he agreed, he did want to live. He wanted all his friends to live to.

"But not… like this."

His eyes snapped open but he couldn't move, and he could hardly see. Still blind, he had to tell himself, but he couldn't move his body. He felt someone shake his shoulder, but he couldn't respond to them despite him trying his very hardest to.

He felt his eyes close once again, and this time there was no opening them again anytime soon. He lost control of his body and he rested, though his mind continued to play its tricks on him.

And there we go, Merry Christmas everybody! A much more verbal chapter tonight, and it was very well needed after everything that had just happened. I was going to write more at the end there and go into the next day, but the chapter is long enough for now. You can all make your theories in the meantime. As for the entire new past for the SEW's that I am making up for this story, that will be further explained in future chapters, don't you all worry.

Please review and tell me what you think!

P a treon . com (slash) Genatools

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