...Sigh...Wanna know why this chapter took a month to post?

...Well, let's see...Besides the fact that it was a very heavy dialogue chapter, almost covering 25 pages with around 9k+ words, my computer decided to screw around with me and deleted this chapter's draft. When I was halfway done.

...I f***ing hate my luck sometimes…

Anyways, here's chapter 13, guys. I wanted to get this up before school started, and I barely met that deadline. If you like it, leave a review and tell me what you think of the story so far. As always, have a wonderful day guys, and I'll see you guys next time.

...sigh…PS. I might have writer's block, so I may focus on that other story I was hinting at in chapter 12. I'm just...so tired right now...

-Pyrothemusical

Something to FEAR about

Chapter 13: The truth comes with a price

"...People will always insist that you should tell the truth every time, no matter what situation you are in...They say that it won't hurt anyone...That it's much better than telling a lie...Are they trying to fool themselves? No matter what, something will come with a price. It is how this world works: in order to gain something, you must sacrifice something in exchange. Ranging from a simple cost to everything you own, it's scary to think of what's in stake. And sometimes...the price could be your life..."

Beacon Academy. Morning.

Outside Professor Ozpin's office, team RWBY and JNPR were waiting for his permission to enter. It was the following morning after the previous night's events and Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch had called both teams for their presence. The message included that team FEAR was already present and were currently discussing what had happened yesterday. The last part had definitely got their attention, and it was probably the reason why they had quickly rushed for Ozpin's office.

"...What do you think they're talking about in there, anyway?" Jaune broke the silence while twirling his thumbs in anxiety, no doubt that the battle yesterday had shaken him.

"Hopefully choosing what kind of punishment should be given to that son of a-" Yang would have continued, but the look Ruby gave her caused her to mutter the rest under her breath. Out of all of them, Yang was probably the most furious with what had just happened. In fact, her anger had to be restrained with the help of her friends, else the chance of injuring someone was quite high.

Ruby sighed, all hope of helping their friend lost in her mind. "Let's just hope they'll finish talking soon so we can-"

A sudden yell inside Professor Ozpin's office interrupted her, causing all of them to turn towards said noise. Shortly following after was the sound of the doors banging open, revealing an object being flung towards their direction. Luckily, they were able to quickly step out of the way before the object crashed into the wall. A few seconds of stunned silence passed, then the object stood up, revealing to be Dynos in his regular hooded cloak.

"You dare speak another insult of our students young man, and I can assure you that I will deliver severe consequences for you to experience!" Another yell brought the others back to reality as Ms. Goodwitch hurried to where Dynos was, riding crop pointed at him and eyes flashing with anger.

Unfazed by her yell, Dynos simply replied back. "Though it pains me to say this, you must admit that I speak the truth, correct? After all, the truth will always hurt more, no?"

Another stunned silence followed, before it was interrupted by Jaune's questioning voice.

"Uh...What just happened?"

"I...have absolutely no idea..." Weiss replied as the others simply continued to stare in shock at the scene before them. As if finally noticing them, Dynos turned towards them, to which they jumped at the sudden turn of his body.

"Ah...You're all here. Good." Turning back to Glynda, he added, "It would seem that we will have to continue this conversation later, Ms. Goodwitch."

However, Glynda did not seem to have the intention of moving. "Do not think you can simply change the subject and pretend that-"

"Alexander. Though it does fill my heart with content that your desire to protect me has not changed since the last time we have met, I do not think killing her would be the wisest idea you have came up with..."

Glynda froze at this and slowly turned her head, widening her eyes in surprise. True to his words, Alexander, though the others couldn't tell at first glance, had his chained scythes around her neck as if he had stood there the entire time. The position of his weapons almost looked like he was prepared to execute her, in which, to her relief, he then withdrew them under the sleeves of his cloak.

"Tch...Sometimes, I don't even know what you see in these people, mon ami..." Alexander grumbled. A cold glare was all that was given to Glynda before he headed back to where the rest of team FEAR was.

Dynos mentally sighed to himself. So far, not only did he succeed in angering one of Ozpin's most trusted allies and had certainly betrayed the trust of his friends at Beacon, but Alexander chose to release his killer intent right in front of them. If it weren't for his intentions in keeping the alliances stable, he wouldn't have to deal with this right now.

"Well, shall we begin?" Dynos asked the bewildered group, gesturing his arms in a manner of beckoning them to enter the office.

To say that things were tense inside Professor Ozpin's office was an understatement.

The moment the group walked in with Dynos and Ms. Goodwitch, they could already feel pairs of eyes staring down at them. Team FEAR was standing in a straight line against the wall, all wearing their own distinguish clothing. Alexander, of course, was still giving them the cold stare, sending shivers into their bodies. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was gazing upon them with curiosity and interest, as if inspecting a science experiment that had performed non-expected results. And Ryfia was still her carefree self, smiling at them while twirling a bullet between her fingers. She even waved when Yang entered the room, to which Yang growled right back with hateful eyes.

Dynos gestured to an area opposite to where team FEAR was standing. They understood the message, and so they headed there and also stood in two straight lines: team FEAR and team JNPR in each representative line. Now that everything was in place, Dynos walked towards the center of the office and faced the two teams.

"Now that we are all here and have allowed our emotions to resolve to a reasonable level from...past events, I would like to explain what has been going on. I am sure that all of you have many questions to ask. Though it may take awhile, I promise that those said questions will answered: I have no intention of hiding anything from you anymore."

A tense silence filled the room. Now that they knew he was done with hiding, the only thing they were pondering about was what Dynos was trying to keep a secret from them. After all, what had happened these past days only filled their heads with countless questions to ask.

"To begin with, I think I should answer the question that is probably stuck in your heads. It was I who told my partners to attack you. The reason for this is-"

"BASTARD!"

Unable to control her anger anymore, Yang rushed at Dynos, throwing a punch at his face. The punch made contact with his head, but he was still able to continue standing in his regular position. His teammates saw this and positioned themselves to defend their leader, but Dynos gave them one of his most recognizable messages: let the situation play out. He himself predicted that something like this would come, yet decided to do nothing to stop the coming attack. He was indeed curious as to what Yang wanted to say.

Resuming to the present, the punch blew his hood off his head, revealing his face with the very same mask he always wore. Yet he still stood there, unfazed by the punch as if it had done nothing. This only angered Yang even more as she grabbed the front of his cloak.

"WE TRUSTED YOU! ACCEPTED YOU AS OUR OWN TEAMMATE! AND THIS IS HOW YOU TRY TO REPAY US!?"

The remaining members of team RWBY and JNPR approached her to restrain the girl as by now Yang was taking things a bit too far. But to their surprise, Ozpin raised a hand, indicating for them to wait. They did so, but with wary expressions pointed towards the heated situation.

"YOU KNOW, I THOUGHT AFTER EVERYTHING YOU SAID, YOU WOULD ACTUALLY THINK OF US AS FRIENDS!? AND WHAT DO YOU DO!? YOU TRY TO GET US KILLED!"

"Enough." There it was again: that annoying, cold voice that could stop anyone from talking, no matter how determined they were. And every time, it had worked on her. "I understand your anger and will deal with any resentment you choose to throw at me. However, you must understand one thing: this was necessary for all of you to experience, else we would be unsure how you would fare in real combat."

Ruby slowly pulled her sister away from Dynos, scared that Yang would start attacking him again for saying something so ridiculous. "Why would you even say something like-" Suddenly, the answer stood in front of her, leaving her throat suddenly dry. "No way...You mean...this really was a test all along?"

Dynos gave her a strange look that, for some reason, made her cringe out of pure instinct. "Did you honestly think I would joke about something as important as that? The test was designed to prepare all of you for what we would reveal today. Once all of you have met our expectations, we would cease all fighting..." Noticing that the expressions on their faces had not changed, he quickly added, "Had you failed the test, I would have immediately called off the fighting before any...innocent blood was shed."

Weiss scoffed at his explanation. "Sure, no problem. I mean, that doesn't sound like an idiotic and insane plan that only a cold-blooded killer would think of!"

"I'm with Weiss on this one." Blake added, narrowing her eyes at the unfazed teenager. "You were just going to let your friends tear us to shreds, right? What kind of person would create a test like-"

"The professors of Beacon have set the entrance exam as a 'kill everything in sight while fighting for your lives' test." Alexander's cold voice ceased all talking, gaining everyone's attention in the process. "It was designed to push you to your limits, use everything you knew for survival, and most importantly: experiencing a real-life battle situation. Allow me to ask you a simple question: what's the difference between that and what had just happened yesterday?"

Once again, an uncomfortable silence filled the room. What Alexander said was not false: they could not deny that. Yet something still bothered the students of Beacon, and it seemed they all had the same trail of thoughts. Finally, it was Pyrrha who spoke their thoughts.

"Well, unlike your, um, 'test', the Beacon Exam still guaranteed the participants' safety, even for those who had failed the exam. In your case though, failure would result to...certain death."

Elizabeth sighed and raised her eyes out of the book in her hands. "How many times must we tell you this? Our leader made us promise him that none of you would be injured, or in extreme case, die in any possible way during our test. He was very precise with this order, so I would be thanking him for his mercy instead of complaining like the very pieces of trash humans are..."

The last words definitely surprised team RWBY and team JNPR: the unexpected amount of harshness was evident in her explanation. Noticing their discomfort, Elizabeth smiled while pulling a card out of her book.

"Besides, look on the bright side! It was a perfect representation of life! You make one mistake and poof, you're dead! I'm sure it would have been very exciting for all of you to experience."

"Wh-What's wrong with you people!?" Jaune suddenly yelled, almost screaming with a fearful expression on his face. "Joking about death and pretending to kill people, it's almost like you enjoy killing others!"

A minute passed. Then, another. The silence hung like thick fog, clouding what was going to happen. Had they taken it a bit too far this time? Had they pushed them as far as they could take before flipping their switches?

"What...is the problem...with us?"

The sudden question broke the tense atmosphere, almost making the Beacon students jump out of their skin. Then a giggle was heard. Then another. Soon, team FEAR started giggling to themselves, as if the question was supposed to be a joke. It then turned to fits of insane laughter, each member ignoring team RWBY's, JNPR's, and Ozpin's and Glynda's presence.

Speaking of which, their reactions varied. Team RWBY and JNPR reacted how the usual person would react in this situation: fearful expressions on their faces accompanied by bewildered stares. Glynda herself had only paled at the sudden maniacal laughing whereas Ozpin simply lifted an eyebrow at the unexpected scene, still sipping his coffee as if this was to be expected.

"Production of something truly inhuman, designed to kill anything in sight..." In a split second, it looked like Dynos was grinning while clutching his head in his hands. A dark aura seemed to envelop him in the process.

"Abandoned and left to rot on the streets, treated like trash by everyone..." Elizabeth titled her head a bit, a crazy look in her eyes as if the people in front of her were nothing more than things to examine. The book in her hands was slammed shut.

"Hunted by my own family, only to massacre them all..." Gazing at his hands as if they were still covered by the blood of his slain kin, Alexander shook in what seemed to be out of insanity. Chains began to slither down from his sleeves like snakes.

Used for scientific experiments just because I seemed different to them… Ryfia brought some kind of paper sign up, humming to herself while rocking her head left to right, following the melody of the song she was humming to. The bullet in her fingers dropped to the ground with a single clink.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity to the others, Dynos was able to regain his composure, standing up in the process. "There is plenty wrong with us, my friends...The reason why you do not know this is because you do not know us...At least, not personally yet."

"And trust us...You. Probably. Don't. Want. To. Okay? So stop asking pointless questions about us." Alexander's usual cold tone returned, sending glares to his supposedly "companions".

For a moment, team RWBY and team JNPR could only stare in horror at the people before them. They thought that team FEAR would have at least some humanity in them. But no, they were wrong.

What stood in front of them weren't humans.

No, what was in front of them were psychopaths. Monsters. People who were driven to the point of insanity, accepted the fact, and chose to follow the path of a killer.

A slight tapping distracted the teens from these thoughts as their attention was now turned on Professor Ozpin. He took another sip from his mug before saying, "I believe we are getting off topic here. May I suggest we return to our original subject on what team FEAR truly wishes to accomplish?"

Unbeknownst to everyone else, Dynos cursed in his mind. Out of all the people he met throughout his life, it was naturally Ozpin that stood out as the most interesting and the most dangerous person he had ever known. Calm, collected, and always searching for answers as if it were his primary objective...If not careful, this man would be dangerous to even have conversations with if not wanting to reveal anything unnecessary.

"...Yes." Dynos slowly responded as he carefully watched the headmaster. "I believe that will clear all this confusion and anger...The best method of doing this though would be to…"

He paused, as if reconsidering his decision. Was it worth it, showing them the horrors they would be soon hiding? In the end, he made his mind: he would keep his promise in showing them the truth. But to do that would require assistance from his teammate. "Elizabeth?"

"Yes, my leader?"

"I believe visuals are necessary to show what they will be facing soon...I realize that it requires a large amount of dust and aura to broadcast the images...But could you-"

"It will be done. Do not be concerned of my welfare." Elizabeth smiled as she reopened her book. Stepping forward, she added, "I would like everyone to step back as I prepare myself. It would be most...unfortunate, if anyone were to break my concentration."

Not wanting to disturb the girl, team RWBY and JNPR followed her directions and took a step back, along with the rest of team FEAR. Now with the open space given to her. Elizabeth closed her eyes and prepared the procedure.

What followed after was to be described with a single word: astonishing.

Several hundred cards erupted from the book and formed a huge clump in front of the girl. After the last few cards left the book, Elizabeth proceeded with the next step. Aura flowed within her body and started pouring into the clump of cards. It took a few seconds, but eventually there was a significant amount of both dust and aura in the clump of cards. Light radiated from it, as if it were a living being.

Now came the difficult part: creating a solid image. Making creatures was easy for her since she was able to adapt to the requirements for the creation. But a solid image, especially one that was requested on the spot, was a bit harder than what she usually worked with. Luckily, Elizabeth managed to pass the difficult stage and finally opened her eyes. Everything was ready.

Dynos took the sudden movement as the sign that she was ready. However, he still wanted to verify that Elizabeth had truly completed the task in case Elizabeth was unprepared for what he would be requesting. "Is it ready, Elizabeth?"

A nod was all he got as a response, though he was expecting this. He knew that all of her concentration had to be focused on the image, otherwise it would disrupt the flow of dust and aura and disastrous effects would follow, causing harm to Elizabeth's body.

"Very well. An image of Walter Ignacy will do for now."

Another nod was sent as Elizabeth formed the image in her mind, clearly imagining the picture of the man. Very quickly, the cards in front of her spreaded out, creating some kind of screen out of the cards with an elderly-looking man displayed on it. At first glance, he would have been mistaken for one's butler due to the traditional characteristics: clean and expensive-looking clothes, a monocle, and a cane by his side.

"The man you see before you is Walter Ignacy, head of Project Machination and founder of the Renaissance Association." There was evident loathing in Dynos' voice. "He is our main target for elimination and the reason why we are having trouble in stopping him from completing his dream."

"Okay, just hold on a minute." Weiss interrupted, confusion written clearly on her face. "You haven't even told us why this man is a threat to us. Actually, what's so dangerous about him anyways?"

"I was getting to that." Dynos paused for a split second, then continued. "Do you all remember Professor's Port's story about the CHAOS HEART?"

It took a few seconds for the students to understand what exactly Dynos was talking about, but they then soon remembered the story their teacher had recounted to them a few days ago.

"You mean...the legend he discussed with us in class?" Blake asked with a confused look.

Dynos nodded, somewhat relieved that they would at least understand what he was about to discuss. "Do you remember what it was about?"

Yang frowned slightly as she tried to remember how it went. "Wasn't it like about this evil person who wanted to use this really evil thing and basically wanted to take over the world or something like that?"

"If you were to summarize it like that, then yes, that would be how the story went."

"But I thought Professor Port said it was only a legend..." Ruby trailed off, leaving an uncertain look in her eyes. "...It isn't?"

"...An image of the CHAOS HEART, Elizabeth," That was all Dynos said before turning his attention to the screen made by the cards. Elizabeth once again nodded and focused her mind on an image of the CHAOS HEART. In an instant, the picture of Ignacy changed into said image.

What the residents of Beacon saw left them rigid in their spots.

In short, it looked exactly like a human's heart. It had all the regular components and functions similar to a real heart. So what made it different?

It reeked of evil. Sins left from the creator of whatever it was. Spilling dark aura everywhere, one would immediately assume it was the heart of something created out of pure darkness, like a creature of the grimm. And excluding the fact it was purple, it seemed like it was created only for one sole purpose: killing.

"...What you see before you is no fantasy." Dynos softly spoke, carefully observing their reactions towards the revelation. "The CHAOS HEART will serve whoever has control over it. Representing all the sins of every human or creature on Remnant, this creation was-no, is-believed to have infinite power. It is real. It exists. And Ignacy is in possession of it."

A tense silence followed, then Ozpin's voice broke it.

"Tell me, Dynos. You say that this...object has infinite power. If so, what exactly does Ignacy want to use if for?"

"...I have already told you that Ignacy's main goal is known as Project Machination, correct?" His question was met with several nods. "...Ignacy sees the world as...an impure planet. Dirty...He believes that humans are the cause of this, and wishes to cleanse the filth from the world...With that said, Ignacy essentially wants all of the humans to disappear, and create a new world where no one would be stained by any of the past filth. That...is Project Machination."

Again, the room was met with silence, and Ozpin was the only one who seemed unfazed by any of this. "And how exactly does he plan to do this?"

Dynos frowned at this question. The truth was, his team was still not sure how Ignacy was planning to proceed with his plan. Even with all the information gathering and research the team had done over the past few years, there still weren't enough clues as to how the CHAOS HEART was connected to Project Machination, nevertheless how Ignacy was planning to use it.

"We are still unsure how he plans to extract his plan, but all we know is that the recounting of the CHAOS HEART's powers were not exaggerated. If not prepared, humanity will not have a slim chance of survival from-"

A sound emitted from Ozpin's desk and interrupted Dynos. Everyone stared at where the noise was coming from as Ozpin casually walked over to the source of the noise.

"Please excuse me for a moment. I do believe someone is trying to contact me via scroll." Ozpin reached for his scroll and pressed the screen to pick up the call. "Yes?"

"Sir, there seems to be a package for you. We simply found the package on the steps of the front doors with no one acting as the courier." A young voice was heard from the scroll's speakers. It seemed to belong to one of Beacon's delivery men.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow at this. "Strange. I don't recall ordering anything this week. Did the sender leave a particular address or even a name to refer to?"

"It doesn't seem like that, sir. The only message written on the package was 'For Ozpin'. I...thought you would have already known about it, sir."

"How peculiar. Well, no point in dwelling on these mysteries right now. Could you send the package to my office now? I shall take care of it from there."

A pause was what he received as an answer. Then, the young man's voice could be heard once more, this time carrying a sheepish tone. "Actually, um. I'm already here, sir. With the package, of course."

"...May I ask why you are contacting me via scroll instead of simply knocking on the door then?"

Another pause. These were becoming more frequent as this conversation continued. "...There's a 'DO NOT KNOCK' sign on your door, sir."

Ozpin simply took another sip from his coffee mug. "Ah yes. I do remember putting that there to avoid interruptions. Well, I don't see any problem with you entering. You are given permission."

The door slowly opened with a nervous face poking in. In addition to the courier's nervous voice, it was evident how he was currently feeling. "I'm...not interrupting anything important, am I, sir?"

"No, it is quite alright. Now, I do believe the package is here?"

"O-oh yeah! Here you go!" Not wanting to waste the headmaster's time, he hurried to the desk, only for Dynos to suddenly snatch it away from him.

"Hey, what are you-" The courier protested as Dynos quickly scanned it, a suspicious look on his face. The look quickly turned into a panicked one as he immediately tossed it to Elizabeth.

"Elizabeth, put a dust barrier around the package! Now!"

There was momentary confusion, but when she heard what was inside, she knew what to do. "I understand."

This time, he had taken it too far, and Glynda couldn't take it anymore. "Young man, you are taking this too far! Explain yourself immediately!"

Dynos ignored Glynda's voice as he attempted to drag the courier away from the package, despite many protests. Elizabeth, on the other hand, summoned her cards and quickly engulfed the package with said cards. "Everyone step back! It's a-"

His warning came too late when the package suddenly glowed a bright red, almost as if it was being heated by something. Then came the explosion.

BOOM!

From an outsider's perspective, it would have simply looked like Ozpin's office had turned red for a split second, and then reverted back to its usual tranquility. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?

It was a different story for the office's occupants.

Even though Elizabeth had attempted to prevent the bomb from exploding, everyone apart from Dynos and Ozpin, whom had simply stood their ground, was still thrown back by the shockwaves the bomb's explosion had produced. To make matters worse, a cloud of smoke instantly filled inside the office. Visibility was now incredibly low, and everyone spent the next few minutes trying to recover from the blast.

"Is everyone okay?" Ozpin's voice was heard from somewhere in the smoke.

Dynos waved the smoke out of his eyes and squinted, but was still unable to see anyone clearly yet. So instead, he called out, "Team FEAR has managed to remain unscratched from the explosion. How are the others?"

"W-we're fine!" A voice was heard, but Dynos couldn't identify it.

Once the smoke finally cleared, it seemed that Elizabeth's attempt to reduce the blast radius was successful: both teams were unharmed by the bomb's explosion, yet were obviously alarmed by the sudden detonation of the bomb.

"What-" Ruby had to cough a few times to clear her now dry throat. "Was that?"

Alexander made his way towards the remains of the bomb, inspecting each fragment with great care. "It seems to have been some kind of explosive mixed with huge quantities of dust, designed to explode the moment the package had arrived at the office. In other words, it was an attempt to kill us." Alexander's eyes narrowed, casting a quick glance at his leader.

Dynos' expression remained blank as ever as he asked the question that everyone was wondering about. "But I do wonder who was the real target here. Was it targeted at team FEAR, the major threat to Project Machination? Or perhaps it was targeted at the residents of Beacon, particularly team RWBY and JNPR?"

Silence. Judging from the looks on everybody's faces, Dynos could tell that they were all worried. But now was not the time for concern. It was time to investigate who was behind this attack.

"Could you tell us where you found the package again?" Dynos slowly asked the messenger he had just saved. His face was pure white, clearly frightened of what had occurred.

"I-I already told you what I know! It just arrived there out of nowhere with a message saying that it was for Professor Ozpin! Nobody was there to act as the deliverer, so I had assumed Professor Ozpin had already known about the package!" The fear was evident in his voice, most likely due to suddenly becoming everyone's main attention.

"...You seem to have no intention of hiding the truth from us…" Dynos finally confirmed, to which the messenger sighed in relief. What he didn't realise was Dynos slowly pulling out Kurai Homura from its sheath. "Unfortunately, I believe whoever programmed you wanted you to also believe this."

Confusion arose in the messenger's mind. Then, nothing.

In a blink of an eye, Dynos swung Kurai Homura across the neck of the messenger, disconnecting it from its body. Almost instantaneously, the body fell like a puppet having its strings cut off. There was

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU JUST DID, DYNOS!?" Yang screamed, almost on the urge of throwing up at the sight.

Dynos calmy sheathed his sword, not glancing back at his accuser. "Once you have calmed down Yang, please observe the so-called 'body' on the ground."

"What do you mean, look at the-"

Her sentence was cut off when she followed his suggestion. Lying on the ground were the remains of what seemed to be the mechanical parts of a robot. Wires and metallic bits were sticking out of where the head was connected to the body, and closer inspections revealed that the skin was manufactured. In other words, fake.

"It's...a robot?"

Elizabeth knelt down, the curious look in her eyes returning. "It seems to be a similar model to those of the Atlesian Knight-200, but with less combat upgrades from its predecessors. Obviously, it was created for noncombat usage, and yet it was still able to communicate us through speech, fooling us into believing it was human. Whoever did this went through great work and detail into infiltrating Beacon."

During Elizabeth's analysis, Dynos picked up the robot's head, ripping off the remains of the artificial skin it was wearing and revealing a steel, cold head beneath it. For a few seconds, he simply stared at it, as if inspecting it in greater detail. Then, he spoke in a quiet voice.

"Adele, I am not playing these silly games of yours. Now show yourself."

Silence quickly filled the room. At first, they were confused: who was he talking to? There was no one there.

Then, a sudden voice could be heard from the robot's head.

"You really had to make things awkward for me, didn't ya?" The familiar buzzing sound of a hologram being activated followed, soon revealing a figure's image to be broadcasted from the robot's eyes.

"There. Happy now?"

When everyone got a better look of the supposed stranger, the first assumption was that the person was female due to the rather slim body and high-pitched voice. Of course, with the rather bizarre amount of static the image was producing, it was difficult to tell how this person looked like.

On closer inspection, more evidence revealed the gender of the stranger. She portrayed common feminine physical characteristics, being long, dark hair with rather huge, hazel eyes. To top it off, their attire was also quite strange. Crystal sharp as if it originated from pure glass and dyed a blood red colour, it almost resembled a red pinecone.

Dynos' expression remained stoic. "Hello Adele. It has been awhile since you last tried to kill me. I would say...at least 4 months?" Though his question was presumed to be sarcastic, his voice carried no such hint of it.

"Once again, you ignore my question. Typical..." The stranger, now identified as 'Adele', grumbled as she shook her head, a sly smile soon spreading on her face.

"You should know me better than anyone by now." But she already knew that, did she not? After all, their history went back ever since he was born. "What do you wish to discuss about? I doubt this will turn out to be a friendly conversation, considering the 'surprise' you have sent us."

Adele rolled her eyes. "Always straight to the point, never having time for chit-chat. You really haven't changed..." When he didn't answer back, she rolled her eyes again. "Fine. I'll get straight to the point...Loser."

Fishing something out of her pocket, Adele muttered several rude words such as 'idiot' and 'jerk' before retrieving said object and broadcasting it on the hologram. "Ignacy wanted me to show you another one of his 'letters'. Why he couldn't just send the letter to you now that we know where you are, I have no idea."

Dynos raised his eyebrow in question. "Was the bomb truly necessary?"

"Oh for the love of dust, just read the goddam letter!"

Again, he raised his eyebrow at her sudden change in mood, but chose to ignore it and looked at the letter. Seeing it was rather short and it would be unfair for the others to be unable to read it, Dynos decided to read it out loud.

The letter read as such:

Dear Dynos,

It has come to our attention that you are continuing to act against work on Project Machination, our wish to change this horrible world into what it is truly destined for: pure madness. Though your efforts have been proven to be futile these past months, we have noticed that your little group of freaks are beginning to become a nuisance for us. Similar to a fly on a magnificent painting, you have caused enough trouble to ruin my mood and to divert my attention from our goals in order to squash the vermin (I hope you do realise that I am referring to you) that is distracting us from completing my dreams.

Once again, I offer you two choices. The first one is to join me in my attempt in reverting this world to its former glory: a world of desperation, insanity, and madness. You will be given the spot of my right-hand man and I will even give you the honor of leading my armies into battles that will change the fate of this world. In addition, your past crimes against my forces will be forgiven and you may even invite your so-called "partners" to join you.

However, know that if you choose to deny this invite and continue to act against me, this will be your last warning before we will truly strike against you. There will be no hesitation in obliterating you and your pathetic teammates. But, I would suggest you in joining us before any innocent blood is shed. After all, what belongs to me should be returned to me, don't you agree?

We thank you for your time,

Walter Ignacy.

When he had finished reading the letter, there was a stunned silence. It was only Adele's voice that had broken the silence.

"Well, all I have to do is wait for your answer and we can wrap up this thing."

Everyone in the room carefully watched Dynos as he remained silent, likely thinking over his answer in response to the statement. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dynos gave his answer.

"Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me. Either you take me as a fool for even trusting you or you truly think I would willingly serve as your personal weapon, designed to conquer this world just for your own satisfaction," A cold glare was pointed right at Adele. "I believe you should already know what my answer will be by now, Adele."

Adele gritted her teeth, trying to not let her anger out. She knew this was just what Dynos wanted, and Ignacy had trained her to counter his tactics. "You are so gonna regret your words, ya know? But whatever. Your funeral, I guess. See if I care."

She opened her mouth to add onto her sentence, but a noise in the background made Adele turn her head towards said noise. Suddenly, she disappeared from the hologram, accompanied by the sound of two voices conversing in a conversation. After a few seconds, Adele returned with a exasperated sigh.

"Seems like I better leave before Ignacy here gets mad at me for talking with you for so long." Another sigh, and then the sly smile returned. "Well, it's been nice seeing that you're still alive and kicking, so that definitely made up for-"

The sudden stop in her voice caught everyone's attention as her gaze was now pointed at team RWBY, team JNPR, and Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch. It was as if she had finally noticed their presence and the sheer fact appeared to be interesting to her.

"Well, well, well...You've actually got friends, Dynos! Like, real, human friends that don't treat you like some kind of freak and are still alive!" She peered closer, a wide smirk on her face. "I thought Veissy here was kidding when he said you actually socialized with some people, but this is just hilarious!" The last words were accompanied with a burst of laughter.

Yang shot daggers at her with her eyes. "You got a problem with us?"

"And they can even talk! I-I think my rib cage is gonna burst any second by now!" By now, Adele was laughing hysterically, clutching her stomach for support. Needless to say, the others were starting to become agitated with her behaviour, yet Dynos still kept his usual emotionless persona.

"Your humor still fails to amuse me, Adele."

Adele snorted at his remark, eventually calming from her fit of laughter. "Well, duh. You're probably the most clueless person I've ever met in my life. It's no surprise that you don't get most of my jokes. Anyways..."

"So you're Dynos' new buddies, huh? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Still, don't know if I'm supposed to hate all of you for giving Dynos more power to play with, or if I'm supposed to feel pity for what's in store for all of you when you try to help Dynos in his hopeless quest."

Confused, Weiss asked, "What do you mean?"

A dark chuckle emitted from the hologram. "You really don't know, do ya? Well, that's Dynos for you. Not trusting anyone ever since his poor, little accident, yet still relying on others because he's afraid of his own power." A few laughs from her voice changed to the sound of venom dripping from her words. "I would be laughing right now if it weren't so pathetic."

"Adele..." Wherever Adele was going with this conversation, Dynos did not seem to enjoy the direction she was taking it to.

Ignoring his warning, Adele continued the taunting, her smirk gradually stretching from the corners of her face. "But who am I to blame for what he's thinking about right now? After all, he's the reason why everything's happening right now. If it weren't for him, none of this would be necessary: he wouldn't have to fight us, you guys wouldn't have to be involved, and no one innocent would have to die."

Blood drained from her face, Ruby blurt out, "What are you talking about?"

"Adele, that's enough!"

"Whoops! Did I go too far? I did, didn't I?" She continued to sneer at Dynos' now pale face. "Poor, wittle Dynos, still haunted by what he did! Terrified of what he became and shuts down all of his feelings just so he can feel safe again! It's so heartwarming that I could throw up right now!"

By now, the laughter in her voice continued to rise, increasing in volume with each laugh. Everyone, excluding team FEAR, was staring at Dynos with wide eyes. "Dynos, is she telling the truth?" Blake hesitatingly asked, a fearful expression on her face.

Dynos simply scowled. With everyone's attention now focused on him, they would indeed ask questions about his past. It would serve to his advantage if he were to stop Adele from revealing any more...private details about his past.

"We are finished talking here. This conversation has ended." It was all Dynos said before reaching towards the hologram in an attempt to turn it off.

"But I still can't believe you haven't told them about what you did to her yet." The sentence alone caused him to freeze in place. "How did it make you feel, anyways? When you made such a tiny mistake and still managed to lose what was most precious to you?"

For a moment, utter silence filled the room. Seeing that she was finally able to strike a nerve, Adele opened her mouth to continue her taunting. The only problem was that she didn't get a chance to continue.

Dynos' hand immediately formed into the shape of a fist and smashed the machine, crushing it to pieces and cutting off Adele's signal to the machine. Evidently, Adele's hologram disappeared, leaving only the sounds of static from the speakers in its place. But that didn't seem to satisfy Dynos' anger since a familiar dark aura surrounded his body, his killing intent released in the process.

It was obvious that the silence described the tense atmosphere in the room. In addition, with everyone's shocked faces representing their thoughts on what just happened, nobody was sure what to do next. One wrong move could potentially upset Dynos, and right now no one wanted to feel the extent of his emotions.

A whole minute of silence passed. Then, Dynos took a deep breath and exhaled, relinquishing his anger and withdrawing the dark aura that had surrounded his body.

"I suggest that you eight return your classes now. We most likely took up a bit more of your time than necessary. Do you not agree, Professor Ozpin?"

The sudden change in subject surprised the students. The calmness in his voice, his expression now blank as it once was before: how could he take the situation so calmly without at least showing a trait of hatred?

And yet, Ozpin also chose to surprise them in agreeing to Dynos' question. "Indeed. We wouldn't want to keep your teachers waiting anymore just because of a prolonged conversation. You are all dismissed."

His expression did not show any hostility, but it was clear from the tone of Ozpin's voice that he wanted them to leave. With that said, members of both team RWBY and team JNPR both bowed in gratitude and gave their thanks before leaving Ozpin's office, though some gave team FEAR fearful looks, especially towards Dynos.

Once he was sure that they were out of earshot, Ozpin sighed. Though the sudden appearance of the enemy Dynos had been speaking of did not surprise him, it did not soothe him that they had knowledge of his mysterious past, something Dynos was not willing to share with him yet. That meant either they had quite a number of spies in Vale...or they were already quite acquainted with Dynos.

Either way, it was clear by the tone of his voice that Ozpin was worried of what was to come. "What do you propose to be our next move?"

"...We need to make sure there are no more of these 'surprises' Adele has left us." A small frown appeared on his face as if a thought had crossed his mind. "Even though it seems that she had only left one behind, I would rather waste time looking over the problem than to risk the lives of the students."

Ozpin raised his eyebrow, surprised at his proposition, This was unlike Dynos: usually, he would dismiss the possibility of something dangering the student's lives and simply focus at the task at hand. Yet here he was, proposing to do something completely opposite of his beliefs.

There was firm doubt in Ozpin's voice as he asked, "If I may be honest here, I am rather surprised you would say this. I thought you did not mind putting lives in danger in order to reach your goals. What made you change your mind?"

A pause. A gesture to lift his hood up. Then, the coldness in his voice.

"Do not think I have grown soft on these students of yours: I am in no way trying to become friends with them. Simply because I have expressed concern over them does not mean I will always be there to protect them. The storm that is coming for them-no, for Remnant's inhabitants-will leave them frozen with fear. Similar to how you are preparing them to be Huntsmen and Huntresses, I will be merely preparing them to endure for what is to come. The only difference will be that my methods...are not suited for the faint-hearted."

Whether or not Ozpin would have made an attempt to speak, he was not given a chance. The leader of team FEAR was already giving instructions to his teammates.

"Alexander. Ryfia. I need you two to survey the school for anymore of these packages. Knowing Adele, this cannot be the only one she has left behind. You already know how to find them, so I assume there will be no trouble at all. After you have made sure that none of these explosives are in the area, you may wander around the school. Take notice of your surroundings, the students, and any out of the ordinary. We may be required to make our presence known here."

The pair nodded and started walking towards the exit before Alexander suddenly turned around. "Make sure to take the obsidian dart with you, d'accord? The last thing we need is for you to be on another rampage and-"

"Thank you for your concerns. I'll keep it with me."

Alexander hesitated at the sudden change of tone in his voice, but shrugged it off and went with his partner to finish their task. Confident that they would succeed, Dynos turned towards Elizabeth who was still recovering from projecting the images.

"If you are still able to Elizabeth, I request an analysis, both on the time bomb and the robot Adele has left behind. If we are lucky, we may be able to find the origins of where these parts were manufactured from. From there, we can strike and deal a crushing blow on Ignacy's forces."

Though her expression described great pain, Elizabeth quickly stood to attention and bowed. "I'll see to it immediately."

Hesitation was in his voice when he spoke again. Dynos knew how loyal Elizabeth was to him, but sometimes she would forget the importance of her own welfare while working. "Do not force yourself, Elizabeth. I know that projecting the images has already deplenished the majority of your aura and dust. If you don't feel well-"

Elizabeth interrupted with a smile. "Your concern is appreciated, Dynos. However, I must remind you that I am dedicated to serve you. There is no needed to be worried over my welfare."

"...Very well. But make sure to rest afterwards. After all, you are not a machine, but a human being. There will be a point where you must rest..."

"...Alright." The grin simply grew larger, almost displaying a playful smile on her face. "But only because you have asked so nicely, I shall follow your request. But this will be the only time, okay?"

Not waiting for a response, Elizabeth left the office, gathering the remains of the robot and skipping merrily out to perform her research. Now there were only three people in the office: Ozpin, Glynda, and Dynos.

"...I would like to speak to you in private, Ozpin." His voice was like the sound of the winter chills passing through shattered glass: tired, yet still strong. "Ms. Goodwitch, if you may..."

Knowing where he was going with this, Glynda opened her mouth to retort, still frustrated by his past actions. However, Ozpin beat her to the punch.

"Very well. Glynda, could you please give us a few minutes?"

Shock and confusion coursed through her mind and body. How could Ozpin still let him have his way? He had not done anything yet to gain their trust and had even put the students' lives at risk!

But the look on Ozpin's face told her that this was not her choice in the matter this time. It was a silent message, but she understood and hesitantly left the office. There were now the two of them in the office.

"...With those I qualify as allies, we stand strong. United." Dynos' voice softly broke the eerie silence. Concern was also in his voice, something Ozpin hadn't heard in a long time. "Working together with others of different strength levels, the tower will eventually crumble. Collapsing into a pile of rubble." His attention was now fixed outside the window where team RWBY and JNPR could be seen heading out to their respective classes. "...As leader of team FEAR, I thought that was necessary. To separate ourselves from the weak."

Ozpin simply took a sip from his coffee. "And yet here you are, working with those who do not stand a chance against you in combat." No response. He decided to continue. "You may drop the charade, Dynos. I know that during your fights, you are not fighting your opponents with 100% of your true power. In fact, you were merely using half of your strength during your fights with Ms. Schnee and Xiao Long. But your words and actions indicate that you show no remorse in killing. So permit me to ask you this: what purpose does your restrainment serve? Why not reach for the help of others instead of always relying on team FEAR?."

Silence met his question. Inside, Ozpin mentally sighed. Perhaps it wasn't the time to ask such deep questions yet. After all, it was the only way to pry answers out of Dynos: he was always chose to keep his background to those he trusted, and it seemed that Ozpin didn't qualified. Not yet, at least.

Still, he had no intention of attacking the leader with such deep questions. Dynos was probably already both physically and mentally exhausted from today's events. Even though Ozpin knew he was strong in both categories, Dynos was still human. There would be a line that would be crossed one day, and today didn't seem to be the best day to cross it.

"Perhaps I should not have persisted for answers from you." For the first time in awhile, Ozpin grimaced at how much his words must have affected Dynos. "If that is all we need to talk about, you are permitted to miss your classes today. I know that you are also probably exhausted from what had happened and it would be wise to rest until- "

"Ozpin...The part where Adele was talking about my loss...That was only half of the truth."

Ozpin blinked. This was something he did not expect to hear from Dynos. "What could you possibly mean?"

"...There was a time when I was considered to be...'normal'. Even with my destructive powers and bloody past, I had someone with me who would only judge me for who I truly was in the inside." Hidden under the darkness of his hood, a shadow crept onto his face. Even without seeing it, Ozpin felt it. Was it anger? Confusion? Possibly even pure hatred?

Dynos chose to continue. He was already too deep with this conversation, and there was no purpose of leaving a loose end for Ozpin to ponder about all day. "This was before team FEAR was created. Before I had met any of them." A pause to recollect his thoughts. "She...was the light that brought me out of the darkness. The one who made me believe that maybe...this world still had potential to be a safe haven for humanity to survive in." Another pause, then a dark tone surrounding his voice, almost sending a chill down Ozpin's spine.. "...It was my fault that she left me, and I'll be damned if it happens to anyone who cannot survive the full power of my true strength."

The office immediately grew quiet. "Dynos, are you telling me that you-"

This time however, Dynos did not give Ozpin time to ask his questions. Bowing in respect and as a gesture of gratitude, Dynos quickly exited through the doors of the office, leaving a thudding sound of the doors closing shut to echo outside. Ozpin made no move to stop him: he knew that this was definitely something Dynos wanted hidden from others.

But there was something that Ozpin instantly caught on after Dynos had left. It was a surprise that he hadn't considered the possibility before, but Dynos had always been an enigma that was difficult to figure out. Easily recognized by experienced huntsmen and huntresses, this was something that could only be found by those who had experienced the loss of others.

Survivor's guilt.

End of Chapter 13...