RWBY: Son of Salem

Mist's POV, a few hours later

I limped into the room Salem was in, kneeling in front of her as Tyrian joined me.

"Is it done?" she asked with a growl. "Did you kill him?"

"No." I bowed my head, feeling the room fill with a dark energy.

"You failed?!" my mother yelled. "You had months to train and you come back to me saying you failed?!"

"What makes you think he hadn't used that time to train as well?" I asked my mother. She walked towards me and backhanded my cheek, causing me to fall over.

"You're a failure." she growled. "You have the Fall maiden powers and a part of my power as well."

"He also has your power!" I pointed out, returning to my kneeling position. "He also has a part of your power and Ozpin's. And power of the Grimm."

"You have the power of the maiden!" she yelled at me. "You should have been able to rip him to shreds!"

"They were evenly matched." Tyrian spoke up. "They injured each other almost equally."

"Is that so?" she told me before turning to Tyrian. "And I assume you failed to bring me the silver-eyed girl?"

Tyrian nodded. "Qrow Branwen arrived b-but I poisoned him, with my tail. H-have I pleased you?"

"You disappoint me." Salem said as she walked out of the room. "Both of you." she glared at me. "I will deal with you later."

Tyrian started to cry as my mother walked away.

I stared at the Faunus as he turned around and pounced on a Beowolf that was sneaking up on him. He started slashing at it, his cries turning into laughter.

Marek's POV

I woke up, pain rushing up my back as something gently rubbed against my wound. Another soft rub made me yell out.

"S-sorry!" Ruby said as she held me down to stop me from moving. "The wound is sutured closed!" she said. "If you move you'll risk opening it back up."

I had my eyes closed but her voice calmed me enough to slow my movements until I was laying still.

She dabbed my wound again as pain rushed up my back. I resisted the urge to push the girl away as she continued to gently dab at my wound with a soft damp cloth.

"I'm almost done." she said softly as I grit my teeth.

A few more dabs sent pain all over me as she finished up and sat back with a sigh.

"Pyrrha stitched you up before telling me to disinfect your wounds." Ruby told me as I clenched my fists, the pain still lingering. "We still have the wound on your side."

I nodded with my eyes closed, feeling Ruby move around me and kneel next to me.

Another wave of pain rushed through me as Ruby dabbed my side wound with the cloth.

I winced as I clenched my fists in an attempt to lessen the pain.

"I'm almost done." Ruby said softly as she dabbed my wound. A few seconds passed as she sat back with a sigh. "You ok?"

I slowly moved myself onto my knees as I, carefully, stretched.

"Yeah." I glanced at my backpack and Ruby must have noticed as she quickly leaned over and handed it to me. "Thanks."

I pulled out a red t-shirt and pulled it over me. "You had us worried there for a second." Ruby told me. "Pyrrha said you might not have made it."

"It was that bad huh?"

Ruby nodded. "You lost a lot of blood." I glanced behind me to see the scythe wielder staring at me.

"What?"

"Just...your scars." she replied. "Everyone is worried."

"About old wounds?" I asked her with a chuckle. "Those don't really seem as serious as a gash down my back."

"They don't but...who or what did that?" she asked.

"My mother." I replied. "She's the one who put those scars on me."

Ruby had a look of hate cross her face. "What kind of parent would do something like that to their own child?"

"I can think of one." a gruff voice replied. I looked up to see Qrow standing by a tree, drinking from his flask. A bandage was wrapped around his waist, and blood had damped the white material. "I'm guessing your mother is Salem."

"You know her?" I asked him.

He nodded in reply.

"Salem?" Ruby asked.

"Gather everyone and meet me by the fire." Qrow ordered. "I need to tell you all something."

A few minutes later (the conversation Qrow told RNJR in s4 ep8 about the brothers and maidens)

"So, that's it, huh?" Jaune asked.

"Yep." Qrow nodded.

I turned to Qrow. "Salem also has the Fall maiden."

"What?!" he stared at me.

"Yeah." I nodded. "The new Fall maiden."

"She found Fall that fast?" Pyrrha asked.

"No." I shook my head. "One of Salem's followers were in Cinder's last thoughts when she died. And the new maiden is more powerful than Cinder."

"How so?" Qrow asked.

"She's had months to train with her new powers." I replied. "And she's also the daughter of Salem."

Qrow almost choked on his drink. "Daughter?!"

I nodded. "She's my twin." I closed my eyes, remembering our fight. "She would have burned me to ashes if she hadn't been blinded by anger." I stood up. "She said our fight was personal, that I was Salem's favorite."

"Her favorite?" Ruby repeated.

I shrugged. "That's what she said." I paused for a second. "If I was her favorite then what did Salem do to Mist?"

A few seconds of silence passed but was broken when I yawned.

"We should rest." I said as I walked over to a nearby tree. I climbed into it and laid down on one of the lowest branches, closing my eyes.

Mist's POV

I sat in my room, thinking about the fight I had with my brother when the door swung open. I watched as my mother walked over to me and backhanded me, causing me to fall off my bed and slam into the ground.

I slowly propped myself up as she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me to my feet.

"You will not fail me again!" she growled. "If you do, I'll have no choice but to punish you!"

"I-I won't." I told her as she pushed me onto my bed.

"Good."

Marek's POV, the next day

I woke up to someone coughing. I got out of the tree and saw Qrow cough into his hand.

I walked over as Ruby and everyone else did the same.

"Well...that's unfortunate." Qrow chuckled as he showed us his hand. It was covered in some sort of purple substance.

End of chapter 23