Rember huddled on her chair and stared at the plate of food in front of her in brooding silence. It had long since gone cold, but she didn't bother to reheat it and eat. She wasn't hungry. Gayle was at her work desk with homework and assignments scattered across the surface, and Jad was listening to some music through his headphones, though you'd never know that by the volume.

It had been two days since they last saw Azure and learned about his affiliation with the White Fang. The bruises around Rember's neck were nearly gone, but she had still been careful to hide them whenever she left the room.

"You should really eat something, Ber," Gayle said from across the room without looking up from her work.

"I'm not hungry," Rember mumbled. Her voice rasped. She hadn't spoken much since Friday.

"That's not the point. You've barely eaten for two days."

Rember felt a slash of annoyance. "So what?"

"Foxy," Jad chimed in, turning his music off and sitting up, "we're worried about you."

"You know why." Gayle frowned, finally looking up from her assignments.

Rember's fox ears flattened against her skull and she used her semblance to heat the food in front of her. She stabbed a piece of chicken with a fork and ate it quickly before turning to the others and saying "Happy?"

Jad and Gayle exchanged glances before looking back to her. Rember sighed and forced herself to eat the rest of the meal while the other two waited patiently.

When she'd finished, Gayle asked "Feeling better?"

Rember nodded reluctantly and got off the chair to stretch. Her muscles felt weak from a lack of use, and she winced as one of her wrists cracked loudly. "I seriously need to work out…" she muttered, massaging a kink in her shoulder.

"Well you aren't allowed until at least tomorrow," Gayle told her.

Rember raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me what to do."

"Yeah," Jad joked, ruffling his partner's hair. "That's my job."

"Hey!" Gayle exclaimed. "You know how long it takes to get my hair under control? Don't mess it up!"

Jad wrinkled his nose at her.

Despite her mood, Rember snorted with amusement and stifled a smile. Jad caught sight of it and gasped dramatically.

"What's this?" he said, teasing. "A smile?"

The three teens heard a soft knock at their door, and a measure of anxiety fell over each of them. Glancing at the girls, Jad walked slowly to the entry and grasped the knob. Upon opening the door all three of them let out quiet sighs of relief, though they were somewhat bemused as well.

It was Bruna Mallorey. She wasn't wearing the usual blouse and dress pants she wore when teaching, instead dressed in what must be her battle gear. A sensible tan coloured coat with brown leather padding on the shoulders and elbows. Flexible, brown leather gloves that matched her knee high leather boots covered her hands. Her pants were as sensible as the rest of her outfit, which was completed by a cross body leather bag that presumably housed her weapon of choice.

"Miss Bruna? What's up?" Jad exclaimed, perplexed.

The professor offered a smile in greeting, though a frown quickly replaced it.

"Something's wrong," she observed quietly. "What's going on?"

Jad, Gayle, and Rember exchanged uneasy glances. Somehow all eyes ended up on the fox girl whose ear kept twitching uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence she sighed and pushed her chair away from the table.

"Not here," she said.

Frown deepening, Bruna nodded and moved aside to let Rember lead the way out of the dorm.

"Aaagh!"

An agonized cry of pain forced its way out of Azure's prey as the air rushed out of his lungs. The target was a faunus in White Fang attire, now looking rather scared after being hurled into a brick wall and held at swordpoint. Various other faunus laid unconscious in the old alley, each of them beaten and bruised.

"Start talking." Azure growled, glaring.

Raising his hands defensively, the faunus cowered. "I-I don't know! I don't know anything about them!
"Don't lie to me!" Azure commanded angrily, pressing Tyto Naiatra closer to the man's neck. "Black Claw. Reaper and Mirage. I know they're still part of the White Fang! Now tell me where they are!"

Azure tore the Grimm mask the faunus wore off his face, exposing the full extent of his target's terror.

"Black-Black Claw? You mean-"

"Yes."

"But they aren't-they aren't real!" the White Fang member stammered. "That's just some stupid rumor!"

"Oh, I can assure you," Azure hissed, leaning in close to stare intently into the man's eyes, "they are very real."

Without warning, Azure knocked his captive over the head with the blunt side of his weapon. He turned angrily, leaving the group of faunus lying in the cold alley. He didn't give a damn about what might happen to them now. He should've known that mindless drones such as these wouldn't know anything.

The white caped boy punched the wall of a building in frustration, ignoring the painful feedback upon making contact.

"Damn it!"

Rember led the way through the halls of Beacon, Bruna Mallorey just behind her. Bruna's mind swirled with curiosity, but she knew Rember well. The girl would share her troubles when they arrived somewhere that she felt safe.

There was something soothing about traversing the empty halls. They were usually bustling with students, chatter echoing off the old stones. It was easy to forget what a beautiful building this was when it was busy and full.

"Almost there."

The timbre of Rember's voice was soft, but Bruna picked up on the resignation in it. That particular tone was one that she had become familiar with during Rember's years at Sanctum, and Bruna's concern grew. That was the tone that had appeared after her father cut her off, and it had resurfaced after whatever happened with Lupin Grey.

It didn't bode well.

Teachers weren't supposed to have favorite students, but it was human nature, and Bruna was just as vulnerable to that as anyone else.

Rember Autumn was one of the people, if not the person, who Bruna truly felt she had made an impact on. The woman had been witness to so many of Rember's hurts, smiles, triumphs, and failures, and had watched the girl pick herself up time and time again. Bruna felt truly honored to be someone that Rember looked up to.

"We're here."

'Here' was the large ballroom, lit only by the moonlight that filtered in through the enormous windows. They were standing on the higher level overlooking the main floor.

Rember took a seat on the smooth floor, dangling her legs through the gaps in the railing.

"I like coming here at night. It's quiet."

Bruna sat down beside Rember.

"It's lovely," she commented.

"Yeah...it's a lot better than everything else right now."

There was that resignation again, accompanied this time by bitterness. Bruna said nothing for the time being, content to let her mentee open up at her own pace.

"Why do things always have to get hard again? You work your ass off to build something, and it always comes crashing down, and there's nothing you can do to stop it! Why does the world have to keep crumbling around me when I think I've finally made it?" Rember exclaimed. "Why can't things just be good for once?"

Bruna's heart went out to her, and she reached over to hug the girl briefly with one arm.

"What's going on, Rember?"

"I...I don't know what to do," Rember replied miserably. "Or where to start."

"Why don't you start with Friday?" Bruna suggested. "Everything seemed to be fine when you left my class that day."

"Yeah, it was. I guess that really is the best place to start," Rember agreed. She let out a big sigh (she seemed to be doing a lot of that tonight), and launched into the retelling.

"Jad, Gayle, and I got back to our dorm to change -we were gonna go out for ice cream with some friends, but there was something weird about our room. The window was open, and there was a weird smell in there. It took us a few minutes, but we found some flowers and a note on Azure's bed. Normally I wouldn't open a letter with someone else's name on it, but I had this… really weird feeling about it. I was sure we left the window closed that morning. I always double check it so that Thistle -Thistlebutt is my cat- doesn't get out and get stuck somewhere.

"Anyway, the note was for Azure, and it was written really strangely. It was actually kinda creepy, like whoever wrote it is obsessed with or in love with him. It was signed by 'Reaper', and this Reaper wanted to meet Azure in an old part of the city. I still had that weird feeling, but it was worse by then. I dunno, I felt kinda like Azure might have been in danger. I still can't really put it into words, but I had this feeling that if Azure went out there alone he wouldn't come back."

"So you went on ahead," Bruna assumed, Rember's nod confirming it. "And Jad and Gayle? Did they accompany you?"

"Yeah, they came. I shouldn't have brought them, but I couldn't think of a good enough reason for them to stay behind or go back."

Rember fell silent for a moment, but her mentor didn't push.

"I...I almost got my friends killed, Miss Bruna. I was so stupid."

Now that was a thought Bruna wouldn't leave to sit in the girl's mind.

"Rember, maybe you did something that seems stupid, but you yourself are far from," she scolded gently. "You made a mistake, and you will either learn from it or wallow in it. Whichever happens is your decision."

Rember frowned. "Yeah, I guess. It was a really bad mistake though."

"So you found this 'Reaper'?"

The faunus drew her legs up to her body, wrapping her arms around them. Making herself smaller, Bruna recognized.

"Yeah, we found him."

"He didn't take kindly to someone other than Azure showing up, did he?"

"I dunno...he was kinda friendly at first, but, like, too friendly. And he was very dramatic, like he was putting on a show or something," Rember shook her head, still puzzled by Creed's mannerisms. "There were some others with him, a couple of faunus and another girl. She was really weird too. She seemed...hollow? Empty? I dunno. The two faunus just seemed kinda bored.

"So we ended up talking; learned all their names, and managed to avoid telling them ours. It seemed like a really bad idea."

"That's smart," Bruna acknowledged. "You never need to un-say something-"

"-that wasn't said," Rember finished. "Yeah."

Rember shrugged miserably. "I dunno where he is." she admitted, "and I'm not going to tell you why he did it."

Bruna opened her mouth to say something, but Rember lifted her chin defiantly. "I've already told you more than I wanted to. I'm not sharing anything else. It isn't my story to tell, and I've already betrayed him enough." She slipped off her seat and fiddled with her necklace. "Thank you for the medicine, but I'm going back to my dorm now. I'll see you in class."

Without another word, the fox faunus walked silently out of the wing.

On her way back to the dorms she wrestled an unusual feeling of guilt and tried to push it down. Rember understood perfectly why Miss Bruna was so concerned. Were she in the Huntress' shoes she would probably do the same thing. But Azure was her partner, and her friend. At least, she thought he was her friend. That was kind of up the air for the moment, but Rember believed that the Azure who made smartass remarks and killer chocolate chip cookies was out there trying to figure everything out as well.

The girl sighed as she pushed open the door to her room. The lights were out. Gayle had fallen asleep over her homework again, and Jad was wrapped in his hammock and snoring. Without meaning to, Rember's eyes flicked over to Azure's bunk. It was still cold and empty, as it had been since he left. As she gazed at it she noticed something peeking out from underneath the bed and walked over to pull it out.

It was an old Ursa plushie, and Rember smiled as she tucked it back into its hiding place. Azure was out there. She wasn't sure when she would see him again, or how she would react when she did, but somehow she knew he was coming back.

Azure sighed in frustration as he stepped off the aircraft, gazing at the glowing academy in the distance and running his fingers through his hair. It had been two days. Two long, infuriatingly painful days since he had fled to find Creed, and he hadn't gotten any closer to finding him.

It really pissed him off.

A yawn escaped him, reminding the boy that he hadn't stopped for a moment's rest this whole time. His eyes were sore, and there were bags under them, but Azure didn't care. Rest wasn't a luxury he could afford anymore.

Slowly making his way towards the moonlit Beacon Academy, Azure's head was flooded with conflicting thoughts.

Why am I coming back? I can't. Not after what I did.

The muck of emotions bounced around in his head as Azure neared the dorms. Slipping inside, he made his way towards his own room and paused in front of the door. Unwilling to take any chances, Azure took in a breath and tuned into his empath skill. He sensed all three of his teammates in their beds, their presences all in the muffled state he identified as sleep, and put his Scroll up to the lock. There was a soft beep, and Azure crept into the room, gently closing the door behind him.

The room was dark, the moonlight shining through the window providing the only source of light. Confident that he hadn't woken anyone, Azure swiftly and silently crept further inside. He heard a snort from Jad as the taller boy shifted around in his sleep, mumbling something incoherent. For a moment Azure stopped and focused on the sounds of his slumbering teammates: Rember's soft breathing, Gayle's tail rustling against her sheets, and faint purring from the bunk above where Thistlebutt was curled next to Rember. All familiar, comforting sounds that normally brought him peace...but there was no peace to be had tonight. And there wouldn't be so long as Black Claw were out there.

I can't let Ceed live, Azure thought firmly. I will not stop. I will not slow down. Not until he's put down for good this time.

With that thought, Azure fought off the heaviness in his eyelids, and made his way back silently out into the dorm hallway.

He wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight anyway.