Author's Notes: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long, I've had a lot of things going on lately and wasn't able to edit this chapter until recently. Anyway I'm back and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

What It Takes

Chapter 20: What One Does for Family

The team sat in an uncomfortable silence. Sylvia and Re's father showing up out of the blue was certainly unexpected. And the fact that they were on such bad terms with him came as an even bigger shock to Namra and Wai. Sylvia sat down, her tears drying on her face as Re wiped his away.

"I'm sorry…" Re spoke quietly.

He turned towards Wai and Namra.

"I'm sorry you guys had to witness that," he repeated.

"Don't worry about it," Wai responded, "We all have our family issues."

"This seems like it's more than a family issue," Namra said in an undertone.

"Why did he come?"

The group turned to Sylvia as she finally spoke.

"I specifically told him not to come," she thought aloud, "I told him I didn't want to see him, but he came anyway. Why?"

"This wouldn't be the first time he ignored you sis," reasoned Re, "Who cares what he had to say."

Sylvia looked up at Re from her bed, "But Re, he said it was about something important, something that would keep me safe."

"It doesn't matter," Re repeated, "He was probably lying to get you to give up on your dream."

"That couldn't have been it…"

"Sylvia please he-"

"Re!" Sylvia interjected forcefully.

Re stopped talked, waiting to hear what Sylvia had to say.

"His manner was much different when talking to me this time," Sylvia explained, "He didn't get angry until I refused outright. And after you told him off, when you told him about…"

Sylvia's mind trailed off as the memories flooded back to her. She shook them off and continued.

"…about what happened that night, he actually showed emotion towards me."

"So it's true then…"

Everyone turned to look at Namra, who spoke in a barely audible voice.

"You really almost killed yourself…"

Silence filled the room.

Sylvia merely nodded and whispered her affirmation:

"Yes…"

Again silence fell in the darkening room as the sun began to set outside.

"Sylvia…" Re spoke, his voice shaking, "I get it. If he's concerned this badly about you then it might be something that goes beyond his wants. But I'm telling you, he's going to use this later and try to manipulate you to come back."

"You don't know that Re…"

"I do know that!" Re said, his voice rising, "He treated you like crap for years, and then you broke free. And now you want to involve yourself with him again! He's just going to suck you in again under his thumb! I'm not gonna watch as you throw away everything you've accomplished!"

Sylvia stood suddenly.

"I need some air."

She began to walk toward the door.

"Sylvia-"

"I need some air!" she snapped at him.

Re froze in place as he watched his sister walk out of the dorm, closing the door behind her.

Sylvia walked down the halls of one of the classroom buildings as she took deep breaths, trying to clear her head.

What was he trying to tell me? Thought Sylvia as she walked, why would he come all the way up here to talk to me? He knows that I won't forgive him, yet he still insists on talking with me. It must be important. But what if Re is right and he's just trying to manipulate me?

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see the man walking towards her and bumped right into him.

"Oof…" Her breath left her as she hit the ground, papers scattering everywhere.

"Are you alright?"

Sylvia looked up and saw Professor Caerul looking down at her with concern, gathering the papers he had just dropped.

"Yea, I'm fine," Sylvia stated as she stood up, "Sorry, I should've been paying attention to where I was going."

"It's alright," the professor said, gathering the last of his papers and shuffling them all neatly in his hands.

Professor Caerul smiled at her. He was a tall, lean man with fair skin and blue eyes. He had short, brown hair tied back in a wolf tail, and a slightly pointed chin. He was formally dressed with khakis and black dress shoes. He wore a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled all the way up..

"Any particular reason you're walking about theses halls on a Friday evening?"

"No reason," Sylvia replied dodging the question, "why are you out and about Professor?"

"I was just about to return to my office and finish grading the quizzes for today," replied Professor Caerul.

He frowned slightly, "Which reminds me. I was going to ask you this tomorrow but right now seems appropriate."

Sylvia creased her brow in confusion. "What about?" she asked.

Caerul looked around the hallway.

"Why don't we head to my office?" he suggested, "then we can talk."

"Alright," Sylvia agreed.

They walked down the hall a bit, took a left and entered his office.

The room was very organized, with a small bookshelf in the back, filled with textbooks as well as other various novels and novellas. In the center of the room was Caerul's desk, which was uncluttered except for a few schematics for experiments that he was conducting. The desk had a few chairs around it, one behind the desk and two in front of it. There was a table on the right, which contained a teapot on top of a small electric heater. The teapot was currently steaming slightly, clearly ready to be poured.

Caerul put his papers into one of the drawers and then gestured to the teapot:

"Would you like some tea?"

"I would, thank you."

Caerul grabbed two cups from one of the other drawers. He then poured tea for both himself and Sylvia. He gave one of the cups to Sylvia as he sat down in the chair behind his desk. Sylvia took the cup and sat down across from him. The two of them sat and sipped their tea in silence for a bit, merely enjoying the warm liquid. Caerul relaxed into his chair, sighing contently.

"Professor," Sylvia asked nervously, "what did you want to talk about?"

Caerul looked at her. His brow furrowed in concern as he put his cup down.

"I wanted to talk to you about your quiz grade today."

Sylvia hung her head.

Right, she thought, that one didn't go well at all.

"I was going over it and you missed a majority of the questions. Which of course means you failed."

Silence filled the room as Sylvia sipped her tea trying to calm her nerves.

"It was a surprise for me," Caerul commented, "One of my top students this semester just completely failed a quiz. It was concerning."

He put down his cup, folded his hands in his lap and looked intently at Sylvia.

"I would like to know if there was anything you didn't understand about the material," he said, "Anything that I could perhaps clarify for you?"

"No," Sylvia responded almost immediately, "It's not that I don't understand the material."

Caerul looked at her quizzically at first, but then came to a realization.

"Bad day then?"

"You could say that…" Sylvia said her voice trailing off as she stared down into her tea.

"Well," he began as he sipped at his tea, "if you want to talk about it I may be able to help somehow."

Sylvia looked up at her professor, surprised.

"Why are you so concerned about me?"

"I'm concerned about all of my students," Professor Caerul explained, "I want to make sure they all do well in my classes. And when I find a student struggling or not doing as well as they had been, I like to try to help in any way I can. So, Sylvia, if you would like to talk about it, I'm here to listen."

Sylvia looked down at her tea again as she contemplated her options.

Do I really want to tell him about my personal life? Sylvia thought to herself, there's not much he can do about it- I don't think. Although having an outside opinion on this could be beneficial. It may help me decide what to do.

Sylvia sipped her tea, I don't have to tell him everything, she decided, only enough for him to provide an opinion on it.

She put down her cup of tea and sighed.

"It's my father…"

Caerul leaned in, listening intently.

"We have a pretty bad relationship," Sylvia continued, "He did some things in the past that I simply couldn't stand or handle."

She took a sip of her tea, breathing in its calming warmth as she continued.

"We eventually had a huge argument that severed what little relationship we had left and I hadn't seen him since."

"Let me guess," Caerul interjected, "He contacted you recently."

Sylvia nodded in confirmation.

"He told me that he had something important to tell me, in order to keep me safe," Sylvia explained, "I didn't trust him at first and we got into another argument today. But now that I'm thinking about it, his mannerisms were different, almost sympathetic towards me."

She looked down into her swirling tea again.

"It made me wonder if maybe he was telling the truth," She stated, "Maybe he is trying to keep me safe. My brother doesn't think so, and he has every right to think that, and so do I."

She looked up at her professor.

"I'm not sure what I should do. I don't know whether to believe my father or my brother in this situation. Yes, my father did a lot to make me distrust him. But there was something about him that was different this time."

She took another gulp of her tea and sighed.

"I know you don't know much about me or my father," said Sylvia, "but what do you think?"

The professor took a long drink from his cup as he contemplated the question before him. Eventually, he put down the cup and decided to answer.

"Well," he began, "as you said, you have every reason to distrust his words. If he truly was bad enough in the past to sever your relationship with him, then perhaps he doesn't deserve to talk to you."

Sylvia nodded and looked back down at her tea.

"However," Caerul continued, "it could also be beneficial to learn about what he has to say."

Her head snapped upward, "Even after all he's done? It might be good to see him?"

The professor finished his tea and put down the empty cup.

"Yes," he answered, "I believe that it would be. If I've learned one thing, it's that people will do anything for their family and the ones they love."

"So you think I should see him?"

"I am just giving you my thoughts on the issue," Caerul corrected her, "On one hand you could not talk to your father, thinking him a liar and risking the chance that he may be actually trying to protect you. On the other hand, you could talk to your father on the off chance that he wants to protect you, and risk involving yourself in his affairs. I'm showing you the risks and rewards of your two choices here; you just have to determine which reward is worth the risk."

They fell into a comfortable silence as Sylvia looked into her tea, lost in the many thoughts that now swam in her head. However, now her thoughts seemed more focused, more rational and clearer.

She smiled, happy that she could now think beyond the jumbled mess her head once had been. Now she could finally decide. She put her cup of tea down and stood up, still smiling.

"Thank you professor," She thanked, bowing, "I know what I'm going to do now."

Caerul smiled contently, "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help and I do hope for a much better result for your next quiz."

Sylvia chuckled, "Of course Professor. I'll work extra hard for it."

Sylvia walked out of his office, shutting the door behind her.

She walked down the hall back to the dorm, finally feeling like she could breathe again.

Basil was sitting on his bed, about to send a message to his brother Cinereus. Ever since the end of last semester, they had kept in close touch. He was about to finish his message detailing what had happened today when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Basil called.

The door opened and in came Namra.

"Hey Namra," Basil greeted, "how are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright," she replied with a slight smile, "Where is everybody else?"

"Well, Aurelia and Celestia went out to get supplies and Porphyrios is doing more of his research in the library, apparently he found a name," Basil answered, "Which reminds me: Is Sylvia doing research on those people with Porphyrios still? Every time I've seen him do it he's alone."

"She gave up on it a while ago," Namra explained, "said she wanted to focus more on her studies rather than a wild goose chase."

"Ah I see," Basil nodded, "probably for the best. It would be great if they found something out, but it's better if the police just deal with it."

"Actually, she's the reason why I'm here," Namra said her face falling into a frown.

Basil looked at her, puzzled, "Something wrong?"

Namra nodded.

Basil moved over a bit on his bed.

"Here, sit down," Basil motioned to her.

Namra moved to the bed and sat down next to him. Basil put down his scroll and looked at Namra.

"So what's up?" he asked curiously.

Namra took a deep breath and explained the situation to him, leaving out the parts about Sylvia nearly ending her life. Basil simply nodded as he listened to everything Namra had to say.

"I see," he said, "Well it sounds like there's a lot going on in their family."

"Yea," she replied quietly, "it was certainly something."

"So," Basil continued, "if this is a family issue for Sylvia and Re, why are you here?"

"The thing is I feel like Sylvia is not going to see her father."

"And?"

"Well that's wrong isn't it?" Namra inquired, "Despite what he's done he's still family. Shouldn't he have a right to see and protect his own daughter?"

Basil thought about it for a few minutes, unsure about how to respond to what Namra said.

"I mean I guess," He eventually answered, "but it seems like her father did some pretty terrible things."

"Even still," Namra continued, "he should still have a shot at redemption."

"I don't know," Basil said honestly, "he might be beyond redeeming. And even if he wasn't, it sounds like Sylvia doesn't want to give him that chance."

"Which is why I want to convince her otherwise."

Basil raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yes, because family will always try to protect their own and I feel like Sylvia has forgotten that," Namra explained.

Basil paused for a moment before answering:

"So you think Sylvia's father really is trying to protect her?"

"Yes."

Quiet filled the room as Basil thought about it for a few seconds.

"You're right," Basil pointed out, "Family will always try to protect each other no matter what. However, it's not your call to make."

"But if I can convince her-"

"Namra," Basil said firmly, "I understand that you are trying to do what you think is best for Sylvia. But this is her family, meaning it is her and Re's business only. How would you feel if someone tried to involve themselves in your affairs?"

Namra opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. She sighed in defeat.

"You're right," she admitted, "I shouldn't try to convince her to do something that doesn't involve me."

Basil nodded in agreement.

"But," Namra said quickly, "If she decides to ask me for my opinion then I'm going to express what I think."

"That's fine," Basil commented, "That's how it's supposed to work."

Namra smiled at her friend's agreement. She stood up ready to leave.

"Thanks Basil," she said, "I'm glad you were here to listen."

"No problem," Basil replied, "Always happy to help."

Namra walked out of the dorm and shut the door behind her. Basil smiled to himself as he reached for his scroll. Finishing his message, he sent it, a smile still etched on his face.

Cole sat at his desk, pouring over maps of Vale and the surrounding areas. He ran a hand over his closely cropped black hair as he tried to determine where to strike next. As he analyzed the areas, his scroll rang out. He pressed the button to answer the call.

"Go ahead," he spoke plainly.

"They have a name," a warped voice spoke over the scroll, "The Faunus boy found the name Roano."

"Hmmm…" Cole mused over this new information, "No matter. He wouldn't be able to find us through him anyway."

Cole folded his hands in front of him.

"What about the girl?"

"It appears the girl heeded the warning, she has stopped researching." The voice answered.

"Good," Cole affirmed, "we can move ahead with our next attack. I want you to head towards a small village outside Vale to test our new device. I'm sending you the coordinates."

Cole tapped one of the files on the scroll and hit send. The scroll buzzed slightly as it sent the information.

"I see," the voice spoke, "it might be hard for me to get out that far though."

"Do whatever is necessary," Cole ordered, "This is a vital part of our plan."

"And where will you be?" inquired the voice.

"I'm taking Nuri and Coralia to visit one of our benefactors," Cole answered, "I must check on the dust production. You have your orders, see them through."

Cole hit the end call button. He sighed and slumped slightly in his chair. Once again he looked at the locations on the map. His eyes drifted to a picture on his desk. Carefully he picked it up and smiled wistfully.

"Soon my love," he claimed, "soon I will have what I want. What we deserve."

He placed the picture down and stood up. He grabbed his bowler hat from the desk and put his coat on. In a few quick strides he opened the door and walked out.