Chapter 21: Temptation and Redemption
Near Lake Eclipse
Vacuo
10:21 pm
Yang was leaned up against several different rocks, with her legs exposed and coated in a strange, slimy like material that seemingly ate away at dark rashes on her legs. As she started to awaken, a mysterious voice sounded from behind the rocks...
"You're finally awake, child." The individual said.
"What...happened?" Yang said before noticing her legs.
"Don't panic, that material is a special mucus that I can produce that has unique properties, and it is right now flushing the spores out of your system." The individual explained.
"Spores?" Yang asked.
"You fell prey to the Omen, a unique Grimm that has lured hundreds to their death by having strategically placed pipes made of bone hidden in the area around the lake. The pipes spray spores around the lake, in which they can sap the strength of its prey, they also can alter the environment, such as heavy winds that can blow a scroll out of a person's hands." The individual explained.
"So, Lake Eclipse isn't really cursed, there's just a giant Grimm trapped underneath it." Yang said as something leapt from the shadows.
Yang was startled as a Grimm landed in front of her, but this Grimm was not your average one. It had a slender, well-endowed humanoid body and scaly skin, long white hair, and fins on her forearms and legs. The bones on it were arranged in a pattern that resembled both armor, and oddly enough, swimwear...
"Who are you?" Yang asked.
"I am Ephria, the Temptress of the Sea. Or so I am called by most humans." The Grimm said.
"Well, Ephria, are you planning to kill me in some manner?" Yang asked.
"No, child. My quarrel is not with you, but the Omen." Ephria explained.
"So just how big is this Omen thing?" Yang said.
"The entire location that Lake Eclipse is on used to be seabed, and it used to be much larger than it is now. It is physically trapped in that lake, limiting its movements." Ephria explained.
Yang immediately was faced with a conflicting choice, should she continue with her pursuit of Blake? Or help the nice, friendly Grimm take down a much larger one in the middle of the desert? While she was conflicted, Mors Ululate was about to arrive at his destination for his task...
Civilian passenger Boat
Coast of Menagerie
9:00 am
A civilian travel boat arrived in the Menagerie harbor, carrying cargo and travelers to the isle of Menagerie, the current de facto Kingdom of the Faunus. Aboard the vessel, the world's most deadliest assassin and newest disciple of the Cardinal, Mors Ululate, had arrived on the island under the guise of a traveler and was reminiscing to when he was given his task...
(Flashback)
"Mors, I have very important task for you." The Cardinal said.
"Of course, my mentor, my blades are yours to command." Mors said in a formal tone.
"Corsac may have joined our ranks, but his brother will be a threat to our plans. You are to journey to Menagerie and assassinate him." The Cardinal said.
"Wouldn't Corsac get suspicious of his newest allies if they had his only known family member assassinated? That would be very bad for business." Mors said.
"That's why it won't be us, you will be staging the assassination to appear as if he was killed by an assassin sent by Adam." The Cardinal explained.
"So Fennec Albain will die by White Fang Blades." Mors said.
"Corsac still has lingering faith in Adam Taurus's teachings, but if his brother is murdered by an assassin sent by his leader, then he will lose the will to follow Adam and will show him no mercy." The Cardinal explained.
"Understood, my mentor." Mors said as the Speaker approached him.
"Sister Cinna will be your contact, she has been our informant within the Menagerie Chapter of the White Fang. You will meet her in the marketplace near the docks, keep an eye out for any white fang officers on break peeking through markets. If one approaches you and they inquire about your presence on Menagerie, respond with "I am visiting an old friend from my traveling days, he happens to live here" and when they ask for a name, the response is "Declan Bray"." The Speaker explained.
"Understood." Mors said.
Present Day
Mors arrived in the market place after stepping off the boat, and walked around, even purchasing a few souvenirs for himself. As he continued to wander, he eventually heard a voice next to him that was a female voice, and spotted a short female Faunus guard next to him...
"What's a human like you doing in Faunus territory?" The individual said in an inquisitive tone.
"I'm visiting a friend from my old traveling days, he happens to live here." Mors responded.
"Really? What's your friend's name?" The Individual said.
"Declan Bray." Mors said.
The individual recognized that response, in which she purchased something for herself before turning away, bumping into Mors in the process...
"Sorry, sir." The girl said.
"It's alright, you're just in a rush to get back to work." Mors said.
The girl departed from him, in which Mors could clearly tell what that maneuver was and checked his pocket. He found a small, folded up piece of paper that had the Trinity Cross on it, in which he immediately knew that it was meant for him...
Public place not safe for meeting, White Fang Agents Ilia and Yuma observing each location. Meet at house with Trinity emblem at sunset.
-C
Mors burned the paper with a small crystal of fire dust, then proceeded to walk around until the time for him to meet with Cinna was to come. As he did that, Yang and Lorelei were about to take on a serious threat to the safety of travelers...
Lake Eclipse
Vacuo
10:01 am
Yang was riding around the shores wearing a special bone mask that was given to her by Ephria, to resist the spores of the Omen while going around to map out the locations where the spore pipes were located so Ephria could destroy them in order to draw out the Omen. After gathering the locations, she returned to Ephria, who was waiting with Yang's possessions as she rode around the lake...
"You get the locations?" Ephria asked.
"Yep, my scroll has marked each location for you." Yang said, sharing the map with her.
"It's smart enough to hide them in places that they won't be found easily." Ephria said.
"Well, when most people see water, their first instinct is to jump in." Yang pointed out.
"I will never understand you mortals and your fascination with swimming, it is more trouble than its worth." Ephria said.
"Mortals?" Yang said in a confused tone.
"Girl, If you live thousands of years like I have, you learn to pick up habits." Ephria said.
"Ah." Yang said.
"Anyway, once the pipes are destroyed, the Omen will surface to find in the instigators. Once it does, I want you to destroy its eyes and attack his dorsal fin, that will disorient it long enough for me to take out its weak point." Ephria explained.
"What's its weak point?" Yang asked.
"There's a red core within it that keeps it alive, shatter that, it will die instantly." Ephria explained.
"So it's one of those kinds of Grimm." Yang said.
"Anyway, You should get into position, it's about to be hell as soon as that thing surfaces." Ephria explained.
Yang moved to a nearby hill while Lorelei leapt into the sky in which the fins on her arms began to glow brightly, like the light of the sun was reflecting off them. She then spun around in the air, sending cuts of light through the air towards the areas around the areas where the spore pipes were, kicking large amounts of sand and bone fragments in the air.
"Geez, that Grimm is a badass." Yang said.
Her slight admiration for the mysterious Grimm was put on hold as a loud roar echoed throughout the whole area, in which she knew it was game time. The sand around the lake began to shift as massive tentacles began to retreat from below the sand, as the water began to bubble and rise...
"That's it, show yourself insect." Ephria thought to herself.
The water exploded violently as a colossal-sized aquatic Grimm emerged from the water, roaring as if it was mad as hell...
"Well, he's grumpy." Yang said in a sarcastic tone.
She quickly took a photo, then readied her Ember Celica for battle. She leapt onto one of its tentacles, firing two shots at his left eye, causing it to explode in a spray of red material and bone, and leapt from the tentacle she was standing on as another tentacle came crashing down towards the one she was standing on, hitting the other eye...
"At least I can keep my eye on things." Yang said, unaware of a tentacle coming from behind her.
It hit her with tremendous force, knocking her towards the lake shore, but she recovered from it by rotating around and firing a shot from each gauntlet and propelling her towards the top of the Omen's head.
"Alright, just damage this fin, and he'll get a headache." Yang said.
She began to wail on its fin, delivering heavy blows with her Ember Celica on it. The Omen began to wail in pain, letting out a heavy, shrill cry as Ephria punched through its abdomen as shards of red crystals, bone, and black material sprayed all over the sand. The Omen slammed into the ground before beginning to evaporate, leaving only fragments of its previous victims as Ephria landed on her feet behind Yang...
"Not bad, child." Lorelei said.
"You're pretty good yourself." Yang said.
"Well, I'm over a thousand years old." Elyria said in a bragging tone.
"This concludes our little business here." Yang stated.
"True, now as a token of thanks for your help in killing the Omen." Ephria said, picking up a shard of the Omen's broken core and wrapped it in a portion of cloth.
"You're giving me a piece of that thing?" Yang said in disbelief.
"There's one thing that I kept from you, that was an artificial creation of science and madness. Why else would its core be made of crystals? Why would artificial materials such as cloth and plastics not be digested? This site was some form of testing ground that an unknown faction used." Ephria explained.
"That thing was an artificial creation?" Yang said in a shocked tone.
"Yes, someone used this lake as a location to test the creature as a form of weapon." Ephria said.
"Oh." Yang said.
"Plus, worthy warriors deserves to carry a prize from their victories." Ephria said.
"Thanks." Yang said, taking the item.
The two parted ways as Yang rounded up her things, driving away from the friendly Grimm she had met. As she resumed her search for Blake, the assassin dispatched by the Cardinal was about to learn how to proceed with the mission...
Trinity Safe House
Isle of Menagerie.
6:30 pm
Cinna stood at the window, carefully observing the outside of the building in order to monitor the area so that there were no disturbances to their meeting. She then turned to Mors, who was readying a set of blades into his arms...
"I was surprised that the Cardinal sent you." Cinna said.
"My talents are most suited here for this task. So what do I need to do?" Mors asked.
"After Kuroko, Fennec became emotionally unbalanced and became increasingly paranoid about things such as spies in the ranks." Cinna explained.
"So he has become unpredictable and dangerous." Mors said.
"He's been launching slanderous propaganda campaigns against Chief Belladonna, the Khan siblings, and the Vale Branch of the White Fang. The reason why: he thinks that one of those groups sold Kuroko out." Cinna explained.
"I'm surprised that Adam hasn't ordered him to shut up for it." Mors said.
"Actually he has, but Fennec is refusing to listen to reason. He claims that "he's launched his own crusade to topple the traitors within the ranks"." Cinna said.
"So he's pretty much insane." Mors stated.
"That's why I provided you with a uniform and standard issue blades that are commonly used by the assassins loyal to Adam. This will allow you to cover your tracks and put the blame on Adam." Cinna explained.
"Is there anything else you want to inform me of?" Mors asked as he looked at the uniform.
"I found a few willing individuals in the ranks of the chapter's security who are willing to join the Alliance, but it's mostly because they are tired of Fennec's behavior." Cinna explained.
"That will be useful. Make sure that they are not present at the Chapter headquarters when I go to kill him." Mors explained.
"Why?" Cinna asked.
"If Fennec is found dead in the headquarters when the security quality is poor, the public will suspect that the splinter cell had somehow sabotaged the security of the White Fang headquarters here. All we need is Cubol Khan to publicly denounce the splinter cell for compromising the security of the White Fang so they could improve their operations." Mors explained.
"That's brilliant, but Cubol is going to be in negotiations with the Cardinal." Cinna said.
"His lordship would understand, this would improve the image of the White Fang under Khan's command." Mors said.
"Plus, it would cement Corsac's loyalty and allegiance to the Alliance." Cinna explained.
"That...will be a matter of perspective." Mors said as he put on the mask.
As Mors got ready to assassinate Fennec Albain, Cinder was about to come face to face with a conflicting choice to decide her future...
Beacon Academy Dorms
Team RWBY DORM
5:34 PM
After she was discharged from the infirmary, Cinder was placed in Team RWBY's dorm room while her room was undergoing repairs since the blast. She slept in Blake's bed as Emerald took up Yang's bed, while Weiss continued to share Ruby's bed with her...
"So you guys are a thing?" Emerald said in a surprised tone.
"Yeah, don't judge." Ruby said while Weiss blushed.
"I'm not gonna judge, I knew a lot of girls who were in those types of relationships." Emerald said as there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Weiss said.
As Weiss answered the door, Ruby noticed that through the entire conversation was that Cinder had not even reacted. She kept a face of depression and complete defeat, like she had lost the drive to keep going and continue with her life.
"Cinder's completely miserable, like she has lost her purpose in life." Ruby thought to herself as Weiss turned back to the group.
"Who was at the door?" Emerald asked.
"Some deliveryman, dropped off a package that is addressed to Cinder." Weiss explained.
"(Whispers in Emerald's ear) Who would send something to me?" Cinder asked.
"Did he ask for a signature?" Emerald asked.
"No, he just dropped it off and walked away." Weiss said as she handed off the package to Emerald.
" I wonder what it is." Emerald said as she opened it, revealing a book.
"A book?" Weiss asked.
"Who would send Cinder a book?" Ruby asked.
"Beats me." Emerald said.
"I might have a hunch." Cinder thought.
Emerald handed the book to Cinder, who opened it up with her only good arm, and stared at the contents. The pages were covered in strange runes that glowed in an instant, putting the other three girls to sleep while Cinder was surrounded by flying pages from the book, arriving in Fortuna...
"I'm not pleased." The Storyteller said.
Cinder turned around to see The Storyteller sitting on a small ledge, holding onto a small book that had a symbol that was familiar to her; it was her own. He had a look on his face of irritation, like he just read something in that book that had really upset him...
"Oh, you could use this if you want to speak your mind." He said, sending what seemed like a book page to her.
She took the page, in which a spectral version of herself appeared standing next to her, resembling her previous self before the blast had occurred...
"Why are you so helpful?" Spectral Cinder said.
"Because your current choice of behavior is thoroughly disappointing and it has thrown your story into complete whack." The Storyteller said.
"You always love reading everyone's life story." Cinder commented.
"It's the role I have kept for centuries. Anyway, even if you still worked with Salem, your story was not going to end the way you wanted to." The Storyteller said.
"What are you talking about?" Cinder asked.
"Salem acts with a singular purpose and goal in life: give the world that humans and Faunus call home to her pets." The Storyteller said.
"Then humanity and the Faunus will fall to me and my allies." Cinder said.
"No, they won't." The Storyteller explained.
"What?" Cinder asked.
"When I say her pets, I mean just her pets." The Storyteller said.
"That can't be true." Cinder said.
"The world that Salem envisions, is a world where the Grimm reign supreme and the Humans and Faunus are extinct." The Storyteller explained.
Cinder was completely taken back by his words, everything that was told to her by Salem was nothing more than just a fancy, well-spoken lie. This made her conflicted about how she would continue her future if she could not trust the one individual who promised her everything that she desired...
"If what you are saying is true, then what do I fight for?"Cinder asked.
"It's completely up to you, but I can show you a story of someone who once was in your shoes." The Storyteller said.
"What are you talking about?" Cinder asked.
"Have you heard the story of Sister Nightingale?" The Storyteller explained.
As Cinder was shown a story of someone who once was a follower of Salem's, Mercury was about to be dragged into a fight with one of Kanna's teammates...
Beacon Academy Sparring Hall
6:00 pm
Mercury was in the school's sparring hall, practicing his own combat techniques in hopes of finding a way to beat Kanna in retaliation for his humiliating defeat at her hands. As he practiced his kicks, Heinrich entered the room with his weapon, a large axe, in hand and heading towards the practice dummies...
"How do you do, Mercury?" Heinrich asked in a hearty tone.
"Oh, hey there." Mercury said as he sat down to take a drink from his water bottle.
"Getting some last minute training in?" Heinrich said as he delivered his first two strikes on the dummy.
"Yeah, got to relieve my stress somehow since my room got blown up." Mercury said.
"I heard about that, nasty business." Heinrich commented.
"How do you know about explosions?" Mercury asked.
"I grew up in Vacuo before I met Kanna, and the district I lived in was a hotspot for White Fang attacks." Heinrich explained.
"Alright then." Mercury said.
"Hey, you wanna try a little sparring match between the two of us? We've got to 7:30 before we gotta haul ass back to the dorms anyway." Heinrich said.
"Sure." Mercury said as he stood up.
He stood on one side of the mat, while Heinrich stood at the other end and the two boys had their weapons at the ready...
"The match ends when either one of us lands a good blow on their opponent or falls off the mat. Loser has to buy the winner lunch." Heinrich said.
"Sounds fair." Mercury said.
"Alrighty then, let's begin." Heinrich said, lunging forward.
Mercury responded to his movement with a straight kick, only to see Heinrich quickly evade it by ducking below it. He then swung his axe towards Mercury, but he quickly evaded by leaping over the strike, in which Mercury responded with a swift blow to the side of Heinrich's head, disorienting him. Heinrich stumbled off the matt, seemingly unconscious...
"Maybe I went a little overboard with that strike." Mercury thought.
He left a note in Heinrich's shirt pocket, then made his way out of the Sparring hall to notify someone of what happened to Heinrich, unaware that what appeared to be molten material was slowly trickling out the side of Heinrich's head. As he went into the locker room to wash up, Mercury was disturbed by an unknown sound and the sudden flickering of the lights...
"Whoa, it's getting hot in here." Mercury said to himself.
As he went to go check the thermostat, someone tied a chord around his wrists and dragged him through the halls of the building and dangled him from the ceiling of another locker room...
"Who the hell put me up here? Come out!" Mercury demanded.
As Mercury struggled to get down, a bright material splattered onto the floor, which caused the tiles underneath the material to start bubbling until the tiles around them began to crack...
"What the?" Mercury said.
"MERCURY!" A monstrous voice said.
Mercury then turned to see Heinrich, whose skin was mostly melted off and revealing a metallic frame that was containing molten liquid inside its body. His fingertips were open, in which liquid trickled down onto the floor...
"Heinrich?! What the hell are you?" Mercury screamed as he continued to struggle to get free.
"HOW BOUT WE HAVE THAT DUEL AGAIN? AFTER ALL, YOU TRASHED MY COOLING REGULATOR SO WE HAVE 6 MINUTES TILL MELTDOWN." Heinrich explained as Mercury struggled to get free.
As Mercury struggled, an Atlas guard came in to see what the commotion was...
"Hey! What's going on in here?" The guard said.
"Get out of here! That thing's gonna kill you!" Mercury shouted.
But before the guard could react, "Heinrich" dosed him with the material and set him ablaze. All Mercury could do was sit in horror as the guard melted into nothing but a shadow on the floor. While Mercury struggled to get his freedom, someone came rushing behind the burning Heinrich and stunned him with a cryo blast...
"What the?" Mercury said.
"You alright kid?" X-9 asked as he got Mercury down.
"Yeah, but if he has his way, we aren't gonna last." Mercury said as the two of them faced the now-furious Heinrich.
"We need to get him outside." X-9 said.
"Why?" Mercury asked.
"Because, he's more dangerous indoors." X-9 said.
"Well it's gonna get worse, we've got less than six minutes until he melts down!" Mercury explained.
"That's not good." X-9 said.
"Really? How does the guy being a walking Volcano get any worse?" Mercury asked.
"Not living volcano, more like living reactor." X-9 said.
This chapter concludes with Mercury being thrust into a battle with a now dangerous Heinrich, whose body is like a living reactor and is on the verge of a meltdown, which X-9 is the only one who knows what will happen when he blows. Cinder has begun to reconsider her stance on her loyalty to Salem as the Storyteller has offered to show her the story of someone who was in her place before her, Yang and an unlikely partner defeated the Omen, a dangerous Grimm in the deserts of Vacuo, while Alliance follower Mors Ululate prepares to assassinate Fennec Albain due to his erratic behavior following the attack on Kuroko base. The further chapters will be delayed as I am getting ready for any finals that I have in school. But the next chapter will pick up with Mercury battling the unstable Heinrich with some extra help, Mors carrying out his task and battling the defensive Ilia Amitola, and Ilia falling prey to his semblance, while Blake and her allies cross paths with Miranda and her creation...
WAIT AND SEE...