Chapter 21: Visiting the Family.

The road to a good deal is paved with lies, deceit, manipulation and various degrees of flattery. Very rarely is one beneficial for both parties.

It wasn't often that Darius had the time, the need, the want, or any combination of the three to just aimlessly wander the streets of Vale, at night in particular. Indeed, most of his ventures outside the academy grounds had a very clear purpose: whether it was to acquire some commodity he found he was lacking or was running out of, restock on some of the ingredients required for maintaining his supply of stims or, on the rarest of occasions, to pursue a fresh lead on the case he had been assigned in the very beginning of his training at Beacon, he rarely found himself present in Vale for longer than an hour, and to be quite honest, he didn't mind. Putting aside the slim, almost nonexistent chance of someone miraculously recognizing him as the long-presumed dead Silva, he would, in fact, be quite content not to spend any more time on the streets of the city than necessary for whatever errand he had to run. It's not that he didn't like the place. Yet as someone who had spent most of his teenage years training in the remote wilderness of the Atlesian tundra, his only company being his mentor and books, the erratic pace of life and the ambient noise of a megapolis was rather heavy on the mind for him, albeit not enough to impede his thinking. Despite Atlas' well-deserved reputation of a city that never closes its eyes, the overall rhythm and flow of life was much more measured and, indeed, slower than Vale's, and it was rare to see its streets and squares outright swarming with people like it was the daily occurrence here.

And yet… today was different. Casually strolling the street and maneuvering between the crowds of people, most of them completely oblivious to a cape-clad figure swerving past them, Darius couldn't help but feel some strange, intangible presence lift his spirits and add a spring to his step, even going so far as to cause him to throw back the hood of his cape to fully take in the sights of the city preparing for the night. His surroundings were so densely packed with people he could reach his destination without ever stepping out of the dark, simply slithering between the shadows the mass of humans cast upon the ground, but for whatever reason he decided to make his way completely on foot, and for the entirety of his walk, he felt an inordinately wide grin firmly attach itself to his face and refuse to leave. He didn't mind.

If Lin's directions were to be trusted, and Darius would be, in his own opinion, incredibly foolish to doubt them, the Order had made the small building of a security company with a remarkably uninspired name "Sentinel Security Solutions" a façade for their main center of operations in Vale, logically making it his destination. Separating himself from the stream of people in the most inconspicuous manner, Darius finally entered the shadows to scout out the premises and search for clues as to how he was to approach the situation. As it turned out, the main entrance to the company's space was blocked by a fairly imposing metal gate of considerable height, while the courtyard and the nearby parking lot was watched by a lone guard near the entrance door. The guard was wearing the company's standard security uniform, but upon closer inspection Darius couldn't help but notice that the employee was incredibly young to be doing this sort of job, surely no older than his eighteen-year-old self, which was the sign he was probably in the right place. After all, what kind of security company would leave a teenager to guard the building at night?

In short, the only obstacle standing in his way was the massive metal gate blocking his access to the court, but, alas, its heavy metal bars failed miserably to intercept his immaterial being from slithering between the two of them, reemerging in an unlit corner. This would normally be enough to conceal him from the eyes of the ordinary humans, but just as Darius suspected, the guard watching this facility wasn't one. Somehow noticing a shadow stir slightly differently in what would have to be the very corners of his peripheral vision, the young man immediately turned in his direction, swiftly training his rifle on him, accompanied by a warning:

"Sir or Madam, you are intruding upon private premises. Please leave!"

With his hood still down, Darius couldn't help but smile ever wider as he entered the light with his hands slightly raised in a gesture of non-confrontation.

"I come in peace, brother. May the Dark shine your way."

And just like that, the hostility and wariness vanished from the guard's visage in a blink of an eye, instead giving way to the similar smile that was occupying Darius' features. As he lowered his weapon, he strode up to Darius, extending his right arm for a handshake and replying to the ancient farewell-slash-passphrase of the Order:

"May she guide us unto understanding. Welcome home, brother."

"I can't tell you how glad I am to be here."

After a hearty handshake and a mutual pat on the shoulder, Darius took the resulting free second to closer expect the pretend-guard. An individual of average height and appearance for his age, making the situation all the more ironic, as Darius was noticeably taller than the person who was supposed to be the one looking menacingly; yet one feature of notice was immediately apparent to him, namely his eyes of vibrant, almost radiant emerald color. While undoubtedly human, their hue was so rich that he could swear he could almost see them glowing, the light of the nearby streetlamp reflecting off of them. The helmet and the uniform concealed the rest of his features for the most part, yet a small lock of neon-green hair did not escape his attention, barely visible on his forehead from beneath the protective gear.

It would seem that his comrade had also utilized what little time he had in that small gap between interactions to study him, causing his brow to slightly raise in mild confusion.

"I don't seem to remember seeing you, brother. Are you new in Vale?"

"You… could say so," Darius conceded. Didn't recognize the plate. Must be new. "I've been here for several months now, but, alas, have not had the opportunity or the immediate necessity to link up with the Order here, up until now. Could you show me around?"

"Sure," he shrugged. "My shift was almost over, anyways. Name's Erin. Erin Verdant."

Sure didn't see that one coming.

"Darius Silva. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

In truth, despite actively avoiding exposure in public, Darius had long since made up his mind on how he wanted to approach personal introductions like these. Even despite him being revealed in front of what would have to be a couple hundred people, he hadn't seen his name being mentioned once in the following weeks of the aftermath in any piece of media, which, even for Beacon being a highly secluded place that generally didn't leave the students many reasons to venture into the outside world, was worth mentioning all on itself. Indeed, this could mean one of two things: either the world cared less about his mysterious rebirth than he had anticipated, or, alternatively, it really, really didn't want to care, writing it off as mundane and not worth mentioning. Neither of those versions were something he objected to; excess publicity was more of a burden than anything in his eyes, and some of the more recent acquaintances made by him in Beacon only further reassured him in this belief. The point was only made more moot by the logical conclusion that concealing himself from those he considered family made absolutely no sense in light of earlier events.

Unfortunately, that also meant dealing with situations like the one unfolding before his very eyes. To Erin's credit, his reaction was far tamer than the one his future team expressed upon Darius' introduction. Why, he didn't even try reaching for his weapon like a certain raven-haired girl back at Beacon, though, admittedly, the paleness of his visage was by now almost identical to the color of the moon hanging above Vale's sky. The boy took a small step back, slightly dazed by the revelation unleashed upon him.

"Th… That Silva?"

"That Silva."

"Huh…" Erin let out a bizarre mix of a chuckle and a cough, tinged with shock and confusion in equal measure, soon breaking into a short fit of nervous laughter. "Never… never thought I'd hear of one of you again… much less greet one as a brother. Life's funny, isn't it?"

"Funnier than we can comprehend, yes," the Silva nodded, feeling the right half of his lips stretch in a half-smile. "Has a twisted sense of humor, too. Surely this isn't the first time something outta nowhere caught you off-guard like that?"

Yang's rubbing off on you. How despicable.

"True that," the young guard laughed, and Darius couldn't help but chuckle along with him as the stark contrast of just how easy this went compared to the Initiation ceremony sunk in. "Can't wait for the next surprise."

Oh you are in for a treat.

"Those tend to come in batches, if my experience is anything to go by," he 'reassured' his brother, just barely keeping himself from being split apart by a devious ear-to-ear grin.

"Wonderful," for whatever reason, Erin did not seem enthused by the unfolding prospects, thus swiftly shifting the focus of the conversation on something that had recently gripped his mind. "You know… Does meeting people always just go like this for you? Do you just… drop your name on them and see if they try to run?"

"No secrets between family. Besides… I'm afraid I'm not enough of a people-person to meet a lot of people," Darius shook his head; as willing as he was to entertain the mental image drawn by the young guard, he reluctantly abandoned it in favor of a clearer thinking process. "Though admittedly you're not far off. I mean… So far the only people whom I've… 'met' like this are you and a bunch of girls, and of the two examples, only one didn't try to immediately murder me after that." He cautiously looked around. "So I'm sure you'd understand if I asked you to… keep the knowledge within the family."

"Yeah, I can see where you're coming from with this," Erin nodded. After his eyes darted across the corners of the courtyard the two were located in, he turned towards the building. "So I guess we should probably continue inside."

Darius did not object.

After unlocking the entrance and strolling their way past the exhibit corridor and office cubicles, the duo arrived at what could possibly be the absolute most inconspicuous and boring patch of space in an office building: a pair of shelves packed chock-full with books, old ledgers and other items of various bureaucratic importance placed in the deep end of a walkway. Worst of all, whether due to an architectural oversight or worker negligence, the upper shelf was installed improperly, several centimeters to the left relative to where the lower one was, scraping the eye like a piece of sandpaper. Yet as Darius squinted to closer examine this infuriating display of shoddy craftsmanship, he was struck with the realization that for a forgotten shelf in a dead-end hallway, it was surprisingly well kept, the lack of dust being most notable. It was almost as if it was used regularly…

"Suggest you come a bit closer," Erin beckoned to him. Reaffirmed in his suspicions, Darius chuckled to himself as he stepped towards his guide as he reached out… and shifted the shelf back into place.

Without so much as a sound, the small patch of floor the two were standing on began rotating clockwise, taking the shelves with them, so swiftly, in fact, that Darius had to quickly grab onto the one that wasn't part of a hidden switch in order not to tip over. After the motion was complete, Darius and Erin found themselves in an empty, featureless room leading towards an equally featureless, albeit massive metallic door with a keypad near it. With confidence in his stride, Darius' guide approached the door and began entering a ten-digit code into the offered keypad. Darius figured it would be a good idea to memorize it.

Judging by the fact that one of the lights on the pad blinked green, Erin was correct, and a piece of the nearby wall slid up, opening up space for a fingerprint scanner. Placing his palm on the pad yielded the exact same result and another piece of the wall shifted, this time revealing a retinal scanner. With that step complete, the two panels slid back in their sockets, concealing the scanners, and the door opened, an elevator beckoning them inside.

"I'm sure you understand all the safety precautions," Erin said as the two entered the elevator. Darius nodded. This particular scenario was, in fact, not unfamiliar to him: during his more than infrequent visits to the Atlesian HQ he, too, had to make his way past similar hurdles.

"I'll ask Melissa to enter your biometrics into the local database once we get there. She should still be up. Something about server maintenance..."

"Appreciate it. Though I don't think I'll be visiting here often."

"I mean… one entry isn't gonna break our hard drives. We don't always have someone who can get you past security watching the place."

"Fair enough."

As the elevator came to a halt and opened, the two found themselves in a rather spacious hall furnished and decorated in the style that was considered quite common amongst Valean nobility of about eighth century P.R.: the overall tonality of the hall was, for the most part, held in shades of brown, with the walls of oak and the parquet polished to glistening perfection and several sofas with red undertones lining the left-side wall, while the middle of the entrance hall was occupied by four incredibly comfy-looking armchairs surrounding an exceedingly sturdy coffee table.

One of said armchairs, for that matter, was currently housing a woman of slender complexion; at the first glance, Darius gave her twenty five years at most, although, of course, this number could be as high as fifty due to aura dramatically slowing down the aging process. Clad in loose fitting jeans and a grey hoodie, she was busy imbibing the contents of a sizeable cup in her hands, with several identical cups standing on the table, along with a large ceramic kettle and a couple dessert plates filled with sugar and lemons. Via intricate deductive reasoning, Darius arrived at the conclusion that the kettle, along with the cup, must have been containing tea.

Then again, who knows how Valeans like to ruin their coffee…

"Oh..." To his left, he saw Erin slightly raise his eyebrow. Evidently, he was surprised by what he was seeing. "Hey, Melissa. You out already?"

The woman raised her head and greeted the guard with a nod of recognition, while locking eyes with Darius for about two seconds, studying the new arrival. Judging by the shadows around her brown eyes, she had spent the last several nights on her feet. She slightly shook her head and raised her free hand as well, greeting the two of them.

"Hey Erin. Yeah, I'm done. I swear if Jonah comes up with another brilliant idea of organizing our servers, I'll set security to see him as an intruder." She put the cup down to rub her temples in a display of overwhelming frustration, then took another sip from the cup. "I see we've got a guest?"

"And whom!" he laughed, taking seat in an adjacent armchair. "Bet you won't guess."

"Erin..." Another long sip. Some creeping suspicion told Darius that the tea was the only thing keeping the woman in front of him awake. "We've got what? Ten thousand people in our ranks? You expect me to know everyone by name? He looks Atlesian, but that's about it." She sighed, then turned to address Darius, who had been curiously observing the interaction between the two while standing slightly to the side. "Sorry. Tend to forget about manners after several days without sleep. Melissa Fairgraves, local IT nerd. Want some tea?"

"Gladly," he shrugged, sitting down in the armchair in front of her. The tea was, in fact, exceedingly good, especially when enriched with a slice of lemon and a couple spoons of sugar. Taking a hearty sip himself, he waited for the woman to put her cup down before introducing himself.

"Thank you. The name's Darius Silva," he slightly smirked. "Pleased to meet you."

Just as he thought, biding time until his sister was not holding anything in her hand turned out to be a wise decision, as her knuckles immediately went white from the strain of grabbing the armrests and her eyes flung open. In fact, keeping with the tradition of the fairer sex typically having much stronger reactions to his persona, he saw a golden shimmer run the length of her body as one of the armrests slowly started to cave in under pressure.

"That's… not… A funny thing to joke about, brother," she managed to utter, the very act of pushing air through her throat seeming a challenge to her as her features slowly lost color. With a quiet crackle, Darius saw a spark of static jump between her fingers.

"You said you manage IT," following suit, he put the cup down and placed his hands upon his knees in a display of non-aggression. "You should have access to Atlesian databases. See for yourself."

After the initial shock wore down, the woman, still shaking her hand in disbelief, raised her left hand, pulling away her sleeve… and flicking up a panel within her forearm, typing away at a projected virtual keyboard with great haste. Although almost indistinguishable from normal flesh aside from thin black lines where the palm transitioned into fingers, her left arm turned out to be entirely prosthetic, augmented with the equivalent of the latest iteration of wrist-mounted omnitools, complete with a virtual scroll. Having seemingly arrived to where she needed, Melissa started scrolling down the alphabetical list until about halfway and selected the highlighted item…

"Why… why can't I access your file?"

Oh no.

"I mean…" in his best attempt to defuse the situation, Darius attempted to downplay the importance of the actual contents of his dossier. He was rather certain the amber-haired woman was close enough to a heart attack as it was. "You see my name on the list. Do you really need to look inside?"

"Actually, I believe I do!" she almost growled before beginning to type even faster, forcing the inbuilt projector to bring up several more screens teeming with lines of code. "I'm quite interested what someone like you could have that would require higher clearance than mine!"

"Hey-hey-hey, Melissa!" Previously silent, Erin decided it was about time he intervened, since the efforts of Darius alone were clearly insufficient. Gently but firmly he grabbed Melissa's right shoulder and slightly shook it. "Maybe trying to hack our own security isn't the best idea. I mean, the guy's sitting right in front of us! Maybe we should ask him first and he'll tell us!" He said, looking at the boy intently as he uttered the last phrase. Darius nodded. It's not like he was planning to conceal himself the entire time. Although, admittedly, it was beginning to occur to him that maybe dumping both his identity and his standing in the Order at the same time on any selected member of the Order was a bit much.

To his great surprise, Erin's plea to Melissa's common sense was wildly successful, and the latter closed the panel on her forearm, pulling the sleeve back over it and gulping down the rest of the tea in one go, staring him down… or at least attempting to. A mere five seconds later, she was forced to avert her gaze, slightly shivering at the unnerving sight in them.

Darius sighed. He was… rather puzzled. One second the woman was brimming simultaneously with confusion, fear and anger, almost ready to either flee with great haste or lash out at him, yet the other she was, while not entirely calm, still docile enough to hold a reasonable conversation. Indeed, something about the way Erin talked to her irked him in a way that he could not fully crystallize into coherency, but still noted down on his list of weird things around him. He could only wish he could calm down a person that easily.

"Melissa is a… how do I say it… results-oriented person," Erin spoke up, his tone changing from assertive to apologetic in an instant. "She tends to become a bit… overzealous whenever she sets her sights on something"

"There are very few people with higher clearance than mine," Melissa spoke, trying her best not to repeat eye contact with him. "So you best start talking."

"I apologize for causing you such distress," he slowly nodded. "I'm afraid it is integral to my name. But… yes, I'll talk. So… as you might realize by now, reports of my death have been… greatly exaggerated."

"Figures," Melissa scowled. "You know, when I first watched the news, I did get suspicious when they didn't find your body and just wrote you off as dead. That investigation ended before it ever began, which is kind of weird for Atlas. Then again... what were the chances of an eleven year old surviving that kind of massacre? And you want to tell me we scooped you up after that?"

"Indeed," he nodded, again. "About six months after the raid, I was… found, by Lin Greystone. I've been training for the last seven years as his apprentice."

"Lin?" Erin's eyebrows shot up. "The Atlesian Chapter Master?"

"Former Atlesian Chapter Master," Melissa corrected him, narrowing her eyes in Darius' direction. "He stepped down about six years ago. Quietly so. Wouldn't have anything..."

"Well… guess no point in hiding it," he admitted. Erin wasn't wrong. Melissa was very result-oriented, and the information she possessed was testament to her competence. "Shortly after my apprenticeship started, he decided training me required his undivided attention. He abandoned his post and resumed my training in a more... remote location. Suppose it might have had to do with the fact that his age was starting to get to him. Maybe he saw me as his successor."

Even here, amongst your closest family, you lie. And as always, without a word of untruth.

Is this just your second nature? Is there anything you hold sacred?

"Still doesn't answer why your file is classified that highly," Melissa shook her head. Once again Darius saw a tiny spark form seemingly out of nowhere and jump between her hands.

"Then let me continue talking," he shrugged. "For the last several months, I have been presiding in Vale. Or, to be more specific, in Beacon academy, where I have been undergoing training as a Hunter."

"But… why?" the emerald-eyed boy scratched his head, his brows furrowed in confusion. "Lin's wasn't enough?"

Darius sighed. He started reaching for the waist.

"I'm afraid that was neither mine nor Master Lin's decision. Such was Her will. I won't be the one questioning it."

"Her?.."

Then he put the steel mask on the coffee table.

In retrospect, he probably got the best response out of them he could possibly have hoped for. He feared, and not without reason, that he would either have to harken back to the basics of CQC and evade Melissa's neurotic fit caused by a whole lot of less than pleasant information dumped on her in a single batch or, alternatively, remember the basics of first aid and perform emergency CPR on her because by the Dark, she looked like she might have needed it. Thankfully, neither was the case. As the realization of exactly who was sipping tea before them sank into the minds of Erin and Melissa, the former froze into a sort of a salt pillar, clearly desperately trying to stand at attention while sitting in an armchair, while the latter simply reached out for the kettle and grabbed it with an uneven hand, gulping tea directly from the source; with every chug, Darius could see the life in her eyes slowly dim as a tiny part of her soul died off, never to be restored.

"You know..." having emptied the kettle by at least half, Melissa kicked back in her seat, slowly massaging her head, her voice hollow and lifeless. "I'd call this all a dream… but damn this is a weird fucking dream to have. So-o-o… What is it you need here, Avatar?"

"'Darius' will do just fine," he retorted, hanging the mask back where it belonged. "I've come here because I need help in a… personal endeavour. To this end, I'd like to talk to the Chapter Master. I was told by Lin I could find him here."

"You were told correctly," Melissa shrugged. "In that case, you might as well just wait here 'till he comes."

"Pardon me?"

"Master Wilhelm - that's his name, you see..." Erin interjected. "Is a very powerful telepath. He's likely sensed your presence as soon as we exited the elevator, and considering your… rank… he's probably already on his way to greet you."

"Hm..." Darius pondered. If hist internal clock wasn't fooling him, which it typically wasn't, about five minutes must have passed since he and Erin entered the headquarters, which he immediately relayed to his guide. "Are you sure about that? It's been five minutes at the very least."

"Our headquarters is pretty big, yeah," Melissa answered his unuttered question. "And his office is on the other end of the facility. As you might understand, greeting new arrivals isn't part of his usual job description, so it'll probably take him some time to make his way here."

"Less than you might think, Melissa. I'm not quite that old."

The three turned their heads in unison as an unknown voice cut into the conversation, although Darius rightfully suspected the voice was unknown to him alone. A tall, shadowy figure was approaching the coffee table, soon taking on the appearance of what a mortal human would have looked like in their late sixties. Darius didn't even bother trying to guess the age of the man standing in front of him. Standing at a solid meter ninety, his very stature exuded authority, with the exceptionally fitting grey smock only adding to that image. And although the grey hair and occasional wrinkles and other dermal imperfections signaled the slow approach of his old age, the man's blue eyes burned with life and power, their color and saturation completely untouched by time's unrelenting march.

"That was never the implication, Sir," Melissa rolled her eyes, turning back towards the kettle with palpable longing in her gaze.

"Naturally. My greetings to the new arrival," Wilhelm spoke, his deep baritone reverberating in the walls of the hall. "An Avatar's arrival is always welcome. Though, admittedly, we might have arranged for something more proper if it weren't so… sudden."

"That is unnecessary." Darius stood up and slightly bowed to the man, his hand laid upon the heart. "I'm more than happy with the welcome I received… tense as it may have been. Master Wilhelm, I presume?"

"That would be me. Wilhelm Karasev, at your service," he nodded, and a thin half-smile crossed his lips. "The Order has seen it fit to charge me with overseeing our operations in Vale and eastern Sanus. To what do we owe your visit, Darius?"

"You don't know already?" he asked, mildly surprised by the question.

"Ah," Wilhelm slightly shook his head, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "I see Melissa already told you of my… abilities. Unfortunately, it seems she overlooked the fact that aside from my psychic powers, I'm also quite gifted in the perusal of common courtesy. Unless necessary, I don't dig further than the name. As a matter of fact, your visit caught me by surprise. I was convinced you still were in Lin's training. So please, do enlighten me."

"My apologies," Darius slightly bowed his head, proceeding to tell him the, admittedly, very short and simple story of how and why he ended up in Vale. "As for why I'm here specifically..." he paused for a second, considering the right approach to the situation. "I'm afraid this case concerns a friend of mine very deeply, and is therefore not up to me to freely disclose to just anyone. If possible, I would like to discuss this in a more private environment. No offense," he threw Erin and Melissa an apologetic stare, trying his best to convey that it was, indeed, not his secret to just give away. Melissa simply shrugged, currently fully occupied with mixing another spoon of sugar in her cup and paying little to no attention to the conversation. In contrast, Erin seemed so overwhelmed by the combined authority of the men present in the room that he could do naught but continue his best impression of a marble statue, only breaking up the act to give Darius a couple quick nods, signaling that he was, in fact, not at all offended. Yeah, this guy's definitely new. I'd be surprised if he even spent two years here.

"That can be arranged," after but a second of consideration, Wilhelm turned back to the door he came from, beckoning Darius to follow. "My work office should do fine. I don't suppose you'd like to get a… view of the land, so to speak, while we're underway?"

"Thank you for the suggestion, but no," he refuted, closing distance. "I won't say time is of the essence, but I would prefer not to waste too much of it. I won't stay here for a too long anyways."

"Understandable," the Chapter Master shrugged. Yet as he was about to close the door behind the two of them, he suddenly turned towards the coffee table once again:

"Oh, and another thing. I think you should lay off the tea, Melissa. Go get some sleep."

"With any luck, I'll wake up back in the server room."

"While I understand your dislike for unnecessary pomp - quite frankly, I, too, fail to understand Valeans' love for formalities..." While the two were strolling down the intricate maze of hallways and corridors that was the Valean Order's HQ, Wilhelm subtly suggested they kill the time with a conversation on topics as various as they would be plentiful. Darius did not object. From his suspicions, actually walking all the way to Karasev's office could take upward of ten minutes. "I believe just showing up at our doorstep was not the wisest decision, if solely because it would make introductions that much more difficult. Melissa, as… excitable as she may be, is one of the most mentally resilient persons I know, but poor Erin actually stood a risk of fainting at the spot. I fear he has a rather overblown sense of respect for authority, which I, alas, have yet to root out of him."

"In truth, you're probably right," Darius conceded. While his coming had not gone entirely terribly, the ride was most definitely rougher than he had hoped. Maybe subtlety was still something he should employ in his potential social interactions. "Unfortunately, my visiting is… spontaneous of nature, caused, in part, by major time constraints. The… endeavour… I spoke of earlier has occurred rather suddenly, making me scramble for solutions. Contrary to what I've said earlier…" He chuckled at the irony. "Time is actually of the essence. Besides… My judgement in this matter was rather skewed. I hoped that here, of all places, I would not have to intricately conceal myself behind false names and whatnot. After all, where else can I be completely honest with people surrounding me if not here?"

"I understand. Yes, indeed, a family should hide nothing from each other, but you have to understand some revelations… take some time to come to terms with, surely? Say, for instance, how would you have reacted in Erin's or Melissa's place?"

"I'm not saying I cannot empathize with either of the two. I quite understand that getting to know me is a rather shocking moment for most. I'm only saying that I, in this concrete instance, was rather out of options, considering the time constraint imposed upon me."

"If I might," stopping dead in his tracks and extending his hand towards a door, Wilhelm looked Darius in the eyes. "My cabinet lies here. Might I know what it is that makes you hurry so?"

"Of course. Not telling you would be rude at best, ungrateful at worst," he shrugged. He obviously did not expect to keep it a secret between the three. Not when at least two other people were integral to the plan succeeding. "A friend of mine, another trainee at Beacon, had forged his transcripts in order to secure himself a place at the academy. The problem was that not only did he not have anything resembling proper training, his aura was not even unlocked. And while the latter was swiftly remedied, the former had recently caused a situation in which his Semblance spontaneously manifested. This happened today. As of right now, he has no control over it, posing a danger both to others and to himself, and for obvious reasons chaining him up in dimeritium for prolonged periods of time is not an option. Having promised to help him remedy that, I thought the best… or, really, the only way of actions that would be of immediate help, was to initiate him into the ranks of the Church, as he seems a perfect fit in terms of aura and character - to this end, I ask you to help me arrange an audience with the Praetor of the Valean Church to get his blessing to conduct the ritual."

To say that Wilhelm wasn't surprised by the bind that Darius found himself in would be to undercut things. It's true that during his longstanding service, the leader of the Valean Chapter had encountered many a strange situations, but evidently this one would be up in the ranks of the weirdest situations he had the dubious pleasure to confront, as Darius' short speech clearly gave him pause. After several seconds of contemplative silence, he spoke up while scratching his chin, his tone quizzical.

"I'll admit, this is quite unorthodox. Permit me asking: have you considered going directly to our brothers in the Church?"

"I have. That's what I'll do if I don't succeed here. However, you said it yourself that Valeans are very fond of formalities. Here I, deservedly or not, am respected enough to be able to evade many a bureaucratic hurdle. I doubt that if I showed up at Providence, Endymion himself would come out and greet me. Can you help me, Master Wilhelm?"

He smirked.

"Smart. Quite smart. I'm starting to see why She chose you." With that, he unlocked the door to his office, inviting Darius inside. With the two of them inside, Wilhelm sealed the door and smiled, allowing himself a short burst of laughter. "Well… The Lady smiles upon you, and so does luck. I do, in fact, keep a secure channel handy just for conversing with Endymion, and he tends to work very long hours, so you should have no issue contacting him. As for convincing, however..."

"I believe that will be the easy part," seeing how his gracious host eased up, Darius, too, allowed a conniving smile to occupy his features. "Considering the dire lack of manpower the Church endures in Vale, combined with their love for all sorts of redemption stories, I doubt the Praetor will just let a potential new recruit slide. Thank you, Master Wilhelm. I am in your debt."

"And I have plenty of ways in mind for you to repay the favor. Come see me after the conversation, if you please."

Taking out the synced-up scroll and performing several passes over it, the Chapter Master left the office, leaving Darius alone with his computer. It would seem that Wilhelm significantly simplified his job, already bringing up the aforementioned channel, requiring him to simply press the button to begin the call. With a couple strides, Darius took place in the only chair present in the office and gazed upon the pop-up, gathering his thoughts for about a minute or two.

Then he clicked on the button.

Wilhelm wasn't wrong. It hadn't been five seconds as the monotone beeping of the pending called abruptly switched to show a wall of an office, in a certain fashion not dissimilar to the one he currently sat in, namely in its lack of unnecessary decorations and an overall ascetic vibe. Aside from the wall, the image contained a face, currently directed away from the screen, speaking in an absent-minded tone:

"Why, good evening there, Wilhelm. I don't suppose you've already found something for me regar…"

As the face completed its turnaround and feasted its eyes upon the caller, the phrase came to an abrupt halt, as grey eyes impaled Darius with their inquisitive glare, carefully studying his features. The face, along with the visible part of the torso, belonged to a man of a senior age and a rather lacking complexion, with no truly outstanding features aside from a mane of gray hair running down his shoulders and vanishing behind the man's back, just bordering on the edge of being argent white color. Endymion Blanche did not get the title of Praetor for outstanding looks.

"…Oh," Endymion uttered, briefly raising his eyebrows in what, bizarrely enough, looked like recognition to Darius. "You're not Wilhelm. Not at all. In fact," his eyes narrowed. "You're someone far more interesting. Greetings, Avatar. I trust that Wilhelm is in good health?"

"Master Wilhelm has graciously allowed me to use this channel to contact you, your Highness," having overcome the initial surprise, Darius did not allow a singular muscle on his face to twitch and betray said surprise to the Praetor. Not this early in the conversation. "He is more than well. You are very well informed, Master Endymion."

"As my position demands, Mister Silva," he laughed, kicking back in his chair. "Don't think yourselves to be the only ones with eyes and ears in places. Granted, we of the Church do prefer to keep our matters public, true, but an initiation of a new Avatar after more than a century is not the kind of news that can go unnoticed in certain circles. It's bound to attract interest of men such as myself. Admittedly, however, I thought you wouldn't show yourself outside of Atlas for at least another couple years. Permit me a guess: has the Lady thought of a crusade for you already?"

Darius shrugged.

"I won't speculate what She has in mind for me, but me departing to Vale was, in fact, her will."

"Thought as much. Honestly a bit surprising, if you ask me: even if you count the time before your pact, seven years of training is, no offense, a tad low for your rank."

"I won't repeat myself."

"Never asked ye to," Endymion chortled, switching the topic. "Anyways. From what I'm gathering, you wanted to talk to me so bad you had to ask Wilhelm for it. Didn't think of just coming over directly?"

"Just the opposite, actually. I concluded, in the end, that going through my Order would be magnitudes faster and easier than trying to go through the Church, and I am, alas, a little under pressure to hurry."

"You're not wrong," the Praetor agreed. "Can't imagine the look on the face of some clerk being told that Darius bloody Silva would like an audience with the Praetor. So, what might it be that got someone like you scrambling like this?"

"The matter is… quite personal," Darius conceded. "The main goal of my travel to Vale was to enroll in Beacon academy and continue my training there. During my time at Beacon, a matter concerning a friend of mine… occurred, and I fear that it may only be resolved in an acceptable way if you agree to help me. What would you say if I promised you a new recruit into the ranks of the holy Church?"

"I'd ask ye if we were celebrating New Year's again," Endymion responded with a hearty laugh, clearly enthused by the idea. "As great as the people of Vale are, the teachings of Light struggle here, indeed. Year to year, we consider ourselves lucky if we manage to gather enough people for a proper initiation ceremony during the Solstice. Ach…" he paused, looking at Darius with slightly narrowed eyes and a sly smirk on his lips. "But who am I to tell ye this. You probably went into the conversation betting that you'd get me to promise anything in exchange for another priest."

"As a matter of fact, I myself do not need, nor want, anything from you. I only ask for your blessing for me to conduct the rite of initiation... without observers from the Church's side. I'm afraid the entire process will have to be conducted in secrecy. I have the necessary participants and a passing site and will only require a bit of additional literature to cover the specifics. And please do consider the fact that I can only truly hand him over to you after he has completed the training at the academy, so four years."

"You lot were always into shady dealings. It shows even now," after a few seconds' worth of pause, the Praetor of Vale shrugged, his hand reflexively scratching the back of his head as his gaze was directed somewhere else entirely. "At least tell me what this recruit's all about. Can't just take anyone in. Though, of course, the fact that he's a Hunter trainee is quite promising. Not often that we get a full-fledged Hunter to our cause."

"The situation is… rather contrived here," Darius chuckled, considering the irony obvious only to him. For the second time today he retold the story of how his current predicament was brought about and what he was going to do about it.

"…As you may see, calling Jaune a Hunter trainee is… undue credit, if I were completely honest," he concluded, carefully studying Endymion's face for clues. To his relief, he was yet to find any that indicated that his plea was fruitless. "However, he does show potential and, dare I say, a very zealous determination to make up for his current shortcomings."

"You know…" after a solid minute of silence, Endymion sighed, his shoulders slightly shaking from the quiet laughter within him. "I bet if we wrote this down and let it sit for a hundred years or so, it'd make a pretty good parable for the writings. That is, if there's still a world after a hundred years… Oh well. If his heart and mind truly are in the right place, and I'll take your word for it, I see no reason to deny him his chance. May the Light's guidance help him find what he seeks. Although, admittedly, I am unsure if just one day and one night is enough to get him to the necessary… condition."

"Do not worry about that, your Highness," Darius refuted. "I have made sure Jaune will go through the necessary motions by the time we get the rite going."

"Fine then. I'll send the necessary instructions to your scroll."

"Jaune and I are in your debt, Master Endymion. May the Light guide you through the dark of night."

"With its flame in our hearts, we shall endure. Don't make me regret it."