First off, yes I know I'm still bad at updating regularly every two weeks despite my previous promise. And though part of that was me getting a little wrapped in some games that I've been meaning to catch up on, part of it was also figuring out how to do this chapter even with some ideas in mind as to how it would go. Originally it was going to be a fair bit different, but then I realized that I could do what I did instead and do a bit more expanding on things for later use in the story. I definitely did not intend for this to turn into a two-part set again, as this chapter only covers a portion of what I want to do. Hopefully though it is enjoyable and somewhat informative for you guys, and I will talk to you all again through this story sometime soon when I come up with the second part to this. It's there in my head, I just need to write it down first.

"Hey Emerald, are you sure it's a good idea to just leave Frost here while we head out to find some info?" Neo looked over towards Frost's sleeping form nervously as she and Emerald put on their gear by the entrance to one of the rooms they were using.

Emerald took a deep breath as she finished clasping her weapons onto her belt before turning to give Neo a straight look, hiding the frustration she felt as her memories once again went to the number of times Mercury would ask numerous questions to fill the air back when she was forced to work with him. It took a large portion of her self-control to not want to either lash out or smack Neo like she would the silver-haired boy, and for that she was glad she had some restraint.

"I already explained this earlier when I first suggested this. With everything going on with him and the fact that I'm willing to bet his hands and arms are still a little sore from that pack of weird Grimm a few days ago, it wouldn't hurt to give him some time off while we do the boring part. Scoping out places was always the most annoying part of living on the street as a kid even after I figured out my Semblance, but we still need to have an idea of what's going on here in Atlas before we can even do anything." As she finished, she reached over for Neo's parasol and tossed it over with a light swing of her arm, to which Neo nearly fumbled and dropped in her distracted state. "Besides, you and I need to have another talk between the two of us today to try and settle a few things."

Neo's head whirled to face Emerald's with a look of confusion as she overheard the last part of the words directed at her. "What on earth do you mean by "settle a few things", Emerald?" Emerald ignored the question without a cursory glance as she turned to open the door to the room before walking out into the hall, the door left open as an obvious sign for Neo to follow as was their plan if she wanted to find out. Neo gave a groan of annoyance as she started marching off after her, but not without gently closing the door to the room so as to not disturb Frost.

Little did they know, he had been feigning sleep and had overheard the entire conversation before they left to go about their business. Despite that, he simply remained in place with a sigh, his back facing the door to the room as he closed his eyes once more to return to a restless sleep.

Frost looked around silently as he saw a multitude of people mill about an ordinary village, their lives pleasant and happy as evidenced by the peaceful expressions on their faces. On one side of him, a man bargained with a stall merchant over the price of some bread while the other side held a small group of children playing around a set of toys littering the ground. Frost was intrigued as to what they happened to be doing, and so he went over to examine the game they were taking part in. As he approached, he was surprised to see that it was an old game he could vaguely remember playing when he was a child, but had never once remembered playing it in the orphanage with Neo or any of the other orphans in all of the time he had spent there.

His vision blurred for a moment as his balance started to deteriorate, his arm reflexively reaching out to find something to stand against, only to feel it press up against a human beings chest. With shock he turned to apologize to the man he had accidentally bumped into, only for his words to hold in this throat in a tight lump as he witnessed the man in front of him.

It was the spitting image of his father- 10 years dead.

Neo and Emerald silently moved about in the crowd of individuals that filled the Atlas streets, very few actually talking and rather walking with a defined purpose as their eyes continued forwards, never once deviating from their path except for the odd few that Neo and Emerald disapproving looks.

"And here I was hoping that the Schnee princess' attitude was just from the family she was born into." Emerald stated with barely disguised disgust. "Now I get that this whole damn place is stuck-up and boring."

Neo didn't pay the citizens of Atlas much notice as they clambered about, her eyes and ears more focused on some indication of either the location of the Schnee mansion or the Atlas Military Headquarters. If they were to find any leads or information those would be the two best places to check. Unfortunately a place as ordered and plain as Atlas didn't allow for too many buildings to truly stand out, and so the two of them continued on the hopes of some clue coming up soon.

Emerald, however, had different ideas as she pulled Neo to the side into what seemed to be a restaurant of some kind before motioning over to an empty table despite Neo's protests at the sudden interruption of her focus as well as the sidetracked situation. The green-haired girl was having none of it however as she rolled her eyes and essentially dragged the more petite girl over to the table.

"Emerald, we have more important things to do right now than stop for a break!" Neo exclaimed in a hushed yell so as to not disturb the other patrons of the building. This did not stop her from giving a brief thank you to the waitress as she stopped by to fill a pair of glasses of water for the two of them as well as leave a pair of menus before walking off to help some of the other customers.

"Then get up and leave if that's what you want." Emerald stated plainly as she cracked open a menu and started scanning through the options, her face rolling through expressions of disgust and interest as she looked over the options.

Neo was about to do just that as her stomach grumbled audibly enough for the two of them to both hear it. Neo blushed slightly as she attempted to look at the menu in a feigned look of poise as Emerald gave her a sideways glance and a subtle smirk. It was quiet like this for a few minutes as they looked over the options before both closed their menus, confident in the choices they would be making for their meals. They both gave their orders to the waitress as she returned a few minutes later after helping a few other guests and then left with a polite nod and their menus as the two turned to face each other, though this time Emerald had more determined look on her face with her arms crossed on the table. Neo groaned as she now realized where this was going.

"Alright, you win. You got me here to somewhere we can talk without Frost bothering us. What do you want?"

Emerald simply looked at Neo for a few moments, confusing the smaller girl as she had thought that Emerald would have immediately started talking or asking questions the moment she finished speaking. Neo instead decided to reach over for her water to take a drink.

"What are your feelings for Frost?"

The question was so blunt and so sudden that Neo had to struggle not to spit out the water in surprise, instead choking on it for a moment as a few tables looked over briefly to see what the sudden noise was about. Their attention didn't last long as Neo waved her arms in a way to say that everything was fine as she gained her breath before glaring back at Emerald.

"What was that for?! You couldn't have waited for me to finish my drink before asking that?"

Emerald shrugged as she leaned back somewhat to lessen the imposing look she was putting off at the moment, one arm leaving the table to sit by her side while one remained relaxed at the elbow as she leaned her head into her hand to prop it up with a curious look.

"Answer the question, Neo."

Neo was once again taken aback by the bluntness of the statement before composing herself and thinking for a moment before giving her simple response.

"We're friends. I've told you this before. We grew up together ever since we met at the orphanage and we never left the others side apart from the whole situation with Torchwick."

Emerald reached over to take a brief sip of her own glass of water before turning back to face Neo. "I don't believe you. And I think you don't believe yourself either." Neo's expression faltered somewhat under Emerald's scrutinizing gaze. "Now tell me the truth."

Neo tried to keep her mask up, but under the toll of Emerald's gaze and the strings pulling at her heart, it cracked and fell away. She sighed as she looked towards the table with a sad expression.

"I've known Frost ever since we both grew up in the village," she started as Emerald's eyes widened for a moment with surprise at Neo now being honest after so much pushing. She refused to interrupt and risk losing this chance to get to know the girl more however as she let her continue, "From even before the place was destroyed by the Grimm and we were forced into childcare in Vale- the closest major city to where we used to live. We practically knew each other since we were born, since I grew up in the house next door to his and we met barely after we were both a couple years old. I know we have good times now every once in a while, but this was a time that he was always so happy and carefree about everything. It was infectious and inspiring just how cheerful he was when we were younger. I always saw him as the brother I never had growing up with how he always looked out for me. Any time that one of the other kids would start picking on me for either my eyes or my hair he would be right there telling them to stop because it was hurting my feelings and asking how they would feel if someone treated them like that. He was a real knight in shining armor and most of the other kids, aside from the bullies, looked up to him because of it."

"You loved him." Emerald stated simply.

Neo's eyes watered as a pair of tears escaped. "I never STOPPED loving him. It just changed how. At first he was an older brother, but over the last few years, I've felt so much closer to him than ever. After the Grimm destroyed everything he was so broken. I was willing to give anything to bring back that smile he used to wear when we were kids. Every time I see it now I know it's just a mask covering up the pain and torture that goes through his mind every day. I don't think he ever fully accepted what happened despite what he said. Even I didn't for a while, but I also needed to be there for him and the other kids as they grew up without families."

"But you lost your parents as well. Why weren't you so broken up over it?"

Neo shook her head as she wiped away tears from her cheeks and eyes. "I never had a dad, at least not that I knew. I only grew up with a mom, but I eventually accepted that she was gone and I couldn't do anything to change that. I had to grow up and be the mother figure for the younger kids with how busy the lady that owned the orphanage was. I cried my tears over it, but I didn't let it stop me from moving forward."

"But what about Frost's incessant need to kill Grimm?"

"It's a coping mechanism for him. He blamed the Grimm, rightfully so, for what happened. But I think at the age we were he accidentally associated him losing his parents to the Grimm existing. And so he built up a false idea that killing the Grimm would bring back some of the joy in his life and thus he became dead-set on becoming a Huntsman. I've tried to convince him it won't bring his parents back, but it's too late for me to change that now. It's too hardwired into his brain to change it without risking breaking him again. Plus from what I can tell I don't think he even remembers anything from before the village fell. He treated me like a stranger for a while when we first arrived at the orphanage."

Emerald nervously looked away from Neo for a moment, regret building up over how much she now knew that she wished she didn't. She had thought that by prying out Neo's true feelings would help but it only served to open old wounds that hadn't properly healed. She silently moved one hand to rest on Neo's in quiet comfort as the smaller girl finished drying the tears from her eyes.

"Is this a bad time?" The sound of someone beside them startled the two as they looked over to the waitress who awkwardly looked back and forth between the two of them.

Neo and Emerald looked to each other before turning back to the waitress with small, apologetic smiles on their faces. It was Neo who spoke up as they moved to pay for the food.

"We'll take those to go. We need to be on our way anyways."

Frost stumbled backwards slightly as he nearly failed to find his footing on the ground beneath him at the sight he was seeing. Despite his hazy memory of so many years previous, he had never forgotten the faces of his parents even after they had been dead so long.

"S-sorry for…bumping into you like that."

Things only seemed to get stranger however as the man didn't even seem to acknowledge his apology and only seemed to continue looking forwards with a smile…almost as though looking through Frost rather than at him. With that thought in mind the white-haired teen turned around to look behind him only for another blast from his past to reach his view. His mother, still as beautiful as the image he had of her in his mind. And a younger version of himself, running gleefully into his father's arms as he was hoisted up into the air and placed on the man's shoulders in a piggyback.

Frost tried to remember anything about a day like this, but nothing would come up no matter how hard he tried, only causing his head to start pulsing with the oncoming signs of a headache as he struggled to remember anything from before the day the village burned around him. He had known for a long time that he had somehow lost his memories of these days and was thankful that he could at least recall his parents' faces, but no matter what he couldn't bring back anything else. Choosing to forget trying again for the time being, he turned back to the scene of his father and mother standing there with him among them, all smiling as though nothing was wrong. He saw his father's mouth move, but heard no sound from them as they started walking down the road in the direction that he and his mother had been standing. As he looked around before following them he noticed that everything else seemed to be quiet now as well, despite the fact that he could hear a man bartering before and the kids playing on the side of the street. With a final, wary look around he turned to follow the younger version of his family down the road to their destination.

What lay in store was unknown, even for him, especially if this happened to be a memory he had been trying to dredge up after so long.