Chapter Twenty: Epilogue: Season's End:

December11th1462 of the Vytali Calendar:

A cold front had swept into central Vale, bringing frosty weather and the beginnings of several small snow storms. The Beacon plateau, with its heightened elevation, faced the brunt of the bitterly cold wind that was blowing down from the north and whipping through the avenues of the campus. None of this, however, thinned the crowds of students who waited for the airships approaching the skydocks, ready to take them back to Vale for the Winter holiday.

Greta pulled the thick coat she was wearing a little closer and shivered, her teeth chattering as another chilling breeze hit her. She was currently standing at the entrance to the piers with her teammates standing in front of her, their personal bags at their feet and thick winter clothing covering them as they waited to be sent home. Peter and Aurora had members of staff wheeling trolleys filled with other bags in preparation for being loaded onto the whatever airship they had been given tickets for.

It had been more than three weeks, nearly a month, since the battle against the Red Fang and they hadn't heard a word from the police, government or teachers. It had taken nearly a week but finally, Greta had calmed down and accepted that they probably weren't going to be expelled or accused of anything. With the holiday having begun, the semester was officially over and so was their expulsion. Finally, after so long, she could get her life and her plan back and track.

'So you're really staying here?' Rapture asked Greta as the group picked up their bags. The group looked concerned as they turned to say their goodbyes.

'Yeah,' Greta said. 'I checked the Council's official website. Orphanages aren't supposed to keep you after you turn eighteen and my birthday's going to be next month. There's no point going back and the school lets you stay over the holidays. It's a lot better here than it is back in Magnus, anyway.'

'Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself for the entire holiday?' Aurora asked.

'Yeah, yeah,' Greta said, waving Aurora's concerns away. 'Don't worry, I know how to keep from getting bored.'

Greta saw Aurora and Peter glance at one another and frown, a hint of scepticism in their eyes. It only took a second but in that time Peter shrugged and Aurora nodded, as if they had come to a conclusion over what Greta had just said. Rapture, meanwhile, noticed what they were doing and merely rolled her eyes.

'I'll be fine,' Greta reassured them. 'You guys'll be back next month.'

They all nodded, smiles coming back onto their faces as the first of the ships closed in and docked with the piers, their boarding ramps extending out to lock onto the skydocks. Everyone by the docks clutched their clothes and their things as the repulsors and thrusters of the ships gave out one last burst of energy and sent a blast of air across the docks.

'Well this is it,' Greta said as the crowd began to move forward. 'I'll see you guys after the holiday.'

'I'll see you later,' Rapture said, stepping forward and wrapping Greta in a tight hug and accidentally hitting Greta's back with her bag as she swung it round in her grip.

'Thanks,' Greta groaned, wincing from the impact of the duffel bag and the tightness of Rapture's embrace.

'Sorry,' Rapture said as she let go and backed away, chuckling a little. 'Don't normally hug people.'

'It's alright,' Greta reassured her teammate as Aurora stepped forward.

'I hope you have a happy holiday,' Aurora said. 'I will remember to include you on the well-wishing list.'

'Thanks, Aurora,' Greta replied. Aurora stood in front of her for a moment, with a conflicted expression on her face and then sighed. She stepped forward and wrapped Greta in a brief embrace as well; thankfully one that wasn't as bone-crushing as Rapture's had been.

'I will try to call for the Solstice,' Peter then said as Aurora stepped back and he took her place. 'I can't exactly say when that will be but I will give fair warning.' He then held out his hand and Greta took and shook it. He smiled at her and she returned it as he let go of her hand and then stepped back with the others. 'Have a happy holiday,' Peter then said.

'Happy holidays,' Greta called out as the three of them hefted their bags and turned to walk onto the docks and board their ships, all three turning to wave back at her.

She stood in place as she watched her team disappear into the crowd. Team TEAL had already said their goodbyes and gone off to say goodbye to one another. Since they were all going home there was no-one she actually knew that was standing with her outside of the skydocks. Eventually the first of the ships began to take off and the next group moved in to take their place on the pier.

Once the next wave of ships had been filled, cast off and returned to Vale, making way for the next group, Greta turned away from the skydocks and headed back into campus. She sighed as she realised that, for the first time since she had arrived at Beacon, she was alone. She had been alone before but after several months with her team and friends, it felt a little odd and uncomfortable to look at the campus by herself.

"Well," Greta thought to herself, "might as well find something to do."

Aanjay Laal sat in the police interrogation room. She didn't know how many times she had been dragged into the small, grey, armoured space, chained down to a featureless plastalloy table that had been bolted to the floor and sat in a chair that was just as firmly fixed in place. Across from Aanjay was a great, metal door. It was flat and almost featureless, the raised bumps in the seamless sheet of metal giving away the reinforcing bands and internal spaces for what was likely a very strong locking mechanism the only hint of what a complex and almost impregnable obstacle the door really was.

After the battle she had shamefully lost and been incapacitated in, Aanjay had woken up in solitary confinement and had stayed there when she wasn't being dragged out to confront whatever government agent dared to sit across from her. They had spent what she assumed were weeks trying to force information out of her – she couldn't really tell, she never saw the sun or moon in her cell.

She had told them nothing. Police officers, special agents; and even Huntsmen had all come in and questioned her and had walked out with nothing. They had tried so many different methods in an attempt to break her. When simply talking hadn't received anything other than Aanjay's deathly glares or derisive insults, often in a variety of languages, they had switched to less civilised means. Truth serums and other chemicals, usually designed to inflict physical irritation and pain, had been injected into her but her lips remained sealed, except when she was snarling at her captors. One young Huntsman in rusty coloured armour had even tried working her over, beating her with a ferocious brutality. It didn't work and seemed to have been unplanned as several other armoured Huntsmen and Huntresses had rushed in to restrain Aanjay's beater.

The police and agents had all asked Aanjay about her brethren, if there were any more of them, if there had more military grade equipment, where they had gotten their previous stuff and other expected queries. The Hunstmen and Huntresses, however, had asked who she was working for. They seemed to already suspect her involvement with the Elder Grimm Society. Aanjay had no love for the Society, didn't care about their goals and didn't even care about why they had financed and equipped her brethren. As far as she cared, the monster-worshippers could all rot in the bellies of the Grimm they were stupid enough to revere.

Still, Aanjay hadn't wanted to give the humans any pleasure from her and so she had kept her mouth shut. Her captors knew as little, or possibly even less, about the Society as they did the Red Fang and as long as Aanjay's heart still beat it would stay that way.

Once again, Aanjay sat and stewed in her bitter thoughts. For the last few days – or so she assumed days were passing – the interrogators would leave her to think over what her next encounter would be. Silence filled the room with an oppressive atmosphere broken only by Aanjay's breathing. Then something changed.

A slicing sound broke the deathly silence, followed by the sound of sucking air. Aanjay looked up in surprise to see the air in front of the door collapse inwards and flowing rings of red light emanate from the wound in reality. Aanjay blinked as the harsh, abnormal light of the tear hurt her eyes to look at. The rings spread, growing wider and wider, the tear expanding with it until it reached from the floor to the ceiling, the pulsating red light filling the wall across from Aanjay.

Then a figure stepped out. Her eyes stinging from the painful light of the tear, it took Aanjay some time to recognise the brunette woman who stepped through the tear in a black dress, a bladed handgun in her left hand.

'Beathas,' Aanjay hissed, a vicious glare on her face.

'Laal,' Iseabal Beathas began, her tone conversational and her expression rather casual. 'I have to say that I'm quite pleased with what you've done. I thought I'd wait some time to congratulate you; just to make sure that everything would unfold as I expected.'

'What in all the hells are you talking about?' Aanjay snapped.

'I asked you to escalate, and you did,' Iseabal answered. 'It won't look like it if you step outside but you successfully shook the kingdom. The Council has been in chaos for weeks, people have lost their seats and others have taken their place; my people.'

Aanjay seethed as Iseabal smirked at her, superiority dripping from the other woman's every pore. She had known that Iseabal had her own reasons for supporting the Red Fang and didn't care if they had succeeded or not. She just despised the human's attitude; the open smugness, self-satisfaction and derision. It was everything she despised about humankind. Aanjay, for the first time in days, pulled at her restraints, wanting to rip the smug smirk off of the human woman's face

'Since you did such a big favour for us,' Iseabal then said, walking forward to Aanjay and ignoring her glares and violent thrashing, 'I have decided to give you a reward the likes of which you've probably never conceived of.'

'Fuck you and your reward,' Aanjay snarled.

Iseabal didn't say anything, her smirk merely widened into a malevolent grin. Her right hand reached out and Aanjay, now furious at the human, lashed out, reaching out to try to bite the woman's limb. Iseabal merely pulled her hand up and over Aanjay before she could get it, grabbing Aanjay by the hair and pulling her back and away. Aanjay didn't react, merely trying to haul herself close to Iseabal. Scowling, Iseabal relaxed her grip for a moment, only to push forward and take a stronger hold of the back of Aanjay's neck and then dug her fingers into the skin.

'Don't fight,' Iseabal said in a deceptively soothing tone, her superior expression back on her face. 'I have such wonderful, wonderful things to show you.'

Iseabal's left hand flicked out and the bladed handgun in her hand slit the air in front of her, a tiny rip opening up and pulsing. Aanjay, tried to pull against Iseabal's grip but the human's hand remained firmly dug into the back of Aanjay's neck and then, with a quick thrust, pushed Aanjay's face into the tear.

The world collapsed in front of Aanjay's eyes. For an instant all she saw was an inky darkness that slithered and shifted as vast, indescribable shapes swam within it. Aanjay tried to suck in a breath of shock but found there was nothing to breathe. The darkness closed in on her, even as the thin, red light of the portal rushed ahead of her and lit up the endless blackness. Aanjay panicked and tried to pull away, the impossible dark void pulling both away from and towards her but Iseabal's hand still seemed to hold firm, keeping her face in the portal. In that second of mortifying fear Aanjay choked, the shapes noticing it and seeming to squirm and reach towards her, invisible but recognisable appendages pushing out in her direction, trying clasp her face. Then, in an eye-blink, they were gone and the light returned.

Aanjay found herself in the air, racing through the sky over a flat, endless plain she didn't recognise. Sucking in air, Aanjay felt even more disoriented as, suddenly, she found her view dominated by a vast black mountain that reached higher than any she had ever seen in her life. The immense, monolithic, black peak loomed over her as she moved closer and closer until finally, she came to a stop in front of a wall of jagged, black stone.

Aanjay stared at the wall, still stunned from the void she had been thrust into. Gasping in panic, Aanjay saw the wall rise over her, reaching high up ahead until it disappeared into the sky. Then the wall began to shudder. Aanjay could see, hear and feel the stone shudder and shake in front of her eyes and then it split.

Debris fell away and rolled down the side of the mountain beneath to the plain below as a massive, craggy seam ripped itself open and then lifted the wall up. A glowing red light filled Aanjay's vision and she shut her eyes against, blinding herself. She could still hear the ground rip and grind as the wall rose higher and higher. Opening her eyes again, Aanjay dared to look up and saw that the wall was still rising, a great expanse now filled with the glare of the red light. It filled a space as tall as Vale's greatest skyscraper, higher than the famous beacon of Beacon Academy.

For a second, the light glowed and Aanjay could only gasp and shake as she looked at the alien edifice she was being forced to witness. Then the glow shifted, rolling and spinning as a dark mass floated through the red light to rest in front of her.

'Child,' a great, deafening voice intoned. Aanjay felt a presence claw its way into her mind, speaking without words and forcing it's voice directly into her brain. The voice felt wrong, painful and horrifically monstrous as it pushed aside her thoughts and dominated her mind. 'I see you.'

With those words, Aanjay realised what she was looking at. The red light, the dark shape floating in front of her in it; it was an eye, an eye larger than any building, embedded in a mountain that moved. The voice in her mind, the great eye dominating her view and the mountain that loomed over the endless plain, it was a Grimm; a great vast Grimm.

The voice roared in her mind, deafening her thoughts, shredding her mind and Aanjay screamed and kept screaming even as her throat turned raw. Aanjay screamed, never stopping as the roar echoed on and on through her mind, her memories and her very soul. And so she was claimed for the Elder Grimm.