We're getting to one of the chapters I've been waiting for since I started writing this. I'm not sure what anyone will think of it though. There's going to be two questions at the bottom of this chapter. If you have time, please leave a review to answer them.

To the random guest reviewer from Chapter 17. I don't know how you could figure out what I had planned when you claim you don't know what's going on, but I wanted to commend you for it.

Chapter 19: Comradery and Rememberance

"Shock, for the barrier. Burn and Frost, for defenses and climate. Wind, to make it livable. Gravity, to make it unassailable. It is through this design, my greatest triumph, that man and faunus-kind will never again fear the Grimm that hunt us. It is through this design that a new age, an arcane miracle, and the legacy of the Rose Family, will be born." -Aurelius, on the final stages of the Bastion Project

Somewhere in the Jormungand Plains, Draconys

Greene let out a growl as she stomped behind the professor. Over the last few days, Bisman had become increasingly quiet and distant, a far cry from the vocal, mischievous man Ozpin's briefing had led her to expect. Even worse, the objective of the expedition after Point Refuge was supposed to be finding and exploring the city of Sanctuary, but the man in front of her insisted on walking off into the wilderness in the opposite direction almost immediately after landing, forcing her to send her team on ahead to Sanctuary when they refused to follow the eccentric professor… Which was why she was following him, watching as he casually stepped through the lifeless expanse with his rifle in hand. She wouldn't admit it, but the blood-red sky and jagged terrain unnerved her. Her grip tightened on her mace, unintentionally causing the head to open up and reveal the barrel of the shotgun making up the handle.

"Bisman, I swear, if we haven't turned around in the next five minutes, we're turning around even if I have to knock you out and drag you back!" She stopped in her tracks as the man glanced back at her, a grim expression on his face before he turned around, muttering almost too quietly for the fox faunus to hear.

"It won't be too long… It should be just up ahead," he said, his voice holding none of the confusion from the last ten days nor the excitement from before their departure.

"And what, exactly, is "it" supposed to be?" Greene asked waving her hands around. She let out a frustrated sigh when she didn't get a response, moving forward to make good on her promise. She stopped when she got a look at the area around the unnatural cliff they were following. Up ahead was an area of sand surrounded by a ring of petrified trees, pressed flat against the ground. As the duo stepped into the clearing, Greene noticed a series of weapons scattered around. A few bows, some swords, a handful of pikes, and a halberd were among the discarded instruments of death. "W-what happened here?"

Bisman let out a sigh as he glanced around, a vision already starting to appear. He'd long given up trying to control them, he hadn't been able to use his semblance since they first passed into the Leviathan's Gulf. "On the last day of Sanctuary's existence, Aurelius, the Blue Rose, left with a group of family members to put an end to the bloody civil war they were having. Just a few hours outside Sanctuary, he forced those following with him to turn back while he went on alone. It was here that Aurelius fought the last group of traitors alone before he sacrificed himself to put an end to them." Greene glanced at him, surprised by the tone of acceptance in his voice as he glanced around. He looked over and saw a figure in white with rabbit ears holding a scimitar. "Lori… She was always a sweet girl, it's just a shame that her passion for dancing was used to kill." He glanced around, seeing other figures, not even bothering to think about how he knew who they were, fully aware they weren't there as he stepped forward, eyes on the ground.

Green let out an exasperated sigh. "How does that help us? So, he died here, look around. Anything we could have used is either destroyed or long gone. We have no reason to be here!"

Bisman nodded as he glanced around. "To you it might seem like that, but to me…" He noticed a small gem sitting on the ground next to a rusted sword and bent down to grab the sword. A sigh escaped him as he looked over the blade, brushing a bit of rust off so he could read the inscription on the blade. "Vigilant in peace, I will light the way through the darkness." He watched the gem shift colors slightly before he grabbed it, closing his eyes as a brief vision flashed through his mind.

He was on the ground, surrounded. He growled slightly as he assessed the damage. His spine was probably severed. He wouldn't be walking out of this. He looked up at the woman in front of him, smiling smugly as she glared hatefully down at him with her red and black eyes. He took a deep breath and spoke up. "Thus… Kindly, I scatter." There was a surge of pain and then blackness.

Bisman sighed as he stared down at the gem, a soft smile on his face. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, he was finally whole again. He felt a shiver go through him as he cautiously tried to awaken his semblance while the gem in his hand started glowing. He smiled as he felt a light wind blow across the scorched field before he slotted the gem into the base of the sword as he stood up.

"There's nothing here that could help us! The dead don't come back to life, Bisman!" Greene shouted behind him, causing him to turn around. She froze when her green eyes met silver instead of blue for a moment.

"Perhaps you should tell that to our friend when we return, I'm sure he'd like to know you feel that way." The man before her reached out with his mind and the Dust crystal in the sword's pommel released a small pulse of energy. With a quick twirl, the rifle disintegrated and the sword turned into a staff before he walked past her. "We should leave. We have what we came for and we should meet up with the rest of the team before we run into any Grimm. I won't be able to provide direct assistance in a fight in my current state." Greene watched he walk away before following.

Greene looked at the man in front of her. She had wandered into the wasteland following Arthur Bisman, but she knew the man in front of her wasn't quite the same. "W-who are you?"

The man glanced back one last time. "Aurelius. And unlike my apprentice, I will not wilt."

Beacon Academy, Combat Arena

Ruby glanced at Weiss over the camera after Cardin hit the ground. "Is it wrong that I like seeing that smug look knocked off his face?" she asked with a grin before Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Normally I'd say yes… But even after Jaune saved him he's been insufferable about his perceived superiority over everyone else." Ruby nodded before checking the camera. While she didn't have a way to prove it, she had chosen to voice her concerns to Ozpin about the possibility that the person who attacked Amber and was pulling Torchwick's strings was participating in the tournament. Ozpin, surprisingly, offered a quick solution by assigning Ruby and Weiss to film any sparring matches that occurred in the time leading up to the tournament. Since they needed some fight scenes for the televised introduction to the tournament's first day and advertisements leading up to it, the arrangement gave team RWBY an excuse to not only watch but record fights involving students from other schools.

"Well done Ms. Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament," Glynda said calmly, stepping over the unconscious Cardin.

Pyrrha smiled. "Thank you, professor."

Glynda glanced down at the pad she carried, tapping a few spots on the screen. "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" She glanced around the stands to see Blake glancing through a notebook. "Ms. Belladonna? You've been rather… docile for the last few classes. Why don't you-"

Mercury raised his hand. "I'll do it."

Glynda looked at the boy before nodding. "Very well. Let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I wanna fight… Her," the boy said, pointing at Pyrrha, causing her to blink in surprise.

"I'm afraid Ms. Nikos has just finished a match, I'd recommend you choose another partner," Professor Goodwitch said before Pyrrha spoke up.

"No! It's fine. I'd be happy to oblige," Pyrrha said. As Mercury stepped into the arena, Emerald and Weiss both noticed Ruby's ear twitch slightly. While Emerald didn't pay it much thought, Weiss had noticed over the last few weeks that it usually either meant the girl was surprised, annoyed, or activating her secondary semblance.

"Considering how focused she is, it looks like she doesn't want to miss anything, so I'm guessing it's her semblance," Weiss thought as she checked the camera, making sure it was still recording. Mercury charged forward, driving a kick into Pyrrha's shield, causing Ruby to frown at the sound of metal hitting metal.

"Even if his boots are armored, it shouldn't sound like that…" Ruby continued to watch before briefly glancing back at Emerald. "He's not that bad I guess…"

Ruby looked back to see Pyrrha use her semblance to subtly push Mercury's boot away from her, making Ruby go wide-eyed as the boy was knocked over. "There's no way Pyrrha could put that much momentum into a metal boot to throw him off balance that much…"

Pyrrha charged the boy as soon as he got up, but stopped when he turned to face Goodwitch. "I forfeit," he said, causing Pyrrha to look at him in confusion.

"Y-you don't even want to try?" Pyrrha asked, looking a bit dejected.

Mercury shrugged. "What's the point? You're a world-renowned fighter, we're obviously leagues apart."

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "It didn't look like it to me…" As soon as she saw the smirk on Mercury's face, she blinked.

"In that case, Pyrrha Nikos is the victor of this match, again. Next time you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Mercury nodded before walking off as the bell rang, waking Blake up suddenly. "That's all for today. And remember the dance is this weekend but you all have your first missions on Monday! I will not accept any excuses!"

As everyone else walked out, Ruby and Weiss started packing up the camera with Yang's help while Blake started dozing off again. Once everyone was out of the room, Ruby spoke up. "He was testing Pyrrha to see what she could do." Weiss and Yang glanced at each other before Weiss spoke up.

"Okay, and did you learn anything from it?" Blake looked at them in confusion.

"Yeah, I think at least part of his legs, at least his left leg, was replaced with a prosthetic. Either that, or he has a lot of metal in his leg for Pyrrha to have knocked him off his feet with just her semblance." The other two nodded before Ruby grabbed the case, heading out of the building.

As they got outside, Sun ran up to Blake. "Hey Blake! You uh, you doing okay?"

Blake sighed before turning to face him. "I'm fine."

"So… I hear there's this dance going on this weekend… Sounds pretty lame, but, you and me I'm thinking aren't as lame, right?"

She blinked at him in confusion. "W-what?"

"The dance, this weekend! You wanna go or what?"

Blake growled before turning around. "I don't have time for a stupid dance! I thought you of all people would get that."

The rest of team RWBY watched as Ruby let out a frustrated sigh. The trio shared a look before heading after Blake.

RWBY's Dorm Room

Blake ran a hand down her face. "You can't be serious! Why would you want me to go to the dance?!"

Yang sighed. "Blake, we're worried about you. This whole thing is starting to mess with your head."

Weiss spoke up. "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering."

"Do you think I care about grades?" Blake yelled. "People's lives are at stake!"

Yang put a hand on her partner's shoulder. "We know, and we're still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to."

Ruby spoke up, playing with a Dust crystal as she thought. "Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere out of Southeast Vale. Last I heard, Ozpin had it narrowed down to a few locations, but he can't assign anyone to search until after the dance or it might raise suspicions."

Weiss nodded before continuing. "The Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months."

Yang let out a sigh. "Don't forget about their missing military tech, too."

"But there are still unanswered questions!"

Ruby sighed. "Blake, there's always unanswered questions. All that matters is we have the right answers to the questions that matter and that we're in the condition to act on that information. You're barely able to stay awake as it is, what happens if we get into a fight and you pass out? One of us is going to have to either stay back to keep you safe or carry you along, meaning either we're down two people or one of us becomes an easy target since we can't fight back."

Yang continued. "All we're asking is that you take it easy for one day."

Weiss smiled. "It'll be fun! Yang and I will make sure of it!"

"Yeah, we're planning the whole event!"

Blake looked at them in dismay. "Excuse me?!"

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected," Weiss started. Yang nodded.

"So Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off! Now we can make sure you have the perfect night."

"And once it's all over, we'll return to our search, rested and ready."

Ruby nodded before looking at Blake. "So, what do you think?"

Blake let out a frustrated sigh before she got up. "I think this is a colossal waste of time… I'll be in the library." The trio let out a frustrated sigh as the door closed.

"Don't worry guys, I'll figure out a way to get her to come to the dance, I promise," Yang said.

On the roof, with Jaune and Pyrrha

Jaune let out a groan as he stood up after a practice spar with Pyrrha. The redhead looked at him with a smile. "Well done. Your sword play's improved immensely."

Jaune quickly dusted himself off with a sigh. "I couldn't have done it without you, Pyrrha," he said with a smile, causing the girl to look away.

"So, are you ready to move on to Aura?" Jaune hesitated and sighed.

"I'm actually thinking maybe we just skip Aura tonight."

Pyrrha let out a sigh before putting a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Come on, I know you get frustrated but you have to keep trying. I'm sure we'll discover your semblance any day now."

Jaune let out a sigh before he looked at his partner. "I-it's not that, it's just… Shouldn't you be getting ready for the dance? I mean, you probably have tons of guys asking you out."

Pyrrha chuckled nervously. "You'd be surprised." The boy glanced at her.

"W-well, if nobody else asks you to the dance, why not go with me?" Pyrrha looked at him with wide eyes. "I-I mean, if you're willing to go with someone like me. I wouldn't want to embarrass you or anything!"

Pyrrha smiled and put a hand on his shoulder before he could continue ranting. "Jaune, it's fine. I'd be happy to go to the dance with you." She took a step back. "Now then, let's start on your Aura training." Jaune nodded as the two went back to practicing.

Sanctuary Ruins, Draconys

Greene let out a sigh as she followed Aurelius through the streets. Normally, the sight of the massive buildings buttressed against the walls and each other would leave people in awe, but right now she had a headache. "I don't understand any of that."

The man in front of her let out a sigh, his blue cloak moving on its own as they continued down the street. "When I died, I shattered my soul and the various shards drifted throughout Remnant until a number had once again found each other and reformed. At that point, enough of my soul would have reformed for it to attempt to bind itself to a physical form. The collection of shards would bind to the first male child born without a life or soul of its own, a stillborn if you wish, and would attempt to find any shards it could before passing and repeating the process with the first valid host to appear after one of my "deaths." When I was born as Arthur Bisman, all that was left was a single shard of my soul here in Draconys." He gently tapped the Dust crystal sitting in the top of the staff. "Which resulted in me being constantly drawn towards it. Until every shard was reunited, I couldn't remember any of what happened in my previous lives, but now…" He let out a sigh.

"Now you know what we came here to find out, so we can head back, right?" Bisman glanced over his shoulder before responding.

"Not quite, there's a few things that need to be taken care of here first."

Greene let out a sigh as her ear twitched. "So, are you going to tell me why you're calling a Dust crystal part of your soul?"

The Rose smiled before glancing at her. "Perhaps, in due time…"

I'm going to stop here for today. For some reason this one just feels like it took longer to write, probably because it was one I was looking forward to doing and wanted to get just right. The questions I had were: Do you think I should change which members of Team RWBY go on to the second and third rounds of the tournament with the events of this chapter? If so, who do you think should move on instead? The only rule to this is, because of a lore point that will be revealed later, Ruby and Yang can't both move on to the second round. Also, keep in mind that Ruby has total immunity to Emerald's semblance and Weiss has a technical immunity in that it disrupts her Glyphs enough for her to notice something's wrong.

So, Aurelius is back in the world of the living. Let's give him a bit of a rundown. Naturally, it's been established that Aurelius was a major powerhouse when it came to Sanctuary on top of being the founder of the Rose family. His incredibly long life (approximately 630 years counting the time before the Founding of Point Refuge or Sanctuary) leaves him with a complex moral compass. Like many members of the Rose family, he values trust and loyalty highly and has a strong respect for anyone with the courage to publicly stand up for their values, even if he personally disagrees with the stance. This means that while he doesn't like people like Torchwick, he can at least respect him for standing by his ideals of self-preservation. Like most members of the Rose family, he's perfectly willing to put himself in harm's way so long as he doesn't believe his death will lead to more casualties than sitting idle. As a result of him playing a part in many of the advances made by the people of Sanctuary, he favors quality over quantity and made sure to pass this preference, along with his ideals, onto the rest of his family. This, along with his preference for more elegant and graceful solutions, will put him at odds with General Ironwood, who in this story will either be incompetent, a glory hound determing to increase the prestige of the Atlesian military at any cost, or a traitor to Ozpin's group since I haven't decided yet.

The most important of his values will also put him at odds with Jacuqes Schnee: while Jacques values wealth and family reputation over the wellbeing of individual members, Aurelius is more concerned about the survival of the Rose family and its individual members than anything else. With only one other Rose left alive, with the possibility of two others being revived using Avatars, this makes Aurelius a dangerous threat since the Rose family's extinction means Salem can proceed unopposed. Later events will eventually leave very few people that hate Jacques more than Aurelius.

Aurelius naturally has the Rose Storm as a family semblance, which he can use to deadly effect. His secondary semblance, however, is far more complex and tied into the origin of Dust itself. His secondary is called "Will Made Manifest" and, as the name implies, gives him the ability to turn his will and mind into a tangible force, allowing him to do things like bolster his own endurance, calm or lessen the pain of others, or give him instinctual control over Dust. While this might make him sound exceedingly strong, there's one thing to remember. He's still dealing with Bisman's body until he completes whatever changes he's making to it, which means for the next few months or even year he's dealing with Bisman's weak combat presence. Rose Storm could help him make up for his current physical flaws, but doing so risks literally tearing his body apart due to the fact Bisman's body wasn't meant to handle it. The result is that he'll have very little physical combat presence except when he decides to be tactical about it by focusing his secondary to reduce the strain on his body. Most of the support he'll be able to provide in the near future will be a result of his mastery of Dust: the creation of automatons and a very special surprise that will be revealed in the next few chapters. Anyone who can guess exactly what the Bastion is will get a shout out.