I woke up sore and in pain. As I looked in the mirror, Violace looked in and laughed. My body looked like a jigsaw puzzle of bruises and burns. Each one was a different color and size, and it SUCKED. It wasn't long before the team was inspecting my wounds. Carmella grabbed some herbs and dust from her things and mushed them into a pulp. It burned when it came into contact with my skin, but it wasn't long before my wounds stopped hurting.
I looked in the mirror, and most of the bruises were lightened and many of my burns had disappeared. Carmella tapped my shoulder, and I winced. "The effects are only temporary, but it should accelerate the healing process." I said my thanks, and laid back down in my bed fortress. After a quick nap, I grabbed my scroll and I looked at the matchups.
Yang and Weiss were to fight two members from team FNKI tomorrow, so I had nothing to worry about. All others had been undecided, so I needed to plan. Jaune and Phyrrah worried me most. Phyrrah was a master combatant, and Jaune was more than met the eye. However, get rid of his shield and his guard was noticeably lowered. At this point, Phyrrah would most likely help him, at which point we could overwhelm her.
Next was Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. These two were a scary pair. He was the son of a known assassin, and Violace said Emerald was quite respected in the criminal underworld. Their speed and agility makes them powerful opponents. If we get the correct environments, we'd have a better chance. Water should allow us to group them together and shock them.
Next was Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. Sun was incredibly agile and can move great distances at great speed, and was perhaps the most dangerous. However, I'd heard stories from Team RWBY that he wasn't the brightest. Using my semblance should give Carmella enough time to send him flying. Neptune was an easier case. He was scared stiff of water, and flirted with every female he encountered. If Carmella fought him, he would be to busy being Neptune than fighting.
(Author here! I'm not adding any more characters, because I'm not friendly with many RWBY artists.)
But, our battle was three days away, giving us plenty of time to train and relax. But I didn't. I hadn't felt safe from our outing with Qrow. Who was Salem? And was she the white queen? What did it all mean? Me and Violace headed out to the underbelly of Vale for information. As a criminal, Violace had plenty of contacts throughout Vale and beyond.
Our first stop that night was a club called "Dance Dance Revelation". The vibrations almost knocked us off our feet as Violace whispered into the Bouncer's ear. He handed us ear plugs as he opened the doors. The first thing I noticed were the lights. The club was nearly pitch-black, minus the dance floor, spot lit bars and the glowsticks on each and every person. We went to the bar on the right as the bartender turned around. He had scraggly blonde hair with strands falling over his face. His beard was scraggly, and that was a compliment compared to the rest of him.
The bartender's eyes lit up when he saw Violace. "EEEEEEEYYYY! Darth, you're back! Word on the street was you got accepted into some academy!? Have you gone soft!?" Violace rushed forward and slammed his hand on the bartender's mouth. "Quiet, you idiot! You never learn, do you? Tell J I'm here." He nodded and called someone on his scroll. A door I never would have seen was there opened with a dried ice effect. We walked in.
The inside was even more lavish than the main hub of the club. Most items were precious metals, and many more were made of cut dust. In the middle of the room was a red carpet pathway with bodyguards about a foot away from each other. At the end was a bed, and in it was an old tiger-eared faunus, obviously on his deathbed. He spoke with a raspy and raggedy voice. "Ah, Mags. It seems you came through. You came to see me a final time." Violace knelt by the bed, and grasped the man's frail hands. "Of course, Pap. You know I wouldn't ditch you."
For a second I thought, "Could this man be his father?" But I considered the man's age, and Violace's age as well. The old man looked at me with his eyes wide open. He pointed at me and screamed, "It's the Ragnarok boy! Seize him! Make him pay!" I was grabbed by two of the bodyguards, and wrestled to my knees. Violace shouted, "No! Let him go! He's innocent!" I knelt there as the old man and Violace were discussing things. After about five minutes, I was let up, and walked back over.
"You are lucky, boy. If not for your friend here, you would be sleeping with the fishes. You have all the information you need." At this point the man began to cough and foam at the mouth. He yelled to everyone in the room. "While I'm gone, Violace is leading you bozos! So listen to his each and every word!" He fell unconscious, but we knew he would die in the night. We left the club in a cold silence until we got outside. I asked, "What was the deal with that guy?"
Violace murmured, "Palpatine was the one who took me in on the streets. He taught me, fed me, and clothed me. I became his right hand man until I entered for Beacon. He was the man my father never was." He went on to cover his childhood, which really hurt. As a kid, he was raised in a human versus Faunus warzone. His father led the human side, and wasn't that great of a man. In the final battle, the rest of his family was captured and held captive.
Violace was filled with rage, and in it, he killed his family and father. In his shame, he ran to Vale and was taken in by Palpatine. I was honestly feeling really sympathetic. I knew the feeling of loneliness and fighting for my own life. At this point, I shared my story with him. Blah, blah, blah. we shared some tears and got back to the room. We all sat down as Violace started to share what he learned.
"Salem is the mother of Grimm. She makes them, creates them, controls them. They are completely under her control. She makes them with dark magic, a lost art. During the war, she was pulling the strings. But there was a head of the force opposing her. The White Queen. While Salem used dark magic, the White Queen used lighter magic. The war was awful, and so were their battles. The earth shook, and skies looked like they would fall. Allegedly, the White Queen is dead, and Salem is getting closer to invading again."