Dustweaving isn't magic, but it's close.

I have no source for this statement, but as a creature composed of magic, I can't help but feel like I have some authority on the matter.

Technically, magic is defined as phenomena unexplained by modern science. Supernatural or mysterious forces influencing the world in impossible ways. The thing is, dust is natural, and the soul itself is a quantified, observable effect with documented proof and the subject of countless study. Even Grimm, with their origins and abilities explained in only myth and legend, were beginning to be deciphered, though study was apparently slow going due to their tendency to simply evaporate in captivity.

Dustweaving was an art that had eventually become a science, acting as a sort of foundation for many technologies today. Lightning dust now powered countless homes. Fire dust warded off the cold and cooked meals. Neither of these required the delicate touch of an artisan, though. Not like personal items made to be worn by warriors would.

To channel "Nature's Wrath" as it was colloquially known into a form that was not only usable, but also wouldn't lash out against those who would wear it was, in my experience, the closest man came to becoming channelling a truly supernatural force. Dust wasn't just chemical compounds and stored energy, it had this seemingly metaphysical intent that most certainly did not agree with the human desire to remain intact and healthy.

And if any man of science ever attempted to "Um, ackchully…" me on this matter, I was going to gut him with my bare hands.

That wasn't to say that Aura weren't close either, or Semblances, but neither of these had much in common with studying the arcana.

One of the first things I had done upon growing skilled enough was weave my clothing into the most effective armour I could manage. Pouring spiritual energies into objects was a delicate balance, too much and the vessel would rupture, too little and the energies would dissipate without any effect, but just the right amount would reinforce the object beyond its natural limitations.

By stitching earth dust into my clothing, it had not only become somewhat more passively durable, it had also become more able to retain and store spiritual energy, to the point where I struggled to make a mark in it when I'd filled it to the brim.

Of course, it also made the clothing vastly more heavy at all times, but that was nothing the natural physical prowess of a Grimm couldn't handle. I might not have all the benefits aura-empowered human beings had, but I could still easily outshine an ordinary man in physical matters.

Dustweaving was certainly not the closest man had come to magic, however.

The four of us sat in silence as we waited on the edge of a cliff for the train to pass by below, growing steadily more bored. Mercury was rolling his shoulders and doing stretches, and while Emerald was still watching the tracks, she was steadily looking away more and more. I, personally, was turning over a wind dust crystal in my fingers, which was affixed to my wrist with a thin chain. I had spares and a few extras tucked into my clothing, but I'd rather not lose any dust if I couldn't help it.

That shit was expensive, nowadays.

Thankfully, Cinder had decided to leave with the airship after some sort of issue had popped up elsewhere, taking Roman with her along with the annoying slant in my thoughts. His muscle on the other hand had been left behind, and the entire time we had stood here, she hadn't said a single word.

In fact, none of us had said a single word. Which you'd think you'd want to do before engaging in a train heist, especially while working with a complete stranger. Apparently everyone here except me was confident enough in their abilities to go into this without even a shadow of a plan.

Honestly, I could see it. Four people with activated auras could make short work of a lot of things. I'd managed to handle a train filled with killer robots on my lonesome before, why worry about another?

…Tempting fate aside, I still wanted to know who the fuck I was working with.

I casted a glance over, considering the short woman, who was twirling her umbrella, not even bothering to conceal her boredom. I considered the frilly thing for a moment, wondering what kind of gun was hidden within. High powered rifle? It seemed to fit the profile.

"So." Mercury said loudly, snapping me out of my thoughts as I turned to look at him. "How good are you in a fight?"

"Decent-ish. Handled myself against unempowered security guards and droids pretty well, before." Sure it was in a completely different form and while wielding completely different abilities, but I was still confident that I could handle that without issue. Especially silently.

A period of silence passed. "...And?" He prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"That's all." I shrugged. I most certainly wasn't going to try and talk myself up now. If I succeeded beyond expectations, then that was one thing. It was another to pretend to be stronger than I was only for good-old reality to set in. "Not much of a fighter."

Mercury poorly hid a scoff as he turned to look at the tracks and folded his arms. "Please at least tell me you have a weapon."

I raised the crystal in my hand. "You're looking at it."

He raised an eyebrow as he looked the crystal over. A long moment passed before his eye caught how it was shaped into a sharpened spike, and his inner self briefly shone with realisation, though instead of exposing his awareness, he chuckled to himself. "You fight with a bracelet?"

Well, if he wanted to have a little fun, who was I to say no? "I always thought of it as a pendant, myself." I glibly replied.

"A pendant hangs from the neck, actually." Emerald spoke up, looking back at us from her position closer to where the train was supposedly coming from.

Mercury stepped closer, not-so-subtly whispering. "I bet she just saw that in a book somewhere."

Emerald's face flattened with irritation. "At least I read."

"And you're doing an amazing job, keep at it and you might learn how to spell!" Mercury quipped.

A flicker of frustration danced across her expression before she turned away with a huff.

I looked off to the side, searching for any sign of the train. I'd assumed that the two of them, having worked together under Cinder prior, would get along better. I'd even worried that they'd form an "in-group" that I'd have to break into. More and more though, I was getting the vibe that while Emerald truly believed in whatever Cinder was peddling, Mercury was just along for the ride. It seemed the two still cared a little about each other, but that bond was brittle and weak.

Well, that suited me just fine.

As the silence dragged on, Mercury turned to me, his eyes flickering to the dust crystal between my fingers and then back to me. "So, you just rawdog it, huh?"

I ignored the way Emerald's being curdled with disgust as I nodded. "My Semblance lets me dull the sensations, but other than that… yeah."

For all that mankind had mastered using all sorts of dust in all sorts of technology, mankind and dust didn't mix well. Aura acted as a sort of stopgap, and with it, one could shape the energy within dust, expelling it in a somewhat controlled, if haphazard manner. Depending on one's skill with Aura, one could simply use a crystal much like a bomb, or possibly shape the outcome to a degree, like using fire dust like a flamethrower.

Semblances, being powered by aura, could shift in form and function when used in conjunction with dust, with the light of their soul protecting the human flesh from the power of the elements running amok.

But neither of these were necessarily the most efficient way of using the power in dust. If you needed a big boost in a pinch, then one could forgo the protection of aura entirely, and simply stab oneself with the shiny magic rock. The practice was as old as the written word, and by far the closest thing mankind had to a mystical tradition, steeped in primitive methods and philosophies as it was..The results were as exhilarating as they were painful, and the long term damage to the human body made it a highly unpopular tactic.

For a Grimm, on the other hand…

Mercury looked away, seemingly satisfied. "Huh. And here I thought you would weave yourself a robe with flamethrowers up its sleeves or something."

I snorted. I'd tried something similar, only to horribly burn it, me, and half a week of work. The setback had honestly been more painful than the fire itself. Thankfully my clothes had survived my attempt at a battlesuit. Getting my hands on another set of clothing while naked would have been uncomfortable, to say the least. "I'd like to see you try and stitch a fireball into a sleeve."

"Cinder seems to have pulled it off just fine." Mercury said with a raised eyebrow.

"And believe me, once I have the opportunity I'm going to ask how she pulled it off without roasting herself alive." I said with absolute certainty. "...And what about you? What's your weapon?"

He raised an eyebrow as he shifted his balance, drawing attention to his thick, metallic boots.

I waited for him to elaborate, and when none came as Mercury's amusement grew, I pressed on. "I mean, what else does it do?"

Confidence coloured his tone as he put his hands on his hips. "Shoot dust projectiles and bullets. The rest is all me."

Yeah, figured, but good to know regardless. "And your Semblance?"

"Lost it."

"I see-" Wait. "What? How?" I demanded, turning around. That was a thing? I didn't know that was a thing! A hint of panic raced through me, before it was abruptly snuffed out by the fact that my Semblance was fictional. Still, the curiosity burned.

His cocky shrug and grin did nothing to mask the hint of ire that was suddenly emanating from him. "Dunno, woke up on the wrong side of bed one day, I guess."

I turned to look at Emerald, who was still standing apart from us. She seemed intent on staying out of the conversation, but asking probably wouldn't hurt. "And yours?"

She gave a sigh as she scanned once more for the train, clearly hoping it would save her from having to participate. Eventually, she answered. "I can make people hallucinate things."

…Hm. That was two illusionists on our team of five. Quite a bit of overlap, all things considered, but I suppose that we had the way our powers worked to set us apart. "And its name?"

There was a brief silence. "What?" Emerald turned to me, raising an eyebrow.

"The name of your Semblance." Oh gods, don't tell me I was the only one here that did this.

Her feelings briefly fluctuated, becoming murky with confusion. "Hallucinations? I guess?"

Well… I guess it was her choice to make. But still, What an awful name! "Gets straight to the point, I suppose." I muttered, glancing off to the side.

"What did you name yours?" She asked, raising an eyebrow in my direction as she finally took her attention off the tracks.

…I sense I've made a mistake somehow. Still, I made this bed, may as well lie in it. "It's called Impossible Utopia."

She twitched slightly. "Isn't that kinda… a bit much?"

Gods, end me now. "Well, you only get one." I said with a shrug. Unless you were me, in which case you could pick an ability and call that your Semblance without anyone being the wiser.

Faking my death and redoing my introduction was becoming more tempting by the moment. I doubted I'd ever be completely satisfied, though. I'd just have to persevere with the impression I'd made until I ironed out the kinks.

I turned my attention to Roman's muscle. The small woman still hadn't said a word the entire time, but now she was looking at me, smirking. It occurred to me that I didn't know her name, but as I considered how I wanted to introduce myself, Mercury walked over and jabbed me in the side with a grin. "Hey, I just noticed you don't know each other. Why don't you introduce yourself to her?" He said, jerking a head in her direction. The shared burst of mirth they both felt had me pause, looking between Mercury and the woman suspiciously.

"Ignore him. She's mute. Mercury, quit being a jackass." Emerald said, shooting a glare in his direction.

"Aw, come on Em. Don't ruin the fun." Mercury said, his grin only growing.

Emerald's irritation boiled further before the woman stepped forwards, clearing her throat. She did a short bow in my direction, before gesturing to me and then herself, tilting her head to the side questioningly.

I bowed in turn, courtly manners coming to me as easily as breathing. "My name is Castell. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Forgive me for presuming, but might you be… Neapolitan?"

She blinked, before raising an eyebrow. Bang on the money, it seemed.

"...Wait, you knew her already?" Emerald interjected, confused.

"Not really." I straightened up, brushing myself off subconsciously. "But the tradition of naming things after colours made things easier. Green for Emerald." I pointed towards the girl in question, specifically at her green hair. "Grey for Mercury." I then pointed at the boy's grey hair. "Both parts of Cinder Fall work for her orange eyes, and..." I gestured to the woman's hair, which was half brown and half pink, with a streak of white running through the pink side. Her outfit was of similar colours, composed of a neat and tidy jacket, corset, pants and boots which, now that I was paying more attention, was actually quite aesthetically pleasing. Shame that it was attached to a member of the enemy. "Brown, pink and white. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Neapolitan. I'm guessing I got it right?" I said, tilting my head to the side.

The woman gave me an amused smirk before straightening up, giving me a so-so gesture.

"Hm... Nea, then?" I guessed, rubbing my chin.

She shook her head, before tracing her finger through the air, forming a circle.

No, not a circle, an 'O'. "Neopolitan." I corrected, getting a pleased nod in return. I grinned. Of course, the better question was who's tale she was based on. I couldn't think of many stories based on ice cream, of all things. Snow White? The Snow Queen, maybe? …Frosty the Snowman?

No, none of these made any sense. I'd have to wait and see what else she could do before trying to cross her off the list.

"Huh." Mercury said, raising an eyebrow. "Guess you're smarter than you look."

Emerald seemed more curious than anything, examining my raggedy appearance. "And where does Castell Lue come from?"

"From Castellum o Mare. Fortress on the Sea." I gestured vaguely, trying to recall my exact train of thought. "Castellum Mare. Castellum Blue. Castell Lue."

"Oh, because of your eyes." Emerald nodded, seeming to grasp it.

"Right." I confirmed, even as I continued to think to myself. Of course, I'd also based my identities off of fairy tales and legends, to make them all fit the 'theme', as it were. Rumple Stilton was both named for yellow cheese, and after Rumpelstiltskin, the imp who wove straw into gold. My other identity, August Goodfellow, was named after the fairy trickster and spirit Puck and the colours of Summer. Castell Lue, though, had a little more thought put into it.

Mare Castellum meant Sea Fort, another term for which was Mori-dunon, from which Myrddin was derived. Another name for Merlin the Cambion, or Merlin the Changeling if you wanted to be more modern about it.

Words were funny things, weren't they?

"Kind of a mouthful. Can I just call you Cas?" I blinked as I turned to Mercury, who was scratching a cheek.

"Cas is fine." I easily agreed, brushing the thought aside.

The sound of a distant horn echoed out, and the four of us turned our attention down the track, finding the train quickly approaching from the other side of the bend on the cliffside path.

"Finally. Do Valean trains always run this late?" Mercury complained, cracking his neck.

"Only when you're around." Emerald dryly replied.

"Wow, harsh." Mercury rolled his shoulders. "How about you all stay back? I've got it handled."

"I was under the impression Cinder wanted me to prove myself." I commented, raising an eyebrow.

"She did." Emerald interjected, stepping forwards. "And she also told us to keep this quiet."

Mercury let out a loud sigh. "Fine. Fine. We'll go quietly. But if things go sideways, I get first dibs."

Confident, wasn't he? Though, it wasn't just him. Neo was practically dripping with the stuff, and even Emerald was brimming with anticipation and certainty. I couldn't help it, I was starting to feel the same way, being swept up in the mood.

And then my insides began to writhe as presences made themselves known to me. Strong souls, almost certainly with activated Auras. And it wasn't just a few, either. I was feeling myself reaching the limit of what I could clamp down on, and we hadn't even entered the train.

Fuck.

I stabbed the wind crystal into my forearm, lowering the sensation somewhat. Not enough to outright nullify the pain, but enough to gauge the elemental energies beginning to course through me. I palmed another crystal of wind dust, holding it ready as I focused, and began to weave the spiritual energies within. "I'll make our entrance quiet, but I can only do so much. Mercury, kindly don't shoot anything."

"No promises." He gave me a cocky look that I didn't return as I thought my way through what was ahead.

People with activated Aura could run the gamut of dangerous to not, but Cinder had mentioned that this was an important shipment of dust, hadn't she? Chances are, we were facing up against a full huntsman team of four, possibly even more, which was very much a fight I didn't want to be in the middle of as I currently was. I couldn't just reveal what I knew. Not without alerting them to capabilities that humans weren't supposed to have. I'd have to look for a security terminal or something, to try and come up with a plausible way of revealing what we were up against.

What escape routes did I have? The ocean was the obvious answer. The problem was that the train didn't have windows, and once I went in, there was no guarantee that I'd be able to make my way out. But if I managed it, I could just swim as far away as I pleased. Maybe even start a new life elsewhere, far from where Cinder would be looking. I'd swam between continents once, I could do it again.

In the end, survival was my priority. Answers could come some other day when I was alive to hear them.

But right now I had more pressing concerns, like hiding our entrance. I hadn't practised stilling the air at all, and I doubted that I'd be able to render the noise of us dropping onto the roof quiet, especially considering Mercury's metal boots, but what I could do instead was try and conceal the noise with more noise. My mind ran a mile a minute as I listened to the train coming in, trying to get a grasp on how it sounded, and then, I wove both that and the sound of the horn in my mind, shaping the rushing, churning energies around us into as convincing a facsimile as I could make it. "Cover your ears and get ready to jump!" I warned, before pouring the spiritual energy into the winds around us.

Right as hands clapped over ears, the fake horn blasted, and the sound of the train's wheels grinding against the tracks shot up. Mercury and Emerald jumped forwards, and I quickly followed after, hoping that my quick thinking had covered the sound of the heavy slam the boy's boots made. Emerald immediately pressed herself low and close to the roof while Mercury crouched, both scanning around.

"You call that quiet?" Mercury said, his voice barely audible over the fake noises I was pumping spiritual energy into.

"It's the closest I can get in a rush! Where's the door?" I called back, raising my voice just enough so that he could hear.

"Down there, next compartment." He pointed towards the front of the train.

"Wait a sec, where's Neo?" Emerald spoke up, looking around.

I turned to see Neo daintily floating down behind us, her umbrella slowing her descent into a gentle landing. Her smirk was as smug as it could possibly be as she turned to us and gave a wave, twirling her closed parasol onto her shoulder before she took a few steps back and let herself fall, disappearing from view.

"Showoff." Emerald muttered, only barely audible over the now unaltered sounds of the train.

I turned around to stare at them. "I thought she was with us."

"Roman's the one who usually reins her in, and he's not here." Mercury shrugged. "She can take care of herself. Come on."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I didn't waste any more time, following after him as he sprinted towards the front. He grabbed the side of the roof and swung himself down, and there was the sound of glass being smashed to smithereens. A moment later, Emerald leapt down too.

Alright, time to improvise.

I breathed in an utterly unnecessary breath, before leaping down and following after. Inside the train, Emerald was standing amidst a pile of broken glass and a few groaning bodies. Mercury seemed to have already moved on to the next compartment, judging by the opened door. I put him out of mind as I turned to look at the controls and screens, searching for some sort of camera system.

"What are you doing?" I heard Emerald ask from behind me.

An excuse quickly came to mind. "Looking for information. Last time I did something like this, I had to fight a spider mech on a dust transport. Didn't realise it at first, but a stray shot would have blown me sky high. I'd rather avoid something like that happening."

I flipped through buttons as quickly as I could, quickly growing more frustrated as I switched through maps, schematics, and everything other than a CCTV system. I'd hypnotised the crew into doing it for me, last time I'd hijacked a train on my way to civilization, but with them all out of commission…

…Actually. Maybe I could work with that. I kneeled down next to the two guards, checking which one seemed the least injured, before quickly weaving a shell of spiritual energy around myself, shaping it and moulding it as quickly as I could. The details of my disguise were going to be off, but that was the price of speed. I pulled the dust battery out of his radio, shoving them into my pocket before kicking the man I was disguised as out the door. Emerald opened her mouth as if to ask what I was doing, before she realised and stepped back and out of the way.

I put a hand up and adjusted the smell of the air beneath his nose, and the man snapped awake as he inhaled sharply.

"Wh- What just-" He winced as he began coughing, putting a hand to his bleeding forehead.

"Wake up! Wake the fuck up! We're under attack!" I hissed at him. "Our shit's jammed! We need to check the rest of the train, but I can't get the fucking camera systems to work! Fix it!"

The man blinked at me, before pushing himself to his feet, fumbling for the radio at his side. "This is Bravo, the- the train is under attack. I repeat, the train is under attack!" He said, stumbling over his words. "Where are the Huntsmen!?"

Oo. Lucky. Emerald's head snapped towards me, surprise written all over her face.

"Shit, you're right! Where are they?" I muttered seemingly to myself, before turning towards the screens pressing a few buttons. "Damn thing's frozen! I can't get a visual!"

The man rushed past me, hissing in pain as he did. He didn't seem to notice Emerald standing nearby, frozen with surprise as she was. His fingers danced across the console as I waited, eagerly anticipating the moment I'd finally get an idea of what we were dealing with.

Until he froze. "Wait, we don't have any cameras installed, do we?" He said, glancing over his shoulder at me.

…What sort of modern train doesn't- Fuck it. I grabbed ahold of his head and smashed it into the console, sending him right back into the realm of unconsciousness without another word. I turned towards Emerald as my disguise became undone, who was staring at the scene in shock. "Can you fight a Huntsman?"

She quickly shook herself out of it. "I can distract one, maybe. But-"

"But you can't beat one and I can't either. What about Mercury?" I continued, cutting her off.

"Neo probably can. Mercury... might?" She replied, before grimacing. "We need to buy time for reinforcements-"

There was a metallic screech, like the sound of a machinery tearing through metal, muffled by distance and walls but still audible, and Emerald's face paled, before she took off running out the door. I followed after, only barely managing to keep pace.

"Get Cinder on the line. She mentioned that someone was going to be transporting the dust. Where are they?" I huffed.

Emerald fumbled for her scroll. "Forever Fall."

"Forever Fall's huge. Where?" I urgently pressed.

Emerald grit her teeth. "Near the northern border. She said she'd send a signal when we were close!"

I thought quickly. "Forever Fall's still maybe ten minutes out. We need a Plan B."

She caught on quickly, and to her credit her desire to please Cinder held out only for a moment before self-preservation kicked in. "Neo can cover our exit, we just need to get to her-" Emerald stopped herself mid sentence as we reached the next carriage, and found Mercury standing amidst a dozen unconscious men and women, and half as many broken security droids.

I'd thought him confident, before. Now he was oozing it, letting it flow off him in waves. "About time you got here. You're missing the show." He smirked, gesturing at the destruction around him.

"Mercury, we've got a problem. There's Huntsmen guarding the train. We need to regroup with Neo. Did you see her anywhere?" Emerald spoke up, cutting straight to the point as we skidded to a halt.

"Nope." Mercury shrugged. "Guess that explains the noise, though. Maybe she's up ahead?"

Emerald swore quietly to herself. "If she is, then she's probably fighting right now. Castell, can you make us look like the guards?"

I looked over the two of them, before making a snap decision. "Sure. Bring down your Auras. I'll change your clothes to look like the uniform."

Their bodies briefly shone with a shimmering layer of light before they vanished, and I laid my hand on their clothing, as I worked on their disguises however, gave them a little extra.

Hypnosis took time, effort, and uninterrupted focus on my part. Mental modification took even more. Something I'd quickly grasped, however, was brief and subtle, yet substantial bursts of mental energy. A quick spike of spiritual energy, directed into the brain and nervous system, that wouldn't just boost the target's senses and reaction times, but would also push away fatigue.

I couldn't use it too liberally, and the boosts wouldn't last long, but hopefully it would be enough to make a difference. As such, I flooded the two with a brief spike of energy, watching as the two perked up, their movements becoming subtly sharper.

Mercury blinked, rubbing his eyes as he looked down at his new disguise, while Emerald took a few deep breaths, rolling her shoulders. "Looks good." His head snapped up, looking me over. "You gonna do yourself?"

"Just a second." I dipped into my stash of dust crystals again, sorting through them for the best option I had, before selecting one and stabbing it into my other arm. As I felt the limb begin to grow numb I nodded, shifting the appearance of my clothing. "Alright, Let's move."

The three of us ran towards the next carriage, moving at a breakneck pace. I could still feel more Aura signatures in front of us, and as we approached, I could feel myself reaching my limit. My mind felt like it was swimming through murderous soup, each thought having to push against a dozen violent ideas before surfacing. It was a struggle just to keep myself from ripping my glamour off and tearing these intrusive pests apart-

No. Control. Calm. Calm.

I blinked. A door had just slid open in front of me, revealing Neo in a standoff with a full team of four Huntsmen, a colourful assortment of parasite-ridden corpses daring to stand before me. She looked outwardly calm as she whirled her frilly contraption, but her soul was a conflicting whorl of emotions, flickering between bloodlust and frustration.

"Halt, villain!" Somebody called out. I wasn't sure who. Mercury, poorly pretending to be a guard? The leader in yellow, gallantly brandishing a strange pole?

Neo was doing something. Weaving a deception with her Semblance. The realisation that this team had three illusionists was only a faint glimmer of thought in the cauldron of hate simmering within my skull. It didn't seem worth the energy required to grasp it.

There were more words exchanged. Words meant nothing. Noise. A distraction, a mere cover to the pulsating hatred permeating the world beneath me.

The Huntsman team turned, taking their eyes off us. They turned their backs, believing that Neo was the only threat. That they were safe.

They weren't.

The energy from the dust crystals embedded in my body had been metabolising from the moment I'd inserted them, their energies suffusing my body, growing more potent as time had passed. The latter crystal and its power would need time to grow, but the former would soon be at its peak, and I could feel the seething winds growing and growing within me, demanding to be unleashed.

I obliged, lunging forwards as I swept an arm out, and the air screamed and howled as a massive wall of air slammed into the team, sweeping them off their feet and throwing them into the walls. Before they could recover, Mercury and Emerald were on them, attacking with in a burst of speed and ferocity.

In an instant, the script was flipped upside down, the Huntsmen became the hunted.

One of them recovered quickly, and he turned towards me as I sprinted in his direction, ignoring the drain on the wind crystal's energies as I gathered it and funneled it into a backwards blast that sent me rocketing forwards. His weapon, some sort of thick metal rod, came up just in time to block my fist from crashing into him. I ignored the sensation travelling up my arm as I pulled it back, only for a boot to the chest to send me flying back and into a stack of boxes. Fucking weighted clothes slowing me down!

The other Huntsmen were busy with their own opponents, allowing for me to focus on the one in front of me, who had a pair of massive eyes that popped out of the side of his head unlike any other human I had ever seen. They fixed on me and began to glow green before he took a pair of long steps forward, swinging his weapon in a wide, devastating arc. I had just enough sense left in my mind to drop to the ground, narrowly avoiding the strike as it smashed through the boxes behind me and into the wall.

Before he could recover I was back on my feet, and the air howled once more as a blast of wind ripped through the space between us. The energy within me had massively diminished though, and I could only manage enough to shove him back. He landed on his feet and hands without a word, narrowing his glowing eyes at me.

I needed more. Magical energy coursed through my body and poured into my brain as I heightened my mind as far as I could, sharpening my senses and clearing my-

Oh shit, what the fuck was I doing?

I ducked out of the way of another strike as the Huntsman attempted to smash my head into paste with what I now recognized as a club that doubled as a bazooka. Even though I was empowered with magical energy and dust crystals, the Huntsman was still easily my physical superior. Chances were that all of his team were. These weren't merely humans with spiritual forcefields, but superpowered warriors who'd spend their lives training for combat against the deadliest foes the world had to offer. And on top of that, none of us had any training in teamwork, and teamwork was the foundation of Huntsman teams to matter where they were taught. They'd probably trained together for years before I had ever even met Cinder or her associates.

And it showed. Mercury and Neo weren't bad fighters, in fact I could easily see that Neo was the most skilled person in the room, but the Huntsmen were fighting together effectively, covering each other's bases. The man with the staff was holding the two of them at bay while a younger man behind him was taking potshots with a bow, of all things. Emerald, meanwhile, was struggling to find room to fight at range while a woman with a cybernetic leg hounded her with a pair of nunchucks. The only one who wasn't fighting with his team was the Huntsman I was facing off against, as he was seemingly too focused on me to pay attention to the rest of his team.

But they weren't the biggest concern I had. Instead, the honour went to the multicoloured mist now leaking out of the broken boxes.

Dust. Of course. This was a train carrying crates upon crates of dust, what else could be inside? Dust was inherently volatile, and powdered dust was even more so. Chances were, half the people here had guns in their weapons, and if any of them went off... I needed to get out of here before this compartment became a bomb.

I reached behind myself, crafting an illusion as I used the little remaining air energy my body had metabolised to hurl myself back, away from the Huntsman. It was only because illusions came so naturally to me that I managed a semi-convincing one in the moments I had to craft it. The sound of beeping suddenly filled the air, and everyone's heads snapped towards where it was coming from. I grinned as I drew my hand away from a stack of dust crates, where there was now seemingly a blinking device.

I doubted that it would fool anyone remotely experienced with explosives, or with any amount of time on their hands. The thing looked more like a fridge magnet than any sort of bomb. But in the middle of pitched combat, where every second counted? Their snap decision would work in my favour.

"Everyone, get out!" The man with the bow shouted, and they all began making for the door as I did my most convincing scramble for safety, bolting towards the other end of the compartment. I shoved the button for the door repeatedly, and the door slid open just as the Huntsman with bulging green eyes smashed into my side with his club, cracking something in my chest and arm as he sent me sprawling through the door.

I numbed the pain I felt and pushed myself up, doing my best to ignore the sickening feeling of my insides rearranging themselves. Thank fuck for reinforced clothing. I got to my feet just in time to see the Huntsman stepping through the door and raising his weapon.

I did the only thing I could at that moment, and ripped the spent wind crystal out of my arm, pushing it into the same hand before pouring as much power into it as I could manage.

The surprise the Huntsman felt at my practically suicidal move was the only reason I pulled it off. My palm and arm were instantly torn apart by an omnidirectional shockwave that threw the Huntsman back through the door, and also sent me skidding across the ground to the other end of the compartment. The pain would have most certainly been paralysing if I hadn't already numbed my arm, but even still it was the most agonising thing I'd ever experienced. It didn't help that I'd enhanced my senses, and my ears rang as I fought to recover.

I shakily pushed myself up, looking at the mess of blood and gore that was where my left hand used to be. Through the glamour I'd woven, the mask of identity that held the rest of me at bay, I could see faint hints of my true nature leaking through, wisps of black smoke curling up from the wound as my insides slowly knit themselves together.

...Yeah, that wasn't coming back anytime soon.

I could still faintly hear the sound of fighting, but honestly? I was done. Out. Fuck this mess, they could all kill each other for all I cared.

I staggered the other way, looking for a hatch I could escape from. Thankfully, despite the proximity of the fight and all the aura-empowered human beings, my instincts had finally shut the fuck up. My thoughts were my own once more.

Was this how older Grimm felt, as they gained control over their instincts? Tired, jaded, and just wanting everything to be over? I couldn't help but wonder as I numbly stumbled through several compartments towards the end of the train.

Ah, and there was the hatch. Figuring out how I'd jump off a speeding train would come later. First, how did I get this thing open-

The sound of the door behind me gliding open again caught my attention. I turned with an utterly fed up look on my face as the Huntsman with blazing green eyes stepped in. I could faintly see his aura, still holding strong despite all the hits he'd taken.

"Oh, fuck off." I groaned in exasperation, turning my back towards the hatch.

"Nowhere to run." The man croaked.

The sound brought me to a pause. "Huh. You're a frog faunus." I noted out loud, looking him over. I'd taken his eyes for some sort of mutation or something, but now that I was looking closely, I could see the horizontal pupils. I knew there was an offshoot of humanity with all sorts of animal features. It was kind of hard to not, considering not just the number of them running around, and all the racial tensions surrounding them that I couldn't quite wrap my head around.

"And you're observant." He rasped again, raising his club over his shoulder.

"And you're a pain in my dick." I retorted, scratching my hair with my one good arm. "Fucksake. Go hijack a train, she says! It'll be fine, she says! Only a few extra toys from Atlas, she says!" I ranted.

"Selling out your friends isn't going to save you, either." The frog faunus stated, narrowing his massive eyes.

I snorted. "First off, we're not friends. We're colleagues at best, and honestly I'd slot them in as acquaintances after this shitshow. Second, this isn't me selling anyone out, this is me venting. Did you know the amount of planning that went into this? Fucking zilch! Jack shit! We barely even talked before we all jumped on a train! I didn't even know one of their names until, like, a minute beforehand!"

He blinked, tilting his head to the side. "Uh-"

"But I was already in the middle of the fucking wilderness at that point! And it's not like I can just walk back in time for my job, or anything!" I threw my hand up. "I thought it was a test! See how far I'd go out on a limb before I'd start asking questions. Fuck." I sighed, rubbing my face as I wove an illusion of myself standing still, and began quietly stepping backwards.

"You... do understand how none of this helps your case in the slightest, do you?" He said, narrowing his glowing green eyes at me.

"I really do not care." My illusion gave him a glare of annoyance from under his palm, while I stepped towards the hatch. I was pretty sure I needed to just pull this lever and jump. With some luck, I'd have a direct route to the ocean. So long as I kept my legs together, I should be fine-

"And you know I can see you, right?" He announced, turning his glowing green eyes in my actual direction.

I froze, before I turned to stare at him. My first day. My first fucking day on the job, and I meet a Huntsman who- "...Your Semblance counters mine."

"Seems like it."

"Fuck." I spat.

"Yep." He spun his club, aiming the bazooka end right at me. "Give it up-"

I spun, redirecting the last dregs of wind energy in me into a truly potent stink bomb, filling the air with the absolute foulest thing I could come up with on the fly. The Huntsman croaked and choked with revulsion as he waved his hand in front of his face, and I ripped the hatch open and leapt out, barely in control as I spun through the air. I raised both my arms, and directed one phantom and one genuine middle finger to the train as it rushed by.

"Up yours, asshole!" I hollered as gravity began to take its due, the sea coming up fast. I saw him come out the doorway, glaring his glowing eyes in my direction before he jumped up against the top of the hatch and launched himself off, his trajectory perfectly aimed right at me.

Oh, you've got to be kidding- What felt like several tons of Huntsman slammed into me, and the both of us hurtled into the ocean. My back felt like it had been smashed through a concrete wall, and the salt water instantly filled what was left of my lungs. The Huntsman tried to shove himself off me, but I was having none of it. My working hand latched onto the bottom of his foot, and we began sinking.

My clothes, I belatedly realised. Woven with earth dust, they were far heavier than they had any right to be. No wonder we were sinking.

Even with aura-enhanced strength, with me weighing him down and his hands occupied by a weapon that was utterly worthless underwater, he didn't have a hope of getting to the surface, but he was definitely strong enough to kick me off if I didn't do something quick, but my bag of tricks was practically empty, except for one final ace in the hole.

…Fuck it. Now or never.

The workings holding my glamour in place dissolved, and what looked like a wave of black tar flooded the ocean around us, billowing up into a column that stretched from the depths all the way up to the surface. I could feel my insides twisting and churning into more murderous shapes as the very matter that made up my being reacted to the presence of the Huntsman, and for a brief moment, there was an explosion of pain as my back erupted from within.

But when it settled, it was so much better. A mix of black chitin and scales covered me, drifting across my skin like flotsam on the surface of the ocean. A cloak-like formation of sodden, useless insectoid wings and kicking arthropod limbs sprouted out my back seemingly at random as their half-formed owners struggled to free themselves from my flesh. I could see my human hand blackening and firming into a wicked set of talons that dug into the Huntsman's leg. The only thing that hadn't twisted into something more monstrous was my face.

After all, I'd designed 'Castell Lue' to be the closest to what I really was.

I wasn't sure if there was a name for my species yet. As far as I could tell, no record of anything like me existed in either compendiums or fairy tales. Sometimes I wondered to myself if I was the first of my kind.

Either way, as far as he was concerned, my transformation had come completely out of left field. The Huntsman was staring at me, his glowing eyes wide as the horror he felt washed over me like a tidal wave. Bubbles began to slip out the corners of his mouth as he kicked and punched at me, trying desperately to get away. My grip only tightened as I felt the insectoid creatures of Grimm crawl out from the tar-like substance my body was composed of, swarming over him as they bit and clawed at his aura. He struggled and thrashed, doing everything he could to get me to let him go as his hand reached into his shirt and pulled out a necklace-

A wave of blue washed over me along with something else, something crawled through my eyes and into my skull, attempting to chill that primordial loathing that I felt, distracting me for only a moment before it ceased to affect me. All of a sudden, the Grimm growing from my flesh turned their attention towards me, their eyes now glowing the same blue as the necklace. My eyes widened with outrage as they began uselessly tearing at my flesh. What did- How did- The shock of their sudden betrayal was interrupted by a boot to the face, which finally got me to loosen my grip, and the Huntsman kicked off of me, swimming up as fast as he could.

How? How did he-?! …How dare he. My head snapped up as I glared after him. My form rippled and shifted as I reclaimed my power, and the monsters clinging to me dissolved into black smoke. Seething hate roiled along with my magical energies, and I raised a hand as I felt the power from the other dust crystal coursing through my being reach its zenith.

What I was about to do was an awful, cruel gesture, but I was sick and tired. Of this fight. Of this Huntsman. Of everything. So I reached within and pulled on that hollow space inside me, which had only grown more ravenous as I transformed.

I felt the distance below me, reaching all the way to the planet's core.

I felt the world, and its weight upon every living thing upon it.

I felt the barrier that held everything up, keeping it from falling endlessly into the void.

And I felt it FALL away as I clenched my grip.

Abruptly, the weight of the world slammed into me. The pressure of the ocean crushed my body painfully as I was sent right down into the depths. But what I felt was nothing compared to what the Huntsman above must have felt. I saw a faint burst of bubbles erupt from him as he was suddenly and violently ripped downwards. His aura glowed brightly, filling with cracks before, all at once, it shattered. The presence he gave off vanished as his body crumpled and collapsed, dissolving into a bloody cloud.

I couldn't help but give a bitter smirk before my back slammed into the seabed. For a while I laid there as I released my grip on the local gravity, letting my body mend and my magical energy restore itself as I stared at the light of the surface far above, trying to slot everything I'd just been through into my worldview.

Eventually I pushed myself off the ground. With a flex of will, I adjusted my weight a slight amount, enough to walk on at the bottom of the ocean like I was strolling on land, before I began trekking towards where his remains landed on the seafloor, only faintly able to see through the gloom.

There were certain types of energy I had a knack for. Compared to the rigidity of earth, the ephemeral and inconstant nature of wind seemed to click with me in a way that was difficult to explain.

But even my talent with that element paled in comparison to how the power within gravity dust responded to my command. I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because of the place I was born and how prevalent that type of dust was there. Maybe it was because my species was innately adapted to using it. Maybe it was because I was a spiteful prick.

Whatever the case, the Huntsman's body was utterly gone, ravaged and torn apart by all the force I could muster. I wasn't sure what'd possessed me in that moment, a mix of overwhelming spite and inspiration while under pressure, I supposed. By empowering the ocean's pressure, I'd punched well above my weight class. More than that, I'd murdered a defender of the human race. The thought of that satisfied some part of me a great deal. It'd be a while before I'd have to worry about my instincts acting up again,

The only things remaining of him at this point were a few of his belongings. I stooped down and began to rummage through his ruined possessions. His scroll was trashed, but thankfully, the necklace he'd tried to use on me wasn't. I picked it up, running a talon over the translucent blue stone as I examined it carefully.

Grimm were considered... not exactly an existential threat anymore, not with all the advances in technology and the build-up of forces in the nations of Remnant, but they were definitely the greatest danger that mankind had ever known, as far as everyone was concerned. No means to control the Grimm existed to my knowledge, save my command. All the research I had done since arriving in civilization showed this time and time again, Grimm weren't animals, they were beings that existed solely to hunt mankind, it seemed. The idea that they would obey the command of a human was patently ridiculous.

And yet, here this necklace was. Faintly, I could see an odd blue glint in as my eyes peeled away the layers of reality, a faint spark like what I had only seen in the Grimm.

Magic.

I contemplated the necklace for a long while. I had no idea what this could possibly entail. Another sapient Grimm, one who had found a way to work their innate magics into items? A secret cabal of wizards hidden from the rest of Remnant? A lost civilization of human-esque Grimm wiped out in a primordial conflict between light and darkness?

My thoughts might be more dramatic than the situation merited, but one thing was clear. This needed investigating.

I turned back towards shore, and began walking back to land as my glamour pulled itself together.

…Shit, I really hope I'm going the right way.

----------------------------------------

Jeremiah Wellstone

Species: Faunus (Bullfrog)

Profile:

A graduate of Beacon Academy, Jeremiah split from his Academy team to seek his own fortunes, and eventually wound up filling in a slot for a Huntsman team who had lost one of their members to a Grimm Tide. He has performed his years of duty as a Huntsman mostly in Vale, and briefly in Mistral, where he and his team were involved in clean-up efforts against a disbanded crime syndicate and clearing ancient ruins of Grimm.

As a Huntsman, he is most effective as a bounty hunter, whether it's seeking out dangerous Grimm Alphas or hunting down particularly slippery criminals, but his team chooses the missions just as much as he does, which means he sometimes finds himself in unsuitable roles, such as holding off Grimm Tides, assaulting bandit camps and guarding dust convoys.

Skills:

Aura: D+

For a Huntsman of his level, Jeremiah possesses an above-average amount of Aura, allowing him to shrug off a great deal of harm and go far beyond the limits of the human physique. The stamina of his aura is the most developed aspect of it, making him a remarkably indefatigable tracker.

Club-Bazooka Proficiency: D

Jeremiah's weapon of choice is Daylight, a bazooka that can be also used like a club. As a bazooka, Daylight cannot be fired in closed spaces without causing severe collateral damage and possible self-harm. As a club, Daylight is powerful, but also slow and unwieldy. Its primary purpose is to fight the large and well-armoured Grimm Alphas. Against smaller, more agile, trained opponents, it has greater difficulty.

Semblance: "Bullseye"

Rank: E

Jeremiah's Semblance, Bullseye, makes it so that when he focuses on a target that he can see, an outline will appear around that target. The outline remains visible through obstructions and poor visibility, and remains active across distances up to dozens of miles with minimal expenditure of Aura, making it an unparalleled tracking Semblance. Multiple outlines can exist at the same time, but the user has not developed that aspect of the ability thoroughly.

Though it has no special effects on Jeremiah, Bullseye can aid his accuracy against targets with a variety of ranged weapons, including his weapon of choice, Daylight.

Should Jeremiah not act carefully, this Semblance can cause tunnel vision, leading Jeremiah to ignore enemies he has not targeted, or chase his target into dangerous situations.