Epilogue
Atlas was burning. The Revolutionaries had taken the Capitol building and in response General Talon had stormed her troops into the city. She would not stand by and watch as the city her family had founded was taken by the riffraff. Atlas belonged to the strong. At first the offensive had gone all according to plan. Her troops were taking back the city street by street and without Ironwood to oppose her she knew the city would be under control by the end of the month. Of course the Revolutionaries had been putting up a good battle but they were severally out gunned and out manned. From her position on her war ship as it flew above the city the General couldn't help but smile as she watched the smoke rose. Soon, soon it would all be her's.
"General." A soldier sprinted on the bridge of the 'Eistod' breathing heavily.
General Eris Talon turned and glared at the man, her ice blue eyes pinning him to the spot. "What is it?" How dare he interrupt her moment of glory? The moment she finally seized Atlas for her family and out from underneath the Schnee's.
The solider fidgeted under the woman's gaze. "W-W-We've been contacted by the Council. They've ordered all Atlas Military personnel to stand down and pull out of the city." What ever he was going to say next was interrupted by the woman's scream.
"WHAT!" General Eris screamed as she drew her saber at her side, the blade slashing up towards the man's neck only to stop mere millimeter away from his skin. "What did you say?" She hissed as her eyes flashed dangerously.
The man gulped as sweat began to from on his forehead. "The Council has ordered all military units out of Atlas, they are going to enter negotiations with the Revolutionaries."
"No!" Eris screamed as she whipped away from the man making him slump in relief. "No, this can't be happening. I was so close, I was finally going to have Atlas. It was going to be mine! Schnee is dead and it was finally time to place the Talon family back in it's proper place. Why, why are they giving in to those damn masses?"
"A-Actually Ma'am." A timid voice spoke up making Eris turned and glared at the officer that had stood up. "We've been monitoring all Atlas communications as you ordered. Roughly an hour ago Heiress Weiss Schnee contacted the Council and confirmed that the board of the SDC had accepted her as the new CEO. After that the signal became encrypted and we were unable to break in. But whatever she said convinced the Council to enter negotiations with the Revolutionaries."
Eris gave a scream of frustration as she sliced through a row of computers with her saber. "That little twisted whore!" She raged as she smashed the broken computers with her blade over and over again, "First she cavorts with one of those filthy animals and debases herself by laying with such a creature but somehow she's taken control of the SDC! That little bitch, how did she…." Eris' face twisted from a snarl to a smirk as she straightened up. "The SDC mainframe, of course how could I forget." That damn system had enough blackmail on it to push all of Atlas into a corner. It was how the Schnee's took control in the first place, how they rose to power, how they had subjugated the Talon's. Because of that mainframe her father had died a broken man and Eris had sworn to get her revenge on the Schnee's. That the little whore had taken control of the SDC and made the Council buckle under her must have meant the bitch had taken control of the mainframe.
Eris lowered her saber and placed it back in its sheathe. "Fine. Order all our troops back to their ships. We wouldn't want to disobey our orders, now would we?"
The officers all glanced at each other before quickly going about as the General had ordered. As the officers did as she ordered Eris turned to looking back out the window at the city as the smoke curled up from the burning city, a smirk still pulling at her lips, "Fine. If that's the way she wants its then I can play her little game. I waited this long, I can wait a little longer."
In the northeastern part of Atlas there was mountain range deemed to dangerous for any life even Grimm to pass through safely, with nothing able to pass through the region there was no one willing to live there. It was also a natural barrier that prevented attacks from that direction and because of this it was deemed unnecessary to build the Kingdom's Defense Wall in this region. It both of those reasons that allowed a small personal airship to slip silently and unseen through a gap in the mountains.
The airship sailed gracefully through the air missing the steep rocky surfaces as it dipped down and around towards a solitary castle built into the side of a steep mountain.
It had been built there years ago in secret by various contractors and under different names. It was a mystery to the people who had built it as to who would build such a structure beyond the walls of the Kingdom and in such a dangerous place. But it wasn't like they had a chance to really ask. Once a contractors job was finished their business suffered heavy losses and went under which was soon followed by the death of the owner leaving next to no one to who could creditably mention the castle. It was a painstaking and expensive process but to keep the castle a secret had been worth it.
Once it had been finished the staff that had been brought in to service the castle had been brought there after having their pasts erased after each 'dying' in different ways. Their only solace was that their families would be well taken care of. They knew that the moment they had stepped into the castle their lives outside of its walls was over, they could never leave and never contact the outside world. They would die here without anyone knowing, their bodies incinerated in furnaces deep within the mountain.
The airship slowed as it lowered onto to a landing platform. Once it had landed the hatch on the side opened and white stairs descended to the ground. Lord Augustus Schnee steep out and walked down to the platform. Those fool in Atlas thought he had perished, just like he had planned.
Augustus knew the winds of change were coming to Atlas, he had known since the first shot had been fired in the city. It had been a long time coming and those that resisted would be blown about like leaves on the restless wind and those that held the power would be snuffed out like candles. He knew that if he tried to prevent that change and preserve his way of life he too would be snuffed out like those fools that tried to remain and keep their power. But he also knew something those short sighted fools did not; once the wind had settled and the cries for blood had quieted the people would lower their guards. That's when he would return. That's when he would once again rise to power and set this back to the way they should be. Where he was on top, where the Schnee name was feared and respected and all others were below him.
"My Lord, everything is prepared for you." A butler bowed to him as he passed.
"Good." Augustus said without even pausing to look at the man. He didn't even know his name such things were below him. "You may serve my tea in the study." The butler bowed again went to do as he was told.
Augustus marched through the castle towards his study, servants he passed bowed to him and he passed without a second glance towards any of them. They were there to serve him, he needed be bothered by them.
Once he reached the study he sat behind an ornate desk and tapped on the wood brining up a glass screen. Typing on the projected keyboard he accessed the SDC mainframe only to pause when he saw who the new chief administrator was listed as.
"Well it seems Weiss thinks she's ready for the big leagues." Augustus chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. "Well then daughter let's see what you're made of, I truly hope you put on a good show." He typed a few more commands into the mainframe that would allow him access even if his daughter removed him from the system. She might think she knew everything about the SDC but he had been doing this for much, much longer than her. He knew all of the ins and outs of the system and keeping his activity a secret was a trivial matter.
There was a knock on the door making him look up. He knew it wasn't a servant, they knew much better than to knock on a door but to use the servant corridors in and out of the rooms.
"Enter." He granted making the door swing open. Behind the door stood a boy. He had icy blue eyes, white hair and a devilish smirk on his face.
"Father." The boy gave a slight bow, "It is a pleasure to see you have returned." Augustus eyed the boy as he took a few steps into the room. He had had Stein clone him from his exact genetic material, no need to involve another woman in this boy's creation, it was obviously the woman who he had married that caused his two errant daughters to be the way they were. Granted Winter had been a wonderful offspring but she had a fatal flaw; her protectiveness towards her younger sister. It had cost her. Then there was Weiss, the black sheep of the Schnee family. She was headstrong, stubborn and willful. She never learned her lessons or obeyed an order. Then there was her current deviant behavior. To be involved with such a creature, unspeakable.
But this boy, this clone, was going to be the perfect Heir. "Have you completed you lessons for the day?" Augustus asked with a raised eyebrow.
The boy nodded, "Yes father. I am progression quite well."
"I shall be the judge of that myself." Augustus replied with a small nod. "Now we have other matters to attend to."
"And what would that be father?" The boy questioned.
"It seems your sister is interested in controlling the company." Augustus explained, "We are going to let her play CEO until you are ready to take control, is that understood Whitley?"
"Yes father, I understand."
Obsidian heels clicked against dark marble floors as a woman walked briskly down a hall of ornate stain glass windows. Each window depicted a different Grimm species in almost life like ways. Red moonlight poured in through the colored glass tinting the hall in strange eerie colors that casted themselves across her crimson dress. Years ago this place had unsettled and frightened her but now this was her home. She had been brought here as a small child by a mysterious woman after her village had been destroyed by a Grimm horde. That woman had raised her as her own daughter, taught her many different things, powers that boggled her mind and bent reality. She had taught her about the Grimm, about their nature about their wants, their needs, and how to create them.
The woman paused only a moment before pushing open a door and entered a room with a large table with wingback chairs. She scanned the room to find her mistress on the balcony at the end of the room. Walking with steady measured steeps she crossed the room and opened the glass doors to the balcony.
As soon as she exited to the balcony the woman felt the cold of the air creep up her spine. In this barren land the weather never changed, it was always just cold enough to never be warm, no wind to shift the decaying air, no rain to quench the parched ground. But after years of this being her home the woman barely noticed.
"Mistress I bring news?" The woman said as she knelt before a woman in a long black cloak, a symbol of three red eyes embroider on her back.
The woman gave a gentle hum of interest as she stroked a small Nevermore. Taking it as a sign to continue the woman continued, "Stein is dead."
The woman stopped stroking the Nevermore prompting the small bird to squawk in protest. After the momentary pause the woman resumed stroking the bird, "Is that so?" She asked seeming disinterested.
"Yes Mistress." The woman replied making the standing woman sigh.
"Cinder, how many times have I asked you to not call me Mistress?" The woman asked still not looking at the kneeling woman.
Cinder Fall raised her head looking at the back of her Mistress. Her obsidian hair falling over one of her amber eyes, "But Mistress-"
The woman sighed again and shooed the Nevermore away, "Continue your report."
Cinder nodded, "From what my subordinates have been able to gather he was killed by the Schnee Heiress after a failed attempt to capture one of his experiments."
The woman gave a chackling laugh, "So the little girl finally succeeded in offing him, shame though, he was a good distraction. Anything else?"
"Yes, the Heiress has also taken control of the SDC and forced the Atlas Council into negotiations with the Revolutionaries." Cinder continued, the woman gave another hum of interest as she continued to gaze out over the barren land.
After a few moments of silence the woman spoke, "And what of the experiment, the one he called Prometheus?"
"It-" Cinder began.
"She, Cinder, the Prometheus is after all a female." The woman corrected her.
"Yes Mistress." Cinder nodded, "She and her team have returned to Vale and are currently undergoing medical care by the doctors at Beacon. We weren't able to gain access to their medical records but they each suffered many injuries so it is likely they will be unable to go on missions for some time." The woman nodded, black fingernails drumming against marble.
"What is Ozpin doing now?" The woman asked.
"He is consolidating his forces. Though Ironwood has returned to Atlas to help with negotiations he still has both Branwen's as well as Xiao Long on hand." Cinder answered. "He has also contacted Shade and Haven in regards to his exchange program, he appears to be hoping to bring team across the world closer together."
The woman smirked, "Of course he is. He as always had this grand idea of peace and unity between the Kingdoms." Turning the woman regarded Cinder as she knelt before her. Red iris' on black sclera's gave the woman an other worldly feeling. Black veins pulsed with crimson lines along her temples and cheeks contrasted heavily against her pale near deathly white skin. "Well then it may be time that we start our own movements. Cinder contact the others, it's time we start to make plans." Cinder nodded and left to do as she was instructed. The woman turned back to look out over the barren land at a few of the dark tar like pools that dotted the landscape, a small Ursa clawing it's way out. "Soon Oz, I'm gong to take everything you hold dear and make you watch as it burns."
A/N: Last one!
Again thanks for all who followed along!
Grimm Reality will continue (winter 2020), in Grimm Reality: Season of the Witch.