Author's Notes: Hey, was going to post this earlier but unfortunately finals started. Anyway hope you enjoy this chapter!

What It Takes

Chapter 17: Old Ties

Silence fell in the room. Namra stood there, trying to process what her friend had just said.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"My friend Lonan from Sanctum…" Wai answered in a whisper, "I killed him…"

Once again silence filled the room with this statement. Namra stood up, instinctively wanting to get away from him, but stopped herself.

"What happened?" she inquired.

"Back at Sanctum, I had a small group of friends. Lonan was a first year student, a year below me. He had really dark hair, the same color as his eyes. He always looked up to me as some sort of role model, I don't know why; I was always more of a trouble maker back then. Kinda still am, as you've seen."

Wai smiled as he remembered back to his old days at Sanctum.

"My friends and I would always eat lunch by the lakeside. We all loved the scenic views from across the lake. The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of pine trees; I can still feel the sun on my back as we'd eat."

His face became somber as he continued his story.

"And one day, on our way to the lake for lunch, we spotted a stranger on campus. They wore a black cloak that obscured all of their features. We didn't recognize them from the faculty, so we assumed it was a visitor of some sort. We didn't think anything of it at the time; we just continued to the lake and ate on the bank. About ten minutes in, the stranger came back out and started running towards the lake. We heard someone shouting 'Thief! Thief!' from inside the school, so we decided to stop the person in the cloak."

Wai swallowed hard and he took in a shuddering breath, his eyes watering slightly.

"We had just come back from combat class, thankfully, so we had our weapons on hand. We fought against the cloaked figure, but he was strong. Not even four of us could beat him. I wouldn't give up though, I fought him one on one, trying to stop him at all cost. But he could handle me easily. I became frustrated that I was unable to stop him, even though I knew that all I had to do was delay him until the teachers came. Frustration built up in me until eventually I activated my semblance."

Tears started to roll down Wai's cheeks as he began to wrap up the story in a choked voice.

"I don't remember what happened in between, but the next thing I know, I'm standing in front of Lonan with my blade plunged through his chest."

Wai's fell to his knees as he began to sob uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his face as he remembered the look of horror on everyone's face. He remembered the screams from people as they saw the boy's bloodied body. And he remembered the words his friends spoke with his last breath.

"Don't… Forget…"

Wai continued to sob on his knees as Namra approached Wai. She stood in front of him and knelt down. She touched Wai's shoulder causing him to look up at her.

"I'm sorry," she said in a soothing voice, "I know it means nothing for me to say that, but I felt I should say it anyway. Just know that I'm here for you, and Sylvia, and Re, all of us are here for you. We're a team, and we will stand by you no matter what."

Namra then wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. Wai returned it, continuing to cry into Namra's shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, in a quiet, comforting silence, aside from Wai's shaky breaths. When they finally broke apart, Wai could have sworn he saw Namra wipe away a tear, as he wiped away his own.

"I was detained by the police shortly afterward. My parents thankfully were able to pay bail, but they wouldn't even talk to me after the incident. The next day, I was told by the headmaster what had transpired, that after the person escaped I was completely out of control and Lonan, as well as other faculty, tried to calm me down. After that, I was kicked out of Sanctum and my friends refused to speak to me anymore. Not that I blame them; I'd do the same thing."

Wai sighed, "After that, I trained for two years in Vale under my Uncle's guidance. I still wanted to be a huntsman, so I applied to Beacon. I wanted to get a new start away from everybody who knew me. I knew I still didn't have my semblance under control, but I figured more training would help me control that. Until then, I'd have to keep it under wraps, which didn't work out obviously."

He sighed, "And that's how I'm here I guess. Not how I wanted to get here though. However, it seems that most people still think I shouldn't be here."

"Nonsense," Namra stated, trying to reassure him, "People don't think that."

"I've heard the rumors, Namra," Wai replied, "Trust me, when they're about yourself, you tend to hear them more often."

Wai stood up, quickly followed by Namra.

"Besides," Wai remarked, "it doesn't matter what they think, all that matters is what I do about it."

His face fell and he hung his head slightly.

"Although now I'm not sure I can even pull this off."

"What are you talking about? Of course you can," Namra stated confidently.

Wai's smile returned for a second, "Glad to see you have so much confidence in me. Wish I could say the same."

"What about all the things you said to our team before?" Namra asked, "How you were going to learn to control your semblance to protect everyone?"

"Yea," Wai responded, "but what if something like back at Sanctum happens again? I couldn't bear to lose another friend."

"Nothing like that will happen again," Namra reassured him, "We're at Beacon, the place where the greatest huntsmen and huntresses are trained."

She grabbed his shoulder again.

"Trust me, with aura training you won't be able to hurt anyone by accident again."

"But-"

"But nothing," Namra said forcefully, "Wai, it's in the past. While it is a tragic event that happened to you, it is in the past. No matter what you do, or what you think, or however many what-if scenarios you come up with, it won't change what happened."

Namra smiled at him, "But what you can change, is how it affects you. Instead of dwelling over what happened, use that as your drive to be better, so that you can prevent things like that from happening again. And while that memory may still haunt you, at least you can say used that memory to make yourself stronger."

Wai took in what she said.

Use my memory of the incident as my drive, Wai thought, I always thought that's what I was doing. But all I really did was just let the memory become my living nightmare. It's time I stopped dwelling on the past, not by forgetting it, but by remembering it and learning from it.

Wai looked at Namra.

"You're right," Wai admitted, "I've been stupid to dwell on this for so long."

He smiled at his friend, "Thank you for helping me realize it."

Namra smiled back, "Anything for my friends. Now come on, let's get back to bed shall we? We have classes tomorrow."

"Yea. And I'm sure I have more aura training from you to look forward to."

Namra's smile broadened, "Of course. As I said before, anything for my friends."

The man woke up lying in his bed. He was a balding man with grey hair on the side of his head and a grey mustache. He wore faded grey pajamas and had piercing blue eyes. He stared up at the dark ceiling for a few seconds before he turned to his bedside clock. The clock read 3:27 AM. The man frowned as his eyelids drooped.

It's the middle of the night, the man thought to himself, why am I waking up now?

He turned over in his bed and fell back asleep.

The man woke again with a start, sweat glistening on his skin. He wiped his brow and looked at the clock. It read 4:03 AM.

The man sighed, Guess the nightmares haven't left yet, he thought grimly.

He sat up and glanced around. The room was plain looking with a simple dresser across from the bed and a mirror standing next to it. There were a couple windows on his left, whose curtains were currently drawn. To his left was a dark brown nightstand which had his alarm clock on it, along with a picture of his wife and two kids.

He sighed as he looked at the picture, If only I could see you now, he thought to himself solemnly.

Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from somewhere in the house. He turned his head towards the door, listening intently as he clearly heard the sound of shoes against hard wood floor, as if someone was walking towards the door. The man tiptoed silently to his dresser, opened the top drawer and reached inside. Beneath the clothes in the drawer he pulled out a black pistol. He quietly closed the drawer as he heard the footsteps getting closer to his bedroom door. He pointed the pistol at the door, his muscular physique tightening as he prepared for the person to enter the room.

The door opened. In the door way stood a rather tall man in a black bowler hat. He wore a matching suit and tie as well as black khakis and shoes. The man's cold grey eyes stared at the gun in the other man's hands.

The man in the bowler hat smirked at the sight.

"And what, may I ask, are you going to do with that?" The man in the hat asked chidingly.

The man with the gun did not answer, but continued to point the gun at him with a much firmer grip.

"Come now," The man with the hat said taking a step forward.

"Take one more step and I will blow your head off," he said through gritted teeth.

The grey-eyed man chuckled softly to himself, "Flint, do you honestly think that a mere pistol can stop me? You know me better than that."

Flint glowered at the grey-eyed man for a few seconds before slowly lowering his pistol.

"What do you want Cole?" Flint asked, his teeth still clenched.

"So you do remember me," Cole remarked, still smirking.

"Answer the damn question," Flint repeated, his hands still gripping the gun.

"Well I guess I owe you that much now don't I?"

"You owe me much more than that," Flint replied, "Or have you forgotten what you've done to me and my family?"

The smirk faded from Cole's face, "Believe me, I did not wish to harm you or your family."

"Then why did you do it?!" Flint nearly shouted, "There was no reason-"

"There was plenty reason!" Cole growled, "This world needs to be cleansed of all those who've wronged me, of all those who don't understand my vision."

"Then why not me too?" inquired Flint, "Why am I still here?"

Cole looked Flint over and sighed, "I'm not without mercy, Flint, as much as you want to believe that I am."

"Mercy?" Flint repeated incredulously, "This is mercy? To leave me here to live with what you've done to me?"

"Do you really think I wanted to do what I did?" Cole questioned, "It brings me more pain than you can imagine."

Cole hung his head slightly, "I made a choice that day. A choice to go down the path I'm on now. And they stood in my way."

Cole lifted his head up and looked at Flint, "But I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to ask you to do something for me."

Flint stared at him with angry curiosity, "And just why on Remnant would I do something for you?"

"Because it involves sparing you from more pain."

"Is that a threat?" Flint inquired, "I never thought you'd stoop so low as to threaten a man you took everything from."

"Not everything," Cole spoke firmly, "Or have you forgotten what you still have?"

Flint froze for a moment as he realized what Cole meant.

"I met your daughter last semester," Cole continued, "She seems to be fitting well at Beacon. Has a lot of friends there. Although, I think she may be with the wrong crowd."

Flint raised the gun once more, "I swear if you have harmed her in any way-"

"I haven't done anything to her!" Cole interrupted angrily, "However, she has become a bit of a problem."

Flint lowered his weapon, concern swimming in his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"A few months ago, I began phase one, but unfortunately some things didn't go according to plan. I won't bore you with all the boring details, but some Beacon students got involved and I saw your daughter amongst them."

Cole walked over to the picture of Flint's family and picked it up.

"She's interfering with my plan, Flint. My informant tells me that she is trying to find more information about my little group."

He placed the picture down.

"I don't want to harm her in any way, I really don't, but if she interferes with me again…"

Cole turned to Flint.

"I won't have a choice."

"If you don't want to harm her, then end this whole charade. Stop your plan now before more people get hurt."

"People have to get hurt for the plan to work!" Cole responded his voice raised, "And I can't stop the plan, I have to finish what I started."

Cole sighed again as he calmed down, "Many people are going to suffer and die as this continues, and many people already have. But I don't want your daughter to be one of those people."

Cole turned and walked toward the door. He stopped with his hand on the handle.

"Go talk to her. Convince her to not research this any further. Don't make her one of the casualties."

Cole then turned the handle and opened the door, but before he left he looked back at Flint to say one last thing:

"She looks so much like her mother," he said, "Even fights just like her."

And with that, Cole walked out and closed the door. Flint heard the familiar whoosh of Cole's semblance, knowing that he had left the house.

No point in calling the cops now, Flint realized, He's long gone.

Flint put the pistol back in his drawer and walked back over to the bed. He lay down in his bed, the covers over him as he thought about what Cole said.

If he's right, which he most likely is, then I have to plan a trip to Beacon, Flint reasoned, she won't be happy, but this is more important than anything else right now.

Flint turned over and looked at the door, I can't lose her. I can't lose either of them.

He looked at the picture of his family again; they are all I have left.

And with that, Flint closed his eyes as he fell into a troubling sleep.