Chapter 53 - Dark Plots
There was a rocky, desolate landmass at the edge of the world. The colors of the sky didn't seem right and only got worse the further inward you went, the sun's light fading and replaced by a reddish sky. Jagged rocks jutted out of the ground, menacing enough on their own without the numerous Grimm that surrounded the place. It seemed like a sea of them, the mass of black bodies parting for her entrance.
She'd been worried at first, that she wouldn't be able to get close enough to Salem without Cinder, which was why she hadn't flown her stolen airship all the way to the incongruous mansion at the center, but it seemed she didn't need to worry. Emboldened, she ran forward, desperate to tell the witch of what had happened.
Emerald burst through the doors to the mansion. "Salem!" The pale woman was already waving at her to sit down. She tried to resist at first but then some Seers came in pushing plates of food and glasses of water in front of her.
"Sit. I need to hear from you, but you look exhausted." Emerald's body couldn't help but agree, grumbling loudly at the sign of the food there. "Tell me your tale as you eat."
She reluctantly agreed, stuffing a few mouthfuls into her mouth first then saying "It- it all went wrong. Cinder, she-" tears threatened to come forward. She had cried so much already, but recalling it still hurt. They'd had a plan and it could have worked, but everything went wrong. "She's dead. Raven pretended to work with us, then betrayed us the instant the hunters attacked. Did Lionheart let them know we were there?"
"I haven't heard from him. In fact, you're the first of my servants to have returned at all, everything else I've learned has been rumors and speculation."
"What? Did they- nobody else came? Does that mean Watts and... Mercury?" The immortal woman looked pensive, not denying or confirming it. "I was thrown to an island near Vale of all places, how could the rest of them not be back yet?"
"Ozpin's minions are not above doing dirty work, despite what he may profess. I fear for their loss, though I have word that Hazel is returning soon. You were sent to Vale- ah, Raven's semblance I take it?"
"Yeah, she opened up this portal thing and threw me in after her Maiden killed Cinder. She didn't stop Ruby from using her Silver Eyes either, I think she might have even forced it to hurt us. Salem please, let me kill them. They took Cinder away from me and-"
"Peace, child. I will support your vengeance, they've taken her from me as well. But the winds are changing, and we'll need to properly prepare our vengeance. Rest up for now, we'll talk more on my plans when the others arrive." She glided away in a fashion that Emerald might have found unnerving a few weeks ago. It didn't bother her now, not the mistress of the Grimm or her creepy castle, all she could focus on was Raven and Pyrrha.
With a bit of rest and food, Emerald was feeling better. She had admitted (under Salem's prompting) that she had pushed herself too far. Escaping that man had been easy, Taiyang (as she found out later from Salem) had been more confused than anything and mostly wondering if she was alright, but as he sought her out he used a surprisingly adept dog to track her. Shaking that trail had been some work, but she was a skilled thief, and once she had an airship getting to the Grimmlands hadn't been difficult.
Waiting was hard. Growing up on the streets, she knew if she saw something shiny, something tasty, she had to grab it then and there, or it'd be gone forever, and vengeance was the sweetest, brightest passion she had ever felt, aside from being close to Cinder herself. Salem kept preaching patience but it was so difficult that she wondered sometimes if the immortal woman still wanted it, until she looked in her eyes. They were pits of pure hatred, that showed an unending rage that had lasted for millennia and still burned strong.
Her new mistress started teaching her things to fill her days. About the world and what was going on, and the different types of Grimm. Nothing on how to control them yet, but tips on how to understand the slight differences in their instincts, how they 'felt' as soulless, destruction obsessed beasts. She felt like the control would be coming soon too. Part of her dreaded that for the pain it would take, the arduous process to learn that, but also for the fact that she was taking all the lessons meant for Cinder. There was nothing that could be done for it though, so she resolved herself to do the best she could in the former Fall Maiden's place.
Vale was beginning to finish it's reclaiming process. The Battle of Beacon had been long and fully pushing the Grimm out of the city was difficult, but unfortunately it looked like a forgone conclusion. There was word that Beacon would be back and running soon under Glynda Goodwitch, all of which meant there was far more security around the city than Salem would like. Emerald wasn't a master thief for nothing (a memory that actually kinda stung a bit, thinking that he was gone, and the others might now be-), so she felt she might be able to sneak in, but agreed that it wasn't where they needed to focus on now.
She was taken out of her thoughts by the Grimm all around and outside turning to face the main entrance suddenly. Someone had arrived.
Rushing out ahead, she saw Hazel kneeling before Salem, addressing her with a couple dozen or so people milling around behind him. She even recognized one of them, though not one of the people she expected to be there.
"You!" She shouted, pointing at the former gladiator. He winced and looked terrified, pulling a small old lady with prosthetic eyes that looked a bit like googles behind him, though she seemed ready to defend him instead, as frail as was with her little walking stick.
"Salem, that's one of Ozpin's people that fought us at the camp." The immortal woman turned slowly to look down at her kneeling minion, a cruel thin facsimile of a smile on her face.
"Oh? You lost Mercury and Watts, but bring an enemy into my home?" Viridian stepped forward bowing deeply before her.
"I swear, I didn't know about anything Pyrrha was up to or who she was working with, I was just helping a friend! Don't hurt me or my grandmother." The witch seemed more curious at his grandmother than him, gazing at the old woman who despite a tremble still stared up somewhat defiantly at her, as if trying to place where she recalled her from. "We didn't know the truth, about getting tricked by Ozma into joining his futile forever war." At the mention of her former lover's true name, Salem froze for a solid second, her stare becoming icy as she snapped back to the tournament fighter.
"Explain." She demanded and Hazel rose, beginning to recount the tale of Haven.
"So, it looks like our game has moved to the next stage" Salem mused, sitting at her throne. Everyone but Hazel and Emerald had been dismissed after she had heard the tale of the few who had followed Hazel. Viridian (the tournament fighter) had begged for safety for himself and his aged grandmother, claiming that he didn't want to fight against her, which Emerald could understand; trying to fight against Salem would be foolish, and more than a little different than fighting some bandit which is supposedly what Pyrrha first sold him on.
"All of Remnant must know of our existence by now" she continued. "I doubt even if Ozma and I worked together at such a purpose we could conceal such a fact." Learning how the truth had been revealed seemed to hit Salem hard, or as hard as anything had ever affected the immortal woman. Even the death of Cinder had been shown to have some sorrow, but death obviously wasn't unexpected for someone who had lived eons. This? Didn't quite take the wind out of her sails, but she appeared more pensive than Emerald had ever remembered seeing her.
"At least the reveal has been almost as damaging to Ozma as it has to myself. I had plans on how to disseminate information that could damage his credibility if he ever told the world the truth, shatter their trust in him, but we were both caught off guard by someone else revealing it. I wonder if it's even worth the time and effort now to try and discredit him more than the rumors already do."
"So, it's all true then?" Emerald asked nervously. Magic and Maidens were one thing, even the Gods leaving behind Relics was something she could at least understand in the abstract (and in the practical, gathering people with skills to help break a treasure out of a Vault was a very easy concept for her to wrap her head around), but this was another. The entire world having magic before? A whole moon? Salem was married to her archenemy? Such concepts seemed so foreign to her that she had to at least confirm it.
The old woman slowly nodded. "Yes, it's all true. Our past does not change anything, however. Ozma will remain my enemy in any form he takes, and him and his minions must be stopped. I will wish to debrief with you further, Hazel. There are mistakes he has made that I may not know of or could use hearing in greater detail."
"Of course. Is there anything else we should discuss now, moving forward? Or should we wait for Tyrian?" Hazel asked, his question making her wonder where the scorpion man was (not that Emerald was complaining about not seeing that psycho about since she got back).
"Luckily, Watts finished his work on Tyrian's new tail, so he's already out, setting the stage in Atlas. I may need to adjust a few pieces, but I'll start more work in earnest there."
"But-" Emerald stopped as she realized she'd spoken aloud and Salem looked at her. Gulping, she continued. "Shouldn't we take the fight over to Mistral? Everything's in disarray over there, we could take advantage of it and-"
"Get revenge, yes. I'd thought of it, but I fear that would be too presumptuous. Mistral's illusions of safety have been shattered, but they've also begun preparing themselves to fight. If I pressed now, with nothing to work with but the armies of Grimm, they would likely band together, and united, mankind can present a formidable threat."
"They seem to hate each other greatly. Are you sure they would really be so eager to work back with one another?" Hazel asked respectfully. She gave a sad smile in response.
"I've seen the actions of mortals for longer than nearly anyone can remember, and this is a pattern played out many times over. Enemies that bitterly hated each other for ages, putting aside those differences and coming together, stronger than ever after my Grimm attacked. We'll need more than this small betrayal to break any chance in them working together, and I don't have enough pieces in play with how things are shifting there."
"Are- are we at least going to try and get Watts and Mercury back?"
The ageless witch glanced over at her, considered the question before shaking her head. "No. Perhaps in the chaos they let Hazel leave, or didn't have the means to chase after you, but Mercury has made his choice and they won't be so careless with Watts. If he hasn't already been slain, they'll use him as a trap to snare more of my servants, and I can't afford to lose you in such an attempt, no matter how skilled you are." The praise was nice, but felt more pointedly in how little had been shown to Hazel throughout.
"Have I done something to displease you? Salem, it was a difficult situation, but I did the best I could. I brought people who can help you, away from Ozpin or Raven's forces" Hazel argued.
"Did you now? The best you could for me, or the best you could for your own goals. These people, refugees, are not capable like you, not new, willing allies to the cause. Perhaps a few former warriors like Viridian and the few hunter students that left will help, but they are young and untempered. I wonder if you truly saved them for myself and not out of your own pity. Remember not to place your own desires above mine." Her tone was light, but the warning rang out heavily, and Hazel bowed his head.
"I understand. I do still have contacts, within the White Fang. Not all of them turned away to the Spring Maiden or Oz's forces."
"The White Fang has lost it's former glory, my sources already revealed it's splintered into dozens of separate factions. Still, this Adam Taurus remains alive and in charge of his own group?" Hazel nodded. "He may be of some use then. Go, contact him and bring him before me. We'll need to be working closer together in the future and I may have some use for them in Atlas and Menagerie."
"I- I think I could convince Mercury to come back" Emerald blurted out. "He was scared and alone back at Haven without me or Cinder, if I could talk to him-" She paused as Salem simply raised a hand.
"Do I want servants who turn on me the second their fortunes change? He still should have been more than aware of my power, of where his loyalties should lie, yet he choose the frightened Spring Maiden over myself. That woman... I hadn't expected her, of all of former Team STRQ to be so problematic" she mused, more to herself than Emerald. "No, I shall make my displeasure with him very clear, in time."
"But Salem-"
"He turned against you, remember? Joining the woman who helped orchestrate Cinder's demise? No sign of him searching for you either." It hurt, to know that her frie- her partner had abandoned her after Cinder had been lost, but she couldn't do anything else but accept the truth of Salem's words. "Still, I will try to give you a chance at some point to 'talk' to him. Convince him to rejoin us. Perhaps with some knowledge of the inner workings of the Branwen tribe will make up for his desertion here. If not though, then he will have made his choice clearly, and I expect you to be the one to finish him for abandoning our cause so."
"I- I understand." If he truly wanted to betray Cinder's memories like that, then he'd get what he deserved, her blades in his back. Still, she wanted to hope that he'd see the right side of things. "Should I infiltrate the people leaving Mistral. They have to be vulnerable, marching through the wilderness."
"No. You could do well, but without backup you may get caught, and such a job may be better suited to Tyrian's talents in any case. For now we'll be directing our attention away from Anima and on to Solitas. I can't afford to divide our efforts on Ozma's little group of refugees. And to deal with Atlas and it's vaunted 'security', I'll need a new scientist."
"Do you have someone in mind?" Hazel asked.
"Yes. My Grimm have been out gathering intelligence and I think I've stumbled across quite the interesting fellow." A seer floated in and with the wave of a hand, the smoke swirled within it to show off a logo of a stylized 'M' within a hexagon. "Much like Doctor Watts, he was presumed dead for some time, but I think Merlot will be an excellent addition to our group." Emerald couldn't tell why, but for some reason, that name sent a set of chills down her back.
A/N: So work is still busy, but I've got the next chapter up. Just a small look at what Salem's crew is doing and some hints of things to come before we go back to Ruby and Pyrrha. As a side note, not everything about the characters will be the same as canon in the story, seeing as some details came after Volume 6, which is when I'd plotted out this fic, so while i'll take some elements of volume 7 and onwards, not everything will be exactly the same. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!