And we are back again, and this time I have even more plans for the future of this arc. That should be fun. Thanks for the feedback about my earlier question in the last chapter, I am most likely going to go for it and throw a bone to the dog known as Risk. As for right now, however, things still need to be built up and there is an arc to progress until its climax.

Beta: CrowSkull

The Blind Huntsman

Chapter 87

Volume 3, Episode 6

"Ah!" Rick grinned ear to ear as he heard the announcement of the elimination of Pyrrha and Yang respectively. "Well, well, well, it seems that Jaune's idea worked out perfectly. You just lost your strongest fighter, Weiss!"

Weiss was admittedly surprised to hear the announcement as well. The entire fight itself seemed to pause as Nora broke away from Brick and aimed her grenade launcher at Pyrrha and Yang. She wanted to try and help, but the blue Violet twin proved to be much more of a distraction than she was prepared to deal with. No, he was more than that. He had earned more of her respect and deserved higher praise. He was pushing her to fight as hard as she could, and she knew that she was doing the same for him.

"You've lost your strongest warrior as well, Violet," Weiss pointed out, taking this as a chance to catch her breath. "We are evenly matched and my leader is more powerful than yours. Once I am done with you I will make sure that Nora ceases to bully my partner,"

"Weiss help!" Brick exclaimed as he jumped onto a tower of ice.

"Get over here Brick!" Nora screamed over him, climbing the tower with her bare hands and a wicked grin on her face. "I just wanna hug you is all! Let me hug you! Let me squeeze you!"

"NO!"

"I will help you when the time is right!" Weiss screamed back, sighing exasperatedly when Brick simply let out a panicked scream as Nora gave up on climbing the tower and instead started hammering away at the bottom of it, trying to knock the entire thing over at once. "How did you live with him your whole life again?"

"Eh, he grows on you really quickly," Rick said as he once again started to bounce up and down on his feet. "Anyways, I guess it's time for round two? Or is this the third round? I haven't been keeping count."

"There haven't been any rounds at all," Weiss said as she peeked at the aura gauges on the huge screen hanging high above the center of the arena. It showed that her aura was in a relatively secure position at seventy-seven percent, however, looking slightly lower she saw that Rick's aura was in a similar state. She huffed and turned her eyes back on her opponent in the next second. This was already a hard-fought battle, but it seemed that neither of them was dealing enough damage that could be considered substantial.

"Fair enough," When lightning started crackling around Rick again, Weiss spun her dial and selected stone dust subtly. She spun and stabbed her weapon into the ground, a summoning glyph appearing underneath her. Rick saw what was happening and was not at all willing to allow Weiss to summon any of the Grimm that she had slain over the course of her career as a huntress. He blurred toward her at lightning speeds, only to desperately slow himself down when a slab of rock stabbed upward out of the ground. He just barely slowed himself down enough so that he could brace himself with his hands on the wall, but it was way too late to let out a sigh of relief.

Rick jumped back when he saw a crack in the stone slab sprinkle out in all directions, and watched as a glowing white Beowolf with bright blue eyes and markings stood atop the remains of the wall Weiss had created and let out a mighty roar that had Rick wincing as his ears stung ever so slightly.

The crowd roared their approval next. Most of them have never seen a Grimm before now seeing one under the control of Weiss Schnee excited them and they were proud to admit that in their cheering. Rick was less enthused, he knew what it was like to go up against one of Weiss' summons. They were slightly stronger than normal Grimm, but that wasn't the primary issue. They were also much, much smarter than any normal Grimm.

Taking a deep breath, Rick wouldn't let himself be outcheered. While Weiss jumped back with a challenging smirk on her face and prepared to summon another slain Grimm, he lunged forward. He was too fast for the Grimm to see, but it still swung wildly at him as he grew near. Rick slid underneath the creature's paw and slashed off one of its legs with his short sword. The Grimm felt no pain and swung back at him nevertheless, narrowly missing Rick as he flipped over the offending arm and stabbed his sword through the mouth of the creature and out through the back of his head. Before it could officially die, however, Rick used all of his strength and heaved the dying creature off the ground. Weiss widened her eyes as she watched Rick spin with the Beowolf still locked onto his sword, and was forced to halt her second summoning as the body of the Grimm she had summoned was thrown right back at her at the speed nearly matching that of a bullet.

Weiss winced as shards of ice shot up at her from underneath, harmlessly shattering against her aura. The summoned Beowolf died on impact and faded away into white wisps of energy. Weiss summoned another glyph mid-air and landed on it, looking down at Rick who flourished his weapon as he stared back at her.

"Oh no, you don't!" Rick screamed as he waved his left arm in a half-circle before thrusting it toward her. "Lightning Bolt!" static electricity built up until blue lightning crackled over his arms and over to his two extended fingers. Weiss leaped off of the glyph she was standing on and returned fire as she fell. Three fireballs she shot out of Myrtenaster, and three lightning bolts struck each and every one of them, exploding in a puff of orange fire mixed with electric smoke. Weiss landed on another glyph at an angle, and the glyph changed color to yellow, purple, and then black. A trail of glyphs was created in front of her in a path and she shot forward at the speed of a bullet. Rick was fast, just barely fast enough to react and use the bracer on his forearm to block the devastating piercing attack that Weiss had tried to use on him. His arm was easily blown back and he felt that shoulder pop out of its socket entirely. With a loud yelp, Rick spun along with the negative momentum and slid along the ice. Stopping when he dug his heels into the ground and held on to the injured arm.

"Oh, dear! I could tell that hurt all the way from up here! If Mister Rick Violet can't fix that dislocated shoulder in the next ten seconds, he will be medically disqualified from the match!"

Weiss, having honor in her duel stood by and crossed her arms, waiting for Rick to fix himself. And fix himself he did. He was a huntsman in training and that meant he had to know how to fix himself if he was ever out on the field and far away from any civilization. Something like a dislocated shoulder was surprisingly easy. He yanked down on the arm and twisted, maneuvering it back into its socket with a loud pop. Even Weiss winced at the noise and even felt bad for dealing such an injury to a friend, despite it being during what might as well be a glorified sparring match.

Rick let out a sigh of relief as he rolled that shoulder twice, and then a third time for good measure. It still hurt and on top of that was immensely sore, but he could at least move it now, which was all he needed.

"Incredible, simply incredible." Doctor Oobleck reacted. "To be able to relocate oneself's shoulder is no small feat. And with mere seconds on the clock to do it! Very well, Rick Violet remains in the match! Though, I'd suggest not taking any more hard hits like that again, student."

"Yeah, no kidding," Rick said as he gave the monitor displaying his now nearly disqualifiable amount of aura a very pitiful look. The fact that the crowd was now cheering for him somewhat didn't change the fact that he was now at a massive disadvantage.

"You know, there is no shame in surrendering," Weiss pointed out. "This is all just for fun, you know? I don't want to risk hurting you. Even though that arm is relocated now, you won't be able to use that for fighting for at least the rest of this day alone."

"Yeah, I can see why that might be the smarter thing to do," Rick sighed, standing up and wielding his sword in his off-hand and entering a vague stance. "But I am already one hit away from being disqualified anyway, I might as well go out with a bang, not a whimper."

"Is that what you want?" Weiss asked, entering a side-faced stance of her own.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Hm, very well, let us settle this with a true duel then," Weiss said as she started moving toward him, Myternaster held out straight as a needle as her ice blue eyes locked on to Rick's much darker blue eyes. "No more semblances, no more tricks. Just a simple fencing match."

"A fencing match against the one girl in the school who has mastered fencing," Rick laughed loudly. "Sure, why not? If I land a single hit on you it'd be a win for me. Let's do it."

No more words were shared as Weiss and Rick stepped so close to each other the tips of their swords were practically touching. Even then, neither of them made the first move.

Rick just kept smirking at her, Weiss didn't know why but she didn't like it.

She instantly knew why when Rick prodded at her defense and then immediately backed away. She turned and created a barrier glyph to protect her from the grenade which would have done enough damage to disqualify her from the match. But that left her undefended on one side.

Weiss screamed as blue lightning shot through her body and seized her muscles tight. The glyph defending her shattered, and a body was thrown into her, knocking her down to the floor in a mess of limbs as her partner dizzily tried to stand back up and help her at the same time.

"What a mess," Brick muttered as he hefted Weiss up off the ground, as well as absorbing his brother's lightning to get it out of her muscles. "Nora is a damn tank, my strikes aren't strong enough to slow her down."

"Are we not going to talk about how she threw you at me!?" Weiss exclaimed as she rolled her neck off a pain that just wouldn't go away. "Are you really that useless that you can't at least hold her off!?"

"How could I!? She saw Rick in trouble and decided she needed to do something about it! It isn't my fault you guys thought it was a good idea for the one guy on the team with a lightning semblance to go up against the one girl on their team with a lightning absorption semblance!"

"Just don't use your semblance then!"

"DON'T YOU THINK I'VE BEEN DOING THAT!?"

"Ladies, ladies," Nora interrupted as she waved her hammer through the smoke left behind by her grenade launcher. "No need to flirt right in front of me, we're in the middle of a match!"

"We are not flirting," Weiss corrected as she pointed her rapier at the ginger girl. "We are teaming up to beat you, that is what we are doing."

"Oh thank god," Brick sighed a wonderful sigh of relief. "Never let me fight that terrifying woman again, please."

"Do I get a say in this at all?" Rick asked, slowly making his way around them and behind Nora, who patted him on the head as if he was her kid brother and therefore someone she needed to protect. At this moment in time, Rick didn't much care for being considered as such. "Not that I want to fight a losing battle, but at least this way I get a chance to stay a little longer, right?"

"It's okay, little Rick Violet boy, I'll make sure you get to have all the fun you want," Nora said as she ruffled his hair. "Starting with these two, are you ready to go!?" She exclaimed, dropping her hammer off of her shoulders and into her hands.

"I guess I have to be now," Rick laughed, holding his short sword with both hands. It still hurt to wield a weapon as he was now, but his aura had healed him enough to the point where he could at least fight a mildly fast-paced battle. "Now I can say with comfort, that this is round two, Weiss."

"Ugh," Weiss shook her head as she spun the dial on her sword one last time to her remaining dust type. Gravity. "I suppose so."

Ren and Jaune clashed their weapons in a flurry of green and gold sparks. Jaune pushed the smaller boy back, but Ren acrobatically flipped through with the momentum and landed on his feet. Three times he dashed and three times Jaune lost track of him. But when Ren appeared once again behind him, Jaune had a gut feeling he would be there. His shield stretched back and smashed into the side of one of Ren's hands, surprising him and knocking him off balance. One more shove later, and Ren fell down onto his back.

"Right!" Jaune roared as he went to smash his shield into Ren's body a third time. However, Ren kicked both feet up and into the shield and used Jaune's own strength against him. Bouncing away and then flipping once more back up to his feet. Jaune's shield arm was thrown backward, knocking him off balance. Ren took that opportunity to unload his guns into Jaune's chest. Armour sparked as well as aura as Jaune took a good dozen bullets before he reacted and brought his shield up to defend himself. Now locked in a stalemate, Ren grinned.

"You've gotten much better," Ren commented as he reloaded his weapons.

"I've had Nora as a training partner for almost half a year," Jaune pointed out. "That means I can't afford to let her down now!"

Jaune charged forward, holding his shield out in front of him as he ran. Crocea Mor stabbed forward while he continued defending himself and Ren flexibly bent out of the way. Twisting on one leg before landing in a crouched position, throwing his knee out to strike Jaune in the back of his knee. The tall blonde toppled over, catching himself on his other knee. Though he quickly realized that he guarded the wrong direction as Ren sliced his weapons across his upper chest and collarbone from the right. Jaune yelped and rolled away, stumbling as he got himself back up to his feet.

Jaune spared a glance at the monitor in the top right of his vision and saw that his aura was still in the high eighties percent while Ren's was slightly below. The major difference being that Jaune had a hell of a lot more aura than the other boy did. Which meant that Ren was beating his ass, in all honesty. Jaune wasn't sure he had landed a solid blow yet. He was lasting, which was fine and he did have more aura, but he would quickly begin to tire as well. Ren was just far more fit than him, even if he was smaller and physically weaker. If things kept going on like this, Jaune would lose.

"Alright… time to try that thing," Jaune whispered to himself, then took a deep breath. He could do this; he knew that he could. Nora trained him from pretty much the ground up, and she was surprisingly an excellent teacher. She made him stronger, more skilled, and he knew how to block strong attacks and even deflect them then counter-attack. It was how he actually started to win spars in Miss Goodwitch's class. Cardin no longer used him as a punching bag, and there was mutual respect between them, no matter what the others said. In truth, he really shouldn't have gotten as good as he had in just half a year or so, but after watching Pyrrha, Kai, Yang, and all of his other friends fight over and over again, he supposed that his body sort of… picked up a few things here and there.

Which was why when Ren dashed in and attacked his deliberately open guard, he was surprised to see that Jaune had lured him into a trap. Ren's pink eyes widened significantly as he watched Jaune in slow motion clothesline him with his shield, for the first time using his shield in such a manner, not even from the spars he'd been present to witness. Ren's eyes shut instinctively and he felt the wind get knocked out of him as he was sent back skidding across the ice.

"Oh ho ho! On the other side of the arena, it seems that Jaune Arc has finally landed a solid strike! Could this be the comeback of the blonde underdog?"

"A comeback implies that he was on the back foot for some time," Oobleck pointed out. "I believe that these two are more equal than the eye has yet to see. I for one shall keep a closer eye on this battle just to see how far this so-called 'skill gap' really is."

"Good choice old chum! I shall report on the larger, more flashy battle to the eastern side of the arena. Fight on my students, fight on!"

Jaune was certainly fighting on. Fighting on the best as he could while Ren started to finally take him seriously. How could he tell? Well, before he was able to hit him. Now, he found himself sheathing Crocea Mors to use his shield with both hands. Passing it off to one hand and then the other in wherever direction he needed to protect himself from. Ren moved like a blur to his eyes, much slower than say Ruby would move, but still fast enough for his still inexperienced eyes to have trouble keeping track of. Ren knew that as well and used it to his advantage.

At that point, Jaune was just moving off of vague directional blurs of green and the flash of pink aura amplifying his power and speed. Right, left, right again, below, from above, high right, low left, and so on and so forth. Jaune felt like his arms were going to fall off by the time he finally created enough distance between him and Ren to actually get him in his vision for once. He slid on the ice and held his ground, only nearly tripping when he got to the stone curb separating the fire and ice parts of the arena. He suddenly felt sweat drip down his body from underneath his sweater and his jeans. His hair was already moist from sweat, but now he could feel his body shift into overdrive to cool down his body while the heat from behind him worked to evaporate that sweat almost immediately. The fact that his front was freezing didn't help at all. Being out of the air in his lungs only added to that, and breathing in cold air while working one's body like this was a bad thing to do, even for huntsmen.

Ren took a much slower approach this time. Stamping his feet into the thin icy ground as water kicked up the bottom half of their legs. Jaune drew his sword and prepared himself for a final stand, knowing that with his back literally against a very hot wall, he couldn't afford to let himself get pushed back another foot. Not even Pyrrha was able to handle that heat, if she couldn't, then he definitely couldn't.

Wait a second… Jaune looked up at the aura gauge. Still over seventy percent aura… do I really have that much?

A memory flashed through his mind. One that he could never forget. It was when he first met Nora in the Emerald Forest, the moment she unlocked his aura.

W-Woah, He remembered Nora using him as support as she nearly passed out after unlocking his aura. This… you have so much aura! That's awesome Jauney! You're like a walking tank!

Walking tank… Now there was an idea.

Focusing his aura into his lower body and torso, Jaune shrunk his shield back into its scabbard form and took out Crocea Mors once again. This time, he held his sword with both hands, just as he did when he trained with Pyrrha those few times she was helping him with his swordsmanship skills.

Ren took note of this and immediately stopped in his tracks. Playing it smart, he backed away, thinking of a different approach to take against this new style.

It was too late.

Jaune roared as he stabbed Crocea Mors into the thin ice beneath their feet. Cracks gave way to shattering, and the one-foot drop into a shallow body of water had Ren stumbling forward and actually submerging underneath the surface. When he picked himself back up he heaved for air. Coughing up water that had forced its way down his nose and throat when he let out a surprised gasp.

He expected Jaune to attack him right then and there, he could have defeated him while he was in such cold water and shivering, but instead, Ren felt even more confused when he saw Jaune sprinting full speed through fire and flames on the other side of the arena.

And right toward Brick and Weiss, who was too distracted with Rick and Nora to be worried about anything else.

Ren pulled himself out of the water and started running to catch up, but he looked down in surprise as he felt the icy water drenching his body make him extremely cold. He shivered as he ran, stumbling and being forced to slow down to a slow jog. He rubbed his shoulders and tried to warm himself up, but the fatigue from his assault on Jaune caught up to him immediately.

When he looked back up Jaune was already halfway there to Brick and Weiss. When Ren looked back to the tiny pond of water he fell into when Jaune struck the ground and drenched him in water, he noticed that he was going to be much too slow to catch up to him before he got to his teammates. He thought of running into the fire, heating up, and then running back to catch up to Jaune. But the time that would be needed to do that would be too detrimental. He couldn't afford to slow down, and stopping for even a few seconds would lead to him just being caught out by himself while freezing and shivering because of the brisk water covering his body.

"A-Ah… I see." Ren said with a laugh, seeing his own breath in the air as he gripped his shoulders. "I appear to have been outsmarted…"

Rick and Brick battled each other and high speeds, but Rick was at the clear disadvantage because of his earlier battle with Weiss, and with a still-healing arm, Brick was quickly gaining on him. All the while Nora and Weiss fought fiercely against each other. Nora didn't give Weiss a second to think, and while she was all out of dust Weiss was forced to fight physically. Which already put her on the low end of the scale. Still, it wasn't that she couldn't beat Nora. It was just when a six-foot-two-inches and a hundred and eighty pound brute of muscle slammed his shoulder into her back and knocked her down and eating away at ten percent of her aura made it a problem.

"Wuh? Jaune!?" Brick exclaimed as he pinned his brother against an icy wall.

Rick held on to his brother as Jaune threw his scabbard, not even in shield form, directly into Brick's back. On reaction, Brick unleashed an explosion of red lightning to deflect the shield before it could actually hit him. However…

"Hahaha!" Nora laughed a burst of maniacal laughter as red electricity flowed through her veins, quickly making way to pink and enhancing her strength even further. "Finally! You have no idea how long I've been trying to bait you into doing that!"

"Oh no…" Brick said as he dropped his brother, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm not fighting that, not again. I surrender!"

"You idiot! Why would you-"

"Weiss Schnee's aura has been depleted underneath forty percent! That means she is disqualified!"

"Surrender…" Weiss sighed, slumping her head against the ice.

"And with Brick Violet surrendering, that leaves just the freezing Lie Ren, up against three tired remaining members of Team JNPR! How is he going to do it?"

Ren looked up at Jaune, Rick, and Nora as they all formed a half-circle around him. Their weapons already being holstered. They were all tired, a little beaten up, (except for Nora) but they still had enough aura to keep fighting, especially Jaune, who still had twenty percent over the disqualification margin remaining.

Ren chuckled as Jaune offered him a hand to stand, helping him up. "Not a bad plan, right?"

"You did not plan that," Ren accused.

"Well, that last part I definitely didn't plan. I thought I could beat you in a straight fight but… no, you were going to win if we kept going." Jaune admitted. "So… I thought you might have wanted to go for a swim."

"I should have taken that into consideration. I felt the water kick up at my ankles as I pushed you to the edge," Ren sighed. "Especially when you put your shield away. I knew you were up to something, I just realized it too late. Very well, this is your victory, Jaune Arc. I surrender."

"Team JNPR moves on to the next round! What a tremendous display of sportsmanship, determination, and a prime example that skill does not always equal advantage!"

"Indeed Peter, although Yang and Pyrrha were relatively equal in skill, Yang's style did not go well against a sword and shield up to the caliber of Miss Nikos, but when she activated her semblance that story changed quite quickly. However, in the end, Pyrrha outsmarted her opponent and took her out with her. Such as the battle with Rick Violet and Weiss Schnee. I've never seen a more equal battle between students before. They each countered each other perfectly and knew how the other fought and what they were going to do."

"I could never agree more! All around applause for these young, thriving huntsmen and huntresses! What a way to kick off the tournament! Stay tuned people from home, the next round shall commence shortly after the arena is cleaned and prepped!"

"They didn't mention me or Nora…" Brick pointed out with a disappointed sigh.

"Don't worry pal," Nora said as she wrapped an arm around the red twin's shoulders. "You actually held me off pretty well for being terrified of me. If you actually tried fighting me without your semblance I think you would have done well!"

"Yeah… I might have. Damn it, I didn't get to show off at all! How come Rick got to show off his new skills and I didn't? No fair!"

"Awe comes on bro, there's always next year. Oh, wait… the year after that one." Rick said as he patted his brother on the back. "Or you could show me later, you actually beat me easily back there, even though I was tired I didn't stand a chance against. You got a hell of a lot stronger!"

"Awe bro!"

"C'mere bro!"

Rick and Brick's brotherly hug went on to make the world coo at the display.

Although, the tournament was far from over. Jaune couldn't help but look at the sky, wondering just how he got that far. From a lowly nobody of a kid who ran away from his parents to a growing huntsman.

And this was just his first year at Beacon. He couldn't wait for the next!

Amber's now yellow eyes opened slowly as she woke up from her slumber. Her head pounded almost instantly, the reminder that she was put to sleep in quite a violent way. A way that she would have not preferred if she had the choice. She looked around the room she was in, feeling comfortable for the fact that Ozpin and his allies hadn't seen the need to bind her to the bed. It was also really bright, white, and blue. Was she in Atlas? No, she couldn't be. She had just woken up from…

It all came rushing back to her as she looked down at her own hands. Striped, and much darker than she remembered. She dropped her head into those hands and sobbed, realizing that she had died, and then came back in a body that wasn't her own. The only thing that stayed with her was the power of the fall maiden, the damned power that she wished that she never got control over. It was such a burden, she wished she never got the power in the first place!

"You're awake."

Amber yelped and sat up straighter when she heard the young voice. She still recognized it. The Matsuoka from before. She saw him sitting in the corner of the room, he still looked the same as before but there was a blindfold over his eyes now. The fact that he couldn't see her didn't mean that he didn't know where she was, however. The way his head and body tilted in her direction when she moved made her realize that even further.

"W-Who are you?" She had to ask for her own comfort.

"I'm Kai," Kai greeted with a nod, standing up and slowly making his way to her at the end of her bed. "Kai Matsuoka. Based on your reaction then and just now, I understand that you already knew that."

"Y-Yes," Amber, visibly relieved that he wasn't who she thought he was at first, calmed down a considerable amount. "You're a Matsuoka… Kai Matsuoka…" She remarked. "Are you related to Malikai in any way?"

"Yes, he's my father," Kai replied.

"O-Oh," Amber looked away, suddenly nervous again.

"He died a long time ago," Kai said, sighing at the painful memory. "So whatever it is you have to worry about him for, don't."

"Malikai is dead!?" Amber exclaimed, immensely surprised. She realized her mistake when Kai turned his head away and bit his lip. "Y-Your father… I'm sorry, I was just surprised. I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it," Kai interrupted. "He passed on and now I'm here. I have nothing against you, so you don't need to worry about me."

"I see." Calming down again, Amber nodded her head. "What are you doing here, if I may ask? I remember I lost control and you stopped me, right?"

"I had to knock you out," Kai confirmed. "I'm sorry if it still hurts."

Amber felt the back of her head. "It doesn't, so there is no need to apologize. How were you able to stop me? The flames of a maiden are magical, they don't go out so easily even without a source."

"My semblance," Kai explained. "It pretty much counters everything a maiden can do, in all honesty. It just takes a lot of control to manipulate it, and your flames were not under your control at the time. I just absorbed the initial blast and wind and ran up to you and banged your head on the machine behind you."

"A-Ah… so you inherited his semblance," Amber remarked. "That certainly explains it."

"Part of it from him, the other from my mom. Don't ask how it works, I stopped asking that question a long time ago."

"I understand," Amber nodded her head.

"There's another reason that I am here though, two, actually," Kai said as he sat down on the chair he pulled up from the wall. "Ironwood thought it smart to send me to get accustomed to you, he wants me to train you. Get you back up to speed and catch up to the one who attacked you. Do you remember who she was?"

"Yes," Amber grit her teeth in anger. "I remember… I let my guard down too many times and she… killed me."

"You're not dead."

"Is this the body that I was born with?" Amber asked.

Kai didn't say anything.

"It's not," She answered for him. "That means she killed me, and now I'm in a body that's not even mine…" With a sigh, Amber moved on from that topic. "Anyway, you are going to train me? I don't see a problem with that, I've been out of practice for way too long, and though my skills as a huntress aren't exactly depleted, my maiden powers have much to be desired, I can tell."

"Ozpin explained that to me before," Kai said, agreeing with her. "Your skills as a maiden didn't carry over, or at least not a lot of it. I need to train you to control your power and get your body used to the strain. Cinder - the one who attacked you - is going to come back. We are probably going to be the ones who have to stop her,"

"I'll do it," Amber instantly agreed. "If it means getting back at her for what she did, I'll do it."

"Good," Kai smirked. "Good to see you're excited, that makes this a whole of a lot easier… now, for that other reason that I'm here."

"What is it? I'll help however I can, I may be in a different body but I can get used to it quickly if I need to."

"Don't worry about that right now. You need to rest for today to actually get used to it anyway. The other reason that I'm here is that I have a few questions for you. Ozpin won't tell me, Qrow is nowhere to be found, and Ironwood doesn't know the answers that I need. You knew my father, and even though I was advised against asking you directly, I don't care. I know they are hiding something from me," He leaned in closer to her. "And I know you know what I am looking for."

"I-I'll answer what I can," Amber said, suddenly afraid out of nowhere.

"Thank you," Kai leaned back in the chair and sighed through his nose. "Tell me everything you know about my father, and if you know anything about Silver Eyed Warriors with the power of darkness on their side."

And there goes the chapter. This was a fun one to write, which also got a lot juicier toward the end. Some answers will be given, and more questions will be raised. That's all you're gonna get from me.

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