Gadriel
There it is, my anxious tick is back. I'm biting my fingernails and stamping my foot. I'm not sure where or when this habit started but I've been doing it ever since Mother rebirthed me as a Grimmiore.
Maybe my old self had the same habit, I don't really know. Most of my memories from back then being gone and all…
That's far from the most important thing on my mind though. Right now Azael and I are on an airship, headed straight to Mother's palace and she has requested to see us in person to…explain our failure.
Mother certainly has a lot of patience relative to most people on Remnant. You don't exactly live as long as she has without learning a thing or two about it, but the two things she can't stand are repeating herself and failure. You only have as much value as your usefulness to her after all.
When we land we are immediately greeted by Tyrian, one of the few human pawns Mother keeps around. Not from a lack of him asking though, he would love nothing more than to be one of us. Honestly I think deep down he has a certain level of hatred for us, mostly out of jealousy, she does refer to us as her children after all. A title I am sure he would love nothing more than to obtain.
Apparently though he was too old for the process of becoming a Grimmiore, at least Mother's original method. Not only does it take years to complete but only little kids or at most young teenagers are worthwhile candidates as they are more malleable and their bodies are less likely to reject the process. Though he hopes the Doctor's new Grimm Serum will be able to change that.
"Well well, welcome home you two! It certainly has been a while hasn't it!" Tyrian throws his arms over us in a false gesture of affection.
Personally I can't stand the man, but his fierce loyalty that rivals our own and his admittedly high skill level, makes it easy to see why Mother keeps him around at least. Even if I really wish she'd kick him to the curb.
Honestly, though it pains me to admit, I doubt I could beat him myself in a one on one fight despite him merely being human. Not at my current level any way. Azael probably could but he wouldn't dare, not worth the trouble of upsetting Mother.
"Is Mother ready to see us yet?" Azael asks for me. He knows I loathe talking to Tyrian.
"Indeed, in fact our Goddess demands that you proceed to your meeting immediately, so no dilly dallying!" He lightly pats our backs in the direction of the door.
He knows full well that this meeting won't be a pleasant one and he takes some sick delight in it.
Azael and I don't say much on the way to Mother's throne room. Neither of us are particularly looking forward to this. Azael is usually so brave, honestly I don't think much of anything scares him, he was one of Mother's Plagues after all. At least before he was demoted to mentor Sariel and I of course, he still won't say what he did to earn that punishment.
Regardless there is one person he is deathly afraid of, just like the rest of us and that is Mother.
"Azael..what if she finds out about Sariel?"
"You know what that will mean." he says very matter of factly. I guess it was a pointless question.
"Maybe we could just…not mention him? Not yet at least, there is still a chance he'll-"
"Gadriel.." he sighs. "Very well."
"Thank you Azael." he just nods in response.
As we both enter Mother's throne room we are immediately overwhelmed by her immensely suffocating dark aura. I don't know how it is for humans but for us Grimmiore there is just something almost oppressive about merely being in her presence..especially when she is upset.
I take one look at her, sitting cross legged on her throne and resting her head against one hand. It only takes one look for me to realize just how much trouble we are in…she hasn't been this upset since Sariel failed his last mission and was sent to Patch as punishment.
We both quickly rush toward her, kneeling and bowing our heads. Hoping to maybe temper her rage just a little by reminding her that we are still loyal to her. She does greatly value loyalty after all.
"Raise your heads, children." She commands and without a second of hesitation we do exactly as we are told.
"I-It's good to see you again Mother." I say, hoping to maybe lessen the tension.
"Indeed, if only it were under..better circumstances." It doesn't really work. I can tell, she may do her best to not let it show but I can tell after spending years under her. "Let's cut to the chase…explain to me, how you managed to miserably fail what should have been a simple operation."
"W-Well Mother we wanted to bring her to you as soon as possible but the Doctor insisted she be kept there for experimentation-"
"Which I allowed, I hope you aren't suggesting it's my fault."
"N-No of course not! It's just..in that time the remnants of the White Fang in the region managed to stage an attack on the base…which ended up being a distraction for a demolition and retrieval squad to enter the base unnoticed."
"Who could this squad have possibly been comprised of that they got the better of YOU Gadriel?"
"M-Mostly a group of the girl's friends who somehow managed to follow us off the island." I purposely choose not to mention Sariel, hoping to spare him from her fury a bit longer. He may have broken my heart but I still don't want to watch him die.
"So what you are telling me" her eyes narrow and begin to glow, a surefire sign that she is only getting angrier. "a group of students, students of primary combat school no less, far from TRUE Huntsmen…managed to fend off one of my strongest children."
"I-It was mostly the bombs Mother, they were detonated without warning and I was forced to retreat."
"I see…and forgive me if I'm wrong but it still seems like you are insinuating that I share some of the blame for this failure."
"N-No that's not what I'm saying at all!" I panic slightly. I should have been more careful with my phrasing.
"I guess I just figured between the newly made drones and two of my strongest Grimmiore, she'd be perfectly safe for a few measly days while the Doctor began his experiments."
"The fault lies entirely with us Mother, forgive Gadriel she merely misspoke." Azael speaks up on my behalf. Mother takes a deep breath and leans back in her chair.
"Very well, perhaps I overreacted…go on." She gestures for me to continue with my story.
"Yes Mother…after I made my escape, Azael and I regrouped at the ruins of a destroyed village. We had planned to get the jump on them if they followed us, which worked at first but they managed to hold us off long enough for more Huntsmen to arrive and we were forced to retreat again."
"Only this time, in your attempts to escape with the lives I granted you, you failed to recapture my important asset."
"Y-Yes..." We both bow our heads in shame.
"Something just isn't adding up for me though perhaps you could enlighten me?"
"What would that be?" Azael asks.
"You keep saying these students were the ones causing you so much grief but I am having the hardest time piecing together how they alone could cause you so much trouble." We can both tell where she is going with this and it's not good. "Are you sure there was no one else helping them?"
"W-Well there was the White Fang leaders during the attack on the bunker."
"I think you know they aren't who I am referring to."
"Well who might you be referring to Mo-" Azael gets cut off mid sentence by Mother reaching out her hand. He collapses to the floor trying his best to not let it show the incredible amount of pain he is clearly in.
"Gadriel?" I feel a cold chill go down my spine.
"Y-Yes Mother?" I try not to focus too much on Azael not wanting to see him like this.
"It sure would be a shame to lose one of my oldest and strongest children, he is quite an asset after all." She tightens her grip and Azael's condition gets worse. I've only seen this one other time, when she punished Sariel and it's still just as horrifying to watch. It's easy to forget sometimes how absolute her rule over us is but then she so effortlessly reminds us.
"However if you lie to me one more time I am afraid it will be out of my hands what happens to him."
My heart is racing in my chest. I…I don't want to tell her about Sariel. If I do he may lose what little chance at redemption he had left but Azael will die if I don't. Damn him for putting me in this situation, if only he'd have listened if only he'd helped us recapture Ruby.
"Gadriel do you have something you wish to tell me?" She almost tightens her grip even further and in my gut I could tell that if I didn't speak up now Azael was done for.
"It was Sariel!" she immediately loosens her grip and Azael stops writhing in pain. Replaced instead by the rapid breath of a man who came incredibly close to death.
"Sariel?"
"Y-Yes..it seems he's befriended the students, Ruby in particular, he helped them fend us off and get the girl back…"
"I see..so he's gone full traitor has he? Such a shame, he was quite useful indeed." She rests her face in her hand. "I suppose he will have to be dealt with."
That is exactly what I was afraid she would say. I knew I couldn't protect him from her wrath forever, still..I thought I could keep him safe for a while at least. I should have known better, you can't hide anything from Mother. Suddenly she snaps her fingers and the doors behind us fly open.
On the other side was Tyrian as expected but alongside him was Berith, who I didn't think would be home right now but I guess he was called back around the same time we were. I just figured one of Mother's Plagues had better things to do. Next to them however…was a young woman I had never seen before.
She had short black hair, yellow eyes, a short red dress and black slippers that look like they are made out of glass.
They all walk up beside us before kneeling right along with us.
"You called M'Lady?" Tyrian asks, his voice filled with a sadistic glee.
"Indeed, I have work for you all."
"We are your tools Mother, you need only ask and it will be done." Berith is quite likely the most devout of all the original Grimmiore. So much so you'd think he was one of those lesser drones, before he wiped the floor with several highly skilled Huntsmen at once and quickly proved you wrong.
"Cinder?"
"Yes Master?" the girl from before replies. I guess her name is Cinder, she must be a fairly recent addition..then again I haven't been home in awhile.
"A couple of my scouts have caught wind that the Fall Maiden will be traveling alone to a small village just outside Vale, as my chosen vessel I would like you to take Berith and catch her off guard."
"With respect my Master, I request that me and my acolytes be allowed to handle this mission ourselves, you will find we are more than capable." she gives Berith a very antagonistic glare out the side of her one visible eye.
"I will allow you to handle it however you see fit, however if you fail, you know what the consequences will be."
"Yes Master." This seems to slightly annoy Berith but he respects Mother's orders without question.
"In that case Berith, I will be sending you to your brother Sallos in Mystral and you are to assist him on his hunt for the Spring Maiden."
"As you wish."
"Tyrian?"
"Yes my Queen?" he giggles in his usual insane manner, waiting happily for his orders.
"You and Gadriel will be going to Vale and linking up with Hazel, he's already made contact with a local criminal who may be willing to help with our long term goal in Vale, in the short term your mission will be to retrieve Ruby Rose and return her to me."
"It will be done m'lady." Heck he would gladly do that even if it wasn't an order. After all, the Doc's experiments are the only chance he has of ever becoming a Grimmiore.
"What about Azael Mother?"
"Azael will be sent to assist the Doctor and Watts who is currently working with him on tweaking the Grimmiore Drone serum, seeing as the other serum was placed on hold without the very valuable test subject to provide samples.'' That last bit was another clear stab at Azael and I. I know exactly why she is sending him to the Doctor instead of with me to Vale, she is separating us. Like she did to Sariel when he stepped out of line. It's part of our punishment..
"As for the traitor." Mother snaps her fingers and out walks a figure that I have only ever seen one other time. Not long after I was first reborn.
I can tell they are a woman and that they have dark red, shoulder length hair. They also wear a mostly white cloak with red underneath. Their weapon is two sickles that they keep mostly hidden under their cloak and they are constantly wearing an ornate Grimm mask, like the kind we wear during stealth ops but they never take theirs off.
They are basically Mother's enforcer. If the Plagues are Mother's sword and the rest of us are more like a hammer, I'd say they are a dagger. They make people who stand against Mother..disappear. Heck she could probably go toe to toe with Berith or any of the other Plagues.
"I will have you find Sariel and as a kindness, you will end him swiftly." Without saying a word the figure bows and exits the throne room so quickly I don't even see them leave.
"The rest of you have your orders, do not fail me." she says that last bit a bit more pointedly at Azael and I.