Salem had walked the world of Remnant for a very long time, and in that time she had discovered quite a few things. A few things regarding her in particular were made clear recently. She used to get migraines early in her life, though those stopped after a few key events in her life. She also still had an eye for talent, as her most recent inner circle and especially her Generals could testify to.
She also found out that, contrary to what she thought, she still could get migraines, it just required a certain stimulus. And, after a few decades of dealing with her Generals, she was certain they knew what that stimulus was and must be actively trying to provoke them on purpose by now.
"I've gotten my count up to twenty three as of the last training session," Cinder said, her arms crossed behind her back and trying her hardest not to smirk with pride in front of Salem. "I'm certain that with a few more hard pushes, I'll be more than ready for the next phase."
"Something that you and General Ruby are in agreement about," Salem agreed nodding slightly.
'For once,' Cinder thought, though she kept it to herself as she said, "I do have to give the good General her due credit. She knows just the right way to push me on. I couldn't imagine getting as good a grasp on these powers without her."
"Yet another thing that you two agree on." 'Though now that I think about it, I haven't seen Ruby or the other generals all day,' Salem thought to herself, not letting her worry show. 'They are in the castle, but… they've been too quiet.' "Speaking of, where is the good General?"
"I… believe she's in the East wing," Cinder answered, slightly confused, "at least, that's where I saw her going after my training ended an hour ago. She said something about 'arts and crafts.' I would have asked what she meant but… I didn't think I'd like the answer."
'Smart.' Salem stood up from her seat and started moving to the door next to Cinder. "Go make any preparations you need for your next training session. It won't be much longer until we're ready to make our move and the sooner you're ready, the better."
"Of course. By your leave." Cinder bowed slightly and turned to leave the room, Salem right behind her and going toward the east wing while Cinder went west.
Deep down, Salem was dreading what she would find her High General doing.
Salem soon found Ruby in one of the East wing's furnished rooms in the middle of her 'arts and crafts'. Salem couldn't help but stare incredulously at the Grimm sitting cross legged on the floor humming to herself as she painted one of the brick walls with her hands.
'Looking at her, you wouldn't think she was responsible for genocide if her looks didn't give it away first,' Salem thought moving into room until she was next to Ruby. "Having fun General?" Ruby jumped and scrambled to her feet at Salem's question, not caring about staining her combat dress as she saluted.
"Q-queen! I didn't hear you come in," she said relaxing only when Salem gave a small wave.
"I didn't want you to hear me. What are you doing?"
"Oh, this?" Ruby looked at her handywork before nervously pressing her index fingers together. "Well, Cinder's training finished earlier than I thought today, so I had some down time before my next assignment. So I thought, 'maybe Queen will love it if I spice up some of the rooms a little.' So, that's what I've been doing for the past couple of days."
"That's what you meant by 'arts and crafts'?" Salem asked which Ruby replied to by nodding. "And the corpse?"
The corpse in question was a middle aged man that had been nailed to the wall by his hands and feet, the hands pinned above his head. His chest had been split open and his blood and intestines were spilling onto the floor, the former of which being what Ruby had been painting the walls with. The walls around the body were painted with a set of runes in a circle surrounding the body, though Salem knew at a glance that they were nothing but gibberish.
'Times like these I'm glad I rarely vomit.'
"He's the centerpiece!" Ruby answered with a large smile, "I found him and a bunch of others when I went out for food with Yang a few weeks ago. I took them all and, whenever I have free time, I decorate a room with one of them. It's like a nice rug or one of those peace lilies from Mistral, it really ties the room together. What do you think?"
"…How long have you been doing this?" Salem asked looking back at Ruby.
"Um… I started not that long ago… 14 days?"
"And how many rooms have you 'decorated'?"
"Counting this one? Fifteen."
Salem resisted the urge to groan or show any outward signs of annoyance as she said, "While I appreciate the gesture Ruby, I would appreciate it even more if you clean up all of the bodies. Because I'm now aware that there is a two week old corpse somewhere in the castle and they attract flies."
"I don't understand the problem."
"Ruby, get rid of the bodies. Now."
"…Yes Queen," Ruby said sadly and moved to take the body off the wall. "I don't understand, every time Weiss does something nice for you she gets congratulated. But when I do it, I get scolded. It's not fair."
"And speaking of, where is Weiss?"
"She's in the concert hall," Ruby replied finally getting the corpse off the wall and setting it on the floor.
"…We have a concert hall?" Another thing that Salem had discovered was the Generals were able to genuinely confuse her every now and then.
"…Oh. That was supposed to be a secret. Oh well, no point worrying now."
"How was it supposed to be a secret?"
"Well… it was a surprise present for your birthday. But we didn't know when that was, so it never really came up. Actually, since the subject came up, when is your birthday Queen?"
"You don't need to know that. So, Weiss made a concert hall for me?"
"Yes, for pianos and the like. Weiss wanted to thank you for the opportunities you've given us, so she kidnapped a bunch of carpenters or something to make a place for you to listen to music."
"Hm… that's actually really considerate," Salem commented genuinely touched by her General's actions. Still, there was the constant doubt when it came to them. "And what has Weiss been doing with the hall while I've been unaware about it?"
"Well, I don't know for sure since I don't really go over there, but I think she uses it as a torture room for Atlas citizens who insult her."
'And there it is, as expected.' "All the same I would like to see this hall for myself. You know where it is?" Ruby nodded. "Then take me there. You can worry about the cleanup afterwards."
"Of course Queen. Follow me." Ruby carefully stepped over the corpse on the ground and led Salem outside the room and down the hall to her left. Walking side by side through the halls of the castle Salem noticed Ruby fidgeting, rubbing both of her arms over and over and glancing at the floor with a concerned look. After a few more minutes of twists and turns of Ruby doing this Salem decided to get to the heart of the matter.
"Is something bothering you General?" Salem asked, causing Ruby to glance at her before shaking her head.
"Nothing you need concern yourself with Queen," she answered. She then shook her head again and rubbed the white skin of her left arm again. "I mean… I know you told me not to concern myself about it, but I can't get that Huntress out of my head. The one with the white cloak. No matter what I do or focus on, she always finds a way back into my thoughts. There's something about her that just won't let me go!"
"She is the first of your targets to get away from you in a long time. You've had a flawless record before, so it makes sense your first failure is staying with you." Salem stopped, her general doing the same and turning to her, and gently grasped her chin to have Ruby look up at her. "But as I said, one Huntress isn't going to affect much in the long run. So focus less on your failures and more on doing your job."
"If only it was my failures stealing my focus," Ruby said quietly before Salem took her hand away, "but you are right Queen. I guess I've been using my free time poorly if something that small kept me distracted."
"Well rectify it. Back to the task at hand…"
"Right, the concert hall. It's not that far away actually," Ruby pointed down another hall and the Queen and General resumed their walk.
When Salem followed Ruby into the concert hall, the Witch of Grimm once again found herself dumbfounded by her General's actions. The hall was massive, easily comparable to similar music halls she had seen during her long time on Remnant, and decorated elaborately. A massive chandelier hung over the audience seating, of which contained only a dozen or so plush chairs that had their own side tables for food and drink. The stage was easily big enough to hold any orchestra, opera, or stage play that Salem could think of, though at the moment there was only a single piano being played. The melody easily carried through the hall as Salem looked down at the plush carpet covering the hall and the elaborate mural of an ancient battle on one of the walls.
Salem kept her surprise in check as she looked at Ruby, who was beaming with pride, and asked, "How did you keep all of this a secret from me for so long?"
"We were really quiet building it," Ruby answered, a response Salem would have rolled her eyes at if she possessed lesser self-control.
"And General Weiss is here?" Salem asked looking at the piano player on the stage.
"She should be." Just then the player made a mistake, the sharp key echoing loudly through the hall.
"YOU HEATHEN!" Salem and Ruby looked at the audience seating as Weiss sprang from one of the chairs and stomped one of her feet angrily as she burned a hole into the player. "AFTER ALL I'VE HEARD OF YOUR SKILL YOU CAN'T EVEN PLAY A SIMPLE SONATA?! I'M GOING TO RIP THE EYES OUT OF YOUR SKULL AND EAT THEM WITH PLUM SAUCE FOR THIS ATTROCITY!"
"I'm sorry, please!" The player screamed fearfully and covered his head leaning over the piano keys.
"Oh, there she is. Hey Weiss, having fun?" Weiss turned around at Ruby's call and looked horrified when she saw Salem was with her. She quickly rushed over to them, looking between Salem and the stage in a panic.
"Q-Queen! I didn't- I mean… I can explain," Weiss said, stopping when Salem raised a hand.
"Ruby has already informed me as to how this hall came to be. As I told her, I appreciate the gesture."
"Oh… well thank you Queen," Weiss stood up straighter and held her hands behind her back, "it was a group effort."
"Indeed. Ruby, go attend to your other duties. And remember, all of them."
"Yes Queen," Ruby said and left the hall dejectedly.
"Um…?" Weiss started to say.
"Arts and crafts," was all Salem replied with.
"Oh, you found out about those. But I had nothing to do with those!"
"I don't care about that now General," Salem stated looking at the stage, "What I do care about is why there's a man on stage playing the piano. Also, where did you get the piano?"
"I bought it," Weiss said with a shrug as she led Salem to the chairs, "as for him, he's Alabast Sinclair, the oldest son of the Sinclair Dog Toy company's CEO. Would you care for a drink Queen?"
"No. Why is he here?"
"Oh, well, Little Weiss attended a party in Atlas and his father boasted jovially about how his son could play the piano better than her. Such an insult could not go unavenged, so I decided to put the boast to the test."
"I'm sure that was in jest."
"I'm well aware of high class social cues to know that Queen," Weiss said picking up a tea kettle, "but I also didn't have anything better to do. So..."
"So you kidnapped him to play the piano?" Salem asked sitting down, Weiss answering with a nod while pouring some tea. "I didn't know Weiss Schnee could play the piano."
"Oh, she can't," Weiss said sitting in a different chair and taking a sip, "She's actually quite awful at it; she can barely do the 'chopsticks' thing. It's a good thing she's good at singing and loves doing it. AND DID I SAY YOU CAN STOP PLAYING?!"
"Sorry!" Alibast cried and started playing again, slowly at first until it picked up into a graceful melody. Salem and Weiss sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the music fill the hall. Salem closed her eyes and thought back to distant memories in a similar hall that she hadn't thought about in a long time.
"Queen?" Salem opened her eyes and looked over at Weiss, who was watching with some concern.
"I'm fine General, just lost in thought," Salem said looking back at the stage. "This hall was a good idea."
"I'm glad you enjoy it, and am deeply honored." Weiss looked down into her tea cup and swirled the liquid in it. "Truth be told, I've been thinking about using this hall for singing practice. It's been some time since I've done it and… well, Little Weiss has got me thinking about it."
"You can do with this as you wish, as long as you do your duties to me first."
"Of course Queen. I wouldn't think of doing otherwise."
"That last note was wrong."
"YOU WRETCH!" Weiss shouted standing up and throwing the teacup to the floor, the ceramic shattering into pieces as Alabast cowered again. "PLAYING BADLY WHEN I WAS YOUR ONLY AUDIENCE IS ONE THING, BUT IN FRONT OF QUEEN?! THIS IS AN INSULT TO MY INTEGRITY AND LOYALTY I WILL NOT STAND!"
"Now Weiss," Salem said, getting Weiss to look at her, "One little mistake is nothing to get upset over. If it were, you and your sister Generals would have been disposed of long ago." After a moment of Salem staring at her, Weiss brushed off her dress and sat back down.
"Start over," she ordered. After another few moments the music started and Weiss sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry for the unprofessionalism Queen. I was told he was a skilled pianist."
"It doesn't trouble me. Though I assume since you have the time to do this your work is coming along?"
"Oh yes, that meeting was today wasn't it?" Weiss wondered aloud and straightened her dress, "Yes Queen, everything is going as planned. If something has changed on that you would be the first to know."
"Good. And would you happen to know where General Blake and Yang are? They weren't at the meeting either."
"I believe Blake is in her room. As for Yang, I couldn't begin to guess though I'm sure she's still in the castle." Salem nodded and stood up, brushing off her dress as the music continued.
"I'll go find Blake then, see if she has an update for me."
"Don't let me keep you Queen. I'll enjoy myself here for a little longer." Salem nodded as Weiss settled back into her chair, which ended a second later when Alabast hit another wrong note. "THAT'S IT!"
"Wait, no!" Alabast screamed as Weiss picked up a black object on the side table and pushed a button. "YOU'RE A HAR-" he started to shout before being cut off by an explosion right under him, destroying everything in the center of the stage. Salem couldn't help the small jump of surprise when the explosion happened, though Weiss was more concerned with watching the stage after throwing the detonator onto the floor.
"Good riddance! That'll teach him to make me look bad."
"What was that?!" Salem asked pointing at the stage.
"Hm? Oh, I rigged his chair with explosives in case he bored or annoyed me. He was starting to get dull anyway, so that was bound to happen soon."
Salem rubbed the bridge of her nose, already feeling the start of a migraine, as she said, "Wasn't he the son of a wealthy socialite in Atlas? Wouldn't it have been more prudent to keep him alive?"
"His father was the CEO of a dog toy company! His worth was very small to begin with; no one will miss him." Weiss was quiet for a moment before she started rubbing her armored chin and musing, "Well, except for his family I guess. Oh, I should send his body back to them!" Weiss stood up excitedly and started bouncing slightly, "Oh, I can just feel the waves of horror and sadness that they'll give off! You're a genius Queen!"
"Of course," Salem answered trying to fight off the urge to roll her eyes, "Now please clean that up."
"Yes Queen! Oh, I should get some pictures for my wall!" Weiss grabbed an old fashioned camera off the table and rushed to the stage, using a glyph to hop onto it before she started taking pictures of what was left of Alabast Sinclair.
Salem left the hall quietly and, once out of sight of Weiss, rubbed her forehead with a sigh. 'Let's hope Blake is doing something more sane.'
That hope was almost immediately dashed when Salem entered Blake's room (barely decorated, even for her General's rooms) and found the Faunus Grimm staring at a Grimm crab skittering around on her floor. Salem walked next to the General and stared at her as she stared downward for a while until Blake suddenly said, "Hello Queen."
"Ah, so you did notice me enter."
"Naturally Queen. I apologize for not saying anything before, I was… entranced by this little one." Blake knelt down and extended a tentacle to pick up the Crab, which scuttled onto it. Blake then stood up and looked it over closely.
"And why is that?"
"For nearly a century I've lived on this world and seen all manner of my species. And yet, there are still some that take forms that don't have any obvious purpose, like this little one. For what purpose does this one take this form?" Blake looked at Salem at the question.
"The Creatures of Grimm are as much a mystery to me as they have always been," Salem said looking at the crab looking at her. "While I'm sure there is a purpose to this form, I wouldn't be able to fathom it off the top of my head."
"Fascinating," Blake mused taking off her mask. She stared at the crab, which stared up at her, before she smiled a cheek splitting smile at it and ate it. Blake chewed it, the crunch of the shell filling the room before she swallowed and stuck her tongue out happily.
'…Why?' was Salem's only thought as she stared at Blake putting her mask back on and turning to face her fully.
"So, to what do I owe you gracing me with your presence Queen?"
"We had a meeting today and neither you nor the other Generals were there," Salem explained.
"Of course I wasn't," Blake replied plainly.
"And why weren't you there?"
"Because there would be no point to me being there. Nothing has improved or worsened about my orders or the situation involving the White Fang. Why should I bother wasting your time with useless updates when I could just come to you when something changes?"
"All the same, I would like to see you at those meetings from now on. Understood?"
"Of course Queen. Is there anything else while you're here?"
"Just the update on the White Fang please," Salem said crossing her arms.
"Like I said, there's nothing new to report that requires your attention," Blake shrugged and walked over to her plain bed, "We may have had a undercover police officer in a Mistral cell, but it's been taken care of. Or rather I'm about to take care of it."
"And why haven't you done it yet? Do you not know who it is?"
"I know who it is," Blake answered extending a tentacle under the bed and dragging a Faunus out from under it, bound and gagged with fear in his one remaining eye as the other had been gouged out by one of his lizard horns. "I just haven't taken care of him yet. Isn't that right 'Reginald'?" Blake wrapped a tentacle around 'Reginald's' head and dragged him up, the man shaking and making muffled noises of fear as Blake took her mask off and leaned in close to him.
"You thought you could learn more about the White Fang if you infiltrated it huh? Well I guess you learned a little too much this time huh?!" Blake smiled toothily and licked her teeth. "Well, maybe this will teach your friends an important lesson!" Blake then bit on the Faunus's neck and pushed him down onto his back, 'Reginald' screaming loudly through the cloth until it turned into a bloody gurgle when Blake ripped a chunk of flesh out and spat it on the floor.
'Why?! Why do they always have to get blood on the floor?! Don't they know how much of a pain it is to clean off these floors?!' Salem thought narrowing her eyes at the mess being made in front of her as Blake stabbed 'Reginald' in the chest with a tentacle. Once he was done twitching Blake's ears perked up before flattening as she looked back at Salem with a look of embarrassment, blood dripping down her mouth and front of her kimono.
"I'm sorry Queen, I started without asking if you wanted some," She said gesturing to the body with her free tentacle, "Would you?"
"I'm full, I already ate," Salem lied and narrowed her eyes at the Faunus Grimm, "and I hope you'll clean that up. All of it, blood included."
"I always clean up after my meals," Blake defended and spat into the blood puddle. "I just wish this guy wasn't a smoker. It affects the flavor more than you'd think."
"I'll leave you to that then. Now would you happen to know where General Yang is?" Blake rubbed her chin at Salem's question before standing up and turning to her.
"I believe I overheard that Watts needed her help with something in the dining room. I couldn't care less about what it was though, the man's experiments are so beneath my notice."
"Are they? Well, I'll go see what it is for myself." Salem turned and left Blake's room, the General almost immediately leaping back onto the body to continue eating as soon as Salem shut the door.
She was definitely feeling the headache now.
The dining hall of the castle was one of the places that Salem rarely visited. While she still felt the pains of hunger, she had decided long ago not to quell it if she could help it. The pain helped keep her focused on what needed to be done. So when Salem entered the dining hall and was met with the sight of Yang arm wrestling Mercury with Watts and Emerald watching from the sidelines, she couldn't help but watch curiously as she made her way to Yang's side of the table.
"Good day Your Grace," Watts said looking up from his scroll long enough to bow to Salem before turning back to the scroll. Emerald stiffened up when she saw Salem while Yang and Mercury were too focused on their match to notice.
"Doctor," Salem returned looking at the match. Yang's left arm was barely moving and she seemed to enjoy watching Mercury struggle to try and move it. "When I was told you needed General Yang for an experiment, I didn't think it would be something like this."
"This is more slaking my personal curiosity about your Generals, Ma'am," Watts answered tapping his scroll, "and like always, their raw strength is still fascinating to watch." Yang seemed to take that as her cue to end the one sided match, as she slammed Mercury's arm down onto the table and leaned back crossing her arms behind her head as the gray haired youth shook the pain from his arm. "And General Yang wins again."
"Naturally," Yang said and grinned at Mercury, "want to go another round?"
"No thanks," Mercury said massaging his hand, "I think you almost broke my damn arm." It was right then that Mercury finally noticed Salem standing behind Yang and froze with his eyes wide. Yang, naturally curious about this, looked behind her and jumped to her feet when she saw Salem.
"Q-Queen?! I… uh," Yang said looking at the others in the room, only getting cautiously terrified looks from Mercury and Emerald and Watts still casually plinking away at his scroll. With no help from them, Yang looked back at Salem and shrugged. "Nice weather we're having?"
"It's the same as it always is," Salem answered, her eyes flicking to the table briefly before going back to Yang. "So is this where you've been all day?"
"N-no," Yang answered clasping her hands behind her back, "Just… the last couple of hours."
"Arm wrestling with someone who couldn't possibly match your strength."
"…Yes. It was just a light workout."
"So what you're saying," Salem said managing to keep any facial twitches down, "is that you don't have a valid excuse for missing the meeting today?"
"…Sssssssshit, that was today?"
"Yes," Watts offered smugly. Yang shot a glare at him before turning back to Salem.
"Well… you see…" Yang trailed off for a second before shaking her head and shrugging, "Yeah, I got nothing. I just plain forgot."
"While I appreciate the honesty General, that does mean you've spent the day doing nothing substantial. You know what that means, don't you?"
"I'm getting lashed?" Yang said sulking a little.
"Normally yes, but since you helped supply Ruby with her 'arts and crafts' you get to help her clean them up. Understood?"
"Aw, but they really tied the rooms together."
"And for that comment, you are now going to get lashed. Go clean with Ruby and I'll deal with you later."
"Yes Queen."
"But don't worry, you won't be alone in your punishment. As hard as it is to believe Yang, you've done the least to irritate me today."
"…Wow really? That's a rarity," Yang said scratching her cheek, "I'll… let the others know what to expect later. Anything else Queen?"
"Just your report."
"Same as always Queen. Burning villages, killing humans. It's getting kind of dull to be honest. Are we going to have a big fight soon?"
"You'll know when you need to know. That'll be all." Salem gestured to the door and Yang gave the usual salute before leaving the dining hall. Once Yang was gone Salem turned to Watts and asked, "So for what 'experiment' did you require my General's help Watts?"
"As I've said, just sating my curiosity about the Creatures of Grimm," Watts replied closing and putting away his scroll. "The Seers are fascinating to study, but your Generals blow them out of the water. Intelligent Grimm, deadly and capable of long term planning, and easy on the eyes if you're insane and into monster girls." Watts shook his head at the last part and added, "If I wasn't disgraced, I could get several awards and high praise with a paper on just those four."
"Be careful where you stick your nose Watts, you never know what might bite it off."
"Correct as always Ma'am." A beeping filled the air and Watts pulled out his scroll and checked a notification on it. "Well, it looks like my work needs me again. By your leave, Your Grace." Watts bowed at Salem and strolled out of the dining hall, his eyes fixated on his scroll the whole time. Salem waited until he was gone before sighing and massaging the bridge of her nose.
'Those four. If I wanted to deal with immature children, I'd just become a mother again.' Salem shook her head slightly and realized Mercury and Emerald were still in the room, standing at attention awkwardly. She took her hand off her face and faced the two as she asked, "Do you two have something to say?"
"Um…" Mercury started and glanced at a stock still Emerald before continuing, "Do you… have a headache, Your Grace?" Salem stared at him silently for a moment, so he added, "I uh… have some aspirin if you… want some…?"
"…What kind?" Salem asked. Mercury relaxed and took out a small bottle from his pants pocket, which was almost immediately pulled from his hand into Salem's. She looked it over slightly before unscrewing the lid and downing the whole bottle.
'You never know,' Salem thought to herself as she tossed the empty pill bottle onto the table and looked at a stupefied Mercury and Emerald and told them, "Get back to work," before leaving the dining room herself.
"Y-yes Ma'am," Emerald finally said and waited until after Salem had left the room to slap Mercury's head.
"Ow, what was that for?!" he replied angrily.
"What's wrong with you?! Just offering aspirin to her like that, you should be lucky she didn't kill us!"
"But she didn't! I was just being nice!" Mercury said grabbing the empty bottle and putting it back where he got it.
"Why do you even have those?!" Mercury silently tapped a boot against the ground and gave Emerald a flat look. After a moment Emerald sighed and started to leave. "Let's… let's just find Cinder and never speak of this again."
"Sure. Big baby."
I definitely need more practice writing Salem, but that'll come with time.
