A New Board, a New Game

Weiss moves closer to the truth, only to find it wrapped in mist.

[Author's Note: This story follows the story Combat pour trois, and is the sixth episode of Volume 7.]

"Where is the relic now?" said General Ironwood.

"A safe place," said Ruby. "A very safe place."

"You ... you didn't just hide it under your bed, did you?"

"Of course not," said Ruby. She thought: I hid it under Weiss' bed. Wrapped in a pillow-case.

"You must return it at once," said Ironwood. "For security."

"Might I point out, General, that it was very nearly stolen not once but twice," said Yang. "Cinder actually had it in her hand."

"And there is now a very large hole in the wall of the Mantle vault," added Blake. "And your security system has been turned inside out. You were fortunate that we were around."

"You are welcome," said Ruby to the General.

He stared at them. He said: "But the relic is ... is – "

"Yours?" said Ruby. "Actually, it isn't. It belongs in Vacuo, at Shade Academy."

The General glowered. He looked from one of them to the other. They all smiled back, sweetly. He said: "Isn't there usually four of you?"

"Weiss said that she had a more important engagement," said Ruby. "With an old friend. Someone who knows you, I think. Name of Klein."

Ironwood leaned back in his chair. "Klein," he mused. "Klein Sieben. Formerly Sergeant Klein Sieben. A very tough fellow, outstanding soldier, one of my best."

"Ah," said Blake.

"He is apparently also highly competent in the baking field," said Yang.

Ironwood looked a little surprised. Then he continued: "But ... we had a falling out. Over the Creation relic, in fact. He was on that mission. He did not think that it should be taken from Shade, thought it would be bad for Vacuo. Even though he was not an officer, he had a way of making his views known. He left the military as a result. I never knew what happened to him after that."

"General, something I would like to know," said Ruby. "It's true that the Creation relic comes from Vacuo. But Atlas and Mantle Academy are supposed to have a relic as well. The Destruction relic, guarded by the Summer Maiden. But there is very little mention of it in the records. So where is it?"

"No-one knows," he said. "There is a story that it was taken from Atlas many years ago, by a former Hunter, someone who had been corrupted by the power of it. Maybe it's just a story, who knows? And as for the Summer Maiden? We have searched for her many times, and so has Ozpin, but found nothing. I am not even sure that there still is a Summer Maiden. Maybe she just doesn't exist."

At that moment, Klein and Weiss were entering the hospital room. Weiss gave a gasp of surprise.

"M – Momma?" she said in disbelief. Then she rushed to the woman in the bed, and kissed her on the forehead. Tears began to run down her cheeks.

"Yes," said Klein. "I regret to say that she is in a deep coma, has been for many years. Some kind of stroke, the doctors say. Maybe she will come out of it, maybe she will not. Brought on by ... well, no-one really knows. Stress, alcohol ... perhaps just being married to Jacques. She was in the mansion, for a while, like this. That was when you were away at boarding school. Then she was brought here, so the doctors could monitor her condition properly." He handed Weiss a handkerchief so she could wipe her tears.

After a long while, she said: "And why are you here, Klein?"

"Ah," he said. "I must say, young madam, that after you left the house Jacques was ... well, angry to the point of being unbalanced. He wanted to fire me, at the very least, just because you and I ... well, I like to think of us as friends, as far as a servant and a young madam can be. But Whitley stepped in and suggested that I be sent here, to look after her. I don't know why he did that, it is very hard to say why Whitley does anything. I suspect that he just wanted me where he could keep an eye on me. He likes to keep a track of things, always seems to know where everyone is. Not that I cared. So I come here every day, I bring her flowers, I read to her, I check with the doctors, I ... well, I do what I can."

Weiss nodded. "Thank you, Klein," she said. "Thank you ... for everything." She looked at the woman in the bed, at the breathing mask and the tubes in her arm. "To tell the truth, I've never really felt as if I knew her. When I was young, she would go away for long periods. She never said why. I sometimes wondered if she even liked me."

"Oh young madam," said Klein. "She loved you with all her heart. You and Winter. And even Whitley, although I am not sure why. I believed she loved your step-father, once, but that was long ago."

"May ... may I have some time with her alone?"

"Of course, young madam. I will be outside if you need me." He left.

Weiss sat down in the chair by the bed, holding her mother's hand and thinking. After a while she took out her sword. She placed it in her mother's hand.

Her fingers tightened around it for a few moments. And then relaxed.

Again, Weiss began to cry.

Salem stared out the window of her castle, at the blasted landscape of the Frostfire Wastes.

Behind her was the large table where she had once given those who worked for her their orders. But now?

She had had to dispose of Hazel, since he was unable to decide who he really served. Cinder had returned from near-death but had apparently chosen to side with the green-haired girl and the man with the metal legs – she had never bothered to find out their names – who had been complicit in the trickery of the fake Knowledge relic. Somehow, they and those other two had managed to escape from her Geist at Vale. Well, there would be time enough to deal with those traitors.

And now Watts and Callows were missing. If they had done their job properly and obtained the Creation relic they would have returned by now. Indeed, she could not even reach them by the mirror that Watts carried. This was, potentially, a problem, for Watts was needed for the next stage of her plan. She had other servants, of course, but Watts' expertise made him valuable.

Who was responsible for this?

The only answer: the girl with the silver eyes. And her friends, the yellow-haired one and the cat faunus and the one with the sword and the silly skirt. And they had killed her dear dragon as well, and taken back Beacon Academy. And even killed the Seer at Haven Academy.

They were no longer a mere irritant. They were no longer annoying children but enemies that had to be neutralised, removed, destroyed.

The board had changed. The game had changed.

She walked to another window, looking out over the other side of the castle, and opened the curtain.

She smiled. On the plain before her were Grimm creatures of every sort.

As far as the eye could see.

END (to be continued)