Don't ask why this is late, it's not important. Just enjoy the chapter and yell at me if I'm ever late ever again. Thanks.
Never in her darkest nightmares would Ruby have thought she would have Neo taken away from her by mutated Grimm and be replaced with Cinder 'Melt Your Face Off While I'm Laughing' Fall.
That sort of thing just never crossed her mind.
But in the semi-darkness of Vale's catacombs, Ruby found herself in that exact situation. Trying to find Neo who, along with the rest of their hit team, had been taken by the Lusus Naturae, a swarm of freakish monsters created by some mole-like mad scientist. If that wasn't bad enough, the only ally Ruby could claim was, indeed, Cinder Fall (Ruby decided to drop the lengthy middle-name.).
Giving the close proximity to monsters (And their undisguised loathing of each other), the silence was a gaping void between the two. A void no one wanted to fill.
After we get Neo and get out of here, I'm talking Roman and we're seeing if sucking up to Cinder is worth it. Ruby's fingers tightened around Crescent Rose. If not, this will be my favorite hit of all time.
"If you are thinking of murdering me, I would strongly advise against it." Cinder spared Ruby a sideways glance. "I would hate to have to get rid of you when you are just becoming of some use to me."
This. This was the kind of thing that Ruby was talking about. No threat of being burned alive was worth this. The arrogance, the constant coercion, the risking of Neo's life! All of it was wearing away at Ruby's self-control. Breathing in the subterranean air, Ruby was one more insult away from adding Cinder's corpse to the catacombs.
Fortunately for Cinder (and perhaps unfortunately for Ruby), not another word was spoken as they followed the trail of claw marks and shards of toxic crystals. Searching for any sign of the ones taken by Merlot's creations. For Cinder, it was merely to retrieve valuable assets, but for Ruby…
For Ruby, it was finding Neo, finding the person responsible for taking her away and splattering them all over the wall. Preferably in that order.
Neo bite back a whimper as a finger clad in latex pushed itself into one of the gashes that craved up her side, she had long ago lost the breath to scream. A light chuckle from above her did nothing to calm the tidal wave of terror and pain that felt like it was rupturing her veins.
"This will stop as soon as you start talking. I'll even make it easy for you, how about you tell me about the organization you belong too, hm? Your eccentric friend is next on the table if you do not and my gentlemanly manner does not extend to anarchic street trash."
The owner of the voice sounded like they were discussing lunch, as if their hands were not covered in Neo's blood, as if their finger was not digging into her exposed muscle. Through eyes half-blinded by pain, Neo glared up at the man who smiled serenely back down at her.
"Now, my dear, don't be like that. I just want to know about your organization. Are you fighting in the shadows with the rest of us or are you just the misinformed hired help?"
Her mind clouded by fury and pain, Neo could not help but let her confusion show. Something that made the man chuckle once again.
"The latter, I see." Leaning closer, the too-bright lights caused the man's beard to cast shadows upon his face, all except for a glowing eye of cybernetics. His smile bright and off-kilter in his pale face. Neo could smell the madness dripping of the old man.
"I wonder," He tilted his head, the scalpel in his hand glittering wickedly. "What did they tell you?"
Neo could only gape in bewilderment and he threw back his head and laughed.
"Well, that won't do at all!" He waved the scalpel through the air like a painter's brush. "Allow me to catch you up on the real world, I'm not sure on all the details myself, but I do know that this story begins with the most beautiful Grimm to ever exist and the silly notions of her own destiny." He leaned closer, till his eyes were mere hairbreadths above Neo's own, his breath hot and sickly on her face.
"My name is Amadeus Merlot and let me tell you about Salem."
In a Manor, in the cold reaches of Atlas…
This insane! Why am I doing this? Can I do this? Crimson is just like this sometimes! Will she even pick up? Whitley Schnee, frenzied almost to the point of panic, thought about that question before shaking his head. His pacing taking him to all corners of his bedroom. No, of course, she won't. THAT would require her to acknowledge my existence…but what else can I do?!
Whitley knew the answer to that question immediately. Nothing, he could do nothing but call his sister to see if his only friend had fallen back into any…bad habits. Dear Gods, this is going to be horrible.
Taking a deep breath, he pressed down on the call icon and waited for the person on the other end to answer. He did not have to wait long.
"Hello, this is Weiss Sc-Whitley?!" Weiss Schnee's shocked face stared at her shuffling brother with eyes so wide that in any other situation it would have been comical.
"Hello, sister." Whitley averted his gaze for a moment before turning back, steeling himself for what he was about to say. "I need your help."
To say Weiss was surprised would be the understatement of the eon. Seeing that her mouth was not entirely functional at the moment, Whitley pressed on with his plea.
"I am calling about a Beacon student named Crimson Shard," He paused for a moment before continuing. "You see, sister, he's my friend and I think he is in trouble."
The two siblings stared at each other, one with eyes wide with shock while the other dared to show a faint light of hope. Whitley hoped he was wrong about his previous thoughts, that maybe his sister would help him.
"You are friends with Crimson Shard?!"
"Yes, and I need to check on him." He decided to ignore the incredulous in her question for the sake of getting answers. "Do you know where he is?"
"No, but…" Weiss seemed lost for words and Whitley was beginning to grow annoyed. Was it really that much of an oddity that he had a friend? Seeing the hardness of his face, Weiss composed herself and lifted her chin.
"I am sorry, but my team and Team RSNC, your…friend's team, are not on speaking terms with each other. Nor we will ever be. Please, do not ask me again." Her eyes grew to the familiar coldness that dominated the two Schnee siblings every conversation. Whitley felt the same ice fill his own eyes.
"Forgive me for thinking you might be helpful, sister. I will not bother you again." He hung up before she could retort, his anxious thoughts gnawing at his mind again. Thoughts centering around his friend, he walked to the large window that overlooked the manor grounds. Gazing out over the icy landscape, Whitley tried to look past the boy staring back at him from the frost-laced windows.
Please be alright, Crimson. Please, please be alright.
Ruby knew they were on the right track when the catacombs lead to a metal door illumined by bright rivers of light running through the surface. Cinder stepped forward to examine the piece of technology.
"Interesting…" She murmured as she ran a hand across the metal, a glinting trail of faint light simmering at the contact. "Our friend seems to be either very well-funded or very paranoid. This door can only be opened by those linked into is sensors, meaning we need a body or a large part of one."
Ruby nodded seriously. "Right, I see." Then she leveled Crescent at the door and fired a Lighting Dust round into its middle, blowing the entire thing out of the wall and into the well-lit corridor beyond. She turned to Cinder as she walked past the now-dusty woman.
"Come on, let's go find our body. Luckily for us, I already have a few ideas on how to get one!" Ruby entered the hallway, the metal grate floor causing echoes to fly down before them. Cinder came up to walk beside her.
"I was hoping we would infiltrate the complex more discreet than that." Her tone was annoyed, not that Ruby cared.
"Merlot sent a horde of literal monsters after us, I think he might have already known we were here." Ruby shot an accusing glare at her companion. "I wonder how he could have figured that out."
Cinder rolled her eyes, her aura still healing the burns on her face. "If you are insinuating that the target learned of our plans through me, then I despair for Roman. It must be hard for him to have such idiotic henchmen."
Don'tshootherdon'tshootherdon'tshoother! So focused was Ruby on keeping her bloodlust at bay, she did not notice the near-silent hiss as a portion of the wall slid away and a boiling mass of rot black and toxic green came roaring out.
Well, she did not notice the wall bit, it would have been hard for her to miss the man-eating monster galloping towards her even if she was distracted with trying not to kill her own companion.
"MOVE, ROSE!" Cinder's bellowing order was quickly followed by her flames that shot towards the incoming threat like hungry, orange snakes, serpents that washed over the surface of the creature without so much as singeing it.
Rolling to the side, Ruby snapped her weapon to her shoulder and got her first good look at the beast that was intent on ripping out her guts. Her first impression: it was ugly.
As in: a thing dreamed up in the darkest depths of an utter madman whose depravity made the devils of the deepest Hell retch in disgust.
It probably was an Ursa Major before Merlot got his hands on it, before he turned into an abomination with too many limbs and green crystals that nearly ripped it apart at the seams. Its thick tongue lolled out of its crooked mouth as it bore down upon the two nearest sources of warm meat. Bullets just bouncing off the midnight flesh of the monster.
"Dust rounds are proving only to piss this thing off!" Ruby leaped back in a whirl of rose petals as the Lusus Naturae swept a gnarled paw where her head was moments before. "Now would be a good time to cut loose with that mystic firepower you keep showing off!"
"In a narrow corridor?" Cinder shot another thin stream of fire at the mutant Grimm. "You would die along with this thing and I still happen to have use for you."
"Oh, well, that warms my heart!" Ruby snarled as she fired another round, the electricity sparking off the long bullet before it buried itself into the twisted flesh of the Ursa 2.O. The monster turned its head towards her, revealing that lopsided grin full of spike-like teeth…before it shot its tongue at her like a squirming serpent.
Oh, GROSS! Ruby barely had time to dodge, even with her semblance, before the organ implanted itself into the metal wall. Pulling free, the air was filled with the sounds of wet death as the Lusus Naturae's tongue whipped through the air, seeking blood. Ruby did all she could just to avoid being struck. If her frustrated snarl were anything to go by, Cinder was not faring much better.
Gotta kill this thing before it eats us! Ruby flinched as the tongue whipped so close to her face, she could feel its feverish warmth. Oh, why is everything easier said than done?!
Bullets were not effective against the beast, so in a whirl of motion and shifting metal, Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose, the scythe blade gleaming wickedly in the harsh light of the corridor. The tongue faltered for a split-second as the Lusus Naturae saw the weapon, but that split-second was all Ruby needed to launch herself into a vortex of flashing blades and red rose petals.
Ruby could feel the tongue being tangled with Crescent Rose and with a final yank, she felt the sudden slack as she tore the slimy appendage out of the monster's mouth. Its pained squeals causing pinpricks of blood to drip out of her ears.
Coming out of her spin, Ruby briefly saw the world dance in front of her eyes before she firmly shook her head to get her bearing back. This was no time to be dizzy, there was still a monster to slay. A very angry one at that.
"Mind lending a hand?" Ruby cleaved Crescent Rose through a slashing paw, prompting a snarl of rage to rattle the beast's spiky teeth. "Or a sword? I'll take an arrow at this point."
She heard Cinder sigh and the strange, crystalized ting of her obsidian weapons being formed. Barely a second had passed before the Lusus Naturae lurched to the side, slamming into the wall with Cinder's swords plunged into where the skin met green crystal. The monster opened its mouth to let out another roar of agony and Ruby acted almost on instinct as she jammed the top of Crescent Rose into its mouth and pulled the trigger, a bullet shooting straight through the soft tissue into the brain. As mindless as Grimm were, things like central nervous systems were still important.
The beast slumped to the floor and began to dissolve into rivulets of viscous liquid, both humans stepping away in disgust. Ruby spoke.
"I hope we don't have to do this too often. Finding Neo is going to be a lot harder if we have to kill mutated Grimm every time we take a step."
Cinder merely waved her swords back to whatever basis they had formed from and began walking back down the corridor; Ruby jogged a little to catch up, her eyes much more watchful. In silence, the two criminals of the darkest underworld searched for both friend and revenge.
He was coming back.
After all that Skyler had done to keep him out, to keep him locked away, he was coming back.
No! We agreed! I was to be in control! His eyes were screwed shut as sweat ran down his body, soaking the filthy fabric of his ruined suit, tore to shreds by monster claws. He knew from the moment that the rage and fury flooded him in that history class, that his grip was slipping. He thought that he could keep the gate closed until he had time to regain his control, to keep in the light.
But the plan to kill Merlot went wrong and he was captured, waking up alone in a tiny cell with nothing but his mind to keep him occupied. Nothing but thoughts and him.
It was a horrible thing to share your body. To have a mind so conflicted that it divides to form separate people just to keep from shattering into insanity. To have a semblance that demands the body is to house them all, to manage between peace and fury, fear and hegemony. Winter white, the color of mountain snow, was the sign that rationalism still had control. Midnight black, the color of the deepest caverns, was the mark of fury. The others, Skyler did not know what their mark would be, it wasn't like he wanted all of them to have a turn. But between the warring two, all they had to do to see who was in control was look the mirror and gaze into the eyes reflected back at them.
White for peace, black for fury. That was the mark.
And Skyler could feel his eyes began to darken as he drifted away into the recesses of his split mind. As he felt the son of vengeance and wrath began to take hold once again.
Crimson Shard wondered who invented the lightbulb. And he was very concerned when he could not remember the answer. It seemed to him that even he should probably know something as trivial as that.
Maybe it as the pain. This old geezer, this Mare-lou, not Mer-lot, was very good at what he did. He really dug in and rearranged the human anatomy in ways even Crimson was unfamiliar with. But the pain was just nerves and synapsis, it was never the pain that twisted Crimson's mind. It had always been and always will be the dreaded sense of weakness that made his life an unflattering imitation of some mind-warping Hell.
So maybe it was the weakness, the throbbing remaindered that, once again, he was not strong enough. That he was not skilled enough. That he was not good enough. That his father was right about what he said all those years ago, that he was nothing. Nothing, but a freak that needed to be made normal. Maybe it was that which kept him from fully being aware of what was happening, keeping his mind clouded.
Distantly, he could hear the old man's furious voice demanded answers, but Crimson couldn't be bothered by it. The pain was a faint brush on his conciseness. Really, he was only aware of the drip-drip-drip of some sort of liquid hitting the floor and just how bright the lights above his head were.
Just how beautifully bright they were…
Neo watched as her flesh knit itself back together. It took a while (Much too long, in her opinion.) for her aura to recharge enough to be able to heal the wounds left by Merlot's torture. What she learned from him, however, nothing could take away. Like a brand burned into skin, it was forever in her mind.
Because seriously, one does not exactly learn about evil Grimm-woman-things bent on world damnation very often. Even though Merlot's ramblings mostly centered around how beautiful and perfect the evil Grimm-woman-thing was, she got the gist of the entire spiel.
Salem wasn't human. Salem wanted to damn the entire world. Cinder was working with Salem. And the Torchwick Syndicate had been duped into helping them. Understandably, Neo had a problem with that.
How do I even tell others about this?! Alone in a small cell, she only had her swirling thoughts to keep her company. Ever since her capture, she had seen nothing of the hit team, nothing of her teammates, nothing of Ruby.
That alone made her simultaneously blood-boiling furious and terrified to her very core, neither emotion was directed at herself. The sight of her pale face, her brilliant silver eyes wide with fear, was the last thing Neo had seen before something crashed into the back of her skull and she woke up on Merlot's torture table. The last thing she had seen was Ruby afraid.
She was scared. RUBY was scared. And now she could be feeling nothing at all. The fury grew hotter in Neo's veins, the mere thought fanning her anger into an uncontrollable blaze. Merlot and his insanity had caused that, Cinder and her plans had caused this, even Roman had a hand in this. A hand in dragging them all down into the dark. A hand in killing Ru-
Neo's head snapped up, cracking against the wall with enough force to bring down her already depleted aura. She stared at the steel door of her cell with wide eyes as the sounds of footsteps drew nearer. The clink and rasp of shoes on concrete steady and unhesitant. Not for the first time, Neo wished she had Deadly Elegance in her hand.
The footsteps abruptly stopped as they reached her door, silence filling the void left behind. There was a quiet clink of flesh on metal before a terrible screeching sound rent the air as the door was ripped off its hinges. The door was thrown aside with a ringing clang to reveal the person behind it and Neo breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's about time you got me out of here, Snowball." She stumbled to her feet, wincing slightly as the motion pulled at still-healing flesh. "Is Ruby alright? Is Merlot dead yet? Is-Skyler?"
Skyler entered the cell, still as silent as the catacombs above them, and adrenaline immediately began pounding back into her Neo's veins. Because whoever it was that had entered her cell, it wasn't her high-class teammate.
Whoever it was in her cell had loathful black eyes and glared at Neo as if she was some sort of slimy insect to be crushed under a boot heel. He took a step forward, hands curling into a fist, mouth twisting into a snarl. Four words dripped past from his bared teeth.
"I am not Skyler."
Ruby figured that her best bet for finding Neo was to follow the sounds of tearing steel. It seemed to her, that if she found the source of the noises of destruction, her team couldn't be far behind.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Rose." Cinder drawled from behind her as Ruby hurried through the halls of the complex, the last echoes of something heavy being thrown fading away. Forced to up her own pace, Cinder frowned at the back of her companion who seemed hellsbent on ignoring her.
"Did you already forget that we were ambushed? Slow down before you get us caught in another one."
Her order went unheard as Ruby continued to plunge deeper into the underground lab, twisting through the corridors until finding her away back unaided became impossible. Not that she cared, she was intent on the sole purpose of finding the one who had been snatched away from her. On finding Neo.
Turning a corner, Ruby nearly tripped over a twisted hunk of metal that she only recognized as a door after she barely avoided being brained by it.
That's not supposed to be on the floor. Ruby's eyes snapped up to the gaping entryway where she assumed the door had been violently evicted from, the room behind hidden in murky gloom.
"Neo? You in there?" Ruby took a cautious step forward. "Please tell me you're in there and I'm not about to step into a horrible den of some-OOF!"
Ruby's words were cut off as a blur of black hair and tattered rags flew out of the shadows like a pouncing predator and tackled Ruby to the floor, both hitting the tiles with a loud thud.
With Crescent Rose pressed between her body and the body of her attacker, Ruby did the only thing she could in the situation.
She head-butted whoever was trying to kill her in the face.
The crack of bone and the spray of blood preceded a pained grunt, the hands that were trying to find purchase around her throat slackened and Ruby took the opening to knee them between the legs.
And discovered that her attacker was, in fact, male.
As he reared back in pain, Ruby jammed the barrel flush against his skin and pulled the trigger. The loud ch-chunk of the rifle and the fierce crack of shattering aura filled the air as he flew back into the wall, another grunt slipping past his lips.
"Where's Neo? Do you work for Merlot? Who are you? Answer each question in that order." She commanded as she leveled the weapon at her opponent's head. Vaguely, she was aware of Cinder turning the corner and demanding to know what was going on. Both Ruby and her attacker ignore her.
Breathing heavily, he raised his head to reveal glaring black eyes and a snarl of rage twisting his face. Twisting Skyler's face.
His hair was wild and his torso was covered with nothing but the scraps of his ensemble. Streaks of filth covered his skin. Fury and hate seemed to foul the air around him, his eyes looked to be leaking shadows.
Oh, my Gods, he got possessed by a demon. How connected IS this Merlot guy?!
That thought proved to be her undoing as Skyler-or whatever was using his body like a puppet-lashed out with both his legs and caught Ruby in the center of her chest, her own aura flaring as she slammed into the opposing wall, Crescent Rose flying from her hands.
It was at this time that Cinder decided to step in, her blades flashing as they swung for his neck. In her semi-dazed state, Ruby expected there to be a spray of blood and the wet thud of a headless body falling to the ground.
What she did not expect, was Skyler to dodge out of the way like a ragged streak of lightning and punch Cinder in the face. It was not a hard punch, and without aura to fuel his strength, she probably did not even feel it.
Really, it was the sheer shock of having her attack dodged and then face punched that did the most damage to her pride. A blow she soon wanted to avenge.
Showing her teeth in a snarl, Cinder lunged towards Skyler in a whirl of fire and steel. He tried to dodge her strikes, but she was nothing but a blur and the thief soon found himself flat on his back with a bruise discoloring his forehead and a sword tickling his throat.
"Rose." Cinder dug the point of her blade into Skyler's flesh. "Any last words that you would care to bestow on your late teammate?"
"No, but there are words I would care to bestow on you," Ruby grumbled as she pushed herself off the floor and came to stand beside the taller woman, laying a hand on her outstretched arm. "Don't kill him, he's obviously under some sort of influence."
"He hit me," Cinder growled. "I don't care."
"Oh, Gods. Stop fighting, you're hurting my head!"
The sudden voice caused the two (Skyler wasn't so much as twitching with the sword threatening his throat.) to look over to the gaping maw of the cell to see a grimy Neo glaring at them both with her hands clasped around her head, her hair matted with blood.
"Neo!" Ruby shot forward, pushing past Cinder and Skyler, and leaped at the shorter girl. Wrapping her arms around her, she crushed Neo to her chest. "Are you alright? You are alright, right? Please tell me you are alright!"
"Rubies, please-ow-I'm fine, you're just squeezing me and-ugh-holding me a little too tight." Despite her words, Neo buried her face into Ruby's shoulders, her own arms wrapping around the small hitman. "But just a little."
But then Ruby let go of her entirely and studied the side of her head. There was a shallow gash gorged into her flesh and, like head injuries are prone to do, it was bleeding freely, discoloring her colorful hair to a rusty brown.
"I take it Skyler did this to you?" Despite the control tone when she said these words, Ruby wanted to do nothing more but let Cinder take her revenge on their collective attacker. Neo, however, shook her head.
"Skyler didn't do this, his good ol' buddy Kallik was the one who tried to smash my head in. I think Snowball was somewhere inside, screaming at said buddy to stop before I did something to defend myself, like castration."
"Uh…what?" She tilted his head to the side. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Kallik just Skyler's birth name?"
"No, that was a lie. Kallik is a personality that hates all living things and wants to bring about their untimely demise." Neo shrugged. "Apparently, that lying bas-I mean, our DEAR teammate Skyler has a Switching Semblance that he forgot to mention."
Ruby blinked. "As in those things that are practically married to the line between semblances and mental illnesses?"
"Yeah, those ones."
The two girls turned to look at the person held hostage by Cinder, his black eyes still glaring balefully at all three of them. The black sword was still jammed under his chin, so Ruby was not too worried as she knelt down beside him and furrowed her brow.
"So, you're Kallik. Weird, I thought you would have been nicer and way more into suits." She leaned back as he growled. "Also less snarly."
"My Gods, we are not here to make small talk!" Cinder snapped, jostling her sword so that it nicked the skin of Kallik's neck. "We have more important things to tend to then the rogue by-product of a freakish semblance!"
"If you are going to kill me, then kill me. Stop talking about it!"
The voice, as low as sinking stones, caused even Cinder to stop speaking and looked down at her captive in a tiny amount of surprise. Kallik just rolled his eyes at the sight.
"Ooh, yes, I speak. Now, are you going to kill me, gawk at me, or just continue to talk about me like I am not even here?"
"Careful what you say," Cinder growled, her grip tightening. "Despite your words, I doubt you are that carefree about dying."
"Death is nothing, but-"
"I'VE BEEN SUFFERING IN A CELL FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND YOU ARE STANDING HERE TALKING TO TORCHWICK'S LACKEYS?!"
"Don't talk to her like that! I'm Cinder knew exactly what she was doing!"
The group four of turned (Ruby was beginning to realize just how often that this happened.) to see a wild-looking Mercury Black standing next to an irate Emerald Sustrai. Cinder's face relaxed a faction, though her sword still remained firmly jammed above Kallik's Adam Apple. Taking her eyes off her captive, she spoke to her subordinates.
"How did you escape?"
It was Emerald who answered as Mercury was still too busy seething. Stepping forward, she looked almost apologetically up at her boss.
"When Mercury realized that his cell wasn't be guarded, he kicked the door down. Apparently, no one realized that-" Emerald eyes briefly shifted to Ruby and Cinder offered the tiniest shake of her head, which was missed by no one. Emerald continued. "That thing about him. He got out and then he found me."
"Heard you, more like it," Mercury muttered, earning himself a slap from Emerald. "Ow. But yeah, I heard Emerald here yelling for help-ow, stop-also, the White Fang grunts we got are dead, I think they were served up for dinner to whatever the Hells attacked us in the catacombs."
Ruby frowned at that, joining the conversation. "What makes you say that? I haven't seen Crimson since we got here, but I doubt he was eaten."
"Yeah, but you didn't find a room full of bloody Faunus parts." Mercury jerked a thumb at himself. "I did."
"So, we are without reinforcements." Cinder mused, more to herself than anyone else. "I assume as much, but it still changes things; we need a new plan."
"If Crimson is still alive, we should probably try and find him first," Ruby looked over to Cinder. "He'll be handy in a fight."
The older woman nodded and looked back down at the person at the point of her sword, thoughtful. Leaning down slightly, she met the black-eyed gaze.
"You are inhibiting a thief in my employ, his mind may be gone, but his body is still here and I need it for this assignment. So, you have two choices, bring Skyler Snow back or help me as Kallik." Golden eyes narrowed until they were like lanterns burning through fog. "Make your choice."
For a brief moment, he actually looked confused, then his bewilderment morphed into an almost exasperated look and Ruby swore she saw him mouthing. "Again, Snow?"
"Well?" Cinder snapped, flicking her blade to leave a shallow cut. She either missed Kallik's expressions or saw them and didn't care. The berserker in the body of the thief looked up at her, his face schooled back into disdain and anger.
"Fine, I'll help you, but know that it is for the sole reason of my work is still unfinished, do not mistake this for loyalty to you." He sneered the last word, causing Cinder to roll her eyes.
"Oh, stay quiet and control your emotions, this is no place for wild animals." She turned her back on the seething Kallik and leveled her gaze at the rest of the group, her face as hard as stone.
"You all know what we face, I expect the next battle to go in our favor. Now," She spun her swords once in her hands. "Let's go find a madman."
And they plunged into the shadows of the halls once again.
Again, sorry. What happened to make me late should not happen again, but you have my permission to vent your rage at me if I am late again. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this story and I'll see you in the next chapter!
Update: 5/18/2019