Before this chapter starts, I would like to request a moment of silence for the laptop I've had for just over five years. The laptop that has brought you everything since Twilight Crusade Volume 1 lost battery for what I assume is the final time, as the charging port is broken beyond function and nobody fixes that model anymore.

Thank you :(

Caspian wished he could say the next two weeks were unlike anything he had ever experienced, but after the attack on the Vytal Tournament, the stunned, anxious mourning that hung over campus and clung to the streets was becoming too familiar. The attack after the Tournament left just shy of one hundred dead. A tragedy to be sure, but Caspian realized just how naive the entire city was when the news networks all took to calling it Vale's biggest disaster in almost thirty years.

Then of course, there was Noxis. Headmaster Skye hadn't been forthcoming with details, but from what Caspian understood he existed in a kind of limbo state as a student of Sentinel. He still attended classes under supervision, still was assigned work, but was housed somewhere off campus- probably jail. According to the Headmaster's few words, he wasn't exactly jumping on the opportunity to cooperate.

A pair of synthetic tones from toward the door of the airy, birch and glass walled lecture hall signalled the end of class.

"Remember, the midterm is Friday, so next class! It won't exactly be easy, so..." Professor Corvis-Braun announced. She bounced up to her tiptoes and raised her hands to the side of her mouth in a desperate attempt to win out over the shuffling of bags and raincoats. She wouldn't win the battle.

Caspian began to pack up as well. He figured she gave the usual spiel: it's an old school pen-and-paper exam, make sure to study, so on and so forth.

Lilly folded her hands on the shared wooden slab of a desk that made up each terraced row of the hall. She closed her eyes, brows knitting in concentration. The edges of the notebook Caspian tucked into his bag became just a bit softer as a barely-noticeable haze wafted through the room. But it was fine with him.

"There will be a review session in Morel Hall Room 109 at 7pm tomorrow!" Professor Corvis-Braun continued. She looked surprised at the fact her voice was again audible above the room full of miraculously placated students. "That's all, kids! Enjoy your Wednesday!"

Lilly's eyes opened, and the rustle resumed.

Caspian chuckled. "Practicing your semblance?"

Lilly sighed, but managed to offer a wry smile. "I'm afraid I'll need to."

"Laurel!" Rowan called, leaning over the row and waving to the faunus.

Her eyes rolled away from him as she zipped her forest green bomber jacket.

"Laurel!" he tried again. He slung his bag over his shoulder, and shuffled behind bags, bodies and chairs as he pursued her to the edge of the aisle. He beat her there, and stepped into her path. "Sounds like the midterm will be hard, huh? Wanna do a study session?"

"I'd rather flunk out of Sentinel."

"I'm gonna do the same if I don't get a chance to study..." Rowan complained.

"You heard Raven. 7pm tomorrow. You'd better go." She turned, forcing Rowan to watch her walk to the opposite end of the aisle and disappear into the departing crowd.

"Another tough break, huh?" Ichigo teased once he, Rowan, and Caspian made it into the rain.

Rowan blew air out of loose lips. "Yeah..." he peeked out from the cover of his hood, up to the clouds. "I'm starting to think she doesn't like me."

"Really?" Ichigo goaded. He rubbed his chin with a smirk. "I can't imagine how you came to that conclusion!"

"No, I mean like... at all. Like she doesn't like me, as a friend or person, even. Which sucks, 'cause I like her a lot."

"Maybe you could drop the jokes?" Caspian offered. "Make it clear to her you're serious. Like, see if she wants to go to the dance with you or something." He looked from Rowan to Ichigo, and adjusted his glasses before his eyes finally fell to a puddle on the sidewalk. "Scratch that. I'm probably not the guy to ask for romantic advice, am I?"

"Well, maybe it's not such a bad idea," Rowan considered. "I just hit on her to do it at this point, but if I make it clear I'm serious this time, maybe she'll respond seriously!"

Half an hour after class, Laurel took shelter under her hood as she walked up the stairs to the raised Link Station, guitar case slung over her back. When she reached the top of the stairs, someone stepped off from the adjacent wall, and began to approach. She tapped her wrist, flicking aimlessly through her contacts, closing them, and opening an application at random.

"Hey, Laurel."

"You again? I already told you, no. What else do you want?"

Rowan let in a deep breath, correcting his posture. He wrung out his wrist at his side. "I was wondering. The Fall Ball is Saturday, and, well, do you want to go with me?"

Laurel's slit pupils narrowed. "Really? This again?" she questioned. "No. The answer will always be no."

"I... I know I joke around a lot with you, but this time-"

"Joke around?" Laurel snapped. "I don't care if you think this is some kind of game, or joke. Sometimes the things you say make me genuinely uncomfortable. I'm never going to go out with you. Please, for both of our sakes, move on."

When Rowan did finally speak, his words were weak. "...That's it, then? That's your answer?"

"Yes."

Another pause. Rowan couldn't look away from the dead leaf in the puddle between Laurel's rubber-tipped sneakers. "Mmm," he mumbled. A feeble nod accompanied the noise. With withered brows, he looked up to the train that pulled into the station.

"...See ya."

Two weeks after fifteen hundred people were killed in a packed arena seemed like a weird time to cram hundreds of students into the Student Resource Center. The SRC was somehow even bigger on the inside than the outside. Counting the cafeteria and rec center basement, the building had four floors. The main floor was mostly an open-concept study hall with white floors of imitation marble and multicolor wooden walls, but broad doors to the side opposite floor to ceiling windows led to a ballroom. The stairs leading to floors two and three, mostly used for office space and club meetings, switched direction at landing a dozen feet above a bench and bookcase.

Organds by the door verified student ID. More lined the walls, casting their blank stare in the general direction of the crowd and making anyone who made accidental eye contact with one of them mid-dance a bit uncomfortable. Dances- any big social event, really, weren't Caspian's thing. Loud music he usually didn't enjoy, stuffy air, bumping into sweaty strangers- he could think of a better way to spend an evening, even without October 1st lingering at the back of his mind.

None of his friends were there, either. His advice apparently didn't do Rowan any good, so he and Ichigo had gone downtown to catch some superhero movie. They took Snow with them, and Laurel was out practicing with her band again. Lilly was probably hanging out with Lazula, like usual. The only one unaccounted for was Moka, and he had made a point to start keeping his distance from her. Cat was right, there was no telling what she'd try to do for money.

But one look at Cattleya in her tight burgundy dress made it all worth it. Sewn from shimmering silk, it had an asymmetric cut and a generous gap in the middle of her chest. It was going to be hard to keep his eyes up, even if her smoky eye shadow did bring out their color.

"Uh, hey, wow. You look- amazing," Caspian stumbled.

Cattelya walked up to him, popping up to her tip-toes and straightening his marbled blue and black tie with a smolder. "Thank you. You look pretty nice yourself," she returned.

"Cas, hey!" a girl's voice called. He could hear Moka even over the music. She left her date- a tall boy in all black to match his curly tied-back hair and sparkling eyes- and bounced over to the couple. "Hey, Cat. Like the dress!"

"Thank you!" Cattleya replied, turning side to side to give Moka the full view. "It's designer. Thirteen thousand lien!"

Her lively tone and vivid body language were surprising. Maybe the two had made up recently. If they had figured something out, it might be nice to be able to talk to Moka again.

"Whoa. Mine was like the same price. But without that thousand part. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi! Have fun!"

Cattleya scoffed as Moka returned to the black-haired boy. "Look at her. She's way too big for that dress."

Maybe they hadn't made up.

"Yeah, uh... you can tell she works out a lot."

"Oh well, it's not her fault," Cattleya followed up with a compassionate facade. "There's no fitting room in the Mall-Mart dumpster."

Before Caspian could reply, Cattleya continued. "Who even is that guy? I bet he paid her." She snickered, leaning up to his ear. "How much do you think she charges?"
"Huh? I-I don't know, like... a thousand?"

"One thou- are you kidding me!? Way too high. A hundred, tops. She's desperate for cash."

"Do you think I'd know how much that kind of thing costs?" Caspian questioned. The laugh that accompanied his response took effort. "Uh- sorry. I meant that as a joke."

Cattleya rolled her eyes. She put a hand on Caspian's shoulder, another in his hand as the first slow song began to play. "Oh, forget about her. Just dance with me."

Rain streaked down Lilly's window, catching the lights of campus and making Lazula glad she made the decision to stay inside. They were only in Lilly's dorm, but Lazula still felt underdressed in her yoga pants and running jacket. Lilly wore a white wool cardigan over a chestnut brown henley. With each of her measured movements around the tea kettle, soothing scents of vanilla and clove wafted toward her. The room was lit by a single warm overhead light, and Lazula's chair was so comfortable she thought she might doze off.

Lilly peeked into the teapot, swirling the infuser inside of it and inhaling the spiced aroma that arose from within. "It's done, definitely done," she announced. "...Hope I didn't oversteep it." She let the last drops fall from the infuser before setting it down on a porcelain plate. "And this one I made sure is decaffeinated. I'm sorry again for keeping you up so late the other night."

Lazula smirked, and watched the amber liquid swirl over itself as it rose toward the top of her dainty mug. "It's fine, really. And this one smells amazing."

"Well, I hope it lives up to the smell," Lilly returned. She poured her own cup, and sat behind it. "Still not one for dances? I'm sure half the young men at Sentinel have asked you."

"A few tried," Lazula admitted. She raised her Holoband, in tablet form. "And Cedric Woods asked me out over Quickstagram yesterday," she added with a laugh.

Lilly's eyes became saucers. "Cedric Woods, the actor? And did you accept?"

"Eugh, no. No celebrities," Lazula grumbled. "Already have enough cameras on me as it is. Whole world would know the second we disagreed about something dumb like– I don't know, how toasty to make toast in the morning or something."

Lilly's giggle seemed resigned, somehow. "That sure does sound like you."

"Plus, I don't have time for stuff like that. I'm getting back to the top, and staying there," Lazula pledged. She rested her mug between her hands. It was hot, just barely comforting. "What little free time I do have, I'd rather just spend it with you."

Lilly choked on her sip of tea, and amber drops rained down from each side of her porcelain cup. She leaned forward as she tried to suppress a series of coughs, clutching her napkin and dabbing at her lips with fretful shame. "Mm. Excuse me. I'm flattered."

Lazula chuckled, leaning over her own mug. "Are you alright?"

Lilly's knit fingers halfway covered her face. "Fine, fine. Thank you."

"Really, though," Lazula continued. "I'm the kind of person that doesn't mind being alone. I like it, a lot of the time. But there's something about spending time with you I've always enjoyed even more. I think I've always felt that way."

Lilly must have still been embarrassed about spewing half her cup over the table. Or the heat of her tea must have been getting to her. She always did drink it hotter than Lazula thought humanly possible. But this time, maybe she had been too ambitious. Her face had flushed a bright pink.

Lazula sighed. "Hey, um... I have something to tell you."

She had come this far, there wasn't any going back. The point of starting with those words was exactly that- forcing herself to speak what had been on her mind for so long. Lilly's willing look begged her to continue. She wouldn't be able to stomach watching her expression change. It would change to one of discomfort. Disgust, even. She just hoped it wouldn't change things between them.

"I've been... hearing voices. Voices I know aren't real."

That willing look, almost hopeful and tinged with a light smile, faded. She must have been expecting something, anything else.

"Okay," Lilly accepted, nodding pensively and looking somewhere in Lazula's direction. She still couldn't look her in the eye. "...For how long? And what do they say?"

"They started during our missions last year, so almost a year now," Lazula recalled. "And usually, it's just random phrases, sometimes whole sentences. But they've been getting more frequent lately. I think the Grimm set them off somehow. Because when an attack happens, there are more voices. They're louder, and the things they say are terrifying."

"What do the voices say? When Grimm attack, I mean," the faunus asked.

Lazula shook her head, swallowing and hoping that talking about the voices wouldn't set them off. They had been quiet all day, and she wanted to keep it that way. "It sounds like the voices are reacting to the Grimm. But sometimes, I just hear screams. Sometimes, someone crying. And Sometimes it sounds like they're being murdered."

"I'm so sorry you're going through this, that you've been going through this this whole time! Have you told anyone else? Maybe Frontline's counselors could help you?"

"No one. I'm the Indomitable Girl. My job is to kill Grimm. I can't stop now, not after what happened at the Stadium. And I can't let anyone know what's happening to me."

Lilly reached out a hand. Gingerly, Lazula offered her own. "I understand where you're coming from. But I really think you should ask for help. This isn't the kind of thing that just gets better. And I... I don't want to lose the Lazula I know."

The hands that clasped Lazula's were warm, delicate, and impossibly soft. She savored the feeling, like a warm blanket after an hour of training in the rain. Yet she knew not everyone would be so accepting. She couldn't let the media know, at very least. Even a doctor would take some working up to.

"Thank you," Lazula sighed. "I can't believe how lucky I am. I feel like I can tell you anything." She finally looked into Lilly's eyes. "I hope you feel the same about me."

Caspian wondered whether he was the only person listening to the lyrics of the song the crowd bobbed back and forth to, the song couples heard as they held each other close and looked deep into each others' eyes. A sleepy beat with droning bass, the few high notes a contemplative synthetic riff that only let up for the chorus. The rhythm matched perfectly the dim lighting, the silk of Cattleya's dress under the hands on her hips.

But it was, by no stretch of imagination, a love song. At least not for any love Caspian wanted a part of.

The singer's voice lasted beyond the beats accompanying him, and the song faded out. Dim blue lights did as well, flashing again to life as vivacious reds, yellows, and purples. The couples in the crowd pulled apart, vigorously bobbing up and down to the next on the playlist. Cattleya checked the vibration at her wrist for a couple of seconds, then swiped away whatever had popped up. A few seconds of Caspian attempting to dance later, she stopped and leaned in.

"I'm hungry."

"Oh, do you wanna go somewhere?" Caspian asked. An easy out. He hoped the whole thing would be so mercifully brief.

"We can stay. Do you think the restaurants downstairs are open?"

"I was studying here earlier today, I'm pretty sure I saw them closing up early."

Cattleya glanced aside for a second before a smirk traced her lips. "Can you check for me?"

"Sure, wanna go together?"

"Too many stairs, they would be painful in these heels," she responded, holding out a shoe that sparkled in flashing rainbow hues.

Caspian left Cattleya somewhere on the dancefloor and made his way down the stairs. The hard-light gate to his left and dead lights beyond it allowed Caspian the slightest suspicion that none of the restaurants- watered down attempts at cuisine from each of Remnant's kingdoms- remained open. The only overhead lights in the entire basement formed a path to the bathroom across from the stairs.

Might as well. The water fountain was welcome too after the stifling air upstairs.

On his way back he noticed a refreshments station- this one run by a student rather than an android. He helped himself to a glass of punch for himself and Cattleya, and found his eyes lingering on the line of untouched oatmeal raisin cookies. It would be a shame to let them all go to waste. He plucked two from the pile, adding a third when the refreshment stand's attendant looked away. He folded them neatly in a napkin and, to free up both hands, tucked them into his breast pocket.

Cattleya hardly ate sweets, but maybe they would do in a pinch.

Back to Cattleya. He left her waiting by the speakers, but when he returned, none in the nearby crowd were her. She must've gotten lost somewhere in the mass of bodies. He bounced around the dance floor for a minute or two with his head on a swivel and hands as steady as could be. He kept most of the punch in the cups.

He finally turned to an approachable-looking couple he had seen a couple of times around the dormitories. "Hey!" he called. "Have you seen a girl with pinkish hair?"

"WHAAAT?" the boy shouted back over the music.

"HAVE YOU SEEN A GIRL, WITH PINKISH-MAGENTA HAIR?" Caspian always felt like he had the kind of voice that was lost to white noise. Even though he spoke, he couldn't hear his own words.

"IS IT HER?" the girl asked, pointing over her boyfriend's shoulder.

Caspian turned. The hair's color was about right, but that's where the similarities ended. Her hair was cut at her shoulders, her skin was several shades darker than Cat's, and she was nearly as tall as Caspian.

"No, not her!"

"WHAT?"

"NOT HER!"

"OH, SORRY!"

A gap opened behind the girl's back, and Caspian slinked through. He nudged his way off of the dance floor and into the alcove under the stairwell and landing, shielded from the worst of the noise. He was relieved to spot one and a half familiar faces having a conversation.

"Hey, wanna head out? We could- oh, wait. You start that job tomorrow, don't you?" the black-haired boy asked.

"Yup. Gotta be up bright and early," Moka confirmed. Her tail perked up. "But what's up? Why do you ask?"

"Aspen's parents left the city. She's supposed to be looking after their place until they think it's safe enough to come back, but she's throwing a party instead. Basically the same thing. Wanna go?"

"Oh I'm so down! I'll be fine, I only gotta get up at like, six!" Moka finally looked over. She looked uncertain at first, probably because someone had peeled off of the crowd and stood next to her in uncomfortable silence for the last thirty seconds. But when she recognized him, her grin returned. "Hey again! Where's Cat?"

"I actually came over to ask the same thing," Caspian answered. "I'm guessing you haven't seen her, then?"

"Not since I last saw the both of you, sorry!" Moka turned to address her date. "Have you seen her, Cole?"

"The girl he was with? Nope!" He nodded. "Nice to meet you, by the way."

"Uh, nice to meet you too," Caspian offered. "I'm gonna go ahead and keep looking, thanks."

Caspian shouted questions at a few more pairs before making his way up the stairs and onto the landing above the crowd. He scanned it for magenta hair. One owner was the girl he saw minutes before. Another was a guy. He stayed up for a couple of minutes, until he was entirely sure his girlfriend wasn't floating among the sea of heads.

When Caspian's call went to voicemail on his way out the door, fear began to bud inside him. They're checking IDs at the door, and the building is full of Sentinel students. There's no way something bad could've happened to her, right? She must have missed the call. It's loud, and there's a lot going on. It would have been easy to.

But if something wasn't wrong, no doubt she'd be upset at him for abandoning her for so long.

He made his way up to the android at the door, just as the third song since their slow dance began to play. "Hey, have you seen a girl with like, magenta hair? She was wearing a purple dress..."

The android had no response.

Caspian wrestled his pair of cups, holding one against his chest with a forearm and using his now free hand to poke his Holoband. He pulled up a portrait he took of Cattleya, turning it around to the humanoid machine. "This is her, on the right."

"Yes, I have seen that woman."

"You have? Where is she?" Caspian begged.

"She left six minutes and fifty-five seconds ago, accompanied by a man with red and black hair. Muscular build, height: six feet, four inches."

"Blaise..?" Caspian pondered. Team BLCM's leader was the only one he knew who matched the description. He nodded at the android as he left. "Thank you."

Must be an urgent, team-related matter. But then, Moka would have known something about it, wouldn't she? Rain streaked past a streetlight on shifting winds. Past it, spindly silhouettes of evergreen branches beckoned to him. His heart leapt at the shape of a body in the trees. Another look, and the figure had vanished. It was eight o'clock in mid-October, so night had fully descended. But Caspian swore the lights of campus were dimmer than usual. The moon and stars were lost to black clouds, which felt like they hung no more than a hundred feet up.

The feverish beat of muffled dance music synchronized with his heartbeat. Caspian didn't know why he felt it in his throat, or why he couldn't swallow. Cat had stepped out for a second, he was sure. He should probably just go back in. She'd be waiting, he'd have to apologize, but the evening would go on.

He heard footsteps behind himself, and his head spun over his shoulder.

He was alone.

He heard laughter from toward the Student Resource Building, behind a big orange bush that hadn't yet lost all of its leaves. He rounded the corner, glancing to the well-lit refuge under the glass awning. If it wasn't her, maybe whoever it was had seen her.

He found the magenta hair he was looking for, the fingers of a brawny hand running through it. Cattleya faced away from him, Blaise faced toward him. He couldn't see either of their faces. Blaise pulled away from Cattleya, and her lips followed his at first. He stared Caspian down, until his eyes lowered and he muttered something in Cattleya's ear. She went rigid, pulling away the leg draped over his thigh to fix the front of her dress and stretch it back down to its place a quarter of the way down her leg.

Caspian still couldn't see her face.

Caspian stepped away. He didn't remember dropping the cup of punch, but felt it soaking into his sock. Rain pelted his glasses until he couldn't see. Wind ripped through his coat, and flipped his tie over his shoulder. His feet led him away- anywhere, as long as it got him away from the image frozen in his mind. The two of them face to face, her leg draped over his, one hand running through her hair and the other he'd rather not know.

He passed by the window, catching eyes for a second with a girl in a frilly grey dress. She turned away, swept off her feet with a grin by the perfect man she danced with.

Caspian's mouth was dry. He raised his shaking hand to his mouth, and tried to drink. The crimson liquid was disgustingly sweet, the same flavor used to mask cheap medicine. He almost gagged, losing half his gulp onto the front of his shirt. The cup was still nearly full. Heavy.

He heaved it at the window. A few inside started and yelped at the heavy thump, questioning Caspian with wide eyes through the red-tinted glass. He couldn't sort through exactly what he felt- he only knew the last semblance of control was fading.

Anger, of course. How could she do this to him? After all he had given?

Betrayal. All the time they spent, all the arguments, the blame, everything. This is how she paid him back.

Shame, of course. He let her lead him on, control him, tear him from his friends, for that long. He still hadn't spoken to Snow since leaving her in the hospital. All while someone else- better looking, stronger, probably better at a lot of things, had been going behind his back with her. And for how long had it been happening?

Then, the most poignant. The feeling that had risen in his gut the second he stepped out the door. He saw them together. Once confirmed, he thought the fear should leave, make way for the anger, betrayal, and shame. But he still felt it, even stronger than ever. The black clouds above felt as if they closed in.

Fear.