Chapter 37: Blake's Secret

The only sound was a soft thud as Lunas dropped into the bathroom. He checked his surroundings, making sure there was nobody else in the room. Luckily, the only other person was a guard using the bathroom in one of the stalls. Lunas wrinkled his nose and tried to ignore the grunts of exertion as he passed by. He made it to the door before changing his mind. Doubling back, Lunas pulled out his dirk and braced himself by the door of the stall the guard was in.

'Come on, hurry up. I don't have all-' Lunas' thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

He lashed out with the hilt of the dirk and hit the guard in the back of his head. The guard dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes and Lunas quickly stripped the guard and put the clothes over his. He gagged as the overwhelming smell hit him, but he stumbled out of the bathroom quickly.

"Calypse! I was worried, I heard a noise and almost came in there!" A woman ran over to him as soon as he cleared the door.

She wrapped him up in a hug and started dragging him away. He resisted for a second before realizing that she was taking him right to where he wanted to go. This was going to work out perfectly, as long as the woman didn't figure out he wasn't "Calypse".

"I know you have that pesky prisoner to attend to, but I have a surprise for you first, come with me." The woman changed direction again, causing Lunas to start resisting once again.

"Don't be scared, it's a good kind of surprise." The woman continued when she felt the amount of resistance he was putting up. "One we can both enjoy."

She led him into a room and the last glimpse through the rapidly closing door was the woman starting to take off her shirt, and Lunas averting his eyes.

"Recognize me now?"

"Torchwick." Sun almost spat the words out.

"Yes, it's been a while, you ape."

"But where have you been all this time, and what are you doing with Blake?"

"Boy, I have orchestrated this whole thing. Vayla provided me Blake, and then got herself killed. As annoying as it is to lose her, I'm glad I don't have to waste ten thousand lien on her."

"But why Blake?"

"Why? She deserted the White Fang."

"But that isn't your reason, is it? You couldn't care less about the faunus race."

Torchwick glared at him for a second, before breaking into a smile.

"You're smart for an animal. No, I don't care about the White Fang, nor any of their interests. I want Blake for another reason, she's very special. She is one of the rare hybrids in this world."

"She's half faunus and half human?"

"No."

"Then what is she?"

"Think about it, boy. What else could there possibly be?"

"Half actual cat?"

"C'mon, think harder with that puny monkey brain of yours."

"But there isn't anything else if she's not part animal."

"Really? What is it that you fight every day?"

"...You're kidding."

"Go ahead, say it."

"You're not suggesting she's part Grimm, are you?" Sun breathed

"There you go, you idiot. She's half Grimm and half faunus. I'll leave you to figure out what that means."

The connection was cut and Sun sighed in relief. Through Torchwick's explanation, he had been typing on his scroll behind his back. Now the fruits of his labor showed. Ruby had messaged back, she had been successful in recovering all of the audio files from the last few minutes. She was moving to present all of the information to Ozpin now.

"Holy Apollo, what just happened?" Sun asked out loud as he sank to a sitting position, back pressed against one of the numerous bookshelves that surrounded him.

Lunas stumbled out of the room looking very pale, leaving behind a groaning naked woman. He had finally knocked her out after he had snapped out of his confusion. He shook his head and put those last few minutes behind him.

'Forget about it, just focus on Ren and then the meeting.' He thought to himself as he rounded a corner and found himself next to the stairs.

He casually strolled down them and nodded to a passing guard. He found himself standing before a door after a couple flights of stairs, and he took a second to collect himself before pushing through. He examined his surroundings, taking the time to look everywhere. There was a prison cell on his left and he walked over to it. His eyes widened as he saw the meditating form of Ren inside.

"Ren?" He whispered.

"...Yes?" Ren replied without moving.

"I'm here to get you out."

Ren's usually calm demeanor was lost at this, and Ren rushed over to the lock.

"How? I've tried everything."

"With this." Lunas held up the vial of acid he had used to get into the mansion.

"Hurry."

Lunas carefully poured a bit of acid onto the lock, watching as it started to corrode the iron.

"Lunas, behind you." Ren whispered, moving back further into the cage.

Lunas looked back in time to see the elevator doors opening. He leaped to the side, taking cover behind a crate as the guards made their way out of the elevator.

"Do you smell that?" The first asked.

"What does it smell like?" The second replied.

"Like something's burning."

"Again? We've been over this, there's nothing."

"But… Fine, let's just make sure the prisoner is still there."

They moved to the cage, not noticing the acid that was burning the lock. They stood facing Lunas' position, with their backs to the door. Ren crept over to the door as quietly as possible and put his hand around the lock to prevent it from falling to the ground. The lock snapped quietly and Ren slowly eased the door open. Lunas rose from his hiding spot, attracting the attention of the guards.

"Hey-" The guard's cry was cut short by Ren's aura-infused fist striking the back of his neck.

The other guard started to turn and was taken out in a similar fashion.

"Good job, now can you help me with something?" Lunas asked.

"I'm all yours." Ren replied as he grabbed Stormflower from the table.

"What do you mean? How can I be half Grimm?" Blake yelled at the orange haired man in front of her.

"You really don't remember?" Torchwick replied with an amused look on his face.

Blake just shook her head in anger and continued glaring at him.

"Fine, I'll explain. But it'll have to be snappy, I have a meeting to go to." Torchwick looked at the clock before continuing. "There are many traits that you have that point to you being part Grimm. First, your personality. You are very cold and withdrawn from the world around you. Second, your favorite color is black. Although this is a color loved by many, you seem to take it to the extreme. You feel drawn to it because it is the predominant color for the Grimm. Third, and most important, is your Semblance. Your Semblance is Shadow, the name itself says a lot, which allows you to create temporary copies of yourself. This is similar to how the Grimm reproduce. The Grimm are not separated into male or female, they are unisex. They reproduce when two of them find a secluded area and one sits down to focus on creating a copy of itself while the other stands guard. After three days of staying still, the first Grimm is able to create a perfect replica, albeit smaller. The 'child' ends up looking like a mixture of both because the first Grimm had an image of both itself and its partner in its mind. It puts the two together and this is how the 'child looks'."

"But that could all just be circumstantial." Blake suggested, knowing Torchwick would probably have an answer and really not give a damn.

"It could, and I agree that those facts alone aren't enough. But…" Torchwick leaned in and sneered as he prepared to deliver the final blow. "It doesn't explain your parentage. Your mother was a very… should I say, interesting person. She followed all orders of the higher up without question, but one day she disappeared. Nobody had any clue as to where she had gone, and the White Fang quickly gave up the search and proclaimed her dead. But after about a week she returned with a baby held in her hands. She was thrown into prison two years later when she was falsely accused of murdering another White Fang member. She was brought in and interrogated about the murder. They quickly discovered that she would not give them anything other than pleas of innocence and moved the questions to her disappearance two years earlier. They found out that she had been taken in by a Grimm after saving it from another Grimm. They had formed a bond and she had protected it during the copying process. The baby had turned out more human than Grimm though, so the Grimm gave it to your mother to protect. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend."

Torchwick took a second to make sure Blake was tied tight and strolled out of the room, whistling a pleasant tune and leaving behind a very confused and frustrated Blake.

Lunas crawled through the ventilation network slowly, taking care to not make any noise. Ren was right behind him, just as silent. The two made it to a vent overlooking a room with a table and checked around for any evidence of the meeting taking place in the next few minutes. They were just about to move on when Roman Torchwick entered the room, whistling something. They watched as Torchwick sat down in one of the chairs and clapped his hands. Around six people came out and sat down in the chairs as well. Only one chair was left to be filled and everyone in the room held their breath when the final person walked in at precisely nine.

"Welcome everyone, to this meeting of the Vespers." She said as she sat down.

"Hello, Cinder." Torchwick replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Hello, Roman." Cinder said through clenched teeth. "Now, the subject of this meeting is Blake Belladonna, and what to do with her."

"I propose we kill her, she could be a threat to us at some point." One of the representatives of the White Fang supplied.

"Much as I love murder, I don't think that is the best strategy, any other ideas?"

"I suggest we keep her for testing, just like I am presently doing." Torchwick suggested.

"And what is the benefit of that?"

"We can use her to better understand the effect that a parent Grimm has on a child. Also, she can be used to manipulate the pesky Beacon kids who killed my stepdaughter."

"I see, anyone agree with this idea?"

Four hands were raised, including Torchwick. Cinder nodded and continued.

"It's settled then, this vote goes in favor of Roman Torchwick keeping Blake Belladonna and using her for both examination and manipulation. I am glad that we were able to settle that so quickly. I expect you to formulate a plan and relay it to me by Thursday, Roman."

"Will do." Torchwick nodded his head.

"Thank you everyone for attending, this meeting is now adjourned." Cinder walked out as soon as she finished.

Lunas and Ren looked at each other before edging back away from the grate and starting on their way out.

Author's Note:
Welp, plot twist. I never would have thought when I started that I would have Blake be half Grimm, but I guess that I have now done it. This has been an interesting story to write, as even I have no idea where it will end up. But enough of that, thank you so much for reading and if you enjoyed, don't forget to follow, favorite, and review. Chas1881