"Hey, you. You're finally awake," a voice spoke as Cobalt did his best to open his eyes, but his head was throbbing with pain. Did someone hit him in the temple with something? "You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that White Fang ambush, same as us, and that thief over there."
"Lien is hard to come by these days," they said. Light flooded into Cobalt's eyes as he forced them open, the sky was red, unnerving him as he sat up slowly and let his equilibrium settle. There were two other people in the horse-pulled cart with him, all three of them had their wrists tied with twine. Cobalt had been laying in the middle of the two, Tawney was clearly the thief, she had her feet kicked up and was looking out at the dystopian cityscape where they were being taken down a beaten down alleyway that led to a secluded shelter of sorts.
"Was I trying to cross the border?" Cobalt asked him. "Everything is still a little bit fuzzy."
"I would assume as much," Xavier replied. "Being in this cart would mean you had to have been in that ambush."
"Quiet back there!" Orin yelled from up front. Xavier rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"Man, I was just trying to get out of the city," Xavier groaned. "I would have made it too if not for the fact that I was busy chasing her down. Lien's pretty much useless at this point anyway."
"Then why did you chase me to get it back?" Tawney shouted at him. "Should have just let me have it!"
"I said to quiet down!" Orin called back to them again. Cobalt shimmied over to the front of the cart and leaned forward.
"Where are we being taken to?" Cobalt asked him.
"How hard did they hit you in the head?" Orin asked looking ahead and stopping as two Fang members pulled open a large chain link fence. "This is the White Fang neighborhood of Vale and we're taking you to see Neela Jaeger."
"I know her!" Cobalt exclaimed. He sat back down relieved. Neela would be able to sort all of this out.
"I somehow doubt it," Orin insisted. The cart squeezed through the opening in the fence as Orin did his best to keep the horses calm, other members of the Fang rushing in to get a look at the captives and ask Orin how his trip was.
"Three more, huh?" Ivory asked as she glanced in the back. "At this rate, you might actually end up beating Crimson's record." Crimson rolled her eyes and chuckled as she moved to the back and threw the cart's tailgate open.
"As if," Crimson called out to the front. "Get out. Neela has no patience for humans."
"You don't have to do this," Xavier insisted. "You guys can look the other way and I will be out of Vale before you can even blink. I can give you all the lien in my pocket and all of the Dust that I have." Crimson laughed.
"Lien is useless, and we already confiscated your Dust," she remarked. She pulled them down off the wooden vehicle roughly and threw them to the ground, Xavier and Tawney landing on their feet while Cobalt planted onto his chest against the worn pavement. "Get up."
"What's going on!?" Cobalt demanded. "How does a guy go from sleeping in his warm, cozy, twin-sized bed in the dorms at Beacon, to being dragged through the sketchiest part of the city of Vale while absolutely nothing makes sense!"
You didn't actually think we'd get through Year 2 without a few fantasies, did you?
"Of course!" Cobalt blurted out, laughing maniacally. "It's you! That's the only way this would add up! Can't you just write things as they should be and stop toying with me!?" Crimson and Orin stared at him as he appeared to be arguing with himself.
"Maybe we should just kill him now?" Orin suggested. Crimson shook her head and lifted him up, ushering them past the corner of the two buildings.
"Mistress Neela is busy and doesn't have time for you to linger," Crimson informed them. Once they passed the dilapidated brick storefronts and horses, Cobalt could see the scene more clearly. The park and surrounding blocks were quarantined off using some combination of fencing or overturned vehicles, Faunus roamed the street in groups of at least two, a few dotted the tops of buildings keeping watch over the space. She pushed them further into the park.
Neela sat in the middle on a "throne" that was made up of car parts that had been scavenged and decided were useless, with the seat itself appearing to be made of crude stone that was carved into the shape, or poorly formed earth Dust, but Cobalt was inclined to believe the former. On Neela's left stood Ebony who glared at the three of them intensely without once saying a word, and on her right Athena, whispering something in Neela's ear that elicited a subtle smirk.
"Greetings," Neela finally spoke, her voice carrying much farther than seemed reasonable and the entire park grew silent. "Did you really think that you were going to escape the city? I'm asking honestly, I enjoy hearing the flawed reasoning of humans before I send them to their demise."
"Yeah, I did!" Xavier blurted. Neela stood and began heading down her throne towards them. "I ain't staying around here to become one of those mindless Children of Salem! Getting out of Vale is the only way to avoid her right now, I was going to make it to the safe house in Mistal!" Neela smiled and nodded.
"And who placed such an absurd notion in your mind?" Neela questioned pacing around them. "Because the last I checked, Salem's reach is infinite. There is no escaping her children now. You either join… or you die… there is no third option."
"Then how do you explain the Hunters in the woods to the south of the city?" Tawney asked her. Neela stopped and chuckled, placing a hand on her face.
"Is that where you came from?" Neela inquired.
"What? No!" Tawney exclaimed. "I don't even think they're really there. I rummaged around the countryside down there for months avoiding Grimm and Salem's Army, but I didn't find anything."
"Good," Neela informed her. She bit the fingernail on her thumb as she looked at them. "Now what to do with the three of you. There are really only two options from this point, and you escapee types hardly ever choose the high road. I might as well finish you off now and save Salem the trouble."
"What's our option aside from death?" Cobalt asked. Neela's face slipped into a confused expression as she stared past him before turning slightly to meet his eyes.
"Joining Salem's Army," Neela explained. "From what I've been told it's a rather painful experience that bleaches your skin like her own, and strips away all of your humanity. The only thing left is a husk that craves destruction and that bends to Salem's every whim."
"Is there a third option?" Cobalt requested. Neela rolled her eyes and waved him off.
"No." She flatly responded.
"I ain't sticking around for either of those things!" Xavier shouted as he struggled against the restraints on his hands and Ivory grappled him, driving him to his knees. "Just let me go! Let us all go! You're not in agreement with Salem, why are you even doing this?" Neela walked to him and tightly gripped his jaw.
"The Fang will do whatever they need to in order to survive," Neela whispered.
"Even listening to a human?" Xavier bit back. Neela shoved him back.
"She's hardly a human," Neela noted. "She's a monster."
"So then why not let us go?!" Xavier yelled. Neela rubbed the bridge of her nose as she stood up straight again.
"Shut up," Neela groaned.
"I've got too much to live for to become some kind of Grimm zombie, and I'm not going to die here or in the rest of the kingdom at Salem's hand," Xavier informed her.
"For the love of The Brothers, stop talking," Neela demanded rubbing her temples.
"You're just afraid of Salem too, right?" Xavier asked. "Join us in the south and we can fight her together!" He stared at her for a second, recognizing the fact that he made a terrible mistake.
"Join the humans in the south?" Neela spoke. "Join the humans in the south?! Those humans?! They're the real monsters here! What has Salem ever done compared to what you took from me!?"
"Mistress," Ebony interrupted.
"You know what," Neela stated, her chest heaving. "I've decided for you whether you're going to live or die." Her eyes narrowed and lit up. "I choose death!" Neela drew her sword, her body-swapping places with Athena at the last second as Athena's sword plunged deep into Xavier. Neela watched on wildly as she tried to regain her composure.
"Are you alright, Mistress?" Athena questioned as she wiped her blade off, Xavier's body collapsing to the ground. Neela nodded, her semblance deactivating as she looked at her hands.
"I lost my temper, I apologize," Neela softly replied.
"It was an understandable reaction," Athena offered. Their bodies swapped spots once again.
"Orin, please remove this human from my sight, he displeases me," Neela ordered.
"Right away, mistress," Orin said, rushing quickly in and dragging Xavier's corpse away.
"Anyone else have anything to say on the matter?" Neela inquired. Tawney and Cobalt exchanged glances, but neither of them was going to ask about what the southern humans did to her, even if she had piqued their interest. "Good. Silence translates to a willingness to cooperate."
"Did you see that?" A voice asked as a chill filled the air and footsteps could be heard coming towards them. From the first floor of one of the crumbling buildings came two figures from out of the dark, their skin white with red veins, the same as Salem. Cobalt recognized them immediately.
"It appears that they killed one of the captives," Natalia replied to Titus as the continued unchallenged towards Neela. They approached the throne, stopping just behind Cobalt and Tawney, with Natalia grabbing Tawney by the hair and yanking her back. "This one's in good shape."
"As was the other one," Titus noted, folding his arms. "They're not yours to kill."
"He was determined to choose death either way," Neela informed them. "I was simply making your jobs easier."
"Is that your call to make?" Natalia fired back. Neela gritted her teeth.
"Just take them and leave," Neela growled as she began to move back to her throne.
"Don't you feel you should be reprimanded for your behavior?" Titus questioned. "Besides, it is by Salem's will alone that all of you haven't been assimilated into her army." Titus paused for a moment, noting a young girl near Neela's throne, peeking out from behind it. "Who is this?" Neela noted Shadow and stepped between Titus and the girl.
"I've adopted her as my sister," Neela informed him. "We found her in the no man's zone between the city and those rogues in the south. She said that her family had been killed and she was badly injured in a building that was close to collapsing."
"A shame really, but no matter how sad that story might seem to all of you, is she on the registry?" Titus asked. "Any unregistered Faunus within these confines is subject to detainment by our army, and I don't recall you having any available roster openings."
"Afraid of what would happen if there's too many of us?" Neela chuckled with a smirk.
"We do not feel fear," Natalia explained. "It is a formality that we ask, part of the agreement that you made with our Queen. If you have more than the roster allows then our deal is off, and your precious 'family' must assimilate into Salem's Army."
"Ebony!" Neela shouted, glaring at the two military members the entire time. "Fetch the registry, if you would." Ebony nodded and sprinted off towards one of the buildings, arguing with a few of the men that watched over all of the things that were to be kept safe, threatening to kill one of them if he didn't hand it over to her immediately. "Will you be on your way once I prove to you that she can be here?"
"Of course," Natalia assured her. "We have better things to do than to waste our day here."
"We'll even let you keep the humans," Titus added. Neela exhaled hard, they didn't care that she killed Xavier, they simply wanted a reason to check her roster.
"Here it is, Mistress!" Ebony declared handing it over to Neela who took it for a moment and viewed the contents.
"Thank you," Neela replied as she handed the document over to the two in front of her. Neela's eyes lit up and she glanced at them, backflipping away as both of their heads were suddenly removed by some sort of invisible force. Gasps and screams filled the air as they all looked around, hands grasping weapons as they prepared to fight. "Stay alert!"
"What was that?!" Cobalt demanded as he glanced at Tawney who was frantically looking to and fro.
"I admire your resolve," a voice thundered through the confines. "You knew that she wasn't on the roster but you handed it over all the same. What was your plan after that? Was it the same as mine? The officers can't be killed, you know? Much like Salem, they would have to have the destruction purged out of them, in a few minutes they'll reattach their heads and be a little more than upset with you."
"Show yourself," Neela demanded as she slowly paced, keeping her back to Shadow to make sure the girl stayed safe. A cloaked figure walked through the front gate, throwing back her hood before flashing her signature smile.
"Hey, Little Hawk," Eliana spoke. Cobalt's eyes lit up.
"Yes! Brilliant! Perfect!" Cobalt exclaimed.
"Elli…" Neela managed, her eyes filled with wonder. Cobalt glanced at the two of them.
"It just feels right, you know?" Cobalt said to Tawney. She looked at him, confused.
"You really are new here, aren't you?" She shot back.
"Huh?" Cobalt inquired. Neela's eyes filled with rage as she shoved past Cobalt and approached Eliana.
"Lower your weapons!" Neela commanded. "This one's mine."
"Is that how you thank me for saving your life?" Eliana asked her.
"Are you here to finish this?" Neela growled. "Because I don't know why else you would be stupid enough to walk into my home after what your father did to me!"
"It was self-defense, your parents attacked first!" Eliana rebutted.
"He shouldn't have been in White Fang territory!" Neela shouted.
"Maybe the White Fang shouldn't be so quick on the draw!" Eliana yelled louder.
"Mistress…" Athena spoke loudly enough for Neela to hear.
"No!" Neela called back, glaring daggers at her. "This one is mine to kill!"
"This is not how I saw this going down in my head," Cobalt noted.
"We don't have to do this," Eliana informed her. "If we joined forces we could work together to take down Salem!"
"There is no taking down Salem," Neela bit. "You said before that something would have to purge the darkness out of her, but ever since she was resurrected there hasn't been any word or sign of Ruby Rose still being alive. Don't you think she would have come by now if she was?"
"Fine," Eliana dismissed her. "I'll be taking Xavier and leaving."
"He's dead, and you aren't going anywhere," Neela stated.
"Don't do this," Eliana pled.
"I don't want anyone to interfere with this fight," Neela roared out to her followers. "Just you and me now."
"I guess it is," Eliana admitted sadly. Neela activated her semblance, her eyes lighting up as she removed her sword and brought it down on Eliana but it glanced off of one of her forcefields. Neela slid back, loading an arrow and firing it, watching it explode between the two of them as Eliana had shot it out of the air.
"As surreal as this is, and fun to watch it might be, now's probably the best time for you and me to high tail it out of here," Cobalt suggested as he began sneaking away on his knees. "This would be so much easier if I could stand."
"What will you do once Salem's followers put themselves back together?" Eliana inquired. One of her forcefields managed to glance off of Neela's arm, giving her a surface cut that was quite noticeable. Neela looked at her in shock, though she blocked the next several attacks. "So despite that ability, some attacks are still unavoidable, huh?"
"We will help if we need to!" Crimson shouted out.
"No!" Neela huffed, trying to find an opening to go on the offensive. "I would rather die if I have to, I wouldn't forgive myself if one of you had to assist me!"
"It's dangerous to be that way," Eliana noted. "If it's really that important to you to kill me, let them all come at me at once." Neela stared for a moment before charging at her and repeatedly slashing her sword against Eliana's forcefield.
"What are you playing at!?" Neela yelled. "Do you want to die?"
"My dying will satisfy your lust for death and revenge, but it won't bring back your parents or my father, and will ultimately lead to the entire kingdom being overrun by Salem," Eliana explained. "There will be no one to lead the south and once I'm out of the way and Salem takes my people, you're the only thing preventing her from having the rest of Vale for herself."
"We have an agreement," Neela huffed, finally managing to breakthrough. Eliana sidestepped and hit her with an electric rod attached to her pistols. Neela squirmed and stumbled away.
"Who will there be left to turn in trying to cross the border?" Eliana asked. Neela stopped and looked her over. "No one."
"It… it doesn't matter, we can take her!" Neela announced. Her followers cheered.
"Can you? By yourselves? We can add to your numbers, Neela," Eliana tried to convince her. "You don't have to agree with us, just tolerate us long enough to stop her here and help us find Ruby so she can bring an end to all of this." Cobalt stopped his escape for a moment to watch and Tawney bumped into him.
"Keep moving," Tawney demanded.
"Wait," Cobalt noted. He watched Eliana and Neela standing across from each other.
"I…" Neela began. She sheathed her sword. "Once this is all done, I will kill you." Eliana smiled and nodded.
"Sure," Eliana replied warmly. Out of the corner of his eye, Cobalt saw Crimson charging towards the two of them with her weapon drawn.
"No!" Cobalt shouted. This is a dream, right?
Yeah…?
"Za Warudo!" Cobalt shouted. One second has passed… two seconds have passed… "Why is she still moving?"
I mean it is a dream, but you're just kind of in the backseat right now…
"Eliana, watch out!" Cobalt shouted. Neela stopped Crimson short of reaching her target. "Oh thank goodness." Without warning, Athena swapped spots with Neela and ran Eliana clean through with her blade. "OH MY GOD!"
"Athena, Crimson…" Neela began. "What do you think you're doing?"
"She had somehow fooled you with her silver tongue," Athena replied.
"We had to protect you," Crimson added.
"And you explicitly did what I told you not to…" Neela spoke. She slowly approached them, seeming calm. She stopped short as movement caught her eye and Shadow yelled to her.
"Sissy!" Shadow called. Neela looked back, noting that Titus and Natalia were reattaching their heads to their bodies.
"Did you see what happened?" Titus asked.
"No, but it was quite annoying," Natalia replied.
"I feel as though they've betrayed Salem's agreement," Titus noted.
"It would seem so," Natalia agreed.
"So it begins?" Titus questioned. Natalia nodded as they both knelt.
"Die." The two placed their hands on the ground, a pool of black tar forming beneath them as Grimm started to crawl out at an uncanny rate.
"Bad!" Cobalt shouted. Titus stood, marching over to Shadow before Neela could reach him and grappling her.
"We'll be taking her as reparation," Titus stated. His body was shrouded in dark black flames before he disappeared.
"Shadow!" Neela shouted. She charged Natalia who pulled her arm back and used her semblance to crack Neela's ribs while also breaking her aura. Crimson and Athena charged her immediately only to be impaled by large dark crystals, effectively killing them immediately. Ebony shrouded Natalia within her sphere as she sprinted to Neela and tried to help her up.
"We have to get you out of here," Ebony instructed.
"I can't leave without Shadow," Neela grunted, managing to find her feet but seething in pain the entire time.
"She's gone already, we need to save face!" Ebony informed her. Orin and Ivory flew in towards Natalia as the sphere broke.
"Salem's power knows no bounds!" Natalia thundered. Some of the other members fought off Grimm as they tried to clear a path for Neela to leave.
"Go, Mistress!" They yelled to her.
"Shadow!" Neela shouted again.
"Well this couldn't get any worse," Cobalt stated. There was a crack of thunder and lightning behind him and he turned around slowly to find Salem looming over him.
"Can't it?" She asked.
"Mommy…" He whimpered.
"I have got to lay off on eating before bed from now on," Cobalt noted as he walked through the breakfast line with Tawney, collecting food on their trays. "Haven't had one of those crazy dreams in quite some time. Then, last night, I had a peanut butter sandwich before bed, and wham! Crazy dream."
"What happened after Salem showed up?" Tawney asked. He gave her a sideways look. "What?"
"Out of all of the dreams that I've had, this one piqued your interest?" Cobalt questioned.
"Yeah," she said with a shrug. "It was solid enough in concept." He smirked and nodded.
"It was pretty good, but sadly that was the end of it," he informed her. She picked up an apple and took a bite out of it, chewing on it for a few seconds before stepping out of the line far enough that she could throw it into the trash can at the end of the kitchen. "What was that all about!?"
"Wasn't sure if I wanted an apple or not," Tawney told him.
"I wonder about you sometimes," Cobalt sighed as he placed bacon onto his tray.
"And here we are wondering about you all the time," she snickered. He rolled his eyes and shook his head as he took a piece of toast and watched her do the same, putting it up to her mouth instead. He grabbed her wrist.
"If you don't want that one, just give it to me instead of tossing it across the room," he instructed. She stared at him for a long moment and nodded.
"Okay," she replied.
"Did you hear that Team NITE had themselves quite the time last night?" Cobalt asked her as they grabbed their milk and made their way to the guys' table.
"I don't want to talk about it," Tawney grumbled. "We never get to do anything like they do and it really chafes me." They sat down, Cobalt noting Lykos but also acknowledging that Titus was nowhere to be found.
"Where's the big guy?" Cobalt questioned.
"Having breakfast with Natalia," Lykos said without looking up from his scroll. Cobalt and Tawney looked at each other before looking back at him.
"Great, another couple," Tawney groaned.
"Since when are you on your scroll so much?" Cobalt inquired. Lykos chuckled and put it away.
"I'm not, just had a message from Bái that I needed to answer," Lykos explained. Tawney groaned again.
"No one is stopping you from finding a significant other," Cobalt told her. She glanced up at him and tossed her toast onto his tray.
"I know, just waited for the right person, you know?" She told him. In unison, all of their scrolls went off. Cobalt glanced at them before taking his out and checking it.
"Apparently Coco and Nora want to see us once breakfast is over," Cobalt said. "Something about a field mission…"
"Field mission!? Like off-campus?! Outside of Vale city limits!?" Tawney exclaimed. Cobalt shrugged.
"Possibly?" He suggested.
"Where are the ladies sitting, I'm gonna go rub it in Neela's face!" Tawney stated as she stood, nearly knocking over Lykos's milk.
"Bái and Ilia are over there, not sure where Neela is, apparently Glynda needed to see her this morning," Lykos offered. Tawney sat back down and slammed her tray.
"Dammit!" Tawney shouted.
"Can we sit with you guys?" Xavier asked, approaching Cobalt. Cobalt looked at him and Yin and nodded.
"Sure, why not?" Cobalt said.
"He's hiding," Yin laughed.
"When have you ever known me to hide?" Xavier grumbled.
"Then why aren't we sitting with Nat?" Yin asked.
"Titus is over there with her and there isn't that much room, to begin with," Xavier stated.
"But Orin isn't there this morning, it would be the same amount of room," Yin explained.
"Maybe I just want to meet some of the first years," Xavier suggested.
"Vincent's here," Yin told him. Xavier sat straight up and glanced around. "Sure you're not hiding?"
"Yin, come on man," Xavier said.
"What's actually happening here?" Cobalt inquired.
"X tried to make a move on Ilia," Xavier explained shoving a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
"Not what happened," Xavier stated.
"What happened then?" Tawney asked.
"I offered to walk with her back to the dorms, but I think she might have taken it the wrong way… or someone else did…" Xavier detailed.
"What are you talking about?" Yin questioned.
"I've been hearing it circulating around the halls," Yin mentioned.
"I heard you tried to hit on Ilia last night," Vincent said standing behind them with Rowan.
"He didn't," Lykos spoke up shocking the others. "Back off."
"Wasn't addressing you," Vincent fired back. Lykos smirked and stood up.
"He offered to walk her back to the dorms," Lykos clarified. "You'd rather that she walked alone in the dark?" Vincent stared at him for a long moment.
"Why don't you stay out of it?" Vincent asked, putting his hand on Xavier's shoulder.
"So you would rather she walked alone in the dark?" Xavier inquired.
"You should probably answer the question," Yin suggested.
"Don't talk to her again," Vincent demanded.
"You sound pretty insecure," Yin replied. Rowan and Vincent glanced at each other.
"What?" Vincent inquired.
"You don't trust her to talk to other guys?" Xavier repeated. Vincent pulled him to his feet.
"Just not you, asshole!" Vincent shouted. Ilia looked up from her breakfast to see what was going on and moved quickly.
"Vin!" Ilia yelled before he managed to land a blow in Xavier's stomach.
"There was a meta-joke here in the original edit," Cobalt said to himself. "And I'm under the impression the author is going to forget to mention it in his notes this week."
"Ilia!" He exclaimed smiling and shoving Xavier away. "I was just coming in to have breakfast with you."
"He only offered to walk me back to the dorms, there was nothing to it," Ilia told him, dragging him away. "Leave him alone." Rowan looked at them all before shrugging and leaving, heading out the way he came in.
"Thanks," Xavier told Lykos.
"Don't mention it," Lykos replied.
"I'm guessing today is going to be pretty crazy," Cobalt stated, taking another bite of his breakfast.
Another crazy Cobalt fantasy. Cobalt's only half right. There was a meta-joke, but since I wrote it nearly a year ago and it was conditional on the fact that I had the names of two characters accidentally swapped in the scene, I removed it and I don't recall what it was. Next week, Chapter 19: Shower!
A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!