Hello everyone, welcome back to chapter 10 I hope you will enjoy it, thank you for reading

Chapter 10 Mutation

Salem was in her bed just staring at her black forearm the twinges were coming more frequently but she elected to ignore it. She tried rubbing it with her other hand, but she couldn't feel her own touch against it "I wonder what's going on" she thought to herself, eventually sleep came to salem.

The morning came, Salem opened her eyes and noticed dried black dust all over her pillow, she immediately shot up from her bed, then looked at her arm, Salem's eyes went wide her, the dust cast had shattered, her hand was still black but her fingers were like claws, as she looked up her arm there was black lines running up her veins up to her elbow. Salem wiggled her new appendage, moving it around it felt just like normal fingers, she took one finger and ran it down her bed gently, it tore the sheet instantly "oh shit".

Cinder woke up hearing a tearing sound, she sat up and look at Salem who was fixated on her hand "good morning salem-" she stopped speaking when she noticed the claw, Salem broke from her thoughts "oh, morning Cinder" she looked at her hand "yeah I know" Cinder looked increasingly concerned she got up from her bed and walked over to Salem "can I touch it" Salem nodded "sure go for it" Cinder hesitated then touched her hand Salem jolted slightly, Cinder looked up at Salem "are you ok" Salem smiled "yeah Its just I can feel your touch" Cinder blushed Salem curled her fingers around Cinder's hand, .

Suddenly an impulse ran through Salem's head, she dropped from her bed, then locked lips with Cinder. Cinder was taken completely by surprise but surrendered to the kiss, the two spent a good ten seconds kissing before hearing a cough from behind them, they broke off, turning to see a grinning Emerald "well thanks for the show but your going to fry poor Neo's head" they both turned to look at Neo who had her covers up to her face, but it was clear she was scarlet, suddenly both girls realised what just happened they moved away from each other, Salem rubbed her head "I'm sorry about that cin, I don't know why I did that" Cinder shook her head "no its fine I enjoyed it, you just caught me off guard" Cinder traced her finger over her lips.

…..

Ozpin was standing looking out his window sipping his morning coffee when he heard a knock on his door "come in" he says while continuing to look outside. In stepped a man with black hair that was braided hair like a scorpion tail "what's this about Oz you seemed off on the phone" Ozpin turned around "indeed Tyrian I need to you investigate something" Tyrian raised an eyebrow as he approached "something definitely up if your giving me orders" Ozpin put his cup on the desk then looked at Tyrian with determined eyes but what was most notable was the fire behind them.

Tyrian in all his years had only seen those eyes a handful of times none of them good. Ozpin sighed "recently one of my students have been in several unique circumstances one such very recently" Ozpin paused "the student claimed that she fought a grimm that both an aura and a semblance" Tyrian burst out laughing "hahaha oh Ozpin if you just wanted me over for a good chuckle you should of said" Tyrian stopped laughing then the room went silent Ozpin didn't respond he just continued to look at Tyrian, then it clicked in the faunis's head Ozpin wasn't joking.

Tyrian looked back at Ozpin "that's impossible the student must be lying, no grimm has ever produced an aura let alone a semblance, hell our entire knowledge of the grimm is that they cant." Ozpin sighed again "I wish it were a lie, but I have absolutely no reason to doubt her, the look in her eyes, the fear, that was real. So, that's the mission head to the dust forest and the surrounding area and investigate".

Tyrian could hardly believe his ears but even if there was a 1% chance that what Ozpin says is true there was no way he could ignore such an obvious danger. He gave Ozpin a nod "I'll leave immediately" he turned and walked to the door before pausing "by the way what's this students name?" Ozpin adjusted his glasses "Salem Velaros" Tyrian's eyes went wide.

…..

Salem received a message from Ozpin telling her to report to the infirmary immediately, she turned to her squad "you guys get to class I'll join you later" Cinder held Salem's hand "you sure you don't want us to come" Salem shook her head "I'll be fine" Salem gave Cinder one last smile before heading to the infirmary.

Salem arrived at the infirmary but surprisingly no one was there she just assumed the nurse was out so she sat on a bed while examining her new claw she couldn't stop staring at it, despite the potential harmful effects of whatever the black dust has, it looked surprisingly elegant in its design. A moment passed before the infirmary doors opened, Salem looked up to see professor Schnee stepping in, confused Salem raised an eyebrow.

Wiess offered a smile as she walked in "hello salem, how are you doing" Salem nodded "morning professor, where is the nurse, I was told to come here by professor Ozpin" Wiess let out a small amused chuckle "I know, I am the nurse, well" Wiess paused "you see beacon has two medical practices, the first is conventual illness and injuries that is treated by the actual nurse the other is huntsmen based issues such as your hand those cases fall to me."

Salem nodded "what about your other classes" Wiess just smiled "well you are a special case salem, no one has been exposed to black dust before, at least not to this degree" she points to the claw "first of all how do you feel, does it hurt?" Salem shook her head "no, in fact my hand has never felt better". Wiess held her chin as she thought "hmm I'm going to take some blood samples if that is alright?" Salem nodded. As soon as Wiess tried to get blood from the hand the needle snapped, both just watched the small needle bounce off, landing on the floor Wiess just smiled "at least its durable, lets try again" this time she aimed for the wrist where the black veins were, she got though, pulling the needle back Salem's blood was black.

Salem seeing this immediately began to panic "oh shit! Why is my blood black!" Wiess put a hand on Salem's shoulder in an attempt to calm her "don't worry Salem we are going to figure this out I promise I'll make sure nothing happens to you" Salem managed a small smile "really", Wiess nodded. After a minute Salem regained her composure as Wiess put a drop of blood under a microscope, as she looked her eyes went wide "the black dust is eating her red blood cells and producing what looks like black blood cells at this rate…" Wiess's smile formed into a grin as she thought to herself.

Salem watched Wiess on the microscope "is everything aright professor?" Wiess snapped out of it and turned to Salem "yes, it turns out you can put your worries away, it seems your fine the black dust is actually strengthening you." Salem was visibly happy to hear this but something about the professor's words didn't feel right "alright lets do one last test for today" Salem was dragged out of her thoughts by Wiess "come with me salem" Salem nodded and followed the professor out.

After a short walk they arrived at the semblance training area, Salem looked puzzled "what are we doing here professor?" Wiess turned around and smiled "I want to perform a physical test, I mean aren't you curious as to what your hand is capable of" Salem couldn't deny that from the brief time she fought the brown beowolf she was surprised her how powerful it was despite only being a cast but now that it was like this, she wiggled her claw, she was curious.

Looking back at the professor and nodded "sure let's do this" Wiess almost broke into a squeal from Salem's response but she composed herself "very good now hit this training dummy, don't worry about breaking it" Salem nodded, walking up to it she clenched her fist and struck the dummy causing it to explode in a hail of woodchips, Salem stared at her hand the impact from hitting the dummy made Salem feel… good.

Wiess clapped "nicely done Salem though I'm not surprised since I saw you punch that tree yesterday, lets try a tougher target" Salem agreed, Wiess held out her hand as several glyphs appeared on the floor, a second later a verity of ice based objects ranging from a sold block of ice to ice-based dummies.

See all this ice brought back the night she stopped the store getting robbed, curiosity bested her "sorry for asking professor but what is your semblance" Wiess paused immediately she turned to Salem with her normal face "that's a bit personal salem, why do you ask?" Salem felt bad asking but she inquired further "it's just I briefly fought someone a while back who used ice and I was curious to know if its possible for several people to possess the same semblance".

Wiess's turned her hand away from Salem as an ice shard grew out of it slowly, she opted for a smile "and this person could you identify them" readying herself for Salem's response the ice shard now fully out. Salem shook her head in disappointment "no I couldn't Identify them; it was dark, and they had just launched an attack before I could get a good look and escaped". Wiess retracted the ice shard immediately she internalized a sigh of relief "that's a pity however to answer your question my semblance is conjuration, I can make any object in my mind and give it a property such as ice, I used ice because its durable and easy to clean up".

Salem accepted her answer and went back to training. After an hour or so Salem found out that her claw was many times stronger than yesterday, her actual claw was sharp enough to cut any object Wiess made to pieces and every time Salem hit something it filled her with a certain joy that came from the destruction by the time Salem had finished destroying the last object she was grinning from ear to ear whilst almost panting like a dog that was in play mode.

Wiess put a hand on Salem's shoulder to calm her down "I think that is enough for today". Salem regained her composure "yeah ok" Salem looked around the room and the floor was covered in shattered ice she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment "sorry for the mess, I got a bit carried away" Wiess shook her head and smiled "nothing a mop and a bucket cant fix, in any case I have concluded that you seem to be fit for classes I will let professor Ozpin know, in the mean time I I'm going to bandage your whole arm so as to not startle the other students after which you may go to lunch and if your arm gets bad I want you to immediately contact me and I will come ok".

I took a moment to wrap up everything was had said "ok great, I understand professor" Wiess smiled back "good, now come here while I bandage you" Salem nodded and let Wiess thoroughly wrap a bandage around her arm, once it was done the bandage started to glow slightly then she noticed her claw, it shrunk back to its size normal size and shape Salem was stunned by this "what is this professor" Wiess chuckled slightly from Salem's expression "this is a special aura infused bandage typically used for hunters who sustain severe breaks, what it does is reverts the shape of what ever needs fixed back to a point where it wasn't broken, it doesn't fix it, it just holds it in a natural state so it can heal naturally without the need for a cast , so now you can go about your day and no one will be the wiser" Weiss's face went serious "but remember it hasn't been fixed, if you were to hit someone with your hand as it is, you could seriously hurt or even kill someone and no one wants that".

Salem looked at her bandaged hand and the severity of what the professor said sunk in, she looked up at Wiess "I understand professor" Wiess returned to a smile "good, now off you go I've got work to do" Salem nodded and headed out the room and headed towards the cafeteria.

…..

After Salem left Wiess let out a sigh, a moment of silence passed before Wiess began to giggle, her face twisting into a sinister grin "hahaha what a specimen!, I must let the mistress know of this at once, wants I tell her she is going to praise me for my diligence I just know it". Wiess practically skipped to her office, once inside she froze the door shut with a four-inch ice wall. It was a fairly normal looking office but under her desk Wiess pulled out a glass ball that had black tendrils attached to the bottom.

Wiess sat down straightened her hair, unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, and concentrated her aura into the glass ball. A moment passed then the black tendrils rapidly wrapped around her arm like an octopus Wiess never like that part. The glass ball went a milky colour before clearing until it showed a large black and red throne with someone sitting on it, they had a red cloak the concealed the top half of their face while a red and black plated half-mask covering the bottom half. They wore a black corset with red string to tie it together.

Wiess coughed… a moment passed nothing, Wiess coughed again… once again nothing Wiess held the glass ball to her ear only to hear a gentle snore coming from the hooded figure. Wiess sighed before saying "mistress" every time there was no response Wiess went louder before she shouted "mistress!" the hooded figure jumped out of their throne, startled by the loud noise which was met with a "wah!".

The figure rubbed their eyes before looking at the glass ball with a livid expression, they pounced for the glass orb before shouting into the ball "who ever this is better have damn good reason for waking me, tell me your name before I cut off your leg and watch you play hopscotch". Wiess calmly responded "its Wiess mistress ruby, I have a urgent update" ruby's expression changed to happy "oh Wiess it's you, I thought it was an overzealous grunt again, what's the word, how is my favourite beacon student doing?"

Wiess practically squealed in excitement "well mistress, as you know Salem has been in contact with the black dust but what's most interesting is that it appears to be infecting her".

ruby began to grin "I see, what the progress on the infection".

"just her hand which had grew into a claw in just a day , but what's more fascinating is that the black dust is eating her red blood cells and replacing them with black dust blood cells, which is spreading the infection, if this continues she may become a 'true convert'" Wiess responded.

Ruby practically jumped with joy "I see that is fantastic news, in fact I too have news my first batch of new pets are ready, go tell your contact… jaune was it? That he is to pick them up and deliver them to the pier in vale where the white fang will be waiting to enact phase 2".

Wiess visibly sighed thinking about working with that moron "yes mistress it shall be done".

Ruby giggled "good, one last thing…" ruby grinned.

…..

That is the end of chapter 10 I apologise for the extremely long delay; I have had chronic writers block as well as real life stuff. But I'm back and hopefully I can update more regularly but I can't promise anything, but in the meantime thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter. I tried leaving it on a cliff hanger but I'm not sure if I pulled it off, but I tried anyway :)