R.I.P. Monty Oum.
Here's Chapter 8 of RWBY: Necrophobia. Enjoy.
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Elsa walked down the corridor, her arms at her sides and her hands curled into tight fists. Her teeth were clenched and her breathing barely under control.
Where is he? She thought as she reached a security door. She reached into her pocket, pulled out her Scroll, and then held it up to the security panel. There was a quiet noise as the security system scanned her Scroll. The panel lights then flashed from red to green and the doors began to slowly open.
Elsa took a few steps forward and stopped. A second set of security doors were in front of her. Elsa tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the first security door to close behind her. The system was designed like an airlock; a person enters a small room through the security door and it needs to close before they can exit. These doors were everywhere in the facility. She'd lost track of the amount of times she'd heard complaints from the staff and researchers about how inconvenient the setup was. And this was one of the few times she'd agree with them. She still wouldn't remove them though. After all, she'd ordered them installed for a reason.
The security doors finally opened and Elsa continued forward. He hadn't been in his office or his lab. That left one more likely place to search before she'd have to start looking throughout the whole facility; the archive room. Elsa let out a small, but aggravated sigh. She really didn't want go to the archive room, especially if he was doing what he normally did there; watching the old outbreak footage. If there was one thing Elsa didn't want to see again, it was the footage of what happened on that dreaded day.
Elsa turned the corner...and imminently got back behind it. There he was, the Head of Biological Research, coming out of the archive room with a smile on his face. Elsa quickly took her Scroll out and opened it. She turned it to the camera and set it to face herself, using it as a mirror. She saw that her face showed that she looked ready to kill (…granted, she was). She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try to calm down. When she opened her eyes she saw her face was still a scowl…but it was her usual scowl, the one she was known to wear whenever she was thinking about the work that took place in the facility. While not ideal, it was good enough for her to face him. Taking one more deep breath, she put her scroll back in her pocket and walked back around the corner. He was already walking away, his back facing her.
"Professor Celino." Elsa said aloud. Celino turned around to face Elsa. When he saw her his smile faded, but it didn't disappear.
"Why hello Elsa," he said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
He can talk to me with a straight face after what he did? Elsa thought, furious. She did her best to keep up her (relatively) calm composure. "We need to talk." Elsa then began slowly moving up to and past the professor. "Follow me."
Celino sighed and began to catch up to Elsa. They were walking at a brisk pace and, to Celino's mild confusion, Elsa didn't say a word. All she had was that expression on her face. It was a look that said that she hated everything around her. Celino had grown used to seeing that scowl on Elsa's face. For as long as he'd worked here, he'd only seen that same scowl. He had heard tales from some of his coworkers that she occasionally didn't scowl; A few had even claimed they'd seen her smile. But looking at her now, he knew that there was no chance of him seeing that rare sight. Though she was clearly trying to hide it, Celino could tell she was angry about something. What it was probably didn't matter…Unless maybe, just maybe, she was irritated about the same thing he was.
"You know what?" Celino said. "I don't think we've had a decent conversation with each other in quite a while."
Elsa took a few moments to respond. "No. We haven't."
"Well then, why don't we talk about work?" Celino said. "What exactly do you think about our jobs here? Or…what's your opinion on the Project itself?"
Elsa stopped causing Celino to come to a startled halt. Again, she was silent for a moment, but Celino took note of how she'd curled her hands into tight fists. "…There are no words to describe how much I hate it."
"Your job or the Project?" Celino asked, curious.
"Both."
Elsa began to walk again and Celino followed after her.
"You know what?" Celino said. "I think I sometimes feel the same way. I mean, heck, sometimes I really wonder what logic is being used for this operation. After all, being in charge of Bio-Research, it can be… irritating to work without-" Celino cut himself off. Should he really do this? This was a gamble that could cost him big time…but if it turned out like he hoped, then, this might be for the best. "...Test samples."
Elsa came to a halt again. However, unlike before she turned to look Celino in the eye. Her expression clearly showed that Celino was treading on a taboo. "You know what?" Elsa asked. Celino smiled internally, expecting to hear her to agree with him. "I question the logic that led to you to think that was a smart thing to say to the Head of the Quarantine Division." Celino's internal smile died. He was definitely pushing his luck now…Then again, he'd pushed his luck even further a little while back, and if he'd heard the news correctly, that gamble had paid off quite handsomely.
"Hey, in my defense," Celino said, raising up his hands defensively. "I'm not wrong. It is borderline impossible to do any work based only on video footage." Celino lowered his arms. "You don't know how frustrating it can be to be expected to figure out how those…things work, when you don't have anything to work with."
Elsa looked deep into his eyes for a moment. "…I suppose I wouldn't know the feeling." She said, turning around and resumed walking down the hall at a brisk pace.
"Hey slow down!" Celino said, moving a bit faster to catch up.
"Pick up the pace." Elsa shot back. Celino didn't know it but she was trying her hardest to not kill him where he stood. They were coming up to another set of security doors so Elsa pulled out her scroll and held it up to the scanner. By the time the doors had started to open Celino had caught up to her. The two then stepped forward and waited for the first set of doors to close so the second pair would open.
"You know…These things are really inconvenient." Celino said, trying to start up another conversation.
"…I know." Elsa responded. I thought the same thing when I was trying to find you, you bloody psychopath. "But if an outbreak occurs, I'd rather have even more of these installed."
"What are the odds of that even happening?" Celino asked. "Because, as far as I know, I'd have better odds of winning the lottery three times in a row than of being around for an outbreak."
The doors opened and the two stepped out, with Celino continuing to follow Elsa.
"I hope you realize that those odds of an outbreak went up exponentially when the prototype was stolen." Elsa said, trying very hard not to sound accusatory.
"Yeah, but you threw the facility into lockdown so quick, I think we'd all be fine if there was." Celino said, not noticing the strain in Elsa's voice. He then bitterly said, "And speaking of last week's lockdown, did you have to make it last so long? I'm pretty sure you could have completely searched the facility in just one day. I find it hard to believe that you of all people would take two to see the prototype was long gone."
Elsa glanced over her shoulder and angrily glared at Celino. "We had the entire facility searched in about two hours." Honestly, I should have more drills installed. It should have been done much sooner than that.
"Then why were we kept in lockdown for two days?!" Celino asked angrily.
"You really think we were just looking for the Marker prototype?" Elsa snarled. Celino raised an eyebrow as Elsa continued. "If you could take a moment to recall what that failure can do, you'd realize that we needed to be sure that there was nothing the prototype could have affected. It didn't take two days to determine the prototype wasn't here, it took two days to search every square inch of this place to ensure a Necromorph hadn't been created!" Elsa started to catch her breath after borderline screaming at Celino.
Celino was silent for a few moments. That was the angriest he'd seen this women get. (At least in person. He had yet to see the infamous rage he was told she was capable of. And he never wanted to see it. From what he'd heard, she would kill anyone who pushed her buttons in the wrong way.)
"You know," Celino said. "You could have just had everyone check in to see if anyone was…nonresponsive. I think that could have let everyone out, oh I don't know, a day or two sooner."
"I think you should know," Elsa began, initially irritated with the sarcasm he had finished with. But then she took a moment to acknowledge the rest of what he said. Instead of checking every few minutes to see if everyone's still alive, just have everyone check in. "…that's actually a really good idea." Celino looked at Elsa in surprise, before a smug grin on his face. "Granted, it doesn't account for anyone who isn't signed into the facility or who lacks a comms device, but it should work pretty well."
"Thank you Elsa." Celino said. "And, before I lose my train of thought, did you refer to the prototype as a failure?"
"I referred to it as it is." Elsa said.
After a moment Celino said, "I don't think it's a failure."
"It's supposed to provide a limitless source of energy. The one we made doesn't do that, but it can still make Necromorphs. I'm pretty sure that qualifies it as a failure." Elsa said. A failure of disastrous proportions.
"Well, personally I think whether or not of it qualifies as a failure depends…" Celino began but then stopped. Alright, if I go through with this…well, it'll ether mean that I'll have some serious help with research, or I could lose my job.
Elsa stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall and pulled out her scroll. "Depends on what?"
Celino took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "…It depends on what you want to do with the shard."
Elsa looked at him as the door began to open. If there was one thing you shouldn't have said, it was that. Elsa stepped into the dark room. You've all but confessed what you've done.
Celino followed Elsa into the room. The lights inside were off, but there was enough light coming into the room from the hall for him to make out a few things. Celino jumped a bit as the door suddenly closed behind him. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. He noticed that there was some type of desktop, with buttons giving off a faint glow, their light reflecting against a glass window in front of the desktop.
"Elsa, why are the lights off?" Celino asked, impatiently. "And…actually, why did you need me?" Celino chuckled a bit. "Don't tell me that I was just blindly following you when you didn't need me. Because, that would be embarrassing." And a complete waste of time. After all, it's safe to assume we're both busy people.
"Celino," Elsa said firmly. "I'm going to need you to be very, very quiet for a few minutes." Elsa began to press a few buttons on the desktop console. "And in regards as to what I'm doing…you know how we were just discussing the stolen prototype?" Celino nodded (though Elsa couldn't see it in the dark). "Well…" Elsa pushed a button and lights on the other side of the glass began to turn on. "We found it with him."
The lights on the other side of the glass flashed on to reveal a man clamped into a chair that was built into the floor. And even though Celino couldn't see the insignia on the man's back, there was no mistaking the uniform of a member of the White Fang. The front of his armor was covered in blood, though it didn't seem to be from the faunus fanatic. He didn't have any animal feature on his head, or at least any that Celino could see.
The Fang grunt hastily moved his head, probably adverting his eyes to the sudden brightness. "So did someone finally decide to show up?" He gave an arrogant laugh. "Any chance of seeing my captors?" At first Celino didn't understand what the faunus was talking about. Then he realized; the lights where he and Elsa were still off. The glass was probably a one way mirror, or something to the same effect. So, we can see him and he can't see us. If he's the one that…this could be bad, very bad. Celino was snapped himself out of his thoughts when the captive started laughing again. "I take that back, after what I went through, I can really care less who you are."
Elsa looked at Celino. "You are going to remain completely silent while I speak with him." Celino just nodded. Elsa pressed a button on the console and leaned into a microphone that Celino hadn't noticed before. "I would say the same thing to you. I don't care who you are…But I do know what you went through." Elsa took her finger off the button.
"What did he go through?" Celino asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.
"I thought I told you to be quiet!" Elsa said harshly, but then she sighed. "Just make sure to keep your mouth shut when I have the mike button pressed. Have you heard about the Schnee train incident that occurred the other day?" Celino nodded hesitantly. "Well, he was on it."
Celino opened his mouth, with the intent to question Elsa as to how she knew that, but the White Fang member began to speak again. "I honestly doubt you have any idea what I went through." The faunus looked up towards the glass. "You have no idea."
"When you were found, you were in possession of something that was stolen from this facility. A red rock or shard, covered with glyphs. It might've been glowing faintly. I want to know why you had it and where you got it."
"Heh." The White Fang grunt said. "Why on Remnant would I tell you anything?"
"Because," Elsa said, reaching for another button. "I don't think either of us," Elsa pressed a button. "Want to deal with this."
Celino heard what sounded like metal moving. Another light became visible in the prisoner's room. Whatever had been made visible to the faunus was hidden to Celino. But his reaction to whatever it was, was plain as day.
The man's eyes widened behind his mask. His muscles tensed and he began to try to pull against his restraints, trying to get out with a desperation that had been nonexistent moments ago. "NO! I'll do anything you want, just-ANYTHING BUT THAT! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT THING DOES TO PEOPLE!"
Elsa pressed the button again and…whatever it was that Celino couldn't see was covered again. "Calm down. I'm not letting it out." Elsa leaned into the mike. "And believe me, I know what that does. Why do you think I don't want to involve it in this conversation again?"
It took a minute, but the faunus began to calm down, his heavy breathing slowly diminishing. "Ok…Ok. What do you want from me?" Gone was the arrogant tone the grunt had used previously. Now his voice was low, with an unhidden tinge of fear.
"Pay attention." Elsa said calmly. "I just want to talk to you about the train. You still seem shaken, reasonably so, so I'll start with something simple; Why were you on the Schnee Dust train? And what happened there?"
"…I don't know why we were ordered to raid the train." The faunus said, looking down. "But it was a Schnee transport and, honestly, nowadays that's reason enough. I do know that someone leaked or just gave us the train schedule. And…when I think about it, it may have the same guy who offered me a way out of the Fang."
Elsa pressed the mike button. "There's a few questions your statement raises, and I would appreciate it if you would answer them before continuing. Why would you want to leave the White Fang? Why would you need someone else? Why do you think those two are the same person?" Elsa paused for a moment. "And what exactly did that man offer you?"
"Would you like me to answer those in order or in any way I pick?" The man rhetorically asked, looking up. He then hastily looked down again. "Sorry, I…sorry." He was silent for a moment before continuing. "Once upon a time, you could just leave the Fang. Not so much nowadays. Now leaving makes you a 'deserter' to the cause. I'll admit, I didn't really care at first, I didn't have any idea why someone would leave. But…now I know. I confess, I didn't care if we were attacking humans, the real mon-" He paused suddenly. "What I thought were the real monsters. But then we started attacking faunus, and working with humans. Then the work itself started to become more hazardous. Began to feel less like a revolutionary and more like a hired gun, but without the pay. So I decided to leave. But, like I just said, it was easier said than done."
"But then," The faunus continued. "I got a contact one day, some guy who knew I was in the Fang, never seen him before in my life. He had a deal. I take part in one more job and I not only get out of the White Fang, but I get a promise of safety for the rest of my life. And this is why I think that the guy who leaked the train schedule and my deal man are the same guy: He wanted something on the train and then, what-do-you-know, someone practically gift-wraps the dang thing to the White Fang."
"And what was it this person wanted on the train wanted?" Elsa asked. Celino was remaining completely quiet.
The grunt smiled slightly. "Well I can only assume that it was your bloody, stolen rock, as you put it. I didn't know it was yours and I don't know why he wanted it. But by God, it wasn't worth what it took to get it."
"And that leads me to one of my last questions." Elsa said firmly. "What exactly did you go through to get our prototype back?" Celino perked up at the question, curious to the answer.
"Hell." The faunus said flatly. "A living hell. Actually, 'living' might not be the best term for those things."
"Elaborate." Elsa stated. "Preferably, with specific details."
"Sure." The prisoner said. "Just remember, you asked."
15 Minutes Later
"-and that's when what I assume were your people knocked me out." The faunus said, concluding what had transpired on the few hours he spent on the train.
"I'm…I'm sorry you had to go through that." Elsa stated, avoiding eye contact with the bond man, even though he couldn't see her through the glass. Celino seemed to be trying to process everything that had been said. "I have something to show you." Elsa said.
"NO! NOT AGAIN, PLEASE!" The faunus screamed frantically, pulling at his restraints again.
"It's not that!" Elsa stated hastily. Her words seemed to calm the faunus down. "It's just something I need you to look at." Elsa pressed a button. The lights in the room she and Celino were in turned on. The White Fang member initially didn't react, but then he took a deep look at the two people behind the glass. He went still.
"That's him." The faunus quietly said. He then raised his voice. "THAT'S HIM! He's the one offered me the deal! He's the one who wanted your bloody rock!"
Celino started laughing, breaking the silence that he'd held while Elsa and the faunus had talked. "Really? Really?" Celino closed his eyes and bent over laughing. "I'm sorry but this is so pathetic that it's actually kind of humorous to me. He's just blaming the first man he sees in an attempt to protect himself? I mean, come on, really?"
Celino suddenly felt something tightly grip his arm and the back of his head. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the corner of the wall Elsa was in the process of slamming his head into.
Celino eyes slowly fluttered open, his vision hazy. What happened? How did I- It suddenly came back to him.
"Elsa, what the heck are you doing?" He said, unsure of whether or not she was even around.
"You really think you of all people have any right to ask that question?" Elsa's voice seemed to come out of the walls. It was then Celino's vision cleared up enough for him to see where he was. He was in the same room the faunus had been in. He was even in the same chair, with the same restrains around his wrists. He could see Elsa in the control booth the two of them had previously shared. There was someone else in there now, some woman in a chair, facing hologram monitors that had previously been deactivated.
"Yes, I do." Celino said. "Please don't tell me you actually believed that criminal."
"I do actually." Elsa stated, her voice filled with raw hatred. "After all you didn't cover your tracks very well." Elsa saw Celino's face express confusion. "Surprised? You covered up enough so we couldn't stop you before you got the prototype out, but you still left behind enough evidence that marks you as the prime suspect and convict."
"Elsa this is ridiculous!" Celino loudly declared. "Why would you-"
"Drop. The Bloody. Act." Elsa said angrily. "You really think that the Fang lackey is the reason this is happening to you? We looked at your records the other day and crossed examined them with the man's story. You recently looked up our database on the Schnee Dust Company for train schedules, map layouts for the train routes, and we've confirmed that you visited several imprisoned White Fang members. You got them to give you contact information for White Fang commanders. We've checked your scroll and it contains the number that those prisoners were oh so kind enough to hand out again. Now I just want to know this: Why did you do it?"
Celino looked like he was going to object, like he was going to deny it. But then he sighed. "Alright, fine. I was hoping to tell you under more…pleasurable circumstances, but it seems that isn't going to happen." Celino offered a smile that met only Elsa's scowl. Celino stopped smiling. "When I look at this project…I see only wasted potential. Trying to use the Marker as an energy source seems fine and all, but the true potential of that thing is buried in the Necromorphs. I'll admit, when I began to realize the waste that was going on around me I initially thought that of them as potential bio-weapons, but face facts Elsa, who hasn't?! But then," Celino paused and took a deep breath. "I began to see the real potential of these things. If you think about it, these 'monstrosities' have medical potential that could revolutionize medical practices. I mean, they can grow new appendages out of their bodies! Would it be so hard to imagine that the same process could be used to enable people to regain lost limbs? The possibilities don't stop there. If the proper research was done, it's possible that, dare I say it, immortality could be achievable. Imagine it, a world in which no injury is permanent, a place where the Grimm would be nothing more than an annoyance that can do no permeant harm to people."
"I placed the shard on the train, I admit it. I needed test samples, which were constantly denied to me. The Fang grunts were meant to bring it back here, so don't worry, the project's secrecy is secure. And now the train has samples that can be used to make the dream of a better world a reality."
Elsa was silent. She didn't say a word to Celino. Then her expression (somehow) got angrier. "Are you telling me…that's your excuse for killing over seventy people?! And you did it for, what can be simply stated as, the most pathetic excuse for an experiment ever utter by man?! Do you have any idea what you could have unleashed upon the world?!"
"I had everything under control!" Celino said defensively.
"Under control?" Elsa repeated angrily. "UNDER CONTROL?" Elsa furiously slammed a button on the console. Something began to open on the wall to Celino's side. Whatever he was going to be seeing, there was no doubt that it was whatever had set the faunus into a panicked frenzy earlier. "DOES THIS LOOK 'UNDER CONTROL' TO YOU!?" The wall slid back to reveal a small, well-lit chamber separated by a thick layer of clear glass. And Celino's eyes widened as he looked at the chamber's contents.
Inside was a bat-like Necromorph, the kind that Celino himself had dubbed the 'Infector'. The creature picked itself up and began to throw itself at the glass, making some sort of muffled screeching noise.
"It's…it's…" Celino stared at the ex-living thing in awe. Then he started chuckling. "It's actually here. After so long, finally, proper research can-"
"RESEARCH?!" Elsa screamed into the mike, immediately recapturing Celino's attention. "Do you honestly think that after what happened, we're going to let this thing live?"
Celino looked at Elsa as though she had threatened to destroy a piece of priceless art. "You, you can't just kill it! Reanimated tissue aside, this is a perfect specimen! It could be the key to countless-"
"Deaths and tragedies." Elsa interrupted. "Do you know where we found this thing? Why I refuse to believe you were in any way 'In control' of what you set in motion?"
Celino said nothing, but he did not like the way in which she was grouping those questions.
"Apparently, after your hired terrorist jumped out off the train, two of these cursed things followed him. You have any ideas why they could do that? Because honestly, I really doubt you put it together before you went ahead with your…your…" Elsa growled under her breath. "I want to say 'plan' but with the stupidity you exhibited, I really don't think that's the correct word for it."
Celino thought for a moment. What the heck is she trying to get at? And why is she bothering to talk to me as though she were lecturing an ignorant child? The plan was simple, once the shard was removed from the train, the necromorphs-
Celino raised his head suddenly. "I get it now. And I get why you're angry. I expected all the necromorphs on the train to become inanimate upon removing the shard. I never thought about the possibility of them following after it, staying within the range of its reanimating effect. But you already took care of that didn't you. This one's here, nice and contained. And the other one you mentioned…where is it?"
"It was killed on site." Elsa said angrily, her patience for the mass murderer before her wearing thin. "This one was frozen via a guard's semblance. And contrary to common sense, I saved it especially for you." Celino smiled at the words. Elsa frowned. "Let me rephrase that, I saved it for the murdering psychopath to let him embrace the fate that he so casually dealt unto others."
Elsa pressed a button…and the glass keeping the Infector back raised, ever so slightly. The corpse monster noticed and immediately began attempting in vain to get through to the prey that was just sitting there, trapped, with no place to escape to.
"…Before you die." Elsa stated, her voice now very calm and very quiet. "I want to point out one more flaw in your plan, but then I'll give you some good news."
"Elsa," Celino said, suddenly very panicked. There's-There's no way she would let that thing get me. Right? She-She's the Head of Quarantine, she'd never let someone be infected, she'd die before that would ever happen. "Elsa, if this is your attempt at proving your point, there's no need! You've made your case and I agree! I messed up, I admit it!"
Elsa ignored him and continued to speak quietly into the mike. "The last major flaw you mentioned was the idea that the prototype of the Marker shard has a 'range'. For all we know, it's 'range' is infinite. And given how some Beacon academy students were hospitalized by something onboard, I naturally had someone try to find out what exactly it was. The hospital wasn't very keen on handing out their personal information, but they did provide us with their description of what attacked them; and they described a Necromorph attack. So, I can only assume that the range of the prototype extends to from at least here to there. But that does bring me to the good news."
"Elsa! This is going too far! Let me out of here!" Celino screamed, now pleading as he became truly aware of how much jeopardy his life was in.
"Those students were hospitalized due to an explosion of the train's cargo. A lockdown of the station was put in place and, courtesy of the authority granted to my division, won't be lifted until the train has been thoroughly decontaminated of the Marker's handiwork. If that stroke of luck hadn't happened, we could have risked an outbreak spanning across Vytal, if not all of Remnant."
Celino leaned as far forward as he could in his bound position. "How is that good news!?"
Elsa looked him in the eye. "It's good news because you can die, with the pleasure of knowing you didn't doom all of mankind…but you did come very, very close to it."
Elsa pressed a button, and Celino's wrist restraints popped off.
"Oh thank you." Celino said, gasping to catch his breath. "Thank you El-" He stopped his thanks the moment he heard a sound to his side. He turned his head…just in time to see the Infector leaping towards him.
Elsa tried to force herself to look at the scene before her, her hand at the ready on a lever. The Necromorph pinned Celino to the floor, only a few feet from the glass that Elsa watched behind. It clawed at his arms as it took hold of him, its proboscis appearing out from within the creature. At this point, Elsa couldn't take it anymore, pushing the lever about a third of the way up. Holes in the floor opened and the room was completely coated with fire. The flames shot out of the incinerators, just as the Infector began to drive its appendage into Celino's skull, sparing the two women in the room what from having to see what would happen to his body.
…Why did you have to do it Celino? Elsa thought as she watched the wall of flames on the other side of the glass. You were a smart man with a bright future…how could you have been so stupid to do what you did. Elsa leaned in close to the glass. "I'm sorry Celino. But you left me no choice."
Elsa was then greeted by Celino's new form slamming itself against the glass, screeching in a mix of burning agony and murderous bloodlust. It slammed its new blades against the glass, trying to break through, trying to kill the two inside, and to kill everything there was to kill before it burned away.
Elsa jumped back in momentary panic. She'd seen the achieve footage, so this thing's form was nothing new to her. But there's a difference between watching it on a screen and seeing the monstrosity right in front of you. Elsa grabbed the lever and shoved it all the way to maximum. The flames intensified, swallowing the Necromorph, making it vanish leaving only an agonized wail behind.
Elsa took a few deep breaths before she turned around. Her new assistant hadn't taken to Celino's sudden return as well as she had. The woman had fallen out of her chair and pushed herself to the wall, placing herself as far from the window as she could. The assistant was panting erratically, unable to calm herself after what she had seen.
Elsa sighed and began to walk towards the door.
"M-M-Ma'am." The assistant stuttered out. "H-How l-long do you want the b-burners on?"
Elsa looked at the new assistance, her eyes void of emotion.
"Until they burn themselves out." Elsa said as she walked out the door.
XXXXX
I cannot express how sorry I am how long this update took to make. I will try harder to get these things out more often. (For those of you wondering, don't worry, the next chapter will address Weiss at the asylum. The reason I had this chapter here was because there's a gap of a few days in-between the revelation that Weiss has gone marker crazy and the asylum visit by team RWBY, and I wanted to have something to fill the aforementioned gap. And Weiss is fine…or at least, as fine as you can be after you've lost your marbles.) It's been a while so please fav, follow, or leave a review to let me know what you think of this chapter. If you already have: Thanks! I appreciate it.
