And I'm back, sorry for being gone so long but shit gets on top of you, you know. but the important thing is im back in business and i have some new chapters for you all to enjoy. also if you could possibly leave a review id really appreciate it, as itll help me know if you enjoyed it enough for me to keep writing or not.
The morning after Kameron tried to kill Shayne again, tensions were high as Lina was still not talking, which worried everyone as she was normally willing to talk with anyone. Shayne had sat up with her all night, mostly because she didn't let go of him at all. When she eventually fell asleep Shayne carried her to the bed and laid her on it. He knew that they should have been in class but he knew that as soon as she woke up she would want him nearby.
At around midday she woke up. Lina sat up and looked around the room, in a slight panic, Shayne was beside her in an instant. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
"So, are you gonna answer me or what?" she looked at him confused, then she spotted the small box on the table next to him.
"I-I don't know what to say…"
"Well just say yes then, we don't have to rush it" she smiled and kissed him.
"I do hope I'm not interrupting anything"
The both turned to face Ozpin.
"Oh, professor I didn't hear you come in"
"Yes…anyway, I know about last night, and I'm here to tell you that I don't condone this but I see that I can't do anything about it, so I'll make you a deal, you keep this under wraps until you graduate or ill expel you both"
"But, Professor that's not…"
"Fair? I know but this is a place of education and I must uphold that, although, on a personal level, congratulations, now, Shayne I hope you don't disappoint tomorrow" Ozpin walked out.
"What did he mean by he hopes you don't disappoint tomorrow?"
"Nothing, now I know he said to keep quiet about this but since Eddi and Dundra know that I asked you, we can tell them surely"
Lina just smiled and kissed him again.
The others trained all day; they ignored all attempts to contact them except from their teammates or the other team. Ralen called them all together at around 10.
"Ralen, what are we doing here, we're tired and the OP is in 2 days, we need our sleep" Hanna complained, yawning.
"I was going over the plans for the storage facility and something didn't make sense, so I went and did some recon, they've got a 35 foot wall surrounding the building now" everyone perked up, this had completely eradicated their plan of just getting in through a window.
"so what do we do now?" Silver asked, she had liked the old plan.
"I've been working on something all day to get around it" he picked up a backpack and tossed it to Shayne.
"What do I do with this?"
"Put it on stupid" Shayne scowled at Silver who just smirked at him.
Shayne slung it over his shoulders and Ralen secured the straps and handed him a button.
"And this is for what?"
"Shayne, I want you to jump off the cliff, count to three and push the button"
"Okay, I don't think this is safe, Ralen can't you just explain it?" Jiang was concerned for Ralen's blatant disregard for life in this instance.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Shayne said as he ran to the cliff edge.
Dundra was concerned, even more so than Jiang and ran after Shayne, he skidded to a stop as Shayne plummeted. He counted to three and pressed the button. The wings unfolded as the others arrived at the cliff edge, Shayne was still falling, Ralen held his breath. Hanna couldn't watch so she buried her head in Silvers chest. The wings caught the wind and Shayne veered upwards, he found that by shifting his weight he could steer it, somewhat crudely but enough to turn it back towards the cliff.
He had climbed up above the cliff; the wind was strong enough to carry him high. He pitched the glider into a dive towards the cliff top, pulling up in time to land the glider, Shayne knew something was wrong the second he connected with the ground, his leg buckled and he went head first into the dirt, rolling end over end, the glider falling to pieces as he was smashed into it repeatedly.
When he came to a stop a trail of pieces and blood was left behind him. The others came running and he sat up, he tried standing but winced in pain at his knee.
"Shayne, are you okay? Can you walk?"
"Jiang calm down, I'm fine, I just need to walk it off" Jiang still insisted on checking his wounds.
She knew he was tough but the fact that his Aura wasn't activating properly made her worry. Dundra helped Shayne to his feet, he took a walk back along his wake, and he knew that something was desperately wrong; he should have healed by now. He collapsed from the pain in his leg and blacked out.
Ralen was working on the design of the glider when his attention was caught by a sound from the hallway. He crept to the door and listened.
"Dundra I'm worried about him, his Aura should have activated by now"
"I know, something is definitely wrong, he has seemed off ever since Cross attacked the school"
"Maybe it's something to do with him, didn't he say that he had a connection with Shayne through the Grimm?"
"Yes, but without Shayne being awake we have no way of knowing for sure"
"Maybe Jiang knows something that could help"
"Maybe, but we don't want to wake her now"
"It can wait a few more hours, I just hope that Cross doesn't unleash the old Shayne"
"I know what you mean, if 'He' got free again, who knows if we would be able to stop him again"
"Well let's just hope that that doesn't happen, goodnight Dundra"
"Goodnight Lance"
Ralen quickly stepped back to the glider as Lance walked in.
"What are you still doing up?"
"I'm trying to find out why Shayne got hurt earlier"
"Ralen, it can wait until morning surely"
He nodded and when Lance went into the bathroom, he left. He headed to the roof and climbed down the outside of the building, to SHDE's window. He jimmied it open and clambered in. He stood over Shayne, leaning in close to his left arm. The Grimm writhed under inspection, he held his hand over it and he felt a heat build in his hand, he knew the two were connected somehow, he just didn't know how. A sudden silence from the Twins at the end of the room concerned him, until he heard the click.
"Stand up slowly, and turn around" Vossler's voice echoed slightly.
Ralen did as he was asked and as he turned the pistol was lowered.
"What are you doing here Ralen?"
"I wanted to check something"
"And it couldn't wait until morning?"
Ralen shook his head.
"Well, I think you should go now, and don't do this again"
Ralen started to climb out the window.
"Using the door Ralen"
"Oh right, sorry" Vossler locked the door behind him and went back to bed.
Ralen crossed the hall and let himself into his dorm, lance was still awake.
"Hey, where'd you go?"
"I wanted to check something"
"And?"
"And nothing, I'm going to bed you should too"
Lance was sure that he was keeping something from him, but he said nothing about it.
The next morning tensions were high, the OP was scheduled to happen that night and none of the girls had any training with the glider. Ralen took them and taught them how to use them while Shayne was meditating under the ever watchful gaze of Lance and Dundra.
Shayne searched his mind for the mental links he had, Lina's was strong and active, so he didn't dwell on it just in case he gave away what they were doing that night. He found what he thought was the cause of his problem; there was another presence in his mind, besides his own, Nemea's, Lina's and 'His'. Shayne tapped into it and found something that angered him.
Dundra and Lance watched as Shayne slowly became enveloped in Grimm, he started smoking. Dundra opened a window. Lance crouched down next to Shayne, Dundra caught his wrist.
"We don't know what happens if we touch him when he's like this"
"Oh okay, I wonder what he's doing?"
Shayne was inside Cross's mind. He saw dark things, secrets about the Grimm, Remnant and himself. Shayne knew that this wasn't normal, that these weren't things that any man should know. He back tracked to his own mind, but found his way blocked by an unseen force.
'Shayne, how nice of you to visit'
'Cross, let me go, now'
'Not before I find something out'
'What do you want?'
'I want to know how powerful you truly are'
'No….' Shayne broke contact and severed the connection.
Shayne felt his power return to him, his Aura coursed through his veins; it fought for control against the Grimm, Shayne had to physically control it as if 'He' got free, it would be almost impossible to defeat 'Him' again. He didn't want to stifle his Aura again, but he had to, to keep a great evil from the world. Shayne gasped back to consciousness.
"Shayne, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good" he hopped to his feet.
"What happened?"
"I was in Cross's mind, he tried to force me to let 'Him' loose, I got the hell out as soon as he became distracted"
"But you started glowing, a weird purple-blue colour"
"But my Aura is dark purple, so why was it that colour?"
"Shayne, didn't you mix souls with Lina?"
"Yeah, and hers is a crystal blue, but I haven't seen it for months, she's not really been injured"
"So it could easily be a similar colour"
"Well, let's not stay on this; we've got the OP to deal with"
The others arrived a few minutes later.
Shayne decided he needed to do some last minute training before the OP. He called Lance, Dundra and Ralen to the training field, the sun was starting to dip towards the horizon. He bid them stand in a triangle around him. The sun sank lower and lower.
"Shayne, we need to get on with this otherwise we'll miss our window" Shayne silenced Ralen with a wave of his hand.
He looked up and stood ready. The trio attacked him.
Shayne didn't draw any of his weapons; he used the three of them to fight the battle. He dodged in split seconds causing blades to clash and catch on each other. Ralen saw what he was doing and thrust where he thought Shayne would dodge to, but instead found Dundra's shield.
Shayne set about winning the sparring match. The three watched as his Aura shone from him, he stepped back and it moved on its own accord. It ran forward, as Dundra tried to strike it, it stepped inside his guard and kneed him the jaw, sending him to the floor. Shayne's body then rag dolled and followed the spectre's exact movements. Ralen raised his crossbow and fired Shayne used Dundra's shield to deflect the bolt. He threw the shield at Ralen, who ducked under it, it grazed his back. Before he knew what was happening Ralen was falling, Shayne had rolled over his back and had pulled him after him, he planted Ralen firmly into the ground. The Grimm was writhing under his skin.
Lance had seen that Shayne was fast, but he was sure that he was faster. As Shayne walked towards him, Lance smiled and disappeared. Shayne stood ready. When Lance reappeared he hit Shayne once then teleported to another angle to hit him again. Shayne took several good hits but as always he was learning. After a few more hits he struck out with a sharp kick. Lance appeared and it caught him right in the chest. He flew back a few feet before landing on his back. Shayne stood up straight and bowed. He helped his allies up an smiled at Lance.
"You guys look like shit"
"Well that's what happens when you get pounded into the ground" Dundra said waving Shayne off.
"I hope I didn't hurt you guys too bad"
"Just a couple of bruised ribs, nothing I can't walk off" Lance said with a smile.
"Good, come on, we'd better get moving or we won't be there for the OP" Shayne took off at a run and Lance and Ralen ran after him, Dundra just walked.
They met the girls at the Bullhead and stepped straight it.
"Shayne you said you wouldn't hurt them"
"According to them I didn't" he smiled. He nodded to the pilot and he started to pull away.
"Wait, where's Dundra?"
"He'll be here, don't worry" the Bullhead began flying alongside the cliff. They were headed to a courtyard near to the storage facility.
They heard a thump on the roof, the pilot kept the airship under control.
"See I told you he'd be here" Shayne opened the rear door and Dundra dropped onto it.
He sat down and the girls all looked at him.
"What?"
"You two are crazy"
"Tell us something we don't know" Shayne clapped him on the shoulder as the door closed.
The pilot slowed as he reached the courtyard. Shayne opened the door and he stepped out onto it, followed by Ralen, Lance and Dundra.
"Stay safe guys" Eddi said, she couldn't look Dundra in the eye as of late.
"Likewise, c'mon Lance, stop making doe eyes" Shayne said calmly.
"I'm not making doe eyes" he complained as they dropped to street level.
As the airship started to pull away to drop the girls off, they all looked at each other.
"So, who was he making doe eyes at?" Hanna asked intrusively.