Author's Notes: So I realize it's been quite a long time since I've posted a chapter of this story, and I am very sorry about that. I've been busy with my job and other adult responsibilities, so I haven't had a lot of time to write, never mind post finished chapters. Well anyway, I'm back and am determined to write more of this story so please enjoy!

What It Takes

Chapter 27: Weary

The girl ran. She ran as fast as she could down the corridor, her long black hair flying behind her. Some of the guards tried to stop her, but she took them down quickly before they knew what hit them.

I have to get out; she thought to herself, I have to fulfill his wishes.

She took a left at the end of the corridor and found the exit. She ran towards it when a burly man appeared from one of the branching hallways. The girl stopped dead in her tracks.

"Let me through Bronze," she commanded coldly.

"I can't let you do that," Bronze replied, "I have orders to bring you back to your room."

"You mean my cell," the girl spat, "And I'm not going back in there, I have a different destiny."

"Midnight," Bronze pleaded raising his hands, "I don't want to fight you."

"I know you don't," Midnight replied, "You've got a soft spot for kids like me right? So why don't you act like it and let me through?"

Bronze hesitated, which was all Midnight needed. She pulled out her pistol and fired one shot at him. Bronze ducked out of the way, leaving the path to the door wide open. Midnight took her chance and dashed to the exit, bursting her way through the door and into the night.

The guards searched all over the hideout, but there was no trace of her anywhere in the vicinity. Eventually, they went back inside, hoping that she wouldn't make it past the forest.

Unfortunately for them, Midnight had survived and made it into the middle of the forest. Feeling she had put enough distance between her and her pursuers, she stopped and leaned back against a tree to catch her breath.

Well we're out of there, she determined, smiling to herself, now how do I get to Beacon?

Fire surrounded Namra. The smoke choked her breath away as her skin burned at the fire's touch. She began to crouch in the fetal position as a harsh cold laugh echoed out from every direction.

"You see Namra?" The voice called out, "You can't even save your friends!"

Looking up, to her left she saw Wai standing, blood dripping down his face. Hearing a scream, she whipped around and saw Re on the ground, clutching his head. Finally, she saw Sylvia lying at her feet, dead.

Namra woke suddenly. She was aware of several incoherent voices muttering around her as well as the steady beeping of a monitor. That was, however, all that she was aware of. She tried to activate her semblance so she could see, but it didn't work. The monitor started beeping quicker as she tried to get up, but she soon realized she was restrained. She squirmed around, yelling and screaming as the restraints cut into the burns on her arms and legs. The beeping continued to get faster as she fought. The voices were becoming coherent now.

"Keep her restrained…get a nurse…burns will get worse."

She continued to struggle and scream, trying to get away. The monitor sounded like one continuous note. Namra felt blood as the restraints broke skin. Finally she felt a needle somewhere in her neck. She stopped struggling. The pain dulled. The monitor went back to its normal rhythm. The last thing Namra heard was the muttering of the voices before she fell back to sleep.

Namra woke again. This time she was lying in what seemed like a bed and felt bandages around her arms, legs and head. She tried to activate her semblance again, but to no avail. Namra ripped the sheets off her and quickly got out of bed, nearly falling over in the process. Leaning on the bed for support, she tried to walk in what she thought was the direction of the door. Feeling more confident, Namra let go of the bed and shakily took a step forward. She could feel her burns aching as she took another trembling step. A third step forward and pain shot through her foot, causing her to fall to the floor.

Namra attempted to stand as she heard a door opening behind her.

"Namra!"

She recognized the voice as Sylvia's, and heard her footsteps coming towards her. Namra almost fell over, but Sylvia caught her and helped her stand.

"Where am I?" Namra asked.

"You're in the hospital," Sylvia replied.

"I need to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"I can't be here! I have to leave!"

"What? You need to stay in bed," Sylvia demanded, "You're still healing!"

"I don't care! I need to get out of here!"

"Namra Please!"

Namra stopped when she felt a drop of water hit her hand. As another one hit her arm she realized that Sylvia was crying.

"Please Namra…I need you to be here…"

Namra pulled Sylvia into a hug. She felt Sylvia shudder in her arms.

"I'm here," Namra reassured her, "I'll stay here."

"Okay…" Sylvia replied, calming down slightly.

Namra let Sylvia lead her back to her bed. She lay down while Sylvia took a seat next to her.

"What happened?" Namra asked.

There was a long pause. Sylvia took a long shuddering breath before she spoke.

"According to Professor Caerul, you were completely covered in burns after your battle with Nuri. You were admitted into the hospital where they treated you."

"That explains the bandages," Namra responded.

There was another pause.

"There will be scarring," Sylvia continued, "It's incredible that you survived at all, why didn't Nuri finish you off?"

Namra chose not to answer that question. It was too painful to acknowledge.

"I'm sorry," Sylvia said quickly, "I didn't mean for that to sound so-"

"You said that Professor Caerul told you about the burns," Namra pointed out, trying to change the subject, "You didn't see them yourself?"

There was silence again before Namra followed up.

"What happened to you and Re? Did you catch Cole?"

More silence followed that question. Panic swelled in Namra's chest.

"Sylvia…where's Re?"

Again silence.

"Sylvia what happened to Re! Is he?"

"No," Sylvia replied quickly, "He's not dead."

"Well then where is he?"

Sylvia didn't respond.

"Sylvia, please tell me."

"He's…in a coma…"

"What?"

Namra sat up too quickly. Pain erupted from the burns on her skin.

"Namra please be careful!" Sylvia chided, pushing her back gently onto the bed.

"In a coma?" Namra asked incredulously, "Sylvia what-"

"I don't want to discuss it."

Sylvia's words hung in the air for a bit. Namra finally understood why Sylvia needed her to stay in the hospital. She didn't have Re for support after what had happened in the forest and Namra was the only one who she could talk to, unless Wai showed up.

Wait a minute.

"Where's Wai?" Namra questioned.

"I don't know where he is," Sylvia spat bitterly, "He helped get us to the hospital and to bring Nuri in but then he just walked off. I haven't seen him for the past twelve hours."

"He brought Nuri in?" Namra inquired, "You mean to jail?"

"Yea, he's currently being held in the Vale prison."

"Well, at least we got him."

"Yea," Sylvia replied softly.

There was so much more Namra wanted to ask her, but she settled for staying quiet for the time being. Namra once again tried to use her semblance. After a few minutes, she was able to vaguely make out Sylvia's shape at the side of her bed. However, something was off about Sylvia's posture.

"What happened to your arm?" Namra couldn't help but ask.

Sylvia touched her left arm reflexively.

"Cole broke it," Sylvia replied, "I'm wearing a cast until it heals."

Namra was not sure what to say. Sylvia stood up.

"Get some rest, I'll come back to see you later."

Namra nodded and saw Sylvia's form get closer to the door.

"I'm sorry…" Namra spoke suddenly.

Sylvia turned.

"For what?" she inquired.

"For everything," Namra replied, "I'm sorry for everything that happened in those woods."

"Don't be Namra," Sylvia consoled, "none of it was your fault. Now get some rest."

And with that, she left the room.

But it is…

A tear trickled down Namra's cheek.

It is my fault…

The impacts on the punching bag echoed around the empty room. It was rare that the training room was ever empty, but it suited Basil just fine, it helped him focus. He continued to swing at the bag, channeling every ounce of anger he had in his body. Left blow, right blow, left blow, right blow

"Ah!"

He cried out as a sharp pain shot through his right shoulder. Clutching it, his mind brought him back to the forest. The sight of his brother amongst the Grimm, sparks flying from their weapons as they fought, the steel sinking into his shoulder.

He shivered as the door opened behind him.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Basil turned and saw Celestia standing there.

"I thought you were visiting Aurelia in the hospital?" Basil inquired.

"She's resting right now," Celestia explained, "I came to check up on you."

He quickly turned back towards the bag.

"There's nothing to check up on here," Basil replied, "I'm fine."

"You and I both know that's crap," Celestia stated bluntly, surprising Basil.

He looked back at her and saw her determined expression.

"Talk to me," Celestia pushed further, "what's on your mind?"

Basil looked away again; it took all his effort to speak.

"I should've stopped him."

"What could you have done? You were passed out."

"Well I shouldn't have passed out," Basil rationalized, "It's my fault."

If I hadn't been so stupid I would've been able to see that attack coming, he thought furiously, and then I wouldn't have passed out, I could've helped them. I could've…He wouldn't be…

Tears filled his eyes as he began to shake.

It's my fault. I should've seen what was going on with Cinereus. I should've expected it.

He felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned, teary eyed to see a somber Celestia. She quickly wrapped him in a hug. Basil returned it, holding her tightly as he cried silently into her shoulder. And the two of them stood there, wrapped in each other's arms. Wrapped in each other's sorrow.

"So that's the plan then?"

The five of them were gathered around a small round table. The only source of light came from the few lamps on the wall of the room, illuminating a set of blueprints currently lying on the table. Bennett Caerul stood over the blueprints dressed in his usual white shirt and blue tie. His sleeves were rolled up, showing off a thin scar on his left forearm. He was currently staring at the man who asked the question.

"Yes Timber," Bennett replied, "It seems they want to use their research on dust to bring down the kingdoms."

The man called Timber removed his hiking boots from the table and leaned forward. He had a wild look with his cowboy hat, shaggy brown hair, and army jacket. His gray eyes pierced through Bennett as he spoke.

"How can they even do that?" Timber questioned, "They would need plenty of willing test subjects, thousands of experiments, and even then they may not be able to get it to work."

"I think they already have," Bennett continued, "On my mission with the students they fought a boy with extensive pyro kinetic abilities. When we captured him it was discovered that he had had fire dust injected into his body in the form of his tattoos."

"So Doctor Albin has already made one of the dust soldiers," Spoke a woman to Bennet's left.

The woman was also standing, her hands in the pockets of her ratty blue jeans. She had short, spiky black hair and sported a white tank top and thin rimmed blue goggles above her dark blue eyes.

"That just means we need to strike him now while he doesn't expect us."

"Great idea Prism!" Timber exclaimed sarcastically, "Except we don't know where on Remnant he could be!"

"So then we find him," Prism answered, "We find his base and shut him down."

"How?" Timber retorted.

"I have some radar I've been testing out; I think it should be able to find him."

"Prism that's a great idea," Professor Vert spoke to Bennett's right.

She wore a dark green combat skirt, white undershirt, and silver stud earrings. Her green eyes sparkled as she spoke.

"Unfortunately," she continued, "we can't just go around the entire continent hoping we pick him up randomly."

"Elianna's right Prism," Bennett concluded, "The radar idea could be useful but we need to figure out a general area that he could be hiding out."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Prism asked.

"That's what we are here to discuss," Bennett explained calmly, "I've presented what I gathered from my mission, so now we must figure out a way to find him."

"Why don't we interrogate the fire guy you captured?" Timber asked, "He probably has some good intel."

"He's just a boy, Timber," Elliana responded, aghast, "We can't do that to him despite what he's done."

"Besides," Bennett elaborated, "he's already proven difficult to work with. He won't give up anything."

Timber grunted, "And I suppose you have an idea?"

"I do. We spread out across Vale. There are several spots of high level dust activity around the kingdom, perhaps he has an outpost in one of those locations that we can investigate."

"And nearly get ourselves killed like your last mission?" Timber barked, "Not likely. Why are we even listening to you? You can't even keep a few kids safe."

Bennett took a deep breath. Timber always tried his patience, but tonight he was being especially aggravating.

"That mission became more of an issue than I had originally thought," Bennett admitted, "We encountered more resistance than we could have ever anticipated."

"Really? Well maybe you should have prepared more and not depended on students to fight your battles."

"Well at least I'm trying to gather information rather than sitting around and doing nothing!"

Timber stood up, nearly knocking over the table.

"You got something to say to me Bennet!? Cause I'll wipe the floor with you right here right now!"

"Enough!"

The room fell silent as the fifth person in the room spoke.

He was tall and thin with dark blue eyes and dressed in a large heavy coat with a scally cap on his head. His mere words had quickly calmed the rising tension in the room.

"This bickering is pointless," the man continued, "It will get us nowhere. Where are these high dust activities Bennett?"

"Right," Bennett answered, "There have been a couple of areas in Forever Fall forest, one within the walls of Beacon, and one last one in the city itself."

The man nodded.

"Very well, Timber you and I will search Forever Fall. Prism you investigate the one in the city. Elianna and Bennett, you two will take the one at Beacon. Since you are professors, you shouldn't have a problem investigating."

"Right, I'll send you all the coordinates for each spot," Bennett determined, "good luck everyone."

The five of them walked out of the small room and out into the night. Bennett put his trench coat on to combat the chilly weather.

We're coming for you Cole, Bennett vowed, We're coming to stop you.