I'm finally getting back to this story. Honestly, since this story is included in my Anniversary Announcement, I just knew I had to complete it somehow. But let's get back to the main story now. Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or Thief.
Chapter 12: Grimm Asylum
Adam, Roman, and Neo took a motorboat out to the small island where Moira Asylum was located. As they got close they realized something. The outside was crawling with Nevermores. Small ones, but it was clear that some sort of infestation occurred. The three friends disembarked near the bottom of the tall island. "What could have happened?," Roman wondered. "Grimm are drawn to negative emotions," Adam noted, "Fear, anxiety, aggression, confusion, sadness, torment."
"Plenty of torment in an asylum," Roman admitted, "But the natural and man-made defenses of the asylum should have kept the Grimm at bay. Not to mention this place was hit hardest with the Gloom. Well, we'll get no answers staying out here. Neo, some cover." Neo nodded and activated her Semblance, which allowed her to create illusions. Grimm were largely creatures of instinct, no matter how old they got. Semblances that could deceive the senses were especially effective against them.
Once the trio got to the asylum proper, Neo gasped. There were Beowolves as well. "Beowolves can't swim," Adam pointed out, "The Nevermores I could understand, but anything that doesn't fly or swim should have been locked out of the asylum." "Something must have gone terribly wrong here," Roman realized, "We'll have to clean house before we can get out answers." That's when some of the Beowolves started sniffing around, some looking right in the direction of the group. "They can sense us," Adam realized, "Our anxiety must be drawing them toward us."
"Nothing for it, then," Roman said, brandishing Melodic Cudgel, "We'll have to clear out the courtyard before heading inside." Fortunately, the only truly dangerous Grimm in the courtyard was a large Griffon, but Adam was able to charge his Semblance and slice through the Griffon before it could kill any of them, both halves of the Grimm falling harmlessly to the ground as it quickly disintegrated. "It's always easy to forget you have such a dangerous Semblance," Roman said as the last of the Grimm outside evaporated, "It's not something you'd expect a thief to have to use."
Adam noted. "Speaking of which, we should assume there are more Grimm inside. We should move with caution." Adam swiped a nearby plaque for the Moira Asylum, then checked the door. "It's barred," Adam noted, "As if they were trying to keep something out. Or perhaps... Something in." The trio turned around to try finding a different way inside, only for Neo to take a second look and see that the door was now open. She tapped Roman on the shoulder and pointed. "Neo, this is no time for games," he said when he saw the open door. Neo shook her head vigorously, as if to protest her innocence.
They went inside, only for the door to slam shut behind them, Neo pointed her umbrella Hush at the now closed door in panic. "Try to stay calm," Roman said, "If there are any more Grimm inside, we'll be sitting ducks." Adam checked the other door, which was also barred. To his bewilderment, it showed the inside of one of the asylum rooms, along with pictures of keyholes and an eye peering through them, blinking as he did. "LEAVE!," came a sudden, terrifying male voice, the face of a withered old man appearing "SHE IS MINE!"
Adam jumped back in shock, even more so when he saw the door was no longer barred and opened onto the asylum lobby. "What in the name of the Brothers is going on here?," he wondered. Neo used her finger to imitate a spider. "I somehow doubt a Jorogumo would this powerful," Roman pointed out. The entered the lobby. "We should start with the female ward," Adam suggested, "If Cinder was being kept here, that's the best place to start." Neo walked over to the main desk and found the patient ledger, waving the two men over.
"Patient #18," Roman read, "Admitted to the state under guard. Condition moderate to poor. Numerous abrasions and broken bones. Arrived drugged and unconscious. Instructions given to keep her that way, due to violent outbursts when not sedated. Moved to Women's Ward, Central Seclusion for observation. Adam, what's the last thing you remember from the night you disappeared?" "Mostly Cinder nearly falling to her death and me trying to stop it," Adam admitted, "I vaguely recall Cinder falling on the ritual altar Watts was using. That fall could have resulted in several broken bones at the very least. This could be our best lead."
The Women's Ward turned out to have been locked tight, forcing the trio to investigate the Men's Ward to find a way through. Opening the gate, however, seemed to have caused a major disturbance. "Roman," Adam said, "Tell me the asylum didn't seek to use Apathy to keep the patients calm." "They didn't," Roman assured him, "But they did keep order with an artificial Grimm created by the Schnee family. They call it... The Night Warden. Like their crowning achievement, the Arma Gigas, the Night Warden can ignore its base instinct of killing any human or Faunus. But it will become agitated if the rules of the asylum are broken in any way and seek to remove the agitator... Violently..."
They spotted the hulking grey humanoid stalking the halls. "So long as we keep quiet," Roman whispered, "And close all doors behind us, he won't bother us. His instinctive mind hasn't processed that the asylum is practically abandoned, so he's continuing his duties like nothing's changed." A nearby ledger showed which rooms once held patients, those rooms being the ones the Warden would check to make sure were closed. All other doors he'd pay no mind to. He also seemed to have no issue with Adam picking up the odd trinket around the asylum, likely thinking it as a janitor cleaning up the halls.
Roman found a ledger detailing information on a patient called the Archivist. "Looks like our Archivist patient might have the key we're looking for," he noted, "Room M12." A look in one of the rooms' cracks revealed a painting in a frame that had previously been empty. Adam found that it was a real item, a rat in a tuxedo and top hat carrying a pocket watch, titled The Repulsion of Civility. More odd sounds and shifting items led Adam to think that some sort of large-scale illusion was in pace. "Such powers could only come from the Old World," Roman noted when Adam suggested this, "We may be on the right track."
They soon found a hole in the wall leading to the Archivist's room, where they found the key they were looking for. However, another ledger indicated that Patient #18 had been removed from the Women's Ward. Still, they had to search it for more clues. Adam noted something about the lock and key. "It's the same kind Watts used in the foundry." "But what could he possibly need to keep locked up so tightly in an asylum?," Roman wondered, "And why would he even care?" Neo made a hand sign to indicate the number eighteen. "Our mysterious Patient #18?," Roman asked, "Could it really be Cinder after all...?"
"If it is," Adam said, "Then that's a good reason to keep searching." A nearby elevator shaft led to a room where Adam found the Rose Brooch. Neo was checking the notes they had found, and handed one to Roman. "Neo seems to be concerned that Number #18 was causing some sort of psychosis among the other patients. Did Cinder ever mention what her Semblance is?" "Roman, she never even told me she's a Maiden until recently," Adam pointed out, "Besides, what we're reading about may not have been a Semblance, but some form of magic."
A search of the Mess Hall showed that some sort of disturbance happened, and from the looks of things it wasn't Grimm-related. Neo found a note on the stage that indicated that Number #18 was somehow involved, and one of the doctors might have set it up just to take charge of her over her current doctor. "If the plan succeeded," Adam noted, "Then this doctor might have picked the wrong patient to try and take charge of." A notebook in one of the rooms proved to be of great interest. Apparently, Patient #18 had been telling some unknown individual to "wake up".
Another elevator gave the trio a shock. The same strange creature that Adam had found lurking beneath the House of Blossoms. "I think I know why the Grimm were able to approach this place," he said, "The Gloom's run its course. It doesn't exist here. And whatever is left..." Neo pointed to where they had seen the creature, and Adam nodded in confirmation. "Well I'm not about to follow it to find out what the heck it was," Roman said. The others were in agreement. Adam picked open a nearby door, only to be flung back by a sudden explosion.
Roman and Neo quickly checked the room, but there was no sign of any recent explosions going off, only older ones. "Strange," Roman said as he helped Adam get up, "What kind of magic would cause one to get affected by an explosion that had long dissipated?" "I don't know," Adam admitted, "But it would have to be very ancient indeed." He peered through a nearby keyhole and found the same drawings from the front entrance. "This must the room I saw in that vision. Only now the drawings aren't blinking."
He slipped in through in a vent in the top, and got overwhelmed by a vision once he landed inside. "She can't stay here!," echoed Watts' voice, "It's too dangerous!" There was an image of Cinder in a wheelchair. Adam opened the door for Roman and Neo. "Cinder was kept in this room," he explained, "But she got moved due to some sort of danger. I'm not sure what exactly." A nearby opened, leading the trio to a ledge that noted Patient #18, which by now they were sure was Cinder, had been transferred to the Treatment Center under Watts' orders for "selective experimentation".
Roman read a nearby notebook about patient behavior. "Whatever happened to Cinder that night clashed with her Maiden powers," he noted, "Some of the patients were screaming about demons in the corners of their rooms. Many thought themselves perfectly sane and that they were there by accident. Even one doctor was affected. I don't know what got hold of Cinder, but it's got the Baron and his associates spooked something bad." "And it doesn't look like it ended when Patient #18 was taken out of the asylum," Adam noted, "Whatever left its mark here lingered for at least a year..."
Roman and Adam looked at each other knowingly. A year ago is when all this started. There had to be a connection. Past a set of clumped together bookshelves, the trio found a broken sun roof. Adam shook his head, remembering that night again. Once he was certain his head was clear, the trio continued to move down, reaching the Treatment Center. "The ledge said Patient #18 was taken to room 3F," Roman noted, "Something about a 'room of horrors'." Adam peered inside the rooms. It turned out there were still some people down here, mostly patients.
"Looks like anyone that was down here escaped the Grimm infestation," Adam said, "We'd better move quietly until we can get out of here." The doors required power to move, so the group made a quick sweep to locate the generator. They found it soon enough. "Here's the switch," Roman said, "And it looks like the generator has plenty of Dust. We'll need to be extra cautious once we flip it. It'll set whoever is still down here on high alert." Adam nodded, and the switch was flipped, turning on all the lights and powering the doors.
While searching around for a way into 3F, Adam found a detailed note regarding extracting something called the "Primal". "The Primal Stone...," he muttered. "This all started with that rock," Roman noted, "Actually, the one who gave me the commission in the first place was Professor Ozpin. He must have known Watts had it and wanted it extracted for some reason. He probably knew it was something dangerous and didn't want Watts tampering with it." Neo pointed to a nearby button that would override the lockdown in the asylum.
Adam nodded, and Neo hit the button, opening all the doors and getting the attention of a few orderlies still patrolling the rooms. It also let the trio inside to room 3F, where a terrible device equipped to a chair awaited them. Adam also found a note that stated Cinder had been transferred to the prison level. "This is where it happened," came Cinder's voice, "They were trying to keep me alive, lest the Primal be unleashed in full. As it was, its influence was already leaking. After a while, it started drawing in Grimm. They overran most of the asylum. Only these lower levels were spared due to the lockdown. But lower down... Is something worse than Grimm..."
Adam blinked, then felt Roman's hand on his shoulder. "What did you see?" "I know what happened to Cinder that night," Adam realized, "She landed on the ritual altar. On the Primal Stone. It caused something to invade her body, clashing with her Maiden powers. Watts must have recognized what it was immediately, and tried to have it extracted, bringing her here to facilitate that. Only... Its power and influence began leaking, infesting the asylum and drawing in the Grimm. And given how powerful it seems to be... It likely summoned a few as well..."
The implications were not lost on Roman and Neo. By bringing Cinder to the asylum, Watts had likely doomed it. "We need to get to the prison level," Adam said, "There'll be more answers there." "One problem," Roman said, "Looks like the orderlies are on patrol now." A safe in one of the rooms could be opened with the code 7-8-1, and it held the Ivory Circle. Soon enough, the trio managed to find a way down to the prison level via the ducts underneath the hydrotherapy room.
Deep inside the prison, it turned out more of those strange humanoid abominations were lurking about. Sneaking past them wasn't easy, since they relied on sound rather than sight to navigate. Adam was able to use some ropes to reach a cage containing the Mechanical Eye, said to have belonged to a legendary trickster. Quietly knocking over a vase also uncovered the Child's Memory. Soon enough, the trio moved through an overgrown hall to the Maximum Security wing.
Unfortunately, opening the door set off a loud alarm that brought every creature in the wing running toward them. Fortunately, time seemed to freeze for all three before the creatures could attack. "What on Remnant...?," Roman muttered. "So sorry for the trouble down here," came a woman's voice. Adam turned around and his eyes went wide. "Elphaba..." "I had a feeling you might be looking down here for answers," Elphaba said, "So I came hoping to assist."
Adam shared what they had learned so far. Elphaba nodded. "Yes, this confirms a lot of my fears, and Ozpin's. It was the Primal that created those twisted beings you encountered. Ozpin's heading for Haven Academy as we speak, to bring something that can answer all your questions. I just hope he won't take too long finding the Branwen tribe." "What do they have to do with this?," Roman asked. "You know how Cinder is the Fall Maiden?," Elphaba replied, "Well, right now the current Spring Maiden is Raven Branwen. Only her family, her partner, and those of us in the Union know this."
She led the group back outside. "The Four Maidens are the key to four Vaults hidden beneath each of the four main Academies, one in each country. Beacon, Atlas, Shade, and Haven. Inside each is an important Relic, crafted by the Brother Gods." "One more reason to see Cinder returned safely," Adam noted. Elphaba nodded. "By now she's been removed from the asylum on the Baron's orders. If anyone's going to know where she is, it'll be him." Adam nodded as he sighed in resignation. "I suppose it is about time we had a chat."
More of the mystery is solved, but just what does Baron Watts know? We'll find out before long. Read and review.