Chief A/N: Hello everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying their time. (Insert mindless chatter), anyway enjoy!

Chapter 19: Insinuation and Infestation

Victor sat at his usual table earlier than he wanted to since he had to study for a test for his Combat Tactics class. Sure, he would study a lot with Pyrrha, but given his feelings for her he didn't really pay attention to the material in front of him as he did the woman in front of him. He ate his eggs while looking down at his notes, grumbling "Two weeks into the new semester and I already have a test." He heard someone take a seat in front of him, Deveraux exclaiming "Embrace the suck big guy. Only another semester and then we get a good two months off." Victor rolled his eyes and went back to his breakfast/solo study session.

It was about a minute of silence before Deveraux stated "So you and Blake were hanging out the other day." Victor took a shot of his milk, swallowing his food and replied "Yeah, kinda like all the other times we hung out." Dev smirked and nodded as he ate his breakfast and muttered "Alright, alright." There was a moment of silence as Victor ate and studied and Deveraux simply ate before Victor groaned "Okay, out with it." Dev still had a smirk on his face as he replied "Out with what?"

"Too early for your bullshit. Out. With. It."

Dev rolled his eyes and sighed "Fine. So, how was last night?" Victor shrugged and replied "Fine, I guess. Went to a book store and saw a movie adaptation of a book Blake and I read, it was crap if you read the book."

"And uh… after that?"

"After what?"

"After your date, genius."

Victor rolled his eyes and replied "It wasn't a date. We were just hanging out." Dev maintained his smirk and chuckled "Sure, just hanging out."

"We were. I'm not interested in dating a cat."

Victor stopped mid-fork lift, suddenly aware of what he let slip as Dev raised an eyebrow and questioned "Blake is a Faunus?" Victor cursed "Shit… I done fucked up."

"So she is? Interesting. So I'm guessing she's hiding it like you were?"

"Please don't tell her I let it slip. She'd skin me and sell my pelt."

Dev smiled and questioned "So keeping this between us is worth quite a lot to you." Victor narrowed his eyes and growled "You wouldn't dare." Dev raised his hands and chuckled "Down boy. I'm not interested in blackmailing my team lead… and my buddy." Victor took a deep breath and sighed "Right… thanks man."

"Not a problem. So who goes things with Pyrrha?" Victor dropped his head on the table and groaned "Ugh, you had to bring her up."

"Still nowhere?"

"Still nowhere."

Dec reached across the table and patted the back of Victor's head, chuckling "There, there big guy. One day you'll be able to man up… or wolf up, and ask her out." Victor groaned again, but only lifted his head and continued eating and studying. There was an awkward silence between them until Dev broke it by questioning "So did you hear about that excavation in Northern Vale?" Victor smiled and replied eagerly "Yeah man. They might've found a fortress from the first people, the ones who rose from the dust and stood against the Grimm!"

"Well, you're excited about this."

Victor exclaimed with extreme enthusiasm "How can you not be! I mean, this might be one of the remnants of the first people! We may even find evidence of humans and Faunus working together! It could push our equality up if people knew our two species fought side by side!" Dev smiled and shook his head, chuckling "You are a huge fucking nerd."

"Whatever. Oh, and friendly warning, stay out of Grey's way for a bit. Apparently she's mad at you for some reason."

Dev nodded and replied "Thanks for the warning." Victor finished his breakfast and grumbled "I'm headed to my class. See you around."

"Later."

Victor gathered up his things and headed to his class, walking by students who were finally making their way towards the mess hall for breakfast. It was still early, so Victor was the first to arrive in the class other than Professor Goodwitch, who was sitting behind her desk and looking over her lesson plans. "Morning, Professor." Victor greeted as he took his seat at the front of the classroom. "Good morning Mr. Roman. There was something I wanted to ask you, since you are here." Professor Goodwitch responded.

"Yes ma'am?"

"I've heard that you still study with Ms. Nikos, is that correct?"

"Yes ma'am."

Goodwitch hmphed and questioned "May I ask why? You are well above what you require to pass the class, even ahead of Ms. Nikos, so why do you still study with her?" Victor pulled out his notes and answered "Because I enjoy her company, and she still helps me with my work."

"Understandable."

Slowly, the other students started to fill in the classroom, Pyrrha taking her usual seat next to Victor and giving him a light punch in the arm. Victor smiled and asked "What was that for?" Pyrrha replied as she pulled out her supplies "For not waiting up for me this morning."

"Sorry, had a little more studying to do for today's test."

Pyrrha shrugged and replied "As good an excuse as any."

"I'll make it up to you, promise."

"You still need to repay me for pulling your grades out of the gutter."

"I'll think of something."

Pyrrha looked at Victor out of the corner of her eye, a small smiled creeping onto her face since she had a few ideas. She decided to keep them to herself since Victor hadn't shown much romantic interest in her. "There's always the future" Pyrrha would think to herself whenever she had thoughts about Victor and her, "There's always the future."

Blake sat on her bed just after classes, still in her uniform, and read as she usually did while Yang relaxed on her bunk above Blake's. Ruby and Weiss were in the library studying since Weiss was determined to help Ruby be the best leader possible. Blake silently turned a page when she noticed the golden waterfall of Yang's hair start to pour over the side of the bed until the blonde brawler's lilac eyes appeared with her usual smug smile. She was quiet until Blake questioned "What is it Yang?" Yang responded "Oh nothing, just noticing that you spend a lot of time with the Big Bad Wolf Berserker." Blake rolled her eyes and exclaimed "I enjoy spending time with him."

"I bet you do."

Blake sighed as she closed her book and questioned "What do you want Yang?"

"Just to ask a question."

"And that question would be?"

Yang jumped down from her bunk and questioned "When you and Victor are together, is it still considered doggy style?" Blake looked at her and questioned "What?"

"You know, since you two are getting busy. Never figured that a cat and a dog would be getting it on."

Blake got out of her bed and questioned "Where are you hearing this? Is Victor telling people that we're screwing?" Blake crossed her arms, glaring at Yang for thinking that her and Victor were dating and even doing such an act. Yang held up her hands in defense and replied "Easy Blake, I just figured that you two were together since you hang out so much."

"Well, we aren't. We're just friends. Do you know where Victor is? I want to talk to him about these rumors."

"Last I heard he was in his room."

Blake nodded and replied "Thank you. I'll see you later." Blake walked out and headed to VAND's room, hoping to find Victor and see if he could do something to stop the rumors of their romantic relationship. Blake approached Vanguard's door and knocked, hearing movement from behind when it opened and Victor stood before her without a shirt and basketball shorts. "Hey Blake, what's up?" Victor greeted as he leaned against the doorway. Honestly, Blake didn't hear him, she was a little more fascinated with his scars that covered his body.

How anyone could go through getting that many scars and still maintain a smile was beyond her. Victor whistled and called "Blake, eyes are up here." Blake shook her head and replied "Sorry."

"Not a problem, let's of women find scars attractive. Although most of those women are psychotic."

"Can we talk?"

Victor stepped aside and let Blake in, taking a seat at the table in the corner of Victor's room, Victor taking a seat next to her. "What did you want to talk about?" Victor questioned as he leaned forward on his knees. Blake sighed and answered "The rumors regarding… us… as a couple." Victor leaned back and let out a breath through his nose, groaning "I heard. Dev decided to pick on me about it this morning."

"So you know that other have been talking about it as well?"

"Yep. All though, to be honest, the idea doesn't sound terrible."

Blake looked at Victor with a raised eyebrow, questioning "You mean you like the idea about us dating?" He simply shrugged and replied "It's crossed my mind a few times. I enjoy your presence, you're pretty, and we have similar interests. Have you not considered it yourself?"

"Maybe, but what about Pyrrha?"

Victor chuckled and sighed "We've all seen how well that's going." Blake nodded and replied "True enough. So… do you want to give it a try?"

"What? You mean dating? I mean, it could work out, but neither of us have asked."

Blake sighed and asked "Maybe we should kiss? Just to see if that feeling is there?" Victor shrugged and replied "Couldn't hurt I guess." Victor leaned forward, Blake following his lead until the two were touching foreheads. Victor slid his hand up Blake's arm until it reached the back of her head, gently pulling her in until their lips met. Blake responded by reaching up and caressed his scarred cheek, feeling the difference between skin and scar.

It was roughly a minute long, the two separating lips but keeping their foreheads together. It was quiet until Victor questioned "Well?" Blake bit her lip in question since, well, the kiss was really… empty. Blake finally responded "Um…" Victor broke away from her and happily sighed "What a relief! I thought it was just me." Blake sighed with a smile and added "I know how you feel. It was just…"

"Empty? No spark or fireworks to it?"

"Exactly."

Victor crossed his arms with a smile and proclaimed "Well, at least that's out of the way. Want to get something to eat?" Blake smirked and shook her head, finding the thought that he was able to brush the moment they just had to the side so easily, but maybe that was for the best. "Sure. Let me change first." Blake stood up and walked to her room and changed, finding Victor did the same as she walked out of her room. The two began making their way to the mess hall where their friends were probably 2/3rds of the way through dinner.

"So how goes the archeological dig you've been following?" Blake questioned, attempting to make small talk. "Really great. They're almost through to the fortress and even giving live feed when they get in! Super excited." Victor answered.

"You're such a complex individual."

"Meh, that's a debatable topic."

The two entered the mess hall and found their friends, all of them just about done with their food. Alexi exclaimed as the two sat down "Thanks for finally joining us. Have fun while we were gone?" Victor and Blake seemed to be on the same brain wavelength and rolled their eyes simultaneously, Victor exclaiming "We aren't together. Blake and I are just friends, nothing more." Weiss, who was filling her nails, sighed "That's all they've been talking about tonight. I told them it wasn't true."

"At least someone was against the rumors."

Pyrrha spoke up and exclaimed "Most of us didn't believe it, even though Yang and Alexi pushed the idea as much as they could." Yang laughed "But they'd be so cute together! A cat and a wolf? It's adorable!" Alexi added "Plus with all the time they spend together, it's hard not to see them dating." Blake shook her head and sighed "I should've know you had something to do with this Yang." Victor was about to add on when he felt his scroll about to vibrate.

He quickly pulled it out to see the notification that there was a live feed from the archeological site. "Yes! They're getting ready to go through the front door!" Victor squealed to himself. Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her seat and ran behind Victor to get a good look at his scroll over his shoulder. "Have they found anything else?" Pyrrha questioned.

"Nothing yet. They're at the gate now, getting ready to go in."

Ruby questioned "What's going on?" Nigel answered "An archeological dig that may have uncovered a fortress from the First People. Victor has been excited about it." Victor nearly shouted "How can you not be excited?" Dev chuckled "Because we aren't huge fucking nerds."

"Fuck you."

"No thanks, I'm straight."

Victor rolled his eyes and looked back down at his scroll, Pyrrha resting her chin on his shoulder, making Victor a little uneasy. He pushed his uneasiness aside and continued to watch the feed of the team heading down the tunnel that they had dug, approaching the fossilized wooden door of the fortress. Grey groaned and questioned "Is there a way for us to see this so we don't all have to dry hump your back?" Kira quietly pointed out "The T.V. sets in the common areas can link with our scrolls. Victor could link it so the rest of us can see the feed." Nabuya cheered "Let's do that before we miss anything good!"

Victor checked the feed very quickly to see they were beginning to cut in to the doors, Victor stating "Let's get moving." The large group moved with a bit of speed to a common room, where Victor hooked his scroll to the large screen T.V. just as the excavation team broke through. The room was massive with large columns extending into the darkness overhead, worn tapestries hung on the walls while the rugs on the floor were barely visible. One of the people noted "Should the rug be as torn up as it is? It looks like someone was dragging blades along it."

The team continued to push into the darkness, flashlights illuminating the darkness and relics of the past. They made it to the back of the wall where it appeared something had dragged a large bladed object across the wall. Another member of the team questioned "What could have done this? Some kind of Grimm? Invading country?" Before anyone could answer, there was a scratching sound like a clawed creature walking by. The flashlights started looking around, the person handling the live feed camera spinning to catch something large move into one of the hallways that branched from the main room.

"Nothing could've survived down here for that long!" One person barked. The lead archeologist exclaimed "If there is any chance of something being down here, we're going to need armed assistance. Everyone out." The group began to move back towards the exit when something screeched within the bowels of the ancient fortress that sent chills down everyone's spine. The group began to move when the sound of something big running began to echo through the halls, forcing the team to begin sprinting back through the tunnels. The person with the camera turned it around so they might catch a glimpse of anything that pursued them, which something did.

There wasn't much to see as one of the team was dropped, the only thing anyone saw was a flash of white with red markings, signaling Grimm. Two more were brought down before everyone ran out of the tunnel and started screaming for everyone to run. The person with the camera ran and hid behind a pile of crates, whimpering as they looked around the corner of crates to see what was happening. After a minute or two, something finally forced its way through the tunnel, and the beast was massive. It stood nearly 15 feet tall on large, powerful legs that had three clawed toes.

The body was reptilian, having a large tail for balance to a head that resembled a tyrannosaur. The arms of the beast were strange, they were large and muscular, but the hands were replaced by what looked like large shield pieces that tapered into spikes at the end. Although the most discerning thing about it was the head what the bottom jaw was more like a dual set of pincers, and the creature had no eyes. It had the common Grimm appearance, a white skull with red markings with armor plates covering the neck, back and side until it reached the base of the tail The Grimm held its ground, driving its spear shields into the ground a few times before turning towards the camera man and charging, the bottom jaw splitting into the insect-like pincers with a deafening roar.

The camera footage cut off as the beast came down on the individual, leaving nothing but static and crippling fear. Everyone shared looks of pure horror and fear, knowing that something like that has survived thousands of years and was now loose upon Remnant.

Chief A/N: What do we have here? A new terrifying enemy loose upon Remnant? Oh what fun! (Insert maniacal laughter) Anyway, until next update!