To my surprise and pleasure, it seems that a lot of you guys really enjoyed the groundwork laid out by chapter one! Though I do want to clarify one thing: Argel's height. I'd vaguely said in the last chapter that he's over seven feet tall, which I'm still sticking to. You have to remember that astartes in general are a bit shorter out of their armour, but the average marine is (going off most author's consensus) a little over seven feet. In the Horus Heresy book 'Know No Fear,' there's a line that briefly described Argel as being particularly intimidating due to his height and size compared to other marines. I don't think he's eight feet tall (seeing as that's more Primaris-height out of the armour) but I'd easily put him at around 7'6", which is what I'm going for moving forward.

Thanks for the support so far, and let's hop right in to chapter 2!

Remnant's Serrated Sun

Chapter 2

Argel was shocked time and time again at the sheer vibrancy of this 'Beacon Academy.' Part of him attributed it to his experience of constant war and the less-than-humane conditions he was used to. Worn but well-kept training-rooms, a fine food-hall, gardens, pools, forges, even tailors. It was thanks to the latter that he was able to procure a comfortable set of clothes in under ten minutes, a maroon long-sleeved shirt, black cloth pants and simple sandals. It was the sandals that put him in a particularly good mood. They reminded him of home. Focusing back on the topic and hand, he was particularly interested in Beacon's forges, their current location.

As Glynda was showing around the Academy, he was simultaneously taking stock of what he had, which really wasn't much. His body was in decent shape, though he noted that having gone for who knows how long without food had left him weaker than acceptable. Of course, his armour, spear and blade were gone. His armour, beyond the raw increase to his physical ability (not counting the strength Raum can lend him) and the incredible defences it offered, was the symbol of his duty towards his father. His weapons, ignoring their master-crafted status, were the burdens he had to carry for his failures. No mere Astartes would be able to casually create either their armour from scratch, not to mention the weapons of the Legio Custodes, but he was no mere Astartes, nor was he alone.

'…that is… amusingly creative,' Raum mused.

'Is it really?' Argel asked as he looked at all the equipment before him, including raw materials he had to work with, 'You've directly merged with my armour on several occasions and it was becoming a second skin by the time we reached Nuceria. You could merge your knowledge of it with mine and we should be able to recreate my armour… and maybe my weapons, though likely not to the same level of craftsmanship.'

'…It is possible,' Raum confirmed after a moment, Argel getting the distinct feeling that he was searching for something, 'But it will take time, given my state.'

This was the most important thing missing: Erebus's Athame was among the few weapons capable of erasing a daemon's existence. Raum had somehow survived but at the cost of the majority of his essence being ripped away, his connection to the gods of Chaos entirely severed. That wasn't to say that he was harmless. Raum could still grant some useful mutations that would be invaluable in combat, though they were nowhere near the raw might of his original form. Interestingly, they both noted that he didn't have access to any mutations until after they killed that daemon in Beacon's forest.

'I understand,' Argel nodded slightly. Another thing that changed with Raum was how calm the daemon was. No insidious whispers, no constantly egging him on to kill and eat something, no ultraterrestrial weight on his mind and permanent mutations reminding him that he was coming less and less human, if that was even possible for an Astartes. As a matter of fact, Raum seemed oddly talkative, if a little cheeky.

"You seem to be taking particular interest in our forges," Glynda noted, "Should you decide to stay, you would be free to use them as you see fit. Anything in particular that you would like to make?"

"Yes," Argel said, "I've lost my weapons and armour, and I think this place has everything I would need to recreate them."

"Mm," Glynda hummed, tapping something into the strange little device called a 'Scroll' in her hand, "Noted."

Argel wasn't sure what to make of Glynda. Mid-fourties yet not lacking in youth, powerful in her own right if the dangerous yet refined nature of her soul was anything to go off of, her voice and mannerisms strict yet well-balanced and natural, almost regally predatory if you looked close enough. Calm and dignified but cautious around him. She was well within her rights to be. He suddenly picked up a few whispers from the students who were currently in the forge.

"Who do you think that guy is?"

"I dunno but look at the size of him. He's gotta be a professor or something."

"I mean, he looks kinda… young?"

"…nah, I'm betting he's early forties. Forty-five tops."

"…Damn, that jawline though…"

Again, Argel couldn't entirely cover up an amused huff, the corners of his lips quirking up slightly. Glynda's eyes flicked up at the sound, and though he covered it up well, he was sure that she saw going off of her own small smile. His head suddenly felt light and he placed a hand onto a nearby table to steady himself, acutely aware of how hungry he was.

"Are you alright?" She asked, immediately picking up that something may be wrong.

"Yes, I am fine," He assured her, "It's simply been a while since I've eaten anything."

"When was the last time you ate a proper meal?" Glynda asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Not counting the time spent… unconscious," He said, "A few weeks."

She looked dumbstruck for a moment before her stern expression quickly asserted itself back on her face.

"Canteen. Now."

He almost laughed again. Being ordered around by this woman wasn't exactly what he'd expected a few hours after returning from the dead, but as he'd hoped, he couldn't say that it was boring.

}-{

Glynda (and a few other students who happened to be hanging out in the cafeteria) watched in astonishment as Argel Tal polished off the seventh extra-large plate of plate of food in under a minute. It wasn't unusual for hunters to have large meals, even seconds and thirds, but seven? The meals he had grabbed from the buffet were all perfectly balanced in nutrition but stuffed with absurd proportions. Protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, each plate filled with different foods but all maintaining the same nutritional balance. Stranger still was how eloquently and politely he'd eaten despite the speed at which he devoured each meal. He handled the utensils, which were almost comically small in his massive hands, with shocking dexterity, Glynda unable to ignore how casually clean and precise his cuts were on the slabs of meat he'd chosen.

She wasn't sure what to think of this Argel Tal. He'd saved her life, no question about that, but there was still so many questions swirling in her mind about him. Who was he, where did he come from, what was his combat background, how did he receive his biological augmentations? Still, he was shockingly polite and almost soft-spoken, fascinated by the world around him and its technologies. He hid the latter well, but she couldn't forget the way his eyes shone when she showed him even some of the more basic things, like how a scroll worked. Just how far removed was he from society that he couldn't recognise something as basic as a scroll? At the same time, she'd never seen technology as complicated as his biomechanical implants. A strange contradiction, if ever there was one. Was he one of Her agents?

…No, that was impossible. He was entirely unfamiliar with the Academies and Ozpin himself, and he'd been sent here by Her, then he would've attempted to assassinate Ozpin on the spot. Given that he'd easily snuck up on the three of them, he could have actually succeeded, and even had they'd been prepared, his sheer brutality combined with exceptional skill would've have been tough to deal with in such an enclosed space.

"My apologies," He said evenly, though she smiled as he bowed sheepishly, "I can go for a very long period of time without sustenance, but I can't even remember the last time I've had a proper meal as good as that one."

"And what constitutes as sustenance for you?" Glynda asked, curious.

"Anything with some form of nutrients," He said honestly, "From raw meat to plant matter, I can extract sustenance from it. Even old bones or rotting meat if the situation calls for it."

Again, Glynda was astonished at Argel's physiology. Sure, there were a handful of hunters with semblances capable of something similar, but to the extent that he was describing was unheard of.

"And I assume this has something to do with your… extra organs?"

He wasn't surprised by that. He'd gathered that they'd examined him for any internal injuries and thus found out about his organs. That, and waking up in what looked like an Apothecary's ward was a big enough clue.

"One of them, yes," He nodded.

"…And if you don't mind me asking, how did you…?" She trailed off.

"Oh, that's easy. I earned them."

"Earned…?"

"Yes. I was given the honour of partaking in the trials to become an Astartes, our word for… soldier. Having passed them, I was granted these extra organs and joined my brothers-in-arms."

"You make it sound like you're part of a cult," Glynda noted with a raised brow, "…or an army."

"A military of sorts," He conceded, "Though everything was kept… within the family, so to speak."

Now Glynda was confused. An army that was made entirely out of a blood-related group? Not unheard of, but rare. It was also a bit of a relief: they couldn't have been particularly large.

"Okay…" She said slowly, "So how did you end up here?"

Throughout the interview, Argel was calm and level, his face relaxed as he explained himself. The moment the question left her lips, the air around him changed. She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise, her stomach dropping as his mouth just barely twitched. His eyes though… they weren't looking at her, instead focusing on his empty plate of food. Where they were once serene, they were now tightened with fury, irises almost glowing like sickly blue flames. Anyone who was in the cafeteria quickly begun to feel off, their skin itching and their food sloshing uncomfortably in their stomach, irrational and sudden fear making them all instinctively scoot away from the unknown source.

"Some of us… had disagreements with the other, so we ended up in a dispute. Half versus half. Some of us had dedicated so much to this disagreement that they would see that one side, the side I was on, won at all costs… even if that meant getting rid of people who they didn't like."

"…You," Glynda pieced together, shame creeping up her neck at having upset him.

"Yes. Me." He grit his teeth, breathed in, and slowly breathed out, his shoulders sagging as he massaged his face with his hand. When his eyes opened, that awful feeling radiating from him vanished, and he looked so confused and tired. He looked like Ozpin.

"I don't know how I ended up here," He spoke after a few moments, "I was tricked into tiring myself out defending my brother-in-arms, and then I was stabbed in the back when I was unprepared. I thought I died, then I… didn't. I… felt something threatening and reacted. And now I'm here."

"…I apologize for making you talk about something so traumatic this quickly," Glynda said with a small bow.

"Please don't," Argel shook his head, his smile small but genuine, "I know when I'm being interviewed, and I understand that it's your duty to do so."

"I wasn't that obvious, was I?" Glynda asked with a lopsided smile.

"A little," Argel admitted, his smile a bit wider, "Now that I've had my fill, what next?"

"Well, I'll guide you to your room and give you some time to think about what you'd like to do next. The rest is up to you."

"That's an agreeable arrangement," Argel nodded as he picked up his plates and deposited them in the disposal rack. "Show the way."

}-{

It had been fifteen minutes since Glynda had shown him his room. Spacious enough for someone of his size to move around comfortably, with a bed, chair and desk that had been rushed in for him. The toilet was a little small but Glynda had already ordered an appropriately size one to replace it by tomorrow, and the tub was more than large enough for him to fit in.

"If there's anything you need," She said, "Don't be afraid to call me."

"I'll be sure to do so," He confirmed, "…thank you. You're all being awfully accommodating to a stranger."

"When that stranger pops in out of nowhere and saves my life," She said with a smile, "Then this is the least we can do. No good deed goes unpunished after all."

She'd meant the last part as a joke, but she immediately regretted it as he turned away from her gaze, his expression taking on that tired and hurt quality for a moment. He recovered smoothly, smiling and nodding, knowing that she didn't mean any harm by it.

"Agreed," He said, "See you… later then?"

"Later," She nodded before turning around and walking away, refraining from whacking herself in the head for her poorly-timed comment. Argel saw the way her shoulders hunched in embarrassment and had to stifle another chuckle.

'We're quite lively for a dead man,' Raum noted.

"Well I'm not exactly dead, now am I?" Argel countered after he closed the door, "And you're much calmer than normal."

'This is our new normal now, isn't it?' Raum argued, a slightly petulant tone to the daemon's voice. 'We got extremely lucky. Wasting this opportunity to regain our strength would be foolish.'

"Obviously," Argel snorted, "But you know I'm not going to say yes right away. The last thing we need is suspicious eyes on us at all times."

'Our physical body is the creation of the Anathema,' Raum grumbled, 'We are already suspicious.'

"…point taken," Argel admitted with a rueful little smirk before he sat down in his chair and began operating his newfound Scroll device. In practice, it was similar to a data-slate with the added ability to directly and easily control its size for ease of storage. It could record, play videos, download and store data, and access a planet-wide database that contained all of the planet's information. A simple but very versatile piece of technology that was apparently accessible to the majority of this planet's people, according to Glynda. He quickly began to scan through the basic details of the world. Remnant, the Four Kingdoms and its Academies, the role of Hunters, the ab-humans known as Faunus, and most fascinatingly the Grimm.

'There's no way that the Imperium would just so happened to have missed a planet like this,' Argel thought, 'Ripe with combatants who actively fight against daemons, full of potential Astartes aspirants and wielding a metaphysical power that doesn't rely on the warp? I might not even be in the same universe anymore.'

He paused at that, the full weight of his rebirth settling on his shoulders, and suddenly he felt very tired. How much time had passed since Erebus had killed him? Was the Warmaster's rebellion still going on? How were Cyrene and Kharn? How badly did he fail them this time? He pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged.

'…We must rest,' Raum said. Argel thought that the daemon's voice was rather… gentle.

Argel silently agreed, taking his clothes off and settling on his bed. For what it was worth, it was the most restful sleep he'd had in years.

}-{

He'd woken up six hours later, shockingly late for his kind, yet he was all the more thankful for it. The sun hadn't even risen yet, so he was surprised to see a shattered moon through his window. He threw on some clothes and exited his room, revelling in the silence as he walked through the sleeping academy and made his way outside. The walk was equal parts sombre yet uplifting, the trophies of great daemons – Grimm, he reminded himself, pictures of incredible detail and plaques showing the achievements of students and staff alike. It reminded him so much of the Great Crusade, he couldn't help but be moved by it. The memories of the Word Bearers' greatest days were too easy to recall, so bright in comparison to the depths in which they'd fallen.

Fallen? He'd wanted to kick himself for even thinking that. His loyalty was to his father, his Primarch, and his just cause. Only in death does duty end, and he was no longer dead… and yet where even was he?

"I had figured that I would find you out here, sooner or later."

Mildly surprised but not shocked, Argel turned to see Ozpin behind him, cane in hand and approaching casually.

"Headmaster Ozpin," Argel greeted with a small bow, Ozpin waving him off.

"No need for that," Ozpin shook his head, "I'm off duty, so Ozpin is just fine. How are you feeling?"

"That's a bit of an open question," Argel noted, Ozpin inclining his head with a little grin as if to say 'humour me,' and so Argel did so, "I am… at something of a loss. You know nothing about me yet you took me in, despite how clearly different I am to you all. I'm not sure whether you're confident or foolish."

"Are you really so different?" Ozpin asked, "A kind deed is a universal concept, and I don't doubt that wherever you are from, the same applies there too."

The way he phrased that… Argel was on guard, and though he outwardly remained relaxed, both he and Raum were primed to lash out and take this man's head clean off his shoulders. Even still, they both knew that Ozpin was well aware of their preparedness yet remained entirely relaxed. He was either foolish, far more powerful than he let on, or just as ready to kill as they were.

"...Where I am from…" Argel said slowly, picking his words carefully, "There is little time for kindness. Conflict is why I was forged from a child into the current form I possess."

Ozpin gave him a strange look. Sadness? Pity? The thought of a (relatively) regular human was pitying him was equal parts strange and comforting, though he wasn't sure why. Maybe it meant that he wasn't entirely devoid of humanity? Or maybe it was because Ozpin found something relatable within Argel? Both?

"When somebody comes to Beacon," Ozpin started, looking up at the moon, "It's meant to be a new start for them. Lost in life, looking to redeem yourself, or simply seeking to do good in this world… whether someone seeking entrance here has one or even all three attributes, I would be hard-pressed to turn away such individuals."

"And you see me as one." Argel summarized. "You know next to nothing about me aside from what I've told Lady Goodwitch, and you're so willing to trust me?"

"You saved her life," Ozpin said seriously, "I've lost too many friends over the years, and she's been among my closest and most trusted. I'm very inclined to be nice to you."

"Hmm," Argel hummed, a little smile on his face as he stared at the moon. Sure, he'd already made up his mind about staying here, but the opportunity to do good in this new world while regaining his strength… he'd be foolish not to take it. Redemption though? No. He was too far gone to ever hope for something like that, given all he'd done. Besides, even if he was stick here for the foreseeable future, he wouldn't be here forever: every ounce of power he'd gain here would be dedicated to flaying Erebus alive. And so, he made his choice.

"…I, Argel Tal," He said as he turned to Ozpin, "Would like to formally join Beacon Academy under your retinue."

"Are you sure of your choice?" Ozpin asked. "There's no pressure on you to stay here."

"Yes," Argel confirmed, "I do intend to make my way back to my father, but that will take a very long time. I need more information and more experience if I wish to be prepared for the... blowback my return might cause."

"Very well. I, Ozpin, would be glad to take you in," Ozpin said with a bright smile, the two of them clasping the other's forearms, "Welcome to Beacon."

"...That's it?" Argel asked curiously, unused to this lack of formality, though it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

"Obviously not!" Ozpin laughed, "There's still paperwork to take care of, but I'll just dump that on Glynda's desk later."

"...You're a cruel man Ozpin." Argel said with a crooked smile.

"I'm a busy man," Ozpin shrugged with a cheeky grin of his own, "And I'm fairly certain that Glynda can breeze through something like this quickly enough."

...TWBY Continued...

More of a talkative chapter, sorry about that. Still, I have the next chapter ready to go, and THAT one is way more fun, I guarantee that. For now, much love and peace out!