A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, had a lot of things preventing me from writing these past few weeks but here we are Chapter 40: Cleaning Up
Chapter 40: Cleaning Up
While the Jedi were debating and Satele and Blake made their escape into Hyperspace, Imperious was walking to the communication room, she need to let the entire order know that their operation may have been compromised. Walking down the halls she found a section near the knight's quarters that was blood coated with a few loose limbs on the ground, concerned for Nora's health, Imperious followed the trail of limbs and corpses to a scene that even made her wince at its brutality. She had found Nora torturing the few republic troops with Blodsverd's force pike charged with electricity. Imperious noted that Nora was bleeding and wounded herself. deciding it would be better for her to seek medical attention rather than let her continue, Imperious blasted the survivors with force lightning, frying them ensuring them a painful death.
"Why did you kill my sloths!?" Nora screamed, both angry and sad that her torture session was cut short.
"Go report to medical Nora, you are wounded, as is Ruby" Imperious said calmly, she wanted them to be together right now, as Nora huffed at the fact her fun was just ruined, Imperious just used the wounded care "and by the force, don't play with your opponent like this!" Imperious huffed as Nora followed her orders, begrudgingly. As Imperious continued, she was seriously concerned about Nora's violent tendencies for dismemberment and blood. Though to Imperious, Nora could be kept in line, right now, it was Ruby she feared right now, her flare in power just took both her and Malserik by surprise. Something had happened to Ruby today, and it frightened Imperious to see her power grow so much in one day.
Imperious realized she needed a contingency if Ruby went rogue, she needed Khem Val ready Just in case. As she walked she thought, I hope it doesn't come to it but I can't have her be a loose cannon.
Imperious stopped walking looking at a hole in Waldstahl out to the city, thinking I can't turn on Ruby, she is my friend, but so is Malserik, I can't have them at each other's throats. Damn it, if only there was some other way but I at least have to let the order know the Jedi know of our existence now, Khem Val can wait, Ruby, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Nora are invaluable to our order. Imperious slammed her head into the metal wall for even considering sicking Khem Val on Ruby and continued walking to the comms room, conflicted on what course of action should be taken, though she was ashamed she even considered turning on Ruby, as she was a critical piece on the board and a person she considered a friend.
After the conversation outside Ruby was convinced by Weiss and Malserik to spend the next few days in the amazingly still intact Bacta tank in the medical ward, despite Ruby's objections as she wanted to talk to all of the knights but her health had to take priority. After they reached the medical ward, Malserik focused on gathering all of the intact medical droids. Once that was done, they prepared the young Sith for immersion into the tank, With most of the irreparably charred flesh removed along with her prosthetic arm after which she was put under a significant anesthetic. After all of those procedures, she was immersed in the tank in a white gown with various implements of wires and tubes connected to her. As Weiss and Malserik watched.
Weiss could feel the peace Ruby was in resting in that tank. She could also feel how soothing the liquid was on Ruby's burns. Malserik stood there with his hand behind his back. Just by the look on his face, Weiss could see the guilt written all over his face.
"I'm sorry, Weiss," Malserik said as he put his right hand on the Bacta tank's glass. "This is all my fault," Malserik spoke guilt pouring from his mouth with each word. Malserik was shattered by this attack on his home, a lot of people got hurt, and will have scars to show from this day including Waldstahl itself. Most of the smoldering ashes were almost extinguished, but corpses of both guards and staff littered the halls across from Jedi and Republic trooper corpses. As he spoke the Hiskalan Guard were cleaning up the halls, as Malserik had dismissed all of his staff back to their quarters to what families remained. Not only had he failed Weiss, but he had also failed all of those under his protection residing in Hiskal.
"Viridian, we all trusted them, we were all blind to this," Weiss said trying to alleviate the pain he felt in his heart. With that said Malserik turned to face Weiss their eyes locking, eye patch to eye patch. With that Weiss said, wanting to thoroughly change the subject,
"So you never originally wanted this power?" Weiss asked of Malserik, while their eyes were locked. Malserik sighed slightly less discontent with the change in topic. With that in mind, he gave his answer.
"That is correct, in my final days as a Jedi, I was seeking power, power Sith holocrons are more than willing to give if the one opening them is not cautious," Malserik said with a bit of disdain, showing he was discontent with his choices that got him his eye. "Some even call out to you like Nihilus's tempting even the strongest-willed Sith."
"His Holocron pulled me in and gave me a vision. In that vision I saw a man that looked like a Grimm," Weiss explained as she turned to look at the scarred Ruby suspended in the pod before continuing with, "and I think he may have significance in Remnant's history," Weiss said linking what Nihilus said about her fighting his creations to him being the creator of the Grimm, "If what I am thinking is correct, that thing, Nihilus, created the Grimm."
"Hmm, it is a possibility the Grimm could be Sith Spawns of Nihilus" Malserik pondered as he returned to look at the wounded Rose, "as a matter of fact that is more likely than not." Malserik's communicator on his wrist chirped, and he dismissed himself from the room, begging his pardon as he left. Alone, Weiss rested her hand on the glass while Ruby rested, and a medical droid buzzed around towards Weiss, his vocabulator blaring at the Heiress of Waldstahl,
"She will be fine, my lady,-" Weiss could immediately tell where this was going and cut the droid off with a harsh.
"I am staying here," Weiss stated, refusing to leave Ruby's side. Nothing, not even the force was going to pull her away.
"Oh, my lady, I was not asking you to leave," The droid spoke, and their voice was surprisingly comforting to the young Sith as the droid continued with "In fact, I brought you a chair." The sight of the chair made Weiss smile faintly as the droid set it up behind Weiss. As the door to enter the Bacta tank room opened. As soon as the door was open, a voice that Weiss recognized as Pyrrha asked,
"How is Ruby doing?" Pyrrha asked as the pink-haired witch approached the tank, her scepter clacking on the ground with each step as she approached. Her voice was somewhat colder though she still held a deep concern for Ruby.
"She's burned up, so she is going to spend some time in the tank," Weiss explained as Pyrrha's red sith eyes shifted to Weiss when she then asked,
"Now the real question, are you alright?" Weiss didn't know what to say to answer this question, considering she could see Pyrrha was gazing directly at her makeshift gauze bandage eye patch. She didn't want to inform Pyrrha of the curse she had just been afflicted with, but on the other hand, she wanted Pyrrha's opinion on the matter. Though, she decided to hold that secret, for the time being, mainly to not give Malserik any further trouble.
"Yeah, I am fine, just coping," Weiss feigned a smile at Pyrrha, who looked at her with a look that said 'if you want to talk to me about anything, I am willing to talk.' But she returned to Ruby as she put her hand on the tank and said, "Either way we are all stronger from this attack than we were before, as a matter of fact, you and Ruby have a different presence in the force now, I don't know what, but there is something." Pyrrha said as the droid that brought Weiss a seat brought Pyrrha one as well. Though as she took a seat the Droid wanted to grumble as the fourth knight of Hiskal entered the room, still covered in dried blood.
"Oh wow, I heard Ruby was hurt but that is something else," Nora gasped slightly shocked to see the pink burned flesh of Ruby as she was suspended in the tank. Though the weirdest thing for her to see was Ruby with her right arm detached.
"Yeah it isn't pretty, even Malserik informed us that it would most likely scar over," Weiss explained to the blood-soaked warrior, before inquiring about Nora's condition, with a quick "are you okay, you look like a mess."
"I am fine, just some minor cuts and bruises, nothing too serious," Nora chirped happily letting her seem like her old self again while Pyrrha and Weiss laughed. To them minor cuts and bruises, that was an improvement over the numerous broken bones that she was used to. It was at this point Nora noted Weiss's left eye and had to comment,
"Wait, Weiss, you lost your eye?" Nora asked cocking her head at her unsure of what to say on the matter as the now annoyed the droid that was bringing them their chairs. While Weiss gave her quick and simple response,
"It's complicated," Not really in the mood to explain in intricate detail her curse to Pyrrha and Nora, lest they get curious and provide an even greater headache for Malserik, who was already dealing with her own mistake.
For the next few hours, the girls sat watching Ruby float in the tank before drifting off into a light sleep around the tank.
Inside the tank, Ruby felt relaxed, The anesthetic was lighter than she thought it would be. She didn't feel anything and she couldn't move but somehow she was still conscious, or at least so she thought. In a few moments, Ruby awoke in what was seemingly a white void. Though as her eyes adjusted to the white void, she saw a dark figure approaching her. With each step, she could hear the raspy mechanical breathing of the man she knew all too well. His black cape flowed over down his back as his distended skull like looked directly at her.
"Once again, you prove that you are weak, Fleurnoire!" Vader burst out, his voice was cold and deep with his mask's raspy breaths. Though before he could continue, Ruby snapped back with,
"I am weak?! I almost took down the Grand Master of the Jedi Order!" Her voice echoed in the white void. Her voice was appalled by the accusation. Though with her outburst Vader continued with his booming voice as he towered over Ruby,
"You did no such thing, if she were not wounded, you would have been killed and not floating in this tank, Fleurnoire," Vader explained, his gestures showing his fury and the young Sith. "Then you knew your love was in danger yet you pursued the attack on the Jedi while they retreated." Vader paused his scolding for a second to ask a rhetorical question of Ruby, "Fleurnoire, do you think you are invincible? Know this, for each strength you have somewhere someone will have a counter to it, so rely on your skills and not your Aura, your Semblance, Your Lightsaber, Or even the Force, because without them you would be next to useless you refine yourself, so don't let yourself become arrogant, like you did, think tactically, think strategically, know your weaknesses know your flaws and use them to your advantage, Fleurnoire"
Vader stopped and gestured as two bacta tanks rose out of the white void below inside the one to Vader's left, she could see a man who was severely burned with all four limbs amputated, the wounds on his body were gruesome to look at then she noticed all of the cybernetics in his body, he was more machine than man. Then in the other tank, she saw a female that looked quite similar though the cybernetics looked cruder than the man's.
"My arrogance and hatred turned me into this," Vader gestured to the man in the tank, "and this is what you could become if you are not careful," Vader spoke gesturing to the tank on his right, "Though there are many other alternatives for you if you let your arrogance stray too far out of check, as that is what I told you back when you made your first kills as a Sith, keep yourself in check, and you failed to do that, so take your scars as a lesson."
Outside sitting around the tank, asleep. the three knights were awoken by the sound of glass cracking. Weiss was the first to awaken to the harsh sound, looking around she tried to find the source of the noise, turning to the tank, the heiress saw a spider web of cracks forming on the tank Ruby was immersed within. jumping up Pyrrha and Nora who were awake by this point and followed suit. Standing well enough back, the tank shattered under the weight of the viscous liquid mixture inside.
As the fluid was flowing out of the destroyed tank, the three knights could smell the sweet scent of the bacta as they saw Ruby kneeling in the goop of the destroyed tank as the rest of the glass of the tank fell and shattered. Weiss could see the pink flesh of the barely healed burn wounds as could the other Knights. Ripping off the breath mask Ruby gasped and started to cough up some Bacta that had leaked into the mask. It was at this point Weiss ran forward and yelled, though she was quickly followed by the other two knights who yelled the same
"Ruby are you okay!?" Ruby was still coughing when she reached her. The odor of the bacta wafted off of Ruby who stopped coughing and then started spitting the remains of the bacta in her mouth onto the floor, before giving her response.
"Yeah I am fine," Ruby smiled as she looked up at her lover, and it was at that point it hit Weiss, Ruby's scars wouldn't be healed, her old burns barely registered, even Weiss's had faded to the point of almost being gone, but these burns just by the way they had partially healed, Weiss could tell they were going to take a long time to fade, if they ever did. The way they stuck out on the right side of Ruby's face made the Heiress wonder how Ruby would react to this change in appearance.
Sitting up, Ruby looked at Nora and Pyrrha who were at Weiss's side, as the door behind them hissed open, revealing Viridian standing behind the door, whose face shifted to shock, seeing the tank shattered in the way it was. He could tell just by looking at the shatter pattern and the contained nature of the mess, it was not caused by Ruby doing a force Repulse in the tank, but instead, an unseen crack broke the tank.
"Probably the blasts weakened the structure," He muttered trying to reason the destruction as he approached, while Ruby climbed out of the tank, with the assistance of the three other knights. With the situation seemingly more benign than he originally thought he walked up and told the girls to get Ruby back to their quarters and get her cleaned up and get some rest as Malserik didn't want to risk any more stocks of bacta on tanks that could break open if Kolto or Bacta was filled in them.
When the Knights returned to their combined quarters, Ruby was walking under her own strength as the anesthetic had worked its way out of her system. Reeking of Bacta, Ruby trudged off to the shower, while Weiss, Pyrrha, and Nora waited outside in the living room.
Inside the bathroom, Ruby, set her prosthetic arm on the sink counter as she caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror. 'Take these scars as a lesson,' Rung in her mind as she saw the right side of her face, she hadn't bothered to look at it at all, not really caring but now it hit her, these marks, on her face would be there for the rest of her life, seared into the flesh of her face. As it looked rough, she was thankful it wasn't as hideous as it could be but it was still very off-putting, as the skin around her right eye was pink and ragged with scarred flesh as was the same case on her cheek down to her jawline. She moved her Jaw just to see if there were any points of limitation. Despite the damage of the burns she noted that both her right eyebrow was somehow spared and the burns were away from her mouth. Feeling them with her left hand she could feel how the bacta had healed the burns but she knew at this point they wouldn't be healed to the smooth skin she originally had. Looking back in the mirror she saw she looked more like a villain than a hero.
Closing her eyes, the young lady stood in front of the mirror wanting to cry, though there was a part of her mind that just wanted to laugh. Laugh at the absurdity of what she was thinking, Laugh at the fact the thought that she 'didn't look like a hero,' and laugh at that recurring childish dream of her becoming a hero. With that thought in mind, she laughed, unleashing a cackle that sounded more like something of a wicked witch more so than her usual laughs. And one thought crossed her mind Imperious put me through so much worse than this. Though as she laughed with that thought in mind, tears streamed from her eyes.
With that thought in her mind, Ruby's laughter died down and she glanced at herself one more time in the mirror and had one last thought before stripping down and stepping into the shower. A thought that was a resounding consequence of the day, and that thought was no mercy, no more, that thought alone has held me back too much, I need to change as not everyone can be spared especially those that oppose me or get in my way. With that thought, Ruby smiled as she had thought of who she was back on Remnant to which her thought was, by the force I was gullible and stupid back then. With that final thought, Ruby began her quick shower, at which point she got to see the full extent of the damage done to her body. Seeing the damage in full, she came to the conclusion that she wanted to conceal it along with the burns on her face as the insecurity of her younger self influenced her to do so.
Outside, the three knights who were discussing the attack on their home when the group heard the laugh coming from the bathroom, which stopped their discussion as Weiss got up and went over to the thin metal door to the bathroom as the fit of laughter subsided and the water started running. She could feel Ruby was dealing with her new scars, she knew Ruby probably would, though she was curious if she would need help to deal with them. though this fit of laughter caused Pyrrha to inquire,
"I wonder what she was laughing at?" Pyrrha pondered as she reclined on the couch with her scepter leaned next to her, as she locked her red eyes at Nora, as she furthered her pondering "as that sounded like a laughing fit Nora would have, no offense Nora,"
"None was taken," Nora replied with a wide Cheshire smile, as she accepted the fact she was much more 'eccentric' than her teammates.
"And that is a cause for concern, one Nora is enough," Weiss grumbled not wanting to dwell upon the mere thought or implication that Ruby could become even remotely like Nora with how she was now. Nora embraced the pain, which was her conduit to the dark side, and with the way her body was held together at times, her pain was a near-constant but Nora seemingly didn't care one bit. The thought Ruby could become like that was not something Weiss wanted to think about.
"I would have to concur with that, I bet a second Nora would drive Malserik mad," Pyrrha chuckled as Weiss lamented at what Pyrrha said as the other two knights had yet to learn of what transpired between Malserik and Ruby, and frankly Weiss wanted to keep it that way as she walked away from the door holding the necklace that Malserik gave her.
"Yeah, then we would have a third, let the insanity spread," Nora spoke in a mocking and joking manner, though there was an undertone of seriousness to what the lightning rod of a Sith said. It was at this point Pyrrha asked a question that Weiss did not expect nor wanted to answer.
"Weiss, did Malserik have anything interesting in his Archive?" Pyrrha inquired, rapidly changing the subject to one that made the hair on Weiss's neck stand on end, as she figured out how to respond to Pyrrha's inquiry, though the bathroom door hissed open and Ruby's accented voice responded, with,
"Minus the ash and bodies, just holocrons and artifacts," Ruby smiled as the three knights turned to face her clad in another set of her sleeveless tunic and trousers, she walked over to the couch, Ruby winked at Weiss as she could sense her apprehension. Though Ruby sat at the table and pulled out her tool kit which she used on her prosthetic which still had not been reattached. Slotting it into the stump cap, Ruby started to work, while informing her team about what had transpired in the courtyard, in which she mentioned the name, the name, a name that left a nasty taste in Ruby's mouth just to say aloud, as that cat faunus was a backstabber, and now their enemy.
"So Blake partook in this attack?" Pyrrha asked rhetorically, as Ruby twitched in pain, clenching her organic left hand as she tweaked a nerve wire she was reconnecting, as her face gave grim look as Pyrrha continued with, "This is an interesting development,"
"So are we going break her legs?" Nora smiled, her sulfur eyes wide, glowing brightly with insanity. This line caused Ruby to smirk, but as much as Ruby wanted to say yes, she couldn't say that as there was that part of her mind that said, 'don't give up on Blake yet,' as she realized Blake had fought with anger and vengeance in their duel, which made her think she could break her, so Ruby's reply was that of,
"No, Nora, she was angry and vengeful, I want to see if we could make a Sith out of her," Ruby explained with a smirk as she wanted to burst out in a scream as full synthetic nerve function was restored to her right arm. In response to that her metal hand snapped shut and she grunted like someone who just got stung by a painful insect.
"Oh like you haven't done worse Ruby," Weiss replied to Ruby's grunt, "you modify that thing all the time so don't give us that it hurts that bad," Weiss said as her lover locked the wires in her arm down, finishing up the task of reconnecting her arm, as Pyrrha pondered the thought of what Ruby suggested.
"You think we could even break her?" Pyrrha asked, her voice cold with an air of ponderance, which was also written on her face. As her hand thoughtfully supported her chin as Ruby function checked her hand, moving the fingers in such ways to ensure everything was functional before she responded with,
"I don't know, but I would love to try to bring her to our side," Ruby smiled as she turned to face the Heiress to the ruined fortress and say "Well I am heading off to bed, it has been a long day."
"I think we can all agree to that," Pyrrha smiled, as Ruby opened the door to hers and Weiss's bedroom, the latter of whom walked through the door and threw Ruby something off of her belt, catching it, Ruby immediately realized it was a connected De Sang.
"I figured you would want her back," Weiss chuckled, as Ruby disconnected the hilts, and set them on the nightstand on her side of the bed. As Weiss took to her side of the bed taking Mitternacht out of the slot on the side of her belt and set it on her nightstand. After which she sat on the bed as she felt the bandages over her left eye laid down and went to sleep next to her burned lover, as they drifted off into sleep.
In the morning they were woken up by the Twi'lek that Ruby interrogated yesterday, Malserik was requesting that the four knights report to the brig. They dressed in their black Sith robes. They all wore their cloaks just for additional warmth as the main halls of Waldstahl had various holes of various sizes in structure, which let the murky light of a snowy morning shine in along with the frigid air.
After a few minutes and a flight of stairs the knights had made their way to the brig where Malserik was waiting for the knights, he lead them to the observation room overlooking the interrogation room. Once there he said,
"Knights, I have Dornettz and Balikor down there, along with the Jedi, so be careful while conducting your interrogation Understood?"
"Understood," Ruby replied, her voice cold with pent-up anger, "May I have assistance if needed?" Ruby inquired as she didn't want to have to deal in physical or force-based torture. Malserik raised his left eyebrow at this question as it was unexpected but alas he responded with
"of course, traitors deserve no mercy," Malserik said as Ruby started to walk with Pyrrha and Nora following, though Weiss kept her feet planted, which Ruby took note of after only taking three steps, turning to face Weiss, She could sense her lover held objections to this. Which was quickly reinforced by what she said in reply to Ruby's gaze,
"Ruby, please handle this without me okay?" Weiss asked with a slightly nervous smile. "Torture is not something I can or want to do," Weiss added in explanation, as the three knights looked at the eye-patched Heiress along with her former Master, who had to speak on the matter.
"Not all Sith agree with the idea of torture, and I can respect Weiss's objection," Viridian said as he took a seat at the table set up in the observation room, "Besides it gives me a chance to redeem myself," Malserik smiled as he pulled out a holographic projector that displayed a chessboard.
After the conversation in the observation room Ruby, Pyrrha, and Nora entered the interrogation room below, while Malserik and Weiss sat in the observation room above the interrogation chamber. After a few moments of silence a loud scream bellowed out from below and it was clear that Ruby was now 'taking care' of the traitors and the Jedi. Weiss could sense that Ruby was enjoying the mental destruction she was unleashing on their minds. This disturbed Weiss but she knew how furious Ruby was and she was focusing on the game of chess she was playing with Malserik, to take her mind off of what was going on below as she didn't approve of what Ruby was doing. Though as she moved castled her king, a thought troubled her, and that thought revolved around what Ruby told her last night about Blake.
"Is something troubling you Weiss?" Malserik asked, concerned as he looked her in her exposed eye, he could tell by the way she had averted her gaze, she was troubled by something, though another scream rang out from the room below as Weiss looked down at Ruby, who had her hand on Dornettz's head while Nora and Pyrrha stood to the side as Ruby did her work. "Weiss you can talk to me," Malserik spoke sounding almost like a concerned father.
"Apparently one of our old teammates was here yesterday, and fought Ruby, trying to kill her," Weiss said as the feelings of betrayal washed over her as her posture slouched. "She was a Jedi,"
"I see," Malserik replied as he looked down to see the progress Ruby was having with the interrogation, he saw both Balikor and Dornettz were incapacitated with drained looks on their faces and now Ruby was moving on to Anderon, the one Malserik knew would give her the most trouble. Judging by the way Pyrrha and Nora were positioned, they could tell that as well. Turning back towards Weiss, he responded with "That is most troubling, that means the order now can confirm all four knights of Hiskal,"
"That is a concern I didn't take into account" Weiss responded as she had full intent on continuing. "It's the fact Blake is our enemy now, she was our friend," Weiss continued somberly her voice getting softer with each word, Turning to look down into the chamber, he saw a sith sword impaling the Jedi's foot to the floor while the pike end of Blodsvard had pierced the other and they pumped the Jedi full of force lightning. While Ruby had her hand on the Jedi's head, seemingly not getting electrocuted by her friend's lightning. Despite the horrific nature of the scene he was in Anderon seemed to be holding up well. Turning back to face his former apprentice, Malserik continued the conversation with,
"I understand your pain, Weiss," Malserik smiled lightly, as his communicator on the table chirped signaling Ruby was done and leaving the chamber. Seconds later Ruby walked up flanked by Nora and Pyrrha. Walking in, she placed a data disk on the table and spoke.
"I found this hidden in Balakor's effects" Ruby announced triumphantly, before continuing with her report, "They didn't give the Jedi any solid information from the Archive or the order, they wanted to be off-planet first," Ruby smiled as she looked at Malserik with her gilded eyes. Malserik's face lit up with a subtle smirk that evolved into a chuckle, then to a full laugh, then to disturbing cackles. He was ecstatic at the news as he took the disk in hand. "On that disk is a large amount of valuable information on the plan and the order's numbers and what your archive contained, they only sent a message that basically said 'a Visorium lives,'" Ruby continued as Malserik asked.
"So the Jedi know nothing minus the Visorium order exists, Ruby?" Malserik spoke his chuckles still present in his voice, as some tears flowed from his exposed eye.
"Correct," Ruby smiled as she said that Malserik crushed the disk in hand with a smile on his face. "But I am not done, I am going to want to do a bit more digging on that Jedi later, bus so far I can compile a list of Republic and Jedi spies in the empire," Ruby reported to Malserik whose eyes went wide along with Weiss's as this news sunk in. "I would just like to verify the information before I give a full report on it, so keep that Jedi alive, I will resume tomorrow, doing 'that' takes a lot out of me." With that Malserik smiled and gave his response
"Excellent work Ruby, as I said I apologize for my actions yesterday," Malserik spoke apologetically, wanting to repair the damage he had done the day prior. Though before Ruby could respond with the smug smirk on her face, a new accented voice joined the conversation.
"Just don't ever do that again, Malserik, or I will let Ruby kill you," Imperious said entering the room, interrupting the conversation with a smile, "So how exposed are we Malserik?" the pale blonde Sith asked of Viridian.
"They only know we exist," Malserik said with a smile as Imperious's face had a look of pure relief. "Well the word about the attack is out, Vakor, Lana, Lyeroka, Reveka, and Dyekar, will start spreading the word out to our more fringe elements, the plan will proceed as normal."
"Good, we will need to rebuild Waldstahl in the meantime, also Ruby are we good?" Malserik asked redirecting the conversation, extending his arm for her to shake it.
"I may not trust you fully for a bit, but I think we are good now," Ruby replied truthfully, taking his hand with her metal one and shaking it.
It was at this moment Roman, Neo, and Winter pinged Malserik's communicator, activating it that the former criminals reported: "Waldstahl is one hundred percent secure, we have a lot of dead Jedi and Troopers that need to be cleaned up."
"Good work Captain of the Guard Torchwick, Intelligence Chief Frost, and Chief of Security Schnee" Malserik spoke congratulating them whilst simultaneously anointing them with their new titles. They had officially replaced Balikor and Dornettz while Winter had gotten an entirely new position. Their faces were shocked at the titles they were given, as they didn't know fully what had happened in regards to the betrayal. "I expect a full debriefing in my office in an hour." all three of them saluted with a bold, "Yes, My lord!" With that, it could be considered over, the battle of Waldstahl was over and the Visorium order was victorious.
While the turmoil in the galaxy picked up, on Remnant a dark female figure overlooked a red crystal field from the ruins of her old academy brought to Remnant by destruction. The stone-like claw where three would meet, though only one stood now as the other two had fallen long ago, and many thought the third had also fallen. This figure was shrouded by the darkness through the dim red light of the circle in the center and the light of the environment. This figure stood her paper-like deathly white skin covered in dark marks and veins.
"The time draws near, my return will soon be at hand and I will have my revenge Surik, or shall I say, Summer Rose," This figure spoke with a malevolent tone, "My sight restored, my body rejuvenated, thanks to my former apprentices work." this figure felt the grim tethered to her soul, she thanked her apprentice for these spawns of the darkness. She wanted to unleash hell with these creations of darkness. With her renewed body came a new blood lust even an urge to wield a saber in combat, killing with her hands rather than the force. her abilities in the force enhanced with each creature tethered to her will this woman looked out over the red crystal field feeling the nexus of dark side power as the shards of Malachor V resonated in the ground beneath her. The woman smiled as she looked out with her eyes that were surrounded by black veins and a black sclera showing her glowing red iris very prominently. She had power over most of Remnant as it stood at the moment as her apprentices had infiltrated various positions of power in the chaos-filled the world that was Remnant
"Surik, I will have my vengeance and I will see that I gain control of that empire that Fool Vitiate formed and then I will destroy you like you did my apprentices and my academy!" The woman spoke to the Grimm wandering the crystal field below perking up at the malice in her voice. "I Traya. No, I Darth Salem promise this. No, I swear on this! My Grimm will infest every corner of the galaxy and Summer you will watch it burn with me." Salem laughed as the time drew closer for her to act.
A/N: Well that chapter was a pain to write with exams and writer's block I had been dealing with. So I hope everyone like the new chapter and what it revealed, I really don't have much to say other than that sadly. The only thing I really have to say is, five more chapters than the Rewrite will be over further info in Chapter 1. With all of that in mind, I am going to carry on to the review responses.
hornofdesolation: Thank You!
Now with all of 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
