Hello and good evening. This is the first chapter of "The Sapients Seven", a crossover between the web series "RWBY", the game "Stellaris", and the game "Surviving Mars". For the past few years, I've brainstormed writing a crossover between RWBY and Stellaris, loving the idea of Remnant coming into contact with the galactic community and finally being freed of the scourge of the Grimm and of Remnant's gravity.
Prior to posting this on FanFiction, I posted it as the ninth chapter on AO3. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of posting eight chapters with the POV from two of the OCs I developed for this story. Someone helpfully pointed out how dry and how much of a turnoff that was, and I agreed. Hopefully, I can get off to a better start here.
BTW, I'm in the market for a beta-reader. I'm looking to ward off spelling errors, grammar errors, poor ideas, poor characterization, and poor speech patterns.
Good grief, this is a long author's note. Feel free to leave a review with your thoughts, criticisms, and ideas. Enjoy!
Edit as of 2/10/2021: Replaced "Jerrika" with Oum.
Planetfall
Growing up on Patch, Ruby and Yang had been familiar with the monothestic religion prominent on the island. As a native of Patch, their father had taught them about Oum, the creator god, who would one day return to banish the Grimm and make right His creation. Ruby's original outfit had featured His symbol, the Cross, and Qrow wore it as a necklace along with a few other Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Ever since Beacon, however, Ruby had foregone incorporating the symbol in her outfits. And ever since she and Yang had learned of the truth behind the Brother Gods, their faith in Oum had plummeted, which hadn't helped at Brunswick Farms.
Now, Ruby found herself praying to Him once more as the gigantic whale Grimm emerged from the storm cloud, red lightning arcing all around it and the flying Grimm escorting it. The Grimm in Mantle, Ironwood turning on them, RWBY's fight with the AceOps, Neo stealing the Relic of Knowledge, Penny becoming the Winter Maiden, Oscar going missing, and now the biggest Grimm of all time flying right towards Atlas. If there was a time for a miracle, it was now.
The first thing she heard was a dull roar off in the distance that rapidly grew louder and louder. Glancing out of the manta and up towards the sound, she spotted a dim light above the clouds that was growing brighter with every passing second. It wasn't the sun; that was just poking its head over the horizon.
"What's that?" she called out, pointing. Maria turned the manta so that she and her passengers could see the strange light.
""Looks like a meteor," Professor Polendina said, frowning. "Never heard one that loud though."
The light grew brighter and the roar grew louder, until finally it burst through the clouds. Ruby's mouth dropped open. It wasn't a meteor; it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was simple in design, like a giant bullet. A shield glowed red around, a huge plume of smoke and fire blooming out behind it. Jets of flame shot out from its front and sides at it barrelled through the air.
It arced gracefully through the air as it raced forward, shooting over and past Mantle and Atlas, past their manta, and, as though guided by the hand of Jerrika Himself, embedded itself with a loud, crunching thud into the head of the monstrous, flying, whale Grimm.
The huge Grimm let out a bellow as the huge projectile disappeared into its oversized head. Still bellowing, it began to fall from the sky, heading straight for the ground. With a booming crash, it slammed into the icy tundra below and began to slide, carving a huge ditch through the ground as its momentum and mass carried it forward. Its fins were ripped off, only increasing the volume of its roars.
For a long, horrifying moment, it looked like the Grimm was going to hit Mantle's defensive wall and plow through into the city. About a hundred meters from the wall, the whale slowed to a stop. The bulk of its head and body towered far above the wall, above even the inner skyscrapers of Mantle. Ruby could only imagine the panic that the sight of the whale was generating.
Its bellows of rage and pain now subsiding into dying moans, the whale raised its head and opened its huge maw to let loose a final groan before collapsing, the strange orange light in its head winking out. Starting from the point where the..."projectile" (she guessed that's what it was) had penetrated the whale, it was beginning to disintegrate, huge clouds of black particles billowing out and casting a shadow over all of Mantle.
When the whale's corpse had fully disintegrated and its particles dissipated, there was only the massive trench it had dug in its dying moments. Like all Grimm, without these pieces of evidence, it could have hardly been said to have existed at all.
At the end of the trench, balancing on the rim, was the destroyer of such a terrible beast. The projectile was no longer glowing from heat or spewing fire from its rear. It lay very still, reminding Ruby of the weapons that remained behind after Ren had killed the Nuckalavee, their intended purpose now fulfilled after years of being embedded in the monter's hide.
"What the hell is that?" Yang said, pointing at the projectile.
Ruby glanced back at her friends. Everyone was staring wide-eyed at the scene before them, amazement conquering any sense of victory or relief over the whale Grimm's death. That hadn't felt like a battle, more like two forces of nature meeting and clashing, far beyond the control of mere mortals to affect the outcome. Was this what it was like for the first humans when the Brother Gods had fought each other?
"I'm guessing Atlesian superweapon," Jaune said. He glanced over to Penny and her father. "Does that look familiar to either of you?"
"No," the Professor answered, his eyes not leaving the projectile. "That's not one of ours. There's no weapon in the world that could fire something like that."
"And judging from its flight path, trajectory, and speed," Penny added in, "it couldn't have been fired from any known Atlesian installations."
"Then where could it have been fired from?" Blake asked, her ears standing straight up on her head.
"...From outside the atmosphere," Penny said after a long moment. "From outside of Remnant."
Before the protests about the impossibility of that could start up, a shriek wrent the air, forcing them all to cover their ears. Poor Blake was left to choose between covering her human ears and her much more sensitive feline ones; Penny noticed after a moment and put her hands over Blake's human ears, apparently having shut off her auditory sensors.
"Why couldn't it be my ears that I lost and not my eyes," Maria lamented when the horrible scream was over. "What the hell was that?"
"I have located the source of the sound," Penny said, her eyes blinking. "It is coming from the deepest part of the trench. It's…" Her pupils constricted as the zoom function in her eyes activated.
"It's Salem," she said, an uncertain look coming over her face. "And she looks very upset."
"We've got incoming," Ren broke in, pointing out a window on the opposite side of the manta.
Everyone rushed over to the other side. The huge horde of Grimm, both air- and landborne, were making a straight beeline for Salem, and for Mantle. The first horde of the night had been a nightmare to deal with. An attack of this magnitude so soon afterwards would be devastating, especially now that Ironwood had given up on Mantle.
"We need to stop her," Ruby came to the decision immediately. "Maria," she called up to their pilot, "set us down near the trench!"
Without waiting for her Silver-Eyed to reply, Ruby turned to Jaune. "Jaune, if you guys can hold off Salem's allies, Penny can get me close, and I'll try to turn her to stone. No need to kill her if we can freeze her."
Jaune nodded. "Weiss and I can stay behind, support everyone as they need it. We see Emerald, we should all focus on taking her out first before she can use her semblance. We should work in pairs, use our advantage in numbers as best as we can."
"I call dibs on Mercury," Yang growled, thumping her metal fist into a palm. "It's time for some real payback."
"Me and Renny got that Hazel guy pegged!" Nora exclaimed, grinning rabidly.
Neo and Cinder were probably still back in Atlas, Watts was in custody, while Tyrian had been in transit towards prison. That left Hazel for Ren and Nora, Mercury for Yang and Blake, Salem for herself and Penny, any surprises and support to be handled by Jaune and Weiss, and Emerald to be targeted by all of them. A solid plan on such short notice.
"Ruby," Weiss said hesitantly, "in Ironwood's office, what Salem said about your mother…."
"Can we be sure that your eyes will even work on her?" Blake finished for her.
"We don't know what really happened," she replied before those not present for that could ask anything. "And besides, my mom was alone. I've got you guys. Either we stop Salem here, or she destroys Mantle, Atlas, and any of hope the world uniting against her. There's nothing else we can do; turning aside from this will make us no better than Ironwood."
"Ruby's right," Penny said before brightening. "Additionally, I'm sure if we take down Salem, the General will revoke the warrants for your arrests!" she added happily.
There was also that.
"We're approaching the trench now!" Maria called from the cockpit. "I'll provide air support. I doubt that Salem bitch has ever been shot with a missile before, haha!"
Ruby smiled as the manta approached the trench and the side door began opening to allow them to jump out, or fly out, in Penny's case. Time to exercise their landing strategies again.
"Penny!" Professor Polendina called out as they all prepared to jump, the wind almost drowning him out. "Be careful! I don't want to lose you again!"
"Don't worry, father!" Penny answered back, giving him a smile. "Like Ruby said, I'm not alone this time!"
Damn straight, Ruby thought as she hooked an arm around her friend and tilted them both out of the manta. As they began to fall down towards the ground, Ruby engaged her semblance, turning herself and Penny into a cloud of red-and-green petals that began shooting towards Salem and Co. Somehow, Penny activated the thrusters in her boots, giving them an even greater burst of speed.
Below them, and quickly rushing up to meet them, was Salem, who appeared to be giving out orders to her followers. Behind her was Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury; all of them were looking the worse for wear, not surprising after surviving a flying whale Grimm crashing into the ground and then being at the epicenter of Salem shrieking like an Alpha Banshee. There was no sign of Cinder, Neo, or Tyrian, so the plan was going great already.
With a resounding crash, Ruby and Penny slammed into Salem, sending her flying. Not waiting for the resulting cloud of shattered ice and water vapor to dissipate, Penny immediately brought Floating Array out from her back and began firing randomly in the direction Salem had flown and at her subordinates. Crescent Rose unfolded in Ruby's hands as she hefted it, prepared to fend off anyone who came through the mist.
When Tyrian himself came charging out of the mist at them, Ruby slashed at him diagonally with a viciousness that belied her usual nature. After nearly killing Qrow and framing Penny for the innocents he had murdered at Robyn's assembly, she had no problems with bisecting him.
Instead of parrying her slash, letting his aura take it, or dodging it, Tyrian let Crescent Rose go right through him, evaporating like mist as the scythe passed through his chest. A moment later, a Beowolf, a Grimm not native to the icy tundra of Solitas, leapt out of the mist towards them, mouth open and claws extended.
Ruby responded by planting her weapon's head on the ground and pointing the other end of the shaft towards the Beowolf. The Grimm impaled itself on the short blade on that end and evaporated without a sound. There wasn't even a sensation of impact from falling upon her weapon.
As the mist began to thin, projectiles from Mercury's boots began to shoot towards them. The first one impacted the ground next to Ruby and detonated, forcing Ruby and Penny to jump back. When Ruby instinctively used Crescent Rose to shield herself from the second one, it vanished when it "struck" her.
"Guys!" Ruby said into her earpiece, "someone take out Emerald or Mercury; she's making illusions of his projectiles!"
"Way ahead of you," Yang replied, followed by the sound of Ember Celia going off.
When an echo rang out overhead, Ruby looked up as the mist finally disappeared, to see Yang shooting towards the ground with her gauntlets pointed right behind her. As she neared the ground, she rolled into a ball and flipped over, straightening out and slamming feet first into a surprised Mercury, Blake right behind her.
Nora came down with a yell, shaking the ground as she swung Magnhild into it and used the momentum to propel herself towards Hazel. Ren landed in a roll and came back up with both barrels of Stormflower on full auto, focusing his fire on the much larger man.
Weiss was riding on the back of her Queen Lancer, shooting off Dust projectiles with her glyphs, keeping Salem and her subordinates busy with dodging and not with retaliating. Jaune circled to a landing with his shield in its glide function; when he landed, he immediately went after Emerald.
Emerald dodged his first attack and jumped back, focusing on Jaune. A smirk came over her face as Jaune froze, his own face taking on a haunted and shocked expression. Grinning, she began to circle around to attack, her semblance obviously at work.
"Weiss," Ruby said into her earpiece, "dilate me!"
With a flourish of Myrtlenaster, a black version of the Schnee family emblem appeared under Ruby, and the world slowed down. Hazel had caught Magnhild by the head and was twisting to throw Nora while bullets from Stormflower slowly struck him, fire and metal directed at him behind Ren's steely gaze. Mercury was in the middle of his break-dancing routine, just barely holding off Blake and Yang, the former letting a shadow clone take a projectile while looking for an opening, the latter simply letting the projectiles strike her and power her semblance.
Despite the plethora of targets for her to snipe at, Ruby focussed on Emerald as the most dangerous enemy besides Salem. Taking aim with Crescent Rose, Ruby fired shot after shot for as long as the time dilation glyph held up.
The result from outside of the glyph was a short, but near-constant stream of sniper rounds striking Emerald, draining her aura and distracting her from using her semblance. When the glyph wore out, Ruby could hear Emerald crying out as her aura flared wildly and she went down to one knee. She looked up only for Jaune's shield to slam into her face as he roared. Emerald's aura broke in a flash the same color as her hair and she collapsed to the ground.
"Emerald!" Mercury screamed, the moment of distraction allowing Yang to close the distance between them and clock him in the face. Before he could recover, Blake charged right through her last clone and struck from the side.
Seeing Emerald down and Mercury in trouble seemed to make Hazel angrier than usual. Roaring their names, he grabbed Nora and threw her at Ren, forcing him to stop firing and to catch her. From his pockets, he extracted two red Dust crystals and slammed them into his biceps. Instead of yellow lightning, crimson fire burst from his hands as his veins glowed red. His charge towards Blake, Yang, and Jaune was interrupted by another of Weiss' glyphs. With Emerald down, Jaune turned his attention to aiding his team against Hazel, while Weiss began helping Blake and Yang with taking down Mercury.
With her subordinates down or occupied, Ruby and Penny turned their attention to Salem. It was horrifyingly fascinating to watch as Salem got back to her feet, her bones reattaching and her flesh knitting itself back together from the high velocity impact of their first strike. It was strange to see her regenerative powers firsthand; usually when someone was hit that hard, their aura would take the damage and they would be fine, and someone without aura would be dead, no question.
Salem could suffer the exact same injuries as a normal person, but could heal from them no matter what. That was a problem if one was aiming to kill her. However, if the goal was to immobilize or delay her, that simply gave them more options. Very bloody, violent options….
"Penny, give her everything you've got," Ruby said, grinning maliciously.
"With pleasure, Ruby," Penny replied, Floating Array spinning around her.
"You think you can stop me?" Salem began as her wounds finished healing. "Ozma, your mother, and thousands have tried before you, and none of them have-"
She was abruptly caught off as a blast of cold hit her. When it dissipated, Salem was frozen solid in a huge chunk of ice, her face stuck in a look of surprise.
"None of them were us," Penny said, lowering her hands, her eyes two pillars of green flame.
Despite being frozen, Salem's expression took on an angry set. The ice began to first steam, and then to crack around its prisoner, heat glowing from her hands.
"Ruby, get ready," Penny said, Floating Array swirling around behind her and charging up as one big unit. "I'll hold her off for as long as you need."
"Give one for me," Ruby replied, collapsing Crescent Rose down into her compact mode. She wouldn't be needing it for this.
When the ice broke, and Salem emerged from the steam with a shriek of rage, Penny opened fire. A full-on blast from Floating Array was capable of slicing mantas in two. Against an aura-negative person, the results were to be expected.
Salem's lower half hit the ground, followed by the smoking remains of her forearms. Already, white flesh and bone began to grow rapidly from the blackened mess that was Salem's entrails. Rather than letting her regenerate fully, Penny launched an icicle from her hands, impaling Salem's lower torso and freezing it solid from the inside out. Another blast from Floating Array, and the frozen torso and forearms were shattered.
With Salem very much incapacitated, Ruby closed her eyes and began to remember what she wanted to save, to preserve, and to keep safe.
Team RWBY in their dorm. Weiss apologizing with a cup of coffee. Blake cheering them on with a RWBY flag. Yang encouraging her on the day of that Ursa attack. Team RWBY sitting on the ledge and looking out towards Vale in the aftermath of the Breach. Jaune and Pyrrha at the Prom. Team JNPR at the Vytal Tournament. Ruby greeting Uncle Qrow after his fight with Winter. Talking with Oscar in the training room. Maria mentoring her in Argus. Learning Penny's secret in Vale. Meeting with Team FNKI and learning of Flynt and Weiss' relationship. Training with the AceOps. And finally, her mother, standing at the cliff where her gravestone resided.
"Ruby, now!" Penny's voice came floating through the pleasant memories. "She's fully regenerated, do it now!"
Focusing on the mental image of Salem frozen as a statue forever, Ruby opened her eyes and let loose.
When the light finally died down, Salem stood there, her stony face frozen in a rictus of pain, fear, rage, and disbelief, one hand shielding her forehead, the other outstretched towards Ruby like she had been preparing to fire something off. It was a perfect representation of her, down to her individual hairs, blackened veins, and cape; after all, it was her.
"YES!" screamed Yang, followed by a loud thud and Mercury's cry of pain. "That's my little sister, bitches!"
Ruby turned around to find Mercury on his last legs against Blake, Weiss, and Yang, while Hazel's defense was buckling before the onslaught of Nora, Ren, and Jaune. Emerald showed no signs of getting up, and Salem, the cause of so much misery and death, was a chunk of stone, frozen for all eternity. Things were finally looking up for the first time since the rally.
"Ruby…" Penny's voice was hushed, not joyful with celebration. Ruby turned to find her staring at Salem's statue, Floating Array beginning to recharge.
Hoping beyond hope that Penny was just messing with her, Ruby turned to look back at Salem. Behind the shielding arm, a purple glow had appeared and was intensifying moment by moment. Cracks were spreading across her stone skin, spiraling outward from her forehead and over her face and shoulders. A sound was slowly rising, like someone was turning up the volume on an HV screen. It sounded like a scream.
Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose as hope died in her chest. Halfway through her weapon's transition from Storage Mode to Rifle, the stone exploded off of Salem, her shriek of outrage assaulting Ruby's ears while the bits and pieces of thin rock shattered against her Aura.
Wincing at the sonic onslaught, Ruby brought up Crescent Rose and fired off a shot, nailing Salem right in the cleavage window of her dress.
"Goddess!" screamed a voice that Ruby was hoping she'd never hear again.
She turned, bringing up Crescent Rose as a shield to avoid Tyrian Callows' arm-mounted blades. His usual psychopathic grin was replaced with a snarl of rage and hate as he pushed her back, howling.
"You will not desecrate our Goddess!" he screamed.
Ruby slipped into a cloud of roses, practically teleporting over and behind him like she had done in Ironwood's office. Crescent Rose shifted into its Scythe Mode, and Ruby swung around to slash at him, for real this time. Tyrian's new prosthetic tail curved up, catching the blade before it could reach him. He flexed it, pushing her back and spinning around to slash at her.
"I'm starting to understand why that crime boss in Vale had it out for you, 'Little Red'," he hissed as she parried him and slashed again.
Ruby was aware of Penny engaging Salem, circling her in the air, dodging Salem's multi-colored blasts of Magic and alternating between firing icy elemental attacks and Floating Array blasts.
"Everyone," she barked into the earpiece. "When you're done with your opponent-" She paused to turn into a cloud of roses, letting Tyrian's swipe go right through them and not her Aura and body. She reformed behind him and opened fire. "Help Penny!" she finished.
With Salem's immunity to being turned into stone also part of her regeneration ability, the only thing they could do was delay her and hope that the Atlesian military would come around and target her, wear her down and figure out a containment method in the meanwhile. The only other option was turning tail and running, and between Salem, the oncoming Grimm horde, and Mantle, that wasn't an option.
The fight between herself and Tyrian turned into something of a dance, the two of them dodging, parrying, and striking at each other with a synchronicity that belied the differences between the two of them. It had been a while since their first and last encounter in the abandoned village in Mistral, and she had been learning and training hard in that time. Back then, she, Nora, Ren, and Jaune had barely been able to hold him off together. Now, she was a match for him and judging from the frustration now on his face, he could tell, much to her satisfaction.
A yell from Penny distracted her, which almost resulted in Tyrian planting a blade in her chest. Ruby phased through it again and managed to get a hit in, sending the Scorpion Faunus back and giving her a moment to check up on her friend.
Penny had guided Salem away from the rest of them to keep their misses from hitting anyone, and to use stronger attacks on her. For a brand-new Maiden, that was a smart move, considering her lack of practice with her incredible new powers and what they were capable of.
To her horror, Penny was on the ground, struggling against a multitude of Grimm-like hands. She would freeze or blast one off, only for two to take its place.
"Ruby!" she yelled, struggling hard but futilely. "Somebody, please help me!"
Before Ruby could charge forward, her earpiece buzzed.
"Stay away from her, you bitch!" Maria's voice announced. The scream of missiles filled the air as Maria launched them from the manta. Salem looked up from Penny to just in time to catch one right in the face. Tyrian bellowed in outrage as the missiles detonated, converting Salem to a pulp.
With Salem a bloody mess on the tundra, her spell broke and Penny shot back into the sky, a trail of disintegrating Grimm hands in her wake. Ruby caught Tyrian off guard when she resumed her attack, getting in some good hits before he could gather himself and mount an adequate defense.
This was getting far too hairy. Where the hell was the military?
As Salem was reforming herself, Maria's manta swung back and began to perform another attack run. As she approached, an arrow wreathed in fire shot across the sky and struck one of the unfired missile batteries. They exploded, wreathing the cockpit in flames and putting the craft into a dive.
"NO!" Penny and Ruby both screamed in horror as they watched the manta spiraling down into a crash.
Penny's boot thrusters flared as she started to rocket towards them, only for a certain and very despised Fall Maiden to fly down and intercept her in mid-flight. Cinder carried Penny down to the ground, hitting it with a cry of pain.
"Penny!" Ruby began to shoot towards their landing site, only for a barrier of Grimm hands to shoot up out of a red-black vortex that had suddenly appeared in front of her. Ruby forcibly rematerialized as the hands somehow grabbed a hold of her. She found that she couldn't phase through them; they were somehow nullifying her Semblance, and her Aura, as their claws cut into her clothes and her skin. She tried to maneuver Crescent Rose so that she could cut them off, but her arm was quickly immobilized and her weapon pulled from her hand.
"No!" she cried, struggling desperately only for a hand to cover her mouth.
"Ruby!" She looked up to see everyone peeling off from their respective targets to rush towards her and Salem. "We're coming!" Yang called.
"Enough of this," Salem said in disgust as she came into Ruby's view. She raised a hand and a forest of Grimm hands shot up around them. Yang and Ren immediately opened fire into the grotesque mass of wriggling limbs, while Jaune and Blake set about cutting them, Nora with bashing them, and Weiss with shooting Dust projectiles at them.
Despite their efforts, more Grimm hands sprouted up their vortexes, overwhelming her sister, teammate, and friends. Salem raised her other hand and conjured up a black ball which shot a bolt of rainbow energy at Weiss' Queen Lancer, finishing it. Weiss fell through the resulting cloud of white and blue particles to land on a glyph, which was then struck by another bolt. She let out a shriek as she fell the rest of the way into a waiting swarm of hands.
"Cinder, dear!" Salem called out. "Kindly refrain from killing that toy, for now." She glanced down at Ruby, the annoyed and disgusted look on her face changing to the same condescending smile she had worn in Ironwood's office. "I'm going to need her alive for a moment."
Another manta settled down a short distance away, a single person dismounting from it and running towards them. With a shock, Ruby recognized her: It was Neopolitian, Torchwick's little ice-cream themed henchgirl, alive and well and looking livid.
She covered the distance between them rapidly. She slid to a stop in front of Ruby and pulled off the handle off her umbrella, revealing a short but wickedly sharp knife. With the other hand, she grabbed Ruby's head and craning it back, exposing her neck.
As Neo raised her knife, Ruby's heart almost stopped as she realized that she was about to die. The familiar bowler hat on her would-be killer's head explained her motive very well. Just as the knife was about to descend, its hand was arrested by one of Grimm. About a dozen more poked up out of the ground around Neo, their message clear.
"Whatever grudge you hold against her, it can wait a few minutes," Salem said, looking imperiously down at Neo, who stared back with wide eyes. "In aiding my Fall Maiden, you have come into my good graces, and trust me."
Her voice turned to iron and Ruby could see the Grimm hand tightening its grip on Neo's wrist. "You want to stay there," she finished.
Neo opened her hand, letting the blade fall out and stick into the cold ground. She raised both hands in a surrendering gesture, nodding her head rapidly.
Salem smiled and the Grimm hand let go, it and its brethren sinking down into the ground. "Very good," the Witch said, turning away from her.
Neo glared back down at Ruby, her eyes holding a deadly promise, before turning after her new boss. Great, now she had Torchwick's former sidekick as an adversary.
Cinder came into view, dragging Penny behind her. With her Grimm arm, she tossed Penny at Salem's feet, eliciting a cry of pain from the android. Salem gestured and she was immediately restrained under a mass of Grimm tentacle-hands. Mercury was next, supporting a weakened Emerald over one shoulder. Tyrian rushed by and prostrated himself at Salem's feet. Hazel was nowhere to be seen, and Ruby wondered for a short moment where he had gone off to.
"My Grace," Tyrian gushed to his "Goddess". "A thousand apologies for letting these heretics," he spat the word, "stand in your way and disrespect you so."
"It is alright, Tyrian," Salem replied, accepting his worship as normal. "Resistance was to be expected, though I didn't think it would be so soon and direct."
"My Queen." Cinder was kneeling next to Penny, her eye closed, head bowed, and Grimm arm across her chest in salute.
"Cinder," Salem said, giving her a strange smile. "When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you. So I trust," her smile disappeared, "that you wouldn't possibly return to me empty-handed."
In response, Cinder held up the Lamp in offering. "The Relic of Knowledge. I took it right from under Ironwood's nose."
"No," Ruby groaned, muffled by the hand over her mouth. She noticed Neo blink in surprise at Cinder before scowling and crossing her arms. No honor among thieves.
Tyrian looked like he wanted to say something, but Salem began before he could.
"And just as the key to unlocking its power fell right into our hands." She turned and began walking back to Ruby. Behind her, Emerald reached out to Cinder and called her name in excitement despite her condition.
"Quiet," was Cinder's only response to Emerald's concern. The look of hurt and disappointment that crossed the mint-haired girl's face brought a pang of sympathy to Ruby's heart, but only for a moment.
Salem gestured, and the arms holding Ruby shifted, twisting her up and around until she was on her knees before the Mistress of the Grimm. The hand over her face was removed, and she gasped for air after nearly suffocating through her nose.
"In Ironwood's office," Salem said, smiling down at her, "You said that the Lamp showed you everything about me, Ruby Rose. Now, tell me," she leaned down and her face hardened, "how do you use the Lamp."
Ruby spit in Salem's face.
"How dare you!?" hissed Tyrian, starting forward and bringing his fist back to strike Ruby with his blades. He stopped at Salem's signal to halt.
Disdainfully, she raised a hand and wiped the wad of saliva off her face, frowning at Ruby like she was a misbehaving child. "That was rude," she stated.
"Do your worst," Ruby snarled, "I'll die before I tell you that." She willed her eyes to glow silver and happy to see that particular ability still in effect. Salem didn't react, but Cinder flinched back.
"I believe you," Salem said after a moment. "That's why I'll do nothing to you." She straightened up, raised a hand, and snapped her fingers.
Immediately, screams of agony wrent the air. Ruby almost gave herself whiplash to see what was happening, and her heart leapt up into her throat.
Crimson electricity passed over the Grimm tentacle-arms and hands, shocking her sister, teammates, and friends. Their muscles constricted to the point that they were arching off the ground, their cries of pain and fear sending knives straight into Ruby's heart. Instead of lightning, Nora's restraints were glowing red hot, signifying great heat instead of electrocution. From her cries, it obviously hurt just as badly.
"Stop!" Ruby screamed. "Stop, I'll tell you! Just please stop hurting them!"
Another snap of Salem's fingers and the electricity and the heat disappeared, leaving them all heaving for breath and actually smoking. Ruby could see tears leaking from Yang's eyes; that must have been painful beyond belief.
"Now," Salem began again, "tell me: How does one use the Lamp?"
"Ruby, no," groaned Blake. "Don't tell her any-anything. It-it isn't that bad."
The other began chiming in, begging her not to talk. In response, Salem raised her hand and prepared to snap again.
"Jinn!" Ruby screamed in desperation. When Salem looked back at her questioningly, she continued, looking down at the ground. "Hold the Lamp and say the name 'Jinn'. It'll do the rest."
She kept her eyes downcast. She didn't want to see the others looking at her now that she had betrayed them. Not only them, but Oscar, Uncle Qrow, Mantle, Atlas, and all of Remnant. Maybe Ironwood and Harriet had been right about her.
"Thank you, my dear," Salem crooned. She reached down and forced Ruby to look up at her, cradling her face in her hands. "When your mother came to kill me, she ended up just like this. Well, not quite. She was defiant to the bitter end, when I gouged out her eyes…"
Salem's hands moved over Ruby's face, keeping her looking up while bringing her thumbs up to her eyes. Ruby couldn't help but focus on the sharp talons that Salem possessed instead of thumbnails, black as the Grimm and just as sharp as their claws, if not more so.
"After which I threw her from the highest window of my home to be devoured by Grimm. When I checked later, only her weapon remained. There was nothing left of her body, not even a speck of blood."
She flexed her thumbs, preparing to drive them into Ruby's eye sockets. "I keep your mother's weapon over my fireplace with all the other keepsakes from my dead enemies. I'll be certain to give yours the same honor after Torchwick's lackey and dear Tyrian have had their way with you."
Before Salem could follow through and gouge out Ruby's eyes, two things happened at the same time.
One, a sound like a gunshot, but with a strong, hollow brrr undertone, rang out from the side.
Two, Salem's head exploded.
I'll be adding more to this story, hopefully soon. I've got two other fanfics, one of which I've let sit for over a year now (shameful, I know) to write, so I'll probably have to start alternating in writing and posting them.
I hope that this has been an enjoyable read so far, and that you'll be coming back for more. Have a good one, everyone, take care, and happy reading!