"Yeah, the three of us decided to take a gap year," Coco said from Clark's scroll. "We probably won't get a lot of official missions, but things are a lot less regulated near the edges of the Kingdoms. We'll be fine. Besides, the other three schools are getting a huge influx of former Beacon student since it'll be a while until the school's up and running again."

"I've heard that it could be over a year until classes resume," Clark said. He was making the call from the forest just outside the city. He'd spent most of the past few days out of it, and signal range, which the team had made him immediately regret.

"Man, that sucks."

Clark nodded. He'd only been at the school for about half a year, but he'd made some good memories there. "Are you guys headed anywhere specific?"

"Mistral. It's close, not as cold as Atlas, and not as hot as Vacuo. Plus, there's a good number of towns that wouldn't mind accepting help from some students rather than waiting for pro-huntsmen to get there."

"Sounds like a good setup."

"And if killing Grimm gets boring, there's always criminals we could beat on. I hear the Kingdom's teeming with them."

"Right." The thought of Coco recklessly firing at crooks with her minigun forced its way in his head. "I'm . . . sure the police will appreciate your help."

"Did you just think something bad about me?"

"No."

She frowned and considered his statement for a few moments. "Fine. Anyway, you're out of a job now, right?"

"Technically, I'm on leave."

"Which in reality means you don't have a job," Coco replied. "You know, we wouldn't mind having a fourth member in our group."

Clark's eyes widened by a fraction. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, C-C-F-Y could still be team Coffee. Especially if S-S-S-N is allowed to be Sun. And we wouldn't need it, but the legitimacy of an actual huntsman would help."

For the first time in days, Clark smiled. Even though he couldn't bring himself to feel true joy so soon after the attack, his lips managed to curl upwards by the slightest amount. "Thanks for the offer, but I have other responsibilities."

"Ah, that's too bad. Well, I had to try at least."

"I really am sorry."

"It's cool. Anyway, the guys will probably want to call you too, so keep in touch."

"I will."

\\\\\

Weiss laid a hand on the window as the city shrank from view in the airship. She was leaving Vale, leaving Beacon. The place where she'd found so much happiness.

It was a horrible time to leave her team, when one of their own was injured and their future as huntresses had become uncertain. If Weiss had been given a choice, she'd have remained with them to figure out what they'd do. Maybe continue their education at Haven, or perhaps Shade.

She would have even considered Atlas if those options had proven fruitless, but they'd proven irrelevant when her father had arrived. He'd done what he did best, use money and influence to cut her off from her friends and force her obedience. It had been easy to ignore his calls, and irritating when he'd taken away her funds, but his actual presence? She couldn't refuse him when he knew exactly what he to do to control her.

Her status as the heiress of the SDC was in his hands. Weiss could push and fight all she wanted, and her father might tolerate it. However, as he had made clear almost immediately, he could always control her by threatening to remove any chances of accomplishing her dreams.

Weiss couldn't allow that, especially not now. Having Blake as a teammate had only strengthened her resolve to right the wrongs of the SDC and make the Schnee name respected rather than hated. They were essential, so Weiss had obeyed her father. She'd isolated herself from her friends. She'd managed to explain the difficulty she had with her father, but otherwise, she'd hardly spoken with them.

"We'll be hosting a charity event for Beacon sometime soon," Her father said. It was clearly just another opportunity to show off wealth and influence to him. Not a chance to support something Weiss had fought to defend. "You should sing again. Many would appreciate it, don't you agree?"

Weiss clutched her skirt, although she kept the action out of her father's sight. "Yes." She had no issue singing to support her school, but what she hated was that it wasn't really a question. If he wanted her to sing, she'd sing. It was that simple.

It had gotten dark out, and the city had faded in the distance. The cabin's interior was visible as a reflection in the window. Like a faint mirror.

\\\\\

Blake's fingers rubbed against her side. Aura had healed the wound, but a scar remained. A small region of dark skin on her lower abdomen. While it no longer hurt to touch, it was still a painful reminder of how she'd barely escaped Adam's brutal treatment.

He'd gotten stronger since Blake had left. She'd hardly stood a chance against him, and she could still remember how her blood had chilled at the sight of Yang rushing straight at him. If that woman hadn't been there . . . she didn't even want to think about what could have happened.

Blake couldn't allow something like that to happen again. No, she loved her team too much. Weiss had been taken away by her father and had the SDC's resources to protect her. She was safe, but Yang and Ruby weren't. Not if Blake stayed with them, not if Adam continued his senseless revenge against the whole world for the horrors inflicted by a few.

Blake still found it hard to believe what her mentor, the man who'd protected and taught her for years, was now capable of. He'd attacked Beacon! Not just that, he'd allied himself with Cinder and brought Grimm inside the city. If those were the actions he was willing to take, then nowhere was safe from him.

And nobody was safe from him if Blake was with them.

Now that it had gotten dark out, it was time for Blake to make her move. Ruby and Yang wouldn't visit again until tomorrow, there was no better time to leave. Blake had considered talking to them first, explaining herself, but she couldn't. It would be too easy to reassure herself into a false sense of security with them.

Even so, Blake smiled at the thought of her team. Before she'd entered Beacon, she'd never expected to make such lasting friendships during her time at the school.

But she had to. They were in too much danger, they'd understand after reading her letter. It explained everything they needed to know.

Only what they needed to know. It was impossible to fit in the history between her and Adam in a single page, but she'd given them the broad strokes. They didn't need to know more. They didn't need to know that Blake could still see flashes of a red sword at times when she closed her eyes.

She climbed out the window and vaulted over the rooftops, since it was doubtful that the medical staff would let her just walk out. She headed to the docks. First, she'd need to find transportation to Menagerie. She needed to talk to her family, tell them how sorry she was and how right they'd been. However, people would notice the chieftain's daughter returning, and the news could reach Adam. She'd have to leave Menagerie eventually too.

Hopefully, they'd understand.

\\\\\

SHRA-KOOM! BOOM!

SHRA-KOOM! BOOM!

The thundering shook the air, but it was cut short by the fluttering of wings. The bird swooped down, and just before it reached the ground, it transformed.

Qrow took in the flattened grass and rubble strewn across the field. Then, he turned his head to the young man responsible for it. Clark met his gaze with an indifferent expression. Qrow was usually pretty stealthy, but Clark had probably heard him coming from miles away.

The huntsman turned over one of the rocks with his foot and gave Clark a scrutinizing look. "What have you been doing out here?"

"Working on my speed."

"Uh-huh, by what, running through boulders?" Qrow raised an eyebrow and pointed at the shattered rock hundreds of feet away.

"No, I've been breaking them apart for rocks. I throw them in the distance and catch them before they hit anything."

"Okay . . . so you want to get even faster? Why? Aren't you already plenty fast enough?"

"Not compared to the phantom."

Qrow nodded in understanding. Clark's fight with the double had ended badly for the robot girl and the faunus. It would make sense if he wanted to work on training himself, but how long had he been out here? Qrow hadn't seen him in days.

Clark faced away and picked up a fist-sized rock. "Is there a reason you came by?"

"Yeah, it's time to tell the kids your secret."

That got something out of Clark. Just a slight narrowing of his eyes narrowing, but it still counted as a reaction. "We have a deal, Qrow. I'm only going to tell them if you give me a chance to convince them first."

"Yeah yeah, you can try, but they're stubborn." Qrow snorted. He'd expected it from his nieces, but that other team had it in spades too. It was kind of shocking that Ruby had made such good friends so quickly, it had taken her a couple years to get settled in at Signal.

"I'll take your word for it," Clark said. "I assume we'll be meeting at Beacon?"

"Whoa whoa." Qrow held up his hands. Clark hadn't made any moves, but he couldn't be too careful. "Don't go racing off. It's not at Beacon. Goodwitch and construction crews are still there making repairs. We're meeting at Patch."

"That's where you live, isn't it?"

Qrow nodded. "I'll lead the way." He promptly transformed and flew into the air.

For the next half-hour, Clark jogged along.

\\\\\

The orange leaves shook as the wind rushed by. The clear sky made it a beautiful and warm afternoon. It had been a week or two since summer had ended, so Yang appreciated any leftover heat from her favorite season.

The nice weather didn't do much for her mood though, which was why she'd asked Pyrrha to spar while they waited for Uncle Qrow. Who was late, as usual.

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"Hey Ruby, you sure you don't want to get some practice in?"

"No, I'm good. I'll just stay here with Jaune, Ren, and Nora."

Yang nodded and launched a fist into Pyrrha's shield. At least they'd get Ruby's mind off of Blake and Weiss leaving.

The blonde leapt back from a spear thrust. Which was what sparring with Pyrrha was supposed to be doing, but Yang was still too damn distracted.

'Come on, focus! It's Pyrrha! Yang always had to stay on her toes against her, but right now she didn't feel it. And forcing herself to get in the game wasn't working either.

Just . . . how could they leave like that?! Weiss, she could understand. Yang hated that she had to leave, but apparently, her dad was a total ass. A parent being afraid that Weiss was in danger made sense, but not giving her any choice? Not even letting her talk to her friends?

It made Yang's blood boil, and she hurled another fist at Pyrrha. The redhead dodged it.

Blake . . . what was her excuse? Yang had read her letter, that she was afraid of that Adam guy and that she didn't think she was cut out for this anymore. How could she say that? How could she not know that her friends were here for her? She didn't get to just . . . just bail out because her friends were in danger. They were huntresses, of course there was going to be danger! She hadn't even stayed to talk it over or say goodbye, she'd just left a piece of paper for them to find!

And as if that wasn't pissing Yang off enough. Qrow was dodging all her questions about Raven. She wasn't her mom, she wasn't Summer, and Yang wasn't going to run off to live with her. But she sure as hell deserved some damn answers.

"Raagh!" Yang's hair set alight, and she rushed at Pyrrha.

The attack was sloppy. The champion flipped over and struck Yang with her sword, and the blonde fell into the dirt.

Someone chuckled when she hit the ground. "Oh man, I think I get the appeal of the tournament now. Watching you kids fight each other is hilarious."

Yang got up to see Uncle Qrow and some other guy walk up to them. A head of black hair, bright blue eyes, and a strong jaw . . . he looked familiar. His gait was unique too. All huntsmen had a good degree of control over their bodies, but he put them to shame.

What was even weirder was how easily it seemed to come to him, how he didn't even need to focus for each precise movement. Where had she seen him before? Was he an older student?

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby jumped up. "And! Well, um . . ."

Yang's question flew out the window when Ruby's eyes sparkled at the guy's appearance.

"Just call me Clark," he said.

"R-right, okay!" Ruby practically vibrated with excitement.

Was she-?

Did she-?

Wow. Yang gave the mystery dude, Clark, a closer look. She never thought Ruby would crush on a guy like . . . well, Yang had never really been sure what kind of guy was her sister's type.

Not this, though. Yeah, he was easy on the eyes, but Ruby had never given any attention to that kind of thing before. Weapons and comic books? Sure. Guys? Not so much, and this was a pretty extreme reaction too. When had Ruby even met this guy before?

"Calm down Ruby." Uncle Qrow didn't seem surprised by her reaction. He turned to Pyrrha and Yang. "You two, come up here and sit down."

They joined the rest of the group in the ring of tree stumps. Which was set up as part of a hiking trail near Patch. It was actually separate from the main path, isolated and secret, which was probably why Qrow had decided to meet here.

"Okay, everyone, this is Clark Kent." Qrow said. "Go ahead and give your introductions."

"That's not necessary, I know their names." Clark interrupted before anyone had a chance to go. He turned to each person in the circle. "Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, and Yang Xiao Long."

Okay . . . that saved time.

Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Did you ask Goodwitch for them?"

"I recognize them from the tournament."

Somehow, Ruby's smile grew even wider.

"Anyway, you all know why I called you here." Qrow said. "You six want to rush off and hunt down Cinder, which is admirable, but there's a lot you need to know about her and why she attacked I get to that though, you need to convince Clark here that you deserve to know. You know, because he doesn't think you're dedicated to fighting Cinder."

Clark glared at the man. "That's not why I'm here." He then turned to face them. "Going after Cinder is dangerous. No offense, but you're only students. You'll probably die if you go after her."

Yang's fingers tightened into a fist. Only students? Who was he to judge whether or not they were good enough to fight her?

"We understand that," Pyrrha said. "If you recall, Ruby and I were present when the headmaster fell. We know what going after Cinder means."

"But does that apply to the rest of you? Are you really willing to risk your lives to go after her?"

"I sure as hell am." Yang said. "Because of her and the White Fang, my partner almost got killed."

He gave her a disapproving look. "So you want revenge."

Yang's eyes flashed red, and her answer came with a bite. "I'm here for more than that. My sister wants to do what's right, and I'm not letting her go off into trouble by herself."

"If I may interject," Ren raised a hand. "I wish to pursue Cinder for a number of reasons. Reasons which I believe apply to each of us to certain degrees. She attacked Beacon, a place we've dreamed of attending since children. Now, it stands in ruins and won't house students in the near future. In addition, we've all had friends hurt in the attack. We all wish to see justice for the pain she caused, and we'll do so together."

They all nodded. Ren had hit the nail on the head, and while it hadn't been subtle, Yang appreciated his added point of doing it together.

"I agree that she needs to receive justice, but it doesn't have to be your responsibility," Clark argued. "There are plenty of people with more resources. Like General Ironwood or your uncle here. Cinder should be their responsibility."

"Actually," Qrow said. "That's true, but Ruby's involved in this whether she wants to be or not."

"Me?" Ruby gave a confused look and pointed to herself.

"Why?" Clark asked.

Qrow grinned. "Well you won't let me share the details yet, but there's a very good chance Cinder is going to come after Ruby. Even if she did, you guys wouldn't let anything happen to my niece, would you?" He directed the question to Yang and the others.

"No." They answered in unison.

Qrow nodded. "Great, it's always good to see you guys sticking together. See Clark? They're not going to back down. Not even if I told them that this wasn't their fight and to keep their heads down, which I really want to. So, you satisfied?"

Clark crossed his arms. "For now. You better not be lying about the danger your niece is in."

Qrow's grin faded. "I'm not. Do you want to say it, or should I?"

"You're the one with the most secrets to uncover, go ahead."

"Okay then, you two know this already." Qrow pointed at Ruby and Pyrrha. "But this is news for the rest of you. Clark here is the Dart."

Ruby gasped. "Does that mean you trust us?"

"Hold on a second. Ruby, Pyrrha, he's seriously the Dart?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha nodded. "He helped us fight against Cinder. We saw his speed."

"And you guys didn't tell me?" Jaune pouted.

"She didn't have a choice, he asked us to keep it a secret." Ruby said and faced the guy with a giddy expression. "Which we totally did! Don't worry about our friends, they won't tell anyone either."

He nodded, although he didn't look like he trusted them at all.

"Okaaay, not that I don't trust you guys, but can he prove it?" Nora asked. "How fast is he?"

"Yeah, can we have a demonstration? I-if you don't mind," Jaune said.

"Sure, I have a good idea." Qrow said. "Ruby, get your sniper rifle ready and aim over there. Clark, you up for a repeat of what you showed me when we first met?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Ruby, fire whenever you're ready. Everyone else, try to keep a close eye on Clark."

Ruby knelt down and dug her scythe into the ground. She didn't even look in her scope. She actually tried to peek back at Clark, but it was difficult in her position. After she did the best she could, she fired.

He vanished, and in the next instant reappeared in front of Ruby. The bullet remained intact between his fingers, less than a foot from the barrel.

After their stunned silence, Jaune got to his feet and was the first to speak. "Whoa! Oh man, that's awesome!"

"You didn't even damage the round?" Qrow asked, even he seemed mildly surprised by that. "Heh, show off."

"That's not why I did it. It's an example of me being able to do more than run fast, my mind and the rest of my body can operate at high speeds too." Clark moved to throw the round away.

"Wait!" Ruby said. "Can-can I have that?"

He gave her a confused look and handed it over. "Why? You can't use it again, can you?"

"No, but it's . . . well, a souvenir. I actually have a bullet caught by the Dart! How many other people can say that?"

"Yeah, that's nice and all, but we need to move on. There's a lot more to Clark than you guys think." Qrow said. "Trust me, his speed's just the impressive tip of a crazy iceberg."

\\\\\

Neither Ruby nor Jaune were really at fault, but they'd proved exactly why Clark had refused to go public as the Dart. He'd shown them his abilities, all of them, and they'd marveled at each demonstration. Tossing around trees like toothpicks or displaying his durability without aura only received bright-eyed looks of awe from those two.

The other students had responded with mouths hung slightly open in shock, presumably from the apparent impossibility of his existence. They all had their eyes on him, with Ruby and Jaune only looking away to take notes on their scrolls.

"So . . . that's everything, right?" Yang asked. "Please say yes."

"That's it," Clark replied.

"Wait, what?" Qrow faced him. "What about your flying?"

"It hasn't worked since we tried it last time."

"You can fly too?" Ruby held up her scroll, her fingers ready to add it to her list of his abilities.

"No, not now at least." Clark's fingers tightened into a fist. "But you should keep this in mind if you decide to go after Cinder. There is someone who can do everything I can and fly. He's on Cinder's side, looks just like me, but unlike me, he won't hesitate to kill."

Their eyes widened at the information, and he hadn't even told them the worst of it yet.

"In fact, there's a chance he'll be stronger and faster than me when he attacks again. I might not be able to protect you." Clark glanced over to Ruby. If Cinder wanted her, the phantom might assist Cinder in kidnapping her in the same way he'd assisted by killing Amber. "Now that you know that, is your answer still the same? Are you going to chase down Cinder?"

They exchanged apprehensive looks and a couple of them swallowed nervously.

Yet, after a few seconds, it was clear that their answer hadn't changed. Fighting someone else with his abilities must have been daunting for them, but they mustered up their courage and repeated what they'd said before. It was actually rather admirable.

"Okay, now it's my turn to talk." Qrow said. "I don't know everything, but what I do is pretty heavy stuff. Some of it's even harder to believe than Clark over here." He pointed at the young man. "I guess I'll start with why Cinder tried to attack Beacon . . ."

Qrow went on to start by explaining that a fairy tale about maidens was true. According to him, they were women with magical abilities that passed on after their deaths in certain ways. The students reacted skeptically about his claims of magic, at least until he'd transformed into a bird.

Then, he told them that the maiden had been part of Cinder's motives of attacking Beacon, and how Clark's double had been responsible for killing the previous maiden.

What came next was a story about two gods. One of light and one of darkness, both responsible for the creation of this world and its inhabitants. Their departure was what made this world a remnant, it was what had been left behind. However, it hadn't been totally abandoned. They'd left powerful artifacts, Relics representing certain gifts they'd given humanity that could be used to change the world if all of them were gathered. Which had been locked in vaults that could only be opened by the maidens.

The Relics were what Cinder, or rather, the woman she worked for, wanted. Salem. The name Clark had overheard months ago, but whose identity hadn't been revealed to him until this moment. Ozpin's ancient enemy, who could control the Grimm. Ozpin had apparently never explained why she didn't organize them in massive, coordinated efforts against the academies. Even the recent attack had relied only on the creatures' usual feral behavior. Maybe her control was limited, or maybe she had another reason for not doing so.

"So, everyone good with everything so far?" Qrow asked.

They all answered yes. The students were taking it surprisingly well considering their worldviews were being shattered. The amount of skepticism and surprised expressions had started to decline near the end of his speech.

"You still haven't covered why Salem would want Ruby," Clark said.

"Yeah, well I know even less about that." Qrow said. "Ruby has silver eyes, and according to the stories, they were legendary warriors that could kill Grimm with a look. How? I have no idea."

"During the attack, Headmaster Ozpin said I had a power that could end the invasion and tried to get me to use them. Is that what he meant?"

Qrow frowned. "Probably. Did he tell you how to use them?"

"Um . . . yeah, but it's sort of embarrassing." Ruby squirmed under everyone's looks.

"Ruby, you have to tell us, this is important," Qrow said.

"I-I know." Ruby took a deep breath. "He said to think about positive emotions. Love for friends and family. That they would repel the Grimm in the way negative emotions attracted them."

". . . Are you serious?" asked Yang.

"It sort of makes sense!" Her sister reasoned.

"Ozpin wouldn't lie about something like that, especially in that situation." Qrow said. "Anyway, we'll keep that in mind. I just unloaded a lot of info, you all will probably need some time to take it all in."

"Yes, we certainly do," Pyrrha said. The others nodded in agreement.

"Well before that, you guys should know what our next step is going to be." Qrow said. "Goodwitch and Ironwood are making sure Beacon's Relic is being kept safe, and that Cinder doesn't take another step near Vale. We'll be going to Haven. Cinder and her people had really good records from there, and we're going to ask the headmaster a few questions about it. We're leaving in a few days, got it?"

A "yes" resounded throughout the group.

"Clark, tomorrow you're coming with me to get some more training." Qrow said. "Make sure to stay in range of a scroll signal, getting a hold of you is a pain."

"I will, but when? I need to visit a weapon store tomorrow."

"Orion's?!" Ruby blurted out excitedly, then reddened at the outburst.

"Yes, actually." Clark said.

"They're the best! I buy parts for my scythe from them, they have everything in really good quality and great prices and um . . ." She trailed off when his reserved expression didn't change. "A-anyway, I'm pretty weapon-savvy. C-can I come with?"

"No. I'm fine."

"Oh." Ruby's shoulders sagged.

"Actually Clark, maybe you should rethink that." Qrow said. "Ruby's more than just weapon-savvy. She can give you advice and make sure you're not ripped off."

The huntsman glared at Clark and his disapproval was mirrored by his niece, the blonde one. Clark glanced at Ruby. Normally, he'd have been more concerned about her lowered head and disappointed expression.

Right now it just gave him a twinge of guilt. Small, but still enough.

He sighed, although it was out of disappointment in himself than irritation. "I'm sorry. Thanks for the offer, I could use the help."

Ruby brightened immediately. "Sure!"

Clark then turned to her friend. "Jaune? Is there something wrong?" The blond had been fidgeting and looking around nervously.

"O-oh, um . . . can I come too?"

At this point, Clark just gave a tired shrug. "If you want."

Thankfully, no one else asked to go as well.