#tilia bosco

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 1: THE FALL

Oh ho ho what’s all this then? A long time ago I mentioned my plans to write out and post the story of Team KWTZ and well the time is finally here - at least for the first chapter! I still have a few left to finish off before I queue this all up proper so think of this as a little teaser of sorts. Something to whet your appetite if you will.

Enjoy.

KIERAN

The sounds of panicked screaming were nearly deafening at this point, something made worse by his heightened hearing. Kieran didn't consider himself the sort of person to become flustered, but amidst all this ruin and destruction, it was hard not to feel some form of fear creeping into his mind.

A Nevermore landed in front of him, screeching at him and flapping its wings in defiance as Kieran moved closer to it. A spray of needle-like quills was sent in his direction, and he rolled away to avoid them, blue eyes never once letting the Grimm out of his sight. There was another screech, and just as it reared up in preparation for another attack, he struck. He swung up with his sword with a clean and precise motion, and the head of the beast came clear off, the rest of its black body dissipating moments later.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned on the spot to face the civilians who he had ordered to take cover when the Nevermore had landed by them. One of them, a woman with dirtied clothes, rushed up to him and shook his hand vigorously.

“You have to get out of the area, ma’am. It’s still not safe here,” He advised, his gaze moving from the woman to the two other civilians that had been hiding with her.

“We will, thank you,” The woman nodded, finally releasing his hand. She made a gesture for her companions to come out of hiding and make their way down the street and to safety. She waited until they left the street and got to shelter before turning back to Kieran, looking at him with concern. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me,” He responded calmly, hoisting his sword onto his shoulder. “I’m just doing my job.”

The woman still seemed hesitant to leave but satisfied with his answer enough to finally leave him and retreat with her companions. When she had disappeared, a more determined resolve swept over him, and he rushed back into the fray.

His next target was a Creep, which had been meandering aimlessly in the area ever since it spawned from one of the pools of black liquid left behind by the Wyvern flying over the city. Kieran had never heard of a Grimm like that before, so to see such a beast with his own eyes had been quite the sight. He dreaded to even think what it would even take to defeat such an enemy.

Raising his fingers to his mouth, he whistled to get the Creep’s attention. It swivelled on the spot, four eyes staring at him menacingly, before charging. Kieran barely had time to bring his sword down into a defensive stance before it was upon him. He managed to sidestep out of the way just in time to avoid getting rammed by the creature.

It quickly turned to try and find him again, and in the moment it took for the Creep to right itself, Kieran saw a chance to make a move. He rushed forward, sword drawn and prepared to make a sweeping motion at its left leg, an area of its body that was more vulnerable due to a lack of bone plating.

To his disappointment, the move did not take the leg clean off, and only served to aggravate the Creep further. This time when it turned, Kieran was slow to react and got smacked by its tail, which caused him to stumble and fall to his knee. He was quick to rise back to his feet, putting on a spinning motion as he did so, and swinging out with his word hoping for contact. Luckily it did - steel clashing against the bony skull of the Creep. It wasn’t a damaging hit by any means but was enough to drive the two of them apart.

Kieran took a moment to catch his breath and was about to ready himself to rush towards the Creep again, but before he could do so, three consecutive arrows struck its side. Kieran turned his head in the general direction of the arrows and saw Lin stood there having just released them. Their eyes met and they gave each other a reassuring nod. A cry rang out from behind Lin, and out of the shadows, their teammates Tilia and Wyn came rushing forward to attack. Wyn slowed his pace to fire off some icy blasts from his gauntlets, which hit their mark and caused little ice formations to form around the Creep’s feet. Tilia kept running forward and used her momentum to jump up and bring her sword down on the Grimm with such force that it soon gave in to the power behind her attack.

With the area clear for the moment, Kieran and his teammates took the chance to regroup. Although he was relieved to see them and grateful for the help, his relief soon gave way to annoyance, annoyance that they were here with him and not looking out for Roisin as he had requested.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, looking at them all in turn. “I thought I asked you to find Ros and her team!”

Tilia folded her arms and huffed, but eased her stance when she caught the glance shared between Lin and Wyn. Judging by the look that passed between them something was wrong, and Kieran wasn’t sure he was prepared to hear the answer.

“Is she...Is she dead?” He asked, voice barely audible.

“We couldn’t find her,” Lin answered softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But we did find Tara. There was nothing we could have done for her.”

“What about Perry or Midge?” Kieran prompted.

“Perry was heading towards the academy,” Tilia answered, making a vague gesture behind her in the general direction of where the academy lay. “Not sure about Midge though.”

Kieran frowned. At the very least Perry had been alive, but given the state of Vale right now, it was anyone’s guess what his fate was now. He didn’t admit it outright but he was troubled by Tilia’s words since it implied Perry had left for the academy by himself and had not been accompanied by his remaining teammates.

“I need to use my semblance,” Kieran decided after a moment. His semblance allowed him to track down people he had a close connection with. The reason he hadn’t used it before was that it needed a lot of focus to get a more precise location, and even then it could be hampered by distance and other factors.

“Okay ladies, you know the drill,” Wyn said with a snap of his fingers, when Kieran had gone still and quiet. “Barricade formation.”

As Kieran steadied his breath, trying to clear his mind of all thoughts other than his sister, the rest of his teammates gathered around him. Lin stood in front, bow drawn at the ready should anyone - human, android, or Grimm - dare to come close they would meet the end of one of her arrows. Wyn and Tilia flanked his sides, Tilia stood to the left of him, both shield and sword at the ready and Wyn was to the right, his fists cocked at an angle that would allow him to sharply blast any enemy.

It took a moment or two, but finally Kieran was able to get a grasp on her location. His eyes snapped open, and he pointed west. "She's in that direction."

The four of them set off following that prompt, Lin and Wyn utilising their ranged capabilities to temporarily distract or disable any Grimm in their path, whilst Kieran and Tilia dealt the finishing blows. They carried on in this manner, making their way through the city, until they came to an area that had clearly overrun with Grimm. Fellow Beacon students and teachers were already working on clearing the area, dealing with a particularly nasty pair of Beowulf's. Although he desperately wanted to find his sister and ensure she and her team were safe, his sense of duty meant he simply could not leave his fellow students to clear the area alone.

He barked a quick order at his teammates, and for the time being, their priorities changed. Tilia and Wyn got to work quickly, with Tilia using her shield to launch Wyn higher in the air for an advantage on some of his attacks. Kieran lingered close to Lin, acting as a guard down below, whilst she got into a better vantage point to shoot from. As he hacked and slashed, she rained down arrows from above, using her semblance to aid some of her shots, manipulating the trajectory of her shots in ways that no ordinary archer could do.

When the Grimm had been cleared, Kieran and the rest of his team lingered to help guide a few civilians out of the area and encouraged them to follow some of the other students to an evacuation point deeper in the city. When nearly everyone had gone, the four of them began looking around the area for signs of Roisin or the rest of team PEWT.

As far as he could tell, his semblance still seemed to indicate she was in the area, but with how much rubble and obvious destruction there was, Kieran was beginning to worry it would wind up being more of a recovery mission at this rate.

Or at least that's what he thought until Wyn shouted them over to where he was sorting through some rubble.

"I found Ros!" He would add in a yell, before crouching down to try and move a block that was preventing him from getting close. "Hold on, I've got you, I've got you." He kept assuring the still unseen Roisin.

The rest of KWTZ gathered around Wyn, waiting quietly as he tried to move the rubble, but after a moment he gave up and looked to Tilia. "Tilly, I need your arms," He said, gesturing for her to come and help him.

"Hold this," She said to Kieran, before passing him her sword. Tilia moved to stand next to Wyn, squatted ever so slightly, and cupped her hands under an edge of the rock before encouraging Wyn to do the same. "Okay, we lift on three. One, two…"

But before she got to three, she was able to lift the block herself, managing to flip it on its side so it was no longer in the way.

"What happened to three?" Wyn asked, pouting as he looked over at his partner.

Tilia rolled her neck a little before smirking. "Come on, Winifred, we all know your skinny little twig arms wouldn't have been able to make the cut." She teased.

"I think you just wanted to show off."

The two of them then stepped away as Kieran rushed forward, crouching so he was of a height with his cowering sister. When she realised who was around her, she shuffled forward, but the fear in her eyes was evident. As she came into the light a bit more, Kieran could see she had dust in her hair and clothing, and she was bleeding heavily from a gash on her palm.

"Take this," Tilia prompted without asking, handing him her green scarf. He gave her an appreciative nod, before hastily wrapping it around the cut. Roisin said nothing but winced when he tightened it.

"Come on, Ros, let's get you up," He said, urging her to get to her feet. But his sister simply would not budge, only making a small whimpering noise when he tried to pull her to her feet. "Roisin!" Kieran spoke her name with a hint of urgency. "We have to go! Come on!"

But still she would not move.

"I can't," She whispered softly. Her eyes looked behind him at a mass of rubble.

"I think she's in shock," Lin's voice cut in. "We might have to carry her out of here."

"I'll do it," Wyn offered, stepping forward.

"She's my sister," Kieran argued. "I'll do it myself."

"No, let Wyn do it," Lin urged, looking at Kieran with a pleading look. "We need you and Tilia to clear us a path."

Kieran hesitated, mentally torn between insisting he should carry her or conceding and letting Wyn do so. A moment passed and he let out an audible sigh, before standing to his feet, and giving Wyn a silent nod to go ahead and get her.

He moved away and Lin gave him a grateful nod. It took a few seconds of careful manoeuvring, but Wyn was eventually able to lift Roisin away from the rubble, and safely into his arms.

"Everyone ready?" Kieran asked, looking at each of his teammates and Roisin in turn. When they all gave him a silent nod, Kieran stepped ahead of the small group, prompting Tilia to do the same and stand beside him. He cast one last look over his shoulder at his sister, before leading them forward - hopefully to safety. "Let's move."

[sangha-scaramuccia]

Di sabato al Monte Corno

Sabato 6 febbraio siamo saliti sul Monte Corno eravamo: Maestro, Kioka, Danila, Giovanni, Silvia, Donatella, Gloria, Doc, Teresa, Andrea, Maurizio, Irene, Peppe e io. C'era anche Bea.

Dopo una sosta a Morro Reatino abbiamo proseguito con le auto per poi lasciarle all'inizio del sentiero che porta al Monte Corno.

Più che un sentiero in effetti si tratta di una strada bianca che, coperta da una piccola spolverata di neve, era stata percorsa da un'auto che aveva lasciato i segni sulla neve e che credo, fosse diretta ad un impianto che si trova poco sopra.

Abbiamo iniziato a percorrere la strada resa un po' scivolosa dalla poca neve, piacevolmente immersa nel bosco, ma molto ampia e visibile. La temperatura era piacevole tanto che ho dovuto togliere il giubbotto e pure il golfino: non tirava vento e l'aria era pulita dalla tramontana dei giorni precedenti.

Abbiamo seguito la strada per un po' di chilometri e poi io e Silvia, che eravamo un po' avanti, abbiamo continuato a seguirla, anche quando all'altezza di un laghetto ghiacciato bisognava lasciarla per girare sulla destra, (proseguendo credo che si arrivi al Monte Tilia). Per fortuna che Bea era con noi, così quando ha sentito Donatella che da dietro la chiamava è subito corsa da lei e ci ha fatto capire che anche noi dovevamo tornare indietro.

Quindi lasciata la strada ci siamo incamminati verso una piccola salita che all'inizio portava ad un bel prato verde senza neve perché esposto al sole e poi ad un tratto più ripido e innevato all'interno del bosco. 

Davanti Silvia e Donatella ad affondare nelle neve, noi dietro a seguire le loro orme e dopo un po' di fatica abbiamo scavallato un tratto di rocce un po' impervie soprannominate "la finta vetta", da cui dopo poco si è intravista la cima ufficiale.

Raggiunta la vetta ci siamo seduti nel punto meno esposto al vento, che comunque non era poi così forte. La giornata era proprio stupenda: tanto sole, poco vento, cielo terso e vette in vista ad ogni lato. Davanti a noi il Vettore, il Gran Sasso, il Terminillo innevato e i Monti della Laga, dove il Maestro ha promesso di portarci in futuro. In basso una bellissima vallata con un piccolo rifugio che scendendo raggiungeremo.

Abbiamo mangiato con calma soddisfatti di stare insieme lassù. Mancava Andrea che però ci aveva avvertiti della sua intenzione di fare solo una parte del percorso.

Così dopo i panini, il caffè di Peppe e i buonissimi cachi secchi di Teresa, siamo scesi per la vallata davanti a noi, ci aspettava poi una breve salita dove insieme a Kiyoka e qualche altro abbiamo distanziato gli altri, poi sospettando che avessero preso un'altra strada li abbiamo aspettati alla fine del primo tratto per poi scendere insieme percorrendo la larga strada dell'andata.

Con Kiyoka, Danila, Maurizio, Peppe, Silvia, Donatella e Bea ci siamo divertite a tagliare le curve e a scendere in mezzo al bosco pieno di neve affondando parecchio. Io in effetti poco prima ero affondata fino al ginocchio destro e per poco non mi portavo dietro pure Maurizio che tentava di “salvarmi”.

Così dopo altri cinque chilometri, più o meno, siamo ridiscesi alle macchine riincontrando sulla strada anche Andrea.

Una bellissima giornata di clima tiepido, sole, neve, belle vedute e piacevole stanchezza placata dalla sosta a Morro Reatino per una birretta tutti insieme accompagnata da torta "sbriciolona" di Silvia, patata cotta la sera prima sotto lu focu del camino di Maurizio, panino allo stracchino e carciofi di Danila e patatine in abbondanza procurateci da Giovanni. 

Pure Bea dopo tanto correre e bagnarsi nella neve dormiva felice e asciutta nella macchina dei Doc prima e in quella di Donatella poi.

Stefania P.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 10: STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE

Team KWTZ once again return to the Chartreuse’s house to confront them about the Grimm problem. But as secrets begin to be unravelled, are they ready to hear the truth?

KIERAN

The streets of Silbern were quiet that night as they once again approached the home of the Chartreuse family. A day had passed since they had made their discoveries at Pyre Academy and then made plans to hopefully find more evidence at the home. They had initially planned to leave in the morning, but his uncle had advocated leaving when it grew dark, pointing out that Victor Chartreuse would likely be expecting them to come sooner rather than later.

Colin took the lead of their little group, KWTZ behind him, and Roisin and Perry behind them. As they drew near to the house, Colin stopped the group near an alleyway where they would split up, KWTZ and Colin heading around the back, and Roisin and Perry attempting to provide a distraction at the front door.

"You should leave your weapons here," Colin advised Roisin and Perry. "Merry might get a little suspicious if she sees you with them, especially when you're wearing more casual clothes."

"Would it not be better to keep them closer to the house?" Perry queried. "If Victor or Meredith attempted to run we could better intercept them then."

"Hmm, maybe," Colin conceded, stroking his chin as he considered the idea. "Alright, keep them closer to you if you can, but I'd still advise you to conceal them whilst you speak with her."

"Sounds good," Roisin nodded, agreeing to the idea. "Hope it all goes well on your end."

"Do you know what you're going to say to her?" Kieran asked.

"Oh just a little something about how the men in this family share certain traits," She smirked.

Kieran raised a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a guy, you wouldn't appreciate the joke."

Kieran pulled a face and then shook his head in amusement. With that Roisin and Perry gave a farewell wave before going on their way, and KWTZ and Colin headed down the alley. 

When they reached the back of the house, there was no gate to sneak through, so they had to make do with climbing over the wooden fence. It was an easier task for some of them, but Wyn and Tilia struggled to get up, so Kieran lingered to give them a much needed boost. Once they were safely over, he quickly followed them, able to vault over it with relative ease thanks to his height.

Although it was growing darker by the minute, there was still enough light that they were able to traverse the garden with little difficulty. Colin kept them low as they approached the back door, stopping them every so often to double check the windows that faced outside for movement, before pressing on ahead. Leading up to the backdoor was a set of stairs and on either side of that lay stones in an assortment of sizes. Colin crouched next to these stones briefly, and hovered a hand over them, clearly looking them over for something. 

“Ah, here it is,” Colin said, before plucking one of the stones from the ground. He turned it over in his hand revealing it was hollowed out on the other side and contained a small silver key. Colin gently removed the key and led the group up the stairs, after which he unlocked the back door, and gestured for them quietly to step inside. Thankfully no one was in the kitchen when they entered, and the faint smell of food that lingered in the air indicated that they had recently missed dinner.

Pushing on ahead, Colin led them out of the kitchen, and down a corridor, which connected back to the open space with the L-shaped staircase they had passed by days earlier. They were about to walk through into that space when Colin put up his hand and forced them to stop. Kieran looked at his uncle to see what was going on and saw the man press a finger to his lips in response, willing the four of them to be quiet. They stayed where they were for a few moments before Colin ushered them back to the kitchen briefly. Once safe inside, Kieran peeked his head around the doorway, watching as Victor Chartreuse passed right by where the five of them had been standing moments earlier, on his way through to the sitting room. Thankfully, the man was too engrossed in the book he was currently reading to notice them.

The group waited for a few seconds before moving forward again. As they passed by the staircase, Kieran could hear his sister speaking with Meredith down the hall by the front door. For what it was worth, his sister was doing a great job at pretending she was there to apologise for their uncle’s “rude” behaviour.

They made their way down the opposite corridor and stopped at a door near the end of it. Colin looked at the doors nearby before nodding his head and pointing to the door he had stopped them at. "This should be the room," He told them, before trying the handle.

Kieran was surprised to see that the door wasn't locked. Given how private Victor was, it would have made sense that he would keep his office locked, but as this was his house Kieran noted that he probably didn't think it much of a necessity.

The office was surprisingly cramped and cluttered, which seemed at odds with Victor's personality. Most of the space was dominated by an enormous mahogany desk, which had a computer sitting atop it and a few scattered pens and papers. Colin scooted behind the desk to inspect the computer whilst Kieran and the rest of his team looked around the rest of the room. Kieran found himself looking at a noticeboard with several bits of paper pinned to it, as well as two polaroid images of what appeared to be the woods around Silbern. On the papers were dates, names of Grimm, and names of the huntsmen who had dealt with them.

"Hmm, so he was keeping track," Colin suddenly mused from beside him. 

Kieran jumped, not having realised his uncle had stood up. "No luck on the computer?"

Colin shook his head and then inched closer to inspect the list of names. "Cheren and Datura's names appear more often than I'd have thought. Wouldn't surprise me if some of these are fake."

"This doesn't help us though does it?" Kieran pointed out, smirking ever so slightly.

Colin shook his head faintly. "Not really, no," He admitted. "But there are still some more places to look in here so let's not give up yet. Speaking of - how are you three doing?" Colin would ask before turning to look at the remaining members of KWTZ who were investigating the abnormally thick bookshelf on the opposite side of the room.

"Nothing of note yet," Lin called back. "Just a few fiction books."

"And non-fiction!" Tilia swiftly added.

"And he's got doubles too," Wyn explained. He was gesturing towards a few thicker tomes where he was standing. "This book of local fauna was in the lab too."

Wyn grabbed the spin of the book and went to pull it out as if to show the rest of the group. However, when Wyn grabbed it, it did not come out as it should have, instead only tipping forward. A click sound echoed somewhere in the room, and Lin and Tilia stepped back nervously, looking around for the source.

"What did you do, Wyn!?" Tilia snapped in a low tone, shooting an accusatory glance at him.

Wyn returned her glare. "I didn't do anything!" He protested. He was about to speak again when suddenly the bookshelf next to him started to shudder and moved back a few inches before swinging open like a door.

"A hidden door…" Colin said quietly, more as an observation to himself. "Clever."

Kieran and his uncle moved over to join the rest of KWTZ and peered into the room beyond. On further inspection, it became apparent that this “hidden” room had once been a part of the room they had just come from. However, at some point in time someone had built a wall to split the two rooms, though by how bare and falling apart in places it was, it was clear that whoever had overseen its construction had done a hasty job.

The room itself was nearly identical to the lab that they had found beneath Pyre Academy, albeit much smaller and not in a state of near destruction. There was yet more scientific equipment in here as well as several machines of which Kieran did not know the function. Most curious of all was a singular test tube, that sat not in a test tube rack (of which there were several in the room) but in a metal stand. Inside of it was a strange black liquid, which almost appeared to be moving inside the glass vial.

“What is that?” Tilia asked.

Kieran took a step forward and extended a hand to grab the test tube, but before he could, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked to see that his uncle was holding him back. Kieran raised a brow in questioning and Colin merely shook his head in response. 

“It could be dangerous, let me take it.”

Kieran was hesitant but eventually conceded to letting his uncle grab the vial. He watched nervously as Colin removed the test tube from the stand and held it in his hand. He had half-expected something bad to happen from his uncle just touching it, so was quietly relieved when nothing actually did happen.

“So, what are we going to do with that?” Wyn asked. “Do we confront Victor with it and see what he knows?”

“Whilst I would like to confront him about it, I think it would be best if we handed this into Lavendin,” Colin answered. “I don’t trust Victor enough that he would not tamper or destroy whatever this is.”

With that question answered, the group made plans to leave the house with the newly acquired test tube. They left Victor's room quietly and proceeded to retreat down the corridor as slow and quiet as they had before. The group were about to step out by the stairs when things took a dramatic turn.

Kieran realised too late that he couldn't hear his sister speaking with Meredith anymore. And before he could react, Meredith came out of nowhere, snatched the vial from Colin's hand in his momentary surprise, and then proceeded to point the tip of a rapier at his throat. 

Colin quickly put his hands up in defence, whilst the rest of KWTZ stood silently behind him, too afraid to intervene at that moment.

"I didn't take you for a thief," Meredith said dryly, looking at Colin as she spoke. She looked away from him to look at the test tube in her hand. "What is this?" 

"We found it in Victor's room," Colin told her calmly. "We're taking it to Lavendin and getting her permission to open a proper case against him. Hopefully, that vial combined with what we found at Pyre should convince her he's worth investigating."

Meredith studied them for a long moment. Kieran found her expression  unreadable and that it was hard to tell how she was going to respond to this. However, given how she had responded yesterday, Kieran was wary she wouldn't react strongly.

"How do I know you didn't plant this?" She asked.

Colin was genuinely taken aback by this, and took a step backwards. "Do you really think I'd do something like that?"

Meredith hesitated to respond. "No, I don't," She finally said in admittance. 

"I would never do something like that," Colin reiterated. He took a step forward and then very calmly reached up and gripped the tip of her blade. Meredith stared at him curiously but ultimately did not resist when he continued to grip the blade and lowered it away from himself and walked toward her. By the time he had lowered it, there was only a small gap between them. "I care about you far too much to ever hurt you like that, Merry."

The two of them stood in silence, both of them staring intensely at the other. After the long silence had passed, Meredith smiled weakly, and nodded her head. Kieran couldn't be sure but it appeared as though his uncle was smiling too.

"How touching."

The group had been so distracted by the situation with Meredith that they hadn't noticed Victor's arrival. The man was standing in the archway that lead to the opposite corridor, watching the six of them with a semi-bored expression and a gun in his right hand which he held pointed towards them.

"Victor? Since when do you have a gun?" Meredith asked.

"This little thing?" He inclined his head to one side as he spoke. "Can't a man have some protection in his own home? Especially in these dark times."

"Our home," Meredith corrected.

Victor made a face. "Why don't you give me that vial, cousin?" He suggested, extending his free hand.

"No."

"No?" Victor echoed, almost in disbelief. A slight frown creased his brow. "Don't be stubborn."

"I want to know what this is!" Meredith snapped, gesturing towards the test tube, shaking it as she spoke. They still didn't know what was in there exactly, but Kieran didn't think it was wise to be shaking it around. "Give me the truth, Victor. All of it."

"I'm not sure you will like what you hear, cousin," Victor warned.

"Just tell her Victor," Colin advised. "There's no point in hiding the truth now."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Victor shrugged. “That ‘thing’ you have in your hand is a hybrid Grimm of my own creation.”

Kieran had suspected the liquid inside the test tube wasn’t exactly normal but he hadn’t been expecting that. Around him, his teammates wore expressions that were a mix of horror and genuine surprise, as was Meredith’s. Colin, however, appeared genuinely disgusted.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” He questioned in an aggressive tone. “Why would you even think about messing around with Grimm?”

“Just the response I’d have expected from a huntsman,” Victor sneered. “You don’t see nor understand the potential here.”

“I see the potential for you to get yourself killed if you carry on with this,” Colin said.

“How long?” Meredith asked. “How long have you been…making Grimm.”

“I don’t make Grimm, Meredith. I uplift them,” Victor corrected, looking annoyed at her use of words. “The one you hold in your hand was completed around three months ago. But this whole scheme goes back years.”

“Three months ago is right around when the Grimm attacks started increasing weren’t they?” Lin pointed out.

Colin nodded slowly. “Yes,” He confirmed with a grimace. “Which means the Gashadokuro wasn’t drawing Grimm to Silbern the hybrid was.”

“Oh, you do catch on quick, don’t you?” Victor said sarcastically.

“Did my father know about all of this?” Meredith asked, addressing her cousin once more.

He laughed. “Is that a serious question? Who do you think put me on this path, cousin?”

Meredith pulled away, shaking her head in disbelief, which only made Victor smirk at her. Hearing this revelation, Kieran couldn't say he was wholly surprised. Sylvester Chartreuse had mentored Victor as a young man, so it didn't surprise Kieran that the late Chartreuse patriarch had dabbled in the shadier side of studying Grimm.

"Uncle Vester was a true artist when it came to mixing Grimm," Victor continued, lowering his gun for a moment as he pressed on with his story. "As you well know, cousin, he had been interested in the behaviour and biology of Grimm for years. When he left Atlas to move here he brought some prototype equipment with him that would allow him to liquidise - and as he later found out fuse - Grimm for study. His research stalled for a few years after you were born, but he never truly put aside his interests. However, it was only when I came to live with you that he pushed on with his research again."

"Your father was killed by Grimm!" Meredith said, incredulous.

"A great shame, but it put me on the path I was meant to be on," Victor said nonchalantly, completely unfazed by the mention of his father's death.

"So when did you start messing around with Grimm?" Colin asked, struggling to hide the disgust from his voice.

"It was around two years after I moved here," Victor began. "The first attempts were all failures. The process did not work half the time and when it did the hybrids would not have been viable to survive more than a few hours at most. A breakthrough happened when Uncle Vester looked into the rare, but not unheard of, occurrences of naturally occurring hybrid Grimm. He assumed if he could replicate that, he would be able to make his own."

"There are naturally occurring hybrid Grimm?" Wyn asked.

"A handful, yes, but they are extremely rare," Victor confirmed, before continuing with his story. "You'd probably recognise some of the names Nuckelavee, Glatisant, Alpluachra - though the latter as we found out wasn't actually a hybrid at all. There had been a few historical mentions of Glatisants inhabiting the woods of Silbern so it was that Grimm that we decided to focus on. The first attempt was an outright failure, but the second was perfect. Or near enough at the very least. Unfortunately, my uncle stumbled at the last hurdle."

The mention of the Glatisant sent a chill up Kieran's spine, and he could feel a sense of unease growing within him.

When Victor began to speak again, Kieran noticed he seemed more agitated as he spoke, clearly annoyed at his uncle's past behaviour that he began to describe. 

"I believed in order to further our research we needed to release our Grimm 'into the wild', for lack of a better term. My uncle, however, deemed it too dangerous. He did not want to risk it. He told me that we only wanted to see if we could make a Grimm of our creation and that we were to never let it out." As he progressed, Victor sounded increasingly irate. "I saw the potential for more and was not about to give up when there was yet more to be studied. I couldn't openly set it free, but my uncle didn't question it when a 'freak accident' resulted in its escape. My uncle was never the same afterwards, and fuelled by his guilty conscience he insisted we destroy all of our research and equipment. Outwardly I agreed, of course, but I thought it was a stupid idea. He never returned to our laboratory at Pyre and did not bat an eyelid when I urged for some remodelling done to the house to accommodate the equipment I managed to save. Given what I learned from that attack, I was glad to have set the Glatisant free. The research went a long way toward furthering my own studies into Grimm and hybridisation. It's just a shame it took me over ten years to get anywhere close to the perfection my uncle created."

“You…you released the Glatisant on purpose and you don’t even care do you?” The realisation struck Kieran like a heavy blow. His usual calm persona quickly gave way to anger and frustration, a decade’s worth of grief threatening to spill over. “You are responsible for the death of fourteen people - my mother included! Do you have any remorse for what you did?”

Victor stared back at the group with a neutral expression. “Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the advancement of science.” Kieran could swear he felt his eye twitch at the man’s response. Before he had the chance to say more, Victor turned back to Colin, and with a sneer, he said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

And that was when he lifted his pistol back up and shot Meredith. 

“Meredith, no!” Colin let out the most guttural cry that Kieran had ever heard.

Meredith’s teal aura flickered briefly before quickly dissipating as she toppled sideways, dropping the vial of liquidised Grimm as she fell. Colin was quickly by her side, scooping her up in his arms to get her away from the rapidly expanding Grimm pool, which quickly engulfed the spot where she had almost fallen. He gestured for the group to stand well away from Grimm pool, not that any of them needed telling twice; they had seen the Grimm emerging from the puddles of Grimm back at Beacon.

The first to emerge from the pool of Grimm were two arms - one slightly thicker than the other - followed by a skeletal head akin to that of a giant antelope, and lastly the rest of the torso. When the Grimm fully emerged, it remained slightly hunched over, which was probably a good thing in truth as if it stood at its full height it would have scraped the high ceiling, though it very nearly did that anyway with its tall horns.

Although this was a hybrid Grimm, it was not too abnormal in appearance. Its hind legs were reminiscent of those of a Beowolf, and its arms reminded Kieran of the Gashadokur, though it had five clawed fingers instead of four. Small bone formations went along its spine, larger at the top and smaller at the bottom where it connected to a stumpy, boney tail. The Grimm had a bone structure resembling a rib cage around its chest. Perhaps the one oddity about its appearance was a set of vestigial wings on its back which were far too small to lift it off the ground but continued to flutter open and shut as it stood there.

Rather foolishly, Victor began to move towards the Grimm, one hand outstretched towards it. He did not seem to care about the low rumbling sound it made as he approached.

"What are you doing?" Colin questioned. "Stay away from it! It's dangerous, you fool!"

"It won't hurt me," Victor answered calmly, ignoring Colin's pleas for him to stand back. "I am its creator."

"Stay away!" Colin pleaded. Again his pleas fell on deaf ears, and Victor continued to step toward the Grimm. Kieran had to applaud his uncle's attempts to get Victor to step away, despite the threats and the fact that he had just shot Meredith. Given the recent revelations, Kieran didn't think he would have bothered to try and plead with him. 

Sure enough, to the surprise of no one, Victor was only a few inches away from the Grimm when it suddenly straightened and fixed its red gaze upon him.

For the first time, Victor seemed nervous but it did not stop him from having his hand outstretched toward the Grimm. "It won't hurt me," He repeated, though this time he seemed to be saying that more to reassure himself.

The Grimm opened its mouth and let out a fearsome roar. Victor flinched and moved to back away but was not quick enough to avoid the clawed hand stabbing into his chest. Victor made a grunt, eyes going wide, before slumping forward over the Grimm's arm. It was a small mercy that the attack had taken him quick. The Grimm flung its arm back after he slumped over, sending his limp body flying against a nearby wall where it made a sickening crack; if the stab hadn't killed him, then being thrown back against the wall certainly would have.

With Victor dead, the Grimm had turned back to where the group had been standing, but they were already hurrying towards the front door to escape. They had just opened it when they heard another roar behind them and the sound of the chandelier shattering could be heard not long after.

It was doubtful they would be able to get away too far, but Colin seemed hopeful that the sheer size of the beast would stop it from getting out of the house, or at the very least slow its escape. Unfortunately, it seemed like they were to face the latter situation. They had scarcely made it down the hill away from the house where a confused Roisin and Perry awaited them when a terrible sound arose from the direction of the house.

Kieran looked over to see a dark shape near the front of the house, which now had a gaping hole where the door had once been. Even from this distance, he could see the Grimm turning its head from side to side.

"What is that thing?" Perry asked, voice quivering slightly.

The Grimm let out a fearsome roar, much louder than the ones it had let out inside the house, so much so that the very ground seemed to quake beneath their very feet.

The Horror was free. And Silbern was in terrible danger.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 8: I HEARD A RUMOR (PART 2)

KWTZ chases a lead but it isn’t all smooth sailing.

WYN

The ruins of Pyre Academy were not a place that Wyn desired to spend a lot of time around. After departing the Golden Fleece, the group - consisting of KWTZ and Colin - had headed back to the Peredur home to get changed and grab their weapons, before heading out to the long-abandoned academy.

What remained of the academy was located just a short distance northeast of the town. They had to leave the walls of Silbern behind, but as they walked it became apparent to Wyn that the walls had once extended further outwards, encapsulating the academy within them.

They walked along an old, stone path. Time and nature had slowly reclaimed the path, concealing cracked grey tiles under layers of dirt and moss. It was only a short walk to Pyre Academy, and even in the daylight, with most of the ruins visible, the school had an eerie aura surrounding it. Wyn could not say what it was exactly that set him so on edge, but it certainly did not lack for haunting features. The vast majority of the school was no longer standing, only rubble and broken timber standing in its place. A few walls were still standing, though they were falling apart in places, or overwhelmed by creeping vines and other such weeds. 

On some of the stone walls, Wyn could make out dark scorch marks, from a fire or an explosion. As the group had made their way here, Colin had informed them that the school was where the tragedy that had befallen the town had begun just over a decade ago. This was where the Glatisant first appeared, killing six people before making its way to the town proper, drawn there by the panicked, fleeing students.

As they began inspecting the rubble, this place's history lingered in the back of Wyn's mind. Six people had died here, five of which were students; the similarities to the Fall of Beacon were not lost on Wyn.

“Any idea what we should be looking for exactly?” Wyn asked, stepping away from a section of the building he was looking over. There was rubble beneath his feet and Wyn almost lost his footing as he moved away.

Ahead of him was Colin and the rest of KWTZ scattered around, none of which seemed to have had any luck finding anything either. 

“Without knowing what Cheren and Datura were guarding it’s hard to say,” Kieran answered in place of his uncle. A deep frown settled on his features. “Still, I can’t imagine what sort of job they’d take here. There isn’t anything here.”

“Just ghosts and bad memories,” Colin said with a sigh, before standing up from where he had been overlooking a section of rubble. “I don’t know if they’re still standing but there used to be a couple of old storage sheds round the back that could be worth a look. I don't imagine there’d be much there though, they only ever used it to store any junk from the last school year and a few spare tables and chairs.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to have a look whilst we’re here at least,” Lin mused.

Since Colin knew the way, he summoned the group to him and proceeded to lead them in the direction of the sheds he had referred to before. As they walked around the side, Wyn could see more of the extensive damage to the building. He could only imagine how bad this place must have been when the Grimm had attacked.

It didn't take the group too long to find the sheds. One had been taken out some time ago by a fallen tree so they were able to rule that out as a location to look through. The second one, however, was still standing whole. It was a little weather-worn and had vines climbing the walls, but was otherwise fine.

They paced around the outside cautiously first, finding nothing out of the ordinary. There was one window on the outside of the shed but it was so yellowed and cracked that they could not look inside so it was anyone's guess what awaited them within. Colin was about to break the lock that was on the door but hesitated briefly. Wyn could see him holding it in his hand, peering down at it curiously.

"This lock is brand new," He said, gesturing for the group to look at it.

Colin was correct - it was indeed new, or at the very least newer. The lock was made from a shiny metal with only the faintest touch of rust forming on the lettering.

"Do you think Cheren and Datura left this here?" Lin asked.

Colin shrugged his shoulders. He looked as though he meant to say something else when a rumble of laughter echoed from behind them. Wyn was quick to whip around on the spot, the others quickly following suit. At first, no one emerged, and then, through the undergrowth, two figures stepped forth. First came a tall, grey-haired man, wearing an old red duster coat. He walked with a large warhammer, which he currently used as a makeshift walking stick. Wyn recognised him from the Golden Fleece. He was Cheren Rutland.

Next to him was Datura Oleander, a slender man, with white-pink hair worn in a messy updo and bright magenta eyes. He seemed to be wearing a formal vest and shirt and he wore an unusual amount of rings and other silver jewellery. He didn't strike Wyn as much of a huntsman in truth, and if not for the sabre he had attached to his belt - which he made a show of bringing their attention to - Wyn wouldn't have taken him for much of a fighter either.

"I don't think that concerns you, my dear," Datura said, looking at Lin as he spoke. Clearly, he was responding to her earlier question.

Colin took a step forward, standing between the group and the two men. "So you are involved in something then?" 

"Maybe we are, maybe we aren't," Datura said, raising his hands in a mock shrug. "You're not supposed to be here, you know."

"Neither are you," Colin said sharply.

Datura sighed. "You just never know when to keep your nose out of things do you?" He said as he unsheathed his weapon. The man held it close to himself for a moment, before pointing it towards Colin. A wicked grin formed on his lips as he said, "I think I'll enjoy putting an end to the 'Wraith of Silbern'."

Colin sneered and pulled out his hatchet, twirling it in his fingers as he took up a fighting stance. "I'd like to see you try you pompous jackass."

The two men surged forward. 

With a sigh, Cheren readied his own weapon and moved to engage KWTZ. Whilst Datura was actively engaging in fighting Colin, Cheren seemed less motivated to do so, even when Wyn and Tilia tried to attack him. He was slow to move and react but he wasn’t completely incapable of fighting. Both Kieran and Wyn were unfortunate to get struck with a heavy blow from his hammer as the man fended them off.

Lin made an attempt to attack him, shooting an arrow in his direction but he neatly deflected it with the shaft of his hammer.

Cheren closed the gap between himself and Lin and moved to bring down his warhammer in a downwards strike in front of her. Thankfully, Tilia was there to absorb the attack, sneaking around the side of Lin and quickly angling her shield to absorb the hit. It still must have hit hard, Wyn noted, as Tilia slid backwards from the recoil. Even Cheren stepped back following the hit, finding himself in the line of Kieran.

The older man's head turned in time to see Kieran moving towards him but was not quick enough to stop him from hooking a foot around his ankle, sending him tumbling to the floor. Cheren's weapon fell out of his hand as he hit the ground, which he quickly reached out for. Luckily, he was prevented from doing anything with it as Lin intercepted him with her bow drawn.

"Yield," She urged. 

The man held her gaze for a long moment, before bowing his head and offering out his weapon in submission. Kieran took it from him and tossed it aside.

With Cheren dealt with, KWTZ could turn their attention to Datura, who was still fighting with Colin. Wyn was surprised to see that Datura was a fairly decent fighter. Based on how Colin and the others had spoken of him, Wyn hadn't expected him to be very proficient, so was surprised to see him holding his own against Colin. He didn't seem to be landing many attacks on Colin but was doing a good job at parrying his attacks and keeping him from hitting him too hard.

Although Colin seemed to have it handled, this didn't stop Kieran from trying to intervene between the two. His looming presence forced the two men apart for a brief moment, both of them looking annoyed at the interruption of their fight.

"Stay out of this!" Datura hissed.

Wyn watched as the man's eyes began to glow before a similar magenta glow emanated from his free hand. With a sudden motion, he pulled back his hand, before slamming an open palm into Kieran's chest.

Kieran took a step backwards following this, more out of surprise than anything. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, and Kieran tilted his head to one side, before suddenly seizing up, making a gasping breath before he stumbled backwards.

It was a good job Wyn was standing near his teammate as Kieran would have fallen straight back onto the ground otherwise. Thankfully, Wyn was able to catch him before he did so. As Wyn held him in his arms he watched as Kieran's dark aura flared up, magenta trails from Datura's attack appearing to be the cause of the flare up, looking as though it was attacking Kieran's very aura itself. This lasted for around two minutes, after which the flow disappeared and Kieran's aura stopped surging. Kieran also felt less tense now, though appeared slightly disoriented from whatever attack Datura had hit him with.

In the minutes it had taken Kieran to recover, Colin and Datura had picked up their fight again. The first few attacks that Wyn caught from Colin seemed notably more aggressive than before, like he was actually trying to hurt Datura rather than just drive him back. It seemed Wyn was not the only one who picked up on the increased aggression, as Datura had a smirk as he parried a quick succession of attacks.

"Colin, Colin, Colin, you needn't have worried about your nephew," Datura cooed in a falsely sweet voice. "You know my semblance doesn't really do any damage. It's only meant to incapacitate!"

As he finished saying that, Datura ducked, before rising with a twirl. He attempted to make a quick jab with his sword, driving Colin backwards rather than outright hitting him, before readying his semblance again. His palm shot outwards ready to strike but Colin was ready. He sidestepped out of the way, Datura's palm only catching the edge of Colin's cloak, before Colin twisted on the spot and swung down his hatchet on Datura's wrist.

Both men had upped the aggression of their attacks now. They swung, jabbed, and slashed at each other; neither appearing to care about how much damage they took or received. Seeing them like this, Wyn thought they were both equally matched, though Colin's attacks were definitely more precise than Datura's who seemed to prefer lashing out wildly and hoping for the best.

Datura tried an overhead strike, looking as though he was aiming to cleave into Colin's shoulder. Colin ducked down and rolled out the way, swinging out the arm with his shield attached to it in an effort to sweep the other man's legs whilst he was distracted. Datura narrowly avoided the sweeping motion, and backed off momentarily, allowing Colin to get back to his feet. 

With a grunt of annoyance, Datura rushed forward, trying to catch Colin off guard as he stood up. He managed to get four quick hits off, before Colin countered him properly, and forced him back with a shot from his hatchet.

The two men stayed away from each other for a moment, sizing each other up before preparing to go again. Both raced forward at the same time, Colin swinging his hatchet toward Datura from the left, and Datura swinging his sabre towards Colin from the right. Both men managed to get their attacks off at the same time, proceeding to fall back once they had done so, their auras flickering and breaking as they did so.

"This is where the fun starts!" Datura called out.

He didn't hesitate to engage Colin in combat again, not appearing to care that he had no aura. He hacked and slashed at Colin, growing increasingly annoyed when Colin dodged or parried his attacks. His annoyance only grew when Colin slashed at him and opened up the sleeve of his shirt.

One angry slice from Datura did finally catch Colin out, however. The man was not quick enough to fully get out of the way in time as Datura swung near his head. The blade of Datura's weapon nicked Colin's ear, and Colin stumbled back, his free hand clamped over the ear in an effort to stem the blood. Colin moved his hand away briefly, looking down at the blood staining his hand, before looking up at Datura. With a sudden burst of speed, he lunged forward, making it appear as though he was aiming with his hatchet. However, at the last minute, Colin shifted his stance and let his shield fly.

Wyn watched as the shield missed Datura completely and soared off into the trees. It was an odd move to be sure and made even more odd by the fact Colin simply stood on the spot afterwards.

Datura chuckled. He moved towards Colin carefully. He went to slash his weapon across the other huntsman again but was blocked from landing a strike on him by Colin pulling up his hatchet, and blocking the attack. It was a bit of an awkward manoeuvre, with Colin forced to hold his weapon with both hands at an awkward upwards angle to effectively stop Datura.

"You missed," Datura teased.

It was Colin's turn to smirk now. "Did I?"

The man switched to holding his hatchet with one hand and raised his now free arm into the air. The bracer on his wrist glowed purple and the sound of a snapping branch echoed nearby. Datura turned his head from side to side looking for the sound, just in time for the shield to come flying back through the trees, hit him in the back of the head, and send him flying to the ground.

The hit didn't knock Datura out for long, but it allowed Colin to disarm him properly and then restrain him and Cheren on the floor. By the time Colin broke the lock on the shed, Datura had come back around and was yelling expletives to no one in particular about the current position he found himself in.

Colin, Kieran, Lin, and Wyn stepped into the shed, leaving Tilia to watch over their two assailants.

Due to Cheren and Datura's presence here, Wyn had been expecting there to at least be something contained in the shed but there was nothing. There was just dust and a few old leaves. Overall it looked just as old and abandoned as the rest of the academy.

"There's nothing here," Wyn said with a dejected tone. It wasn't even as though they could say that something had been here, as the layer of dust on the floor was so thick it surely would have shown up if something had been here recently.

"No..." Kieran murmured quietly. He crouched down and swept some of the dust away with his hand before pressing his palm against the floor. "There is something here...I can hear a faint humming sound, like an electrical hum. It's not very strong but it's there. It's beneath us, I think."

"There shouldn't be anything beneath us," Colin said. "At least not this side of the building."

"Could it be a secret room?" Lin suggested.

"Hmm, maybe," Colin considered. He looked out the door towards where Cheren and Datura were sitting. "Let's find out."

Walking back outside, Colin lowered himself next to Datura to talk.

"We know there's something underground," Colin told him. "I would advise you to be smart and tell us how to get to it."

Datura glared at Colin for a second, and then looked towards where Kieran, Lin, and Wyn were standing in the doorway of the shed. "Why don't you get your little hound dog to sniff it out for you?"

Wyn felt himself tense up instinctively hearing those words, knowing full well it had been directed towards Kieran. Even Lin, usually the calmest of their team, had tensed and had a grimace on her face.

Wyn couldn't see Colin's expression fully from here but he could only imagine what it must have looked like. 

Suddenly, Colin raised his fist and punched Datura square in the face. A wet crack followed this punch and Datura slumped forward, knocked unconscious from the punch. Colin was untroubled by this, rose to his feet again, and shook out his fist before moving to speak with Cheren.

Fortunately, Cheren was much smarter than his companion. 

With Colin's help, Cheren got to his feet and stepped inside the shed. His hands were currently bound, but he gestured underneath the windowsill, where there was a small gap between the wooden panelling and the window. "There's a button under there. Press it and you'll get your answers." Was his only instruction, before he stepped to the edge of the room.

Colin just about managed to fit his hand underneath, pressing the button that Cheren had mentioned. There was a small click before a whirring sound kicked in. The floor started to shift beneath Wyn's feet, and he quickly stepped aside as two large panels slid open, revealing a staircase that led down to a room below. 

Wyn and his teammates peered in, but they could see nothing, only a dim flickering light deep down.

"What's down there, Cheren?" Colin asked.

"I don't know," Cheren admitted. He could well have been lying but something about his tone and posture told Wyn he was telling the truth. "We were only ever shown how to open it, not what was down there."

Colin gave a grateful nod. "Thanks, Cheren." The huntsman then called out to Tilia who was still standing next to Datura. "Are you okay with keeping an eye on the two of them?" He asked.

"Sure," Tilia responded, giving a thumbs up. "You go do what you need to do."

Colin seemed reluctant to go down the stairs at first, but after a moment he led the four of them downstairs. There was very little light in the room that awaited them. There were three ceiling lights that should have illuminated the room, but only two were working, and one of those was flickering distractingly.

The room was larger than Wyn anticipated and had a nasty odour which lingered in the air. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was exactly but it had a peculiar mix of a damp smell and rotting fruit. To the left of the bottom of the stairs were three large tubes that went from the floor to the ceiling. Two were empty and the other had been smashed in the middle, leaving a large gaping hole in it. Wyn didn't dare think of what was once contained in those tubes, but by how strong the smell was near them, he could think of some not so nice possibilities.

The right of the room had been set up like more of a laboratory - or at least had been once. The equipment looked as though it had been thrown around and broken down, making it hard to determine what some of the larger pieces were. There was a desk on this side of the room with a computer and typewriter on top, the computer which appeared to have suffered a similar fate to other equipment in the room, though the destruction of the computer seemed much more extensive. It was riddled with bullets and deep gashes, almost as though somebody had taken a sword or similar blade to it.

The most telling of the destruction in the room was a pile of burnt books, papers, and folders in front of a bookshelf. Though some of the books were still a little intact, they were so badly burnt the pages were likely to fall apart if somebody attempted to turn them.

As the rest of the group sifted through the burnt remains, Wyn made a note of the undamaged books that remained on the bookshelf. None of them seemed particularly interesting though. They were all historical or geographical, and none of them seemed to have any relevance to this room or Silbern save for one book which was about the local area.

The others seemed to have a bit more luck in their search, with Lin finding a moleskin folder which didn't appear to have as much damage as the other items in the pile. There were a few pages within, but by what little Wyn managed to glimpse before Colin took it away to read, it seemed as though someone had begun to remove pages out before hastily throwing down the whole folder, hoping the flames would take it. More interesting than that was that the pages appeared to have been written on the typewriter rather than handwritten.

“Oh no…”

The shocked voice of Colin forced the group to turn around and look at him. He was stood off to one side, holding some of the papers in one hand, and his free hand partially covering his mouth.

“What is it?” Kieran asked, taking a step toward his uncle.

“The Glatisant…the attack on Silbern.” Colin gripped the paper tighter. His expression had become dark in the minutes he had been reading.

Kieran motioned towards the paper. “Can I read it?”

Colin did not respond for a moment, continuing to stare angrily into the distance, before turning and acknowledging his request. He moved to hand Kieran the paper and then pulled it back, almost like was second-guessing his decision. “I’m not sure you’ll like what’s written on here, Kieran.”

“I can handle it,” Kieran assured him.

Although Colin did not seem entirely convinced, he handed the paper to his nephew. As Kieran began to read it, Lin and Wyn also came over, reading over what was written on the paper. It didn’t take long for Wyn to see what had caused Colin’s initial reaction and his hesitancy to pass the letter to Kieran.

It was clearly the last of several pages, as the initial words on the paper were midway through a sentence. In it, the writer described their annoyance at being told to destroy their “work” by a man known as “Uncle Sylvester” following the attack on Silbern. The writer conceded that they would have to destroy some of their work to avoid detection and to appease Sylvester but would keep some small samples and notes to see if they could one day repeat what had happened with the Glatisant.

“Sylvester…that wouldn’t happen to be Sylvester Chartreuse would it?” Kieran asked.

Colin nodded. “Most likely, yes.”

“Which means that the writer of this was likely Victor then, no?” Kieran asked, once again looking to his uncle for confirmation. “And the wording. How he describes the attack and the Glatisant…it’s almost like…”

Kieran seemed unable to get the words out himself so Colin concluded for him. “The Glatisant and the attack on Silbern was no accident.”

[sustraiii]

As seen in the banner art here are the updated KWTZ designs for the story as drawn by @neopoliitan!! For their original designs you can click here for a look back.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 4: ONWARD

KWTZ begins their journey to the town of Silbern, but it quickly becomes apparent that their journey won’t be without difficulty.

TILIA

Two days after discussions had taken place, Team KWTZ found themselves ready to head to the town of Silbern. They had been waiting for Lin's response on the matter and Tilia was relieved to hear she would be coming with them. Of course, she wouldn't have faulted her teammate for wanting to return to her own home, but she was pleased to see Lin would be tagging along.

With everyone on board, Kieran chartered an airship to carry them to Silbern. Transport in and out of Vale was still slow following the events at Beacon but with the Grimm number slowly getting under control things had started to pick up again.

That morning, KWTZ, along with Perry and Roisin, arrived at the airship ready to head off. They were met by a rather frazzled looking pilot, who stopped them from boarding by coming out to speak with them. He was smoking a cigarette, and let out a puff of smoke before speaking.

"Are you the party heading to Silbern today?" He asked.

"That's us," Kieran nodded in confirmation. He pulled out the passes from a back pocket and flashed them at the pilot for further proof. "Is there a problem at all?"

"A little, yeah," He admitted, before flicking the butt of the cigarette to the floor and stamping it out with his foot. "Apparently there's a no-fly zone in effect around Silbern."

"Why?" Roisin asked, stepping forward to stand beside her twin. "Is this due to what happened in Vale?"

The pilot shrugged. "Not sure but it means I wouldn't be able to fly you directly into the town."

Like Tilia, Kieran seemed to pick up on his tone. "But could you get us close?" He prompted.

"I can drop you a few miles out," The pilot responded after considering his answer for a moment. "You'd have to trek through the woods though which could be a bit risky based on the reports of Grimm overrunning the place lately.”

“We’ve dealt with worse,” Roisin tells him flatly. Her tone did not go unnoticed by Kieran, who Tilia caught side-eyeing his sister.

The pilot also noticed the look and raised a quizzical brow. "You weren't in Vale when all this went down were you?" He asked. Kieran nodded reluctantly and the pilot shook his head. "Sorry to hear that. What happened there was awful, truly awful. My daughter worked at the CCT in the city and barely made it out herself. She lost some good people that night."

"So did we," Perry muttered quietly from somewhere behind the group.

"Listen, if you are still set on going to Silbern I can get you there. As I said, I won't be able to get you straight into the town, but I'll get as close as I can, within reason of course," The pilot said, steering the conversation back on track. "If you're ready to go, we can set off now. I don't have any more flights booked today so I can go at any time but I suspect you wouldn't appreciate having to trek through the woods at night."

Kieran gave a small nod in confirmation and the pilot gestured for them to get into the airship. After a few quick safety checks and a stuttering start, they were up in the skies above Vale. The pilot kept a good speed and in just under two hours they were within sight of their destination. They passed over a small farm before the airship began to descend, landing near the border of the dense woodlands that hid Silbern. Once they were safely touching the ground, the pilot informed them they were safe to get out.

The pilot wished them all good luck before he flew away, the winds generated by his airship, buffering the nearby trees and making them sway in response. They would watch until the airship disappeared in the distance before Kieran urged them forward, explaining it would only be a short trek until they reached Silbern.

Lin and Perry led the group forward, with Wyn and Roisin following close after, and Tilia and Kieran falling in at the rear.

As they walked, Tilia couldn't help but be reminded of the Emerald Forest or Forever Fall. However, it didn't seem as densely packed as its counterparts, nor did it appear to encompass such a large area. What it did seem to have over them was its exceptionally large trees, which extended so far into the sky Tilia thought she would have to lie on her back to understand the full scale of them.

Up ahead Wyn was currently sharing stories of his home with Roisin. He had made a comment about how the woods reminded him of home and Roisin had asked him to tell her more, admitting with a rueful tone that she knew little of Midge's home.  

Turning away from those in front, Tilia glanced towards Kieran who walked at her side. "So," she began, "are you sure your old man is going to be happy about the six of us turning up out of the blue?"

"Well, he wouldn't turn us away if that's what you're implying," Kieran chuckled.

"Neither would mine," Tilia laughed in response. "But I also doubt my parents would be impressed if I just showed up at our house without warning." Especially her mother. Reseda Bosco was not a cruel woman by any stretch of the means but she didn't handle surprises very well.

"We have more than enough room," Kieran assured her, giving her a small smile as he did. "Just don't mind some of the clutter."

“Can’t be any worse than all of my brother's textbooks taking up the room in our house,” Tilia laughed loudly. “I swear it seems as though we only sent Dante to Astrolabe so he could gather more books.”

It looked as though Kieran was going to say something more, but before he had the chance to do so, Wyn’s voice cut through the air.

“Did anyone else hear that?”

“Hear what?” Perry asked.

“I’m not sure…” Wyn frowned a little as his voice trailed off. 

The group paused for a moment and waited to see if they heard any noises. When nothing happened, Tilia put her hands on her hip and gave her teammate a stern look. “Are you pulling our leg or something, Wyn?”

He shook his head and just as he was about to further plead his case, the strangest sound reached their ears. At first, it sounded like barking but as the sound continued to repeat more and more it began to sound almost like laughter. 

"Is that laughter?" Perry asked, looking around curiously. At the mention of the word 'laughter', Roisin and Kieran both tensed, sharing a worried look between them. They know what this is, Tilia realised with a sudden jolt. 

Even without prompting from Kieran, she was reaching for the hilt of her sword, knowing a battle was imminent.

"What are we dealing with here?" Tilia asked, glancing at Kieran for an answer.

"It's-"

But before Kieran had the opportunity to give an answer, a Grimm broke through the bushes, mouth agape as it tried to latch onto an arm. It was a good job the group were alert of something going on around them as Kieran could have wound up with a Grimm hanging onto his arm had he not ducked out of the way in time. Having missed its target, the Grimm continued moving forward, only coming to a stop as it bumped into a tree. The Grimm gave a shake before turning to the group, its mouth drawn back into a snarl. Looking at it face on, Tilia could see it was vaguely canine in appearance, more so in its head than anywhere else, with a long muzzle and pointed ears. It was around the same size as a Sabyr, though its body was more on the compact side. The Grimm lacked a tail and had minimal bone plating, which could be found on its shoulders, rump, and the joints of its hind legs. Its most dangerous weapon appeared to be its jagged teeth, until Tilia was aware of sharp claws on its front paws, which extended and retracted eerily as it moved forward until it settled on leaving them exposed.

The Grimm raised its head in the air and started to make the laughter noise again, which to Tilia's displeasure was echoed by more Grimm hidden in the overgrowth. After a moment, more began to appear, until they were surrounded by at least nine of them, maybe more if the shuffling that could still be heard all around them was anything to go by.

Whilst the rest of her teammates hurried to draw their weapons, Tilia made quick work of the Grimm that was focused on Kieran. As it was distracted, Tilia was able to sneak up closer to it, using her shield to hold it off before she plunged her sword into its gaping maw.

"One down!" She yelled confidently. A lot more to go.

"Keep your guard up everyone!" Kieran instructed, moving backwards until he was back to back with Tilia. He gripped his claymore with both hands, watching two of the Grimm carefully, waiting for them to dive. "Do not let the Prowlers get you on your own. This is what they do best - surround an opponent and overwhelm them into submission."

With six of them against the Grimm, Tilia was sure they'd have been able to hold them off. However, it was still unclear just how many Prowlers there actually were hiding in the bushes.

Split into three pairs, they made a valiant attempt to make a stand against the Grimm. It was going well until more Prowlers creeped out, replacing their fallen comrades almost as fast as they could kill them. The Grimm hadn't caused any physical damage to them but the sheer number of them against the six of them was beginning to exhaust them. Not only that but it was beginning to get difficult to attack them without leaving themselves vulnerable to another. Staying close together was working in their favour but there was no telling how long they could keep it up.

Another Prowler dared to get close to Kieran and Tilia. Tilia pushed it backwards with a heavy shove from her shield and Kieran finished it off with a clean swing of his sword. It didn't take long for a second to try its luck but it never even made it close. There was a high pitched whistling sound, and instinctively, Tilia glanced in Lin's direction thinking it was one of her arrows. However, Lin was preoccupied fending off her own Prowler, shooting an arrow into its eye.

So what made the noise?

Tilia soon got her answer when out of nowhere a spinning shield appeared and sliced the head clean off the Prowler before getting lodged in the bark of the tree closest to them. Tilia blinked in surprise but before she could say anything regarding what had happened the shield began to move. A purple glow emanated within it, gravity dust inside activating and dislodging it from the tree before it got pulled back upwards and back to the arm of its owner, a shadowy figure who waited perched on a tree branch above them.

“Who is that?” Tilia asked, which drew everyone’s attention upwards. She heard a small noise from Roisin and turned her head to see her smiling.

“It’s the help we need to get out of here,” Roisin answered.

The figure swept the cloak they were wearing out of the way, revealing a concealed weapon they had been holding in their hand. It was a hatchet of some variety, with what looked to be some gun functionality if the shots that soon followed were anything to go by. A quick spray of bullets took out two of the Prowlers close to the group and drew the attention of the Grimm in their direction. The figure dived off the branch, twisting their body mid-air just before they hit the ground so that they were able to perfectly time the moment they drove the blade of their hatchet into the body of a Prowler.

The cloaked figure did not wait to see the Grimm dissipate before continuing to move towards them, taking out another four Prowlers before they reached the six of them. Tilia watched in awe as they swapped between their shield and hatchet, slicing through the Grimm with frightening ease.

With the Prowlers now at a more manageable number, the rest of the group were able to get through the rest of them with little difficulty. Tilia carved through one of the Grimm with her semblance, unleashing a build up of energy that she had been steadily storing up with her prior attacks. She straightened her posture and suddenly twist her head, aware of a presence she could see out of the corner of her. The cloaked figure was standing close to her, watching her silently. Suddenly, they tensed and pulled up their hatchet so it almost looked as though they were aiming at Tilia. 

"Duck." A masculine voice calmly instructed.

She raised a brow, almost about to snap something back at him, and then she heard a shuffling sound behind her and the familiar laughter of one of the Prowlers. Tilia crouched swiftly, narrowly avoiding a Prowler taking her out from behind. The man who had been helping them fired off two shots in quick succession and the Prowler was gone. He twirled the hatchet in his hand and slid it back into a side holster.

He took a moment to survey the area before turning back to the group. "I think we're safe for now."

The man reached back and pulled down the hood of his cloak revealing his face. He had a surprisingly youthful face overall, though it was hard to put an exact age on him, Tilia found. Faint wrinkles at the corner of his hazel eyes, and a long scar that ran from his cheek and down below his collar worked against the youthful air about him. His dark hair was slicked back neatly, a few strands sat out of place now following his battle against the Prowlers. Looking at him fully, Tilia could see a vague resemblance to Kieran in him, but only in the way they dressed and the way they carried themselves. He also had the same intense stare, though the older man’s expression softened with recognition once a moment had passed.

“What are you two doing here?” He asked, directing his question at Kieran and Roisin.

Kieran looked uncharacteristically sheepish following the question and waved a hand nervously. "Uh, h-hi uncle Colin," He stammered.

"Hello," The man grunted, scarcely acknowledging the greeting. He crossed his arms. "I'll ask again - what are you doing here?"

"We were coming home," Kieran explained. "We needed to get away from Vale after everything that happened. I thought it would be a good idea to recuperate here for a while."

The mention of Vale made their uncle ease his stance. He let out a small sigh and uncrossed his arms. "You know we didn't know what happened in Vale for about a week after we lost signal," Colin began to explain. "The last images we saw were from the festival just as it appeared as though Atlas had attacked. Your father was beside himself with worry when we couldn't get ahold of either of you. I haven't seen him like that for years, not since we lost our dad or...your mother." There was a moment of silence before Colin stepped forward, hugging Kieran first, before moving to his niece. “I’m glad you’re both safe.”

He let his niece go and took a step back. "Make no doubt about it, Daragh will be delighted to see you both again but you chose a hell of a time to come home.”

"Because of the Prowlers?" Wyn asked.

"Because of all of the Grimm," Colin corrected.

"I'm surprised Silbern was so badly affected by what happened in Vale," Roisin said. "It's not like we live that close to the city."

"Well, matters there probably won't have helped to be honest," Colin conceded, "but things were looking bad before the fall."

"How so?" Lin inquired.

Colin looked around and made a vague gesture to the woods. "The past three months the Grimm activity around Silbern has practically exploded for lack of a better word. Nearly every day, more and more Grimm get drawn to the town and I'm none the wiser as to why," Colin explained. He shook his head in visible frustration. "You saw how many Prowlers there were just now. An average pack size is around six or seven. What attacked you was closer to twenty."

"That does seem a lot when you put it like that," Wyn admitted with a mumble.

"It is but Prowlers are relative small fry compared to some of the Grimm we've had in recent weeks," Colin told them. "Usually I'd be able to handle them pretty well on my own but that amount of them and my own fatigue from the past few days definitely would have caught me out if the six of you weren't here."

"What about the other Silbern huntsmen?" Roisin asked, her voice surprisingly sharp as she asked this. "Haven't they been helping?"

"Oh, Ruka and Esmerelda have been pulling their weight here and there at least. Can't say so much for the other two," Colin answered with a sneer.

"Cheren and Datura?" Kieran queried.

"Cheren is getting on in age now so I'm willing to give him some benefit of the doubt but Datura has no excuse. He's just a lazy bas-AHEM!" Colin forced a loud cough to clear his throat. "Enough of that, you kids didn't come here to listen to my grievances. Kee, Ros, are you going to introduce me?"

"Uncle Colin these are my teammates Wyn, Tilia, and Lin," Kieran introduced the team in turn, giving a moment between each name for Colin to shake their hands.

The next introduction was Perry's, which to no surprise from Tilia was done so rather awkwardly. For a long moment, Roisin said and did nothing, a nervous expression playing on her features. 

"This is my teammate Perry Estrada," Roisin finally said, gesturing towards Perry. The Vacuan man tilted the brim of his hat before stepping forward and shaking his hand as the three of them had done priorly.

It was a small mercy that Colin did not pry too much into Roisin's use of "teammate" instead of "teammate's". Perhaps he had an idea why two of PEWT were not present, or perhaps he just had the decency not to ask until they were somewhere more private.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet all of you in person," Colin said, flashing them a small smile, the first Tilia had seen from the man. "Kieran and Roisin have spoken a lot about you."

"I hope we live up to the hype!" Wyn boasted with a hearty laugh. Tilia nudged him gently to be quiet.

"Well, you've made a good impression so far," Colin informed them. "Though I doubt any of us planned for a Prowler fight to be how we all first met."

"I don't think we were expecting such a fight at all, to be honest," Perry quipped.

"Really?” Colin raised his brows in surprise. “Were you not warned prior to flying here?”

It was Tilia who answered for the group, “We had an idea but I doubt any of us realised it would be as bad as you described.”

“I guess that makes some sense,” Colin conceded after a moment. “Mayor Lavendin was trying to keep things controlled about what was happening here but it’s just been getting worse. Unfortunately with both the CCT tower down and our own relay tower needing repairs, it hasn’t exactly been easy getting any updates out.”

“How’s da holding up?” Roisin asked.

“Besides being worried about you two? Fine,” Colin answered quickly. “He’s kept himself busy with his garden and helping out at the Fleece when he can.”

“That’s…good,” Roisin said with a weak smile. “It will be nice to see him again. I’ve missed him.”

“Well, let's not keep you both waiting, hm? I can accompany you all back to town if you like?” Colin offered.

“That would be great thank you,” Kieran responded with a nod. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all,” Colin said. “It would be remiss of me if I just left you all out here alone after that situation with the Prowlers.”

“Then, please, lead on,” Kieran said, gesturing for his uncle to take the lead. “It will be good to finally see home again after so long.”

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 12 - THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

The end.

KIERAN

A few days after the Grimm attack, Silbern slowly began to recover. This was not the first time the town had had to pick itself up and dust itself off. Past experiences had taught them the benefit of preparation and additional security measures, to be ready should anything like the Glatisant happen again. Kieran doubted that any of them suspected such an attack ever would happen again, but their vigilance and experiences dealing with smaller Grimm incursions leading up to the night had readied them for what was to come.

Although the recovery process had begun, it would take a while until Silbern was back to how it was. The worst damage had been done to the buildings in the town square, which Kieran later learnt from his sister had been badly damaged by the Strix that had attacked her. One of the outer walls and several residential buildings had been damaged as well, most of which had been caused by the hybrid Grimm. As those structures were essential to safety and shelter, the mayor had instructed those to be repaired first, before they turned their attention to the rest of the town.

One small relief to Kieran was that the number of deaths had remained low following the attack. After a week had passed, the number of deaths stayed at five, four people on the night - including Victor - and another man passed a day later from the wounds he sustained. As for those who had simply been injured, the number was much higher, and many of those injured were still sequestered inside Silbern's medical centre.

It was the medical centre that Kieran, his teammates, and Ruka, were heading to today, sent to collect his uncle Colin who was finally being released.

Kieran's father was supposed to have been the one collecting his uncle, but had decided to throw a small party in secret for his younger brother, so had managed to rope Ruka into helping instead. KWTZ, on the other hand, had not planned to tag along with Ruka to collect Colin but for some reason, the man had insisted on them coming.

Upon arriving, the five of them waited patiently at the front desk, until a frazzled nurse came to see them. Kieran noted that her uniform seemed to look like an Atlas military uniform.

"Can I help you?" She asked, looking at the group expectantly. Despite her obvious fatigue, her tone was cheerful.

"Yes, we're here to collect my uncle," Kieran explained. The nurse nodded and began to look over some files behind the desk, to which Kieran added, "His name is Colin Peredur."

"Ah, here he is," The nurse said, pulling out a file and opening up the file behind the desk. "I'll go let him know you're here and we can get him discharged."

With a smile, she set off down a corridor, nearly bumping into another doctor who was walking between rooms. They were not kept waiting long until the doctor reappeared, with Colin close behind. Although he was walking on his own, he had an obvious limp, thanks to the cast he had on his left foot.

Colin seemed surprised to see Ruka standing with KWTZ. "What are you doing here?" He would ask her once he and the nurse had reached the front desk.

"Nice to see you too," Ruka quipped sarcastically. She chuckled before answering him properly. "I'm here covering for your brother. He wanted to be here but got called to the Fleece. Some sort of emergency I believe."

It was a rehearsed answer but hearing it out loud, Kieran had to admit it wasn't the most convincing lie. Colin certainly didn't seem entirely convinced based on the expression on his face but he was kind enough not to pry any further. The nurse got through his paperwork efficiently and had just finished signing him out when he asked if he could borrow the nurse for a second.

She raised a brow before shrugging and following him back down the corridor from which he had come.

"Do you know what that's about?" Ruka asked.

Wyn shrugged. "Your guess is as good as ours."

They would get their answer soon enough when Colin and the nurse returned, with Colin pushing Meredith in a wheelchair. Kieran had to admit he was surprised to see the Chartreuse woman. After the night of the attack, he had heard little of her condition, though he could at least figure out she had not died as her name had not been added to the list of those who had passed in the days that followed. 

When the three of them stopped in front of the group, Kieran could clearly see that Meredith looked exhausted, and understandably so given what had happened to her. Her skin was notably pale, she had prominent dark shadows under her eyes, and her hair framed her face in limp waves. She also had an IV drip in her hand. But despite everything, her green eyes were bright and full of life, and she mustered up a weak smile for KWTZ.

“It is good to see you looking so well,” Lin commented, becoming the first of the team to return the woman’s greeting.

“I have a long way to recover yet, but thank you for your kind words,” Meredith responded with a strained voice. 

After a moment passed, Colin spoke up. “She should still be resting but was insistent on speaking with you today when she learnt I was being discharged,” He explained.

Kieran raised a brow and looked back at Meredith, who looked to one side at the increase in attention on her.

“I wanted to apologise to all of you,” Meredith explained, twirling her fingers anxiously in her lap.

“Apologise for what?” Tilia asked.

“For Victor…and for what happened with the Grimm,” Meredith responded, her voice faltering as she spoke.

“Don’t be silly! You don’t have to apologise for that!” Tilia responded bluntly, a sentiment which was clearly shared by the rest of KWTZ by how quickly they nodded their heads in agreement. “You’re not the one who made that Grimm and intended on releasing it on innocent civilians.”

“Whilst that is true, I cannot help but feel as though I had a small part in things that transpired,” Meredith sighed. “If I had not been so blind to the machinations within my own house then perhaps Victor could have been stopped sooner. Perhaps five people would not have died.”

Kieran shifted uncomfortably on the spot. The situation with Victor was a difficult one for him to process still; knowing that Victor, and by extension Sylvester, had caused his mother’s death still weighed heavily on him. Whilst he personally felt no great loss from the passing and the sudden disfavour of their family, he did feel a great deal of empathy for Meredith, who had not known of their schemes and now found herself shouldering the guilt of their actions.

"It will do you no good to carry that guilt with you forever," Kieran said after a long moment. He had emitted a long sigh before speaking, and had clenched his fists, almost as though psyching himself up to talk. "What your father and cousin did was awful, truly awful. But they and they alone are responsible for the pain and losses our town has felt. I am sorry the way people now look at you, as the surviving member of your family, with hate and blame in their eyes. My only hope is that your past actions and how you will carry yourself moving forward will go a long way to prove you are a far better person than they ever were."

He was aware of Meredith watching him intently the entire time he spoke and once he finished, she smiled at him and appeared on the verge of tears.

"Thank you, Kieran. That means a lot."

Kieran gave her a small smile of reassurance. "Think nothing of it, Meredith. Just focus on getting better now, alright?"

Meredith chuckled faintly. "I'll try."

"You better," Colin said. Meredith turned her head to look up at him, and he rested a hand on her shoulder. "You still owe a dance."

**

After speaking with Meredith, Colin, Ruka, and KWTZ made their way back to the Peredur home. Although they had a party to get back to, they kept a leisurely pace so as not to push Colin too hard with his limp.

"So, Philippa really turned up?" Colin asked Ruka as they walked, referencing his last teammate who had turned up in the days following the Grimm attack.

"Oh yeah she was on her way here from Kryal," Ruka began to explain. "She didn't really know anything about how things had gotten here due to the CCT being down, so you can imagine her surprise when she arrived."

Colin chuckled. "Oh, I can imagine it alright. I bet there were a couple of swear words involved, yes?"

Ruka smirked back at him. "You know us too well, Colin."

"That tends to happen when I get stuck with you lot for ten years," Colin teased, bumping her arm. When they had finished joking with each other, he looked over his shoulder at KWTZ. "Have you all met Philippa yet?"

"Yeah, she nearly put Wyn through a table, it was great!" Tilia guffawed.

If Wyn was hurt by that comment he didn't show it. "I gave her a good run for her money though you have to admit."

Kieran smirked. "Wyn she didn't even use her semblance. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you had no chance."

A round of laughter erupted from his teammates and uncle and whilst Wyn initially pouted, he too was quick to join in the laughter. When the moment had passed, the group continued on their way until they made it back to the Peredur home. 

As per they had hoped, Colin knew little of the little get together which awaited him, and was genuinely taken aback when he discovered so many people waiting inside to welcome him home.

The first to greet him was Daragh, who came away from a group of people he was speaking with to welcome his brother home. He embraced him tenderly before pulling away and holding him at arm's length. "It is good to see you well, brother," Daragh smiled.

"As it is you, Daragh," Colin echoed, returning the smile.

Daragh waved a hand and pulled away. "My injuries were hardly anything of note compared to yours. But I appreciate the sentiment regardless." The Peredur patriarch patted his brother on the shoulder and then made a gesture somewhere behind him. "Come, enjoy your party! There are many who came to see you."

And Kieran's father was not wrong. As Colin went off to meet several of the party guests, Kieran made note of who had come to celebrate. It wasn't as large as the celebration at the Golden Fleece a few days back, but given recent events, it was a surprisingly good turnout. He could see Esmerelda Aveleira enjoying drinks with her father and a few friends in a corner, her mother, Lavendin, was standing not far from the rest of her family involved in a lengthy conversation with Ruka's husband, who hung onto the mayor's every word. Ruka eventually came over to join her husband, taking her son from him, and then taking him with her as she met up with Colin and Philippa.

Philippa made a cooing sound when she saw the young boy, quickly scooping him up in her arms and bouncing him on her hip. From where Kieran was standing he could hear Philippa making some teasing remarks about Colin to the toddler, who seemed more interested in trying to chew one of her plaits rather than listen to her joke. Afterwards, she said a few warm words to Colin in a quieter voice, clearly relieved to see her teammate doing better.

A more surprising guest - or rather guests - were three members of the Rutland family. Cheren's wife, his son, Ascelin, and one of his elder children, a daughter who linked arms with her mother in quiet conversation. Whilst Ascelin was currently speaking with a group of people, it seemed that most people kept away from the Rutlands, either that or they were the ones keeping from the other guests. By now it was well known that Cheren Rutland had been involved with Victor and so it seemed many had taken to avoiding the rest of his family.

Kieran felt a little bad for the pair of them and decided to come over and say something to them.

Pulling away from the rest of his teammates, Kieran stepped toward the two women. "Hello, Amalthea. Cassia." He bowed his head in greeting. "I'm glad you could make it."

Cassia Rutland returned the greeting with a gentle smile, and after a moment so did Amalthea. "I'm not sure everyone else appreciates us being here," Amalthea commented, pursing her lips afterwards. Well, that confirmed Kieran's suspicions about the other guests avoiding them.

"Cheren made an honest mistake," Kieran said. "Victor Chartreuse never told him the truth of what his plans were, nor what he was working on the entire time. Truthfully, I don't know Cheren very well, but from little I do know about his character he seems like a good man at heart. I doubt he would have worked for him if he knew the truth."

"My husband was a veteran huntsman of nearly forty years. He should have known better instead of blindly trusting Victor's word," Amalthea said with a heavy sigh. Her expression softened ever so slightly. "He struggled after his accident, you know. He had to be mindful of what jobs he could do and he could no longer keep up with the younger huntsmen and huntresses. Cheren would never have admitted it, he was too prideful in that regard, but he believed he had fallen out of favour with everyone after his accident. Why choose someone like him to do a mission when there was someone more fit and healthy waiting to take over? Whilst I'm not making excuses, I can see why Victor's job offer enticed him so easily."

Kieran gave her a sympathetic look. "Cheren fought well when the Grimm attacked the town. He was willing to pull his weight and help out. If not for him, who knows, maybe more would have been injured or worse."

"It is kind of you to say that, Kieran," Amalthea said. "So many others have looked coldly on us tonight and the days that followed the Grimm attack. There is still a long way to go in order for him to make up for his involvement, but I appreciate that there's someone who recognises and appreciates his contribution on that night."

With a final look between them, Kieran took his leave from Amalthea and her daughter. It hadn’t been necessary for him to go and speak with the two women but he felt good for having said his piece. Whatever complicated feelings he held towards Cheren and his involvement with Victor did not deserve to extend to the rest of the Rutland family.

After mingling with the rest of the party guests for a while, Kieran decided he needed some air. He left Tilia and Wyn regaling a group of people with a story from their time at the academy. Kieran lingered long enough to hear Wyn about to launch into an animated joke, quietly taking his leave through a back door. He stepped out onto a smooth patio, with a garden table and chairs in one corner and a covered up barbeque in the other. There were steps that led down to the rest of the garden and Kieran decided to sit down on one of them for now, looking out at the neatly tended garden.

He hadn't been out there long when he heard the back door slide open.

"Kieran?"

"I'm just here, Lin," Kieran said, waving her over without looking back. He heard the click of her heels against the patio surface as she came over to join him.

"Are you alright?" She asked. Kieran didn't miss the concern in her voice.

He looked up and gave her a warm smile. "I'm fine," He assured her.

Lin pulled a face, looking unconvinced. "Are you sure? You stepped out rather suddenly. One minute you were listening to Wyn and Tilia's jokes and then when I next looked you had slipped away."

"I just needed some air," Kieran explained. He reached up and gripped one of Lin's hands, giving it a comforting squeeze. "But I'm fine honestly. Thank you for checking up on me."

Still holding his hand, Lin stepped down and took a seat next him. She was still holding his hand as she leaned into his shoulder.

“It was kind of you to speak with Cheren’s wife and daughter,” She told him.

He smiled softly to himself. “It felt right to say something to them, especially considering how everyone else has started treating them as of late.”

“I think given your involvement with what happened, your words will mean a lot to them.”

Kieran sighed softly. “I hope it does,” He said, before gently resting his head against Lin’s. They sat there quietly for a few moments before he spoke again. “This feels nice.”

Lin let out a contented sigh. “I can think of a few nicer places, but I agree.”

Kieran felt the heat rise in his cheeks before he chuckled at his girlfriend’s words. “At least now that matters here have been resolved, we’ll all be able to get some much needed rest.”

“Mhm, it would be good to have a few days to ourselves at least,” Lin said.

“Only a few?” Kieran pressed, a faint smirk on his lips.

Lin pulled away from him a moment to give him a knowing glance. “Kieran, if the time we’ve spent here has taught me anything, it’s that you Peredurs simply can’t help yourselves when it comes to helping others or getting involved in potentially life-threatening missions.”

Kieran inclined his head to one side. “And does that bother you?” He teased lightly.

“It makes me worry about you a lot more,” Lin answered. She paused briefly to cup his face in her hands, steadily moving it closer to her own. “But I love you all the more for it.”

Lin pulled him closer to her and the two enjoyed a passionate kiss. When they pulled away at last, the two continued to sit, hand in hand, looking out over the garden. Kieran was not long how long they stayed out there for, lost in each other, and lost in the quiet but the two of them eventually found their way back inside. Reunited with their teammates, their friends, and the rest of Kieran’s family the two of them enjoyed the celebrations long into the night. And when the party finally came to a close, KWTZ could look forward to the rest they had had initially come looking for.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 8: I HEARD A RUMOUR (PART 1)

Silbern celebrates a victory. 

TILIA

Three days after their defeat of the Gashadokuro, Tilia and the rest of her team found themselves drawn into a celebration at the Golden Fleece. 

When they had returned to Silbern, it hadn't taken long for a story about the fight that had occurred to travel around the town. Most Grimm attacks wouldn't have drawn such attention, but a Grimm such as a Gashadokuro was bound to draw some attention.

Many of the citizens of Silbern believed that with the Gashadokuro gone their Grimm problems were solved. A Grimm of such size would have certainly accounted for the spike in activity. For a little while, Tilia was almost inclined to share those beliefs. However, by how busy Colin continued to be, it seemed as though the defeat of the Gashadokuro did little to alter the number of Grimm, if at all. Despite the lack of change, it didn't stop the people of Silbern from wanting to celebrate.

As part of the group who defeated the Grimm, KWTZ and Colin had been invited to the celebrations as guests of honour at the Golden Fleece. Daragh, Roisin, and Perry were all invited along as well and gladly accepted the invitation. Only Colin was less eager to attend, though after some prompting from his brother he finally agreed to join them.

Although they had been invited as guests of honour, it was near impossible for them to get a seat inside the Golden Fleece on the day of the party. To Tilia, it seemed as though the whole town had turned out to celebrate. When they finally got inside, they found the restaurant was almost fit to bursting, though much of the room had been given over to serve as a makeshift dancefloor. The lack of room inside meant that many people were crowding outside of the restaurant and spilling out onto the square.

Tilia enjoyed some of the buffet food with the others before spending most of her time on the dancefloor. Other than Daragh and Colin, all of the group enjoyed their time dancing. Even Roisin joined in, albeit for the slower songs, before retiring and sitting with her father and uncle.

After two hours, only Tilia and Wyn were still dancing, briefly pausing to rest when a romantic song came on. Kieran and Lin had gone to sit with Kieran's family. Perry had been with them too but had since been dragged into several couples dances and group dances by the young people of Silbern.

Tilia could see him now, laughing with three people, before joining back in the dance. It was a lively positive number, with several enthusiastic whoops coming from the dancers and rhythmic clapping from those watching them. Tilia had never heard the music before, but it was hard not to get caught up with the enthusiasm of the people of Silbern. She and Wyn joined in with the dance, trying their best to keep up with the jumps and spins it seemed to entail. They definitely misstepped in places but no one held it against them, only laughing or shaking their heads in amusement when Wyn or Tilia bumped into them or linked arms with the wrong partner.

When they finally left the dancefloor, arms hooked together, hunched over in a fit of giggles, Wyn leaned over to ask her a question. "Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Do you not think Neela dragged me to every ball or formal party she could?" Tilia responded with a smirk. She could remember those dances fondly, with the two of them getting lost in the music or just having fun by themselves. Tilia had never been very good at the more formal dances such as the waltz, despite her girlfriend's many attempts to teach her the steps, but she had always enjoyed the quickstep and the jive.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?" She asked Wyn, echoing his own question.

"Oh, these sorts of celebrations are fairly common in Benibara," Wyn explained. "We always hold big gatherings like this on the summer and winter equinoxes."

As the two of them reached the table where Kieran, Lin, and the rest of the Peredur family were sitting their teammates gave them a nod of acknowledgement.

Tilia took a seat between Lin and Roisin, whilst Wyn sat next to Colin Peredur.

"Did you two have a fun time?" Kieran asked politely.

Tilia and Wyn both nodded their heads. It was then that Tilia noted that Daragh Peredur was no longer sitting with them.

"Where'd Daragh go?" She inquired.

"Da got called away by some of his friends," Roisin answered. She gestured to where Daragh was laughing with a group of people. "Is Perry still getting pulled into dances by everyone?"

"Oh yeah that redheaded woman pulled him into a dance again," Tilia responded, pointing out where Perry was still dancing. Next to him was the woman in question and two boys a little younger, who were closer to Perry's own age.

Roisin followed Tilia's gesture and nodded her head when she spotted him. "Ah, I see Ruby Atley has dragged him into a dance. Don't think we'll see him again for a while now, not unless Ascelin Rutland comes over and steals her away."

"Who's that?"

"Her fiancé," Roisin responded. "But he's not one for dancing so he probably won't. Then again his younger brothers are the ones dancing with the two of them so who knows maybe he might get encouraged to join.”

The musicians switched to a different uptempo song, and the group watched as Perry and the other dancers got into the swing of things. It was a catchy song, Tilia had to admit, and found herself swaying along to the rhythm. Even Colin - who had been sitting quietly in his chair for most of the party - started tapping his foot in time with the beat of the music.

“Any room for me at this table?”

They were so lost in the music, that none of them heard or saw anyone approach. At the sound of the voice, Tilia turned her head to see a young woman with shockingly blue hair standing next to them. Although they had never met in person, Tilia knew her as Ruka Aoki, who Colin had informed them was one of his other teammates a few days priorly after they had arrived.

She was holding a young toddler in her arms too, though the young boy seemed more interested in dribbling on her shoulder and staring at the dancers behind them at that moment. When Colin saw the woman, he stood up quickly and moved to give her a hug.

“I didn’t think you were coming, Ruka,” He said, as he stepped away.

“I could do with the change of scenery,” Ruka answered. “Especially with this one running rampant at home.” She shifted the young boy in her arms ever so slightly, making it so he was facing the group. 

Colin crouched slightly so he was closer to the young boy’s line of sight, and waggled a finger in front of him. “Oh, I don’t believe someone this cute could be that much trouble,” He cooed in a high-pitched voice.

Ruka made a ‘hrmph’ sound. “You don’t have to live with him.”

Colin straightened up and then held out his arms. “May I?” He asked, indicating he wanted to hold him. With a nod, Ruka gave away her son to Colin, who quite literally welcomed the boy with open arms, whilst she proceeded to sit down in Daragh’s unoccupied seat. As he sat back down Tilia noted how he lit up in the presence of the child, appearing the happiest he had been for days. 

Lin and Wyn were quick to start fussing over the boy, making silly noises and speaking to him in an effort to get him to smile. “What’s his name?” Lin asked, without looking over at Ruka.

“Kaijin,” Ruka answered. “But we all call him Kai for short.”

“He’s gotten so big since I last saw him,” Kieran remarked, watching Lin and Wyn for a moment, before speaking to Ruka.

Ruka chuckled. “To be fair the last time you saw him he was only a few days old. They grow fast when they’re that age.”

"He'll be a regular little huntsman soon then," Tilia joked.

"Maybe," Ruka said, considering the words for a moment. "His father would prefer him not to follow in my footsteps, but we're keeping an open mind to whatever path he decides to take when the time comes."

"Well, if he's anything like his mother, he'll have a fine example to live up to," Colin smiled at Ruka. "And of course, he has his godparents too." There was a teasing tone to his voice as he said that, and Tilia couldn't help but note he winked at Ruka as he spoke, who in turn rolled her eyes playfully in response.

"You sound just like Philippa, you know," Ruka told him. This in turn earned a hearty laugh from Colin, which caused Kaijin to join in as well, even though he didn't understand what the laughter was for. "I've missed this," Ruka said after a moment. "It feels like ages since we've just sat down like this and caught up."

Colin mustered a half-smile. "Yeah, it's nice," He agreed with a nod. "Feels good to take my mind off of things for a little while at least."

"How are you holding up with it all?"

Colin's features dropped a little, though he tried his best not to let the toddler in his lap pick up on his change in mood. "To be quite frank, I'm tired, Roo. I'm running myself ragged trying to keep up with things. Even with the Gashadokuro gone, it feels as though nothing has changed."

Ruka touched her teammate's arm comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Colin. I wish there was more that I could do."

Colin brushed her off gently, but gave her a grateful smile regardless. "No, no, don't think like that Roo. I know you have your reasons for why you can't pick up as many jobs. Likewise for Esmerelda too." He paused for a moment and Tilia watched as his expression shifted into a frown. "The same can't be said for Cheren and Datura. Neither have any excuse for why they're not picking up any jobs right now."

Ruka shifted in her seat. "Well, that might not be strictly true."

Colin arched a brow. "How so?"

Tilia looked at the other woman, watching as she looked around quickly before encouraging the group to huddle closer so she could speak with them. "Now before I tell you, you might want to take this in with a grain of salt. This all comes from Esmerelda and not me so I can't hundred percent vouch for how accurate this all is, though she wouldn't have any reason to lie to me," Ruka began. "Around five weeks ago, Esmerelda was approached by a drunken Cheren, who wanted to know if she'd be interested in a job he and Datura were working on. Security work or something along those lines. I don't think Cheren was able to explain the job fully without stumbling over his words. Naturally, she was a bit suspicious about the offer and came to me asking if I'd heard anything about it. I told her that as far as I was aware neither of them were listed as being on any active jobs, nor had they been for some time. Do you want to know what the real kicker was? Apparently, the job was at Pyre."

Only the members of the Peredur family seemed to understand the relevance of the word 'Pyre', so Tilia and the rest of her teammates wound up just looking around at each other with confused expressions. 

"What's Pyre?" Tilia asked.

"Pyre Academy," Kieran answered simply. "It used to be a preparatory academy in the town but it was destroyed many years ago."

"I thought it was strange myself," Ruka admitted. "I pressed Esmerelda for more information but she seemed none the wiser. Apparently, she did ask her mother about it but Mayor Lavendin was very insistent that no such mission had been authorised. Thanks to my husband I was able to dig through some of the old mission records - thank goodness we keep paper copies of everything - but I couldn't find anything regarding a mission in or around Pyre, at least not in the last decade."

Colin seemed to ponder this information for a moment before speaking again. “Well given Lavendin’s protectiveness over her daughter, I could possibly see her wanting to protect her from the truth. But I do not believe Lavendin would not inform anyone else of some off the books mission around Pyre. She of all people knows how important that place is to people in Silbern given what happened to Vesa.”

“Do you think there’s something else going on?”

“Oh, I know there’s something else going on,” Colin said with a more determined tone. 

Ruka pulled a face. “I don’t like that look you have in your eyes, Col. You look like you’re up to something,” She said.

"I think I should go and check out the academy," He said, quickly revealing his intentions.

"Couldn't you wait until after?" Ruka asked. "Seems a shame to cut the celebrations short to run off on a job."

"True but the sooner we find out what's going on there the better. Plus, I'd rather scope out the area whilst Cheren nor Datura are there," Colin explained. "At least I know they're unlikely to trouble me then."

"Sounds like a wise choice to me," Tilia said, an opinion which didn't seem to be shared by her teammates."I'm assuming they're here enjoying the celebration?"

"Well, Cheren is at least," Ruka told her, gesturing to a group of people watching the dancers. Tilia was quick to note the older man in the group, and the striking similarity he shared with the Rutland twins that Roisin had pointed out earlier.

"Datura not one for dancing?" Tilia asked, struggling to conceal the joking tone of her voice.

"I don't think I've ever seen him at any celebration like this. He tends to just keep to himself," Colin responded. "I haven't seen him here so I'm assuming - no, hoping - he isn't around Pyre."

"What will you do if he is?" Kieran asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"I'll handle him, don't worry," Colin assured his nephew. "Datura and I have never gotten along so if he does show his face I'm expecting a fight."

"Can you handle him alone? And what if Cheren appeared too?" Kieran pressed.

"Why are you asking me this, Kieran?" Colin asked, raising a brow.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt your skill uncle. But you said yourself not so long ago that you're tired and we can all see that you are exhausted at home," Kieran began. “Both men have their faults but they are both still huntsmen. I worry if they caught you out, that they’d defeat you.”

“So what are you saying - you want to come with me?”

“No! I don’t know…maybe. Just as a precaution.” Kieran stammered.

“You know they might not even turn up, Kee,” Colin pointed out. “Your concerns are appreciated but I think you’re worrying too much.”

"Perhaps I am," Kieran conceded, bowing his head in defeat.

Tilia could see Colin studying his nephew carefully, the man himself looking as though he were deep in thought. After a moment he looked towards Ruka, and though they spoke no words, it seemed to Tilia that they were having a conversation of sorts, their changing expressions serving as questions and answers. The conversation appeared to come to a conclusion when Ruka gave a shrug.

"If it would make you feel better, you can come with me," Colin told his nephew gently. "But don't feel as though you have to put yourself out for me."

"Thank you, uncle," Kieran smiled.

"And what about us?" Wyn asked. "What are we supposed to do whilst you two run off?"

"Stay here," Kieran responded. "You don't need to come with us if you don't want to."

"Hey, we're a team!" Wyn protested. "Your problems are our problems. Where you go, we follow. I mean what's the worst that could happen if the five of us show up anyway? You never know Cheren and Datura might get scared off or surrender straight away. And I don't know about you but I'd consider that a victory."

“Aren’t you both tired out from all the dancing you did?” Kieran asked, earning a chuckle from Lin.

“Oh I’m raring to go,” Wyn smirked. “We’ll leave all the detective work to you and your uncle and we’ll just be there if you need us. And if Cheren or Datura show up we’ll scare them off.”

Ruka grinned and shook her head in amusement. “Kids these days…you’re all so very gung ho about things.”

“Fine. If you want to come, you can come,” Colin said. He proceeded to shoot Ruka a look, which only made her smile even more. When he proceeded to hand back Kaijin to her she pouted a little but did not fully lose the grin that had been on her face. 

"We should leave now," Colin addressed the group. "If we leave now it'll give us time to get changed and reduce the risk of Cheren or Datura potentially showing up."

Tilia and her teammates looked around each other and exchanged a few nods. Along with Colin, they stood up from their seats and began to step away from the table.

"I'll stay here and let da know where you're going when he comes back," Roisin said as they stepped aside. "I can't say he'll be very impressed, but he still deserves to know."

"Thanks, Ros," Colin smiled, giving an appreciative nod to his niece.

"Think nothing of it," Roisin said, returning the smile. "Good luck!" She would call after them as the group made their departure from the Golden Fleece.

***

Datura Oleander rarely attended public events such as these. Under normal circumstances, he would have stayed home, but given the nature of this celebration, it seemed like a bad form not to attend. He made some attempts at polite small talk and mingling with the people of Silbern, but ultimately kept to himself, nursing a glass of tequila in the corner.

After he had finished his drink, Datura made an effort to walk around again, making it appear as though he was interested in the festivities. As he walked, he passed by a table where Colin Peredur, Ruka Aoki, and Colin's family and friends were sitting around. He didn't intend to listen in on the conversation, but couldn't help but linger to hear some more of the conversation after hearing them mention his name. When he heard the mention of Pyre Academy he tensed and backed away, scurrying into a corner to hide, before pulling out his scroll and making a call.

If Colin Peredur knew about things at Pyre Academy then that wasn't good at all.

His call was answered after the first ring.

"You were told not to call me at work," the voice at the other end of the line scolded.

"We have a problem." Datura saw no point in beating around the bush about his reasoning for calling, especially given the potential urgency of the situation.

"You mean to say you have a problem," The voice corrected. "Best get out with it then. I still have work to finish."

"Colin Peredur knows."

There was a long beat of silence before Datura heard a long sigh from the other end. "How?"

Datura pursed his lips together, suddenly grateful not to be speaking to his employer in person so that they couldn't see his sudden awkwardness. "Well, Cheren got drunk a few weeks back and suggested to Esmerelda that if she was looking for work she could maybe help us. When I found out he had said that to her, I did my best to do some damage control I assure you. However, it seems I was not quick enough and she told Ruka, who just told Colin."

"Why did the two of you feel the need to ask for help?" The voice snapped, clearly more angry at this fact rather than what Colin knew.

"Well, I wasn't the one who-"

"Do not try to lie to me, Datura Oleander," The voice warned. "You might not have asked the question yourself, but I recall it was only recently that the two of you came to me asking for additional help, which I firmly declined." A long exhale followed this scolding. "You should have been watching Cheren more carefully. You are well aware of his tendency to talk once he's more than a little inebriated."

"I cannot be expected to watch him all the time," Datura protested.

"Perhaps I ought to tweak the terms of your contract so you should then, hm?" The voice countered. "Regardless, you two now have a new job on your hands. Go find Cheren and put a stop to Colin sniffing around. I pay you for security after all, so do your job."

Datura was about to give a snide response to the first remark but a 'click' from the other end of the line told him that the call was already over.

Terrific.

With a sigh, Datura slid his scroll away and then began to look around for Cheren Rutland. Whilst he hadn't seen the man in question, the majority of the Rutland clan were in attendance at the celebration, so no doubt Cheren and his wife would be too. 

Sure enough, he spotted Cheren watching the dancing. His wife, Amalthea, was standing next to him and he had an arm around her shoulder.

It was Amalthea who spotted him first, turning and looking at him with such a fierce gaze that Datura had half a mind to back away from her. Cheren might have been the more well known of the two, but Amalthea could be more terrifying than her husband on occasion.

"Sorry to intrude, but could I borrow your husband for a moment?" He asked, mustering up his most polite tone.

Amalthea raised a brow at him. Next to her, Cheren was aware of his presence, and looked at him with a similar expression, though he looked less suspicious than his wife did.

"Why?" She asked sharply.

"Private matter," Datura responded hastily, casting a glance at Cheren, silently asking for help. "I promise I won't keep him long."

"It's okay, love, I won't be long," Cheren assured her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Why don't you go and join in with the dances? I'll be back before you know it."

Before his wife could say anything else, Cheren was already moving away from her, gesturing for Datura to follow him before they got caught up any longer. As they walked, Cheren turned back to give his wife a reassuring wave. Datura on the other hand saw no point looking back, knowing full well she'd still be looking at him with that same suspicious glare.

Cheren guided them outside, and quickly pulled Datura out of earshot so they could speak.

"What's the meaning of this, Datura?" He asked, looking at him with a mix of curiosity and confusion. "I thought you didn't want to speak outside of work."

He was right of course. When the two men had started working together, Datura had been insistent they hardly speak to each other outside of work. Datura hadn't wanted anyone to mistake the two for friends.

"Colin knows about Pyre." Datura told him simply.

The colour seemed to drain from Cheren's face as he heard that. "How?"

"Well, we have you and your drunken ramblings to thank for that," Datura said sarcastically. "Seems the information finally made its way down to Colin. Honestly, you should consider yourself lucky he didn't find out sooner."

"Did you tell the boss?"

"Of course I did." What kind of fool did he take him for? "And you should know they're not happy. We've been told to deal with this promptly."

"As in now?" Cheren asked. "Couldn't we wait until after the celebration or even tomorrow? Tea won't like it if I leave right now."

"You don't understand, Cheren," Datura said coldly.  "You know what the ‘Wraith’  is like. Do you think he’s just going to just wait around? No. Colin is likely on his way there right now, along with his nephew's little team. They might not find anything right away but with five of them snooping around the place...well I doubt it'll take them long to find out what's really hiding there would it?"

Cheren shook his head. "No I suppose it would not," He conceded, sighing a little as he did so. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Make sure they don't find what they're looking for. Clearly." Datura rolled his eyes. "I'll leave the children to you and I'll take Colin for myself."

"As you wish." Cheren said slowly, almost a little reluctantly even. He proceeded to  bow his head "Do I have time to tell my wife I'll be a bit longer?"

"No," Datura rebuked him sharply. "Let's grab our weapons and deal with the problem. The sooner this is resolved the better. For us and the boss."

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 6: UNUSUAL BEHAVIOUR

Team KWTZ learns more about the Grimm problem plaguing Silbern, and Kieran makes plans to see his mother.

KIERAN

The morning after KWTZ had returned had started out well enough. Perpetual early risers, the whole Peredur family were up and awake by eight in the morning. Whilst the others slept, the family used a combined effort to prepare and make breakfast for their guests. Colin left midway through cooking to check for any new postings on the mission board but was back home when they began to set the table and invite the others to eat.

As they tucked into breakfast, Colin bought up an idea for KWTZ to speak with a man known as Victor Chartreuse. He explained that Victor was an expert in Grimm behaviour and might have been able to give them some much-needed insight as to why they were attacked by such a large pack of Prowlers.  Colin also revealed that since the increased Grimm attacks, he and the rest of the Silbern huntsmen had been providing Victor with information on the attacks so that they could keep track of any notable reoccurrences or patterns of behaviour. Kieran had to admit he was surprised to hear this, knowing that his uncle and Victor Chartreuse did not exactly see eye to eye.

After some deliberation, KWTZ agreed to go with Colin to speak with Victor. Colin also extended the invitation to Roisin and Perry, but the offer was declined. Roisin did not feel up to speaking with him, and Perry decided to stay with Roisin, despite insistence from his leader that she was fine and he should have really gone with the group. It was Daragh who was surprisingly vocal against the group going with Colin. He expressed some displeasure in them jumping back to work despite them having come to Silbern to rest, but as Colin pointed out, they were not technically picking up a mission they were just having a little discussion. Daragh did seem to ease off after that, but it was clear that he still wasn't entirely thrilled by the idea.

Once breakfast was, the group set about getting ready to speak with Victor. Kieran got ready with Wyn, who pressed him for some further information about the man they were going to see. Kieran would have liked to answer Wyn’s questions but as he quickly told his teammate he didn’t actually know him that well, only possessing a passing familiarity with him, and openly admitting that his opinions of him might have been distorted by those of his father and uncle.

When they were ready, Kieran and Wyn began to head downstairs, ready to meet up with Colin and the rest of their team who were waiting for them. As they exited Kieran’s room, they bumped into Roisin who was coming out of her room. Kieran had yet to speak with his twin properly that morning and wanted to see how she was doing after the night before. He told Wyn to go on ahead and that he would only be a minute.

“Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Victor Chartreuse?” Roisin asked her brother, as the pair of them watched Wyn go. “You shouldn’t keep everyone waiting just because of me.”

Kieran could have sworn there was the slightest hint of a teasing tone there as she spoke but it was gone almost as soon as it appeared. “I just wanted to see how you were.”

“I’m - “ Roisin paused almost as soon as she started to speak. Her lips pursed together briefly and she had an expression on her face that seemed to imply she was giving some thought to this answer. “I’m fine,” She said after a few moments, before quickly amending it. “I’m feeling better at least. It feels good to be home.”

“Good. I’m glad,” Kieran smiled. Truth be told she did seem a little brighter than she had in recent weeks. Signs of fatigue still haunted her features, and though the time spent at their home seemed to be doing wonders already, he recognised it wouldn’t be some miracle cure and that she would not be better in a matter of days.

“So I know what I’m doing today, but what about you, do you have any plans?” He would ask.

“Oh, nothing exciting,” Roisin responded coolly. “I was planning on just helping dad around the house and then maybe going to say hello to mum.”

At the mention of their mother, Kieran couldn’t help but perk up a bit. “I don’t want to impose or anything but could I possibly come with you when you go? To see mum that is.”

“You wouldn’t be imposing, Kee. She was your mother too,” Roisin told him, giving him a light nudge. “Of course, you can come later. I’ll wait here until you’re done and then we can go together. Maybe I can ask dad if any of his camellias are in bloom so we can take some with us. They were her favourite flowers after all.”

“That sounds nice,” Kieran nodded in approval. 

With plans set in motion for later, Kieran said farewell to his twin for now and hurried to meet the others who had since gone outside since he started talking with his sister. The group continued on their way to the Chartreuse's home.

Compared to the rest of the buildings in Silbern, the Chartreuse's home stood out like a sore thumb. Not only was it the tallest building, but it had also been built in a completely different style to the other buildings, save perhaps for the Golden Fleece. It was a very austere building, with a grey and moody exterior, that was so prominent it seemed to leech onto its neighbours. Approaching the front door, Colin pressed the doorbell, and beyond the thick wooden doors, a loud chime could be heard echoing through the interior beyond. Colin took a step back and smoothed down his hair. A moment or two passed until there was the sound of a key being slid into the lock and the door opened. But it was not Victor that answered.

They were greeted by a woman - one who Kieran had not seen in some time but still knew quite well. Her name was Meredith Chartreuse, and she was Victor's cousin as well as a former teammate to Colin. She was a cheerful and pleasant young woman, with light brown curls, yellow-green eyes, and a wide smile on her face as she opened the door. 

"Good morning, Colin," She gave a nod in greeting, before sweeping her gaze over KWTZ who stood a little behind him. Her eyes seemed to widen a little when she spotted Kieran. "Oh my, is that little Kieran?"

Colin returned her initial greeting with a smile but did not answer her following question for some time, simply staring at her for a moment, before realising she had asked a further question. Kieran couldn't help but smirk a little to himself regarding his uncle's lapse in concentration around Meredith. Although Colin had always protested otherwise, it was a shared opinion among the rest of the family that he clearly had feelings for her.

"It's nice to see you, Meredith," Kieran wound up answering for his uncle.

"My, my, look how big you are now!" Meredith said, making a gesture towards him. "The last time I saw you, you barely came up to my shoulder, and now you're taller than I am!" She laughed a little as she said that, and Kieran couldn't help but smile along with her, so infectious was her laughter. 

“Meredith, these are my teammates Wyn, Tilia, and Lin,” Kieran said, once the laughter had subsided. “Everyone, this is Meredith Chartreuse.”

Meredith walked out of the door to greet each of the remaining members of KWTZ in turn, shaking each of their hands and asking all of them how they were doing. When introductions were out of the way, she made her way back up to the front door and turned back to the group.

“What is the meaning of your little visit today?”

“As much as I wish this was a personal visit, I regret to say this is because of the Grimm again,” Colin answered for them, a slight sag in his shoulders as he spoke, something which was mirrored by Meredith.

“I suppose you’ll be wanting to speak with Victor then?” She asked, looking for confirmation from the group. When Colin nodded in the way of an answer, she gestured to them to follow her inside. Compared to the exterior, the interior was much more colourful, though no less ornate in places. The group walked down a long corridor which opened out onto a large, open space with two more adjoining corridors connected to it. The space was dominated by an L-shaped staircase and a striking, albeit somewhat dusty, chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"Colin, would you be so kind as to lead everyone to the sitting room?" Meredith asked, politely. "I will make you all some refreshments and fetch my cousin."

Colin nodded his head, gesturing for the group to follow, whilst Meredith split off and headed down the adjoining corridor to the left. The sitting room was a large room connected by a small archway to an equally large dining room, which housed a large dining table that could comfortably sit upwards of twelve people.

As the group made themselves comfortable in the sitting room, Kieran couldn't help but feel as though they were being watched. It was hard not to feel that way with the faces of three members of the Chartreuse family staring down at them from detailed portraits hung above the fireplace. A younger image of Meredith was hung in the middle, unmistakable with her light brown curls, yellow-green eyes, and wide smile. To the right of Meredith was a picture of her mother Glynis, a pretty woman with the same light brown hair as her daughter and darker eyes. And to the left was her father Sylvester, whose stern gaze still put Kieran at unease after all these years. He was never outright rude to anyone, but he had a very entitled opinion of himself, and Kieran always got the feeling that he was always silently judging those around him. Besides the three obvious portraits on the wall, there was actually a fourth in the sitting room. Tucked away on a side table in the corner of the room sat a small picture of a younger Victor Chartreuse. Where the portraits of his family members were hung in large, ornate, golden frames, Victor's was framed in a much smaller silver frame, with the metal beginning to look faded from where it clearly had not been tended to.

Meredith soon returned, carrying a tray of refreshments with her, and Victor was close behind her. Victor shared the same eyes as his cousin and had the same prominent brow as his uncle, which might have given him the same stern aura if not for the large bags under his eyes which made him look exhausted. He was slightly taller than Meredith, though his hunched posture made him appear shorter than his true height. When he saw they had guests he raised an eyebrow but his face remained otherwise impassive.

“Let me guess you’re here to put in another report about the Grimm?" Victor asked with a sarcastic tone. Kieran noted that the man seemed to ignore KWTZ’s very presence in the room, and spoke directly to Colin.

"Of course," Colin responded in a flat tone. "Why else would I be here talking to you?"

Victor glanced at his cousin briefly before making a scoffing sound. Like most other people who knew both Colin and Meredith it seemed he was also well aware of the unspoken feelings between them. "Well, what is it this time?"

"It was a pack of Prowlers," Colin answered.

"That's hardly worth making a fuss of," Victor said, letting out a huff after his words. "Prowlers were common around Silbern before the Grimm attacks picked up."

"A pack of twenty though?"

Kieran noted that Victor's eyes did briefly widen with interest before quickly returning to the neutral expression he had before. "Unusual but not unheard of," Victor said. "Again, I'm not sure it warrants such concern."

"So you're not going to make a note of this?" Colin asked, sounding increasingly irate as he went on. "How can you be so dismissive about this? You were the one who suggested weeks ago that we tell you about 'any and all' Grimm attacks so you could monitor for any unusual behaviour."

"True but that doesn't give you and the rest of your ilk the right to turn up here at all hours of the day demanding I make note of everything you've seen," Victor told him. His tone remained as neutral as his expression as he spoke though Kieran couldn't help but feel there was something of a dig aimed at his uncle embedded in Victor's words. And judging by how Colin's features twisted into a deep set frown, he had clearly thought the same thing.

"Victor," Meredith cut in, giving her cousin a look. "There's no need to be like that, Colin is only doing his job."

Victor sniffed. "As am I, cousin, as am I."

"Well you could have fooled me!" Colin threw his hands up in exasperation.

Kieran thought his uncle had more to say but before Colin could speak again, Victor cut him off. “Don’t fret, Colin. I shall make a note of your little encounter,” Victor gave a dismissive wave. He turned to Meredith and plucked a cup and saucer from the tray she was carrying. “Thank you for the tea cousin.”

And with that, he turned and walked back out of the room. It was Wyn who ultimately broke the silence, forcibly coughing to break the tension that had arisen from the two men's argument. “Well Victor seems nice,” He said in a sarcastic tone.

Meredith gave an awkward smile before stepping forward to finally set her tray down. “My cousin can be a little blunt sometimes but he is a good man deep down,” Meredith assured them which was met by a snort from Colin. “He usually isn’t so bad, I promise."

"I don't think either of us have had a civil conversation for some time now," Colin remarked, more to himself than to Meredith. He was still scowling but his expression softened when he looked at Meredith. "I'm sorry, Merry," He said, giving her an apologetic look. "It seems like nearly every time I visit you as of late, any conversation between the two of us devolves into a heated argument."

Meredith had been taking a sip of her tea as Colin was speaking, so took the time to set it down, before extending a hand to tap his knee reassuringly. "Don't worry, Colin. I know well enough that my cousin isn't the easiest man to get on with, though I appreciate that you always try to make an effort at the very least."

The woman turned her attention away from Colin and gave KWTZ an apologetic look. "I will say that I'm sorry for Victor's behaviour to the four of you, however," She told them. "Usually he's more polite with visitors, especially those he hasn't met before."

"It's fine," Lin smiled. Next to her Wyn and Tilia also nodded their heads to show they were understanding of the situation. However, Kieran knew his teammates well enough to know they were acting polite for Meredith's sake.

"Sounds like he's had his hands full with the Grimm problem," Kieran noted.

"Hmm, oh yes, very busy," Meredith nodded. "I'm surprised you knew of the situation, did your uncle tell you?"

"Yes, and we were also attacked by the group of Prowlers he mentioned earlier," Kieran explained. "We were fortunate uncle Colin turned up when we did, we were quickly getting overwhelmed by the number of them."

Meredith raised her brows in surprise. "Very fortunate, indeed," Meredith said in agreement. "Our walls have protected us from the worst of it and of course, our brave huntsmen have helped keep the Grimm from straying too close. I only hope the cause for this increase in attacks is discovered soon."

"Is Victor any closer to finding an answer?" Wyn asked. "Sorry, Colin mentioned to us earlier that Victor was monitoring the attacks for any signs of recurrent behaviour that might explain the increase in Grimm activity."

To Kieran's surprise, Meredith seemed rather taken aback and uncomfortable with the question, shifting in her seat. "Oh, I wouldn't know," She admitted, running a finger along the rim of her cup. "Like my father, Victor is very private about his work. He says I wouldn't understand the intricacies of what he does."

"I feel like there's something more you're not telling us," Colin said, giving his former teammate a look. She shied away from his stare, looking down at her cup.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Colin."

"Merry. I know you," Colin pointed out. "I know when you're holding things back."

Meredith pursed her lips together before they broke apart in a sigh. "It's hardly holding anything back as you implied, it's more like certain observations I've made in recent weeks," Meredith admitted. She paused for a minute before continuing when Colin gestured for her to carry on speaking. "Victor has been getting rather lax with his duties."

"Lax in what way?" Colin asked.

“He's been taking fewer notes and being more dismissive about supposed Grimm attacks," Meredith began to explain. "A recent example being Kaltrina and her son. They visited Visitor three days ago to discuss a Grimm sighting that they saw in the north of town. Victor barely let them finish what they were saying before rushing them out the door, insisting it was nothing to worry about and they were worrying over nothing."

"Whilst I'm loath to agree with Victor, Kaltrina and her family are known to overexaggerate," Colin observed, which Meredith nodded in agreement. "Still, to turn them away without making a note of what they saw seems wrong. Has anything else happened like this recently? And do you know what Kaltrina and her son saw?"

"There have been a few instances with Esmerelda, with Victor dismissing her words on the basis that Lavendin hasn't even let her go out that far for some weeks now," Meredith answered. She took a longer moment to answer his second question. "They didn't mention a Grimm by name, only saying that it was exceptionally large and slow moving."

"There have been a few rumours of something large in the woods floating around recently," Colin told the group after a moment. "I'm not sure how true these rumours are as there has never been any solid evidence provided about something actually being out there. However, I'm beginning to think it could be worth a more thorough investigation now."

"We could help too," Kieran offered, not even bothering to check with his teammates before offering their assistance. He knew his team well enough to be certain that none of them would have had any problems with helping out.

Colin gave his nephew a weary look. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I understand that, but we want to help any way we can!" Kieran insisted. "If you're worried about da I can explain the situation to him."

"Ah yes, because that went so well this morning trying to convince him to let you speak with Victor," Colin shook his head in amusement.

"We're here aren't we?" Kieran quipped, which got a genuine laugh from his uncle.

"Please let us come," Wyn begged, giving Colin an over exaggerated pleading look. "We might, uh, go stir crazy otherwise."

"Is that a legitimate cause for concern?"

"Well not for us," Tilia cut in, gesturing to herself, Lin, and Kieran. "But with Winifred, who knows. He needs active stimulation."

Colin considered Kieran's offer for help for some time before relenting and allowing them to come. "Fine, you can help," He said. "But you will do what I say, do you understand?"

"Of course, of course," Kieran said, nodding his head along with his words. "We'll be perfectly well behaved."

He gave his teammates a small look as he said that, lingering on Wyn, in particular, to ensure they were all in agreement and understood the rules of them tagging along.

After settling matters about the future investigation, KWTZ and Colin enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the company of Meredith. She was a gracious and humble host, asking politely after Roisin, and answering the slew of questions that came out of Wyn and Tilia's mouths. When she found out that Kieran and Lin were seeing each other, she couldn't help but coo over them, commenting on what a nice couple they made, which only made Kieran flush a shade of pink in embarrassment.

Once they had finished speaking with Meredith, KWTZ returned to the Peredur family home, whereas Colin split off to speak with some more friends. By the time they had returned home, Roisin was ready to go and see their mother. Thankfully, Kieran's teammates and Perry were all understanding of the two of them needing this private time together.

Kieran and his sister walked arm in arm as they made their way to the memorial park in the east of Silbern. Roisin had one arm hooked around one of Kierans, and under the other arm, she had a tight grip on a bunch of camellias that Kieran was pleased to see their father had given them.

They talked little as they walked, with Roisin only instigating a conversation to ask how things had gone at the Chartreuse's. She seemed pleased to hear Meredith was doing well and told Kieran she would like to see her herself at one point, as she always enjoyed her company. When she heard of Victor's behaviour she only rolled her eyes and made a comment about how he never had any respect for the good work huntsmen and huntresses did.

When they reached the memorial park, they were not the only ones enjoying the scenery. Two families and a young couple were sitting on the benches enjoying the cool air. None of them stopped the twins to speak but every one of them gave them a look of acknowledgement as they passed. There was a singular gravel path that cut through the park, with the benches closer to the entrance, and fourteen lanterns to honour those who died in the Glatisant attack on either side of the path closer to the rear of the park. At the end of the pathway, a curved staircase led up to a raised platform where a statue of a metallic tree had been commissioned to also commemorate the fallen. Spaced out around the tree were fourteen small stone plinths, each one engraved with a name, birthdate, and a shared date of death.

Kieran and Roisin had been here often in their youth, and as they walked around to their mother's name, they both spared a small glance at the names they passed, of men, women, and children they once knew.

The plinth bearing Lucerne Peredur's name already had a bouquet of drying flowers resting upon it; most likely left by their father on a recent visit. Kieran gently picked it up and set it aside so that his sister could place the new bunch on top of the plinth.

"Your favourites," Roisin said, carefully setting down her new bouquet. With the flowers set down, Roisin knelt down on the floor in front of the stone, and Kieran followed suit.

Neither twin said anything at first, merely sitting in silence and looking at their mother's name. Although Kieran was glad to be near to his mother again, he wanted his sister to be the one to eventually break the silence, knowing that she needed this moment more than he did. 

Kieran knew his sister was close to breaking the silence when he was aware of hearing faint sniffling coming from her and turned to see his twin crying softly. With one hand, she tried to wipe away her tears, and Kieran gripped her free hand with his own, giving it a gentle squeeze to show Roisin he was there to support her.

Roisin turned to him and gave him a grateful smile before the two of them turned back to look at the stone. "Hey, mum," Roisin said, finally breaking the silence. "It's been a while hasn't it? There's a lot we need to catch up on."

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 5: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

After dealing with the Prowlers and making it safely through the woods Team KWTZ finally arrives at their destination of Silbern. A long-awaited family reunion occurs.

WYN

Following the surprise attack from the Prowlers, the group continued forward on their journey to Silbern. It seemed unlikely another Grimm would attack them but regardless Wyn was glad for the presence of Colin Peredur who had offered to accompany them back to the town. It was good to have him as a sort of reassurance of safe passage into the town.

As they continued to walk and draw closer to Silbern the ground started to incline upwards and the trees began to thin out. Wyn could spot cliffs in the distance, just beginning to peek out from behind the trees. It didn’t take much longer after that for Silbern to appear as well, the stone walls that shielded it, standing out rather notably from the lush greenery in the surrounding area. The walls appeared sturdy enough though Wyn noted they weren’t particularly tall. They would have repelled most Grimm at the very least though would struggle if anything close to the size of a Bayard approached.  The tallest part of the wall was actually the gate that housed three turrets and was currently watched over by a lone human sentinel. When they saw the group approach, Colin waved up at them and the gesture was quickly returned.

“Hi, Colin, who are your friends?” The sentinel -  a young woman who couldn’t have been much older than KWTZ - shouted down.

“Hello, Esmerelda,” Colin returned her greeting. “This is my niece and nephew and their teammates. We had a bit of a nasty run-in with some Prowlers back there. Do you mind letting us in?”

“Not at all! Just give me a moment or two and I’ll have the gate open for you!”

Sure enough, moments later a mechanical whir kicked in and the gates opened wide enough for the seven of them to get inside, closing once they had stepped through. A moment later footsteps could be heard echoing from a staircase off to the side before Esmerelda appeared, panting slightly from having most likely run down a whole flight of stairs with some speed. Colin left the group momentarily to speak with Esmerelda. They were too far away for any of the group to make out what was said between them, but when they concluded their conversation, Esmerelda returned upstairs with a smile on her face. Turning back to the group Colin gestured for them to follow.

"What was that all about?" Kieran asked as the group followed after Colin.

"I asked about how long she was on wall duty for," Colin explained as the group continued to walk forward. "Mayor Lavendin is wary about letting her take up certain missions right now so she's kept her on wall duty the past few days. Once we've cleared up things here, I offered to take her off the wall for the rest of the day."

"Why is the mayor so protective over her in particular?" Wyn asked the older huntsman. To him, it seemed a little odd for her to be so protected.

"Mayor Lavendin is Esmerelda's mother," Colin explained. “She has always been quite protective of her after she lost her son a few years ago. The increase in Grimm has only served to worsen her paranoia. On one hand, I understand where the fear comes from but I also know Esmerelda will never get the experience she needs to progress as a huntress if her mother is always holding her back."

Wyn nodded his head in understanding. He could see where the mayor was coming from with her protectiveness but he could also agree with Colin's point of Esmerelda not getting any experience if she kept getting held back. It made him think about how he could have so easily gone through a similar situation in his youth after he lost his parents. It made him thankful that the Allaways had not shielded him in such a manner after his parents had disappeared; not that life in Benibara would have allowed them such a luxury.

The more Wyn saw of Silbern, the more it reminded him of his home. Silbern was more modernised than Benibara was but the sense of community and the incorporation of the natural landscape into the town felt very reminiscent of his own home. 

Colin led the group to a large building in the centre of town. Surrounded by other commercial buildings and a colourful outdoor market, this was clearly a hub of activity. It was hard for Wyn to make out what kind of place it was that Colin had taken them to. The outside of the building made it appear more stately and official, but a sign above proudly declared it as “The Golden Fleece” with a wide variety of food and beverages available five days a week.

“I hope they don’t try and fleece us,” Wyn started to chuckle upon seeing the sign.

“What are you on about?” Tilia asked, raising a brow.

“Get it - because the place is called ‘The Golden Fleece’.” Wyn made an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, my humour is wasted on all of you.”

"I got the joke, it just wasn't funny," Tilia told him.

Wyn started to pout and she leaned over to pat him sympathetically on the arm. "Don't worry Winifred, I'm sure there's someone out there who will appreciate your lame jokes."

"You didn't think they were lame when I told you that joke about Professor Port," Wyn pointed out, nudging her in a playful manner with his elbow. In fact, if he remembered correctly, she had creased over laughing from that joke, earning some disapproving looks from the man in question whose lesson they'd been in at the time.

Wyn pulled another face before going silent. It was Lin who spoke next, directing a question towards Colin. "So what is this place exactly?"

"As you can see by the sign above it was a restaurant first. After a few years, they redesigned the interior to include a small hotel and then they eventually moved the local mission boards for the area here too. Oh, and you can find Mayor Lavendin's office here too."

"Bit of a hodgepodge then," Tilia said.

Colin's lips twitched into a smile. "Pretty much," He conceded. "When you've lived here all your life you get used to it though."

"Don't worry, not all of the buildings are like that," Kieran assured them.

"Since I need to update my mission, do you two want to go ahead and lead everyone home?" Colin prompted, looking at his niece and nephew.

"Are you sure? We don't mind waiting," Roisin responded in a quiet tone.

Colin nodded. "No, go on ahead. I've got to take Esmerelda off duty anyway so I doubt you'll want to wait around for me for the entire day." Colin touched his niece on her shoulder. "Just let your dad know I'll be home late, okay?"

With one final nod from Roisin, the group and Colin went their separate ways for now. Kieran took the lead now, heading west from the town centre, as opposed to the southerly direction from which they had approached. Wyn noted it did not take long for the buildings to gradually become more residential. Despite the looming threat of Grimm, the residents of Silbern seemed in high spirits. As they walked Wyn watched couples enjoying a leisurely walk through the streets, neighbours chatting together outside their homes, and children playing happily in the streets. One group of children kicked a ball in their direction and shouted for it to be returned, hooting and hollering when Wyn responded to their request by kicking it back.

It didn't take much longer for them to arrive at the Peredur's home, Kieran pointing it out once they were within sight of it. It was a large detached house encircled by a wooden veranda. There was a neat well maintained garden out front, with pretty seasonal flowers in bloom in flowerbeds on either side of the path leading up to the front of the house.

As they walked up to the front door, Kieran and Roisin stepped up to the front and knocked the door together. There appeared to be an unspoken agreement amongst the rest of the group as they lingered behind the two of them.

It took a few moments but a voice behind the door called out to say they were on their way before it promptly opened.

"Hello?" 

The man who answered the door was certainly not who Wyn had expected. Surely this can’t be Kieran and Roisin’s dad?

Colin Peredur had been of a similar height to his niece and nephew, but Daragh Peredur was taller, much taller. In fact, the man was a veritable giant. He had the same dark hair and eyes as his brother and a neatly groomed beard speckled with grey. He was so tall had to duck to fit through the door. Once outside he spread his arms wide, easily enveloping both of his children in a warm hug.

"I'm so glad that the two of you are alright," He said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

All three seemed reluctant to part from each other and even when they did so Daragh looked as though he might rush back to their side if given the chance. His attention turned to the rest of the group who had held back whilst Kieran and Roisin reunited with their father, and a wide smile formed on his face. "You must be their teammates?" Daragh waited for a nod of confirmation from the group before coming forward to shake their hands and say a proper hello. "Please come inside," He said, gesturing to the front door behind him. "Our home is always open to friends of the family."

The group didn't need telling twice for Kieran and Roisin to lead them inside, Daragh following behind them so he could close the door. The man ushered them into a living room and insisted they made themselves comfortable, before whisking away the things they had brought with them upstairs. For much of the afternoon and evening, Daragh flitted between rooms as he kept them entertained. He was quick to provide them with refreshments once they had settled and sat down with them for a little while to discuss the journey they had undertaken to get to Silbern. After a while he excused himself to make a start on dinner, asking if any of the group had any preferences, to which Wyn answered that he adhered to a pescatarian diet.

It took around two hours for Daragh to finish cooking, during which he permitted the group to have a look around the house if they wished to do so. Wyn considered taking up his offer, but was content with enjoying a rest like the rest of the group after the journey here. Shortly before Daragh dished up, Colin returned from covering Esmerelda's shift on the wall. He briefly poked his head into the living room to say hello to the group before disappearing into the kitchen where he could be heard speaking with his brother, though it was difficult to make out what was being discussed from within the living room. Not long after, the two brothers summoned them into the dining room, where they were laying out quite the spread of food for the group.

"Sorry, it's not much," Daragh quickly apologised when the group stepped into the room. Wyn noted that he seemed almost embarrassed by this supposed lack of food. "This was the best I could do on such short notice."

"I think I speak for all of us when I say this is more than enough," Lin said, giving the Peredur patriarch a grateful smile.

Compared to recent meals they had enjoyed in recent weeks, this was a veritable feast. In the middle of the table were two plates of meat, one that had the meat cooked rare and the other cooked medium to well done. Both plates of meat were surrounded by bowls of steamed mixed vegetables, and a larger bowl of creamy mashed potatoes. For Wyn, Daragh had already put some food on a plate for him, explaining that he had made a fish pie for him as per his dietary requirements, but he was welcome to help himself to extra vegetables or more of the potatoes if he wanted to.

Wyn helped himself to some peas and carrots before settling down to enjoy his meal, the rest of the group picking at the food around him. Once most of them had sat down and were beginning to eat, Daragh excused himself briefly to grab more drinks for them, and brought in a can of cider for his brother.

The dinner was delicious and Wyn ate it so voraciously that found himself going in for a second plate once he had given some time for the first plate to go down.

"Easy there, son," Daragh advised, giving a little chuckle. "Keep eating like that and you won't leave yourself any room for the pie I have warming in the oven for dessert."

Tilia snorted with laughter from the opposite side of the table. “Oh there’s nothing to worry about Mr Peredur,” Tilia assured him once her laughter had subsided. “I once saw Wyn eat enough food it could have fed at least five people.”

Wyn rolled his eyes. “Stop making me sound like such a pig, Tilly.”

“Well if the shoe fits.” She countered with a wink.

After poking fun at Wyn's eating habits, Tilia went back to her meal, and Wyn finished up his own. Although he had been quick to get himself a second plate, he found himself unable to finish it entirely, suddenly hit by a bloated sensation that prevented him from eating any further lest he wanted to cause himself more discomfort.

With a lull in conversation all around, Wyn found his attention drawn to Lin, who having finished her own meal, was looking at the wall behind Kieran and Roisin. It was covered in numerous family photographs, several of which had a much younger Kieran and Roisin in. There was only one subject that featured more often than the twins did, a pretty blue haired woman with more than a passing resemblance to the twins. The largest of all of these photographs was an image of the woman, holding a much younger Kieran and Roisin on her lap. Whilst the twins focus seemed elsewhere in the picture, she was staring directly at the camera, smiling happily.

“Is that Kieran’s mother?” Lin asked, gesturing to a picture in question.

“That’s Lucerne, yeah,” Colin answered with a smile, turning his head to look at the picture of her on the wall. Wyn also turned his head to admire the picture. She had been a beautiful woman, that much was plain to see. The same blue hair she shared with her children fell in loose waves over her shoulder, and she had the same pale eyes as Kieran.

“Still don’t know how Daragh ever managed to marry her,” Colin said in a teasing tone. “She was beautiful, smart, and a damn fine huntress too. And then there’s my brother…”

“You better watch what you’re about to say, Col,” Daragh warned teasingly, pointing a fork in the direction of his younger brother.

“I meant no offense, Daragh,” Colin put his hands up in surrender. “But you have to admit-”

Wyn jumped slightly when a chunk of meat was flung from Daragh’s direction towards Colin. Although Colin was quick to feign surprise, judging by the reaction of the Peredur family as a whole, this little spat was clearly nothing to be concerned about. In fact, after the initial surprise had faded, Colin and Daragh started to laugh. When the laughter faded, Daragh leaned back contentedly into his chair. The Peredur patriarch placed a hand on the table, and a wistful smile took hold as he looked at the wedding band still present on his ring finger. “My brother wasn’t exaggerating when he said she was the best of us. She truly was,” Daragh began, addressing the group as a whole. “She was an outstanding huntress, wife, and mother. She was a woman of many talents and despite what some people in Silbern might say, she earned those achievements all on her own, not from the backing of her family. I do not doubt that she would have liked every single one of you - even Midge and Tara.”

Although Wyn didn’t doubt Daragh had any bad intentions with his words, he was quickly aware of the shift in the mood of the room as soon as Daragh spoke those two names. It wasn’t his fault of course - when asked where the remaining members of PEWT were Roisin and Perry hadn’t exactly been keen to discuss the topic. And with Daragh also preoccupied with cooking their dinner he hadn’t been able to press them for any further details.

Kieran was quick to pick up on his twin’s expression and made a valiant attempt to steer the conversation back to a lighter topic. “Um, dad, maybe we should-”

But he never got to finish his words, before Roisin dropped the bombshell.

“They’re dead.”

There it was - the big reveal. Perry looked down as she said that and Wyn noted that other than Kieran who was watching his sister, his own teammates seemed uncertain where to look. Daragh seemed to have been stunned into silence, his expression neutral and unreadable. It was Colin who, at first, seemed to be the only one of the brothers to have any visible reaction to the news. He seemed surprised and then immediately after genuinely moved by this revelation.

“I had my suspicions when I saw they weren’t with you in the woods but I had no idea that - that- Oh god, Ros, Perry, I’m so sorry.”

“How did this happen?” Daragh asked, once his brother had said his piece.

“They died when Beacon fell,” Roisin answered, before elaborating even further. “Tara succumbed to injuries she sustained in the initial wave of Grimm, and Midge died right next to me, crushed by falling debris.” She had been holding it together quite well until she mentioned their deaths again, after which her composure fractured, and Roisin struggled to hold back her tears. “I was their leader, I should have been able to do something more to save them,” Roisin would cry out, before covering her face with her hands. “I’m the reason they’re dead!”

“No!” Daragh’s voice was sharp and sudden, quickly cutting off his daughter before she could spiral any further. “You are not to blame for this.”

Daragh stood up from his chair and walked over to where Roisin was sitting and knelt by the side of her. “Rosey, look at me,” He said, urging her to look at him. It took a moment but she quickly relented, lowering her hands and looking at her father with teary eyes. Daragh gave his daughter a gentle smile and took one of her hands, rubbing a thumb in a comforting manner over her knuckles. “You remind me so much of your mother. So caring and willing to give up parts of yourself for others; a true huntress to the bone. It’s your greatest strength, and I think perhaps, your greatest weakness too,” Daragh would say in a soft voice. “It isn’t healthy for you to carry your pain like this. What happened at Beacon was a tragedy, but you were not the cause of it. I’ve known you for twenty years, Rosey, I know you well enough to know you would have done everything you could have done in that moment to try and save them. The vile people who chose to attack Beacon and desecrate the Vytal festival and what it stands for are the ones you should hold accountable. Please do not blame yourself for this.” Daragh would briefly turn his attention away from his daughter to look at Perry. “The same goes for you too, son.”

Perry nodded and gave the man a grateful smile. When Daragh turned back to his daughter she practically threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him, and sobbing into his shoulder. He was surprised at her sudden gesture but it didn’t take him long to quickly wrap his arms around her in return and hold her close whilst she let out her grief.

As the day drew to a close, it seemed many more tears were to be shed, as the group started to reflect on memories around the dinner table. Despite an earlier mention of a pie being brought out for dessert, it was quickly put aside for another day, in favour of quiet reflection. Daragh and Colin offered to clean up by themselves, giving the six of them the chance to retire upstairs for the night. Wyn and Perry were among those who offered to stay and help, but they were promptly shooed away by the older Peredur men. When Wyn and Perry followed their teammates upstairs, they found most of their things waiting for them, set out between two camp beds that had likely been hastily put together during Daragh’s earlier preparations when they had first arrived. After quickly getting changed into some pyjamas, Wyn took a moment to glance around the room. When they had been walking in the woods he had overheard Tilia and Kieran talking about the Peredur’s home being cluttered, but Wyn didn’t think it was anything too excessive. Sure there were certainly a lot of items around the house and in Kieran’s room, but it didn’t feel cluttered at all. If anything Kieran’s bedroom surprised Wyn the most, it was far more colourful than he expected, especially based on the minimal decor Kieran had in their dorms. Perhaps most interesting was the slightly faded poster of Asta Carbonado, a winner of a previous Vytal tournament, a fact Wyn only remembered because the Allaways had taken him and Corrin to watch the event.

Settling down to sleep on one of the camp beds, Wyn said his goodnights to Kieran and Perry before turning over and closing his eyes. It wasn’t exactly the largest nor the most comfortable of beds but it was far more comfortable on his back compared to the beds they had to use in their temporary accommodation the past few weeks. Within a few moments, Wyn was drifting off to deep sleep, his belly full with good food, and his heart full with hope that from now on things would be easier for them all.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 2: RECKLESS ABANDON

The Fall of Beacon leaves deep scars.

KIERAN

In the days following the fall of Beacon, KWTZ continued to help with the securing of Vale. It was a slow progress, but slowly the number of Grimm was dropping by every day. 

Wyn spent his days switching between working with his team members and working by himself to help clear out Grimm from areas of the city. It was hard work, and though the Grimm threat couldn't fully be extinguished, after time and effort the combined efforts of the huntsmen and huntresses in the city were able to secure it for the most part. Their main issues stemmed from too many Grimm spilling out from the grounds of the fallen Beacon Academy. It seemed that even when they had taken out large quantities of the Grimm, more and more seemed to appear to replace them.

After another hard day of securing an area of the city, Kieran was glad for the reprieve that sleep granted him. He said some brief words to his teammates, before crawling into bed and letting sleep take him. 

It did not seem like he had been asleep for long before he was aware of someone trying to rouse him. "Go away," He grumbled, turning over in his bed in an effort to get away from them. But he could feel hands on him now, shaking him more persistently.

"Kieran."

Kieran didn't move, nor did he open his eyes but he knew it was Wyn speaking. "What do you want, Wyn?"

"It's Roisin."

"What about her?" Kieran asked groggily.

"She's gone," Tilia's voice answered. "Perry too." Hearing her voice, Kieran's eyes snapped open, and he sat up awake. It didn't surprise him to see that not only were Tilia and Wyn waiting there but Lin too. 

"Do any of you have any idea where they might have gone?" Kieran questioned.

"We think they may be trying to get to the academy. Or at the very least further into the city where the Grimm are still out of control." Lin explained.

"That's what Wyn seems to believe anyways," Tilia said. "We don't actually know for certain where they might have gone."

Kieran turned his attention to Wyn, who looked nervously away when he saw the attention was shifted to him. "It's just a hunch."

"You're probably not too far off the mark," Kieran conceded with a sigh. He knew his sister hadn't taken the loss of half of her team very well. Once she had recovered from her minor injuries, she had been keen to throw herself into the fray; despite concerns from Kieran that she wasn't ready, his sister had been persistent. He could not say much about how Perry was handling things, as he had been spending his time solely with Roisin. His sister had insisted he was okay, but Kieran had his doubts.

"You guys should go ahead and try and locate them," Kieran suggested. "It's going to take me a few minutes to get changed."

"Maybe we could split up?" Lin suggested. "Two of us could go on ahead and try and find them and then we could all meet up afterwards."

"Getting in contact with each other is gonna be a pain with the tower down," Tilia pointed out, scratching her chin. "We could agree to meet up somewhere after an hour or so?"

"Or I'll find you," Kieran said, giving them a knowing look. Even if the tower was down, his semblance was still active. Kieran considered Tilia's idea for a moment. "Sounds like a plan - let's do it."

"So who's gonna stay?" Tilia asked.

"I don't mind," Wyn responded, putting his hand up as he spoke.

"Fine by me," Kieran said. He looked to Tilia and Lin to see if they had any complaints about Wyn offering himself up. Both of them shook their heads in response. "Let's meet at the town square in an hour."

Tilia and Lin made their goodbyes before heading out. Kieran hurried to get changed into his clothes, careful to make sure his armour was tight and secure before he gave Wyn the signal for them to leave. As they began patrolling the area just south of the school, Kieran noted that they should have agreed on areas to search prior to splitting up, as they ran the risk of overlap. 

“So, Wyn, what makes you think Ros could be heading for the school?” Kieran asked as they walked.

“Well like Tilly said I don’t know for certain if that’s where she’s going,” Wyn pointed out. “It’s just a hunch.”

“There has to be more to it than that,” Kieran pressed. 

“Eh, not really,” Wyn shrugged. “That was just the impression I got when we spoke at the memorial.”

“Why were you - oh of course,” The realisation hit Kieran almost as soon as he started to speak. “You went because of Professor Forster.”

“It wasn’t just because of the professor,” Wyn corrected. “I went for Midge too.”

“Midge?” Kieran repeated, surprised to hear the name of one of his sister’s fallen teammates mentioned. “I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

“We didn’t. Not really.” Wyn sighed a little, and his shoulders sagged. “She wasn’t much, but she was from home.”

Kieran nodded his head sympathetically, unsure of what else he could say or do at that moment. Now wasn't the best time to be comforting Wyn, but Kieran made a vow to himself to let his teammate know he was available to talk things out once things were more settled.

The two of them continued on their way through the city, looking around every corner possible for signs of Roisin or Perry. Wyn had jogged on ahead after a while to scout out the area in front of them, whilst Kieran lagged behind, peering through some of the shop windows they had just passed.

Kieran was about to call his teammate back to him, when a blast of wind, not unlike a shockwave, came thundering down the alleyway where Wyn had just stopped, nearly knocking him to the ground. Kieran picked up the pace and sprinted down the road to stand with Wyn. He gave his teammate a once over to confirm he was alright, before leading them down the alleyway. He was the first to pick up on the shouting. He could hear Perry's voice clearest, demanding Roisin stop what she was doing and come back. His sister's voice was quieter and more distant, and even with his heightened hearing he could only make out certain words.

“Roisin! Perry!” Kieran called out as he and his teammate approached. “What are you two doing out here?”

Both Roisin and Perry turned in his direction when they heard their names being called out. Perry seemed relieved to see them both, but Roisin was decidedly less so.

“I’m trying to get Ros to come back,” Perry explained. “I’ve told her it’s dangerous for her to be out here right now, especially alone, but she won’t listen to me.”

“Oh, I’m listening,” Roisin said. “I’m just choosing to ignore you.”

“Ros,” Kieran spoke her name softly. “There’s no need to be like that, he's just trying to help. We all are.”

“Then help me by letting me do this,” Roisin responded.

“Doing what exactly?” Wyn asked.

“Dealing with the Grimm. Protecting the city. Doing what I should have been doing that night,” Roisin said, before turning away and attempting to leave.

“Ros, don’t leave,” Kieran begged, reaching out to try and stop his sister. Even though he hadn’t grabbed her roughly, Roisin still pulled away sharply and gave him a disapproving glare.

“Back off, Kieran.”

“I’m-”

“I said back off!” Roisin snapped, taking a step towards him. Kieran kept his cool and met his sister’s gaze. She had a wild, half-crazed look in her eyes. Kieran had seen that look only once before -  when their father had heard of their mother’s passing and set off to single-handedly defeat the Grimm that had taken her life despite pleas from half of Silbern begging him not to go. He succeeded of course but was never the same afterwards and promptly retired from active huntsman duties, spending the following years watching the two of them grow up and tending to his garden which brought all of them some solace in the wake of her death.

“I have to do this,” Roisin told them. “I have to do it for them. For Midge and Tara. I was the leader...I should have been able to do more. I should have been able to save them.”

“You still are our leader,” Perry pointed out, as he came to stand next to her. “You did enough.” Roisin looked at him warily, before quietly leaning into him. Perry was quick to wrap an arm around her, keeping her steady.

“What happened wasn’t your fault,” Kieran assured her, standing at her other side. This time when he reached out for her, she didn’t pull away and allowed him to take her hand. “Come back with us, please. Don’t put yourself in any more unnecessary danger. I almost lost you once, I don’t want that to happen again.”

His final words seemed to strike a chord with Roisin. She had been nodding along to his words, agreeing not to put herself in any further danger, but as soon as he said that she stopped and tears formed in her eyes. She was quick to cover her eyes with her free hand, shielding her tears from the three of them, though she could not hide her sniffling.

“Come on, let’s get you back,” Perry prompted. “I think you’ve done enough for one night.”

“What about Lin and Tilia?” Wyn asked. “They’ll be waiting for us at the square.”

Kieran considered this for a moment. “Go on ahead and let them know what’s going on,” Kieran instructed Wyn. “I’ll walk back with Perry and my sister and we’ll all meet back up at the hotel.”

Wyn gave a curt nod. “Okay, see you soon.”

Wyn gave them all a small wave in farewell before heading back in the direction from where they had come. Truthly, Kieran might as well have not sent Wyn away as soon as he did, as the three of them did not linger long in that alleyway after Wyn had departed. Once Roisin had settled down again and stopped crying they set off. Kieran fell behind a bit so that Perry and Roisin could take the lead.

From behind he watched as they made small talk with each other - or at the very least Perry did, Roisin did not seem much in the mood for conversation after everything that had happened. 

As they walked, Kieran continued to watch his sister and her teammate intently. After everything that had happened tonight and recently, Kieran was more certain than ever in his recent decision that once things were a bit more settled, he would enquire about making a journey back to Silbern. It would be good for his sister to get away from here, as would it be good for him. He didn’t want to impose the idea on his teammates nor Perry, but he was certain that they would likely all agree to come. A part of him even hoped they would. It would be safer for them there and quieter too. Maybe there the six of them, Roisin especially, could finally begin to recover from the horrors they had witnessed on that fateful night...

[sustraiii]

Was fortunate enough to get another piece from @sthefbooh! This time I got team KWTZ, who haven’t been seen for a while! 

[sustraiii]

Ayy it's my kids!! If you follow this blog, you're probably familiar with team KWTZ, who featured in the main fic as well as having their own mini-story.

KWTZ was brought to life by the talented @yaboybokuto - and I can't thank you you enough!!

(from l-r: kieran, wyn, tilia, lin)

[sustraiii]

🍓 for Tilia and Candy

TILIA

- Although she’s spoken to Ravi a few times via their scrolls, she’s yet to actually meet him in person.

CANDY

 - Candy was once a student at Shade Academy but was expelled for excessive force used on a teammate during “training”.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 11 - THE HORROR (PART 2)

Team KWTZ confronts the Horror.

KIERAN

It was like Vale all over again. The alarms, the Grimm, the panicked citizens fleeing for their lives. If Kieran squeezed his eyes shut, for a moment he was back there.

Fortunately, Kieran did not have the luxury to stop and reflect on the past. Victor’s hybrid Grimm was on the loose and it was imperative they stopped it.

It wasn’t hard to keep up with the hybrid, once they began to chase after it in earnest. It was a large Grimm, and the close, winding street of Silbern made it difficult to traverse without slowing itself down or bumping into something. Even when it made it to the more open streets, the Grimm seemed to have difficulty getting around, leaving debris from accidentally colliding with a building in its wake. 

After the hybrid had gotten away from them a little bit, KWTZ found themselves having to face down Myrmidons and two Prowlers as their first targets. Although the Myrmidons were more numerous, they were easy enough to take down, so much so that once they had cleanly cut through four of them, Kieran and Tilia branched off to deal with the Prowlers whilst Wyn and Lin dealt with the remaining Myrmidons.

Using themselves as a distraction, Kieran and Tilia lured the Prowlers further away from their teammates. Tilia banged her sword against her shield a few times which seemed to rankle the Prowlers even further. When the Prowlers inched closer and seemed on the verge of attack, Kieran gave his teammate a nod and she quickly raced forward. Using her shield as a ram, she collided with one of the Grimm as hard and as fast as she could, sending it flying backwards. Kieran dealt with his own Prowler with relative ease, waiting for it to come to him, before swinging his claymore in a smooth arc, defeating the Grimm with ease. With his Prowler down, he looked up in Tilia’s direction, watching as she stabbed her sword into the flank of the fallen Prowler to finish it off.

With the Prowlers dealt with, Kieran and Tilia turned back to their teammates, watching as Wyn deftly punched a Myrmidon up against a wall. 

“You two good?” Wyn called out without looking over his shoulder. 

“We’re good,” Kieran answered, coming to stand next to him.

Wyn turned to look at him fully, and nodded in acknowledgement. Their battle with the Prowlers and Myrmidons had meant that the hybrid had gotten even further away. It was fortunate that although they couldn't see it currently the Grimm was otherwise not hard to track. 

"Come on, let's go," Kieran urged with a tilt of his head. "We can't afford to waste time."

His teammates nodded quickly and fell in line as Kieran began to lead them after the Grimm again. As they walked, Kieran was relieved to see most of the civilians had fled to the shelters in town or had secured themselves in their homes. Only a few panicked citizens remained on the streets, only daring to move when they were certain it was safe.

It didn't take too long for Team KWTZ to catch up with the hybrid Grimm, or, at the very least, closer to it. Kieran was uncertain which direction to go for a moment but some panicked screams put them on the right path again. 

They would press on ahead but their direct path was blocked by fallen debris in the street. Despite their best efforts to shift it, it was too difficult for the four of them to do so. They could only lift the smaller pieces, even with the boost from Tilia's semblance. With the hybrid getting further and further away, Kieran led his team away, using one of the side alleys to get back on the path to where they needed to go. 

After cutting through the alley, they emerged on a relatively unscathed street. What little damage they could see appeared to have been caused by Grimm other than the hybrid. Kieran kept a close eye on his surroundings as they hurried down the street, wary of any Grimm hiding in the shadows, lest they try and jump them. As they approached the end of the street, Kieran knew they were approaching one of the three shelters in the city, and one of two that had been built in the wake of the Glatisant attack ten years ago. As they got closer, Kieran could hear some yelling, followed by a pained yelp before a Prowler was sent flying from the direction of the shelter's entrance, hitting a wall opposite. Kieran slowed his team to see what was happening, watching as a figure darted out of the shelter after the Grimm, quickly cleaving through it with an axe before it could stand on its feet. As the figure straightened, Kieran could see what they were wearing more clearly, and was surprised when he recognised the battered red duster coat.

"Cheren?" He blurted out in surprise.

At the sound of his voice, Cheren looked in their direction, surprised but not displeased to see the four of them standing there. "Hello, Kieran," He responded, flashing them a small smile.

"What are you doing here?" Kieran asked, a little more accusatory than he intended. He was glad for any assistance but was surprised to see Cheren of all people here, given that as far as he was aware the man should have been in a cell right now. “The mayor gave me special dispensation to fight,” Cheren quickly explained. “She needed all hands on deck.”

Kieran looked wearily at Cheren. “Did that offer extend to Datura too?”

“No,” Cheren answered with a shake of the head. “She offered, but he refused.”

Kieran nodded his head in understanding. He might not have said anything in response to this but he was glad that Datura was not here. He did not trust the man enough to believe he would fight for the town and not turn on them the first moment he got, especially after finally revealing his true colours.

“Are you here for shelter?” Cheren asked, interrupting Kieran’s train of thoughts. He gestured towards the entrance behind him before raising a brow.

Kieran shook his head. “We’re chasing after the hybrid,” He explained.

“The what?” Cheren blinked in confusion.

“It was what your old pal Victor was cooking up in his lab,” Wyn explained in a falsely sweet voice.

“It would take a long time to explain,” Kieran said. "Put it this way though, it's the cause for all the Grimm problems Silbern has been facing the last few weeks."

Cheren shook his head and sighed. Kieran couldn’t tell if he did so in disbelief, annoyance, or some combination of the two. Seeing his reaction, Kieran was even more convinced that the man truly hadn’t known what Victor was making in his laboratory.

"We have to go," Kieran said after a moment. "We cannot allow the Grimm to wreak havoc in Silbern like the Glatisant did."

Cheren looked at him and nodded. "I understand. I hope you and your friends stay safe, Kieran."

An appreciative nod was given in Cheren's direction before Kieran turned and led his team away. After the little impromptu meeting, they were fortunate to not run into any more problems. Occasionally Kieran would look up to see flying Grimm circling above the town but to his relief they were drawn elsewhere in town, allowing KWTZ to move undisturbed through the streets as they chased after the hybrid Grimm.

It didn't take too long for them to catch up with the hybrid's trail of destruction. The beast hadn't diverted from its course towards the centre of town which didn't exactly comfort Kieran. Although there would be plenty of open space there to deal with the Grimm, it would have been a focal point for fleeing civillians. Regular Grimm was bad enough to deal with, he didn't dare think of what would happen if they came across a beast such as that.

As the team were running down a street, they found themselves faced down with a Prowler running towards them. Wyn braced himself to fire off an attack at it but the sudden arrival of Colin and his shield prevented him from doing so. Colin's shield cut through the neck of the Grimm before snapping back to the wrist of its owner, who jumped down from a ledge to join KWTZ below in the street.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon," Kieran admitted, looking directly at his uncle. Colin did not meet his gaze initially, staring at where the Prowler had been moments earlier, before finally looking at the four of them. He seemed tired and worn down and Kieran found it hard to look away from the blood splattered on his clothes and cheek. The two of them stared at each other silently, many words lingering silently between them.

"Is Meredith alright?" Lin asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Colin's expression relaxed slightly. "She's where she needs to be," He answered softly.

"Do you think she'll make it?"

Kieran winced a little at Wyn's sudden question, worried about how his uncle might have reacted given his current state. Thankfully, his uncle was calm when he gave his response.

“I hope she does.”

“Uncle, do you wish to help us defeat the hybrid?” Kieran offered. “We’re heading to the centre of town to catch up with it now.”

“You - we - should lead it away from there,” Colin suggested. “It’s too open and exposed there, and far too easy for the beast to cause some real damage if it got loose. It would be better if we can lead it to a more confined space and take it out from there.” Colin paused and looked around. He looked up at the ledge from where he had previously dropped down and then up and down the street. “This could do.”

“Here!?” Tilia asked, blinking in alarm. “Don’t you think it's a bit cramped?”

Kieran was inclined to agree with his teammate on the matter. The hybrid would have fit widthways in the street but it wouldn’t leave much room for them nor the Grimm to move around in the coming fight.

“Are you sure, uncle?” Kieran asked, looking around. "This doesn't seem like the ideal place to fight."

"Well, it's certainly not the most ideal place," Colin conceded, "but given our present situation it's the best we're going to be able to do."

With a reluctant nod, Kieran agreed to his uncle's decision. Colin took a step closer to the team and together the five of them formulated a small plan. Usually, more thought would be given to how they were to take out the Grimm, but with the town still at risk they had to hastily cobble something together, which involved Kieran and his uncle leading the hybrid back here, and then the rest of his teammates would help slow the beast before all five of them worked together to take it down.

Kieran and Colin went on their way, uttering a few words of good luck to the rest of KWTZ before they left. They walked swiftly to their destination, Colin taking the lead as usual, and Kieran keeping pace behind him. Neither man said much to each other save for Colin making one advisory comment for Kieran to do as he said. Not that Kieran really had any intention of going rogue tonight.

They reached the town square soon enough, finding it in a dreadfully ruined state. Furniture had been strewn around the place or broken in the carnage, windows smashed, doors broken in, and a whole building appeared to have collapsed as well. Kieran was relieved not to see any civilians around or at least he was until his eyes finally came to rest on the hybrid Grimm that lingered in town. Crushed beneath one of its massive feet was a body. Mercifully, Kieran was too far away to make out any distinguishing features, though it did not stop him from taking a steadying breath.

Beside him, his uncle also drew a breath. “Prepare yourself, Kieran, this could get ugly very quickly,” Colin said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Kieran turned and met his uncle’s gaze and both men nodded at each other. His uncle removed his hand, took up a fighting stance, and let his shield fly. The shield hit the Grimm in its exposed spine before being recalled back to Colin’s arm with the activated gravity dust. After the hit, the Grimm let out a low growl, before slowly turning on the spot, its fiery gaze landing on the two Peredur men.

To further draw its attention and ire, Colin banged on his shield a few times.

“This way you ugly bastard!” Colin yelled.

He quickly turned on his heel and with a tilt of his head, he gestured for Kieran to follow. The two of them took off running back towards where the rest of KWTZ were waiting. 

Kieran did not need to look over his shoulder to confirm the hybrid was chasing after them; the rhythmic thump of the Grimm’s footsteps as it followed close behind. What was already a bad situation went from bad to worse, when the hybrid switched from its clumsy run on two legs, to using all fours. Suddenly, it no longer felt like they were leading the Grimm where they wanted, but rather they were running away from it. The two of them had had a little gap between themselves and Grimm but now it felt as though the beast was right on their heels.

As they ran, Kieran caught his uncle looking behind them briefly, before looking at his nephew.

"Whatever happens, don't stop," He said.

"What do you--" Kieran was about to say, before he felt Colin's hands on him, pushing him to the side and out of the way of the hybrid. 

He stumbled aside watching as one of the Grimm's hands swung into view, swiping at where he had just been running. He had been fortunate to escape the Grimm's wrath but Colin was not so lucky to get away unscathed, getting knocked aside by the swinging hand as quickly as someone might swat a fly. His uncle hit a wall with some force, grunting in pain, and his aura flickering. It took everything Kieran had not to turn and run back to him, doing as his uncle had said not stopping. Even if by some mercy he had been able to get back to him, Kieran doubted that he would have been able to move his uncle without both men being at risk of injury or worse.

And so he ran, faster than he ever had before. Kieran called upon whatever reserves of energy he had left to spur him forward and just ahead of the hybrid, his legs and feet practically screaming at the speed and effort he was putting in to propel himself forward.

Kieran was running so fast that he almost missed the turn in the street that would eventually lead him back to where the rest of his team were waiting. An awkward jumping motion put him on the right path again without issue, though the hybrid did not turn as neatly as he had. A thunderous crash behind him made him slow his pace to look over his shoulder where the Grimm had crashed into the side of one or two of the houses, leaving rubble and dust in its wake. The Grimm itself had almost come to a stop, having to pull itself free from the debris, though Kieran could see it was already nearly on its feet again, some wood getting shaken off as it moved.

Kieran did not linger to see it rise to its feet fully and instead carried on on his way to reunite with his teammates. He had hardly made the final turn back onto the street where the rest of KWTZ were waiting when the Grimm had almost caught up with him again. He quickened his pace when he turned onto the street again, knowing full well that any space he could put between himself and the monster would grant them all more time to attack.

“Get ready!” He shouted as he barreled towards them.

Wyn was the first to engage it officially. With the ice dust stored in his gauntlets, Wyn fired off consecutive blasts from his weapons to create three icy walls to further slow the Grimm down. The first wall did nothing, the hybrid smashing through it like a hot knife through butter. The second and third walls did little in the end either but they did at least slow the Grimm down enough for Lin to prepare herself to launch an attack.

She notched not one but three explosive arrows. She had expressed her intention to do so earlier when they had made their hasty plans, citing its size and unusual biology as a factor for using three arrows at once. Kieran had glanced at her with a look of concern and had looked at her as if to question what she was doing and she had simply stared back at him with a determined expression.

Lin took an even greater risk in that current moment by activating her arrows just mere moments before letting them fly. With barely any time to move out of the way herself before the Grimm collided with her, it fell to Kieran to pull his girlfriend aside and out of harm’s way. As Lin was pulled aside, the Grimm turned its head, snapping its teeth together angrily. It turned on the spot to try and face them but was prevented from outright attacking by Lin’s arrows exploding in its chest.

A cloud of smoke went up and the beast let out a pained roar as it leaned backwards. The explosion hadn’t been enough to kill the beast but it had been enough to stumble backwards, and enough for Tilia to ram into it.

His teammate ran directly at it, using a small rocky formation Wyn created for her to deftly leap in the air, and activating her semblance just as she and her shield collided with the Grimm’s chest. Already unsteady on its feet following Lin’s attack, the Grimm had no other option but to fall back under the strain of Tilia’s attack. 

The Grimm hit the floor with a heavy thud and Tilia was quick to scramble on top of it ready to attack again. Kieran was also quick to follow suit but unlike Tilia was unable to get a good foothold and was quickly knocked off when the hybrid began to thrash around as it tried to get back up.

Kieran hit the ground hard, lost his balance, and fell to the floor, head thumping against the concrete flooring. He let out a groan and clamped a hand to his head, trying to ignore the throbbing pain that was working over him in response to the hit.

"Restrain its hands," Kieran ordered his team. As Tilia was still on top of the beast, the task fell to Lin and Wyn. Wyn covered one hand with ice formations and Lin used an arrow laced with earth dust to restrain the other hand. For good measure, Wyn also restrained one of its feet.

"Kieran, if you're gonna do something, do it now!" Tilia yelled at him from where she was on top of the Grimm. "This monster isn't going to lie down forever!"

With a grunt of effort, Kieran picked himself up from the floor, trying to ignore the violent spinning motion which threatened to overwhelm him when he stood. It took a bit of effort to heave his claymore, so he settled for dragging it along with him, the tip of the blade scraping on the floor as he ran, until he was able to use his momentum to heft it up. Kieran used the earth formation Wyn had created earlier to jump up onto the Grimm. With two people on top of it, the Grimm thrashed wildly underneath them, threatening to break its elemental restraints. 

As Tilia slashed at its lower abdomen, Kieran carefully made his way further up the Grimm’s body until he was by its head. Kieran used one foot to clamp its mouth shut, quite literally having to channel nearly all of his strength into his foot to keep it from snapping open. He raised his claymore high and angled the tip of his weapon over a split in the Grimm’s skull. As he held the weapon over the Grimm’s head Kieran was fully aware of its red eyes flicking up at him, watching as he ended its short, miserable life.

“Never again,” Kieran said as he drove the blade down into the crack.

The Grimm’s eyes went wide and its body grew still underneath him before finally dissipating, not that Kieran was too aware of it happening. After putting his sword through the Grimm’s head he was only faintly aware of his feet touching the ground before his knees gave way and he slumped to the floor in sheer exhaustion.

In front of him, Wyn walked into view, pacing in front of him before very calmly sitting on the floor and lying back, hands covering his head.

The next thing he knew, Kieran felt two sets of arms enveloping him, as Lin and Tilia rushed forward to embrace him. Lin’s arms were wrapped around him and Tilia just about managed to have a hold on both of them, squeezing them tightly as though afraid to let them go.

“It’s okay, Kieran, it’s over now,” Lin whispered softly into his ear, making circular motions on his arm with a finger in a comforting manner. “It’s gone.”

“It’s over,” Kieran echoed. And then he wept.

[sustraiii]

TEAM KWTZ CHAPTER 11 - THE HORROR (PART 1)

The Horror is loose.

ROISIN

After a valiant attempt at trying to distract Meredith, Roisin and Perry had found themselves waiting down the hill from the Chartreuse family home. It seemed as though Meredith had believed her apologies, albeit somewhat confused about why she felt the need to apologise for her uncle. The struggle had been keeping Meredith engaged in the conversation, as she was keen to get back to some chores within her house. Roisin hadn't wanted to leave but she knew there was only so much she could do without the conversation seeming forced or strange. The last thing she wanted was Meredith to suspect something was wrong.

"Do you think they're done yet?" Roisin asked, pacing back and forth where she stood with Perry.

Her Vacuan teammate leaned idly against a wall, his arms folded over his chest. "Hard to say," He admitted, looking at the house and then back at Roisin. "Depends what they find I s'pose."

Roisin nodded in agreement. Even though they were looking for something more concrete to tie Victor to Pyre there was no guarantee that they would even find anything. From what Roisin could tell, it seemed like Victor had done an excellent job at concealing the truth for ten years.

Roisin was continuing to pace when Perry suddenly gestured behind her with a tilt of his head. She swivelled on the spot to see KWTZ and Colin rushing back towards them. Colin was carrying a bleeding and unconscious Meredith in his arms. They had scarcely made it down the hill towards them when a horrific sound akin to an explosion, arose from the Chartreuse house where they had just fled from. A hideous Grimm stood outside, a gaping hole in the front of the house where it had broken through. Roisin gawked at it, unsure of how to comprehend what she was looking at.

"What is that thing?" Perry asked, voice quivering slightly.

A huge roar came from the Grimm mere seconds after her teammate had asked that. It was so loud it felt as though the ground was shaking beneath her very feet. When the roar subsided, the screams of panicked citizens drew it away, the initial target of KWTZ and Colin forgotten about at that moment.

Roisin stared at the spot where the Grimm had been for a moment, before turning to look back at the group. "What kind of Grimm was that?"

"A hybrid," Colin said simply. "A horror that should never have been made."

Perry swore out loud and shook his head. Roisin was still struggling to process everything.

"Well, I guess we need to deal with that then," Roisin said, clapping her hands together awkwardly. "Any idea how we take something like that down?"

"Hit it with everything we've got," Kieran replied confidently. "We have to put an end to it before we have a repeat of the Glatisant attack."

KWTZ seemed raring to go, and although Roisin still didn't know what to think, it was hard not to feel a bit inspired by their confidence.

"I need to get Meredith somewhere safe," Colin said, indicating to the woman in his arms. "I'll try and help out when I can. Just...stay safe, alright?"

"We will," Kieran promised.

With a reluctant nod, the group parted ways, Colin hurrying off to find somewhere safe for Meredith, and KWTZ, Roisin, and Perry chasing after the hybrid. As they ran, Roisin was already thinking of potential strategies they could utilise to bring it down. It was a big Grimm so it wasn't going to go down easy; they would need to be smart and conserve their energy if they really wanted to do some damage to it.

The plan was to take on the hybrid directly, but as they chased after it, a sudden problem arose to disrupt them. They were still running when the shrill wails of alarms began to activate all over Silbern. Roisin flinched slightly hearing them. Perimeter alarms.

Kieran slowed the group upon hearing them, looking back at his sister with a wary glance. He knew as well as she did what those alarms meant Grimm were close to the walls. Which meant it wasn't just the hybrid they would have to deal with.

"We need to do something about that," Kieran said.

"But we can't just leave the hybrid!" Wyn pointed out.

"He's right," Roisin said, looking over her brother knowingly. She considered what to do for a moment, looking between her teammate and then at KWTZ. "You guys should go after the hybrid. Me and Perry will check out the alarms." She said, offering her assistance.

Perry shot her a curious look, clearly surprised by the sudden offer. Kieran also raised his brows but did not say no to her suggestion. He looked back at his own teammates, checking for their opinions on the matter. None of them seemed to have an issue with it so he gave a nod of confirmation to his sister.

"Stay safe, Ros," Kieran said, briefly giving her a small hug before they parted ways.

"You too, Kee."

With the group split again, Roisin led Perry and herself in the direction of the nearest alarm. As the walls came into view, they could hear the sound of gunfire as the turrets on the wall shot at Grimm that lay beyond it. The ground was littered with holes, the culprit being a colony of Myrmidons, which had burrowed underneath the walls, and emerged onto this side. She assumed some must have scurried off, as only two remained now, trapping a small group of three civilians that had managed to scramble up onto a canopy over the door to a house. It had kept them safe for now, but the Myrmidons were using their pincers to try and gnaw through the supporting beams.

"You take the left, I take the right?" Perry suggested. He held out a fist for her to bump.

"Deal," Roisin confirmed, bumping his fist.

Roisin was first to act, drawing her sword from her hip, and racing to deal with the Myrmidon at the right. It didn’t even have time to react before she sliced it clean in half. The second Myrmidon turned its head and made a squealing noise, but was quickly defeated by a blast from Perry’s shotgun.

Roisin gave him a nod of appreciation, before looking up at the frightened civilians. “It’s safe for the moment. You can come down now.”

One of the civilians, a young woman with ginger hair, nodded quickly. She had just lowered herself to get down more easily when she made a yelp and retreated further up again. Roisin quirked a brow, curious what had made her so nervous again, and then she heard it - the laughter. 

“Uh, Ros, we’ve got a problem.”

She turned on the spot to face the direction of the noise, finding herself looking directly at three Prowlers, and seven Myrmidons. Whilst the Prowlers sized them up cautiously, there was no hesitation from the Myrmidons to attack. Two quickly rushed Perry, which he fended off with the butt of his weapon. He wasn’t able to shoot at either of them until Roisin stabbed one. With two of the ant-like Grimm down, they could focus on the remaining Myrmidons and the Prowlers. Roisin decided that the Prowlers should be the first of the Grimm they dealt with being the larger of the two and the harder to avoid should they have lunged at them.

Or at least that was the plan until a blue blur collided with one of the Prowlers, sending it careening off to the side. It took a moment to realise what she was seeing, only recognising it as Ruka Aoki using her semblance when the older woman slowed down.

With one Prowler down, she gracefully jumped over to another, slamming the blade of her tonfa into its neck. It made a pained sound and attempted to wriggle away, but Ruka held firm, using the weapon lodged in its neck to steer the Grimm so she was more in line with the remaining Prowler. She shot at it with her weapon, quickly defeating the Prowler before it could become a problem. Ruka then proceeded to dislodge her weapon from the Prowler's neck, and then gave two quick slashes and sliced its head off.

She jumped backwards from the fading Grimm, landing in a crouch, before lifting her head and giving Perry and Roisin a small salute in greeting. "Hey, kids."

Roisin stared at her before giving her an awkward wave in return. "H-Hey."

Ruka smiled and then looked over her shoulder, where a younger woman appeared from the street behind her. "Should I leave the Myrmidons to you, Em?"

Esmerelda Aveleira came to stand beside Ruka. Her dark brown hair was messy and slicked back from fighting, and beads of sweat lined her brow. She had hiked up her skirt on one side to allow for easier movement, clearly not having been dressed for a fight. At some point, she had clearly gotten hit by debris or a Grimm, as she had a nasty cut above her knee.

"Move," Esmerelda told Roisin and Perry calmly.

The two backed away slowly, ducking under the canopy, and allowing Esmerelda to do her thing. The woman stepped forward and whistled, attempting to draw the Myrmidons attention. A few scuttled towards her but three of them were distracted by both the continued wailing of the perimeter alarms and the presence of Roisin and Perry.  In the end, it didn’t really matter that Esmerelda’s attempt at distraction had failed, as the use of her semblance quickly dealt with them. 

With a flick of her wrist, Esmerelda created a dark green glyph, which spread across the floor and quickly trapped the Grimm in place. They weren’t completely stopped, merely slowed, as the Myrmidon’s pincers twitched and some of them squirmed around in an effort to break free. Esmerelda gave them no chance to escape, quickly slamming down the tip of her staff on the edge of the glyph, causing rocky dust formations to sprout forth and quickly spear or squash the Myrmidons.

"Nice job," Roisin commended, once the Myrmidons were fully defeated.

Esmerelda gave her a strained smile and bobbed her head appreciatively. "You're welcome."

"Are you two okay?" Ruka asked, speaking to Roisin and Perry as she approached the trio. 

"We're alright," Roisin answered, looking at Perry quickly before looking at Ruka again. "Thanks for the assist. How bad is it elsewhere?"

"Not too bad, all things considered," Ruka began, casting a glance over her shoulder. "Mostly the Myrmidons causing issues I'd say. But a few Prowlers are using the holes they left behind to get underneath the walls."

"At least the turrets have kicked in now. That should stop or at very least slow the number of  Prowlers getting in," Esmerelda commented. She winced slightly and leaned against her staff for support.

"I'm surprised they even got in," Perry mused. "I never saw them digging holes when we encountered them in the woods."

"They're highly opportunistic. They'll find a way," Ruka told him. "So what lured them here?"

"Something that Victor Chartreuse was cooking up. A hybrid Grimm," Roisin explained simply, not wanting to fully elaborate at that moment given the continued Grimm threat. 

"That would explain why the perimeter alarms didn't go off," Esmerelda mused, more to herself than in response to what Roisin had said.

"So Colin's theories were correct," Ruka shook her head. "What sort of Grimm are we dealing with here? I haven't seen it but I definitely heard it."

"I've never seen anything like it," Perry said chillingly.

Ruka and Esmerelda shared a wary glance. Even though neither woman had seen the beast, from what they had heard, and what they could now see with all the Grimm flooding the area, Roisin knew it wouldn't have been hard for them to put an image together in their minds.

"I need to find my da and make sure he's okay," Roisin said. "Is that alright?" She looked towards her teammate in particular.

"Of course it is, Ros," Perry smiled reassuringly.

"Go ahead but I wouldn't overly worry if I were you, Daragh was actually the one who mobilised us to attack," Ruka explained, before giving her consent for Roisin to go, not that her answer would have stopped Roisin from leaving. "I think we've got things handled here?" She looked back at Esmerelda as she said that.

Esmerelda made a weak chuckle. "Well, my leg feels like it might be about to fall off, but I've still got some fight left in me."

Ruka smirked and then looked back at Roisin. "Go find your dad and make sure he's safe."

Leaving Esmerelda and Ruka, Roisin and Perry quickly took off, Roisin leading the way through to the centre of town where they could cut through on their way back to the Peredur home. However, given how the rest of the night had gone thus far, Roisin should have known that things wouldn't be so simple.

As they reached the town square, they came across more of the Myrmidons that Roisin had assumed had scurried away earlier. They had done a number to the town square, breaking through the tables and chairs that had been left outside of the Golden Fleece, as well as the thankfully empty market stalls. It was a slight relief to see that the area was free of panicked civilians, but that meant that as soon as the Grimm were aware of Roisin and Perry's presence they were quick to launch their attack.

Roisin and Perry quickly engaged them, cutting through them with relative ease. Myrmidons were neither large in size nor particularly powerful, it was only the sheer number of them that would work against them.

Roisin just pulled her sword back from a defeated Grimm, when a loud cry echoed from somewhere above her, and a looming shadow passed over the area.

Roisin huffed loudly. "Oh, what now?" She snapped, looking skyward for the source of the sound.

Looking up she could see two large avian Grimm circling above them, before one dove down and landed mere inches in front of the duo, not caring about the Myrmidons which scuttled around it. When it had been flying above them, Roisin had thought it to be a Nevermore, but now that it had landed and she could see it clearly, she knew what it was.

A Strix, she realised with a chill. As she thought that, the beast turned its head around eerily, and squawked at her, the feather-like quills on its crested head quivering as it did so.

She was familiar with the attacks from this kind of Grimm, and made a gesture for Perry to quickly shoot at it whilst it was distracted by her. Perry cocked his gun and fired off one round, hitting the Grimm in the chest, which forced it back briefly. Roisin moved to strike it, but a flap of its wings created a gust strong enough to push her back, despite Roisin digging her heels in. 

By now, the Myrmidons were starting to circle the duo again, having grown used to the Strix's presence. They dared to try attacking the two of them but were easy to push back. The Strix was another matter entirely. Although it was smaller than a Nevermore, it was thicker-bodied and more nimble, and its wings were proving to be quite an issue, using them to summon strong gusts or just to fly upwards a few feet. It was a small mercy it hadn’t yet utilised the quill attack it was known for.

Roisin stabbed at the Strix once it landed, jabbing the tip of her blade into its chest. It screeched and began to pull away again and to her horror, it was taking her sword with her, as she could not dislodge it.

“Roisin, your sword!” She heard Perry call out.

“I can see that!” Roisin called back. She looked around frantically for something she could use to slow the Strix, her pink eyes eventually landing on a metal rod among some of the debris of the ruined outdoor furniture. Using her semblance, Roisin held out her hand, summoning the rod into her hand telekinetically, and then swung it in a smooth arc, smashing it against the head of the Strix. As the Grimm pulled back, she yanked out her sword.

"Stupid overgrown bird," She grumbled under her breath, before smacking the Strix with the rod once more. "Perry, now!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her teammate whip round on the spot, followed by the click of his gun. An explosive blast ripped through its neck and tore its head clean off.

The Strix slumped forward as it faded away. Roisin tossed aside the rod and proceeded to cut through some of the Myrmidons that were drawn near. By now, the second Strix was circling closer, so low that the gusts of wind from its diving motions were beginning to ruffle her hair.

"Hey, Ros, think you could distract that thing for me?" Perry asked. "I want to see if I can get a good hit on it."

Roisin looked upwards and squinted as she weighed up her options. "I'll see what I can do."

At Perry's request, Roisin did her best to distract the Strix, shouting and throwing bits of debris at it to try and get it to focus on her. To give her more room to work with, Perry distracted and destroyed more of the Myrmidons. Thankfully, the number of them had dropped since they had first arrived.

Eventually, the Strix dived low, talons outstretched as it tried to gore Roisin. A quick duck and roll, and she managed to avoid the Grimm and its razor-like talons. After missing Roisin, it flew back up, and circled around to face her once again. It seemed to study her for a moment, before pulling its wings back unleashing a spray of quills in her direction. Most of the quills avoided Perry, though he had to step back to avoid the brunt of them. Roisin, however, wasn't as lucky catching one or two on the arms and another scraped by her cheek, her bun coming undone as she ducked out of the way.

A second dive from the Strix provided Roisin with the opportunity to land a good hit on the Grimm. As it drew closer, she held her ground until the very last second, slashing at and damaging a wing. With a screech, the Strix pulled upward sharply, but with a damaged wing Roisin knew it wasn’t getting far.

Unable to support itself on one wing, the second Strix started to fall from the sky, crashing into the roof of a nearby steepled building. Roisin felt satisfied that it was defeated. What she had not accounted for was the large crack forming on the steeple tower, which spread further and further, until it cracked in the middle and began to topple to the ground, where Perry was still fighting with the Myrmidons below.

She felt as though she were frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch in mute horror. For a moment she was not in Silbern but back in Vale instead, celebrating with Midge before rubble and dust collapsed around them and blotted out the light.

No. Not again.

Roisin would not bury another teammate.

“Perry!” She practically screamed his name, already running towards him as the words began to fall out of her mouth.

Never again.

Her teammate seemed to turn to her in slow motion, looking at her with a perplexed expression, almost oblivious to the tower about to collapse on his head. Perry only seemed to notice something was wrong at the last moment, looking upwards just as Roisin hooked her arms around his waist and tackled him to the ground. The two of them landed on the floor with a heavy thud, Perry groaning beneath her as he collided with the concrete surface first. Roisin had just moments to further shield him with her arm, as the tower finally landed where he had been standing moments before, and sent a cloud of dust over the two of them.

Roisin waited for the dust to clear before she finally moved her arm away. She looked down at Perry beneath her, giving him a once over to ensure he was unharmed. Again she was not in Silbern but in Vale and it was Midge’s still and broken body she was inspecting. The horror of believing she was seeing Midge dead in front of her again hither suddenly and forcing her to retreat in on herself.

“Roisin.” 

She flinched as a hand touched her cheek, drawing her back to reality, and she looked down to see Perry looking back at her, concern creasing his brows.

“Are you alright?” He asked her.

“Are you alright?” Roisin countered.

Perry nodded stiffly, a weak smile gracing his lips. “You saved me.”

The words hit her harder than she was expecting. A nervous bubble of laughter escaped her lips and she smiled back at her teammate, tears threatening to form in her eyes again. “I saved you.” 

She couldn’t save Midge nor Tara, but she had saved him.

If she had hoped to savour the moment with her teammate, her hopes were quickly dashed, when she heard movement behind her. The muffled but unmistakable sound of the Strix echoed from within the rubble. There was a sound like something falling over or being knocked aside, and then through the clearing dust, she could see the shape of the Strix emerging from the now ruined building. The Grimm shook its head out and then looked around, perhaps sensing they were still nearby but not knowing quite where to look. And then its head swivelled eerily in their direction, the rest of its body facing another direction, until the beast started to move towards them.

Instinctively, Roisin reached for her sword, but at the same moment she did so, remembered she had discarded it in order to reach Perry quicker.

She could see it now, lying not far from the rubble. Once again, Roisin held out her hand, reaching out for her weapon with her semblance. The sword flew towards her, and she caught the pommel in her hand, before pointing the tip at the encroaching beast. In the time it had taken her to retrieve her weapon she didn’t have time to move away and get herself into a better position - not without leaving Perry exposed. Roisin had already vowed to herself that would not lose another teammate and she was not about to go back on that promise now. She would make her final stand here and now.

The Strix walked towards her and Perry slowly; its wings might have been damaged and it might have taken a significant knock when it hit the building, but it was still a threatening presence.

The Grimm began to pull back its wings again preparing to release yet more quills on the two of them. Roisin took a breath and braced herself. If she couldn’t get out of the way, she hoped her aura would hold out long enough.

Fortunately, Roisin never got to find out if her aura would hold. Just as the Strix was about to launch its attack, it seemed to jolt forward suddenly, emitting a weak cry of anguish before it slumped forward and began to disappear. 

As it faded, Roisin could quickly see what was the cause of its defeat. Standing behind the beast, with his blade pointed right where its back would have been, stood none other than her father, Daragh. He waited until the Grimm had gone, before swishing his giant sword to one side and sheathing it on his back so he could greet his daughter.

Roisin did not miss the limp in his walk, nor the blood dripping from his forehead as he stepped toward her. Daragh cupped her face in his giant hands and gave her a small kiss on her forehead. “Thank goodness, you’re alright.”

“Likewise for you,” Roisin said, pulling away from him slightly and giving him a warm smile.

The two remained in this position for a moment before Daragh let his hands slack, and moved to help Perry, who was still huddled on the floor. He extended a hand and quickly pulled him to his feet. “How are you faring, Perry? You look a bit worse for wear,” Daragh gave Perry an appraising look.

“I’ve felt better,” Perry admitted, smiling awkwardly. “But if it wasn’t for Roisin I might not have been standing here.”

Perry and Daragh looked at her, and Roisin could once again feel tears forming in her eyes. Daragh nodded at his daughter approvingly. “That’s my girl,” He said, chest puffing out with pride.

“So, uh, what do we do now?” Perry asked, looking between Roisin and Daragh.

Daragh stared out towards the town. They had cleared the Myrmidons from the area, and the tower had crushed what they hadn’t been to defeat themselves. Despite the lack of nearby Grimm, the perimeter alarms were still wailing, and the hybrid was still out there as far as she knew.

“Kieran is still out there somewhere, and there are still Grimm attacking the town,” Daragh began, turning back to his daughter and Perry. “Ready your weapons, our fight is not over yet.”