Chapter 10
...I Took It From My Lord
Ultra-Violence ahead.
While the storm had abided slightly, it still poured rain in the bucketloads, just without the consistent thunder and lightning.
The building that Clover and herself stood inside creaked in the wind and under the weight of the rain. Droplets trickled through cracks and landed on the floor with a splash. Wood half rotten or eaten by insects, and the way one of the pillars bounced around in its hold made her question its stability and overall structural integrity. Though she was no Son of Dorn, so it could just be a decorative pillar for all she knew.
The building sat halfway or so up the mountain and a wooden platform accessible via lots, and lots, and lots of stairs. There was bound to be other ways up, but stairs were everywhere and the main routes would be watched by who knows who. The wooden platform that held the building creaked in the wind and weight of the rain, a few times a creak would turn into a snap as something gave out.
Alexea flexed her fingers on the grips of her Bolter and slowly shuffled her feet, her eyes never leaving the informant; a relatively chubby, pale-skinned woman with light blonde hair. Barely out of her late twenties if her appearance was enough to go by.
"-houses thirteen and fifteen are known locations but that's about it," the woman's voice was a medium pitch and held a superiority about it,
"That's it?" a stark contrast to Clover's patient tone,
The woman sighed, "look, their pull in this shithole is more than mine, if your military is planning on getting rid of 'em, you'd be better off carpet bombing this place with no survivors,"
Alexea's eyes narrowed. They're that interwoven here?
Clover crossed his arms, "Atlas has no plans to destroy civilians, mam,"
The woman snorted, "Civilians? That implies everyone here is innocent; just about everyone here has blood on their hands, burning it to the ground solves more issues than it creates,"
"We aren't here for that, just numbers and that's it,"
The light's flickered as a rumble tore through the city. Alexea slowly faced the door with her brows furrowed and Bolter raised at the persistent creaking of the building.
A sigh came from Clover, "can you tell us anything about the leader here?"
"Other than he's a deranged man who left a week ago, no."
"His stand-in?"
"A woman, light brown hair and black vein tattoos on tanned skin, just as deranged as the man,"
Another rumble and the lights went out, a couple could be heard bursting down the hall outside the room they stood inside. Alexea pulled the receiver back at the sound of a floorboard directly on the other side of the door creak.
The woman continued regardless of the lights going out, "As for numbers, I can't say exactly, between fifty to a hundred. Maybe more."
Clover's hands came to rest on his hips, "How exactly is the woman deranged, have you got a name?"
The woman's tone became impatient, "self-mutilation to either resemble Grimm or she likes the pain, and increasingly violent from what my contacts have said. No name. never gives out a name." she folded her arms over her chest, "and I've lost contac-"
The door in front of Alexea splintered as a projectile tore through it; the projectile itself ricocheted harmlessly off her armour into a wall.
In response, the barrel of her Bolter levelled at where the shot had come from and the room lit yellow in colour as a deafening bang was discharged from the Bolters barrel.
In milliseconds, the thrusters on the Bolt ignited once it left the barrel and sped through the door, completely destroying it to reveal its victim on the other side. Moments later, the left ribcage and shoulder were blown off in a shower of blood, bone and muscle. The corpse fell in a pile of limbs on its side and its own gore as organs seeped out the new hole, the left arm and head hanging on by a tendon and a bit of muscle.
Three more people wore a black undersuit with varying coloured armour pieces and stood shocked at the sudden obliteration.
The first recovered and lifted a sword to strike at her, but they were met with the Bolter being slammed across their face. A distinctive snap was heard over the rain and creaking of the building as their cheek and jaw broke, levelling them to the floor in agony.
The next person barely registered the first going down by the time Alexea had a hold on the back of their head and twisted with her full body weight in force. The beginnings of a feminine screech were cut off with a series of loud cracks that rendered her lifeless, but spasming as the body was dropped carelessly to the floor.
Alexea turned to the final one, the body shape suggesting a male, who fought through what she knew was dysphoria of almost intolerable degrees. His breathing was rough and pained, stance slowly becoming non-existent.
The man charged with what she supposed was meant to be a warcry, but it came out as a scream and she side-stepped it and grappled him to the floor. Within a second his face was violently smashed into the floor with a wet crunch and the hand that held a large combat knife was snapped at the wrist. Bone jutted out and cut arteries spewing red.
The man's pained screams were cut off as his combat knife was embedded into the back of his neck, through his spine and pinning him to the wooden floor.
The first continued to groan painfully as he struggled to his feet, sword in hand. He struggled to remove said hand from her sudden grip; she twisted the hand as hard and as fast as she could, destroying all ligaments and muscle that attached it to his arm, then pulled. Tearing resounded as loud as his blood-curdling screams through the alley as his hand, and his sword along with it was removed.
He fell to his knees as shock settled in.
Metal met flesh as her sabaton encased foot slammed into his skull, knocking him on back and side with a bleeding indent above his temple. His eyes were hazed and one unaligned with where he was trying to look, a slur predominant in his speech,
"Plee-sh…" he choked out, "don-"
The back of his skull cracked against the floor, the bridge of his nose and forehead collapsed inward as the heel of her sabaton was brought down with full force.
She peeled the severed hand off the hilt of the sword and let it fall carelessly. She took the Bolter in her right hand and the sword in her left and gave it a testing twirl. Finding it of a satisfactory standard, she turned to where Clover and the informant should have been but found only Clover staring in shock at her with two similarly dressed people knocked out on the floor, tied up in thin wire.
She looked around the room to find the only window broken outwards. She jerked her head at Clover then at the window, "you take care of these guys!"
She gave a sharp nod and spun on her heel and amplified her Null field, ignoring the groan from Clover as she bolted through the window. Her steps echoed off the wooden building as she stalked through the halls.
The darkness paid some benefit for the attackers, their undersuits blended into the shadows enough to ambush her.
One jumped on the front of her and she rammed her forehead into their own, when they didn't release their grip she repeated it over and over again, ignoring the pain building in her own skull. Eventually, her arms were released and she swiped their legs causing them to crumple to the floor face-up where her heel met their neck, crushing their windpipe before driving the sword through their chest.
The others attempted to dogpile her and she swung the sword horizontally, bisecting one and bounced off the second when their skin flashed with light green energy. With no secondary thoughts, she fired a bolt into their chest, turning them into a confetti of gore that painted the hall while she ramped the Null field to its highest knowing no allies or civilians were in range.
A half a dozen or so footsteps bounded down the hall, so she stepped back into a room and silently closed the door. The steps slowed once they passed the rough ten-meter point. In a matter of seconds, their minds collapsed.
Swinging open the door, bolter raised, she found more of the same styled people leaning against the wall, on their hands and knees vomiting up everything from their food to fecal matter or frenziedly tearing at their eyes while screaming at the top of their lungs. She watched indifferently as one of the Cultists smashed their teeth in with the barrel of a gun, then promptly painted the walls with a grey matter with the squeeze of the trigger.
Another group came from the opposite end of the hall, under a single flickering light, and froze when the power came back on, revealing the carnage of blood, vomit, shit and a myriad of other bodily fluids coated the floor, bottom of the walls and the dozen corpses. A single, armoured woman standing at the centre.
Alexea faced them and embedded the sword in the floor with a single swing and aimed the Bolter down at them and fired, all in the span of a second. If they screamed for whatever reason, it was not heard over the ear ruining reports of the Bolter.
The building fell into near-silence when she relaxed her finger off the trigger, the only sound from a couple of groaning survivors. Alexea grabbed a hold of the hilt of the sword as marched over, the sword ripped out of the floor with a sharp tug.
Her sabatons squelched in the offal, viscera and liquids from the corpses lining the hall but she paid it no mind as the first 'survivor' was found.
The entire top right half of their head was missing, leaving the pulsing grey remnants of the brain open to the air, the deflated remains of the right eye hanging loose over their collapsed cheek. Every odd second a limb twitched, whether it be the mangled right arm or the bloodied stump of a leg, it twitched. When it did, the person let out a combination of a moan and choke.
The only functioning eye twitched in Alexea's direction, the pupil dilating and failing to focus. Alexea herself watched in fascination for a moment as tears slowly leaked out and hard, gurgling breaths racked the person's chest. The person was crying.
Whether it was from imminent death or some other series of emotions, she would never know nor care to know. They tried to kill her. She responded in kind.
Purple energy shimmered over their skin in blotches, even the brain lit up with it, in an attempt to do something. But the way it was focusing on the wounds, she would guess some type of repair field. Interesting...
It was failing, evident as the remaining eye rolled back and the entire body shook violently, grey matter falling through the hole in the skull as sucking and gurgling reverberated from the chest.
The Silent Sister turned away, letting the person die slowly, to the sounds of the final survivor mumbling and groaning, their hands tearing at where their eyes once were, bloodied and worn to the bone. They seemingly ignorant of their organs spilling out where their waist should be, "go'a… moun'ain….geh… gl'n...ge'oh…moun-" they broke off into painful giggles as what was left of their mind fell apart.
"Oh, Gods!"
The Bolter snapped to the other end of the hall, her eyes following after to find a ghostly pale and wet Clover. He stumbled back and hastily faced around the corner dry heaving until everything in his stomach came up.
Alexea shoved the sword through the heads of the two vegetative 'survivors' and relaxed the Null as she made her way down to the vomiting Clover. With each wet squelch, the man heaved more.
Shame, she sarcastically thought, for a soldier, he's rather weak-stomached.
She reached him and dragged him by the collar of his shirt away from the carnage, apathetic if he spewed over her. No use having him throw up every time I ask a question.
A few meters down the new hall, she propped Clover against the wall and slapped him, the resounding smack leaving him silent for a moment while she pulled out her scroll and typed out something. She shoved the blue screen in his face, "where's the informant?"
Clover rubbed his red cheek and cautiously pushed the Scroll away, "she was on her way to make it out to another Kingdom, said that if they knew of the meeting she wasn't safe here anymore," his eyes flicked in the direction of the carnage, "what- what happened?"
A silent breath through her nose, "they died."
"Obviously!" his green eyes wide, "I just wanna know why they died like that!"
"How I was trained. They were a threat, they died. End of story. We need to leave in case more turn up and to plan what to do next."
Clover reluctantly nodded, "alright, fine. We'll work out what to do next,"
The two of them made their way through the increasingly heavy rain down to where they were staying. Taking only alleyways and obscure routes at random in case they were being followed. The darkness and relatively thick rain hid them from sight.
The platform they were on shook as a large explosion detonated from behind them, nearly flooring the two with how the platform rocked. Lights in the surrounding buildings flickered, some going out permanently and the odd snap could be heard as the supports strained and buckled.
Looking back, they found the platform they had the meeting on barely standing, fires raging against the downpour of rain. One of the larger support beams slowly tilted to the side while gravity took hold, the beam sped up until it fell out of sight with the sound of wood snapping and collapsing echoing as much as it could in the rain.
"Do you have anything important in the hotel?"
Alexea glanced at Clover and shook her head. He grimly nodded to himself, "good, we're not going back. I need to call the General,"
She followed him to a covered alleyway, a thin, tightly packed space with a large dumpster that provided less than a meter worth of wriggle room. They went to the other side of it, her armour scraping the dumpster and wall, but ultimately fit. As Clover dialled Ironwood, she began to type out what the last person was mumbling, in case it was of importance.
Clover and the General spoke for a few moments, informing each other what was happening before she shoved her scroll into his face again. Clover read it a couple of times, mumbling what was written out then swore under his breath,
"Has anything been happening up at Mountain Glenn, Sir?" he asked his Scroll,
Whatever the response was, it was enough to cause him to frown, "yes, Sir, we'll meet with Branwen and Goodwitch upon arrival." the two said their goodbye's and he faced her, "apparently there's something going down at Mountain Glenn, so we're abandoning this place till we have a better plan, cause that," he gestured in the general direction of the remnants of the meeting place, "means two people are too little to take this on,"
Not entirely wrong, the two of them were far too little and while she was confident in her abilities, there was nowhere near enough support in the immediate vicinity if things went wrong. And it was getting close to going wrong…
"A hit squad is one thing, detonating the building is another."
Clover hummed in agreement, "if they have the balls to do something so open, they're either stupid or know they can get away with it…"
"Or a message."
Clover's eyes flicked up to Alexea, "what do you mean?"
"They knew of the meeting, attacked expecting to win and then blew up the building either as a tantrum or as a warning or a declaration of something to us."
"Maybe," Clover sighed and rubbed his face, "we'll contact General Ironwood en route to 'Glenn,"
"And how are we doing that?" the man could feel the sass off of the words,
He poked his head around the dumpster to see shadows of people running past the alley to the burning platform. If they were cultists, he couldn't tell through the rain, "we'll be taking the long way down to where we were dropped off, Ironwood has a Bullhead coming from Argus that'll meet us up with a Centurion,"
"What's happening at 'Glenn'?"
"I wasn't told much, but the General has a battleship on its way, so it's not good,"
If a 'Centurion' is one of the large silver airships… oh how she wished for a Valkyrie, even a fleet right about now, just turn this place into dust…
They snaked past the dumpster and out of the alley where they stuck to the shadows and avoided the street lights. As they slowly made their way down a set of decaying stairs, she could hear Clover wonder aloud if something would go right.
Only a dozen more platforms to go…
Celestine laid awake with her eyes closed and back to the window, the orange sun rays casting her bareback, shoulders, neck and wings in a soft glow. At the decent temperature, the sun was at the moment, the cast of warmth was relaxing and welcome on her skin like a blanket. A nice reminder that her armour was not as necessary here.
It was bound to get too hot eventually, but taking advantage of the sun now was decent enough for her.
She let out a content sight. A pair of arms tightened around her lower rib cage and Emerald pressed her forehead into her sternum, the girl's soft, shallow breaths warming her skin.
An odd sensation, it was. Damp and warm while being somewhat dry, not the most comfortable sensation or an entirely welcome one either. But the girl was comfortable and clearly liked being close, even when she was asleep it was obvious. A less content sigh left her; if the girl was comfortable, she would deal for now. It wouldn't kill her.
The girl deserves some comfort, if letting her be like this was it, the Saint would gladly give it. It is all I can really do...
Training and words were one thing, but this? This wasn't something she knew how to properly handle. It wasn't a thing she needed to know throughout her life like sermons and group prayers were. Two things Emerald has not shown interest in.
Words were a help, but they had only been reassurances for what she thought was a small issue of worry over finances.
After last night, she knew it was more than that.
Hot anger seeped into her heart.
The start of the plan was still in place; kill them. She knew not the specifics of what had been done to the girl, just that it was bad enough to cause bounds of damage. But...other than that, there wasn't much else to it. How to track them or anything else would have to be thought of as she went. Tracking wasn't a speciality of hers, it could be done, but not as effective as some could do.
Emerald squirmed under Celestine's hold and the girl's breathing grew heavier, slowly waking. Celestine removed her arms from around her as she felt Emerald's eyelashes flicker open against her skin.
A sudden force hit Celestine's stomach and left breast hard while Emerald shot away to the opposite side of the bed, almost falling off in her fright. The sudden hits in her unprepared state causing the Saint to jolt in slight pain.
Emerald froze as what she had done settled in, "I-"
Celestine cast her a crooked smile as she rubbed the sore spots and lightly chuckled, "Well, we are now truly even for yesterday morning,"
"I'm sorry," the girl uttered,
"It is fine,"
"I'm sorry,"
"Emerald-"
"Please don't hate me," Emerald pleaded in a shaky voice,
Celestine's voice grew firmer, "Emerald," the girl froze halfway through beginning to speak. Celestine softened her voice, "do not worry about it, we're even now,"
They settled into stagnant air, either too caught up in their minds to speak. Emerald sat near the edge of the bed opposite Celestine while the Saint continued to lay. It became quickly clear to Celestine that the girl was trapped in her mind again, her gaze an empty one that stared through the mattress.
Do...do I distract her? The answer came not even a second later, yes.
"For half-awake hits, they were decent ones," she spoke as she sat up, "with more practice they would be better ones,"
Emerald's eyes flicked to her face and no lower, her cheeks darkened as she fidgeted, "I'm sorry,"
Celestine took note of her fidgeting and crossed her arms over her chest, "don't be, they were good punches," Emerald didn't seem to budge out of her mindset, so she took a different approach she's seen Sororitas take, "hit me again, I want to see how hard you hit, Emerald,"
Red eyes widened, "what?"
Celestine shrugged, "I was going to test your punches eventually, so hit me as hard as you can anywhere,"
Emerald looked to her hands and back to the Saint, "do-do I have to?"
Celestine's brows rose, "you're going to do this eventually, so yes,"
Emerald looked down at her hands again, her right hand clenched into a fist. She got to her knees and made her way in front of Celestine, "are you sure?"
The Saint cast an amused look, "yes, if I wasn't, I wouldn't have asked,"
The girl nodded and drew her right arm back. It flung forward as fast as she could get it to go at the Saint's chest, but instead of feeling an impact, she found herself face first in the mattress.
She flipped over and stared at Celestine confusedly.
"Try again," a competitive smirk wormed its way onto Celestine's lips,
Emerald tried again but felt one hand deflect her punch and another push her onto her back. She looked to Celestine sitting there with her arms still folded over her chest, a smug smirk on her face, "again, but straighten your arms,"
Her brows furrowed. She attempted again, this time trying to use her left hand to prevent a deflection but still was tossed aside.
"Again,"
She tried from the side but was not only blocked by a wing but tossed to her back by it as well, "that's unfair!"
"Again~" Celestine sang to her, ignoring the protest,
She growled in frustration at being ignored and tried again, using a faint right hook then a sudden swing of her left. While it didn't hit and was caught mid-swing, the impact boosted her a little.
"Better, but no hit. Use your body weight. Again,"
Her teeth grit and threw a new swing with her left and an undercut with her right, both messily done, her left was caught but her right jabbed into Celestine's abdomen. She pulled her arm back to take another hit but was flung away.
She looked up to find the Saint looking down at and rubbing where she was hit. Celestine felt Emerald's eyes on her and sent a vicious smirk her way, "you're strong and learning fast," Celestine held her arms up in a defensive stance, "again,"
Emerald threw herself at Celestine but was picked up and body slammed into the mattress hard enough for her to bounce back into the air.
She fainted an undercut with her left and threw a right hook only to be whacked away by a wing.
A right and then left. Both caught and she was shoved back.
She then tried tackling Celestine but had her shoulder grabbed and her lower body swept out from under her.
It was then, as she lay panting and staring up at Celestine in frustration and anger at being denied her hits, that an idea formed.
She got to her knees again and assumed an attack stance, eyes narrowing at Celestine's head.
But Celestine slowly turned to her left defensively, as if she were tracking something or someone. Emerald kept her concentration on Celestine's head as she slowly moved forward as quietly as possible. Once she was as close as she could get, she wound up her left arm and fist then shot it forward in a hard jab.
Her fist hit Celestine's right cheek and toppled her over and off the bed with a thump and in a tangle of limbs and wings. Her only part still on the bed being the bottom half of her right leg before it bent at the knee to follow down to the rest of the Saint.
Emerald stared at her left fist in shock for a moment before crawling over to the edge and stared down at now belly laughing Celestine. The woman held one arm over her stomach, clutching her side and the other held a closed fist up to her chin as her body jolted with each rapid and loud laugh.
The sound alone enough to place a grin on a wobbling Emerald.
"Here I am," Celestine started between a bout of laughter, "a five thousand or so year old warrior chosen by my God-Emperor," her laughter died to an almost musical chuckle and took a breath, "to fight threats that even Astartes struggle with, not only blindsided but decked by a nine-year-old off a bed!"
Celestine's electric blue eyes sparkled with joy, "you lean fast and hit faster, Emerald. With time, I think you would be formidable in a fight,"
Emerald lent forward wide-eyed, "rea-" her hands slipped after a wobble and she toppled forward faster than she could react, face planting into Celestine's stomach. The Saint's snicker quickly morphed back into laughter, soon joined by Emerald herself softly giggling embarrassedly into Celestine's stomach.
Their laughs slowly died down over a few minutes leaving Emerald's cheeks flushed and an embarrassed grin on her face while Celestine was flushed from her cheeks to her chest from exertion. Celestine propped herself up on her left elbow and used her legs to position herself parallel to the side of the bed.
Emerald watched in fascination as the Saint's wings came up like walls on either side of the two of them. One of her hands reached out to the right-wing and carefully touched the pristine white feathers with the tips of her fingers, childlike wonder sparkling in her red orbs at the contrast of her dark skin compared to almost glowing white.
Celestine brought a hand up to the girl's hair and combed it slowly and rhythmically to a gentle hum with her fingers. The girl's body relaxed, eyes fluttering closed under the combined vibrations from the humming and gentle strokes of her hair as she lent into Celestine's palm. The fingers continued with soft scratches to her scalp while the hums slowly changed to hold a slow, musical rhythm but also imperfections that came from improvisation.
Emerald's arm slowly dropped from touching the feathers to rest over the side of where she lay on the Saint. Her body slowly tensed and her eyes peeled open, now missing a spark they had minutes earlier, but that didn't stop Celestine from continuing her attempt at comforting the girl for a few minutes longer. I can spare an hour if need be.
Celestine dropped her smile a little and made her voice soft, "are you feeling better after yesterday?"
Emerald's eyes seemed to empty a little more, "y-yes but… I don't wanna talk about it…"
Celestine's own smile died a little at the obvious lie of being fine, "in your own time, Emerald. I'll be here,"
Emerald closed her eyes and let out a content breath at the massage. The Saint laid content with their current position, thanks to the fact that her plan had worked. It may have been a 'false' win for the girl, she was always going to with their little fight, but the sudden deception truly did catch her off guard and it really did amuse her that she fell for it. It was a nice way to learn a lesson for once. That Semblance is a dangerous one, if there are any others like it out there I will need to keep my mind guarded.
"And that would be a problem," Celestine shot up at the voice in her mind, startling Emerald, "I assume you're in the large building?"
Celestine absentmindedly apologised to Emerald as she quickly got to her feet and parted the curtains and lifted the window. Hot air blasted her face as she stuck her head out to the street below and her brows shot up, "Katarinya?"
A brown eye and a green lensed bionic eye starred up from under a worn, wide-brimmed hat, familiar armour glinting in the sun. Greyfaxs' scared face was just as sharp as her voice, "what room?"
"Twelve, second floor,"
Before Celestine had finished her reply, Katarinya had already started marching towards the entrance of the hotel, leaving the Saint to pull her head back through the window and close it and the curtains.
Celestine turned to Emerald who now sat on the edge of the bed, flapping the hem of her shirt in an attempt to cool herself off with an open scowl at the winged woman, and rested her rear on the edge of the table, "I'm sorry, someone who I thought I honestly would never see again is on her way up,"
Emeralds eyes flicked down from the Saint's face for a moment, her cheeks darkened to match her mood, "I didn' hear anything,"
"You would not have," Celestine focused on Emerald's presence, "she spoke to me like this,"
The girl's scowl vanished as her mouth dropped open, "but- isn't your zappy thing your Semblance?"
Celestine pushed herself off the table with her hands at the sound of heavy steps coming down the hall, she gave Emerald a lopsided smirk, "the Emperor gave me more than a singular ability,"
Whatever Emerald was going to say was cut off when the room's door swung heavily open and thunked closed behind the Inquisitor,
"Katarinya?"
The brown eye-rolled, "no, a Traitor Astartes,"
"With an attitude like that, I would not be surprised,"
Katarinya's brows flattened as much as her voice, "I assure can you, I'm worse,"
Celestine rolled her eyes and stretched her back, cracking it, "I am not so sure about that, Katarinya,"
"Inquisitor or Greyfax,"
"Yes, Katarinya," the smirk audible in Celestine's voice, while the annoyance could be heard like a grenade in Katarinya's,
"I have traversed over hundreds of sand dunes to get here, do not waste my time, witch,"
The Saint's brows rose at the tone and Emerald concentrating on Greyfaxs' head, "you are the one standing there, not me,"
"And you're the one half-naked in a hotel, and whatever you're trying to do, stop it, child," she spoke without turning yet her eye narrowed. Emerald slowly backed away from the newcomer like she was stuck in slow motion or an animal attempting to not startle its hunter.
Greyfax continued talking to Celestine, "so, why have you got a child? And a Psyker one at that?"
Celestine glanced to the scared Emerald then faced Greyfax, "No one was protecting her, so I chose to,"
Greyfax crossed her arms and lifted a brow, "protect? Has anyone told you that you follow your emotions too closely?"
The Saint hung her head to the side and flattened her eyes at the Inquisitor, "yes, she's five and a half feet tall and standing in front of me,"
Katarinya ignored the comment, "I've spent nearly four days traversing sand and forest trying to find you using only your Psychic presence as a beacon, Saint," disdain seeping over the title, "I'm personally amazed the unsanctioned Psykers of this world aren't worshipping you yet,"
A single brow lowered as Celestine crossed her arms, "I do not believe they use the warp, Katarinya," she paced past the Inquisitor to the bathroom, "or if they do, it is not on the level we use it,"
Greyfax wandered up to the table, taking note of the armour, Ardent Blade, revolver and stack of books varying in topic and thickness. She picked up the top book, a book revolving around this world's sanctioned Psykers known as Hunters, and flicked through the pages, "and how would you know that?"
Celestine exited the bathroom adjusting the Fibro Layer and briefly rubbing the front of it clean with a dirty towel, then gestured to Emerald, "she has demonstrated her Semblance on me yesterday, I felt none of the pull of Warp powers associated with Psykers," she tossed the towel lazily into the bathroom, "and she was incapable of using it on yourself just then and you showed no ill effects from guarding against it,"
Katarinya paused her flicking of the pages and looked over her shoulder to Emerald and then Celestine, "What exactly is her… Semblance?"
The Saint sat near Emerald on the bed, "I am not entirely sure, illusions of some kind,"
"And what did you see when the girl used it on you?" the Inquisitor now facing the two on the bed,
Celestine shuffled closer to the girl who consistently stared at Greyfax with fear, "myself. It was an almost perfect image of myself, only small details on my armour were incorrect or missing,"
Greyfax's stony gaze settled on the mint haired girl and with two large steps, she was in front of her. Emerald lent back away.
A hand settled on Emerald's shoulder, she looked to her right and caught the soft expression on Celestine as she spoke, "Katarinya will not hurt you, Emerald,"
Though it was spoken as a fact to the girl, Celestine knew Greyfax caught onto the demand it really was. Katarinya in response stepped up to the edge of the bed just to Celestine's left and bent over, her fisted hands digging into the mattress as support. Her single brown eye boring into Emerald's red while her face was just close enough that the green light from her argumentation cast a gentle green glow on the girl's face.
Emerald lent back further from the scarred face of the Inquisitor, casting a nervous and frightened look to Celestine who watched whatever Katarinya was doing carefully.
"What were you doing just then?" the Inquisitor's voice was sharp and clear,
Emerald cast another nervous glance to Celestine who gave a reassuring smile, "you can tell her, she will just find out one way or another,"
Emerald hesitated in her nod but looked back to Katarinya, "I- I was trying to cast an I-Illusion on you… so you wouldn't see me…"
"I already saw you when I walked in, I knew you were here already. Why try and hide?"
The girl gulped, "you're- you're scary,"
Greyfax's eye narrowed, "the Warp. Do you know of it?"
"N-no."
The Inquisitor stayed silent for a few more seconds, her eye staring through Emerald's and staying as hard as steel. She slowly stood after finding whatever she was looking for, releasing Emerald from the unwanted staring match with the woman.
Once Greyfax was away from her, she crawled over to Celestine and huddled up under the Saint's left arm, surprising Katarinya with how close she got to the Saint and how Celestine put her arm around the girl's shoulders and pulled her into her side.
"If you are here, that means there's a fleet in orbit?" a tilt of hope in the Saint's voice,
Greyfax lent on the table with a creak, "no, the fleet I was with had an infested Space Hulk decimate it before the Warp spat me out here,"
"Oh," she glanced at Emerald then back to Katarinya, "were any others brought here?"
Greyfax tossed the book onto the table, "not that I'm aware of, the last person I saw was a Sister of Silence amongst Primaris reinforcements," her arms folded over her chest, "she and the Lamenters may be here, but I don't know for certain,"
The Inquisitor's gaze snapped to Emerald, "the Lamenters are an Astartes chapter, child," her brows furrowed and she turned back to Celestine, "this world is completely separate from the Imperium isn't it?"
The Saint nodded slowly, "I have had suspicions, why?"
Katarinya gestured to Emerald who was now hiding behind Celestine, "the girl's thoughts, she didn't know of the Astartes; even her reaction the mention of the Imperium garnered confusion from her,"
A discontent sigh left Celestine's lips, "no one has shown any knowledge of the Emperor or even interest in Him,"
"So, it's separate...what do we do now?"
Celestine perked up a little and placed a calming hand on a jittery Emerald's knee, "I have two tasks I was going to set about," Greyfax cocked an eyebrow, "a hunt of sorts and make way to the Kingdom of Atlas,"
"How many of these 'Kingdoms' are there?"
"Four, Vale, Atlas, Mistral and the one you waded through, Vacuo,"
Greyfax stood a touch taller, "why Atlas?"
Celestine pulled Emerald closer, "it's the only Kingdom with a standing military and I trust that more than a militia of Psyker-like beings,"
"And the hunting task?"
Celestine went to answer but stopped, a devious smile etching onto her face instead, "you can help with that, Katarinya,"
the Inquisitor's eye narrowed, "Is that a demand?"
Celestine shone a smile while her eyes held mirth, "A rather blatant one, yes,"
Greyfax eyed Celestine, her mind ticking over the potential outcomes of what each of her answers would be. Finding no reason to deny the demand other than pride, she nodded, "fine-" Celestine's smile grew wider- "do you know where to start?"
"I have an idea or two, but first I want to speak with Emerald," Greyfax didn't move, "alone, please, Katarinya,"
After a moment's hesitation, Greyfax marched around the bed, eyeing Emerald, "I will be in the hall,"
The door clicked shut heavily, leaving the two alone. We better be alone…
Celestine waited a few seconds for a response but never received one and looked down to Emerald who was pressing her side into Celestine, "w-who is she?"
Celestine lent on her right hand, "Katarinya is...a friend, she won't hurt you,"
Emerald's stayed upright, "but she's scary…"
"She's an Inquisitor, it's her rightful place to be as terrifying as she sees fit," Celestine chuckled lowly, "though she can be a bit rude sometimes,"
Emerald stayed silent so Celestine took it as her cue to get into her armour as quickly as possible, "I have some things to do today, you're welcome to join,"
Emerald bent to the side and looked at the window behind the Saint then straightened up to make a show of fiddling uncomfortably with her shirt as if it were sticking to her. The sweat stains slowly growing around the neck and armpits of the shirt suggested it wasn't a lie.
Celestine's armour clunked slightly as she continued the process, "I can fold the shirt if you like?" Emerald let a questioning hum out so the Saint elaborated, "you wanted a chest wrap yesterday, I can fold it into a makeshift one if you want,"
Emerald froze stiff for a second, Celestine made to say it wasn't necessary but Emerald began to peel the shirt off. Once the shirt was off she held it out to Celestine who took it gently and folded it quickly, "turn around and arms up,"
The girl complied hesitantly and stiffened as the shirt was wrapped around her chest. Celestine tapped her on her shoulder gently, "done,"
Emerald looked down and adjusted it slightly then tried to bundle her hair up with no success.
"Do you want a haircut?" she heard Celestine's voice from behind her,
Emerald nodded, "Yeah, it's long and annoyingly hot,"
"How short?"
The girl gave a distracted shrug, "I dunno...chin length?"
She jolted slightly at Celestine's touch of her hair, "so, about here on both sides?"
Emerald looked out of the corner of her eyes and found the measurement to be acceptable, "yeah, but it'll cos-"
The sound of metal being pulled out of something cut her off and the hand that held her hair lifted it, shiny metal taking its place, "don't move," a cold sweat broke out.
With a quick movement the metal removed her hair, a split second later the other side was measured and removed, then the hair at the back of her head. She was spun around gently and caught her reflection in the Ardent Blade as it sized up how much of her fringe to remove. A moment later, her fringe was shorter.
"And there's a free haircut," Celestine spoke as she sheathed the Ardent Blade while she moved to the bin in the bathroom to dump the clump of mint coloured hair, "even if it cost something, I wouldn't mind paying,"
Emerald frowned at the Saint who returned it with an impossibly bright smile with the hamper under her arm,
"Now, I have to go out, are you coming or not?" Celestine got a shake of her head, "alright then, that routine we did yesterday, that is what you will be doing then,"
Emerald groaned, "alright,"
Celestine narrowed her eyes as she stepped in front of her, "I'm trusting you to do this for your sake, Emerald. The more physically fit you are, the better training I can give you," a new motivation came to mind, "see if you can outdo yourself in how much you can do each time to do this routine, the more you beat your own record, the better. That's how I used to work out,"
Emerald seemed reluctant at accepting the self-imposed challenge but gave a nod as she slid to her feet, "okay, Celestine,"
The Saint gave a gentle pat on Emerald's head then made her way to the door, "I may be coming and going throughout the day, I left the Scroll and your revolver on the desk,"
Emerald's new short hair bounced vibrantly with her nod and waited until she was sure Celestine was gone before she dared to let out a small, shaky breath as her mind waged a war with itself.
A/N:
I'm not that happy with the first part, I think that's because I created Alexea on a whim and created something to have for the sake of having without actually thinking about what needs to be done. I won't be dropping the Wind Path bit entirely, just until, as Clover said, a plan is cohesively made. That and she has no personality, just slight sass, silent, willing to kill. I hope I can change that, I really hope I can.
But it does set up a bit more and cement her as a force to be reckoned with among other things...
Overall, a meh from me; could be far better, but could be far far worse.
Notice how the longer Celestine and Emerald talk for, the more contractions Celestine uses until she's using them regularly, and that Emerald is now using Celestine's name? And that Celestine only freely uses contractions with Emerald and occasionally with Greyfax? It felt a bit messy though, I'm not sure about it, it seemed nice in theory...
Purposely teeth rottenly sweet moments to make up for the last chapters depression filled angst, though Emerald is still far from okay.
I forgot to mention it last chapter, but there's a reason why I left the type of abuse vague: to create a middle ground where it's vague enough so nothing is confirmed, freeing me from straying too close to sensitive subjects I have no right to dip into, but definitive enough that you can all conclude it was bad for Emerald while forming your own ideas. I could have done the 'vague' part far better though. Definitely a complete failure on my part. *learning*
You can now say that Emerald is technically the first to know that Celestine is not from Remnant, just no spoken confirmation/conversation from Cel or Greyfax yet. I swear it's not on purpose the characters haven't learned of it yet, it just happens...
I stopped blue ballsing you, here's Greyfax. Literally here for less than five minutes and she's an ass to Celestine and being an Inquisitor all over Emerald.
What vibe did you get from their interaction? I wanna see if I got what I was going for or not.
Also, I didn't know Greyfaxs' eye colour, or if it was said in OML I didn't catch it, so I went with brown because it made sense given her hair colour.
The last chapter was supposed to end with "...a Psychic tug would have been felt from the edge of the town." Implying Greyfax was searching for Celestine and a ways away, not just existing there. My dumbass thought I wrote 'tug' but apparently not. I only noticed it after I finished writing her intro, so that's why it feels a little off to have her come in not only later than expected but the way she did.
And this chapter ended where it did because it began to drag to write and read with Celestine going back and forth back and forth. The next chapter will pack up exactly where Celestine walked out the door, which is where the back and forth starts. I blame poor management on my part.
Now, the vote is over and the winner is *drum roll*
The Custodian with a landslide win of 14 votes!
He probably won't appear in the next chapter because I have to work on implementing him and give him his own background. I have the basics of his background worked out and I think you all may like it, all aspects were chosen to maximise the ability to be flexible with him and tell more in regards to Celestine and Co. and even Ozpin later down the line.
Now as a fun little bit, I'll tell you a bit of what I had in mind with the others;
The Sororitas would have had tension with Emerald because of how close she is with Celestine and they're not. Sure, they fight alongside the Saint and even love her, but they certainly don't get hugs off her so why is the *Psyker* child getting them!? They also would have slowly learned more about who the Saint they worship really is as well as be wrangled by Celestine like children in a candy store; because Celestine being nothing more than a tired mother to Sororitas is beyond amusing. It's definitely something I want to explore some time, so there might be a different fic to come after this one once the semantics are figured out and I learn as much about storytelling from this current fic as I can.
The Astartes would have come from the Lamenters chapter, though the Legion of the Damned was a close contender. A mix of old and Primaris marines to explore how they feel about each other. One of the major points I would have had with them is that they get acknowledged for their deeds and not treated like shit(I'm a bit biased) and obviously explore how the world of Remnant would take the brutal, yet kind, warriors of the Lamenters.
I thank all who voted and am sorry if your vote didn't win, I tried to make this as fair as possible for everyone to get their say. Sorry again.
If your review was long It won't be copied here to save word count, but I still replied to it below. I'm trying to cut down the unnecessary word count.
Anyway,
Wolfsadler: Was that an intentional Code Ment reference?
"WHY ARE YOU BUYING CLOTHES AT THE SOUP STORE!?"
"FUCK YOU!"
Yeah, it is. I thought it would be a bit of fun to throw a reference to something in every now and then. There are actually two other references in chapter 9, one is relatively obvious, the other not so much.
I'll leave you hanging to see if you, or any other reader, gets them...
Guest: How does Qrow know what the gang really did to Emerald!?
He mentioned back in C2 that the gang cares little for human life, in C5 he found out through Ozpin that not only was the gang was in Mistral two years prior but Emerald has records that say she went missing around the same time. He just pieced a series of possibilities together based on the facts he was given. None of those possibilities are good. He is an intelligence gatherer after all.
The only people who truly know what happened to her are Emerald and the gang. We won't know either because I want to avoid straying into subjects I have no right on using or discussing, hence the attempted vagueness with what exactly happened.
Saitama1155: (kaldor drago appears) salem: why do I hear heavy metal music
I HAVE COME TO VANQUISH ALL LOW-QUALITY RAZORS IN THIS REALM!
Dargonfangs: But what about Gary fax and the saint! Please at least do a fade to black
I'm not going to lie, that comment made me giggle because I was purposely trolling, knowing that Greyfax and Celestine would be in this chapter.
Carre: Keep Up with the Good Work (washed Thumbs Up!).
I will, thank you.
T3chi3:
Vote noted.
Well, if the Golden Boi wins, you shall get him.
Hopefully whatever this is lives up to your hopes.
Guest:
I do want to say which type of Custodian, but I also want to keep it a surprise. I think everyone will like him, though.
Oh god, the idea of just throwing Valoris in would ruin any chance at Salem coming close to anything that resembles winning; not only is there her ex-husband who is an immortal parasite, but an Immortal Angel, a perpetually pissed Inquisitor in a funny hat, a woman who makes people physically ill/suicidal by just being near them and then the only Custodian to have won the Blood Games twice and is the scariest motherfucker there.
Salem would combust into flames at the realisation of what she's up against.
Doc43Souls:
"He's standing there...MENACINGLY!"
I expected this chapter to come out before the vote closed, so you had a larger response but well… my response was explaining what I would have done if any of the other options won, but that's listed above, so…
But I thank you for your input all the same!
I can't say this is a beautiful fic in my eyes; it has flaws with characterization, set up and some other elements so far, but It genuinely makes me really happy you think so. Thank you.
No, seriously, thank you.
E:
I tried to keep it vague enough to avoid the subject that rhymes with 'grape' because of how sensitive it is to speak about and to how I have no right to speak about it. But 'grape' is not what I'll be going near if that's a concern. I think I just went about the vagueness and the wrong way and Emerald's line certainly didn't help, either. As I said above, a failure on my part.
That said, Emerald's problem isn't going to be forgotten about either because it outlived its shock value.
I was actually going to do this chapter from her perspective but not only did I not know how to go about it, I also thought it would be too much angst straight after the last chapter. Though I like the idea of learning more through Celestine trying to help than having it told from Emerald's perspective. Not to say she won't be getting her own segments, just not full chapters until I'm comfortable with how to go about it.
And while it isn't a main point to the arching plot as a whole, it is a crucial starting point to Celestine and Emerald's relationship evolving from the "protector and protected" dynamic to what I want it to evolve to. I probably could have picked a better way to do so though. IAnd there are really vague hints as to why Celestine is even bothering to help a random girl scattered throughout earlier chapters. And when I say vague, I really do mean vague. Not my best attempt at hints I've made, especially when it took me a few moments to see where I was going with them…
I think I said it before? But I'm using this entire fic to learn how to, well, improve upon everything.
Also, which ME fic is it? Imma curious...
I think chapters may start to get longer as I'm testing a new planning technique out. That, or chapters come out slightly faster. But they will be more structured. Hopefully….