A fire flickers and snaps as embers leap into the pit of wood and stone around it. Petal could smell the sensational aroma of a freshly skinned rabbit as it roasted on a spit above the roaring flames. It was so tantalizing that she even caught herself drooling over the intoxicating scent.
"Close that thing up or we'll be swimming after it." said Cole, as he took a seat next to her on the log she had decided to make her seat.
He was wearing his hair in a knot behind his head, while the rest draped down past his shoulders and around his face. His clothing was his normal traveling attire, a padded leather shirt, some leather pants, and a brown, hooded cloak that he currently had resting on a nearby tree branch, drying off from the rain they had failed to take shelter from earlier that day. His feet were covered by a pair of fur lined boots, and per usual, he wore a smile, the same one that always brought a similar expression to Petal. Petal herself was about twelve, and had been traveling with Cole for just over two years. Her tail flicked around behind her as she leaned forward on the log, still staring at the food.
"Sorry, Cole, it just smells so good." she sang, rocking back and forth in her seat. "I can't help it."
"Come on, kid, you act like I never feed you."
"Do you?" asked Petal, smiling up at him.
"You little brat." he said, laughing merrily.
He then rotated the rabbit a bit to get a more even roast, while whistling an old traveling song that he would always hum while they walked. It was steady, upbeat at times, and always catchy. Petal even caught herself singing it from time to time, and would instantly stop whenever Cole called her out for it. She gave a relieved, happy sigh as she looked up at that patch of sky visible through the swaying branches of the surrounding trees. It was dark up there, and filled with the countless amounts of blazing stars that she adored gazing at whenever she had the chance.
"You seem pleased about something." said Cole, still rotating the rabbit.
"Yep." she replied.
"Are you going to tell me what it is?" he asked.
"I don't know, maybe." she sang back, tapping her tiny fingers on the wood below her.
"Alright, if you don't want to talk, I'll let it go." said Cole, returning to his whistling.
"Wait, but you wanted to know, right?"
"Nah, not anymore. Besides, you didn't really want to—"
"I was joking. I'll talk, I'll talk." said Petal, and Cole gave her a sideways glance that hinted at amusement. It was a look that she disliked profusely, because whenever he gave that look to her, it meant she lost some game that she wasn't even aware she was playing. Pushing that aside, however, she decided to tell him what had sparked this wonderful feeling of bliss. "I like it out here." she said.
Cole instantly deflated. "That's it?" he asked her, practically mumbling the words, and not bothering to hide his disappointment.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"I expected something better. You're a kid, you should be more excited about, I don't know, the adventure, or something else that's stupid and kid-like."
"But I like this more." she said. "I like eating dinner with you, and sitting by the fire with you, and looking up at the stars."
"With me?" he asked, smirking.
"No, I like doing that on my own." she replied.
He gave a chuckle. "Well, I'm glad. If you weren't happy, I don't know what I would do with myself."
"Really?"
"No, not really." said Cole. "First, I would go to the closest inn and find the girl with the shortest skirt, and then I would… What, don't give me that look." he said, noticing Petal's disgusted expression. "Look, you're a kid so you just don't understand the effects a short skirt has on a person. Wait until you're older, I guarantee you'll be all over any girl with a short enough dress."
"But I am a girl. Can girls like girls?"
"A person can like anybody they want to like, Petal, it's the beauty of the world we live in. One of the only good things about the world we live in." he then muttered, though her sensitive ears picked it up as clearly as if he spoke it normally. "Still, I think you'll like girls."
"Why?"
"Because you're hanging out with me, and I will show you all kinds of reasons to like girls better than guys. Lesson number one, guys are kind of shitty. Not all of us, but most of us."
"How so?"
"Well, like… me, for example. Here I am telling a twelve year old girl about picking up girls in inns. That doesn't sound right to you, does it?"
"I don't know." replied Petal.
"Of course you don't." he said, sighing. "Anyway, dinner's done so we can stop talking and start eating. It's probably for the best, now that I think about it. You're too young for me to be going on about that sort of thing."
Petal still remembered the way that dinner tasted, and she still cherished it. It was something she wished she had now, just when her stomach began growling fiercely, begging for her to feed it. Her eyes opened slowly, and the smell of the rabbit was replaced by mildew and damp earth, which wasn't a pleasant trade. The unfortunate shift from her dream, her pleasurable memory, into the place she now saw was not one she enjoyed. She found herself in a small box, one with a black roof and floor, and all of the edges were silver bars, though some of them had rusted slightly from the location, which was a desolate, moisture filled cavern. At once, Petal thought of the cave she had found with Mila, and then remembered the events at the Atlas facility. This was when she jerked fully awake, registering exactly what was happening in the present, and letting the memory fade into the background.
As she shot into a sitting position, she felt her sides and back burn as they screamed for her to settle back down. When Petal examined her body, she noticed bandages around her torso, some on her arms, and even some on her legs. It was then she realized that the bandages were all she wore. Her pants were removed, as well as her shirt, and her coat had been most likely left at the landing zone of the facility. She looked around and started to rise again, but the pain in her body argued against it.
"I would settle down if I were you. Some of those were pretty deep, and the wound will open again if you're too rough." came a gentle voice, one of an older gentleman. She looked to the source of the noise and saw a man at a desk, one with short white hair, a white coat, and a black pair of slacks. "I dressed your wounds for you, so it would be a shame for my effort to go to waste." he then added.
She looked around again, noticing the dripping stalactites, some of which met up with stalagmites. In the distance, she could smell fresh water, but she heard no signs of it running, meaning it was a still body, like a lake.
"Where am I?" she asked. "Who are you?"
"Me? I am a few things. I'm the one that assaulted you, the one that saved you, and the one that captured you. Make of that what you will. As for where you are, well, you're in my lab. The one you have already escaped from once before. I tried to get you then, so I'm happy you allowed me a second chance. This was a truly spectacular opportunity."
"I-I don't fully understand what you're saying." Petal said, quietly.
"The effects of the drug, I assume. It'll wear off shortly, and you'll be fully functioning again."
"Drug? N-no, it's not… I heard you, I just…"
"Ahh, so that's the situation. Indeed, you do have a tolerance against those things, don't you. Yes, to explain things better, then. I attacked you, and you escaped me. You and that boy, of course. You then showed back up at the facility, which I was called to in order to deal with a runaway problem. I was astonished that you were there, and practically offered yourself back up to me. After knocking you unconscious, I took you back here so I could run a study on your blood."
Petal shook her head slowly, and the cave spun slightly around her. "Y-you're the Grimm? The big one?" she asked.
"Indeed. I am also known as Doctor Matias Shiro, an ex-researcher for an Atlas scientist, one that is not in the most able situation to continue his research. Being the loyal friend and follower that I am, I have dedicated my time to perfecting what he started."
Petal glared at him. "You're the one behind all of this, then." she stated. "You're the one messing with the Grimm."
"And people, dear child, don't forget the people. You did manage to exterminate a good number of them back in the facility, however, but it was well worth the sacrifice."
"Those were people?" asked Petal.
"Absolutely. Criminals, slaves, er… I guess that's an outdated term, hmm? Underpaid laborers with little to no benefits. Yeah, that sounds better, doesn't it? I'm sure that makes some people sleep better at night. Anyway, yes, they were experiments of mine. Some of which came from that very same village you were sent to investigate, Petal." He then swiveled in his chair, looking into her golden eyes. He saw her menacing leer, and smiled. "Yes, I know your name, your mission, and the guide you were sent here with. I know that and much more, dear child."
It wasn't just his words that caused her to stare at him. His face was not what she had expected. He had an eyepatch over his right eye, which had a large scar over it, and his left eye was a deep violet. He had no facial hair whatsoever, and he wore a confident expression, like he was the smartest person in any room he entered. It was the eye, however, that Petal could not avoid looking into.
"Stunned? Speechless? Understandable, I assure you." he said, turning his seat back to the table.
"Why am I here? Why didn't you just kill me?" she questioned, after building up the nerve to talk to this man, whom, for some reason, she was intimidated by.
"For research, child. In just the small blood sample I took, I can already see some amazing things. You have already come into contact with my serum, and it has not affected you in any of the negative ways that it has affected every other subject. Even faunus, the ones we had such high hopes for, always suffer some sort of unwilling transformation, loss of mental function, and a lack of, well, comprehension. To put it simply, most people lose their minds as a side effect. They go rampant, attack anybody around them, and don't normally follow orders. You, however, are different. Your body acts as if it was never there. It's not entirely what I wanted, but it's certainly a good start."
"I don't understand."
"The blood, Petal, you took in some of the blood and it entered your system. It doesn't need to be ingested, just absorbed through the skin. You were infected but your body simply adapted to it. You don't get any of the benefits, but you also don't suffer from the negatives. Essentially, it might as well not be there. That's an excellent start for the next phase of testing. If I can isolate the reasoning behind your immunity to it, I can then start figuring out how to adapt others to its effects, while still getting the desired results."
"You're insane." Petal stated.
To this, the man turned and looked at her, and now a mad look was in his eye. "No, Petal, I will not suffer that from you. My colleagues, my staff, my teachers, even the damned council, they all said we were crazy. But you, a mere child, will not insult me in that way." he said, rising to his feet. He then walked closer to the cage, and Petal instinctively backed away from it.
"You're a monster." she said.
"No." he growled. "You are the monster. Everyone that looks down on me and my research are monsters. The ones who will sacrifice change and evolution for the sake of morality are monsters! I am no monster, child, I am the future."
"What kind of future is the one you're bringing about?" she questioned. "You're turning people into Grimm, turning Grimm into something worse, and whatever you are is an abomination." she declared.
"I am stronger than any Huntsman alive because of my changes." he stated. "And with time, my Grimm will eradicate those that roam this world. After that, my evolved humans and faunus will be the top of the food chain, the strongest species that will no longer have to fear eradication, or seek the protection of Huntsman or Huntresses. They will all be able to fend for themselves, and there will be no more need for your kind. The world will know peace, and all it will take is some sacrifices, which is only natural in these situations. Progress always requires sacrifice, child."
"If so, then it's not worth it." she said.
Shiro turned and laughed as he walked back to his chair. "You think so, do you? What about medical science, dear? Do you think we learned how to cut people open and fix them without a few faulty trial runs? Do you think we would know about the brain and its functions without studying a living example? We can cure diseases and failing organs because people have sacrificed themselves for the sake of progress in that field. I am simply moving us along down the path to a better future. Why does it matter to you anyhow, hmm? Until you came here, you have not been affected by my research."
"Those Grimm, they're more dangerous, and have been killing people outside of the city. If they continue to spread, they'll—"
"If they continue to spread," interrupted Shiro. "They'll keep spreading the new genes to others of their kind. Eventually, they will all be dead, or they will all be mine. In the end, I will be saving more lives than what wind up lost today. I'm surprised by the fact that you cannot understand something so simple. But, I will not spend my time arguing my points with a child. We'll have plenty of time for that in the future."
"Future?" she asked.
"Oh yes, Petal. You will be staying with me from now on. You're a valuable subject, one that I will need in order to see this properly through to the end. You will be to me what Mila was to his uncle, though I suspect I will have more success when it is all said and done. For starters, I won't have to worry about being arrested. I'm not as useless as that old fool, and I won't give up on my research in the same way he did, no, not I."
Petal slumped into the corner of her cage and looked around, trying to think of some way to escape. Unfortunately, without her weapons, she would be trapped in here, and her rings were no longer on her person. She could try her semblance, but she doubted it would be enough, and even if it was, she didn't have the strength to summon it at the moment. She still felt exhausted from the base, and doubted she even had enough Aura to physically protect herself yet, let alone activate her semblance.
"Here." said the man, and when she looked, she saw him placing her clothes on the outside of the cell, just past the bars. "I am keeping your weapons, but I can't have you getting sick. Get dressed, and be careful of your injuries." he said, and he surprisingly sounded caring in that moment, though she knew he didn't care for her personally, it was just as a subject that he valued her.
Still, she got dressed in her shirt and pants, and went back to her corner to think, and to pray that her friends had made it safely back to the village. The elder called for help, or was supposed to, and Mila knew about the cave. If he was smart, and she knew he was, that would be where they started their search, and with a large amount of trained Huntsmen, even this man would pose little threat. If she couldn't escape on her own, all she had to do was wait for her rescue, and have hope that it was coming in the first place.