Author's Headnote: Well, the chapter has started, I promise I'll not slack off on it and just play XCOM2 all day. God damn that game is addicting. So here we are, the first intermission. What? You think I'd dive into volume two right now? Oh no no, this chapter will be dedicated to two perspectives of three separate groups of people who seem interested in Ruby, none of which don't know about Ruby's vampirism. Of course, I am referring to Cinder and her lackeys and Ozpin and his little society. More will be discussed about the duke in future chapters, need to build up the why. I'm not sure if this would defeat the purpose of Suspense, but it may add some dramatic irony.
And the question on Ruby's strength is a tough one. I'd go into how strong she is, but I don't want to spoil it. But I'll say she's stronger than Yang if Yang's semblance is not put in the equation. From what I think, her semblance seems to turn damage into a temporary strength boost that lasts during combat. And that would be a whole can of worms right there.
Anyways, without ado, lets get into the dramatic irony.
RWBY: Festival of Blood: Intermission: A Strange Turn of Events
City of Vale, 6:00 PM, Saturday, Industrial District (1 day ago)
It was quiet in the hideout. It is a simple unused warehouse inside the Industrial District. Thankfully, due to the incompetence of the police, the White Fang can operate here safely because they aren't seen in public, but they basically control this part of Vale.
The sun is setting and Mercury and Emerald have dealt with Tukson... discreetly, and have headed back to give a report on it. Although Roman doesn't appear to be in a good mood, and Adam is here... what the heck happened and why does it feel like these two are out of the loop on some events. They decide to listen in on the conversation to see what exactly those two are arguing about. Hopefully not something so petty this time.
"How many times have I told you, Roman? I did not plan an assassination on the Queen of Vale. I'm not stupid enough to get the entire kingdom to come after me!" Adam said.
"Well, clearly someone did!" Roman complained.
"I would remember calling a hit on someone who is that important!"
"Just make sure they get back up into shape! It's hard to work with mooks like these!"
"And you can't complain about my troops, since you almost got caught in your own planned heist on the largest dust bank in Vale!"
"I keep telling you, I've been set up!"
"No one is that crazy prepared for a robbery."
"And didn't your expansion attempt in downtown got thwarted?"
"I don't know how, but it must have been a professional huntsman, no living being can remain conscious being exposed to sleeping gas"
"they remained conscious being exposed to sleeping gas?"
"Yes, that's what my troops told me."
Assassination attempts? Staged robbery thwart? Expansion stopped by a professional huntsman who's immune to sleeping gas? this is all news to these two. It didn't take long until one of them interrupted and decided to intervene in their conversation. If they are going to find out about what exactly happened. This is how they are going to do it.
"Sorry to interrupt but what exactly is going on?" Mercury asked.
"Great, she's sent the kids. Maybe she can explain what happened on Monday night!" Roman yelled.
"Eurgh. Please don't make me picture you procreate." Mercury complained.
"What exactly happened on Monday?" Emerald asked.
"You mean you don't know!?" Roman retorted.
"A Grimm attacked some of my soldiers Monday night, care to explain?" Adam asked.
"That's odd. We've made sure they won't attack your troops." Emerald said.
"Well something is going on." Roman yelled.
Within all the bickering, Cinder showed up. And she does not look like she's in a good mood. Of course, with a grimm attacking the white fang, she wouldn't be in a good mood. Of course, her short temper ended up having a White Fang mook getting burned alive. Clearly there needs to be an explanation unless someone gets singed again. Emerald and Mercury are kind of nervous at this. She's usually never this angry. Which means something happened.
"Did I hear that correctly? A grimm attacked members of the White Fang." Cinder asked, twitching her eye.
"Yes, apparently it's a 'nostferatu'." Adam said.
"And can you tame it? We can't have city roaming grimm messing with our plans." Roman complained.
"A nostferatu, you say?" Cinder asked.
"Yes, that is what I've said. Is that a problem?" Adam asked.
"No, actually. It's actually good news. But on a different topic, have you dealt with Tukson, Roman?"
"We have, actually. He wasn't doing it so we had to do it ourselves." Mercury said.
"Well. It seems that I need to lecture the three of you." Cinder stated. "First off, Roman. When I tell you to do a job, I expect you to do it, not rob a large dust bank! Second, when I tell you two to lay low. You better lay low and do as I say. Do I make myself clear?" She demanded.
"Yes ma'am." The three of them said with a fear of being burned alive.
"Great, now that the lectures are out of the way. Let's discuss this vampire problem we have on our hands." Cinder stated.
"Excuse me, did you just say... vampire?" Roman asked.
"Yes. I did. I'll fill you in on it. Let me tell you a story about the Duke of Bloodshire."
Beacon Academy, 6:00 PM, Saturday, Ozpin's Office (1 day ago)
Ozpin was going over notes about the events that have occurred within the last week. Nothing out of the ordinary until around 6:00 PM on Monday. The Beacon Blackout. He did check the security footage to find the culprit, but it appears the cameras were forced offline around 5:30 PM. Which means whoever this perp is has to be one of the staff, or a very cunning student. He does know that young miss Rose had left Beacon around 6:30 PM. Although if she was the culprit, she would have left the scene way sooner. Not to mention she came back around at 1:00 Am wearing a bandanna. Security footage also has caught her training, tinkering, and other stuff during the night. But is completely absent during the day. He also takes notice that her semblance has been in fact, altered.
Could she be? No. She can't be. She's a bit too clever to be turned by a vampire. Besides, even if she was a vampire, she's not suicidal to attend an academy without night classes. Yet again, she is not the kind to give up, no matter the circumstances. But vampirism isn't like losing an arm or a leg. Or having a mental or physical scar. It's something much more severe. Vampires have always ended up striking down on people and drinking their blood for nourishment, sometimes going as far as to killing them. Thankfully, once Ozpin found out about these vampires, he had established a secret group of huntsmen and huntresses dedicated solely to hunt down and slay vampires. And clearly there is need of them now, given reports of the vampire attacks. Of course, the public doesn't know about vampires, nor should they. However, Ozpin is not the kind to speculate about anyone being a vampire.
He's dealt with the results of Salem's 'experiment', or so to put it. many times before in Vale during his previous cycles. The Duke of Bloodshire is not entirely happy with Ozpin, so it's possible he may have caused the blackout. But the staff would have told him if any of the students are acting strange, or if any of the other staff members are acting strange. So, it has to be the Duke, usually, if it was anyone else, there would be some sort of suspicion to it. But here? There are no leads. And Mister Arc is likely convinced one of Ironwood's students caused this, or that third year kid. Despite he enrolled here specifically to hunt vampires. His semblance is even dedicated to vampire hunting, although he didn't specify to how it works. Miss Adel? Bah, she's a few incidents away from Probation, and she was on Probation for her first year, and almost had to repeat it because of that. And Ozpin would notice a few things or two if there were White Fang infiltrators. Just what is the Duke planning?
Now back to the changes in Miss Rose. A Semblance can only be altered if a drastic change were to happen to an individual. Such as, becoming a vampire or a change of heart. Both of which are common cases of semblance alterations. But there's also emotional trauma, mental scarring, basically anything that drastically alters the personality and psychology of the individual. So, something must have happened to make Miss Rose's petals wilted... wilted? Wilted petals are from a dead flower. Where as Miss Rose's original petals were ripe and red, like a living rose. These new ones are red-violet and wilted, like a dead one. Life... death... it's a simple alteration, but it tells Ozpin enough about what exactly happened to Miss Rose. But he won't jump into conclusions... yet.
There's also another thing bothering him... the bandanna. Why is she suddenly wearing it? To conceal something in the mouth region? Perhaps obvious symptoms to vampirism? She would no doubt get the idea from Blake, who used a bow to cover up her cat ears. But the bow never fooled Ozpin. But the bandanna... it's astonishing. Hiding a potential embarrassing scar or acne, or vampirism? Ruby is the youngest of the students here, so she would suffer from acne around her age. It could be either one. Clearly the chances of Ruby being a vampire is non-zero, but he has his doubts.
And even if Miss Rose is a vampire, she wouldn't be keen to fall for the Duke's silver-tongued words. Ozpin has elected to keep a close eye on her, to see if she really is a vampire. And he would need to figure out how to deal with the situation incase she is. There are many, many possible scenarios to deal with. And he needs to prepare for all of them. Among the White Fang, various grimm, and potential allies of Salem, a vampire roaming around Vale is the last thing he needs right now, whether loyal to the Duke or not. Given that the latest vampire attacks have been reported as a mythical grimm relieves him, can't let the public know vampires are real.
Oh? Ozpin just received a text from Ironwood, it says he's bringing a number of air-ships to Vale... oh dear lord... One assassination attempt and already he's worried that Vale will be attacked by a wyvern. One of these days, his paranoia will be the death of him and Atlas along with it. The only thing keeping the Atlassian council from discharging him is the fact that he holds two seats on the Atlassian council. And that one of the seats is empty. But he's the only one in Atlas that knows Ozpin's little secrets, at least the ones Ozpin let him know. So, it's better to keep him on Ozpin's side than have him replaced with someone else. Or worse, fallen under Salem's influence.
This is going to be an interesting couple of months... Just hope that Vale remains intact by winter.
City of Vale, 1;00 AM, Sunday, Industrial District
"So, you're saying this Duke is an ancient and powerful vampire?" Roman asked.
"Correct, and it appears he's been manipulating and attacking the White Fang. We'll need to deal with him before we go with our plan." Cinder stated.
"What do you propose we do?" Roman said.
"You start the rally tommorow! Better rehearse that script I gave you." Cinder said.
"Wait, tomorrow?"
"If we do it on Monday, the Duke will have plenty of time to make you his slave. So. Sunday, 9:00 PM. Don't mess this up."
"I haven't even gotten the Paladin to-"
"Do I make myself clear?" Cinder interrupted.
"Crystal. Crystal." Roman squeaked in fear.
"Good. After that, plan the breach as normal. Then we'll deal with the Duke ourselves."
Author's Footnote: This one's a bit short, purely because it's an intermission. I'd like to take this time to remind you, I have a WebComic on Devi-Art and Pat called Vast Domain. You should check that out. And while I'm here using an intermission to shamelessly self-promote, Pat re o n. co m (slash) Scrambleman17 . Now that we got that out of the way, I hope this self-promotion doesn't make people hate me. See you next chapter.