As the pale woman entered Willow's room Whitley could only stare in shock at her as she had the same complexion as a grimm.
"Didn't your mother teach you it's not polite to stare? Especially when our grace didn't permit you to look upon her."
Whitley clicked his tongue before he got up.
"If I wanted the opinions of a Zelaot whose only job is to lick the ground where this "goddess" walks I would've asked for it."
The scorpion faunus angrily brought out his blades and Whitley readied his duel disk but the pale woman held up a hand stopping him.
"Now, Tyrian. We're not here to get physical remember that."
Tyrian scowled but he backed down immediately before the woman turned her attention to Whitley as she approached him before gently cupping his chin.
"You have guts, little boy. I find that…amusing but I find your bravery simply adorable."
"Hands to yourself Salem. Now."
Salem smiled as she released Whitley's chin and the young boy turned back to face Willow.
"Mother. Enjoy your meeting."
With that Whitley left the room leaving Willow alone with Salem and her two associates.
"Watts. Tyrian. Leave us."
"Yes, your grace."
"As you wish."
The scorpion faunus and former Atlesian Scientist left the room as it was now just Willow and Salem.
"Care for a drink during our business meeting unless becoming Grimm killed your tastebuds."
The snark in Willows's comment wasn't lost on Salem making the witch smirk as she took a seat.
"I suppose if the alcoholic is offering from her horde who am I to say no."
Willow frowned but poured a fresh glass for Salem and partially refilled her glass."
"I'm surprised you took the risk to come out like this. I was sure you'd say no to my offer to meet."
"Well, considering we're the only two inhabitants that Overlord recruited I figured we should have some sort of partnership."
Willow rolled her eyes as she sat in the chair across from Salem and sipped her wine. However, she narrowed her eyes at what was around Salem.
"I see. So he gave you a deck too."
"That a problem?"
"No. I'm just surprised someone with such childish reasons for why she's declared war on the world would be allowed a deck."
Salem and Willows's wine glasses started cracking as did her window as the astral images around her roared and growled at the Schnee matriarch. On Salem's left was Uria, Lord of Seering Flames, her right was Raviel, Lord of Phantasms, and behind her was Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder. All three Sacred Beasts protectively went around their duelist disliking how Willow was talking to her.
"Interesting."
Salem then noticed that behind Willow was her own set of duel spirits as two massive figures appeared behind her. Appearing on her left side was Erebus, The Underworld Monarch then on her right was Ehther the Heavenly Monarch then on Willow's forehead was the Seal of Orichalcos.
'So that's the power he gave you. Fascinating.'
Salem thought to herself as she took a sip of the wine.
"Hmm. Not bad."
Salem swirled the dark liquid in her glass admiring the color before Willow spoke.
"Why don't we both put away our trump cards after all this is a business meeting after all."
Salem smiled as she clasped her hands together as the Sacred Beasts backed off before disappearing. Willow took a deep breath as the seal disappeared from her forehead and Erebus along with Ehther vanished as well.
"So, Overlord gave you the Orichalcos? You know the cost of using that right?"
Willow scoffed before getting up and heading to the window.
"Of course. Don't talk to me like I'm a child or one of your pawns. I know the cost and once the sinners of Atlas have been taken by the Seal I can achieve my goal and have a true family and make up for the time I've been absent."
Willow looked at Salem from the edge of her peripheral vision as she drank from her wine glass.
"Speaking of Pawns I need to ask you a favor, Salem."
"Oh? What would that be little Willow?"
Willow turned around facing Salem as she set her glass down then crossed her arms under her bust giving it extra lift making them appear bigger.
"I ask that you either hold off your little attack on Beacon at least until after I finish my plan."
"Now why would I do that?"
"Let me ask you. Let's say you make Beacon fall and acquire this "Fall Maiden" right? What then you say you want the relics but you have no idea where the beacon relic is but you have a pretty solid understanding of where the other three are though right?"
"Interesting…"
The table as well as the wine glasses cracked.
"I never mentioned any of this to you when we first met. How'd you figure this out?"
Willow smirked.
"Overlord divulged it to me like how I'm assuming he divulged my part of my plan to you. As to why he'd do that well maybe he thinks we won't like what the other is planning and kill each other or we might assist one another. Whatever his reason I couldn't care less."
"I see. Say I were to…deviate from my plan to bring down Beacon. What would you suggest?"
Willow smiled wide as she moved over to a chessboard in the room.
"It's simple really."
Willow grabbed the Bishop piece on the board.
"I assist you in getting to Vacuo and accessing there to grab that relic…"
Willow used the bishop to knock a piece off the board as she kept speaking.
"... then from there you move to Mistral and take care of that academy and grab that relic…"
She knocked another piece on the board.
"...in Atlas, once my plan is said and done I'll find a way to acquire the winter maiden thus giving you access to the staff in the vault…"
Another piece was knocked off.
"...Then when it's all said and done you lay waste to beacon grab the relic of choice then everything else falls in your lap."
Willow then used the bishop to checkmate the other side.
"Do we have an agreement my Grimm associate?"
Willow looked up and saw that Salem had finished her glass of wine before red eyes met blue as Salem laughed for the first time in years and it was genuine.
"Well, Willow I knew you were good but I wasn't aware you were so great at talking business. It'll be a pain but I can convince Cinder and her pawns to back down on Beacon for now. That being said you WILL keep your word."
Willow laughed as well as she finished off her glass.
"Of course, I have no reason to go back on my word dear Salem."
Both women shook on their new deal.
"You got all that Arthur?"
Willow turned to where Salem was looking and saw a small device planted in the corner.
"Didn't trust me huh?"
"That was Watts's idea. Not mine."
The device beeped before Watts's voice came through.
"Every word your grace. I can make some tweaks and changes to the virus to affect the towers and academy system in Vacuo albeit it'll take me some time."
"Well, Willow dear I appreciate the Schnee hospitality but you know I can't stay long and I now have places to be."
With that Salem got up and left.
"Inform Arthur that Whitley will be sending him the details."
"Of course."
With that Salem left with Arthur and Tyrian following behind her leaving Willow alone in the room as Whitley reentered the room.
"So what now Mother?"
"Now Whitley we have more time to put everything in place. Winter should return soon then I trust you to make your move and bring back into the family."
"Of course Mother but what about Jacque?"
"You let me handle your sperm donor. Soon he'll be a permanent nonfactor."
"Very Well, Mother."
Vale: Emerald Forest
"So we gonna discuss how you know me or we just gonna stand here staring at each other?"
Summer then leaned close into Raven's personal bubble making the bandit women raise an eyebrow.
"Unless you like staring at me~ Not that I blame you~"
*POW*
A lump appeared on Summers's head where Raven had smacked her.
"Stop that!"
"Oww. Party Pooper."
Raven turned around and took a breath as she couldn't let Summer see the embarrassed blush on her face.
'Damn it Summer.'
Summer pouted as she nursed the bump on her head.
Raven then grabbed Omen from its sheath before doing a downward slash making a red and black portal.
"Woah! How'd you do that?!"
"It's my semblance. Wow, you really have forgotten everything huh."
Summer looked at Raven confused before Raven stepped through the portal with Summer soon following suit.
Kingdom of Mistral: Anima
The red and black portal appeared in Raven's tent sitting at the table was a young woman wearing clothing very similar to Raven except her hair had a bandana tied around the top of her head. Her hair was longer than Raven's and more curly with flowers in her black locks. She was looking over her weapon which, much like Raven's Omen, had a dust blade with a rotating sheath with dust blades stored inside it. The young woman stood up when she saw Raven's portal appear as said leader stepped through but she immediately drew her weapon and donned her mask as she saw a new person enter behind her making Summer raise her hands in mock surrender.
"Lower your weapon Vernal. She's a friend."
Summer, who still had her hands raised, looked between Raven and the now-named Vernal with confusion before turning back to Raven.
"This how you treat all your guests?"
Raven walked to and around the table before taking a seat.
"Just the ones who give us problems."
"I see."
'Mom. I don't know about this.'
Summer turned seeing Ruby's spirit next to her worry present on her face.
'I know Ruby. If I'm being honest Raven rubs me a certain way.'
'What kind of way Mom?'
'How do I put this? I sense from her someone who hides their fears under a false mask.'
'So deep down she's a good person you think?'
'On that baby girl, I don't know. What I do know is that she looks a lot like that blonde chick you hang out with.'
Before Ruby could comment any further Raven interrupted their mental conversation.
"You've been standing there for the past minute. You okay?"
Vernal then chimed in.
"I think she's a daydreamer."
Summer then walked and sat at the small table before turning to Vernal.
"I think Raven Jr. You need to respect your elders also next time you attempt to pull a weapon on me you won't like the outcome."
Vernal narrowed her eyes.
"Are you threatening me?"
"I don't make threats I make promises."
The tension between the two of them was thick but Raven broke it immediately.
"Enough. Both of you."
Raven's red eyes turned to Summer.
"Summer. I invited you here so quit picking fights with members of my tribe."
Her eyes then went to Vernal.
"Vernal. We talked about this stop trying to pick fights that are out of your weight class."
Vernal didn't say a word but grumbled to herself before releasing her grip on her weapon.
Three cups of tea were now present on the table before the three women as Summer looked down at her tea and then back at Raven who returned her gaze.
"You keep staring at me like that the tea's gonna get cold."
"Cut the crap. You said you knew yet you've said nothing or done nothing to convince me otherwise."
Raven chuckled, setting down her teacup.
"Straight to the point as always. Alright, but I want something in return."
This time Summer smiled.
"You wanna know about the Grimm I was fighting and why we were duking it out in a card game and not with our weapons right?"
Vernal blinked twice before giving Raven an incredulous look.
"She's not lying Vernal. I was just as surprised when I saw it myself."
Summer took a sip of her tea.
"Hmm. Not bad. I have one question before we start this information trade. I do have one question though."
"Fire away."
"Why do you look so much like…"
Summer paused her train of thought as she couldn't recall the name of the girl Raven looked like until Ruby chimed in.
'Having trouble mom?'
'Yup. Ruby, what's the name of the blonde girl you hang out with?'
'Yang. She's my half-sister'
'Wait half-sister?'
'I'll tell you later.'
'Okay.'
Summer then brought herself back to reality.
"Sorry about that, I lost my train of thought. Like I was saying before, why do you look so much like Yang?"
Raven gave her a deadpan stare before answering.
"Cause I'm her mother."
Summer pointed to Vernal.
"How about her?"
Raven sighed.
"She's also my daughter."
"Huh, so you slept with two different guys and had two different daughters."
"First of all Summer, I haven't slept with anyone else."
"Wait but you just said…"
"I know what I just said but the only man I slept with was Tai and that was the night we made Yang."
Summer's eyes went wide.
"So you're telling me that the last time you had sex was on your honeymoon night? Holy crap."
Summer then turned back to Vernal.
"So I guess that makes her your adopted daughter and Yang's other sister then?"
"That's accurate Summer."
"I see. So I assume you wanna get back on topic?"
"Please."
"Alright, Raven. You start."
Raven put her teacup down and then grabbed Omen out of the sheath with a green dust blade as Vernal gave her a stone to sharpen it.
*SHINK. SHINK.*
"First off, why are there Grimm after you?"
"They work for some big bad called Overlord."
"What does he want?"
"I don't know the full details but I think he wants me gone but I know he wants Shooting Quasar?"
Raven raised a brow.
"Shooting Quasar?"
Summer reached around to her hip and opened her deck box with a click before pulling out Shooting Quasar and throwing it to Raven the bandit woman caught it between her fingers as she examined the card.
"Seriously? This little thing. I doubt this card is that important."
"Don't insult my monsters. More importantly, give me my card back."
Raven scoffed as she tossed the card back to Summer who caught it with ease and then put it back in her deck box but before she did Quasar started glowing to Summer's confusion.
'Wait a minute. Quasar if you're glowing then that means…but there's no grimm around so…'
Summer's eyes then drifted back to Raven.
'You gotta be kidding me.'
Summer pushed that thought to the back of her mind for now.
"Look. I'm gonna lay everything out on the table. This trading info shit is old. That fair to you?"
"Whatever makes the exchange easier."
Summer sighed before she explained everything.
"To make a long story short, what I'm facing is a group of Grimm who are very intelligent and can play duel monsters ."
Raven raised her eyebrow at this.
"Who do they serve?"
"A Master who goes by the name of Overlord. Not Salem."
At mention of that name Raven immediately stopped sharpening Omen.
"Where'd you hear that name?"
Summer raised an eyebrow at Raven.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just tell me? Where'd you hear that name from?"
Summer sighed.
"I heard it from Ozpin."
At this Raven's eyes narrowed.
"I should've guessed that Oz would try and sink his claws into you the moment you came back."
However this time to Raven's surprise it was Summer who laughed.
"If you think I trust that old man much less let him put his hooks in me then you don't know me as well as you claim."
"What?"
"You heard me. I don't trust Ozpin intrust him about as far as I can throw him and believe me when I say it's not very far."
"Then why even work with him."
"I'm only working with him out of necessity, nothing more."
Although Raven wasn't showing it she was relieved. Relieved that this version of Summer had a decent head on her shoulders even if her memory was gone.
'Why couldn't you have been like this earlier? If you had then maybe…'
Raven recalled in her memories when Summer had gone to go fight Salem and she simply brought her there but when she saw Salem constantly come back from Summer's attacks she began to know it was a lost cause. Not to mention she still remembers Summer's death like it happened yesterday.
"You good Raven? You've been quiet for a while?"
"Fine. Just thinking that's all."
"I see."
Raven shook her head and attempted to steer the conversation back on track.
"So this Overlord character and his Grimm card players. What do they want?"
Summer scratched her head.
"That's the weird part. I don't know. All I do know is that their so-called "Overlord" is gathering duel monster cards but I can't guess his purpose or his intent. Aggg! This is irritating!"
"Tell me about it."
Summer then slightly fixed her posture before facing Raven.
"Now I get to ask."
"Ask away Summer."
"How close were we when I was alive?"
Raven froze up and Vernal, who was still in the tent, looked nervously at her adoptive mother before deciding to leave the tent entirely, making Summer question why but she was too curious about her past with Raven to question it.
"When we first met at Beacon I couldn't stand you. To me, you were a naive kid with dreams too big and unrealistic for the world."
"So what changed from then till now?"
Raven sighed before she kept talking.
"As our years together went on as Team STRQ I noticed a shift in the dynamic and more importantly no matter how much shit I gave you or even when I ignored you you never gave up on me. I guess that combined with that stupidly thick head of yours and at times stomach-wrenching optimism made me respect you."
Summer smiled at this then walked over to Raven and engulfed the bandit in a hug and surprisingly Raven wasn't pulling away.
"What's this for?"
"And here I thought you were perceptive."
"Just tell me before I push you off."
Summer smirked.
"It's thanks for being someone I could count on in my past life."
"W-Well don't look too much into it. The last thing I need is people believing that you made me turn soft."
Summer then noticed the deck box glowing again except it wasn't from Quasar so she released her hug then reached into the deck box and she pulled out the source of the glowing; Blackwing Full Armor Master.
"Since I know you're someone I could trust and I believe I can still trust now. I'm entrusting this with you."
Summer then handed Full Armor Master to Raven to the bandits' confusion as she looked the card over as it was still glowing.
"Why is it glowing?"
"The same reason Quasar glows with me. It means either one of the Grimm is around or someone has magic and considering that those Grimm aren't around well…"
Summer looked at Raven knowingly but surprisingly didn't press her.
"Relax. If you don't wanna tell me now that's fine but you will tell me eventually."
"*sigh* Fine but what does that have to do with you giving me this card?"
"Oh, that's simple. Full Armor Master wants you to be its duelist."
"What?"
"Yeah."
"How'd you come to that conclusion?"
"Cause it told me duh."
Raven looked at Summer like she was crazy.
"Oh come on. You believe some immortal Grimm witch and magic exists but not this?"
She points to Full Armor Master who was still glowing as Raven sighed a second time as she considered everything Summer had told her as well as everything she had seen during that card game with the Grimm calling itself Ranni.
"I suppose it's not too far-fetched. So you said that this Full Armor Master wants me to be its duelist right."
"Yup."
"What if I wanna say no?"
"Nope."
"But-"
"Nope. Once it picks you that's a bond you can't break or remove after all it shows the monster trusts you."
Raven smiled for exactly three seconds as this was similar to her and Summer's talks during her Beacon days before she returned to her normal semi-stoic features.
"So…how exactly do I get a deck like yours? After all, there's no place on Remnant where I can just buy the cards from."
"Oh yeah. See this is the fun part, Raven."
"Oh yeah? Enlighten me Sum."
"Simple. Touch the card then pour your aura into the card then navigate the rest."
"That is incredibly vague and unhelpful."
"That's what I did when I first got Stardust. Trust me. I wouldn't lead you astray."
Raven looked into Summer's silver eyes and knew she was telling the truth.
"*SIGH* Fine. I'll do it your way."
Summer smiled big.
"Great! Welp, I'll leave ya to it. After all, it's not my place to get involved with the creation of someone else's deck."
With that Summer left the tent leaving Raven by herself with Omen off to the side, a now empty teacup, and BlackWing Full Armor Master on the table.
'Let's see here. According to Summer I just touch this card, put my aura into it then work out the rest. Well in for a penny, I guess.'
Raven then followed Summer's instructions as she was blinded by a silver flash and black feathers until her vision went black.
MINDSCAPE
Raven woke up albeit a bit groggy as she looked around she saw her surroundings were gone and instead replaced with a multitude of colors to her confusion.
"What the hell is going on?"
"THAT'S THE QUESTION ISN'T IT?"
Raven turned around only to stare in shock as standing before her was Blackwing Full Armor Master in all his glory with a sword in one hand and his gun in the other.
"HELLO RAVEN TO MEET YOU. WHY DON'T YOU AND I SIT?"
"Why?"
"SIMPLE. YOU AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A DISCUSSION."
A/N: Hey I'm back. I apologize for the long wait but here's chapter 7 of Twin Roses and just letting you all know that now there's gonna mainly story-driven chapters so not many duels but there will be one or two. Until next time. See ya and believe in the Heart of the Cards!