The pulled shoulder is no more, that is a relief. This would have been a pretty tough chapter to write if my right arm refused to work as usual. Which is great, because that means I can go above and beyond in this one! Just a short 22 more chapters until we get to 100. I wonder how long it will take until then…

Also, keep in mind that next week I may not update this story for I will be writing the finale to another one of my stories next week. For those of you who have read my completed stories, you will know that I always make my finales really long. Just a warning, since with all the writing I am going to be putting into that chapter I may be too burned out to continue writing anything else.

And then spring jumps into action with multiple chapters a week right after. -CrowSkull.

Beta: CrowSkull

Coverart: Nova

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 78

Volume 2, Episode 19

Kai knocked on Qrow's door and thankfully, the old huntsman wasn't actually asleep. The door was answered within seconds, and Qrow took one look at Kai's outfit and knew that they were in for quite the night in town. After grabbing his weapon and taking along his trusty flask, the two huntsmans made their way into the outside. Beacon was dead at this time of night. All they had to worry about was Glynda making sure that all the students were asleep and students like Pyrrha who trained late at night like Kai did all the time. Neither of the two appeared to be a problem for that night, so Kai and Qrow were easily able to make their way toward the edge of Beacon's cliff looking down Vale.

"My sister still isn't responding," Qrow pointed out as he looked at the still awake city. "She's in Mistral too, so she should be awake around this time. Look's like we're going to be doing this without her… doesn't surprise me one bit."

"That isn't that big of an issue," Kai said with a shrug but didn't hide his disappointed sigh. "There are other ways of getting down into Beacon without attracting any attention."

"I can fly a Bullhead if that'd work for you," Qrow suggested. It went without saying that taking a Bullhead and landing it somewhere in Vale without a good reason was bound to end up failing. "I can also turn into a bird so I'm completely fine on that end, but I don't know about you."

Kai turned his head toward him and a rare smug smirk crept up from the corner of his lips. Qrow was about to ask him what he was going to do, but stopped and failed to catch him as Kai leaped off the cliffs of Beacon. Qrow cursed and was about to jump after him, but stopped himself as he saw Kai using his semblance to slow and direct his trajectory and the speed of which he fell. He wondered how Kai was able to do all of that without being able to see, but he has done plenty of things to surprise him so far so he wondered why he even bothered to think about it. Rolling his eyes and jumping off, he turned into a bird and soared after his late friend's son. Really, the kind of shit that Kai thinks up ought to have been worrying, but in all honesty he was pretty impressed with what he could come up with when he put his mind to something other than training and his insatiable hatred for Cinder.

Qrow easily sped past him with his bird form and landed on a building in less than a minute. Still, as a crow, he looked up at Kai with his beady little red eyes. He was just a mere black speck in the darkness of the sky as he made his way down to Vale. He watched until he saw Kai let go of his semblance and land on top of one of the other nearby buildings. Qrow flew over to him and shifted back into a human beside him, patting Kai on the back as he rested bent over with his hands on his knees.

"You're a crazy motherfucker, you know that?" Qrow said as he stood up straight. "We're in the Commercial District of Vale, if we go Northeast we'll get to the Upper-Class district where all the rich people are. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Kai said as he stood up with him. "Just let me catch my breath for a minute and we'll be on our way."

"Sure. On the way, I'll tell you what you should keep watch for while we are on our way. The Upper-Class district is tight to get into and tight to get out with all the rich people that live there who are worried a certain group of terrorists might try and steal their stuff to 'send a message'." Qrow said with air quotes.

"Sounds good," Kai said as he knelt down to the ground, getting ready to make his mask out of the concrete beneath their feet.

"Woah there," Qrow stopped him before he could touch the floor. "Not yet, don't put on that mask."

"Why not?" Kai asked.

"What do you think people are going to think if they see a faunus walking around with a mask on their face?" Qrow inquired.

Kai put two and two together quickly and sighed. "Right… They might think I'm White Fang and panic even if my mask looks nothing like theirs. They'll take one look at my tail and run off screaming and panicking."

"Right," Qrow was pleased with how easily Kai understood him. "And the Upper-Class district is no different, worse even. They'll have Atlesian soldiers on speed dial and before you know it we'll be fighting more than just terrorists. I'm not sure you want to add assaulting an officer on your extensive list of vigilante crimes."

"Once I become a huntsman I won't be a vigilante anymore," Kai pointed out. "I just need my license and Stone Face can be erased from memory."

"Four years kid," Qrow said, holding out that amount of fingers. "If you last four more years you'll get your wish. Now come on, we have a few miles to trek. Lose that blindfold too, for now, we don't want people recognizing you."

"Right, good idea," Kai said as he untied his blindfold and stuck it into his pocket. Revealing his blind eyes. No one would notice unless they really got a good look at his face, but his blindfold was a trademark that the world used to identify Kai in public. Without it, he looked just like a normal teenage boy. A huntsman in training to a more experienced eye, but still a kid nonetheless. Qrow supposed that he might have been a little popular himself, but he was already a pro-huntsman and he was only popular amongst other pro-huntsman. And unless anyone was going to fangirl or fanboy over him on sight, that wouldn't be an issue either.

Once they were ready and Kai took his hood down to look less suspicious, they used the fire escape on the side of that building to get down to the streets of Vale without making much noise. From there, it was as easy as walking a few miles to get to the Upper-Class district. Qrow knew the place like the back of his hand, so taking a few back-alleys and other scenic routes made it even easier to get there and shortened the time of travel by a significant margin. Actually getting into the district was another story. There were guards at every entrance and Atlesian soldiers at that. Unless they wanted to cause some trouble or draw attention to themselves, there wasn't going to be any getting past them without special identification or a permit. Qrow was a huntsman and while he could flash his ID and get in there easily enough. Doing so would send a signal to the CCT to mark his location. And right now, he didn't need to have Ozpin breathing down his neck over this. He watched over his every move as it was already.

"We have two options," Qrow said as they made their way into an alley adjacent to one of the entranceways. "We can get in through the rooftops," He said as he pointed up, "or we can take the sewer tunnels and wander around through the tunnels in the dark until we find a way up." He added, pointing toward a nearby manhole.

Kai's nose was already grimacing and flinching as he imagined the scent of the excrement of both types invading his nostrils and potentially making him throw up. The darkness obviously wouldn't affect him, but his senses were too sharp and while he may be able to get through it, he would most likely come out sick to his stomach. "The rooftops," He said, borderline pleading with Qrow to agree with him.

Qrow bit back a laugh. So Kai did have a weakness, after all, interesting. "Alright then, the rooftops it is." He said as he shifted into a bird and landed on Kai's shoulders. Kai rolled his eyes at the bird before climbing up the side of his building, being careful as to not use his semblance so that he wouldn't alert any of the nearby guards with the sound it made upon each activation.

Once he made it the top, getting to the Upper-Class District was as easy as jumping across some buildings.

"It should be obvious, but I am going to mention it anyway," Qrow said as he shifted back into a human and crouched down beside Kai. "This is probably where Torchwick has a lot of his pull. He is the poster boy of the criminal underground, and he knows who is vulnerable to a few bribes and knows who will look the other way and those who might even help him get away with anything he's doing. Just because some people up here are human or one of the rich fucks doesn't mean they're all innocent."

"I figured as much," Kai said with a shake of his head. "People are sheep like that. Desperate to get their name out there by any means necessary and will pay the cost of a house to get themselves out of some heat if anything goes wrong. It's pathetic."

"Well, not all of them are like that." Qrow felt the need to point out.

"I know," Kai said after a sigh. Weiss was probably one of the richest people in the world, and she was also one of the friends he was desperate to protect. Pyrrha was as well, and in all honesty, considering who his friends were and his own celebrity status, he might be considered rich as well. "It's just annoying how easily some people can get scared and be bent to the will of those who have nothing but trouble on their minds."

"Yeah…" Qrow understood what Kai meant. More than he knew. "I get what you mean there kid. Let's be careful here. Put up that hood again, here it won't be that suspicious for someone to be wearing one. Even at this time of night. I'll fly around and see if I can find anything regarding a metal box. Be careful, at this time of night I don't know if even your senses can pick up if anyone is following you."

"I'll be careful," Kai said as he made a show of looking around. It was easy enough pretending to be someone who could see. All he had to do was make a few extra motions with his head and make it look like he was looking at something or someone. He has had years of practice with his friends and family to help him with that. "If anything goes wrong, I'll make it obvious and we can get out of here. I'll ask around for now and see what I can find. There has to be someone around here who might be able to help us…"

Qrow sighed, shaking his head. "You'd be surprised, kid…"

Earlier…

Blake's eyes blinked open and with a quiet yawn, she sat up in her bed. Right away, she knew that something was wrong. Her partner wasn't in his bed. Usually, that wouldn't be any cause for concern, but considering what she knew and the way that Kai was behaving lately. She didn't want to take any chances. She knew it was a good idea sleeping with her day clothes on because now, she found herself sneaking out of the room like the cat faunus she was. Closing the door lightly behind her, she made her way down the hallway. Stopping when she rounded the corner and saw her partner knocking on a door.

Qrow's door. Her mind corrected her with the same amount of bitterness that showed in her face when she watched the man open the door and greet Kai. They had a short conversation that Blake barely paid attention to as she looked at the strange way that Kai was dressed. It almost looked familiar, like she has seen it before but couldn't quite put her finger on it. She tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible, following them as they went off toward the stairs and continued to follow while being light on her feet. She knew that at any second, Kai could just focus his senses and be able to know that she was there. But right now his guard was down, they were in Beacon after all. And he was with Qrow, so there was no reason for him to be on edge. As far as he knew, his team and everyone else in Beacon was fast asleep.

Blake continued to follow them, using the shadows to her advantage and her semblance whenever she needed to hide in plain sight. She was more worried about Qrow spotting her since unlike her partner, his eyes still worked and he could spot her. Thankfully, it seemed he was as worried as her partner was when it came to considering potential followers.

She followed them until they went all the way outside and near where all the Bullheads came and went with their deliveries. What were they doing? She asked herself. If they were training they wouldn't need to go down into Vale since Beacon had more than enough spaces that were built and designed for the training of huntsmen and huntresses. Her yellow eyes narrowed as she hid behind a pillar far away from them, keeping an eye on them as they discussed something. Even with her faunus hearing, she couldn't hope to listen to what they were saying unless she got twenty feet closer. And by then she'd be in wide-open space and well within the line of sight of Qrow. With that in mind, she was forced to continue hanging back and watching what happened.

Qrow and Kai had another short conversation, and from what she could see during it they seemed to be discussing something important. However, the conversation ended quickly, and to her shock and horror, Kai leaped off the edge! She almost ran out there to try and help him somehow, but she stopped herself when she saw Qrow jump off as well. The shock had to settle in for several moments before she could mentally slap herself and run the rest of the way. She dropped to her knees and looked over the cliff, and she was confused at what she saw.

Kai was using his semblance to make his descent controlled and it almost looked like he was flying. However, Qrow was nowhere to be seen. There was a flock of birds out in the distance and one flying out by itself near Kai, but the grown man seemed to have just vanished. She watched with bewilderment written all over her face until Kai became too small for her to keep track of. Why did they have to be so secretive about this? They hadn't taken one of the Bullheads sitting nearby. They were doing this in the dead of night when no one else was awake. And they were going to Vale for some reason. The means of getting to Vale was another matter entirely. But at that very moment, she knew something was going on.

Whatever it is they're doing, they don't want anyone knowing about it…

Blake's eyes narrowed further before she started looking around. She didn't know how to fly a Bullhead, so that was out of the question. She also doubted that she could convince one of the pilots to take her down to Vale either so that option was crossed out next. Cursing to herself, she looked over the edge of Beacon and thought about how her partner did it with his semblance. Could her semblance be used in a similar way?

It would be risky and one wrong move would end up with her becoming a nice paste red mist on the sidewalk. But her semblance allowed her to dash quickly in any direction and left behind a clone where she dashed from. Even if she was in mid-air. Could she use it constantly and long enough to get her down to Vale? The memory of initiation came back to her, she used it then to help slow her fall so that she could use Gambol Shroud to halt her descent entirely and bleed off her momentum. But that was only a few times and this cliff was about twice as large as the cliffs that go into the Emerald Forest.

If it didn't work, the best she could hope for was diving into the ocean and swimming to shore assuming that the clash against the water didn't break any bones, and at worst she'd die as soon as she crashed against the water. Even if she succeeded and made it down into Vale, spamming her semblance that much would drain at least half to three-quarters of her aura.

"Damn it Kai…" Blake said as she walked away from the edge to get a running start. Then checked to see if Gambol Shroud was ready. Thankfully, she brought it to her room last night after Miss Goodwitch's class. "You better explain yourself after this. If I die, I'm so haunting you."

She broke into a sprint and reached her max speed instantly. Her heart leaped up into her throat as she jumped off the edge and suddenly realized just how long the drop was. She got her nerves under control quickly and gauged about twenty feet of falling before she activated her semblance for the first time. The sudden stop and the push from her semblance proved to her that her earlier hypothesis was correct. Even if the whiplash disoriented her for a few seconds. She knew that with good timing and not panicking would get her down there.

It took her almost a hundred activations of her semblance before she was comfortable with the height she was at and that Vale was close enough for her to land in. Thankfully, she was a cat faunus. Her bones and muscles were flexible and strong enough to handle the force when her feet and hands landed on the pavement. She landed gently, and despite feeling all the air in her lungs rush out her mouth and nose, she made it.

With just under forty percent of her aura to spare as well. Gosh, she was never going to do that again. The feeling of the sidewalk beneath her feet brought her comfort, but now came another problem.

She had to find Qrow and Kai now.

"I hate you both," She said through gritted teeth as she sheathed her weapon and started walking. As she walked through the moonlit streets of Vale, the initial anger of having to do what she just did subside, and it was replaced with concern. Concern for her partner. The longer it took for her to find him the more worried she got, and by the time an hour passed, what just happened was a figment of the past.

"What are you doing, Kai?" She asked as she looked around desperately. "What could you possibly be doing right now?"

Somehow, she knew that she wouldn't like the answer even if he was there to tell it to her face. Suspicions started coming to mind, suspicions that made her stomach roll over itself. Whatever he was doing, she was going to find out about it tonight. She's been waiting for him to come to his teammates long enough, and whatever it was, it wasn't something she could ignore anymore.

Kai walked through an alley and came across two faunus. They could be White Fang, they could not, but he made it look like he was looking at both of them and made sure to make his tail visible. It may make them a little easier to talk to, maybe not. He sensed the two of them stare back at him with raised eyebrows. One hand animal ears on the top of their heads and the other had gills and sharp teeth. He stopped in front of them and leaned closer and in a whisper asked, "Hey, do either of you know where I can find The Metal Box?"

No one said he was good at talking to new people who were older than him. But he'd give it his best anyways. "I'm expected over there." He added just for good measure.

The maybe White Fang Members at least gave it a few seconds of thought. "Nah, man. You're better off asking around some of the humans around here." One of them said.

"We're just visiting," The other one added. "So we don't know the ins and outs of this district. Faunus doesn't usually come around here anyway, so I doubt you'll find much else if you ask us."

"Right, got it." Kai let out a disappointed sigh and began to turn. "Thanks anyway."

"Sure."

Well, asking around was a bust. Kai has already asked some of the humans and while most of them were pretty indifferent when it came to his tail a few of them were racist and told him to fuck off. So far he's gotten nothing. Apparently, there was a Metal Bar, but it wasn't the Metal Box. He should have known it wasn't something that would be known to just anyone on the street, he felt stupid for even thinking that was a possibility that he could seriously just find on the side of the road or in an alley.

Kai sighed heavily as he made his way across the street. It's been a while since he and Qrow have started searching, and considering that Qrow hadn't come to him yet about anything he figured that he was hitting a brick wall as well. Sighing again, Kai wondered what he should do. Should they call it a night? It had to be about two in the morning already, and in just a few more hours the sun was going to start rising. He would hope to already be back in Beacon by that time so that he could get back in bed and get as many more hours of sleep as he could before going to class for that day. Or, well, this day he should say.

Right as he decided to make the signal however, he sensed someone come up behind him. It set him on guard and he turned around to meet who it was and sniffed the air. His face scrunched when he instantly knew who it was. They smelled good, like candy. It could be no one else than Neo.

He would have attacked her already if he didn't stop himself. If she wanted to hurt him, she would have done so while his guard was down at Beacon. She was the one who gave him the note in the first place.

"I should have known you would be the one to find me," Kai said with barely restrained anger. "How come every time I go into Vale nowadays you are somehow involved?"

Neo shrugged her shoulders and sauntered up to him. Her parasol bumped him in the shoulder and she gestured for him to follow her. That was strange, leading him right into what had to be a trap? She had to know that he expected a trap, so unless this was some genius way of reverse psychology Kai was reluctant to even take the first step to follow her.

Neo noticed this and rolled her eyes. She walked up to him, snatched his hand, and slapped yet another note into it.

Kai brushed his thumb over it cautiously while keeping most of his attention on Neo.

"It's only a trap if you make it become one," It read.

"Tch," Kai crushed it and dropped the note. "Just go. You're the ones who challenged me out of nowhere. Of course, I am going to expect a trap."

Neo shrugged her shoulders again and looked at him curiously. She wondered how she was going to communicate with him if he couldn't read her gestures and mannerisms. That was how Roman did it. It was probably a bad idea to send her of all people to lure him to the box since she wasn't able to talk or communicate any way that involved sound. She didn't have any more notes either, so that was out of the question. Shrugging her shoulder a second time, she took her parasol and twisted the handle off. Instead of the sword that was hidden within the parasol, a thin almost invisible string similar to the fishing line followed the handle. Almost like putting a leash on a pet, she handed Kai the handle and tugged on it. Beckoning him on to follow her.

Kai grunted at the implication that he was going to be led on like some kind of pet but bore with it. He sensed Qrow land on the building beside them and just like they previously discussed, patted the ledge of the wall a few times to let him know that he was following. That was the only reason that Kai was doing this; willingly walking into a trap. Neo led him through the streets and sidewalks of the Upper-Class District until the two of them started entering the backway alleys. It was like a maze, and it was hard for him to keep up with it. He was forced to trust Neo to know where she was going.

Qrow and he would have never been able to find the place they were looking for, that was for sure. He realized that as they just now started getting into the more sketchy area of the district. Where he knew full well that maskless members of the White Fang were staring at him. He hoped that Qrow was still following him in his bird form or else he feared that there would be no finding him if he got lost.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of a floor gate. Neo opened it and the heavy metal doors slammed into the ground with a loud clang. Once she was done, she huffed and pouted at him, then remembered that he couldn't see her and pout even more. After stomping one foot indignantly, she pointed her finger down into the stairwell that went underground into some kind of basement.

"There?" Kai asked as he stepped up to it.

His answer was a light push on his back, easing him into it. Kai swallowed, he knew Qrow was around there somewhere, but right now he was entering the lion's den all by himself. Steeling himself and checking that he still had his stone sword concealed, he went down the twenty or so steps. Neo followed him, leaving the gates open probably for his own comfort. It actually wasn't that deep, all things considered. When he reached the bottom another set of doors blocked his way. Upon feeling it, he could tell that the doors were similar to that of those metal storage containers from the docks. Neo patted his shoulder and he moved away. She opened the lock and slid the large door open, then bowed and gestured to him to come inside at the same time.

Kai first sensed out the room. It was completely made of metal. The ceiling, the walls, and the floor. There were a few windows in them and another metal door that lead into a different room, but even that was reinforced with more metal. He took one experimental step into it and felt that the metal was very hard and dense. But somehow it was easy to sense the rest of it. Too easy. He barely had to focus to be able to sense what was happening. As soon as his second foot entered the room, Neo followed him. Sliding the door shut behind them and locking it.

Kai narrowed his eyes and a stream of air started to swirl around his arm, a threat. Neo regarded it and held her hands up and leaned back against the door. Smiling at him innocently.

"I'm here," He called out to the room, wincing slightly as the sound of his own voice echoed around the room and became much louder than he thought it would. "What is it Roman, I can sense you in that room. You really think that'd protect you from me if I wanted to get to you?"

"Nope," Roman replied through a modified siren. "Just a precaution you see, I just want to talk but I know you don't really have a track record of talking to those you don't like very much. Just look at Neo!"

Neo wiped a fake tear from her eye and made a show of being depressed. Kai didn't bother to even pay attention to it, though his enhanced senses told him that she was quite amused with him.

"Her heart is broken, poor girl." Roman laughed through the improvised intercom. "Anyway, welcome to the Metal Box! As you can see, it is quite literally, a metal box. Walls are metal, floors of metal, ceilings metal, everything in this room is metal. Well, except in here at least. There's some wood in here, and a sofa, I might add. You came here a lot sooner than I expected you too so I didn't even manage to leave my imprint in it!"

"I couldn't ignore you two anymore," Kai said as he continued swirling the air around him. At any moment, he could lash out. But he was willing to play their game for a few minutes longer to find out what they wanted. "I was willing for the first time because I didn't see you two as much of a threat, but after the Breach. I can't do that anymore."

"Harsh, that is both an insult and a compliment," Roman remarked sarcastically. "Listen kid and listen closely, I didn't want to go through with the Breach. I had a choice, listen to Cinder and live a while longer, or refuse and she kills me and puts some other idiot in charge of that whole operation. Someone easier to control. My back's up against a wall-"

"You think I give any shits about your problems!?" Kai shouted suddenly. "You're responsible for the deaths of thousands! You may have been forced into it but honestly I can't care for your reasons. Being sorry for it doesn't erase your sins, murderer."

"Ouch, that's hurtful," Roman admitted. "But not as much as I thought it might. Can you really call yourself any different, Stone Face?"

Kai clicked his mouth shut as the memories suddenly flooded back into his mind. The memories of all he's done. His very first mission into Vale as Stone Face ended with him getting his very first kill. And he got over it very quickly, going on many incursions into Vale behind the mask and killing countless White Fang. Mercilessly. He had to physically slap himself to snap out of it. He couldn't feel guilty for them. They were terrorists, worse than the White Fang! They deserved everything he did to them and more.

"There's a difference," Kai said. "I kill to protect the ones I care about so they don't have to worry about a target on their back constantly as I do. You kill to protect yourself and only yourself."

"Wrong. I killed to protect Neo before." Roman pointed out. "You know how I met her? She was young, even younger than you. This was years before that Mistral thing. She had to be ten years old give or take." Neo nodded her head in confirmation and gave her permission for him to tell that story. "This was before I became a master criminal mind you, I was an amateur gang lord at best. But I had my own set of rules that I followed and made sure those who worked with me followed too. No killing unnecessarily, no hurting the old people, and definitely no hurting kids. Well, guess what I did when I saw two of my own gang members in my own base tearing the clothes off of a young girl and strangling her so hard that they destroyed her ability to speak? I killed 'em,"

Kai felt his eyes widen with shock as the revelation settled in. The air swirling around his arm was waved away into nothing but harmless wisps as he turned to face Neo. She was still smiling at him, but it seemed forced and he could sense an emotion within her. It was sorrow, and trauma. It was the first time he sensed such a thing from her before. Hell, he never even thought she could feel such things.

"And then I practically adopted her right there. Felt like I owed her after what nearly happened to her. If I hadn't noticed, she would have been raped, killed, and probably would have had her body thrown in the ocean."

"Enough," Kai said, looking down as he kept one hand up. But no air was swirling this time.

"I just wanted to get my point across," Roman continued. "You may see us as 'lower than Grimm' on your fucked up little pecking order. But really, we're just people trying to survive. Just like you."

"What?"

"Oh come on kid, it's not that hard to figure out." Roman laughed. "You're young, strong, and desperate to protect anything and everything he cares about. Strong sense of justice and of right and wrong, and actually willing to go out there and make a change unlike ninety-nine percent of all the other huntsmen in training there in Beacon. And you have the genes to actually make something happen."

He meant his eyes. Kai flinched. How much did he know!?

"Don't look so surprised," Roman said. "I was the one who taught myself fucking braille so I can make that message to you. I did my research. It was easy enough really. I just typed in 'Silver Eyes' on Joogle and one of the first pop-ups was a story on the tale of silver eyes. Everything else came easily enough. It really isn't that hard to find out more about you, you should probably make your records a little more secure."

"What do you want with me?" Kai finally asked. "Why are you trying to make me feel bad for you and Neo? If you really are a person just trying to survive, you would have had Neo assassinate me rather than pass me on some invitation to talk to you."

"Correct, thing is, I don't really have any intention of listening to Cinder on everything she wants me to do." Roman pointed out. "I was willing to do a lot for her, of a key target here, to steal a bit of dust there. But kill a few thousand men, women, and children indiscriminately? No, that's where I draw the line. Never doing that again, that's for sure."

"It's a bit late to start feeling bad," Kai said, more calmly this time.

"I know that kid," Roman said, sighing. "Way too late. This is why I want you to help me figure out a way to get rid of Cinder so maybe a bit of that guilt of mine can be washed away. C'mon, whaddya say? It should be an easy choice, really. Neo and I haven't done anything to you personally, have I?

"Is that what you think?" Kai laughed bitterly. "You really think I am going to do that? To work with you and her would be to spit on what you did at Mistral!" He shouted. "To my friend, Cyan, who is still struggling to this day because of what she did to him!"

"Hey, hey, that wasn't-"

"Wasn't what!?" Kai cut him off. Air started to swirl around him again, this time much more violently as his temper was slowly lost. "I don't know how, but if she was involved in it, then I know you were too Roman. You are part of the reason that so many people died that day, the day that my father was killed."

"I had nothing to do with that!" Roman tried. "Neither did Neo, we were just-"

"No, enough." Kai clenched his eyes tight and grit his teeth. "I almost let myself get convinced by you. I almost started feeling bad for you. I can't and I won't. I can't risk it, I can't trust you."

"Just calm down!" Roman shouted. "Fighting here would be a very bad idea! I'm warning you this one and only time!"

Neo appeared in front of him and took a ready stance, ready to defend Roman. But strangely enough, she didn't have her weapon with her. Not that Kai cared, he didn't care for anything he had to say. As far as he cared, Roman was part of the reason Mistral nearly fell that day. And was definitely the reason that the Breach happened and killed all those people. That made him part of the list of people that he had to kill. Him and Neo.

His answer to his warning was whipping air toward Neo.

That proved to be a mistake as Neo dodged it, and the wind that sliced across the room whistled so loudly that it made his ears bleed.

Cliffhanger time. Yup, time to lure you in for another chapter for tonight. I know, I know. I'm just the best, aren't I?

This chapter took a different turn than I planned for, but not an unwelcome one. Just a few edits to the plans later down the line and we're all good. I hope you enjoyed it!

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