Chapter 37: Revelations in the dark

Ozpin made his way through the poor district of Vale. There people were already grumbling about today's…well, yesterday's junior Music Fest event. Nobody in Vale was happy that Weiss Schnee of Atlas had won or that she had received applause by one of the most popular singers from Mistral. As such, he could hear the sounds of angry cursing from drunks loitering around bars with nothing better to do.

Aww, how he missed those simpler days. Back then, he didn't have to worry about the fate of the world or an immortal being who after hundreds of years he was still no closer to defeating.

Back then, in his first life, he still remembered the pleasant days when he and Salem would talk about the adventures they would have when he got over his sickness. How she would always tease him with some new riddle she had heard in the nearby town when she had got him medicine.

Back then had been properly the highlight of his life.

As he walked he reached a bridge that was covered in spray paint of angelic wings. He knew this was a warning to anyone visiting, this was the Enlightened Seraphim territory, and anyone who so much as looked like they didn't completely hate Atlas would be beaten to a pulp

Ignoring the obvious signs of danger, he began making his way underneath it. There he was greeted by a ghastly sight he had been expecting.

Bodies and severed limbs lay all across the underside of the bridge, some had even begun floating away down the river. Blood painted the wall along with several burns made from dust energy. Bullet casings and shells could be seen scattered throughout the area, as well as an assortment of other weapons. None of them were huntsmen grade, but it was still an impressive arsenal.

But Ozpin didn't look at any of that for more than a second. His gaze was pulled to the only two alive people left from what he pictured to be a massacre.

The Phantom was standing at the point where the bridge fed into the main road. There, he had a man with fox ears sticking out of his head pinned up against the bridge by his neck as slowly squeezed the life out of him. A broken huntsma's rifle hung uselessly in his limp left hand that looked like it had been broken in at least three places. A weak aura was the only reason the poor man was alive.

So he must be a huntsman working with the Enlightened Seraphim.

Ozpin approached from behind and if either man noticed him, they didn't react.

"I'm losing patience. Tell me who's been supplying you with your weapons or I'll kill you here and now!" The Phantom snarled, tightening his grip on the man's neck. "I know you're one of Adelaide's commanders, so don't bother giving me this you don't know crap!"

The Phantom moved his hand just enough to let the man take in a couple gasps of air, just enough to speak, but still too quiet to call for help.

Not that it stopped him from trying.

"P-please…..have…merc-! Gah!"

The man was silenced as his throat was crushed once again by the Phantom, who looked at him with contempt dripping from his voice. "Mercy? After all the atrocities you've committed? Don't be naïve." He said, tightening his grip. "The fact you still drew breath is mercy as far as I'm concerned! Did you really think fate wouldn't catch up to you at some point? Now talk! Or I'll kill you right now and remove one more worthless piece of trash from this worthless world!"

He shifted his grip once again, letting the man gasp a few more times.

"Please!…I have a family!" He choked out, tears welling up his eyes. The Phantom stared up blankly at him for a second, then he pulled a bloody, stuffed Grimm from his belt and dropped it at the man's feet.

"You HAD a family." He said as the man stared wide eyed at his daughter's beloved toy. Ozpin saw disbelief spread across the man's face, then utter defeat, before finally settling on pure hatred as he glared at the Phantom.

"You!…fucking!….animal!..I'll-!"his threats were silenced as the Phantom closed his airway once again. Still, he began clawing at his arm, trying to inflict any pain on the man who killed his family.

"Tempting as it is to comment on the hypocrisy in that statement, I'm the one making the threats. So I'm going to ask you one more time, who is supplying your weapons?"

The man struggled to spit out some more slurs at the Phantom, but couldn't get some much as a single gasp this time. Despite this, the Phantom seemed to get what he was going to say.

As his grip tightened, the man's eyes started to roll up into his skull. And as they did, he finally caught sight of Ozpin standing not too far.

Immediately his eyes lit up with hope for either surviving this encounter or getting his revenge. Either way, it didn't matter much. As the Phantom shifted his grip for the final time, the man was already forming a call for help to the headmaster. All he needed was a single gasp!

Unfortunately it never came. And he didn't realize what was happening until a fraction of a second before it happened.

Crack!

The man's body went limp in the Phantom's grip. His arm slipped off as life left his body and it went limp.

"You know, I don't like having an audience during interrogations." The Phantom said without turning around. "Did you come here just to give this piece of trash hope before the end? Or do you have some sick fetish about watching people die believing their actions actually matter?"

Ozpin didn't react, he simply began making his way towards the lone figure.

"Did you really have to kill the whole family? Innocent people dying isn't a good look for anyone." He said calmly, prompting the Phantom to turn around, the corpse dangling in his grip. "You know that attracts Grimm. If you keep this up, I won't be able to keep the huntsmen off you for long."

The Phantom let out a scoff, discarding the body with a single throw where it rolled several feet before coming to a stop in a very unnatural position.

"I don't really care what you do. Like I said, I don't need your help." The Phantom snarled. "And I won't call either that thing or his wife innocent. Both of them have beaten more Atlesian to death than I can count. As for the kid, that was a necessary evil."

"I told her multiple times to go, but she wanted to stay and try to protect her mother. Eventually I couldn't wait any longer." He said, his voice showing no emotions. Just the same deep gravelly tone. "Her death was a tragedy, or at least I think it is. I imagine someone like you, who has no problems tearing apart children's lives, must find this extremely boring to hear about."

"Don't miss judge what I do for me taking pleasure in it." Ozpin said calmly, holding the Phantom's gaze. "I do the same as you. Sacrifices for the greater good are always sad to watch."

"Because you have one lest pawn for your game." The Phantom said dryly, not backing down either. "But I know you didn't come here to swap pleasantries. Are you here to tell me what I want to know? Or are you trying to get me back on your good side?"

Ozpin let out a chuckle, breaking eye contact as he shook his head.

"Always so serious. I'm here for neither." He said calmly, reaching into his pocket and taking out a large envelope. "I'm truly sorry I couldn't tell you who Salem is, I honestly don't know. But I did come here with a request. One I hope you'll honor."

Wordlessly, the Phantom took the envelope from Ozpin and glared at the man.

"You talk as if I could turn you down. I don't enjoy killing needlessly. And I certainly don't enjoy killing people for causes I'm still in the dark about." He said as he began opening it. "So what poor fool of a journalist has earned your ire today? I can't wait to see what doing your greater good gets-!"

The Phantom broke off as he pulled out the picture of Ozpin's newest target. He scanned the paper inside for a few seconds, then turned his attention upward back to the headmaster.

"What is this?" He asked curtly. "This isn't your normal request. Why do you want them dead?"

At the Phantom's words, Ozpin felt a smirk creep across his face. The Phantom had just tipped his hand! The headmaster knew the man's incredible bothersome semblance, but up till now, he didn't know what limitations it had. Now he had confirmation, contrary to what the Phantom said, his power was far from invisible.

What's more, despite his displeasure with killing the headmaster's targets, he never questioned it before, now he had all but confirmed Ozpin's suspicion on his newest leak.

"It's not a high priority target. You can kill them whenever you have the time. But just know, I want it done before the end of the school year." He spoke calmly, without betraying his emotions. Keeping his hand a secret. "Hunt them at your leisure, but know that you are to be discreet about it. Make it seem like they weren't the target. I trust you to do the job well. After all, you're the best assassin in Vale."

With that, he turned and began making his way back towards his school, arms calmly folded behind his back.

"Oh! And I would get out of here quickly." He called back. "Dawn is less than an hour away. It would be a shame if they caught you on my account. But seeing as you don't need my help, I'm sure hiding in Vale on your own will be simple."

The Phantom let out an angry snarl at Ozpin's back. For a split second, he thought about blasting the old man in the back and ending him here and now!

But he resisted the urge. He knew full well he couldn't take the headmaster in a fight. And getting killed tonight would make everything he had done pointless.

"Ozpin!" He yelled out, making the old man stop and turned back to look at him.

"Run, hide, build your little fortresses! It won't save you!" The Phantom said, pointing his blade at the headmaster. "Make no mistake! One day, fate will catch up to you! And when it does, no tricks or pawns will save you! Once my plan is complete, I'm coming for you next!"

Ozpin let out a chuckle, then turned away.

"Thanks for the heads up, but I still believe we can come to an understanding." He said calmly. "I just hope it's sooner than later. We could help each other so much. I suggest you think on that."

With that, Ozpin made his way back up to the bridge and disappeared into the night, leaving the Phantom alone.

With a deep snarl, the Phantom turned to go as well. As he did, he stuffed the envelope into his dust bag before he disappeared into the night.

As he did, his mind wandered to the envelope in his bag. He hadn't expected this so quickly. Ozpin's response time with this told him something very important. He needed to speed up his plan. He had a good guess why Ozpin wanted him as a pawn, but that wouldn't stop him forever. He needed to complete his preparation before he outlived his usefulness. The student file in his bag was proof the old man only cared about results and control. And if anyone took that away, he'd make them disappear.

After all, Cinder Rose only mentioned this Salem person once, and he was already trying to kill her.

Day two of Music Fest had gone off without a hitch. The concert had been a smashing success and now the band had split up once again to explore Music Fest with Jiao and Cinder having gone to the food stalls to see what was available

Last night, she had been more than a little surprised when Booby had told them he'd give them another chance. But he added a catch that they were to follow orders to the letter from now on. By which he meant following his orders to the letter. But after her talk with Amber last night, she had planned to do that anyway.

As they walked, Cinder took in the delicious smell of the vendor's food. She couldn't place it, but there was something about fairs and carnival that made the overpriced food there so much better than ordering the same thing from a restaurant.

And unlike last time, Jiao was making no effort to talk with the huntress in training, which the girl thought was quite an improvement. Now she could enjoy the event in peace while making a mental map so when her family came to visit in two days, she could show them the most of it.

The passes the family had been given were good for three different days, so they could come in three times. They had gone on the first day so Yang could get a good look at the life of a musician (which Cinder still didn't approve of.) and see the kind of training they went through.

The second day, which was the one she was looking forward to, was going to be a day for the family. They had looked over the schedule and picked a day where the Three Dragons didn't have anything besides a singleconcert, ensuring Cinder wouldn't be in any hurry. Amber had even mentioned she could take her time as she would take over as Jiao's personal guard. So while on paper, Cinder would only have an hour, she suspects she'd have much longer.

And the last visit was scheduled for the final day of Music Feat. That day, the bands would be doing Q&As, talk shows on how they got there, and lessons for anyone interested in music!

Needless to say, The family planned on visiting the Three Dragons to meet up with Cinder, then on her break, they would look at other booths. That way, they could spend as much time together as possible.

During that time, Cinder knew she had to stop Yang from becoming a musician and she now had a plan to do it. She just needed to show her how unbelievably hard it was to have a career in music. She had made a small list of all the young and upcoming talent shows that she would show to Yang to show her how early you had to start. Show her she had missed her window.

She knew it was a bit manipulative, but she didn't want Yang to become so kind of sex icon or be perverted by sponsors. Something that was all too common in the world of showbiz.

For the first time all mission, things were finally starting to look up. If this kept up, she could endure it long enough to get back to Beacon and get her spot as leader! The only thing wrong today was that Amber was currently out of Music Fest because her Scroll had been acting up all morning and she was afraid someone had hacked her.

And given her financial situation, she couldn't afford a good data plan like the rest of her team.

It was when the dark skinned girl had told them to stay more diligent then normal until she got back that Cinder was very grateful for Summer installing her distrust of public WiFI into her.

"Jiao-long!"

Cinder was suddenly ripped from her thoughts as a girl around her age pushed through the crowd to meet them head on! She had a gun point right at the singer!

"I finally found you, you cheating cow!" She screamed historically as Cinder immediately slid in between them, Midnight drawn. But despite that, the girl didn't seem to care. Her attention was purely fixed on the singer who stood calmly behind the huntress.

"You used me! Used me then tossed me aside!" The girl screamed, her arms shaking as she aimed the gun at the singer. "Did you enjoy it?! When I gave you my virginity?! When you stole my life?! I had to give up my son, our son! Because you left me, you heartless bastard!"

As she raved, Cinder saw an opportunity to reach up to her earpiece and push the button.

"I've got a situation at the food court." She whispered so the girl couldn't hear what she was saying. "I need backup quickly. I could take this girl, but there are too many civilians in the area. I can't-."

"You! Short hair!" The girl yelled, whipping the gun to point at her, as if a huntress had any reason to fear a gun. "Stay out of this! This is between me and that bastard behind you! He ruined my life and I want it back!" Fortunately, it was already too late. Cinder had heard Amber inform her that she was on her way as soon as she was cut off. Now it was just a waiting game.

Unfortunately, things were already starting to go south. The girl's screams had begun to attract a crowd, who were gathering around to watch the spectacle. Some were even taking out cameras to film or take pictures.

The flashing made the girl flinch and in doing so, her finger squeezed dangerously tight on the trigger! Yet the people didn't stop. They continued to take photos as the girl screamed louder and louder, growing more hysterical as the crowd agitated her more and more.

Seeing where this was going and knowing the people here were clearly to stupid to know when to stop, Cinder decided to take thing into her own hands.

"Drop your weapon! I'm authorized to use force if necessary!" Cinder yelled, eyes narrowed at the girl. "I'm a huntress! If you attack, it won't end well for you!" Despite her words, with the crowd now completely surrounding them, so she couldn't attack without running the risk of hurting someone there! And these idiots didn't seem to be taking a hint they were in the way!

Normally, she wouldn't have thought twice about disarming the girl, the idiots who were to stupid to save themselves could die for all she cared. But she was on short leash from both Bobby and Amber. Best not to test her limits right now.

"I don't care!" The girl screamed, gesturing angrily with the gun. "He took everything from me already! I don't have anything left! I'm going to kill him then leave this stupid, cruel, ungrateful world!"

"What a baby." Cinder thought. She had been through worse then a dumb breakup when she had been a child. Why were girls here such drama queens?

But she supposed that didn't really matter right now.

Immediately, she slammed Midnight together, the handle fusing it together into a bow where she already had an arrow nocked and aimed at the girl.

"Stand down now!" Cinder threatened, glaring daggers at the girl. "I don't want to with shoot you, so take a fucking hike! I've had a really rough week, so just piss off before I let out all my anger on you!"

The girl let out a shrill laugh as she stood her ground, now intimidated at all. "I don't care if you kill me! Nobody wants me! Nobody would care! I don't care! So go ahead! But I will take out that bastard first! I don't care if I have to drag my broken body across Remnant! I will make him pay!"

Cinder bit her lip as she contemplated what to do. If she attacked, she ran the risk of hurting one of the worthless idiots surrounding them. But the longer she stood there, the more likely this bitch would open fire!

Her only option was to shoot the gun in such a way it immediately disabled-!"

"Here, let me handle this."

Cinder's head snapped around as Jiao walked right past her, heading straight towards the girl.

"What are you doing!?" Cinder screamed in horror! "Get back over here you idiot!"

She immediately rushed in front of him again, but he simply pushed her out of the way.

"You stay back." He said with a dismissive wave. "I'll handle this. You sit back and relax. I don't need a guard for a simple crazed woman. Trust me, I know my way around women."

"But-!"

"That's an order Ms. Rose." He said firmly, glaring at her. "Unless you want me to fire you right now, I suggest you stand back and let me work. And don't interfere. I don't like sharing a stage with a novice."

Cinder stared at Jiao, her mouth agape. She couldn't believe what this idiot was doing! Did he have a death wish?! If anything happened to him, she would be in so much trouble!

But her hands were tied. All she could do was stand back and watch what should have been an entertaining show become her worst nightmare!

"My dear angel, there's no need for this." Jiao said sweetly as he approached, hands raised. "I didn't mean to upset you. I left for your protection!"

Cinder felt like she wanted to vomit. How did he say such a cheesy line with a straight face?! Did he honestly think this would work?! You'd have to be the stupidest person on the planet to fall for this!

"W-what do you mean?" The girl asked, her grip on the gun tightening. Jiao simply smiled at her as he took another step forward. What was he playing at?

"I'm being hunted by a group of psychopaths! They want to use me to power themselves up! I know they'd come for me sooner or later, so I left for your safety! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Jiao spoke with all the emotion of an actor. His face strained with fake pain as he looked at the girl. He must have spent years practicing these moves.

And here Cinder thought her opinion of him couldn't get any lower. She wondered who many other poor fools he had won over with this stupid tactic. She might hate the screaming teens from her school, but even they deserved someone who would just be honest with them instead of playing with their emotions. That was unnecessarily cruel.

Brothers, what was she thinking?! Amber must be rubbing off on her.

"I know I hurt you! I'm sorry!" he took another step forward, eyes locked with the girl's. "I don't have a right to ask this, but please forgive me! I didn't want any of this! But until I deal with these people, I can't be with anyone!" He placed his hands on his heart as he spoke, as if it hurt him to say all this crap.

"I'm not going to ask you to wait for me. But if you did, I'd be honored! You are my perfect heaven! I don't deserve a wonderful star line you! But I want you to promise me that you'll find someone who will treat you the way I should have! You deserve the world, and I want you to have it! But I-!"

"Stop!"

Jiao came to a halt as he saw the girl was now glaring daggers at him. His face lost its confidence and he took a step back slowly.

"You say all these nice things, but do you mean them? This isn't the first time you've said sweet things and then just vanished!" She had a dark rage to her voice as she spoke, her hands were still trembling but they were noticeably more steady then before.

"My dearest! Of course I mean what I say." Jiao said, face changing to one of shocked pain. "I never meant to hurt you! Every night when I close my eyes your face is the only thing I see! You-!"

"Prove it!" The girl snapped, eyes bursting with tears. "Prove you mean all that! What's my maiden name?"

Jiao froze, his mask slipping from faked sorrow to very real fear.

"It's…Umm…" even before he finished the girl's expression turned dark. She immediately gripped the gun tighter as she took aim at the arrogant singer!

"I knew it!" She screamed out in a choked sob. "I knew you were full of shit! I should never have let you into my life!"

"Now, now! Let's not be rash!" Jiao said, taking a step back. But the girl was beyond the point of listening.

"Die you bastard! I hope you burn in your own special hell!"

The next instinct, several things happened all at once! Jiao let out a high pitched squeal that made him sound like a monkey as he scrambled backwards away from the girl. But in his panic, he fell on his ass and was rendered useless! At the same instant, Cinder threw herself forward, detaching her weapon into blades! All before half a second later, when the girl fired the gun!

Bang!

Cinder had just pasted Jiao when it went off. She acted on instinct, swinging the blade to deflect the bullet! But she had trained against huntsmen grade weapons, not small caliber handguns! Her swing passed just over it, scraping the top as it sailed past her!

Cinder felt as if time was moving in slow motion as she watched in horror as the bullet flew past her, just outside of her reach. She felt her stomach sink as she saw its trajectory would land straight into the singer's chest!

And in that instant, she felt her dreams slip through her fingers.

All around her, people had begun running and screaming as they finally realized the gravity of the situation. Some were still trying to get photos, but as Cinder rounded on the girl, the only thing she could hear was her own heartbeat! It drowned out any other sound as she smothered all other feelings besides her rage! She was going to tear this girl to pieces for taking her dream from-!

Suddenly, a burst of cold energy came crashing down onto the girl, freezing her gun, hand and a good few inches up her arm! The little bitch let out a scream of surprise, but that was also cut short as Amber landed right on top of her, pinning her to the ground!

"Cinder! Get Jiao to Eric!" The dark skinned girl ordered. The dark haired girl had never heard her leader this panicked before! It actually scared her!

But she swallowed those emotions and rushed to the downed singer! The second she reached him, she grabbed his shirt and began to tear into bandages to stop the bleeding and try to keep him alive long enough for Eric to work his magic! She wasn't that skilled at firstaid but it was better than nothi-!

"Ugg! What are you doing?"

Cinder froze as she stared down at Jiao, who was staring back up at her. Slowly her eyes wandered down to where he had been shot and found no bullet wound, not even a drop of blood! But how!? She had seen the bullet! He should be dead!

"Cinder, what's the holdup?!" Amber called as she forced handcuffs on the girl. A little ways away, event security was pelting towards them.

"I'm okay!" Jiao called over to the dark skinned girl, making her head shot up in surprise. "Your teammate blocked the bullet before it hit! I'm a little winded, but otherwise fine!"

"I-! Wh-!? How did-!?" Amber stammered in disbelief, clearly just as surprised as Cinder. "But I could have sworn-! Never mind! Cinder! Help security restrain the girl! I'm getting Jiao back to Eric to make sure he's okay! You catch up once you've given the police your report!"

Cinder nodded blankly as she tried to process what had just happened! She knew she missed the bullet, that he should be dead! She didn't make miscalculations like that! Yet somehow, something saved the idiot and kept her from losing her job, but what?!

"Cinder?"

Amber's voice snapped the dark haired girl out of her thoughts. Her team leader had helped Jiao to his feet and was now staring at her with concern. "You alright? It's not like you to space out. Did you get hurt or something?"

"No! No. I'm fine." Cinder replied quickly. "It's…nothing. I'm just surprised. I haven't seen your more commanding side since our entrance exam. It caught me off guard, that's all."

Amber's face remained concerned, but she didn't press. Instead she escorted Jiao back towards the trailers, leaving Cinder with her thoughts. But she did have much time to dwell on it, event security had begun taking the girl away. They would have already called the police and Cinder would need to give a report on what had happened. And seeing as she could figure out what had happened while she waited for them to show, the girl turned to follow them.

But then her glass heel came down on something hard and solid.

Immediately, the girl moved her foot and looked at what she had stepped on. And to her increasing surprise, she saw it was the bullet that had been fired!

Reaching down, she picked it up and examined it. It had definitely gone off, and given the shape of the tip, it had definitely hit something. It looked like whatever it had hit was so solid, the bullet had ricocheted off it!

This confused Cinder even more. There was nothing in the area that could do that! And if there was, it wouldn't have bounced all the way back here! If anything, it looked like the bullets Qrow after he had shot at her during training! Only his were huntsmen grade and hadn't broken at the tip.

Wait a moment…

Cinder turned and glanced at Jiao's retreating form. There was no way! But she didn't have any other explanation! And if she was right then…

"Well, no harm in checking, right?" Cinder thought to herself. She closed her eyes and focused on her surroundings, she used what Summer had called her mind's eye to scan the souls of everything around her. And in that instant, her shock completely broke her concentration!

Jiao had an active aura. And it burned as brightly as some of her classmates!

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Want to know something terrifying? Ozpin encounters with the Phantom took place a few hours after Cinder got back to her team. So if she had gone back a few hours later, they probably would have run into each other.

Yeah, I'll let you think on that for a little while.

And as for my decision to have Ozpin do something like that, given his position, do you really think he could keep Salem's existence a secret from the world without doing shady stuff like that? The two of them built a kingdom together that almost conquered the world! No way he could hide everything.

And if you think that's far fetched, in America, the secret service makes a several people disappear every year. The actual number is unknown for obvious reasons, but the high profile ones are call "natural causes." Things like heart attacks or liver failure. Something that's hard to trace. And the people in the country stay completely in the dark about it.

Now before I go on a crazy rant about this, there are two things I want to address.

One. I don't want to hear anything like, "um actually, they didn't kill anyone because I would know all about because I read the news every and an organization that works for the government would be required to fill out all the paperwork leaving a trail reports could follow and therefore report on." Their called the secret service! Their job is literally to keep things secret! A reporter isn't going to be able to get a hold of that information without being shot for trespassing.

Two. This is a good thing. As much as I wish we lived in a world where killing wasn't a necessary evil, we do. I personally support the hardworking men and women who put their lives on the line not only for in the secret service, but also all those heroes who go unmentioned by mainstream media. Firefighters, polices, emergency services, and all branches of military. They risk so much to keep the peace and don't get paid anywhere near as much as they should and I hate how a few bad eggs are ruining there reputation.