Chapter 5

The Messenger

Hirmes dashed along the open ground in the direction of Verin, there was some suspicion from the preliminary scouting from Professor Agletes' half-brother Arthur "Arty" Dian. Hirmes was the greatest scout and intelligence gatherer. Dian has the right idea, but he lacks the deductive reasoning I do. He thought proudly as his legs pumped effortlessly tearing chunks out of the ground and the howls of the wind as each stride covered large distances like he had springs on his feet. He leaped over the wall, his staff he carried along one shoulder came up and extended, dust energy started swirling around it in two streams before meeting at the top. He pointed the staff around suspiciously at any sudden movements. The streams of energy faded and he took the weapon in both hands as he confirmed that he hadn't been spotted by any of the grimm. Let's see what we've got here.

He leaped to the top of a building and dropped down through a big hole smashed in the roof. Whatever had stove in the ceiling had left a myriad of cracks in the walls to observe the surrounding area with. After killing the Beringel that had been resting inside the destroyed house he started to look around with his new vantage point. The town had been attacked and then the large herd of grimm had left, the town was now one of dozens of ruins on the face of Anima. There's a chance of maybe one group of Beowolves in this place, nothing incredible though. There might be a few small Nevermores hiding out in the buildings, little more than vermin. If I clear these guys out there's low chance more will come looking for me. I suppose I should get started then. Let's head for the security center first.

He blurred along the ground, surpassing the speed of almost any land vehicle. The security building was coming up fast his aura shifted to his feet as he skidded to a stop to prevent the tracks on his shoes from burning away. He could already smell the reek of death coming from inside the building. He braced himself, the building had taken some damage in the grimm attack so the door was bent and warped, he booted the door open and held his staff at the ready. No movement in the area, he took a few steps into the entryway, he saw one soldier covered in flies, looking carefully Hirmes noticed that it wasn't killed by a grimm, a spear straight through the sternum, the angle was slightly off indicating that the weapon was thrown. There was a slight dent in the floor about the size of a footprint. "They jumped?" Looking closely the guard also had his neck broken. They kicked him as they drew the spear out, with enough force to break his neck, only a huntsman or some other aura wielder can pull off quick strength like that… but what kind of person would sabotage the defenses of a town with no tactical benefit? Could it be war? Someone cutting out the resources produced from outlying towns? He examined the footprint suspiciously when he noticed something odd. Heels? Either that or spiked shoes. Odds are in place for the former, and in most cases only women fight in heels. So a woman, fighting with a spear and heels rolled in and started killing these guys. He trudged through past the bodies of people, he stopped to examine the gut wound of one of the soldiers. This injury has a strange curve to it, not a stab from the spear, something organic, the area of the strike zone is far more decayed than the rest of the body, poison. Could the woman be a scorpion faunus? Like Tyrian from team WTCH?

He blanched as some of the more prominent records of the sociopath played through his mind. He managed to injure Qrow Branwen as team RNJR was on their way to Mistral. If that monster had a kid nobody knew about, and if they're working for Salem too we're in trouble. She might be setting up for moves again. He pulled out his scroll and started sending a message back to headquarters encompassing the situation and the high potential of danger. He searched around, there was a pattern in the dried blood. Someone laid here… a child, not dead, but slipped and landed in this pool of blood. I don't see any other tracks near them though. Jeez, a kid seeing stuff like this. He saw the controls of the automated defenses rammed through by a bladed weapon likely the spear he had suspected before. There were burned and melted parts of the control panel as shorted circuits had set fire to the inside of the system. He looked around and spotted no extra evidence. Just more corpses, either killed by spear or venomous stinger. He left the building, he suddenly got a strong sense of danger. There was a loud screech from above, similar to a Nevermore. He whirled and spun his staff parrying a sharp quill from a bird-like creature that was high up, he couldn't make out exactly what it was, it looked somewhat like a Nevermore. It screeched and several more feathers were hurled down at him.

"Goddammit stop!" He barked, frustrated at the figure high above as he easily blocked more feathers. I don't have time for this, that thing's going to draw every grimm in town to me. It's about time to bail anyway. Dust energy spooled out from the end of his staff in twin ropes, he swung the staff slowly as the tendrils extended. He shot out the head of the staff sharply. The bluish energy sparked, then cracked like a whip stretching out to incredible distance and sniping the bird creature out of the sky, the squawk of pain was audible from that range. But instead of crashing to the ground the creature veered sharply and flapped off dizzily. Wow, that thing must be armored pretty well if it can fly after a crack like that. From that look it seems to be another custom made grimm… but even then it's so close to the city, did Salem leave it here to scout and monitor the place after it got wiped out? Aircraft haven't gone missing, so that's not the bird's purpose either. Hmmm… another interesting detail for the report, although with unsettling implications. Aura swirled around him to prevent him from falling flat on his face as he took off at a sprint that left his upper body almost parallel with the ground. A pace he could easily sustain all the way back to Haven.

A sudden explosion of air pressure sent Shin flying back, his hand shot out and aura flooded his arm as he caught himself before landing heavily on his rear. Ouch, what the hell? He got up and looked around and saw the blue and gold blur moving towards the building. What… who? The air pressure! He got up and dusted himself off grumbling about people not watching where they were going, he went to the hallway following the figure and it looked like a windstorm had blown through, all the students in the hall were either holding on to parts of clothes blowing around or recovering from being swept off their feet. His eyes picked out Qester, he was still standing upright despite the sudden gale, he looked surprised but otherwise unaffected. Of course, the guy's a walking refrigerator a little wind wouldn't be enough to knock him down. I wish I could be that fast, I wouldn't need to use my Semblance so much. He felt the trickster's mark linking him to the dorm start to fade. It's lasting longer now, I can hold it for about six minutes. Qester started approaching him just as he triggered it and teleported away, leaving a very confused knight behind scratching his head at the sudden disappearance of his friend.

Tia was lying on her bed staring up at the fiery Yang poster she had stuck to the ceiling above her bed she almost jumped out of her skin at the blur of movement from Shin teleporting back to the room. "AAahhh!" Shin jumped at the sudden shout, expecting the room to be empty for a while longer.

"Jeez, Tia you scared me!" Her ears heated as she barked back at the trickster.

"You say that but you were the one who warped out of nowhere right in front of me!" Shin shrugged, the tricksters mark flashing on the palm of one of his hands.

"Sorry, I was just practicing my Semblance, I need to make it last longer for quick retreats. I set a mark here, nobody was in the room when I placed it I didn't exactly expect you to be waiting for me to return." The brown haired boy left another miniature mark on the floor as he left the room he turned addressed Tia.

"I'm going to warp back here in a little bit, don't attack me or anything okay?"

Throughout the day Shin teleported to the dorm multiple times, often startling his other teammates with his sudden appearance, Yeira was getting ready for a bath she hurled a textbook at him, forcing him to dodge and sprint out of the room. Bastille had a very violent reflex, he almost blasted Shin with his energy gauntlet, his eyes didn't have their slight glow like they usually did, his face was also devoid of emotion, almost like a machine. Shin was terrified for an instant. Then Bastille relaxed and lowered the weapon. Not speaking Shin left the room carefully without turning his back to Bastille. "Sorry for the scare!" Bastille called to his partner as Shin left wordlessly. He walked a fair distance away from the room and started to gasp in air as he let himself feel the impact of the menace coming from Bastille. Holy, shit! He's terrifying when he wants to be… but he's so cool the rest of the time. What's up with this guy? That's a killer instinct I've never seen before, even from Tia during one of her slips. He managed to recover his breath and grunted in confirmation. I'm not allowed to be afraid of my own teammates, I'm going to ask him what that was about right now. He straightened up and marched back into the room. "Hey Bastille." The extra dimensional traveler was kneading his eyes with a shameful blush.

"I'm so sorry Shin, I didn't mean to threaten you okay? It was just you startled me." This was the most upset Shin had ever seen his partner. He sat down across from him and asked.

"What happened that made you have a reflex like that?" Bastille spoke to the floor and avoided the eyes of Shin.

"You're aware of my true identity, yes? I have been to countless other worlds, and fought nigh infinite battles. My instincts have been honed to beyond a razor's edge. There were times when my mission was to wipe out life on the world, be a force of Armageddon, the memories of what I did were converted to data, but the several hundred times I've been a god of destruction and a hero that struggles against massive odds my instinct been set to kill. I have to actively resist to allow myself to participate in certain social situations, to make friends, but when I relax my guard subconsciously I'm certain I will be attacked so my killer instinct built up over millions of lifetimes prepares to react to any threat instantly with lethal force. I let my guard down and you popped into the room so suddenly I was ready to kill you." Bastille sighed and rested his head on his hands. "A team leader shouldn't be so prepared to terminate his allies. I'm starting to doubt my position." Shin shook his head silently before responding.

"So what? You're a hero now, aren't you? You have demons, just like the rest of us, and unlike the rest of us you're the one who's specific job it is to help us save the world." At Shin's words Bastille's heart clenched painfully. Damn it! If only he knew… but I can't lie anymore to my team, honesty might be the only way for me to achieve whatever mission fate has given me.

"I need to show you this." He pulled out the decision coin and spoke the question aloud. "Is my mission granted by fate to kill Salem and destroy the half-grimm? Heads for yes Tails for no." The coin spiraled through the air and landed perfectly balanced on the edge, even on the carpet of the dorm. Shin looked horribly confused.

"How? What does it mean?"

"I've come to interpret that signal as the objective is either optional or the question is irrelevant. My mission dictates that it is irrelevant as to whether or not Salem dies. But I inquired further. You, Yeira, and Tia are all important to whatever fate's mission is for me. So all I really have are you guys, you are the only reason I live, and the main reason I am in this world." Bastille stood up and his eyes glowed gold with a burning determination. "Until my mission is completed, I will refuse to let any of you fall, even if I have to endanger myself. The worst that happens is I have to start again upon my death. This attempt will be converted into data, I don't want the memories to go. I want the feelings of being among friends to stay with me as long as possible." The glow faded and Bastille offered a hand to Shin to help him up. So he's back to normal now, that's kinda strange how he shifts like that. Shin thought as he accepted the hand. The leader of BYST asked his own question. "What are you doing teleporting to the room?"

"Semblance Training, I need to make my trickster's mark last longer, I've got it about six minutes so far."

"Oh yeah? You've got a goal in mind for a time limit?"

"I want to keep the mark for over twenty-four hours. I want to be able to pull off the ultimate magician's trick."

"Oh, what sinister plan are you working on?" A devious glimmer appeared in the eye of Shin.

"I want to let myself be captured by the enemy, and place a mark. They take me back to their headquarters and I gather all the information I can. They'll tell me because their guard is down, and then I teleport away without a trace. That is my dream, my ultimate trick on an opponent. They gain nothing, but I can gain pretty much everything. All while my enemy appears to be in complete control." He closed his eyes with a peaceful expression. "Oh, to imagine their faces when I disappear right in front of them to reappear miles away!" He gave a villainous chuckle. "Priceless." The pair left the room, a small flash indicated the placement of yet another trickster's mark as he stepped into the hallway outside of the room. Wait a minute, that's actually a bad call, this is a high traffic area. I still don't know what happens if someone is standing on my mark when I trigger it, more likely than not it's something catastrophic. I know if I place an object over the mark it reappears on the surface of the object, maybe it'll work that way with a person. He grabbed the sleeve of Bastille. "Dude, I need you to do something." He said abruptly. He turned him to see the mark about the size of a quarter on the floor. It was a series of three lines all crossing in the middle. Something that wasn't exactly out of place, Shin pointed to the mark. "Stand there, and don't move." Bastille looked doubtful.

"I don't know what you're going to do, but if I die because of it I'm going to break your nose when I see you again." Shin dodged around jumping up to see if the mark had changed locations. The trickster's mark had moved to the top of Bastille's head. Alright then, let's see if this works.

"Since you're standing on my mark I want to see what would happen, my mark is on the top of your head now. So if I teleport, I should just land on your head instead of warp inside your body or something. I suggest hardening your aura and concentrating on staying upright, because I don't want to fall on my face after teleporting." Bastille shrugged and braced himself. Shin recalled the foot that placed the mark on the ground, he balanced as well as he could on the single limb before triggering his semblance. Bastille suddenly felt a massive weight land on his head. His aura reinforced his legs, and neck to prevent the weight of the other student from injuring him. There was a precarious balance for a few moments before settling. "You know this is actually a pretty good trust exercise, Bastille. It's kinda relaxing in a way." Bastille almost nodded in agreement but managed to stop himself.

"Yeah, it's an interesting feeling. I'm curious how long we can hold this." A sudden gasp of surprise came from nearby.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Bastille and Shin jumped in surprise, resulting in a two man pileup. They looked around and saw Helena from team CHEQ. She looked at them shaking her head. "What is wrong with you guys?" Shin raised himself up, unintentionally pushing Bastille's head against the floor.

"Hey shut up!" He said indignantly. "It was an experiment-slash-trust exercise. I wanted to test something about my Semblance and Bastille was willing to help me." Bastille flipped off his hands to his feet, also propelling Shin into a standing position. The spear fighter almost stumbled backwards into the wall of the hallway. Bastille turned and addressed the Second member of CHEQ.

"Miss Helena, it's a pleasure to see you again. As per your question there is nothing wrong with me or my subordinate, it was a fully authorized experiment with the leader of BYST's approval. How are you faring with your team?" She started to look confused but dismissed the formal greeting with a sigh.

"Whatever, my team is doing fine. I'm getting stronger a bit too." Bastille smirked as he said something he had overheard in passing.

"I heard your conversation with Charles earlier. He said your fighting style seemed to be clunky and has a distinct lack of flow."

"What? H-how dare…" She gave a short sigh, she approached him, a shadow over her eyes as she got up in Bastille's face. "Okay yes that's what he said, but why he said it is nobody's business, not his, and certainly not yours. Now back off, right now." Bastille was undaunted.

"My guess it has something relating to your weapon, a purely thrusting weapon is a little-" He suddenly felt the side of his face burn with pain. Helena's Semblance triggered and a spectral afterimage lashed out and hit him with a backhanded slap, even having aura behind the strike, the impact sent Bastille back a step. Her actual body hadn't moved. She had a murderous expression on her face as she stiffly turned and marched away. Damn, I think I made a mistake. There's a chance this situation could repair itself, but Charles is going to have to help her out. It would be a benefit if they stayed allies long enough to help me in my personal goal, but they unfortunately aren't part of my true mission. So if this spirals out of control not much is lost in fate's goal. However my psyche and the morale of BYST would be damaged, I must find Charles and-

"Yo Bastille, you're zoning again." He flinched in surprise as Shin poked him in the shoulder. He turned to his companion his face in a fixed frown, he spoke as though he was very distracted by something.

"I feel like I made a mistake, I need to find Charles and see if I can fix it." Bastille started walking off. Shin tried getting his attention and asking him what he was doing but the pale-haired neither slowed nor turned as he spoke. "If there's something I can do to mend the damage I've done I must try at least, don't wait up for me." He said following the path the girl took, hoping that it would lead him back to Charles.

They had been training with working under Charles' Semblance. One of them had a blindfold, the other two would pitch a ball at the blindfolded target. It was Edina being the target. Helena had been sitting off to the side apparently not in a mood to participate. Bastille approached the leader of CHEQ. "Excuse me Mr. Kingston, may I talk to you for a moment?" Charles noted the serious expression on the leader of BYST's face.

"Sure," Charles turned to the rest of his squad. "Take five guys." The misty gold tendrils faded as the group spread out away from the two leaders. "What's up Bastille?" The leader of BYST was downcast as he replied.

"I believe I insulted one of your members, Helena. I also overheard your conversation with her about her fighting style. I commented on her weapon and got slapped. I don't know what I did wrong, so if you could clarify it might help me apologize correctly." Charles shook his head and placed his hand across his eyes, running the hand the rest of the way down his face.

"Oh Jeez… I guess you didn't know. But she had me promise to keep that information confined to our team." Bastille grumbled wordlessly before responding.

"Fine, I'll just give the generic apology." He walked over to where Helena was sitting her eyes narrowed angrily.

"What do you want?" Bastille cleared his throat and straightened up, before declining his head and back in a slight bow.

"I don't know what I did but I insulted you and I regret it immensely, I wish I could form a better apology. I hope you can see past my transgression eventually. I was unaware what I did would be an insult to you so please forgive my ignorance." Helena looked confused, glanced over at Charles, he shrugged; also confused.

"Um… sure, I guess I can forgive you since you're so damn earnest about it. Just don't talk about my choice of gear anymore, okay?" Bastille straightened up agreeing heartily to Helena's terms.

"Yes! Yes of course miss! I wouldn't want my trusted Gold Horn to be questioned, who am I to judge another's weapon? Farewell Miss Helena. Thank you so much for your time." He gave another little bow before heading back inside the academy. Helena looked after him with her eyes narrowed. Charles noticed and spoke up.

"He's an odd one isn't he?" She nodded before looking back at Charles.

"You've got that right, it's like he's from another planet sometimes." The leader of CHEQ shook his head ruefully.

"He overheard our conversation, and he agrees with me. You may not want to replace the weapon your father bought you, but maybe you could modify it a little." Helena's face contorted in a snarl before she replied.

"I said no, my weapon is fine as it is." Her expression relaxed into a more pensive look as she started to stare at her weapon as though picturing something else. It was the first sign that my father was supporting me in my decision to be a huntress. I'm not changing this thing yet, It's message is too important. I need to come up with modifications to make it both mine and my father's weapon, after all he's why I'm here.

Bastille reported back to the dorm, finding Yeira and Tia there. "You seem to be in a good mood Bastille." The leader nodded as he sat down with his back against the foot of his bed.

"I rectified a social situation involving team CHEQ that would be disadvantageous for us." Tia was distracted by a huntress magazine and spoke with little attention to what Bastille was saying.

"Alright, sounds pretty good." Yeira seemed actually concerned.

"What happened?" Bastille shrugged, he was already losing interest in what had transpired between him and Helena.

"Oh, I accidentally insulted the skills of Helena Windsor. She accepted my very formal apology, so I don't think there's any reason to worry." Yeira lost interest as soon as soon as Bastille confirmed that he had apologized.

"Alright, sounds pretty good." Her voice mimicked the tone Tia used earlier.

They had been sitting in the room silently Yeira reading her magazine quickly whipping out a pair of scissors and cutting out articles, before pulling out a shoebox and sticking them inside. Yeira caught a glimpse at the articles, they all featured Yang Xiao Long. Yeira dropped down and approached the other girl. "You like Yang a lot." Tia looked confused at Yeira and looked around at the shoebox of Yang articles and the poster on the ceiling. She replied with a bit of sarcastic tone to indicate she was being facetious.

"I guess I do, don't I? She had just… saved my life, made my life livable, and assisted me in restraining my power to prevent me from killing people. So yeah! Do you have a favorite fighter?" A flash of the effigy of Pyrrha with a black stinger from the base of her lower back suddenly flashing out and skewering a guard, mentally she buffeted herself back into focus.

"Not really." Tia looked at Yeira like she was dumb.

"What? You need to have somebody to look up to. There has to be someone, if not a Huntsman or Huntress then who? If it's because of the half-grimm you're going to lose your edge as the event grows more and more distant. Come with me." Tia grabbed Yeira by the arm and quickly towed her from the room.

A few minutes later the pair was standing outside by the spot Tia commonly keeps to herself. "I'm going to test your strength. We're just gonna spar for a bit I'm not going to use my semblance." They took up a fighting stance, the steel talons of Tia fell into place with a soft sliding sound. Yeira's weapon extended from the collapsible form and the hook flexed out of one end. She spun the weapon around into a fighting stance. Leaping Talon's claw circled around and sparked as Tia parried the weapon. They moved and dodged at high speed for an untrained eye, but they were both going at a speed where they could fully analyze their next move, attacking just slow enough for the opponent to react and meet the opposing strike exactly. They started off slow as Tia started talking.

"The primary reason I became a huntress is because I wanted revenge for my dad getting killed, I wanted nothing else in the world apart from killing the dragon who had stolen from me, get it? But my wrath turned me into a monster, Yang pointed out that I was searching for something strong enough to kill me, I was only striving towards something that could only cause mutual destruction." The pacing of the fight slowly started to increase as Tia continued to speak.

"And as time passed I started to feel my rage fade, less strong than before, I started to wonder why I was less angry, my father had been killed. Of course I also realized, that me killing this creature wasn't going to bring him back." The dragon girl dodged the claw and swept a leg low catching her opponent and making her stumble. "This is beyond any single person, so every single person planning to fight what will be coming must be as strong as possible. You must have something you want to protect, or something you want to work towards get it?" A burst of aura from the palm of Tia's hand sent Yeira stumbling back punctuating her sentence. Her aura sparked and flashed as the barrier increased, she pulled off her jacket and activated the quick release on her pants stripping into Tiamat. "We're going to have a little duel, similar to a contest match. Push your limits, and find what drives you. Come on!" The talons of Tiamat flashed with aura as blades of energy were launched off of them. Yeira sidestepped one and deflected the second. It struck the ground throwing up a cloud of dust. Yeira waved her staff to disperse the dust. Stars flashed in Yeira's vision as the heel of Tia's foot struck her across the eyes. She flanked me through the cloud?! She hit the ground and rolled backwards as a fireball like a baseball splashed where she had landed a second ago. Leaping Talon's grapnel fired and clamped onto one of Tia's arms.

Tia stumbled at the sudden yank on her arm. She was pulled towards Yeira, Tia could see the cudgel weight come around she blocked the heavy knot with her arm. It slammed into her aura, she was sent rolling from the impact to her feet. "There isn't an issue with technique, there's just no soul in your strikes, in order to move faster and hit even harder you need to focus your will, your drive, your soul into the strikes. That's how you reinforce your weapons with aura. That little club you hit me with barely hurt because there wasn't any of your aura in it. We are going to be fighting something far stronger than any grimm or human." Yeira kicked off the ground in a lunge as her Semblance activated she was floating half an inch away from land. The thrust was sudden and the sudden closing of the gap caught Tia off guard. The three-pronged claw slammed right into her stomach. Her aura took most of the force, but there was no aura coming from the weapon so it barely winded her. She skidded backwards, using her claws for extra traction. "Come on girlie, why do you want to win the fight? Think, hold it in your mind, and then act." Yeira paused and started to grind out her thoughts for an answer. Why do I want to fight? Why do I want to be a huntress? What is my goal? She had taken a fighting stance and realized that Tia wasn't going to move in and attack. She's waiting for me to get make the first move. Reacting only when I'm serious I suppose. Yeira took a deep breath and dug deep for information. The past, the half grimm, the stinger from Pyrrha lashing out and executing the guard, the fear, the terror, the helplessness. All swirled together as the memory started to fill her with nervous energy, she could feel herself begin to sweat and her heart pound. Her legs felt weak like she was about to collapse.

She swayed slightly on her feet as she woke up back to the present. One realization clutched in her mind like a key. I never want to be that weak, ever again. She took a stance, her eyes narrowed and concentrated on her target. I don't want to be afraid, I want to stand up to my fear, and move beyond my past! She unlocked the hook on Leaping Talon and swung the grapnel in ponderous circles, grabbing a section of the cable that spooled out, using the claw like a flail. The three curved hooks began to make an odd screeching sound like a bird of prey as it they cut the air.

Tia's eyebrows raised and a smirk tugged at one of the corners of her mouth. Going serious? Alright, I need to get properly ready. Yeira rushed forward as flames consumed the green of Tia's eyes. The claws closed and tightened up like they grabbed something, effectively a metal fist on a cable. The heavy weight of the claw, blazed around Tia's fist clashed with the flail. She felt her hand knocked back from the impact of the weapon. There's aura on it now! Hah, I got her to do it! She flinched as a small amount of pain rippled through her armored hand. Ow, she really did! Yeira pressed back and Tia was actually hard pressed, Leaping Talon's reach was able to prevent Tia from getting close. She was hesitating just a little bit before, I didn't realize until now. They sparred at a much more furious pace for about fifteen more minutes.

After the pitched miniature battle Tia and Yeira were both panting. "You know Tia, I was terrified of you and Shin."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep, you with your monstrous strength, and you almost attacking me during the trials, Shin was so mysterious and paranoid, it was like he was going to kill anyone suspicious." In Yeira's memory Tia was a towering red reptile with fangs claws and soulless orange eyes like fire, and Shin was a concealed creature that stalked through the grass only revealing what it wants everyone to see while having a spear waiting among the tall grass to strike at unsuspecting prey.

"Well you don't have to worry, you should never be afraid of your own teammates." Tia said as the pair walked back inside, Yeira stumbled and almost hit the ground. My legs are way more exhausted than I thought! Tia reached out and supported the shorter girl so she could lean against her as they walked back through the building and back to the dorm.