Chapter 2

Omens

Bastille and Shin were investigating the disappearance of Jaune Arc from Patch. According to Yeira a half-grimm that looked like Pyrrha existed. Bastille dug through his memories and the disappearances started happening with people that were linked to each other, relationships people had with each other. If history was right Jaune and Pyrrha had definitely been an item through most of their years at Beacon. Jaune has yet to reappear and they were actively monitoring news feeds for where and when he popped back up. Where the knight was spotted again might give them a chance to identify where the black pools were hidden, and lead them to Salem. As they watched the feed they were having a temperature controlled argument about what they were going to do once they run into the half-grimm.

"Face it Shin, we're going to be fighting people with the durability and skill of huntsmen and the raw brute strength of grimm. We can't really afford to hold back if we run into any of them. I am certain your brother is one of those creatures I'm worried what you will do if we run into him." Shin kept his voice even in his reply.

"I'm not letting any of you kill Betram. I'll be fine with leaving him down but not out, I bet Salem is somehow guiding them and controlling them just like she did with regular grimm. I'd bet you a million Lien that if we bump off Salem the half-grimm will steadily become more human again." More data was recalled in the mind of the traveler.

"Yes, but there's also another servant in my records, it only says that she's a vampire, and anyone who met her either instantly started doing her bidding or were reduced to a dead shell of a human, whoever this is they seem to take field command of the half-grimm. The creatures might be loyal to Salem but they also obey the orders of this vampire, we need to kill the witch and the vampire and hopefully with them both dead the half-grimm don't follow any orders and what you mentioned might come to pass, I just hope for your sake the power of the vampire expires when she dies. But before we do that we need to actually figure out who she is. In the past iteration of this mission nobody that had seen her lived long enough to get her name or describe her appearance." Shin leaned back and his brow furrowed as he concentrated.

"My guess is that this vampire would probably have a few similarities to Cinder Fall, you said the vampire was a 'she' right? I've stumbled across something that might be of benefit, lemme see if I can find it again." He pulled up news articles and entered the keyword 'Zaleska' Several articles in recent years were posted. 'Zaleska Inc. Atlas mines bought out by Schnee Dust Company' A year later another article was. 'Zaleska going out of business, the third largest dust company ruined!' Shin spoke again as he scrolled further along the timeline. "And then there's this one which was brought to my mind with the disappearance of Jaune. The entire mansion in Mantle was wiped out, the tearing slashes looked like the claws of grimm and listen to this! 'One of the bodies remains unidentifiable even by blood testing and sampling for aura.' That's a husk I bet, the vampire came from Zaleska manor. The article goes on to say that with the body of Vladamir there there's no evidence of the old man's terminally ill daughter Vira. We have a prime suspect, Vira Zaleska is the vampire, the attacker was probably Salem herself and abducted the girl. Grimm don't kidnap people, and the house would've been much more torn up if grimm rampaged through the place." Bastille rubbed his chin.

"I'm impressed, you're deductive reasoning is impeccable, I wouldn't have made that connection. I don't think I would've found that article relating to Vira either." Shin felt a little pride that he was superior to the immortal in at least one way. "That also makes me suspicious that Salem might be hiding somewhere in Atlas, she might've stopped by there before going somewhere else. We'll have to wait a bit before we make any clear guesses as to where the black pools are going to be." Bastille nodded and then he took a guarded relaxation to prevent his reflex from killing someone while an idea played through his mind, almost like a dream it was so long ago. I asked my power if I could tell Professor Deus about my mission, but that was when I thought I knew what my mission was, let's try this. He pulled out the decision coin and asked if it would be a good call to incorporate the headmistress into their schemes against Salem. The coin landed on its edge then wavered a little bit towards landing on heads before popping up. Ok, so it'll be beneficial, but not by much. I could at least notify her about Vira and her power. Bastille left the room and headed for the office of Deus. He found Professor Pallas and quickly addressed the woman.

"Excuse me ma'am but is the Headmistress available? I need to speak with her." The assistant to the Headmistress looked at the young eternal and replied.

"I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit, she's in a meeting at the moment, and she'll probably-" A ringing sound interrupted the woman and Pallas pulled up her scroll. "need my help, she'll likely be available in a few hours." She quickly sped away with fast and controlled strides. Bastille roamed around and found Tia, she seemed distracted, he couldn't let the issue of his teammate pass.

"Hey Tia is something up?" The dragon child looked at him and shook her head.

"Nothing that concerns you, a bit of negotiations with my semblance is all. I had a bit of a tussle with team DHRK." Bastille allowed himself a mental smirk as his mind spoke a joking answer. Like the mushroom? Snapping back into focus he replied to his teammate.

"Well, how did it go?" She outlined the fight with Hadrian. By the time she was finished Bastille had something to say.

"Hang on a sec, Thanas… oh, I got bored and looked over the staff here, apparently there's a teacher by the name of Plutarch Thanas maybe that boy is his son?"

"That doesn't matter," Tia said with a shrug. "That haunted chain of his is scary, it grabbed hold of my aura and was pulling on it somehow. That guy might look spindly but he's as flexible as his chains and he's quick like a whip. Even the dragon had a hard time taking him on. I need to do a bit of experimentation with strategies and techniques." Bastille pondered for a second and nodded.

"If you want critique and don't feel like asking a teacher, go find Qester he's good at this sort of thing." Tia thought about it before shaking her head.

"Actually no, I was hoping I could fight you instead, you're the immortal with lifetimes of fighting, surely you'd be the best suited right?" Bastille smiled but disagreed.

"I appreciate the flattery. However, I know your legend and am well aware of what you're lacking. Engaging someone like Qester will reveal to you what you're missing, either the combat will reveal it naturally, or he'll tell you himself." Bastille was caught off guard to see his teammate pouting.

"Why can't you just tell me?" She spoke with a little bit of a whine in her voice. What the hell? In none of my records has Tia ever been rumored to act like this. Eons of practice had him keep a level expression as he quickly cobbled a proper answer together.

"A learning experience is better if you actually experience it, I've lived countless lifetimes, I know all about how to get experience, and I don't like it when people question my judgment." As he spoke he saw her expression change. Oh crap, that sounded like a challenge now she'll really want to fight me. Before she could speak he sighed.

"Alright I see where this is going, we can spar after you talk with Qester, please. If you want to fight me, I want you to be at your best and show me what a legend is made of." Subconsciously Bastille was hoping that she would listen to him. Please you stubborn child, my info says that after sparring with Qester you developed an advanced and powerful technique that made you almost invincible on the battlefield, I don't want to risk messing it up by telling you outright, just go damn it!

She smiled with a bit of that feral look she had when her semblance was in control. "Okay deal, but you better be ready for it." Bastille breathed an invisible sigh of relief.

"Alright, but don't keep me waiting." He left and roamed around as he waited for Deus' meeting to be finished. He looked at the clock and felt something struggling to the surface in his mind. Oh right I've still got class in ten minutes! I really wanted to talk to Deus though. Well the coin insisted that the task of notifying Deus would be irrelevant. Quickly he gave a rally signal to his team to attend grimm studies class through their scrolls, and soon enough he arrived at the classroom with the rest of BYST.

Professor Arty was the teacher for grimm studies. "Alright class, quick question, what is commonly the least armored part of any quadruped grimm?" A hand shot up and the student spoke almost like he was asking a question.

"Is it the rear sir?" The professor shook his head.

"Good guess, it's less armored than the front and head but there is a part more vulnerable." Edina's hand went up.

"It's the underside, any extra armor there depending on the length of the legs would slow it down and make it hard to move." Arty nodded.

"Correct Miss Hiyero, perfect examples of this is the goliath and the boarbatusk, however multi-legged grimm do not always share this trait. Deathstalkers are one example, the armor might be thinner but it would still take a concerted effort to pierce, or heavy caliber weaponry."

A diagram of a deathstalker was quickly drawn up on the chalkboard, side on. "Now… what do you think is the poorly armored spots on this creature?" Bastille's hand went up.

"It's the eyes, there isn't any armor around them, and hitting one of them causes immense pain, even enough to stagger it, although hitting it in the eyes won't result in a kill it would be far easier to take it down."

"Very good, also the base of the stinger is slightly more vulnerable, precise strikes and fire can sever the stinger. This organic weapon despite being extremely toxic to most things it is also innately hard enough to pierce the shell of the deathstalker if a strong cannonblast or hammer-like strike to the top of the skull with the stinger on top, a direct hit would be fatal to the deathstalker." Arty circled where the stinger was and drew an arrow down to the top and then drew an 'X' over the diagram over the course of his speech. "According to records that was how the legendary team JNPR took down their first deathstalker."

Class proceeded onward with the teacher asking questions and expecting answers from the students who had actually paid attention to the material in the textbook. Bastille looked over at Edina who had begun to insist on sitting next to him. He found a flash of purple-hued eyes quickly looking away from him. Was she staring at me? Hmmm… he took a glance at what she was doing in the margins of her notes. She had been drawing a side-on picture that looked an awful lot like Bastille. He was surprised at the skill of the third member of CHEQ.

A small piece of ripped off paper landed on the center of her notes with a message. 'You're really good at that.' She blushed and immediately went back to work taking notes and not drawing anymore, not writing a response for the message either. Bastille frowned at the girl not writing a response to his compliment. Oh dear, I think I overstepped, I hope I haven't upset her. Bastille started solemnly taking notes as he mentally started preparing an apology for after class.

Everyone got dismissed and Bastille realized that Edina moved so quick that she almost disappeared. His aura activated as he took off in pursuit, his stride was casual but his pace was blinding. He caught up to her in a few moments. He called out to get her attention. "Miss Hiyero, could I talk to you for a moment?" She hesitated but nodded silently.

"Why did you leave so quickly? You left before I could have the chance to apologize for my affront towards you." Edina looked confused and flushed as she shook her head.

"Oh, no I wasn't offended, I was just reminded to pay attention by your little note, if you could tell I was distracted then the teacher would notice as well." Bastille felt confused.

"But if that was the case why did you run away? Your behavior is most strange Miss Hiyero, is there something else amiss?" The immortal knew of dozens of possibilities, he had been in countless situations like this and the outcomes had been numerous, making it impossible to quickly calculate why someone would behave like this without them revealing it to him.

"I guess I was just a little embarrassed. I just have the urge to be on my best behavior around you." I can feel some of the pieces linking up, but I need to make sure.

"Why would you need to be so on edge? We're friends, you can relax and let your guard down around me, I won't judge you if you want to tell me something." She seemed extremely hesitant Edina also was blushing profusely for some reason unknown to Bastille.

"N-no it's nothing, well, nothing important at least." Then everything clicked into place it was a mere possibility but he had to run a test. The immortal shrugged in response and tried to see if he could solve the mystery by pulling instead of pushing against the information he needed.

"Well if it's nothing important I have something to say myself. I really like the picture you drew of me, you're a pretty good artist. I can't help but get an odd feeling ever since we met… I've grown quite fond of you, I want to get to know you a bit more personally, you are strong and beautiful, and I wouldn't be against it if you wanted to go out or something, just the two of us." Edina looked completely stunned by the statements of the immortal she flickered on her feet like she was about to be blown over by an invisible wind, or pass out. Bastille realized the latter could be a possibility and disappeared and snapped back into focus standing beside the girl with a hand on her back to prevent her from falling over. "Do you have an answer Miss Hiyero?" Her face was red like she'd been sitting in a sauna her eyes came back into focus and looked at him. Edina's face broke out of its stunned expression like the sun coming out from behind clouds.

"Yes, I'd love that." Bastille smiled and his eyes glimmered a little bit. Hah! I knew it… that explains everything! I just needed to go about it from the other side of the question. I'm starting to relearn a bit of old social tact. She stood on her tiptoes and quickly pecked him on the lips. There was a second of static in his mind before the proper response spun into place like a slot machine. He leaned down to the slightly shorter sniper and set a deep, passionate kiss unlike the nervous and hesitant action she had done. Internally the immortal sighed regretfully. I can feel the instinctive urge to protect someone important to me, so I also need to focus to prevent myself from becoming irrational if she's in trouble. Statistically over my lifetimes emotionally investing in someone, the data says I push myself far harder in battle, my focus is tighter, almost like my killer's instinct. But this investment causes negative backlash to my mentality if she's killed or severely hurt. I'm taking an awful risk… I hope it pays off.

The two parted ways as they each met up with their squads for combat practice. There wasn't any sparring matches mostly engaging mechanical dummies of grimm, stubborn things that could take loads and loads of punishment but still retain full combat effectiveness. Bastille was engaging one casually, he was barely paying attention as his inexhaustible supply of aura braced his footing, increased the durability of his shield, it swung in and bashed the head of the charging ursa sending the creature flipping from its own momentum over top of him to land behind him. It landed on all fours and quickly whirled around. Bastille turned on his heel and parried one wide sweep with one claw, blocking with a loud clang on Gold Horn. His blaster gauntlet closed into it's armored striker and he parried the other claw of the ursa. He saw the creature rear it's neck back to try and snap at him with its hooked fangs. Aura flared through his temples and forehead as his own head shot forward and slammed his skull against the ursa with a gold flash of light, sending the beast staggering back.

"There are a thousand ways I could kill this thing." He said to the arena classroom aloud. "I could've shot Gold Horn forward and stabbed it in the neck or cut off its arm. I could've also blasted it before it closed the gap initially. But I know this is a test of stamina." He leaped forward and ended in a sharp skid, the ursa reared back to crush him beneath its claws and bulk, his foot shot out and slammed into one of the legs of the creature knocking it off balance and sending the thing toppling forward. Aura ebbed and flowed as freely and easily as waves on the sea, the immortal dropped and brought his legs up, then he slammed his feet into the chest of the creature as he pushed up with his back and then his arms, sending the mechanical ursa up and backwards from the force. His momentum launched him into the air, the gauntlet changed into its blaster form and fired a shot, Bastille had mentally adjusted the fire to create massive recoil, he used his aura to keep his body under control as Gold Horn made a sound like an explosion as the flat of the weapon crushed against the downed grimm. Bastille flipped off the impact of the weapon to land in a crouch by the head of the grimm.

The design of the mechanical grimm had massive amounts of shock absorption armor, the force of impacts and the amounts of aura discharged into the target would be measured in combat environs, it was politely suggested to not stab or cut the target apart. Because the students would all fight the same dummy eventually, as well as measuring endurance, or fighting a grimm strong enough to shrug off all but the most powerful attacks. Everyone was amazed at the feats of strength and agility Bastille was capable of, taking the complete force of a blow from the ursa and just knocking it's claws away easily. He pressed his far larger opponent around the arena, bashing with his shield, backhanding with his gauntlet, and shrugging off solid blows that did no damage to his aura according to the monitor. Bastille noted with a smirk at the level of green being unchanged despite a few direct hits. Aura concentrated into the palm of his hand, he dodged a swipe and gently laid his hand against the grimm. The discharge sent the grimm flying across the arena and bounced against the wall. "Can we move on? I want to see the rest of my team fight." He called out to the teachers monitoring the activity. It took a moment for Erios to tear his eyes away from the live damage feed of the mechanical grimm, and the massive amount of aura being poured into it from each strike.

"Hmmm… fine I guess, up next is Winston Royard, of team AERW." The short young man got up, one of the students next to the steps leading to the arena reached out and gave him a sharp poke in the arm as the fighter walked past. He turned and saw Damien, he didn't have that taunting grin as usual, but an encouraging one with a whisper the first year could just barely make out.

"Kick his ass!" The leader of DHRK said with a stoic thumbs-up. The smallest member of AERW felt a grin as he got ready, twin batons were produced from his sleeves as he stepped into the arena. He blocked and bashed the claws of the ursa away and landed multiple solid blows, to the head and torso, but accidentally left himself open for a second too long and got bashed by the mechanical grimm. He flipped midair and landed unsteadily, in the same instant the beast was charging him. He tapped the batons together, the weapons flashed different colors for each strike, one turned green and a burst of wind intercepted the ursa, making it stagger in the charge. He closed and struck it across the face as he stepped around and past it, the baton he struck with changed to yellow. There was a crackle and a flash as a bolt of electricity shot from the end of the baton the beast hit the ground as it was stunned by the electrical shock. It recovered after a few seconds only to be struck twice by the green baton, the baton turned red. Fire and electricity arced together and blasted the creature launching it across the floor of the arena. The small fighter lasted all of ten minutes before his aura was dropped to yellow from the constant struggle against the unbreakable ursa. The mechanical grimm paused as the voice of Erios sounded from the speaker to the arena.

"Not bad Winston, alright next… Yeira." There was part of a frustrated sigh picked up by the speaker before the microphone cut out. The 'Y' in BYST approached the stage and began fighting. The combat exercises lasted the entire three-hour lecture, among team BYST the endurance rankings went from Bastille, then Tia, Yeira, and Shin. Bastille was surprised at how long Tia could last in a battle if she was focused on outlasting an enemy, as expected Shin was a bit of a short fuse compared to the rest of BYST. Tia wondered aloud as the group headed back to their dorms as classes started to end for the day.

"What on Remnant did you do to Erios to make him so mad at you all the time?" Tia listened intently as Yeira told how she had beaten him sparring at Sanctum and how that battle actually had unlocked her aura. "Really, that's all you did to make him hate you? Wow… I understand that he'd be upset, but to hold a grudge for this long, that's getting almost like an obsession." Yeira shrugged slightly before replying to her partner.

"Yeah, but he isn't actively harassing me or challenging me to fights or something ridiculous, he treats me just like any other student… except maybe with a little more disdain than the others, but far from unfair treatment."

As the rest of the group started heading back to the dorm at the end of the day Bastille and Shin were talking in muted tones.

"So about the situation with the vampire, I don't think BYST would stand a chance against someone who can control minds. If we succeed in getting CHEQ as part of our squad maybe we should split our forces, BYST set to tracking Salem down while CHEQ goes and looks for the vampire." Shin looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean? If we don't have a defense against mind control what makes you think CHEQ stands a better chance?" Bastille's eyes narrowed as he looked at his hand, a spark of pale light was visible for an instant before disappearing.

"I'm not sure, there's some obscure detail trying to surface in my mind, I can't clarify it, maybe it was a rumor I heard the last time. I don't want to disrupt events too much by asking outright or things will change to be unrecognizable and I lose my foresight, but I think team CHEQ has something to fight the dominating control of the vampire so if we ever bring them into our little group we'll send them after Vira while BYST starts hunting Salem. But what I said earlier still stands we will likely run into your old friend and we must be cautious as to whether he's a half-grimm or not."

"I'm still not letting you guys kill him, I would beat him within an inch of his life as long as he didn't die and was given a chance to heal eventually." Shin grumbled stubbornly.

"But what about if his condition is permanent, what if there's no way to truly bring back your friend?" Bastille asked concerned for his ally. Shin sighed and with damp eyes he answered.

"I guess I would first try to domesticate him in a way. Try to convince him to be hospitable turn him towards living with a soul, but if nothing else and he stops being human entirely I guess I could do what must be done, but it would have to be me to do it… he's my friend, I'll take care of him." Bastille nodded seriously in response to his friend's wish. I know I'm also willing to do what is necessary if my friend can't bring himself to do it, I just hope that if Shin runs into Betram by himself he doesn't forget the fact that Betram might be an enemy like last time I didn't come all this way for my friend to get killed in exactly the same way.

"You have a gift Shin, it's no semblance but it's equally potent. You can pierce the veil, there's a thin shroud of lies that covers many places, and distorts critical details but you can cut through it. These half-grimm are liars about what they truly are, this belief and assumption of ignorance from other mortals is how the world ended last time, they didn't see them coming until they were everywhere. So I trust you to keep your guard up, even around the rest of BYST. You are our spotter; you can identify the half-grimm so they can't get the first strike. But be careful… I've learned over my lifetimes that the truth hurts, a lot. Denying it makes the pain even worse when painful truth appears. So don't forget my words when you see Betram again. He was your cause of death the last time." Shin's eyes widened.

"What?!" He cut himself off sharply looking around as he realized he had almost shouted his voice dropped back down to a confidential volume. "Betram killed me?" Bastille shook his head.

"Focus Shin, a half-grimm using the form of your friend got you to lower your guard so he could assassinate you, I had considered holding back my warning but you're my friend so I thought you deserved to know actually why I'm so adamant about how you react when you meet your old friend. Do you understand?" Shin's eyes looked unfocused at the serious expression at his friend before nodding in a daze. Bastille noted the expression on his friend's face and noted that Shin seemed completely overwhelmed. "I'm sorry, that's what happened in the future, the future where we never met, the future where I failed what I believed was my mission. But things are different now, a different path is being burned through time who knows what will happen? There is a chance we won't have to fight Betram and after achieving victory against Salem your friend might go back to normal." Shin took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, Bastille saw the spear fighter regain his composure.

"Alright, so the next time I see him he's gonna try and kill me, I will do my best to subdue him but not kill him, that's what I'm going to do I don't care about your opinion on the matter."

"That is all I needed to hear Shin, thank you."

Author's Note: Phew, college takes a lot of effort. It's starting to get a little harder to write this, I have a destination in mind. But I don't know how I'm going to get there yet.