A/N: Back to 100K words! With that said Chapter 23: A Bloody Rose at Midnight!
Chapter 23: A Bloody Rose at Midnight
In Waldstahl's hanger bay, the same one they were in only hours ago, Malserik and Imperious eagerly awaited the return of their apprentices with Pyrrha.
"Well, Neo said they just got back into the orbit of Drommund Kaas," Malserik spoke, relieved that they would be returning home safely.
"Good you heard what happened, Malserik?" Imperious inquired not sure how much contact Malserik had with Velocitous, and how recent it was. Though his response was unlike anything she had expected.
"No, because you haven't told me yet, Ceres" Malserik replied, disinterested as he knew they would recover the Tomb Witch or dispatch her, either that or they perished, there really wasn't much room for alternatives. Though he hoped that they had survived.
"Couldn't you be at least interested," Imperious said slightly un-amused by Malserik's tone, "The girls killed Kahless," Imperious said in a mellow tone despite how important the news was, as it advanced the schedule of the plan.
"Well, that's a bit of a shock," Malserik said wide-eyed, as even he knew Kahless was a thorn in the side of their organization and their plan. Hearing the girls slew such a threat amazed him, as Kahless was a powerful Sith. Though as his gaze returned to the hanger, Malserik was shocked to see medical personnel rushing on to the hanger bay floor. Rushing down the scaffold, He inquired with, "What the hell is going on?"
"My lord something happened to Ruby and Weiss," The medic guardsman replied. After the ship touched down Ruby and Weiss were removed from the ship's med bay, unconscious. They were brought straight to Waldstahl's medical wing. There the doctor's were puzzled at the symptoms, though during the initial scans of their bodies something was off with their sternums. Doing more focused scans it was revealed the girls had crystals lodged in their sternum.
Deciding it would be prudent to remove the crystals Malserik ordered the doctor's to proceed with the operation as soon as possible. Within fifteen minutes Waldstahl's cadre of doctors began their work, under the close eye of their superiors. They were both being operated on at the same time in the same room. Once they had the anaesthetic hooked up, they started with an incision into the center of their chest making sure to only damage what was necessary for extraction of the crystals.
Though one of the doctors found out, removing the crystals would prove to be difficult as they shocked who ever touched them with their hands or metal tools. With this issue becoming a major barrier, Malserik had them hook the extraction tools to grounding wires and made sure the doctors and medical droids were properly protected. Thankfully the girls were stable enough for Malserik to do this.
After these procedures were taken, the doctors and medical droids managed to safely extract the glowing crystals from the girl's chests. Though, after they were removed they doctors filled the voids left in the bone with a healing gel and sealed the incision with a scar prevention gel. Within three, tense and nail biting, hours the girls were in recovery. aside from the crystals in their chest, they were fine and would be fine minus some soreness from the incision. They barely knew what had happened, they just remembered passing out on the specter and waking up in recovery.
While they were in recovery working the anesthesia out of their systems, Malserik took the crystals down to his lab while Imperious kept an eye on the girls. Using plastic tongs, with a jury-rigged grounded cable, Malserik manipulated the crystals, as even manipulating them with the force managed to shock him. The shocks were painful and draining but to a force user they were more of a pain than a threat. As he manipulated them he ran the dastardly crystals through numerous material tests and structural analysis.
From what Malserik could gather, they were like lightsaber crystals but they seemed like they were more like precious gems that couldn't be used in a saber. The two red ones removed from Weiss's chest were similar to rubies, while the one from Ruby's chest was akin to a sapphire. The crystals seemed to have been morphed and twisted, almost if they grew in the girl's bodies. Though the longer he was in their presence he could feel they had a natural dark side aura to them. Looking at the crystalline structure it seemed these crystals were like hybrid crystals, the structure looked natural at points at other points they looked like a synthetic crystal.
If Malserik could say one thing they were certainly beautiful crystals, pulsing with the light like most crystals do but these had a rhythm to the pulsing along with a swirling shadow that. He received a notification that they were coming to, so cleaning up the lab he put the three crystals on pads on a tray and carried them personally to their room.
"So what are we doing here?" Weiss asked of Imperious as neither of them understood what happened after they had awoken in Waldstahl's high-tech medical facility.
"Yeah, what happened?" Ruby asked with a grumble, as the pain in her chest was replaced with a slightly sore wound that now that their aura could recover, they both healed the surgical wound rapidly.
"First off, you two killed one of our greatest opponents without knowing it, so good job there," Imperious said happily leaning on the wall, she sensed Malserik was right outside. With that in mind "as for the Reason you are here, I'll allow Malserik to explain."
"Well we found the cause of your chest pain," Malserik spoke as he entered the room and held up a tray with three very jagged crystals. The girls saw a faint pulsing in them, the light being emitted from the crystals, "Turns out you two had high-grade lightsaber crystals in your sternum, the red ones are from Weiss, the blue is from Ruby."
Seeing this, the girls concluded the same thing. They both saw what these crystals used to be, with Ruby blurting it out "the necklaces."
"Oh my god," Weiss continued wide-eyed, remembering the blast in the vortex that came from their necklaces being shattered.
"These things have a tendency to shock those who touch it, so please, Weiss take the blue crystal, Ruby take one of the red ones," Malserik ordered with a smile, as they picked up and held the crystals, their aura's pulsed but they weren't being electrocuted. That's when looking at the pulsing in the crystals, Malserik noted while looking at the EKG they matched their hearts. What are these two girls? He thought to himself as he smiled and said "Well I think you two have your new saber crystals," after finishing his sentence, the door to the room hissed opened and the three other Remnants entered.
"So how are they?" Pyrrha inquired upon entering the room followed by Roman and Neo.
"They are fine, Miss Nikos," Malserik responded calmly with a smile.
"Thank God," Pyrrha sighed relieved to hear the status of her friends who were both looking at her as she wore a gray tunic like their own now and she was cleaned up looking a lot better than she did.
"I am glad to hear that the ladies are fine," Neo smiled over the course of the five months her fear of the girls was replaced with respect and loyalty though she was still loyal to Roman as well, not that it mattered. Despite the occasional squabble or clash the four of them did get along.
"Yeah good to hear they didn't croak under a littler chest pain," Roman chuckled with a bit of teasing. "Be a real shame if they died like that." Despite his fear of the force he still managed to form a little respect for Ruby and Weiss, considering he owed them his life for saving him and Neo.
"Weiss, Ruby, and Pyrrha," Imperious spoke with authority for getting their attention "due to your skills in the force and in battle, you three are exemplary Sith and I hear by name you lords of the Sith," Imperious spoke in a tone that was collected and orderly. "Now over the next few weeks I want you two to get used to fighting alongside Miss Nikos again, along with construct new sabers, ones of your own, Not Malserik's garbage," this statement pissed Malserik off, but he got over as he did sort of give them less than nominal sabers he admitted to himself in his mind.
During the time Ruby and Weiss were in surgery, Pyrrha did not trust Neo and Roman, but she was told by Imperious, a woman, despite her looking young and inexperienced, she commanded her respect as she was extremely strong in the force. She told her to work with the two other Remnants. Despite the dislike, Pyrrha had for them both, though she was told by Imperious that they are loyal to their cause. Neo seemed friendly, though Roman was still, as to be expected, a complete idiot. During this time a few Sith did decide to attack, Hiskal again just to be a thorn in their sides, to throw their aggressors for a loop and because the Dove and Raven were not in any position to handle the issue Malserik took up the task of dealing with them.
While Malserik was out dealing with a few arrogant thorns, Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, and Imperious met on the balcony as the snow had stopped.
"So Pyrrha, you said Marka Ragnos trained you," Imperious said as Pyrrha presented the scepter forward as proof, "Interesting, why did he take interest in you, do you know?"
"No I'm afraid I don't, minus he said I was to be very important to a prophecy," Pyrrha explained, picking up her scepter and began to lean on it.
"Still the fact ghosts trained you," Weiss said still unsure how she felt about that.
"Well you could also say I have some spirits here too, " Pyrrha said nervously as she pointed to her chest. This went right over Ruby and Weiss's head though Imperious's eyes went wide this girl could spirit walk.
"You can bind spirits to yours, is that what you're saying?" Imperious asked calmly.
"Yes," Pyrrha said quietly almost nervous of admitting this fact.
"So who was the person you saw in your Vision?" Ruby asked to see if she knew,
"His name was Darth Bane he's how I got the mark around my eye" Pyrrha responded calmly.
"Interesting so I take it he called you Noxcaedis?" Weiss asked calmly, as it seemed whoever these people were, they gave them all names.
"That is correct" Pyrrha responded, shifting uneasily as Ruby, Weiss, and Imperious looked at her.
"Well that's interesting, So she is like you two then" Imperious smiled calmly, referring to the fact these girls had similarities like a Darth name and an affinity ability, "So welcome to our little group, Pyrrha. Dornettz here will take you to your room." Imperious said as Dornettz walked out to the overlook to get Pyrrha and Imperious talked to Weiss and Ruby about the future.
Returning to Tatooine, Edrik's pain was at a maximum. he was too exhausted to scream out in pain. His legs were broken and the sand people were tormenting him constantly. These creatures were monsters. He was screaming death to them in his head. He would never be able to fight them as he no longer had hands as the war maiden took them from him. "How is the little sloth?" the War maiden's voice ringing in his head driving him mad. He hated her she was making a mockery of the Jedi by defeating him. He would have his revenge. over the next few weeks, he would escape through sheer determination and will.
Crawling through the desert this Jedi managed to survive. Fueled by the hatred of the War Maiden He managed to walk through the pain of two broken legs, something he mended using the force. He knew he was in no condition to return to either the Jedi or face the War maiden a second time. Instead, he disappeared into the desert. He needed to learn more of the dark ways, something that was returning to him with each agonizing step. he was giving into his dark nature
Over the next month, Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha started to practice together, as Hiskal seemed to be quite quiet for now. Pyrrha's fighting style was more ranged than before, firing bolts of Darkside energy from her scepter as she used her saber as more of a shield than an offensive weapon. Though she could sling up the scepter and use her tethered saber as an offensive weapon, though if she did she was brutal and precise with her attacks, and if need she could draw the hidden Sith sword in the base of the scepter.
During this time Ruby continued the design of her new saber, delving into many holocrons and databases to get ideas. While working on the design, she was half tempted to call it Crescent Rose two point oh, as she did mimic its aesthetics, though she decided to not do that.
She needed a better name. Something more intimidating. With her basic knowledge of an old language that used to be used on Patch, she crafted a new name, "Rose De Sang" or in basic, Blood Rose.
The design was complex using a set of paired cross guarded lightsabers with a special emitter system she could redirect power from one to the other or shut off the guards independently, effectively so she could make a lightsaber scythe. Taking from Vader's design she added a triple phase crystal function to make her saber able to alter its length readily and increasing the power the blade was capable of unleashing. Along with that, she designed it with telescopic elements in the hilt like from her late uncle Qrow's sword. This saber was designed to give her more reach and other advantages while fighting, than any standard saber. Though unlike Cresent, she refused to taint this design with a ranged weapon mode.
With her new knowledge of phrik alloys, she could get rid of her problem of lightsabers cutting her baby apart. With the design complete she took it to Imperious, who forwarded the design to Malserik to get her the parts she needs though Imperious made quite a few alterations to Ruby's design mainly concerning materials. Imperious wanted her to have the finest materials she could get, as the way she saw it if she was to be her successor eventually she might as well get the best.
Malserik cursed when he saw the design, Weiss, who was at this time making her own saber, had warned him about Ruby's ability to come up with insanely complicated weapons, but this design made SturmKreig look simple. As complicated as it was, it was brilliant. As it was a saber that could cover so many various hard to combat roles, making Malserik think, this damn thing would be painful to combat. That is if she can get it working, something he seriously doubted Ruby could do, as this lightsaber was insane. Even with that thought, Malserik still taught Ruby how to use the machines in his lab and shop.
.she quickly took it in spades and got to work, Ruby was giddy like as a school girl as she worked. milling and machining the phrik blanks, to the shapes of the parts she designed. A constant smirk was on her lips as she worked in the lab. Malserik was impressed with her talent with heavy manufacturing equipment. Even Imperious came to watch as Ruby worked the glint in her golden eyes beneath the safety goggles told her that she was so focused on the task at hand. After two days Ruby had made duplicates of all of the parts she needed.
When Ruby finished producing the main parts out of the phrik blanks, she started constructing the saber. It was at that point when she went full recluse. For a week and a half taking four synthetic crystals and Weiss's blood shards, as she called them. The synthetic crystals couldn't withstand the strain of her saber's ignition sequence cracking and shattering upon her first test ignition. She tried again three times same result. The weak synthetic crystals couldn't take the abuse of the blood shards. Hearing the failures to ignite Imperious came up to the distraught Ruby, whom she had taken a liking to watching her tinker with that lightsaber.
"This will never work!" Ruby screamed slamming her metal hand on to the desk, denting it, "Damn it!" Ruby cursed as she put her face on the desk as she saw the popped crystals in the hilt of her saber.
"Those crystals couldn't handle the stress could they?" Imperious said as Ruby was adamant on only using what she had at her disposal, Imperious knew the use of synthetic crystals in a saber like this one was a bad idea. She was just seeing how long Ruby was going to be stubborn. "Even if it did work the lenses couldn't handle the stress of the blade," Imperious continued "Really you need some rare crystals and pontite lenses on all six emitters to pull this design off; thankfully Malserik has a stock in rare crystals in his archive, which I appropriated for you," Imperious smirked as she did leave a note for Malserik though she knew he wouldn't be too happy with the idea.
"So what are these crystals you got?" Ruby asked quite curious of what Imperious had grabbed.
"They are ones Malserik originally wanted me to use a while back, but I just use two blue Adegan crystals so I think you will like them, and the pontite lenses I found out Malserik had a lot of them in his workshop." Imperious smiled as she looked into the golden eyes of her former apprentice as she took out a bag of six pontite emitter lenses and she took a clenched hand and dropped the four crystals into Ruby's metal hand. Through the metal, Ruby could feel the power in the crystals "In your hands are some of the rarest lightsaber crystals in existence Qixoni Crystals and Kaiburr Shards," Imperious smiled as she let Ruby take in the idea of what she was holding in her hands. The information she had gathered the rose colored slivers were the Kaiburr and the blood red ones were the Qixoni. She began refitting one of her paired sabers with these new parts after thirty minutes it was ready.
"Here goes nothing," Ruby said cringing as she pressed the ignition switch. The blade ignited in a powerful sound it sounded very different from the standard Lightsaber ignition. it sounded more powerful like the saber could tear itself apart. Seeing the main blade active Ruby ignited the quillons of the cross guard. She was in awe of the beauty of the blade its blood red edge with a light rose core made this saber all the more fitting to her. Testing the Hilt Extension system she was feeling joy, as she felt the power of this blade, it radiated with the Dark side. Quickly deactivating that saber she took the next few hours to finish up the construction of the set of sabers as Imperious watched on with a smile.
After she was done she with the design, Ruby had one final touch, she wanted the hilt to be a bit more colorful than metal left in the white. Taking it apart she had the saber electrostatically plated or parkerized different colors. When the process was complete she had two identical hilts colored with a variety of, red, black, steel, gray and gold.
With her saber complete she went to present it to her master, show her the completed weapon. Though as she was going to leave Malserik's lab for the last time dealing with this saber she saw Imperious was already there with her.
"So is it don, Ruby?" Imperious asked, her words caused Ruby to smile as she clicked both hilts together, extended the hilt in a flourish and ignited the blades on both ends.
"She. Is. Complete." Ruby said as she smiled at her former master, who smiled back. Ruby's saber looked to be a fine craft. It was a saber that fit who she was, it was her creation, something born of her passion. Imperious was quite impressed with the design, commenting on it with,
"Most Impressive, Lord Rose. I expect you to put her to good work," Imperious smiled personifying the saber. As Ruby deactivated the saber, separated the hilts, and went to click the sabers to her belt, Imperious stopped her with a hand on the shoulder, as she had one more gift for her apprentice, a shoulder harness like her own, allowing Ruby to have her sabers stored under her arms. It was specifically made for Ruby's form. Crafted from fine leather, the straps were made to be adjusted so it could fit her even if she grew more.
Ruby immediately fitted the harness and clipped her Saber's to the two loops on the harness. Imperious smiled to see her wearing something that would Identify her as her former apprentice. With her gift given, she wondered, I wonder what Malserik got for Weiss? While Ruby pondered I wonder if Weiss is done with her saber.
While Ruby was going insane building her saber, Weiss made one of her own taking the bent hilt design that she was fond of. Knowing what she wanted to build which was a three crystal mechanism like Ruby's design, though she was working on making a saber that could use dust like her old rapier, Myrtenaster. During her design process, Weiss designed single shot dust camber system for use of dust along with a slow burn dust feed to give her blade less powerful but longer lasting elemental effects.
Though unlike Ruby Weiss took a more hand crafted style to her lightsaber, not going insane with the design of her saber. She made it fancy along with functional, using hand tools she decorated the parts. Hand forging parts for the saber from phrik ingots, then cutting them, shaping them, then polishing them to perfection. She was in the lab and work shop with Ruby, but they focused on making their own sabers, as not even Weiss could pull her gear head dolt of a girl friend away from the machining tools.
Weiss had admired the labor of crafting her own weapon, alas her father did not let her make Myrtenaster on her like she wanted too, though it still was a handcrafted masterpiece. She wanted this saber to be just like her old weapon, a hand crafted masterpiece. Malserik was watching over his former apprentice watching her work, Malserik enjoyed to watch Weiss work she was calm over the forge, almost like a young Jedi padawan building their lightsaber.
For the successor to Myrtenaster, she thought the name Mitternacht was appropriate which was old Atlesian for midnight. As she christened her saber, Malserik gave Weiss a gift for her saber. The two other crystals she needed for her saber, though they were not the synthetic crystals she originally wanted. Instead, they were a Permafrost crystal, something Weiss thought was so beautiful and a Firkrann crystals, something that felt live with electricity, as Malserik knew how she broke her saber on Korriban. As she mounted the crystals into the hilt, Malserik watched with great interest, though he had to stop her when she started to do it by hand, he told her,
"Use the force to assemble your saber, it will help the crystals tune to you," Weiss heeded this advice as she finished her saber. Malserik watched as she assembled the rest of the parts around the crystals and take the now completed saber in hand, snapping it out of the air. Her first test ignition was a success. The three crystals could handle the blue blood shard that came from Ruby at all the settings. The edge was a deep dark blue with an Ice blue core. Malserik was impressed by the blade, though he couldn't help but be reminded of the Jedi as he looked at Weiss, who smirked as she held her completed saber in hand.
"Excellent, Weiss," Malserik said with a smile, as he rested a hand on his former apprentice's shoulder, "Now you are a true Sith lord in my eye,"
"Thank you, my master," Weiss replied calmly.
"I am no longer your Master, Weiss" Malserik announced, preferring to think of Weiss as an equal now, rather than his apprentice. This caused Weiss to smile as she affixed her saber to her belt. Now it was time to test her Saber. though before she could leave the room to smash some training droids, Malserik blocked the way.
"I understand you are eager, but Imperious and I had a deal, when you and Ruby became lords, we would give you a gift, to reflect you where our apprentice" Malserik explained, wanting to curse Imperious, for this silly idea, but what he came up with was more than adequate for Weiss, Who had raised and eyebrow at what this man was saying. "My gift is very personal and dear to me, but I feel you deserve to wear it as my successor if I am to fall, Weiss," Malserik announced with pride as he took a necklace with a Viridian crystal attached from his neck an put it around Weiss's neck. Weiss was shocked at what her former master was saying and doing, Malserik had shown her that necklace before, it was the one he wore his entire life, and where he sourced two of his lightsaber crystals from.
"I hope you don't mind the burden of being an Heiress again?" Malserik asked as Weiss still looked shocked at her former master. She didn't know what to say to this, her mind was blank. Though her mind was going crazy, He trusts me enough to lead Hiskal? And his Necklace the one thing he has left of his family? Though seeing the viridian crystal on her neck she had her response,
"I do not mind, but you trust me that much?" She asked just for clarification.
"I in fact do, Weiss, I am happy to call you my future successor and my apprentice," Malserik admitted, at first he thought she was going to be a spoiled brat of an apprentice, but she proved him wrong. She was a respectable Sith and an excellent student. Ruby wasn't horrible, but she fit more with Imperious than she did him. Weiss opened his eyes, he was tired of being isolated on this mountain, he wanted friends and love. Seeing Ruby and Weiss as a couple reaffirmed this even more as a pang of want surfaced in his mind. Though he was unsure of how Ceres, Ruby's master, and the woman he admired dearly, would respond to this, if she would have the same feelings he had for her, but he had to try at some point. It was at this point when Weiss was dismissed and Malserik returned to his study leaving the workshop.
Weiss didn't want to practice with her new saber yet, she had to inform Ruby of this most recent development. She was hoping Ruby would still be in the lab, but alas she was not. With this in mind she returned to their residence, as she opened the door, she was greeted by Ruby who sitting on the couch relaxing, though the second the door hissed open, she was over the back of the couch and in front of Weiss. The rapid action startled Weiss, but the look of excitement on Ruby's face told her all she need to know, She wanted to see her saber.
Weiss clicked Mitternacht off her belt and handed it to Ruby, who examined the hilt and the feel for a few moments before igniting the icy blue blade. The look on her face was one of appreciation, like someone admiring a piece of art as she handled the blade. She liked how the saber paid homage to Weiss's rapier. While Ruby was busy being a weapon nerd, Weiss noted Ruby's belt was empty, no sabers mounted to it which prompted her to ask,
"So where is your lightsaber, Ruby?" Weiss inquired as she had heard from Malserik that her saber would have issues, but she was in formed that she had them working and she figured Ruby would want to show off. Ruby looked at Weiss with a smile as she handed her Mitternacht back, deactivated.
"Don't worry, she is done," Ruby said as she threw her arms out, flaring her cloak out dramatically to show the hilts mounted on their harness on her chest. Ruby used the force to draw the sabers and ignited their blades, the powerful sound of the ignition startled Weiss, as the deep bass filled hums of the blades filled the room. She saw the blood red edge with the rosy core. "Weiss, say hi to Rose De Sang!" Ruby smirked with joy and pride as she showed off her sabers.
After the obligatory showing off at the hand of Ruby, the two sat down at the table in quarters and decided on having dinner. while the food was being prepared Ruby decided to go and find Pyrrha, so the trio could eat together. With Pyrrha and Ruby there, Weiss told them about her being the next in line to govern Hiskal if Malserik parished. Ruby smiled, her girlfriend and Malserik got along quite well over the course of their training, so his trust was not that surprising. What was surprising, however, was that he gave her his necklace, something Ruby didn't much care for, as it could be easily misinterpreted and taken the wrong way. Ruby just hoped it didn't mean what she thought the misinterpretation was. Especially for Malserik's sake, lest he wanted to upset both herself and Imperious.
A/N: Well that was this chapter, this is the completion of the Tomb Witch sub arc. Next up another reunion, this time with the Jedi. Then we have the War Maiden sub arc. Basically, sub arcs are what I will be referring to the old chapter's as, as I get 4-5 chapters out of them now.
As for the events of this chapter, Ruby and Weiss now have their possibly final lightsabers, Rose De Sang and Mitternacht, Both of which I designed and can be found on my deviant art 'BlitzingRaptor' on Deviant Art! Warning for spoilers their though I as some events yet to come are on other character's lightsabers.
Now with that out of the way feel free to ask any questions if you have them, or give suggestions or corrections once again if you have any please give them or leave a review. Alright, everyone, be safe, have fun, and may the force be with you!
Blitzing Raptor
Edit: I had some more ideas and a few fixes to make for this chapter, mainly pertaining to Weiss and Malserik. I wanted to show a bit more trust between them. along with a few other things
