Here we are again, guys. Took a break last week, I posted it on my twitter but I figured I'd say it here. I just needed to take a break for quality reasons. I say that, but then I also started a new story. Which means self-advertising time! If you are interested in Fate-Stay Night or any of the other Fate series, I have started a story of that fandom and I am going for an original plot with a bunch of new characters. If you are interested, go on and read it! If not, then no worries. No hard feelings!

It's called 'The Seventh War' for those who are interested.

Beta: CrowSkull

Coverart: Nova

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 81

Volume 2, Episode 22

Qrow sucked in a deep breath as he sat down at the top of Beacon's tower. One might say that sitting up that high with the wind whipping around and trying to knock you all over the place would be an annoying place to simply chill out at, but for Qrow, who had the power to turn into a bird. This was nothing. He flew and fell at terminal velocity and even smashed against the ground with nothing but his aura to protect him once. Sure, it hurt like a bitch and Summer had to reset his shoulder and arm in three different places while also berating him for being a stupid idiot for accepting Raven's immature little challenge, but it was worth beating her at that game of chicken. The memory of it made him laugh, but remembering recent events, especially those in the last decade, made him frown at the thought of his twin sister.

Those days where they were happy were over. Those days where they both promised each other that they left the tribe behind was a waste. Raven left and burned her bridges, and now she wants to decide and build new ones with the ones he cared about? Qrow was completely against the idea. He was alright with Raven training and taking care of Kai in the beginning because if it weren't for her training and advice, he would have died in Mistral with his father and most likely his mother as well. He was grateful for that, it made him feel a sort of respect for his sister because of it.

Not now. Thinking about it now, he made a mistake. One of many, and it all started with not realizing it sooner enough.

He demanded Raven come to speak with him through her emotional bond. Usually, she'd have told him to fuck off and not come, which would then force him to fly all the way to her. Which would have been a pain in the ass. Thankfully, Raven didn't force his hand this time. Drinking from his flask and feeling the hot alcohol slither down his throat as the sun beamed down on his face and the wind blew his hair every which way made him feel like he wasn't just about to have a screaming match with his sister. That feeling went away the moment he sensed Raven's portal tear through the air a good five feet away from him. The click of her heels echoed within his mind as she stepped out of the portal all the way from Mistral and beside him. For once, she was without her weapon, and without her mask. Strangely enough, she wasn't even in her battle attire.

"What do you want, little brother?" Raven asked with a tired snarl. "In case you've forgotten, Mistral is on the other side of the world. I sleep at this time."

"Sit down," Qrow said, not even able to look at her. "We need to talk. Now."

Raven rolled her eyes at him, nearly making him snap right there. "If this is another piss poor attempt and convincing me to work with Ozpin, forget about it. I-"

"For once, it's not about that. Or Yang, or Tai, or anything that you're scared of." Qrow's tone with her made Raven raise an eyebrow. Sure, he was always usually this hostile toward her, but this time had a certain amount of venom which had her wondering if she had done anything wrong. This was the kind of tone he used when she first ran away and he flew halfway across the world to go find her back at the tribe. The argument they had about Taiyang, Yang, Ozpin, and everything else in between was one that had the tribe staying awake sleepless at night due to how angered and emotional it left Raven for weeks after.

"Then what is it?" Raven asked, this time matching his tone ire for ire.

"What do you think?" Qrow asked, finally turning to her and glaring at her through the corner of his red eyes, which were more than just his iris', it seemed that his eyes were bloodshot and red. From tears? Raven laughed at herself just for thinking about it, this was her brother. Traitor of the tribe as he was, he was not one to shed tears often. "It's about Kai,"

That had Raven frowning and furrowing her brow. "I do not have him," She said, almost automatically. "Whatever he is doing he hasn't told me about it."

"Yeah, you see, this isn't about that," Qrow replied in a snap. "This is about him getting nearly killed and captured. This is about Ozpin finding out about who 'Stone Face' really was. This is about Kai sitting in a fucking jail cell right now bawling his eyes out in fear over what his mother, sister, and teammates are all thinking about him right now. And guess who I know talked him into doing something like becoming a fucking vigilante sis?"

"W-wait a moment," Raven took a step back, her eyes were wide and suddenly awake. Her mouth was agape and she looked shocked. Clearly, she had no idea what was going on. Qrow didn't know if that should please him or piss him off even more. It figures that even with people she actually cares about she wouldn't pay much attention to them. "He was captured? How did anyone find out!? What happened!?"

"Oh, so you care about him but not your daughter? Touching."

"Don't fuck with me Qrow, this isn't about Yang. What happened?" Raven asked, quickly losing her temper.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Qrow snapped as he slammed his flask into the ground, nearly shattering it into pieces. The cap came flying off and fell off of the tower to the ground. The action of it shocked Raven even more, especially when Qrow shot up to his feet and grabbed her by her collar and yanked her face to face with him. "I don't know what you said to him, I don't know who started that conversation to begin with, but I know that it was you who ultimately convinced him to become Stone Face, right? Don't you fucking lie to be Ray, I am on my last fucking nerve with you."

"Step back, brother," Raven warned, gripping the wrist grabbing her by her shirt and squeezing it on a sensitive muscle. "I'm warning you-"

"Or what?" Qrow shocked even himself as he drew Harbinger from behind his back. Raven being disarmed and grabbed like this already made her completely vulnerable to him. She didn't even have her armour on.

"What are you-"

"Tell me, Raven. Was it you?" Qrow asked, eyes wild. This close to him Raven could smell in his breath that he was drunk. Heavily so. He wasn't thinking right. Usually, he'd be able to control it, but whatever he had drunk before she got there it was a lot of it. Raven raised her hands up to her head in surrender. When armed, she and her brother were equals. She may have even had the upper hand. But a drunk Qrow with Harbinger in hand and with her hungry, tired, and not warmed up at all were not odds that she wanted to test. "Was it you?" He repeated, pulling her closer. Harbinger's thick blade pushed up against her stomach. She didn't dare speak a word. "I already know the answer, but I got to hear it for myself. Raven, did you or did you not tell Kai to become Stone Face? Please, tell me the truth. Put me at ease."

What was she supposed to say to that? If he already knew the answer to his question then there was no point in asking it in the first place. She had a feeling she couldn't play smartass in this situation, however, not when her brother was drunk and clearly out of his mind at the moment.

She wouldn't lie, however. They both knew the answer already, after all.

"He came to me with his thoughts," Raven carefully explained. "He was worried that he wasn't doing enough to stop Cinder and the White Fang from doing whatever they wanted in Vale while his family and friends were in the crossfire. I told him that he should do what he felt needed to be done. That he should destroy the problem before it became a severe issue. I believe after his mother and sister were attacked by an assassin, that was the final straw for him."

Qrow held on to her for a few more seconds before finally letting her go. He still had Harbinger in his hands and Raven didn't want to test her luck in disarming him. Instead, she took several steps back, feeling her heartbeat in her chest as she stared at his brother with a surprising amount of intimidation instilled in her mind and heart. She never thought Qrow had it in him, but there was a reason why he was still a Branwen. He may have given up on that life, but that life never gave up on him. He was more capable than either of them knew.

"I want you to stop," Qrow finally said as he put away his weapon, making Raven tense up and let out a sigh of relief at the same time. "I don't want you seeing Kai anymore."

Raven felt her ire return to her. She stood her ground and narrowed her eyes, ready to argue. "That's not your decision to make," She said, pathetically sounding much less powerful than she felt comfortable with. "I've made him stronger. He needs to be stronger."

"Oh, believe me, I agree with you there. If that kid thinks he's strong now he'd be pulling his hair out when he finds out how much stronger he needs to get to make a real difference. Still, though, you're done with him. He has had enough training from you."

Raven scoffed and crossed her arms. "Is that so? Tell me, who is going to keep making him stronger? You?"

"Ozpin," The mere mention of his name had Raven scowling even harder than before. "He'll do more than whatever you could ever do. He's an actual teacher, and he has plenty of more techniques he can teach the kid. You've made him stronger, but you never made him smarter, and besides, after what happened, I don't really think I trust him with you anymore."

"That's great. Trust whoever you want to trust. In the end, the decision is up to him, not you, me, or Ozpin. He's a big boy who doesn't need to be coddled." Raven pointed out.

"He's eighteen!" Qrow shouted at her. "It doesn't matter if he's the legal age of an adult - he is still a child! You've taught him to throw around his strength and see what works. He's been going into warehouses full of White Fang and slaughtering them! Getting himself hurt, worrying me, his friends, and he lied to them time and time again. Heh, I wonder who he got that from? Even when I found out and he let me help him, it was through blackmail. On both sides, for that matter. I saw how he was, and honestly, he really wasn't playing it all that smart. Going in and wrecking shit only goes so far, and the one time he actually found Cinder, he was nearly killed!" He barked out a bitter laughter. "Seriously, what the hell were you teaching him? Because from the looks of where he got himself now, it wasn't anything worthwhile. You're treating him like he's part of the tribe when in reality he grew up with a much better life, and he was meant to stay that way. Not become… not this. This isn't what Malikai would have wanted."

"How would you know what Malikai would have wanted?" Raven asked. If she was offended by anything Qrow had said, she hit it well.

"Did he ask you to do this?"

"No…"

"Then why are you doing this?" Qrow asked next, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders helplessly. "We were just about to get over you and then you come running back into our lives after saving Malikai, you know what I thought when he told me about that? I thought you two were getting back together, crazy, right? But no, I wish it were that simple. Because when Malikai needed help and you sensed him in trouble through your bond, you went to go save him. How come you didn't do it for Summer-"

"Do not cross that line, Qrow!" Raven growled, scrunching her eyebrows down as her temper flared. "Those are both very different cases and you know it! The main difference being that Malikai could actually be saved!"

"I know that you apparently cared for Malikai more than you did your own partner!" Qrow snapped back, shoving her away when she got closer. "I know that you cared for Malikai's son more than your own daughter and husband! Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you? What makes you think that you could just do this and get away with it like its not a problem for any of us?"

"I was-"

"You're a real piece of shit Sis, you know that, right?" Qrow cut her off. "I've had enough of it. Stop this nonsense. I don't want you seeing Kai anymore and I could give less of half a fuck if he doesn't see it the same way. I'm done giving you chance after chance to come back into our lives. You're not Kai's mother - he already has a mother and a family that cares for that matter. If you wanted to give that role another shot you should have tried it with Yang. I might have even helped you… But now? Heh," Qrow reached a hand up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. They came away moist, but he refused to let the tears fall, even while drunk.

"I'm done with you, Raven. I never want to see your face again. Do what you do best and run away and don't you dare ever think about porting over to anyone on this side of the world. If you do, you better be ready to deal with the consequences."

"..." For once, Raven was speechless when it came to her brother. She'd never seen him this angry and just… done before. "This is it then?" She asked quietly, feeling an uncomfortable amount of vulnerability. "You're not even concerned with Vernal?"

"As long as she doesn't make herself a problem I don't give a shit about what she does or what you do with her," Qrow said tiredly. He turned away and gave his back to her. Sliding down to sit on the edge of the tower once again looking over the clouds and the city. He didn't even look at her a second time. "As long as you're not part of the package."

"...I see." Raven turned away as well. Creating a portal in the air. She didn't bother to fix her black bangs as they fell over her eyes. "I'll respect your decision, little brother. I hope you're ready to tell Little Kai about this."

"Fuck off, Raven," Qrow said with a shake of his head.

Raven fucked off as she was requested. Leaving Qrow alone on top of that tower. Once she was gone, Qrow felt like he could let out his tears in peace. But stopped himself when he realized that his eyes were dry. He really was just done. And he'd really just done it.

He doubted that he was ever going to see his sister again, at least not anytime soon. She was right about one thing at least, Kai needed to get stronger and despite her primal way of training him, she succeeded in doing that. He'd be grateful for that much at least, but that was just it.

A part of him felt like he lost something. Raven was his twin, after all, so there was bound to be some connection. But at the same time, he felt as if he gained something as well. Raven wasn't good, as much as he fooled himself into believing for decades. She wasn't a good person, she wasn't a good sister, she wasn't a good huntress and she sure as hell wasn't a good wife or mother. This needed to be done, or at least that was what he told himself.

"Goddammit Ray…" His head fell into his hands, letting out a tearless cry as he grabbed himself by the hair. "Why'd you make me do this… Fuck."

He picked his flask back up and drank the rest of it.

When Ozpin came back to retrieve him in the morning Kai flinched himself awake. The few hours of sleep he had was anything but restful, and the way Ozpin felt as he let him know that his family and teammates were waiting for him didn't make that feeling go away. Did he sense Sienna in the cell across from him shift uncomfortably, for his sake? Probably. He still felt beyond exhaustion and just forcing his legs to carry his weight again made him feel like throwing up. He was starving, he felt weak, and his muscles were still sore. Not a good combination.

"I could get you something to eat before we go…" Ozpin offered politely.

"No," Despite his stomach answering, on the contrary, Kai didn't want to put this off any longer. "I want to get this over with… I need to see them…"

"I understand," Ozpin sighed through his nose and led him out of the cellblock that he was locked in. The two of them walked silently to the same room that they spoke in the night before. Well, at this point it was just a few scarce hours ago, but those were the consequences of having to get things done and over with at the crisp time of three in the morning. "I wish you all the luck in the world, Mister Matsuoka." The headmaster said as they came to the entrance. Kai was just thankful that none of the other professors were there. That comfort quickly washed away as he sensed his three teammates and his mother and sister. He felt himself lose his breath before he even placed a hand on the door handle. "If it makes you more comfortable, your sister has been dying to see you," Ozpin said, placing a hand on his shoulder and patting it. "Children have this way of holding their older sibling on such high pillars… She loves you unconditionally, even when she was told about what happened she wasted no time to rush to your defense. Such a young girl and yet so loyal."

Kai managed to crack a smile at the sound of that. He nodded his head and offered Ozpin a silent thanks. In which the headmaster stepped away and to give him the privacy he needed to speak to them alone.

As soon as he cracked the door handle down and slid it open, he felt all the eyes on him. He took a deep breath and stepped in, thanking himself for being blind so that he wasn't able to see their pained expressions as he made his way into the room.

Immediately, just as Ozpin said, Malienna lunged for him and jumped up into his arms and wrapping her entire body around him tightly, already crying into his shoulder by the time anyone had a chance to say anything.

"Kai!" She cried as she hugged him even tighter. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you okay!?"

"Mal…" Kai hugged her back and for just a moment, forgot that the rest of his team and his mother were in the same room. All staring at him and waiting their turn to talk to him. None of them wanted to interrupt that moment, however. It took a full five minutes for Marron to pry Malienna off of her brother, and that was only if she got to sit next to him as he sat down with the others all in front of them. Out of everyone there, she was the only one physically on his side of the room.

He was sat down on a wide seat that wasn't there the night before. They must have moved it in there just for this occasion. He sensed Ruby, the unofficial co-leader of their team, take a step forward to him. Apparently selecting herself to be the first one to speak. From where he stood, he was able to tell that she was tired. The way her legs carried her felt weak and without purpose, but on the inside, her heart was beating painfully. She looked at him and she felt sad. Just sadness. There was no anger, no disappointment, no urge to upset. She was just… depressed.

"Is that really you?" She asked as she eyed him up and down. Kai almost forgot that he was still wearing the clothes he wore whenever he went out as Stone Face. Minus the mask, his identity was completely revealed to them. Ruby looked at him and he felt his own emotions flaring up again as he sensed the way she felt. "Is this really who you are?" She asked, voice cracking the longer she looked at him. "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you just talk to us? D-don't you trust us? Me? Please… say something, Kai. Try and make me understand why you went out there and ki- h-hurt people."

"I do trust you," Kai said as he dropped his head. "All of you… I just… I didn't want any of you to get involved."

"Well, we're involved now," Orchid said. She stood off in the back corner of the room leaning against the wall. God only knew whatever her multiple personalities were thinking right now at that moment. Blake was there as well, but she had already said her piece when they were locked in adjacent cells last night. She was most likely going to remain silent throughout all of this. She was never one to speak her thoughts when there were multiple people in the room anyway, she was much more of a one on one kind of conversationalist.

"How many?" Ruby asked, tears now brimmed with tears. "How many people?"

"They weren't-" Kai cut himself off from saying that last, painful word. They weren't people, he almost said. Lower than Grimm, on the bottom of the food chain. They were monsters and they deserved everything that they got. They were lucky that he ended things fast. He surprised himself by how his dark thoughts went. In the end, he bit his lip and refused to say anything. He didn't want to hurt Ruby with the honest answer that he didn't know how many people he had killed, hurt, and maimed. The number was bound to be high, especially considering the number of people affected by his dark silver-eyed powers.

"That many, huh?" Ruby fell into the seat behind her and slumped deeper into it. She was on the verge of crying but she was holding back for everyone else sake. "I… I can't believe it, Kai, how could you do this? We would have helped. Gosh, I knew something was wrong from the beginning, it's my fault that I didn't keep pushing."

"No, it's not!" Kai exclaimed. "I made this choice myself and would have made it whether or not you tried to talk to me more."

"No, you wouldn't!" Ruby snapped back, making him hold his own tongue. "Think about it Kai, you're like the brother I never had and I'm like a sister to you! Or at the very least, best friends. It's always been that way, you would have listened, I know you would! All I needed to do was just talk to you and maybe this wouldn't have happened. Like I did when… when… wait, it was you at the docks, wasn't it?"

Kai's blind eyes widened at the accusation. It wasn't, his mind subconsciously corrected. He was there at the docks the night his team went to go stop the White Fang without him. He was there and he fought with them, killed people, and distracted Cinder long enough until their friends and allies came to save them.

"It was," Orchid said, stepping up next. "I didn't want to believe it, but when you saved me from Adam. I thought that your fighting style looked similar. We've been training together for years at this point, I'd recognize those moved anywhere." She sighed at the memory. "You saved my life… thank you for that, I would have been killed if it weren't for you."

"But it doesn't absolve you from everything else," Orchid quickly added, stamping on any iota of hope that began to grow from within Kai's mind. "You lied to us. When we asked you where you were when we were taken into the infirmary you said you were with Raven. Come to think of it, how many times have you lied to us?" Kai winced as soon as those words left Orchid's mouth. "How many times did we trust that you were really out just training? How many times did you say that nothing was wrong, and then you went out at night attacking people and being this vigilante?"

Kai was scared to say anything.

"The lies came back to bite you in the ass," Orchid said as she slowly began to lose control over her own emotions. "You lied to us about so much… Do we mean that little to you? Do you really think we wouldn't have tried to talk to you or even help you? The moment Blake told us about the White Fang attacking the docks, we all jumped into action to help her. And I like you a hell of a lot more than I do her," The raw honesty in the way she said that didn't even offend Blake. It was true, given her inner feelings toward him. "We would have been there for you… and now we're expected to lie to everyone else and say that you're off on some special training mission? Hah, you're already a full huntsman now!" She laughed hysterically as she wiped at her eyes, doing her best to try and stop the flow of tears.

"Is there even a Team KRBR anymore?" Orchid asked as she hid her face with her hands. "Are you even you anymore? How much have you changed? What the hell even goes through your mind anymore? Are you still the same person that I fell for or what!?"

"I-I…" Kai swallowed nervously. "I'm sorry… I don't know how I can make this up to any of you, but Orchid, I'm sorry I never paid more attention to you." He said. "I'm just… sorry… I don't know what to say or do or anything! I'm not good at this, you all know that."

"That doesn't give you the excuse to go out and kill people!" Marron finally spoke up. Unlike the girls, she was all too willing to let her emotions show. Out of all of them, she had the strongest tie to him as his mother. She must have felt like she failed as a mother, that she couldn't tell that there was very clearly something wrong with her own son and that he was changing right before her very eyes and she never even mentioned it. "Kai, my son… you used to be so kind, so gentle, so caring. You loved everything and everyone, and you were the best son that I could have ever asked for, especially after your father passed away… Why didn't you just talk to me? I'm your mother, I would have done everything in my power to help you. I still would now," Marron dropped to her knees in front of her son and gripped his hands, her eyes streamed out tears and he held her hands in return on instinct. "Just please… tell me the truth… what is it that you really want? What has been going through your mind ever since that day in Mistral? Please, anything, I need to know what I can do so we can try and fix this."

"The truth, Kai," Orchid said through choked gasps. "No more lies. Just tell us."

"Please…" Ruby added, finally speaking up again.

Blake remained silent, though her eyes perked up his way. Kai wasn't used to being put on the spot even on a good day. But they wanted the truth, and he didn't want to lie to them anymore…

"I wanted to make Cinder hurt for what she did…" He began slowly. "I wanted to make her and everyone who worked for her suffer. I wanted to kill them, I wanted to make them regret the day they were ever born. For what they did in Mistral… I made myself believe that they were lower than Grimm… It made it easier to end them when the times came."

"I always wanted to protect you, all of you." He continued. "I accepted Ozpin's proposal, and he took me into his circle. I kept training with him, you guys, and Raven even when my body felt like it was going to fall apart because I wanted to get stronger so that I can take care of you guys and make sure that nobody got hurt. I put on the mask with the initial intention to make Cinder focus solely on Stone Face and me more than anyone else. Mom, when Mercury was sent to attack you and Malienna… I lost it… I never really intended to start killing people but… I was angry." His hands clenched into fists, so tight that his mother had to take her hands away lest she is hurt accidentally. "I still am… everything I did, everything that I have done was all to protect you guys and… for revenge."

There, he said it. And he got the result he knew that was coming. They were shocked to hear him say it. The kind, caring, and strong Kai that was all their best friend and family was now no more than a bloodthirsty monster who wanted to make people suffer in the name of revenge. Maybe he was a monster, hell, even the power of the silver eyes which were meant to be the bane of Grimm had evolved to the point where they now harm people. The complete opposite of what they were meant for.

"No!" Malienna clung to his arm and shook her head against him. His sleeve quickly felt moist from her tears. "That's not you - that's not my big brother! You're not a monster, you're my brother! You're awesome, strong, and super nice! I don't care that you did all of that because you're here now!" She clung even tighter to him. Underneath her eyelids, a white glow flashed for a moment. In reaction, Kai's did as well. That instant connection had Kai feeling the same things that she felt. "That means you're still good!"

The fact that his sister's outburst made their mother rush up to him and hug them both made him unable to hold himself back any longer. He let his face fall into her shoulder and he cried. "I'm sorry…" He kept saying, his voice muffled by his mother's clothes. "I'm sorry…" It was all that he could say. What happened, happened and the future was already planned out for him and he didn't have the power to reverse any decisions. It was why Ozpin felt so bad for him, he figured. He had very little choice in what happened next.

"My baby boy…" Marron said as she stroked his hair and held him tight. "I forgive you… don't worry. I still love you, no matter what."

"T-thank you… I-I love you too."

"Let's go…" Blake said, standing up abruptly. "Nothing else we say will have an effect on what happens next, we just need to bear with it."

"But what about…" Ruby was unable to finish her sentence. It looked like she wanted to go join the hug, but she held herself back.

"He's had enough," Blake said, refusing to look back. "Let's just do what we have to do, and we'll talk to him again soon. I'm sure he won't be locked away from us forever, and he's always a scroll call away."

"She's right," Orchid said, entering a much more controlled personality as she left the room with Blake. "We're done here for right now. Doing anything would… not do any good." She said in her hesitation.

They were angry, betrayed, they wanted to lash out. But at the same time, they didn't feel that it was right to do it when Kai was already at rock bottom. That was just cruel.

Ruby quickly agreed and left with them, though admittedly it was probably for different reasons. She was always the most forgiving person one could ask for as a friend. Kai was lucky to have been so close to her.

They left Kai with his mother and sister and made their way back to Beacon. They were done here, at least for now.

"Whelp," Roman puffed smoke out of his mouth as he exhaled deeply. "That went shitty. I believe that this is one of those situations where we can all say that we fucked up."

Neo let out a disappointed sigh as she dropped her face onto her propped up fist. She kicked at him weakly from under the table, in return Roman kicked her with half the effort. She let out another weak huff and slumped her head against the table in response. Which caused Roman to let out a laugh. "I know, I know. You wanted to fight him a little longer. To be fair, though. We caught him right where we wanted him. I just didn't expect him to let out that damn eye power of his, much less not actually knock himself out after using it."

"We weren't prepared enough," Adam said, he sat across from the two criminals. There was probably something that could be said about the leader of a terrorist organization, two master criminals, and a trained assassin all sharing a room. But Roman was pretty sure that he was the only one who thought about that.

"To be fair," Mercury started as he took a long swig from a bottle of beer. He burped when he was done. "I'm pretty sure we all thought he was a lot stupider than he turned out being. Even though we caught him right in that spot where he was most vulnerable with all that shit going on in there, he had not just a full huntsman but another one of his teammates to help him out. Might have been just shit luck, but we definitely underestimated him."

"Don't go too far with that train of thought," Adam said. "By himself, he would have gotten himself killed or captured. Even if he managed to get out the same way he did before, he would have eventually tired himself out before he got close to taking one of us out. He was relying too much on that dark power of his. We would have had him at our mercy."

"Yeah, well, a little late to be wondering about those what if's. What happened, happened. The real question is, the fuck are we going to do now?"

"Cinder doesn't know, thankfully." Roman felt the need to point out. His suspicions were confirmed as the others all let out a sigh of relief at the same time. "She was too busy talking to that… thing, through that Grimm jellyfish thing."

"Didn't that thing die?" Adam asked.

"Oh no, this is a different one," Roman replied, waving him off. "What's more important is that she isn't focusing on us right now. Which means we actually have some leeway for ourselves for once."

"What about your woman?" Adam asked Mercury.

"First off, not my woman," Mercury corrected. "Second off, what about her?"

"Isn't she loyal to Cinder? Perhaps she knows something about what she is planning. Before, it was me and Sienna that she spoke to the most about what she planned to do, and then we relayed that to you lot. Now, however, things are different. She hasn't so much have called me up to speak with her in weeks."

"Maybe that's because of your little outburst when Sienna was captured," Roman pointed out, shrugging uncaringly when Adam glared at him. "She doesn't exactly trust a lot of people right now, I figure the only people she would take about her new plans with would be you and Em, Merc."

"Em has told me some things that may be going on…" Mercury admitted, earning just about every eye on him as soon as he finished saying that. "The confusing thing about that is that nothing has changed. The same plans that we had before are still in effect, and she wants us to go through with it."

"You're kidding me, right?" Roman asked with a bitter laugh. "Didn't that guy from Signal use his semblance on her and figured out exactly what those plans were? We'd be walking right into a trap! Especially with the General in charge of security, that old plan would be torn to pieces."

"I assume she means that we won't have to enact it in the same way," Adam said, to which Mercury nodded his head and held his thumb up toward him. "With the way things are, we are going to have to change our strategy anyway. Also, I'd rather I have control over those plans anyway, that way there is less of a chance that my men would be sent out on a suicide mission."

"Alrighty, what about the kid then?" Roman prompted. "We going to do anything about him?"

"I doubt we'll ever get the chance to catch him off guard like that again," Mercury pointed out. "Especially with Ozpin knowing what we're trying to do by now, I'd be surprised if they even let him out of Beacon again."

"Not even as Stone Face?"

Mercury shrugged his shoulders at Adam. "I don't know, do you think they would take their eyes off him again after they nearly lost their currently most powerful silver-eyed warrior? I don't think so. I think we should give up on him for now. Even if we did manage to get another chance to capture him and actually succeed, I don't think he'd care for anything we try to say. I think our little alliance plan is a bust."

"Perhaps…" Adam nodded his head slowly and let out a long, deep sigh. "We'll just have to see what happens then, don't we?"

"Probably," Roman shrugged. "I don't want to drag my name through the mud any more than it already is now. I swear after I'm done with all this bullshit I am moving to Mistral, call up a few favors, and take the Underworld over there under a new name. How does Romulus sound to you guys? Romulus Torchicus. Sounds like a good name to me."

"It sounds like you are terrible at making up cover names," Adam said in a low growl. Mercury laughed at the insult that had even Neo laughing silently.

"Eh, not all hope is lost, however," Roman said as he flipped through his scroll, only to then prop it up in the middle of the table. "I have a few… informants that owed me a few favors that live up there in that big old fuck you ship of Ironwoods. I managed to get a bead on Sienna for ya Adam, figured that you'd want to know how she is doing."

"Is she alright?" Adam asked, eager to know that precious information.

"Well enough. I've been assured that she is eating and is being taken care of. She even has a whole cell block to herself. I even heard that the kid was locked up in that same block of hers for some stupid reason. That's all I heard though, I got nothing else for you."

"That's fine," For the first time in days, Adam cracked a smile. "Thank you. Not all hope is lost, it seems. Roman, I think I just found out what your new role is going to be in what's to come."

"As long as Neo's with me and I can fuck off right after, I don't care what you make me do," Roman said as he snuffed out his cigar into the table. "Just make sure that it doesn't involve me seeing any of your faces again. Because no offense, but ever since you fucks came into Vale every part of my life that I enjoyed turned into a life or death situation. So fuck you, in the most affectionate way possible."

"Fuck you as well," Mercury said, cheering with his beer bottle in hand.

"Heh," Adam held up a finger, just about as far as he was going to go with that trend. Neo held up a finger as well, though it was a much more centered gesture than his.

"See you guys later then, I'm going to go sleep for what I hope is more than six hours," Roman said as he got up from the table. "Let me know when stuff needs to get done. And what it is, I'm setting the bar of expectation to 'below Cinder' levels, so try and not become a level below that one."

"I'll do my best," Adam said sarcastically, rolling his eyes from underneath his mask.

"Guess I'll go see what's going on with Cinder," Mercury added as he stood next. "Last time I checked I'm still allowed near her. Might as well see what I can get out of this."

Neo was much more silent in her departure. Simply winking and blowing a kiss their way as she faded away into thin air. Suddenly, Adam was alone in that dark room. His faunus eyesight made it easy to see, but as he looked around. He was completely alone. All of his trusted lieutenants, dead or intimidated into quitting the White Fang. All of those he trusted from outside of Vale were left behind or left for a different branch in a different kingdom. He was alone now, with not even Bla-... Sienna, or Ilia even, to keep him company. Part of him wondered if this was some kind of cruel test for his metal to see if he was really up for all of this, but honestly, he was just tired. He didn't know what he was fighting for at this point. The White Fang was so far from what it was originally.

He sighed one last time and grabbed the bottle that Mercury had left behind.

"One more fight," He promised all the men that he had fought with in the past, and poured out the rest of the bottle for those that were killed as a member of the White Fang. At the time where they actually had a goal to fight for. "One more." He simply said.

He sat in the room for a few more minutes before deciding that it was time to move. There were things that needed to be done, and they weren't going to get done with him sitting there doing nothing but reminiscing.

And that marks the end of Volume 2! Strangely enough, this made me feel some sort of emotion. It's another end of an era, and now we are in Volume 3! Arguably the best season in all of RWBY, at least in my opinion. That's going to be fun. I will see you all next time!

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