Hey, Silent here. Short chapter this week, but the next arc is one that you won't want to miss! Hope you all are enjoying Year 2!

Cobalt tried to find his feet as he struggled through the pain of what he believed to be a cracked rib, his left arm was more than broken, and everything ached as his vision began to return and he stumbled about, using his right arm to keep his left arm from moving too much. He glanced around, looking for his teammates but found himself unable to spot them through the dark crystal spires that Salem had raised around her battleground. Cobalt allowed his AI to do the work for him, identifying Lykos, Bái, and Tawney through the barrier. Lykos and Bái were safe on the other side, though Lykos held her in his arms, while Tawney was trapped in Salem's grip.

"Lykos!" Cobalt shouted. "Lykos, can you get to Tawney!?" Cobalt felt panic setting in as he wasn't sure that he was being heard and Tawney really seemed to be struggling. He tried thinking of a solution quickly, but his AI informed him that he didn't have any time for such luxuries.

*Probability of death by asphyxiation is at 68% and rising*

"No!" Cobalt yelled. He limped over to the crystal wall, wailing on it with his blade as best as he could, but the blade barely even left a scratch. "No! No! No! Lykos!" He knew that his wails were in vain, his visor allowed him to see through the barrier that Salem had created, Tawney gripped the woman's hand but was unable to free herself, her legs kicking as she struggled with everything that she had. Salem was too strong. They never could have taken her. What were they doing out here? He looked at the sword in his hand, staring at it for a long moment as the gears turned in his mind and he came to a horrifying realization that seized his body with fear.

*Tawney's probability of death by asphyxiation is 73% and rising*

He had no aura left. Was there nothing he could do but watch Tawney die?!

Cobalt sat straight up and gasped for air as he felt his chest and looked beside him at Tawney who seemed to also be in a cold sweat. He shook her to wake her up, taking a fist to the jaw as she sprang up.

"What the fuck!?" She blurted out as she glanced around the room and found Cobalt on the floor. "Cobalt? What the hell happened?"

"Less important…" he groaned. "More important. Did you have some kind of weird nightmare?" She looked at him for a long second before leaning over the side of the bed to help him up.

"How'd you know?" She asked.

"I don't know if it's the lingering effects of the Bane, or if it's the new productive effects of the Dread, but I had a pretty bad one too. I'd be willing to bet that Lykos, Bái, and Nora suffered one as well. I wonder how much worse they'll get if we have to be here for another night," Cobalt pointed out.

"Worse?" Tawney asked. "Can it get worse than what I just dreamt?" He looked at her for a long moment, swallowing hard.

"What was your nightmare?" He asked. She flushed and looked away.

"It wasn't… it wasn't anything…" she tried covering up the lingering fear.

"You can tell me what happened," he reassured her.

"All three of you died in a battle against Salem," Tawney admitted. Cobalt nodded.

"Sounds kind of like mine," he admitted. Their door was thrown open and Lykos and Bái stood in the hallway with Nora.

"We all good?!" Nora asked.

"Yeah," Cobalt replied. "Dread?" Nora stared for a moment, debating whether she should tell them or not.

"Salem," Nora spoke after a long moment. A chill washed over each of them.

"What?" Bái asked.

"How, she's dead," Lykos stated.

"She is, but it seems her spirit is still lingering about," Nora informed them. "It's nothing to worry about. As long as she has no body to return to, she's trapped as a specter. We killed her and her backup plan years ago, all she can do now is haunt people."

"Is this what's causing the people here to fear and become sick?" Bái questioned.

"The fear perhaps," Cobalt noted. "The sickness doesn't affect people with auras."

"That's just what Samson said, what if he was lying?" Lykos inquired.

"He's not," Cobalt noted. "There's a girl here that's our age. Ari. She hasn't been sickened either."

"So now what?" Tawney asked. "Where the hell are they making this stuff?"

"If the temple was below the mine, maybe the Dread is being made beneath the church?" Cobalt suggested. Nora shrugged.

"Worth a shot," Nora noted. She turned around. "I'll get dressed and let Samson know where I'm planning to look next."

"Sounds like a plan!" Cobalt called out as she left. "When she takes him with her, we check out the jail."

"You think it's Samson?" Bái questioned.

"He didn't know about Ari. He assumed he'd be the only one left alive if the whole town died and he'd be free to do his work. He just called us to save face," Cobalt suggested. "Salem hauntings aside, I think the nightmares were from the Dread or Grimm's Bane. They affected us as well. People acclimated to living in and around it aren't feeling its effects, they're just fearing the Grimm."

"What's making them sick then?" Lykos inquired.

"Samson?" Cobalt offered. They all looked at Tawney who shrugged.

"Best plan we've got, but Cobalt is right," Tawney agreed for once. "We need to finish this quickly."

"How do we know it's not someone else?" Lykos questioned.

"They would have had to come out at least for food, right? And if Samson really was investigating, he would have noticed someone," Cobalt suggested.

"But he didn't notice your new friend either," Bái pointed out. Cobalt couldn't argue with the fact.

"Okay, maybe it's not him, but I say we go check out the jail anyway," Cobalt asserted.

"Yes!" Tawney declared. "Breaking the law!"

"Not if we have probable causes…?" Cobalt shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure it'll still be breaking the law," Lykos suggested.

"Let's go then," Cobalt led them out. They reached the bottom of the stairs and moved to the bar to order breakfast, but were unable to find the bartender.

"Where's he at? Getting awfully late!" Tawney shouted as if he was somewhere else in the building and simply hadn't heard her.

"We could probably come back to eat afterward," Bái offered.

"Let's do that," Lykos agreed. Nora met them downstairs, leading them over to the jailhouse and leaving them outside as she grabbed Samson. He tipped his hat as they walked past towards them, a gleam in his eye as they moved towards the church.

"Did you guys see that?" Tawney asked.

"See what?" Bái replied.

"Did he look younger?" Cobalt answered.

"What?" Lykos questioned.

"He appeared younger than when we first met him," Cobalt repeated.

"That can't be, can it?" Bái inquired in disbelief.

"We need to move quickly, there might not even be anything under the church," Cobalt insisted. They filed in quickly, Lykos closing the door behind them and letting Bái create a barrier of ice in front of it.

"Where are we thinking?" Tawney pondered.

"I… don't know," Cobalt responded as he took a look around. It was pretty standard for something out of a western. A small desk. A key hook. Three cells. They looked around for anything that might be helpful, Tawney snickered as she picked the lock on Samson's desk and pulled the drawer open.

"Well, well, well," Tawney spoke with a grin on her face.

"Look at that," Cobalt admired as he pulled a vial of Dread out of the desk and looked it over. "It might not be proof of production, but it's proof of possession."

"Sounds like you're just stating the obvious," Bái sighed.

"Found something!" Lykos shouted as he pulled open a trapdoor that led below one of the cells.

"And Lykos rolled a twenty for perception!" Cobalt cheered. He shook Lykos by the shoulders and leapt down, the rest of them following after as Cobalt stood at the bottom, his mouth agape in horror. "What is that!?"

"What?" Tawney demanded.

"That!" Cobalt shouted again. He pointed at something on the floor and Lykos moved to it, picking it up.

"A crowbar?" Lykos asked.

"Is that the same crowbar that Jason Todd was beaten to death with?!" Cobalt screeched.

"What?" Bái inquired.

"Just ignore him and come on," Tawney groaned moving into the next room. "This… uh… there's a lot of Dread in here."

"I'm serious, crowbars can be dangerous!" Cobalt shouted as he joined her. "Jason Todd was… oh wow, this is a lot of Dread." Cobalt looked out at the crates upon crates of the drug. "And to think, this is only one of the production locations, and this one seems pretty manual and low tech."

"How do you think Nora is doing?" Bái asked.

"Knowing Nora, he's probably already out for the count, there's no way that she didn't notice his change in vitality," Lykos chuckled.

"Unless…" Cobalt began.

"No…" Tawney attempted to cut him off.

"She's in on it too!" He exclaimed. They all sighed.

"No…" Bái repeated.

"Maybe this is all just a clever teaching exercise!" Cobalt offered.

"No…" Lykos added for a third time as they headed back out and left him there.

"You don't know!" Cobalt chased after them.

"Too elaborate," Tawney called back.

"You underestimate Coco," Cobalt noted climbing up.

"You overestimate the school!" Lykos shouted.

"Cobalt!" Came a yell as the door was thrown open and Ari stood in it, staring at the three of them. "Wait, who are you?"

"Is this the girl you met?" Tawney asked looking back at him as he popped out of the hole.

"Ari!" Cobalt exclaimed as she ran to him and gave him a hug. He smiled up at Tawney who looked annoyed. "What's up?"

"Everyone's dead!" She screamed, clinging tighter. He looked at his teammates who softened.

"What do you mean?" Lykos asked.

"All the people that live here!" She elaborated. They glanced at each other and headed out, Cobalt ran his hands through his hair.

"Check on the people, I'm going to tell Nora," Cobalt informed them.

"Right!" They replied in unison and took off. Before Cobalt reached the church doors they were thrown open and Samson had Nora lassoed and thrown over his shoulder.

"Hey, John Wayne, put my teacher down and we can talk this out like men," Cobalt informed him, Ari holding tightly to him. Samson largely ignored him.

"Who's this?" Samson asked, moving closer.

"Hey, I said put her down, Eastwood!" Cobalt shouted as he lifted his sword.

"So you kids figured it out too, huh?" Samson asked. He stopped and tossed Nora onto the ground, chuckling as he tilted his hat and stood at the ready. "You know I don't miss, right?" Cobalt shrugged.

"But that's not your semblance," Cobalt noted. "Sucking the life out of people without Aura is."

"Actually, consuming their fear gives me life, but alas, takes some of theirs as well," Samson explained.

"How'd you knock Nora out?" Cobalt inquired.

"Some Grimm's Bane and an offering plate," Samson explained. Cobalt blinked. "It was a heavy offering plate."

"You killed everyone?!" Ari shouted.

"In a matter of speaking, I guess I did," Samson chuckled. She released Cobalt and charged the man.

"Ari!" He called after her. She slammed her fist into his chest as she reached him, which drew no reaction as he gripped her wrist and lifted her off of her feet.

"Careful, you might hurt yourself," Samson informed her.

"I'm sorry, Cobalt!" She yelled frantically. "I just wanted to help!"

"You did fine!" Cobalt replied with a smirk.

"How about you lower that sword before you get hurt," Samson requested.

"I say we see which one of us is faster," Cobalt offered.

"Oh?" Samson asked, amused. He gripped Ari harder as she thrashed. "I'll take that offer. I'm just upset to see that your teammates aren't around to watch you die." Cobalt smirked as he lowered his sword to his side.

"Three count?" Cobalt questioned.

"Go ahead," Samson humored him.

"Three… two… one…" Before Cobalt finished the shot rang out and nailed Cobalt in the forehead, dropping him to the ground as a laser shot from behind removed Samson's hand and he dropped Ari.

"Bastard!" Samson shouted as the clone dissipated.

"Not as keen on playing fair as much as I am living," Cobalt explained. Samson turned to fire at Ari and she leapt back, screaming, her eyes lighting up as he was thrown back, grunting in pain and out of breath. Cobalt looked at the two of them. "What?" Ari beat on him as Cobalt raced over and wrenched the gun away.

"Don't let him hurt me!" She pleaded.

"I won't, but what did you do?" Cobalt asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"It almost looked like the impact of that first hit was delayed…" Cobalt mumbled. Ari looked at him, reading his eyes before looking at Samson and concentrating. He prepared to stand before crying out in sudden pain as his body twitched and convulsed where she'd made contact. Her eyes lit up as she looked back at Cobalt.

"I have a semblance!" She exclaimed.

"Yes! Yes, you do!" He cheered, throwing his arms around her. He looked up at his teammates who had returned, looking past them at Nora and Samson.

"Really? Already?" Tawney asked.

"Well?" Cobalt followed up as he picked up Nora and threw her over his shoulder. "Someone might want to restrain him."

"They're all dead," Bái answered after a long moment. They looked at Ari who seemed sad.

"You gonna be okay?" Lykos asked.

"They took me in after I left the Fang, but I wasn't too close with any of them," Ari sighed as she sat on the ground with her legs crossed. "I'll miss them."

"Why don't you come back to Beacon with us?" Cobalt suggested. She leapt to her feet.

"Really?!" She exclaimed.

"Cobalt," Tawney scolded.

"Relax, I'll talk to Goodwitch," Cobalt told her. "She wants to become a Huntress, right?"

"Yes!" She declared as she hugged him from the side. "Thanks, Cobalt!"

"You can just call me Onii-chan," Cobalt informed her.

"Do NOT call him that," Tawney snarled.

"Calm down," Cobalt chuckled.

Turns out Ari had a semblance after all. Next week, Chapter 26: Latherus!

A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next week, stay classy!