Author's Headnote: Hey... ya... it's me... hello. I'm guessing people are wondering Why Ruby is running away and being ashamed for killing Cinder. That will be explained in Ruby's perspective after the intermission. Which we will get over right now. Volume 4 won't get by soon after the intermission, there's the time between the Timeskip, which is important.
RWBY: Festival of Blood: Intermission: End of Beginning
Salem's Palace. 12:04 PM, Monday, Meeting Hall
The Grimmlands is the northwestern continent of Remnant, the landmass is purple, along with a large supply of undiluted dust crystals. Any flora here is also infested with grimm. There is no known human or faunas settlements here, due to the habitat being undesirable for either species. So as far as the public eye is concerned, 100% of the population on this continent is filled with nothing but grimm. Especially given the mass amount of grimm pools always spawn more. No one knows the origin of the grimm pools, or how the continent is like this.
But among the grimmlands, is one building that stands. Although strangely resembling the old Valean palace, Salem's Palace is a large black and purple castle-palace standing near the largest pool of grimm on the continent. In which Salem dubs 'The pool of darkness'. It is filled with many rooms that one would expect from a castle. Along with the fortifications to back it up. This prestigious fortress in the middle of nowhere technically doesn't exist in public eyes. Not that one would go deep in the grimmlands to find it. Being that this continent not only has the harsh cold weather which resembles that of Solitas, along with the desolate lands comparable to Western Sanus, mountains comparable to the ones Anima, and the many caves that can be compared to the ones in Eastern Sanus. And to top it all off, it's filled with grimm to the brim. One would be as lucky to make it past the coastline without being killed.
Mercury and Emerald have never been here, but after a strange scorpion faunas, in which neither have known his name have brought them here by bonking them with a baseball bat. They are standing in what seems to be a large dining room with a table fit for twenty guests. With one large seat at the end of the table.
With it, two other gentlemen. One with tanned skin, and yellow eyes and brown hair. He was wearing a green jacket and a tank top with brown cargo pants and brown boots. The other is a well dressed, blue wearing individual, equally as tanned as the former person. Although he appears to be older than the other one. This man could be the one who made Mercury's legs, Arthur. They were sitting across from each other, in chairs next to the large chair.
Mercury and Emerald were pushed toward the seats alongside the latter gentleman.
"Well, have a seat. It would be rude to stand at the table in front of the goddess." The scorpion faunas said politely.
"The... Goddess?" Mercury asked in confusion.
"Oh my, you are about as dense as Cinder described you to be." The older man said.
"So... where are we?" Emerald asked.
"Why don't you have a seat first?" The larger man stated.
"Oh, right."
Mercury and Emerald had sat down next to the older, more sleek man. Whilst the scorpion faunas had jumped to the other side of the table and sat next to the large man.
"Mercury, I presume?" the older man asked Mercury.
"Yes, how exactly do you know my name? And Cinder?"
"She was one of our associates. Of course, you and Emerald would have seen me and Tyrian here from the Seer, have you not?"
"So... you're the one who built my new legs?"
"That is correct. General Ironwood was foolish for choosing Pietro over my own work. But much unlike his, my inventions have lasted longer, and has far more uses. Much unlike that toy soldier. Only thing I'll be praising Cinder for doing." Arthur stated.
"Well, I must say. It appears that metal bucket chopped her up pretty good. When I found her, oooh. I wish I had found the blade that sliced her up!" Tyrian commented, then giggled. "Only thing I found was this belt buckle." Tyrian said, bringing out and holding Ruby's belt buckle.
When they found Cinder, there was a giant explosion, with the only remnants of Penny being burnt scrap metal and circuit boards. And the only things left of Ruby being her cloak and belt buckle. Which means she is most likely dead too. And cinder with cuts from various blades and a missing arm and leg, along with a small hole in her chest, and a pool of blood surrounding her.
"From what Tyrian reported, I don't think anyone survived that fight." The large man stated.
"Then there would be some sort of weapon or remnants of weapon left behind on the battlefield. Would there not, Hazel?" Arthur countered.
"She could have melted the weapons." Tyrian stated.
"If she had done that, she would still be alive, and we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"That would mean that her killer is still out there!" Emerald interrupted.
"We're not going to waste time avenging Cinder's death."
"But what we should worry about is who was in Cinder's final thoughts, or if the powers of the Fall Maiden happened onto someone random." A woman said, walking out from the door behind the large chair. Her skin and hair were snow-white, with black veins across her face. With eyes red and sclera black. Her outfit is entirely black. It was a nice, formal dress. And her hair is organized a regnal updo. The woman had sat down in the large, regnal chair.
"Ah yes. Cinder had the powers of the Fall Maiden. Unfortunately, no one here could read minds, so the one in her final thoughts remains unknown." Arthur commented.
"I see that Cinder's accomplices are here with us. Cinder had told me about you two, let me introduce myself. My name is Salem." Salem said, introducing herself.
"Ya... I'm Emerald, and he's Mercury." Emerald said, with fear in her tone.
"You need not be afraid of me, if you were loyal to me like Cinder was. I will not be of harm to you."
"Yes yes, and Cinder died and now the Fall Maiden's powers are who knows where." Arthur interrupted.
"But you forget. Her plan had gone off successfully, albeit at the cost of her life. Beacon Academy is not only abandoned with grimm in place of it's students, but the City of Vale itself is teaming with robots and grimm alike. The entire city is abandoned, and without a Capital city, the Kingdom of Vale would collapse, and the various minor cities, towns, and villages are doomed to fend for themselves, falling to the grimm." Salem stated.
"And that Wyvern flying around the city means It won't be taken back for awhile." Tyrian said with joy.
Mercury looked shocked and surprised, but then quickly changed his expression.
"And for her killer?" Arthur asked.
"If she had managed to take down the Fall Maiden, either she is a Maiden herself, or is an exceptionally skilled warrior. It's best if we let them be for now." Salem said.
"But what if they-?"
"They will not be of worry for now. There is seldom chance her killer would know of our existence. So, there is no need to worry about them for now."
"Now what do we do about Cinder's underlings?"
"Since they are already here and know about me and the plan. They will be placed under your command, Arthur, along with any contacts she had acquired. As for Cinder herself, well. As far as the public eye is concerned, she died defending Beacon from the grimm. In addition, the destruction of Vale had made the other Kingdom's untrustworthy of Atlas, and General Ironwood. Tyrian, did you manage to acquire Cinder's scroll?"
"Ah, yes. I would not forget Cinder's scroll. I had kept it safe, so that no prying eyes would look into it." Tyrian said, handing over the scroll towards Salem, who in turn handed it to Arthur, she then looked back at Tyrian and glared at Ruby's belt buckle.
"Tyrian?" Salem asked.
"Yes, my goddess?"
"Where did you get that belt buckle?"
"From the Beacon tower, where Cinder's corpse lies. I picked it up because it was the only thing other than Cinder's scroll that wasn't in an utterly destroyed state. Figured I'd keep it as some sort of souvenir."
"You found this... at the scene of Cinder's scene?"
"Yes, I would not lie."
"That's... impossible."
"What do you mean?" Mercury asked.
"The woman who normally wears this belt buckle is in my custody. If she had escaped, I would know." Salem stated.
"You don't think she actually killed Cinder?" Arthur asked.
"Wait, that doesn't make any sense, that belt Buckle belongs to the silver-eyed bloodsucker." Mercury stated.
"And what is her name?" Salem asked.
"Ruby Rose."
Salem smirked. "Emerald, do you by any chance experienced anything strange since Cinder's death?" she asked.
"Uhh... no?" Emerald responded.
"I see. I'll call this conference to end now. If you excuse me, I'll be busy for awhile." Salem said, heading to leave the room.
"What will be doing?"
"Well, aren't you curious? No matter, you take orders from Arthur, what I do is none of your concern. As for you Arthur, you will be replacing Cinder in all of her tasks. You have her scroll, which means you'll have access to anything Cinder had written down and saved on there." Salme said, ordering Arthur, then finally leaving the room.
Island of Patch, 12:04 PM, Monday, Vale Refugee Tents
Yang had woken up... she felt weak... which is a feeling unfamiliar to her. No, not weak, in severely frail, and in great pain. After taking look around with the little strength she has... she noticed she was in a tent, and Weiss was also in the tent, still asleep. when trying to move her left arm... she... couldn't feel it. She had looked to her left and noticed that her left arm was missing, shoulder and everything. She couldn't scream. She felt tired and weak. That fight with that man. Who was he? And how did he manage to defeat both her and Weiss? And more importantly, how is she still alive?
Yang groaned in pain from the fight. In which drew the attention to her uncle Qrow, who seems to be carrying something.
"Hey there, firecracker." Qrow said, with a re-assuring tone.
"Uuuuncle..." Yang said, trying to speak.
"Don't try to talk yet. You haven't fully recovered yet."
Yang groaned in annoyance.
"Doctors said that you were lucky to survive. Your friend, Weiss too. Although Weiss was less than fortunate."
Yang made a concerned look at her face.
"Yang, conserve your strength, you need it to breathe. That fight you were in broke your aura completely, it'll take awhile for you to recover. For the sake of making this conversation two-way, here's this thing. It's a text to speech device." Qrow said, placing the device near her right hand.
"Asdsfdsgreadsgdf" Yang typed with the device.
"Oh, right. You'll need to actually need to learn how to use it. However, I've ran out of time to visit you. I can't tell you much until you recover." Qrow said, leaving the tent.
Which left Yang by herself. With the only thing keeping her entertained was the text to speech device. In which she has no idea how to use. She figured it'd be better to try and go back to sleep. Maybe she'll heal up soon enough after.
Well, she tried to... until a particularly well-dressed man wearing a white suit having silver hair and blue eyes, which match her friend Weiss' barges in.
"Where in this forsaken shanty-town is my daughter!?" the man demanded.
"Mr. Schnee, did you seriously come all the way here to check up on your daughter's condition?" The nurse said, approaching Weiss' father, Jacques Schnee. Yang has heard of him, but never seen a picture of him.
"Of course, I am. I'll need to drag her back to Atlas and scold her on about how I'm right!" Jacques yelled.
"I don't think it's wise given the state she's in." the nurse stated.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she's in critical condition, more severe than the one-armed patient who you are in front of."
Yang groaned in acknowledgement.
"Oh, Miss Xiao Long, you're awake. Mr. Schnee, I request you leave until I say otherwise." The nurse said.
"What? How dare you request things of me, do you know who I am?" Jacques demanded.
"You'll end up being detrimental to the recovery of these patients, possible more than their last visitor."
"I am not going anywhere until I see my daughter and bring her back to Atlas!"
"Well, you'll have to bring her back bedridden."
"What?"
"Your daughter, Weiss Schnee has suffered from a severe dust poisoning and has entered comatose. If it weren't a sudden boost in her aura, she wouldn't have survived."
"I see. Well, I'll be departing now."
"Don't you want to see your daughter?"
"If she's under comatose, she's no use to keep the family business alive. I think it would be better if she doesn't worry about it anyway."
"Disinheriting your daughter because she's in a coma? That's just low, even for you."
"An unconscious body can't handle a business. Now excuse me, I have a bullhead waiting for me." Jacques said, leaving the tent.
"Well, I apologize for that. I see your uncle gave you a text-to-speech device." the nurse said.
"Guiuwfvuonevb" Yang typed with the device.
"Oh, you still need to learn how to manage it. Well, I'll cover that after placing your IV in your system. It'll help you recover, as for your arm... well, I don't think no amount of modern medicine is bringing that back, I'm afraid. And I'm afraid you are also suffering from dust poisoning. Same kind your friend, weiss is suffering from. Our geologists have acquired a sample from you and your friend's blood to help treat it."
Yang groaned as a complaint.
"Oh, don't be so entitled, the IV will make sure you have all the nutrients you need." the nurse said, preparing to hook up the IV onto Yang.
Yang felt the needle being jabbed onto her arm, and the liquid from the IV entering her body. It felt weird, but chances are she can't really object to it.
"Just rest now, you need your aura to restore itself before any healing could actually start." the nurse said.
Yang was about to do that anyway, until Weiss' father came in and interrupted her shut eye. But no less, Yang closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Hopefully she'll feel better when she wakes up again.
Village of Menagerie, 8:00 PM, Wednesday, White Fang Shrine
The village of Menagerie, a small island off the coast of Anima. Is mostly a large and desolate savannah land that makes Vacuan desert look lush in comparison. The village, however, was built on the one part of the island that is habitable. And thus, it is very compact. The village has modern plumbing, but electronical technology is rare, given the structure of the buildings. The population is 100% faunas, and there is little White Fang activity... well, known White Fang activity. The White Fang here aren't as aggressive as it's mainland counterparts. One may say it's much like a relaxing vacation spot, except these people don't live there. Menagerie's populace has to resort to apartment complexes to fit it's population. Ghira Belladonna tries his best to ensure the population is in a good condition, after all, he is the chieftan of the town. Much similar to a Monarchy, although he's too humble to acknowledge himself as such.
The White Fang shrine nearing the edge of the village, away from prying eyes. Even then, the shrine's communication technologies are concealed.
Ilia Amolita, although is assigned for recon is a bit curious right now and decided to sneak around the shrine to check back in the loop. She used her chameleon camouflage to blend in with the shrine and listened onto the conversation at hand. Corsin and Fennec are present at the shrine, obviously.
A hologram projection of Adam Tauras, although it appears he's wearing a different outfit right now, and his mask covers his entire face.
"The plan was successful, Vale has fallen. But I have new orders for you." Adam spoke from the hologram.
"And what that might be?" Corsin asked.
"I feel like we'll need some volunteers from Menagerie. Bring any recruits you have directly to me. I'll introduce them to the White Fang directly."
"It will be done."
Huh... something seems off. Adam typically doesn't wear a mask that covers his entire face, so why the change in mask? Other than that, everything else seems normal. Ilia may as well sneak back to the village and get 'informed' by Corsin and Fennec about the recruitment drive. It's best not to think about why Adam needs to suddenly recruit people from Menagerie of all people into the White Fang, people came here to escape the conflicts of the mainland, so it doesn't make any sense. So, chances are, it'll turn out with no recruits. Even with the power of leadership, one seems to forget these things.
She wonders what Blake is up to, likely crawling her fingers on Adam or something. If only Blake could look at Ilia the same way she looks at Adam.
City of Mistral, 8:00PM, Wednesday, Mistral Undercity
Well, the crime lord of Vale moves to a new home, and seeks to change things up around Mistral. With that Atlassian ship he got, and hitched off with it to here, where he uses it as a place of temporary residence. Sure, it's not ideal to live in a stolen military airship, but Penthouses aren't exactly mobile. And the trip to Mistral was a long one. Thankfully, Mistral's security force is so corrupt that he can park the battleship at the front entrance. He's going to make some personal changes to the battleship too.
Anyways, the city of mistral is built on the mountain tops. Making it harder for grimm to attack them. History has proved that the statement is more than accurate. They only ever got attacked in the Undercity or from flying grimm. The way the city is structured is that the wealthier and better parts of the cities are higher up, with the criminals and slums being at the bottom, and at the top is the Royal Palace and Haven Academy. However, crime exists more than just at the bottom of mistral. There is presence of organized criminals in the middle and even high-levels of the city.
The undercity is the one place where there's the least amount of sunlight, so most lighting here is artificial. This is basically the ghetto of the city, where the vast amount of crime runs rampant, and the various bars and businesses are only present as fronts to the minor criminal's actual operations. This is the part of mistral people ever visit, or at all.
So, why is this man here? Well, he is Roman Torchwick, after all. Along with his companion, Neopolitan. And they are in need to acquire some grunts and mooks to established a criminal syndicate, what better way to rebuild the criminal presence than to take over the undercity? He's on his way to recruit some mooks. He's currently in the bar looking for people desperate enough to join him. Well, that is until he got a call from Cinder. Well, what could she want at this time?
"Hold on, I got a call." Roman said, heading somewhere private.
He went toward the back of the building out of sight and out of the ears of the general.
"I did my part of the job, what more do you want?" Roman answered the scroll.
Instead of Cinder's face, a W popped up.
"Well, that's no way to answer to your new superior." the W said.
"What happened to Cinder, exactly?"
"Out of the loop, I see. Well, Cinder has met an early demise and I have been given responsibility of all of her assets, including you."
"I am more than just an asset!"
"A former crime lord whose criminal prestige was destroyed with Vale? And is most likely in the slums in a vain attempt to build a crime empire?"
"Ya... that."
"And unlike Cinder, I am not going to give you any assets for free. Your task is to meet with the headmaster of Haven Academy, and you are to tell him that the Queen sent you. You are to discuss with him, and report any findings back to me. I am only saying this once, don't make me go down to Mistral myself."
"Alright alright, allow me to at least get some henchmen first."
"You have until the end of the week to report back to me." the W said, hanging up.
Well, when he was just about to think he was free from Cinder's grasp, he's under the leash of another superior. Well, better not keep Neo waiting. Let's get to some recruitment and start a heist, then he has to do the task that the W sent him.
Author's Footnote: If you have read to my previous notes, you would know by now that Vale was totally screwed. The Wyvern was never stopped by Ruby's silver eyes, and Roman Torchwick got away, with the robots constantly attacking the city. In addition, I'd figure I'd make Adam more than ruthless towards Weiss and Yang, using a special dust concoction that would make them suffer even if they survive the encounter. So ya, with Ruby MIA, Weiss in Comatose, Blake in crutches, and Yang in a weak state... team RWBY is basically out of commission. Things from here on out is going to be a lot harder for the good guys. Sure, Cinder is dead, but Salem will find a new vessel and easily replace her. After-all, even if Cinder has fallen herself, her plan to make Beacon fall has gone out more than successful. Well, I'll be seeing you next chapter.