Setting: Violet's Hall
Remus ran through the mansion, impulsively searching for his long-lost teammate and friend. As he sprinted through these long halls, the Blue Flicker encountered members of the castle guard standing in his way. They were prepared and armed to stop him, but Remus was moving so fast that he was able to tackle through several groups consisting of four or five guards though he couldn't do this for all of them.
The manor's halls weren't the best for high-speed running and the red and black armor of the guards were quite durable and difficult for the Cobalt to simply body slam. Remus resorted to using Romulus as twin swords to slice through armor and cut down enemies. He cared nothing for the guards as he slashed each of them with his swords. He gave each one a slash strong enough to cut through the armor and flesh, giving some shallow wounds while other received deep ones. Whether they were alive or not was not a concern to Remus. He simply pressed on to find Violet.
After getting through two more areas, Remus found nothing pertaining to lost friend. He walked into random rooms where he found nothing important or battled more guards until he found himself in another hall where there were no guards. It was vacant and Remus wasn't expecting the place to be so quiet or free of guards. All he could see in this hall were several doors. He was thrown off by not fighting at first, but he relaxed his stance a bit and started walking cautiously through the hall.
Remus slowly approached the first door of the hall until he noticed this doorway didn't have a door. He poked his head around to see there wasn't anything inside this room. He scanned the area a second time to make sure there were no traps or hidden doors and was relieved to see none of those were present.
The next room he entered was right next to the empty one. It was a small dining room with a glass table with a single white chair in the center of the room. There wasn't anything else present in the room except for the faint aroma of food. Remus's face began to soften since none of these rooms seemed to hold anything sinister or any of the guards. He also heard his stomach rumble and he felt a little embarrassed. He and the others haven't eaten anything in a while and the scent of food reminded his body of that fact.
He walked into the room adjacent to the dining room and found an exquisite bathroom. However, the artwork wasn't appreciated or a concern for Remus. He didn't have an eye for craftsmanship and intricate designs. He wasn't cultured in arts like people from Atlas so he just looked at this beautiful bathroom and just saw a bathroom. He didn't linger in this room as long as the others because no one was here so he shut the door and went to the next room.
The final room in this hall was just a bedroom though quite a bland one. There were sign of a personality or any touch of someone actually living here. Remus walked in to see if there was something in the dresser or under the bed he could use as a possible clue to finding Violet.
He checked under the bed and found nothing. Remus got up to look in the dresser. He found female clothing in the first three drawers but found something peculiar yet familiar in the fourth one. Inside the last drawer was a gun. A more accurate description would be the handle of a gun while the barrel sliced off.
"Huh?"
Remus pulled the gun completely out of the drawer and got a closer look at the handle. He wasn't keen on design, but the gun's appearance was something he has seen countless times in the past. This was Ceasefire, the original weapon of Silver.
"Ceasefire? Why is this here?" Remus thought for a moment before finding his answer. He stood to his feet in realization then said, "Violet?"
Remus took a once over at the room he was in again, correctly believing this to be Violet's bedroom. He was happy, thrilled to be in the place she has been living in since coming to Atlas. All the frustration he had in the back of his mind ever since coming to Atlas began to wash away, but these pleasant emotions faded and slowly shifted to confusion. This was Violet's room, but where was Violet?
"Is she here? Is she somewhere else?" Remus thought, beginning to have doubts about Violet currently being in the mansion.
"If she was here, she would've definitely come our way when we got here, right? Are they keeping her somewhere she can't reach us? Is she even here? Or… does she actually like it here and doesn't want to come back home?"
He shook his head then sighed in exasperation, mentally berating himself for thinking in such a negative way. Remus walked out the room, continuing to search for his friend and find answers himself.
Setting: Dining Hall
Azura stood atop the dining hall's massive table where she was facing off against four members of the castle guard that stood around the table. One of the guards had a lance and tried to jab her with it, but she responded violently. She moved out of the way of the lance's bladed tip and grabbed the pole with both her hands. Azura yanked it out of the guard's hands then smacked him in the head with the other end of it before fully wielding the weapon, knocking out the guard.
She leaped between toward the two guards on her right and held the lance horizontally. As she came down onto them the polearm of the weapon slammed into their necks and they fell on their backs while Azura landed forward on her feet as they were left unconscious on the ground. They were taken out and Azura swiftly moved to take out the last one.
Before the last guard could move in any kind of way, Azura pivoted her foot, got a firm grip on the lance, activated the lightning dust in her right wrist, then hurled the electrified weapon at the guard. The man was first hit by the lance then electrocuted a second later. The last guard was overwhelmed with pain and eventually fainted, leaving Azura as the last one standing.
The Sky-Blue Warrior walked toward the doorway leading to the exit of the dining hall and into other areas of the manor. Azura walked by the edge of the dining hall's large table and noticed an abandoned plate of buttered bread and a cup of some kind of flavored drink. Azura stopped in her tracks and stared at the food for a while. It has been a while since she or either of the others in her party actually ate anything today.
Azura's stomach growled loudly, much to her own embarrassment.
She moved to the edge of the table and snatched the bread off its plate. She ungracefully stuffed it down her throat and followed up by guzzling down whatever drink was in the glass before exiting the dining hall, completely unaware of an ally rummaging through the kitchen beyond the other door in the dining hall.
Setting: Kitchen
On the other side of the door of the dining hall was the kitchen where chefs work to make all the food the Underlands eat every day. At this time, none of the chefs were in the kitchen because they were scared out by a certain gunman who entered the area and scared everyone away.
After reaching past the lower levels of the manor, Silver began his search for Violet or Marigold. His search led him into the kitchen where the chefs were in the middle of making late-night desserts for the Underland family. Seeing all the delicacies and hearing the rumbling of his stomach, Silver pulled out Fenrir and waved his dual guns at the chefs, screaming for them to get out. For several minutes, Silver gorged himself on cakes, fruits, and any drinks he could get into his hands.
He ate the food with a similar lack of etiquette Azura possessed and then some. Besides the room service at the Atlesian hotel, Silver hasn't had any actual good food at all since coming to Atlas and he hasn't cooked anything either. He was a little worried his culinary skills may have dulled from negligence, but that wasn't on his mind long enough for him to care as he ate a cupcake in two bites.
Silver ended his gluttonous frenzy with a drink from a can of soda until he heard someone approaching. The Gunslinger quickly brought one of his guns up and aimed it at the door with an éclair sticking out of his mouth and the person who entered was the snow rabbit faunus, Galanthus. The long-eared butler entered the kitchen to set the table for dessert time but was stunned seeing someone foreign and so feral devouring everything while aiming a gun at him.
It was quite the site for the elderly butler.
No words were spoken between Silver and Galanthus as the awkwardness between them grew. Silver didn't know what to do but he kept his gun up and the pastry in his mouth. It was ridiculous, he knew that, but he planned to stand by his goofy appearance and stay put. Plus, it's not easy to defy a person holding a gun.
Galanthus silently looked at Silver then slowly and quietly backed out of the kitchen, leaving the same way he came. The rabbit butler walked away as if nothing happened and proceeded to his other household duties. Silver won their confrontation and chomped down on the éclair in victory.
Silver left the kitchen, feeling better now that he got some food in his stomach and continued his search for Violet or find Marigold and pummel him into the snow for tricking them.
Setting: Underland Manor
In the foyer of the mansion, Tigress was protecting Zelts as he recuperated from his previous berserk state. Some of their time was used letting Zelts rest in peace while Tigress faced off against any group of castle guard that stumbled upon them. These battles ended quickly thanks to Tigress fighting ferociously to keep Zelts unharmed, she couldn't advance forward with the others even though she wanted to. She had to wait for Zelts to regain consciousness.
Tigress traversed the manor the least out of their group yet she fought the most out of everyone here. She has already battled the castle guard, the Underland twins, Zelts, and any remaining members of the castle guard that come their way, and she could still do more. For now, being with Zelts when he awakens was her main objective.
Further into the mansion, Marigold was walking smugly to the throne room. This room was constructed by him and the other Underlands to serve as the head's base of operations once Tarax died and the battle for the title was decided. The mad Underland marched to this grand room as if to say he was the one to stand above the rest before the end of the day. It was where he planned to deal with anyone who entered, be they Team VRSZ or the other Underlands.
Marigold intends to be the last one standing.
Setting: Bluebell's Hall
Silver ran down a new hallway and a strange scent caught his nose. He also began to notice smoke coming out of all the doors in the hallway and they were all different colors, ranging from red, green, purple, pink, and so on. Silver had no idea what to make of this odd scenario.
"O...kay…"
One of the doors opened with a large cloud of blue smoke coming through and walking through it was Bluebell Underland with a smile on his face. He eyed Silver then turned his body to face him. Even with all this smoke filling the air, Bluebell still carried around his hookah in his hand.
"Why, hello ther-" Bluebell was about to introduce himself but Silver already had one of his guns aimed at him.
"Don't really care who you are and I don't plan on finding out, but if you want to be useful, tell me where Violet is or that bastard wearing the fedora. I'm gonna kick his ass for tricking us when I find him," Silver told him.
"Violet? Oh! You mean Alyssa and Marigold. Sorry about Mary, he's kind of an asshole. That's kind of his thing. As for Alyssa, you guys are out of luck. She's not here," Bluebell answered with an air of confidence that Silver disliked and distrusted.
The different kinds of colored smoke began to completely fill the hallway. Silver began to sniff a bit of one of those vapors then snorted it out. It smelt peculiar to him, but he thought it was harmless. Just something Bluebell concocted for dramatic effect.
"You say that, yet I don't believe you. Also, don't call her Alyssa. That's not her name. Tell me where she really is so we can take her home."
"I'm afraid we can't allow that. We still need our dear cousin to finish some personal business."
"Business?" Silver repeated, not liking how Bluebell used that word.
"Oh, we're going to kill her," Bluebell answered.
As a response, Silver fired his gun at Bluebell. The bullet passed by Bluebell's face and the Underland flinched from the sudden attack.
"Didn't like that answer, I see," Bluebell said, trying to remain nonchalant.
Silver was confused with his shot. It wasn't intended to be a warning or for intimidation. He fired, aiming for Bluebell's face and he missed, completely. He had no idea what was wrong with him. He'd never miss such an easy shot at this range.
"Grr…" Silver groaned to himself.
"I hope you I haven't given you the wrong impression about our family. We never expected Alyssa to come back like she did. As the heiress to the family name, she had power as soon as she returned home, something none of us liked. Alyssa not being here would be great for us, but we'd like to make sure her departure is… permanent. Catch my drift?" Bluebell asked with a smirk.
During Bluebell's explanation, Silver's been trying to shoot him several times but he kept missing. All these shots only flew past the Underland and Silver began to feel unsteady. Silver felt like the room was moving and he began to wobble around before falling down on one knee and began to feel facial pressure.
"The hell…" Silver said before coughing.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out," Bluebell said. "All of these vapors have various…effects on the body. One of them is messing with your depth perception and inducing a special kind of vertigo. I'm guessing that's the one you've been inhaling the most."
After hearing that, Silver began to hold his breath and knew he needed to get out of this hall. He was too intoxicated to stand on his own feet. The gunman was trying to figure out how to get out of this also why these drugs weren't affecting Bluebell.
Thinking quickly, Silver grabbed some dust bullets from his pockets and put them in Fenrir. He fired them immediately, in every direction, and the type of volleys he released were small blasts of wind. He fired them everywhere he could in the hopes of clearing the vapors away but it didn't work. As soon as the air blasts cleared space, the vapors filled them in a second later and more of them were coming through the doors.
His wind dust bullets weren't doing the job. He needed something or someone to control the wind to carry the vapors away. He needed the Heart of Gold. He needed Zelts.
Not only was Silver induced with vertigo, he was starting to feel nauseous, like he was about to vomit. He even started to see spots and other things that he knew weren't there. The hallucinations were enough to let Silver know this place was toxic and he needed to get out of there.
Silver turned around and mustered what strength and willpower he could to stand and walk out of Bluebell's hallway. He managed to get on his feet but he couldn't walk on his own because of his loss of balance, so he crashed into the right side of the hallway and walked while leaning against the wall. This was a challenge and even more so since Silver was holding his breath to stop inhaling more vapors.
Bluebell watched with an amused looked as Silver tried to work his way out of his domain. With all these vapors entering Silver's system, the stoner Underland knew he was going to stop moving eventually. All he had to do was wait until then to deliver the final blow with the poisonous mist stored in his hookah.
He was always surprised by every person's reaction to his concoctions. That was because poisonous gas and harmful vapors didn't affect Bluebell thanks to his semblance, Filter. It allowed him to breathe in any harmful toxins in the air and exhale them with absolutely no harm to his body. It did nothing for combat, but it allowed Bluebell to huff from his hookah every hour on the hour with no side effects. It's part of the reason he's in the fragrance and cannabis business as Dreamer.
The vapors in the air were doing nothing to him as he breathed normally. Silver, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate.
The Gunslinger was able to leave the hallway and the dangerous vapors being emitted, but he was already under the effect of several of them. He still had vertigo, felt sick to his stomach, started sweating profusely, broke out into hives, watery eyes and a pounding headache.
Silver was having the worst experience in his life. He kept walking until he fell to the ground. During this hell, he held his breath for the longest time and he finally let go. He breathed in and out vehemently. He opened his teary eyes to see that there was no gas around him and he was in a hallway with a glass wall viewing the Underland courtyard in the middle of the manor.
Silver tried to get a hold of himself so he could fight Bluebell with a better state of being. It was not easy for him. His eyes were still watery, the vertigo had less effect, but he still leaned against the glass wall to stay on his feet, the feeling of throwing up was still present, and Silver started scratching his irritated, sweaty skin which only made it worse.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Silver thought, completely frustrated with his predicament. "Get a hold of yourself, Silver. You gotta take this bastard down,"
"Still standing I see," Bluebell said to Silver as he walked into the hallway. "Not bad, but this is as far you go. Sweet dreams."
Bluebell took sucked some of the gas from his hookah then exhaled out the purple mist that began to fill the room. Silver didn't have to think to know that stuff was probably lethal and could probably kill him in a single breath.
Aura protected Huntsmen and Huntresses like a shield, protecting them from dying from physical blows that could easily damage the body and healing wounds, however, nonphysical infliction like sickness, aliments, and poisons could still affect the body's system.
The poison mist Bluebell was releasing was beginning to fill the hall and Silver aimed Fenrir at the glass wall. He fired from the one gun that had normal bullets to pierce through the glass then ran forward and jumped through the glass before the poison mist reached him.
Bluebell rolled his eyes at Silver's tenacity. He wasn't one for drawn out conflict or conflict of any kind. He just wanted to go back to his room and huff from his hookah, but he couldn't leave Silver to run around his house. Bluebell walked down the hall to the path that leads to the courtyard.
Setting: Courtyard
Silver was falling out the glass wall he jumped through and used Gravity to slow his descent. He landed on the ground in a clumsy manner. The symptoms from the gases he inhaled were beginning to fade, but still affecting his body. Silver fell backwards and landed on his butt, knowing Bluebell was still coming. Using the little time he had to himself, Silver fought through watery eyes to pull out more of his different types of dust ammo from the pockets of his winter coat and set a specific set into both his guns.
The feeling of vertigo finally left his system. Silver stood to his feet. He wiped what remained of his tears and looked at the courtyard's surroundings, seeing flower beds, grass and the fountain in the center. Silver still felt like throwing up, his skin was red and irritated, and his head was still pounding, but he powered through them to aim his guns and he fired at everything around him.
Setting: Aster's Hall
Remus was still running through the manor trying to find Violet. His pursuit of finding her blinded him to the whereabouts of his allies who were scattered around the large building. Remus kept running, getting faster and faster as he passed through rooms and halls until he reached a hall that was larger and grander than the ones he's passed before.
The Blue Flicker ran through the hall until he noticed someone standing in at the end of it. He planned to run past them and continue his search, but that course of action ended abruptly by white, shinning arrows being shot in his direction. He dodged the first one by stepping to his left, but the second one hit his left knee and covered it in ice on impact.
His left leg was immobilized and he fell and tumbled to the ground. Remus looked at his partially frozen leg then at the person who froze it.
Before Remus was Aster Underland, the unusual Underland who could glimpse into the future.
She eyed him with her gray eyes and said nothing with Remus being silent so he could get a good look at her. Overall, he knew she was here to do battle based on her wielding a weapon; a mechanical longbow that was just as tall as Aster though it lacked a bowstring. There was nothing else he could get from her since she did nothing and said nothing. She was a mystery.
Aster continued to watch him in silence and Remus used this chance to slam his elbow into his frozen knee to shatter the ice then quickly rose to his feet. He drew Romulus in double-bladed staff form and waited for his opponent to make an attack but she remained motionless and quiet.
He didn't see her move so Remus decided to take a few steps back to get ready to run past her.
Remus moved forward, running so fast toward Aster that he was barely visible to the naked eye, appearing as a blue blur. Remus was about to run past her but he saw something come in his direction. Another ice dust arrow was heading right for him and Remus was positioning his arm so he could deflect with Romulus, but he felt his shoulder freeze over.
A second arrow hit his left shoulder without his knowing and froze over his shoulder, preventing him from moving his arm to deflect the other arrow that was too close for him to properly react. He was forced to stop running and fall to his knees to get out of the arrows path. He landed on the side of his hips and saw Aster stand in front of him with another dust arrow drawn. On closer inspection, the bow had a visible drawstring which was made out of some kind of white energy Aster could touch.
Remus activated Checkpoint to teleport out of her line of sight. The blue smoke produced by his teleporting was purposely made larger than usual to function as a smokescreen.
Immediately after he used Checkpoint, Aster turned to her backside and aimed her bow in the direction of the hallway's northeast corner. The fingerless arm glove she wore on her right arm glowed with yellow sigils and produced a lightning dust arrow at her fingertips. She fired while seeing nothing but smoke and her arrow hit Remus who teleported to that exact location.
Her glove was created with various types of dust to compliment her weapon and supply with arrows without the need to actually carry them.
The Blue Flicker grunted through his clenched teeth as he was electrocuted when the arrow hit him. That small gap in time was all Aster needed to create five ice dust arrows and fire them all at one at the door Remus was trying to reach. Each arrow froze over the door and formed a thick layer of ice to prevent anyone from coming in or coming out.
Groaning at his predicament, Remus realized he really couldn't progress without dealing with the enemy in front of him and he wanted to finish this in one move. He split Romulus into dual swords and activated the energy of the blades to make them sharper.
Aster said nothing as she kept her eyes on him. She noticed Remus pivot his feet and quickly extended her longbow to her left side.
In one quick movement, Remus dashed toward Aster and swung both his blades at her but they were blocked by longbow, effectively. His swords, sharpened by the energy flowing through them, didn't cut through Aster's bow at all. They weren't even leaving a scratch. Remus was completely surprised something wasn't sliced by his swords then felt a high heel land in his gut. Aster blocked his blades and lifted her leg to kick him before he even started running and Remus was pushed a few feet away.
Remus had no idea why he was at such a disadvantage in this fight. His opponent prevented him from leaving, her weapon didn't break against his powered blades and she was reacting to his attacks perfectly. He never thought he would meet someone who could utterly dominate him like this in the Underland family or anywhere.
Aster's semblance, Clairvoyance, allowed her to gaze into the future. It was a semblance that activated randomly and shows random events though if people were around her, she'd probably see a future related to them. This was the information she and the other Underlands told others, but there was a part of her semblance they kept a secret from everyone, including Violet.
In the heat of battle, Aster's Clairvoyance can focus solely on the person she's fighting. This allowed her to constantly see the future of her opponent, meaning she knew exactly what they would do before they knew themselves, giving her complete control of the battle's flow.
In fact, Aster wasn't only known as the favored and most beloved Underland, but also as a fighter second only to Zinnia Underland, the Paragon, fighting and losing to her cousin by a small margin. She's a skilled fighter with the power to see the future which was incredibly accurate.
Right now, Aster had clear sight of what Remus was going to do and could prepare however she pleased to combat him.
No matter how fast someone or something was, speed means nothing against time.
Setting: Hotel Room
Several Minutes Earlier
In that moment, Violet realized she was free from being her father's obedient puppet. What little power he had over her was vanished thanks to Ebony. Violet had no idea why she did this, but she didn't plan on complaining about it. What she did do was think about her current options which were plentiful.
She looked to her father with harsh eyes and had one word in her mind.
"Payback,"
This takes place right around the end of chapter eighteen of the story.
