16
The scroll fell from suddenly trembling hands, clattering to the floor. Salem, her eyes wide, felt her breath hitch. She was no longer part Grimm, no longer inundated with the essence of destruction. The thought was alien to her, impossible. She had thought, once upon a time, that the silver eyes could maybe end her existence. They were certainly a threat to her, if they succeeded in petrifying her she'd have been stuck a statue for all of eternity. By all rights, someone had succeeded.
Ruby Rose.
A name, one among thousands. Millions. And yet it had been Ruby Rose who had rose up to be the one to fight her. They had gotten further than Ozma ever had, sneaking into her castle to assassinate her. Her Grimm had been delayed, long enough for her and her ally to fight her, weaken her. The last thing she remembered was that searing white light and the feeling as if her body was being ripped apart at the tiniest level.
Yet here she was, still existing, still bound to this abominable world. She felt hollow, tired. Exhausted in a way she had not felt in millenia. As if a burnt out heart, she felt like nothing but ash and charcoal. The fire gone, snuffed out.
How long? She asked herself. Salem took stock of the room she was in, though that did not yield much in the way of information. Having lived for so long isolated in the Grimmlands, human architecture was foreign to her. This led her to the other soul in the room, the gaping man who looked in his early fifties, gray hair meticulously styled and dressed in a suit of pale green with a brown waistcoat. At least she recognized the clothing, so it can't have been too long. And then there was the scroll she had dropped. Looking down at it, the thing looked almost identical, to her at least, to the ones she'd seen Watts using on occasion.
Looking down brought her, invariably, to her current state of dress. It seems her clothing had not survived the petrification either, having been manifested by darkness. It was slightly cold and a queen could not be so undignified as to walk around in the buff. It was time to put her old skills to use. Waving her hands above her head she felt the ancient power flicker to life, always just a breath away, buried in her soul. Complex sigils sprung to life and surrounded her, lighting up and morphing like liquid light. When it faded she was garbed in a simple white dress with teal sash.
Finally clothed she addressed the human before her, who seemed quite out of his wits, "You there. Tell me where we are."
"V-Vacuo…" The man stammered, "How? Who are you?"
"I am…" She paused. If Ozma still existed, or rather was in control of a host, she didn't want him hearing of her newfound freedom. At least not until she deigned the moment right, "I do not know. I cannot remember much of anything."
"I see..." The man seemed lost for words, unsure of the situation. Truth be told, so was Salem, she needed a plan, and for that she needed information.
"May I ask your name?" She enquired, folding her hands in front of her and adopting a reticent pose.
The man scrambled to his feet, "Yes! How rude of me! I am Dr. Charles Greene, head anthropologist of Vacuo University." He paused for a moment before adding, "A doctor is a sort of scholar."
Did he think she was an imbecile? No, she paused in her confusion and thought for a moment, he must have come to some sort of conclusion. The dots connected quickly. An anthropologist studied the past of people, if she had been petrified then he must have assumed she was old. She was old but not in the way he probably thought.
This could work.
She put on her best smile and bowed to him politely, playing on his assumptions, "A pleasure to meet you and my thanks for the rescue. Though I know not why I was in such a predicament in the first place. What can I do to repay this debt of gratitude?"
Doctor Greene stared, shocked, "Uh, well think nothing of it, my dear. I must admit to my curiosity as to how you ended up in such a state but if you do not remember then it cannot be helped."
It seemed as if his brain had decided that rather than make sense of it to just go with the flow. Humans were always like that, taking the path of least resistance where possible unless they felt it some point of pride to resist.
"Well in that case Doctor Charles Greene," She used his full name and title, an innocent, wide eyed look on her face, "Would you care to tell me about the place we are in? Everything looks so strange to me."
The man jumped at the chance to start explaining things to her, making her have to resist the urge to scoff at his exuberance. He spent the next hour filling her in on details of the 'modern' world. Of bullheads, cars, scrolls, and mechashift. Had the man not seen her hold the scroll earlier? Instead it seemed it had been wiped from his mind, had the sight of her pushed all coherent thought aside?
But at least his information was useful, and shocking. Salem stared at the date on the scroll numbly, not even attempting to hide it from Greene. The man most likely assumed she was shocked at how long she'd been petrified and a morbid part of her told her that in a way it was true.
Except not in the way he may have thought. She was shocked to find out it had not been a few years, decades, or centuries that she had been asleep. No, it had been a negative amount of time.
Salem was immortal, it was an immutable fact of the universe, made so by the Brother Gods to punish her for her so-called transgressions like the enormous children they were. Over the thousands of years in which she walked the planet of Remnant she had lost track of time once or twice. Or perhaps a few dozen. Years would go by in the blink of an eye, subordinates she knew as young adults would gray and age. Only Salem was ceaseless. But this didn't feel like her losing track of time. There was no way she was misremembering the last date she knew. No matter how she stared at the screen the number did not change.
It was with a trembling hand that she handed the device back to its owner and on unsteady legs that she walked out the room despite his protestations. Salem ignored the human as she walked out the building and into the bright, harsh sunlight of Vacuo. The sandswept wind bit at her face as she squinted her eyes against the harsh glare. The bustling sounds of the city reached her ears and as she blinked, her eyes focused on the sight before her. The sprawling city of Vacuo lay before her, an oasis in the middle of a harsh desert.
People stared at her as she walked by, but for once it was not with fear, trepidation, or awe. The gazes she noticed were curiosity and occasionally lust. It was a strange feeling to walk among the humans and blend in with the throngs. There was a time, not so long ago, that being among this many people would have revolted her, now she stared around with a naked curiosity. Salem had never stepped foot inside of Vacuo, or really any of the kingdoms that had existed in the last thousand or so years. At least not while they still stood.
Eventually she found a market, colorful cloth draped across the tops of the streetways to give shade to the thick crowd that bustled through the vendors. The smells of spice and cooking food assaulted her nostrils. She did not need to eat but that did not curb the desire nor the hunger. Alas, she did not have a lien to her name and instead pushed on, past the food stalls and merchants shouting for customers, selling all kinds of goods from silks and bolts of fabric to necklaces laden with gemstones and beautiful stones.
It brought a feeling to her she had not felt in ages, a sense of nostalgia to her mind so powerful it nearly slept her away. Had Ozma not taken her to a market once? She vaguely remembered that they had been but not more than that. Much of her past was lost to time, thousands of years was a long time to remember and she only remembered the important events, the events that shaped her.
She remembered the tower, the countless nights spent in it. Salem also remembered the excitement of Ozma's sudden entrance. Her time with him had been thrilling. There was also the Brother Gods and Ozma's death. Her punishment and revenge against them for their actions.
Salem stopped in the middle of the street, body rigid as she wracked her brain. She remembered her children, so young and beautiful, that were taken away from her because of Ozma. Then there was the war, her war. The one she had waged on Ozma and all of humanity. She had killed him over and over again, even the memory of the anger stirring within her. At least it had.
Now she felt nothing. No, not nothing, she felt the grief of losing her children, but it was accompanied by something new. Shame for being responsible for their deaths. Ozma may have had blame but so did she.
What she could not remember, however, was why she wanted to destroy every human.
Salem's blue eyes wandered around the street, taking in the vast amount of humanity around her. The young urchins chasing each other through alleyways, merchants chatting or shouting with broad smiles on their faces, and the citizens moving throughout with hand baskets full of fresh food, clothing, or other items.
"Excuse me?" Came the voice from behind her, Greene having followed her out of the building and into Vacuo proper. His face was etched with concern and she marveled at the novel feeling of someone actually concerned for her, "I know this must all be so overwhelming. Why don't I get you some food? Vacuo is known for its local cuisine."
She stopped and considered him for a moment, she needed time to figure out her next step and to establish what the current situation was.
"Very well Ser Greene." She intoned, giving the man a slight curtsy, "I would like to see more of this city."
"But of course!" His expression brightened, "Take your time, move at your own pace, Miss."
Salem paused, it would quickly become grating to be referred to by Miss constantly but she could not afford to give her real name lest it get back to Ozma.
"I suppose I do need something to go by." Salem mused to Greene, "Very well. For now, until more of my memories return, you may refer to me as Alba."
-SY-
"Sooooo…." Ruby hedged as she and Blake walked down the sidewalk at dusk. It was late in the evening, on a weekend of course, as the two of them set out into Vale. They were an unlikely pair and Ruby hadn't spent too much time with her teammate, not alone at least. The most the girl had opened up was after the incident at the docksm but even then Blake tended to keep to herself.
"So how do we find…. Them?"
Blake looked over at the small leader before answering, "There are a few signs, things only those in the know will find. It has to be word of mouth, anything else is too risky."
"Like what? Ruby asked, she was all too curious about what kind of sneaky agent things they did.
"Well for one there's special graffitti." The faunus paused at an alleyway and motioned to some graffiti on the wall, Ruby couldn't make any sense of what it was or how it was different from normal, but she walked down further, "They tend to point towards a meeting location and then direction are etched into corners and walls to guide people towards the real meeting place. It changes frequently so they get erased and redone all the time."
"Ooooh." Ruby looked at the small scratch looking marks on the wall, "So does that mean we're close?"
"Yes." She turned to look at her leader, "You should get out of sight. It'll be suspicious if they see me with you."
"No problem!" Looking up, Ruby eyed the buildings around her. The alleyway was fairly narrow, so she backed up before putting on a burst of speed. Jumping with her semblance she lept from wall to wall, ascending to the rooftop in rapid succession. Leaning over, she waved down at Blake, who nodded and went down the alley. Ruby crept along the rooftops, following along as Blake made her way through the maze-like back alleys of Downtown Vale.
"Close my butt." Ruby grumbled. It had taken another hour to get to the meeting point. It was located in the industrial district of Vale, a dark and abandoned warehouse that didn't look very abandoned now. She couldn't get very close, the rooftops not quite reaching over but she could pull out Crescent Rose and get a good vantage on the rally.
She could see through the tall windows, though they were tinted for daytime at night they provided enough backlight for her to easily see in. There were lots of faunus already inside, milling about. A large stage with some large object covered in a tarp stood out as they all gathered. A good half of those gathered were garbed in the uniform of the White Fang. There was no denying that they had found the right place, now Blake just had to get in and out without being noticed. Hopefully none of the current members would recognize her.
It was surprisingly boring, sitting and watching them, she couldn't hear what was being said though nothing was happening on stage yet anyways. At least until a large faunus walked onto stage. His mask was different from the others and he had his muscular arms bare. The man stood on stage, gesturing with his arms as he paced back and forth, no doubt talking to the audience. After a minute or two he stepped aside, gesturing to someone else and Ruby felt her heart sink as she saw who it was. Roman Torchwick strode on stage, his can twirling around his hand and cocksure smile on his face.
It looked like Roman was there, not that they needed more evidence when they had fought the man at the docks alongside some White Fang. The thief was making some kind of grandiose speech, his arms waving wildly while he seemingly drank in the reactions from the crowd, which looked like jeers. At least it looked like there was no love lost between the Fang and Roman. Her gaze wandered and she noticed another figure in the back, a second human. It was a small girl with two toned hair of pink and brown.
It was then that she saw the girl pull some type of cord, the tarp over the large object giving her, and everyone in the audience, a good look at its contents. Standing on the stage was a massive mechanical form, bipedal and boxy looking. Ruby felt her jaw drop as she saw it, it was unlike anything she'd ever seen outside of some kind of Mistralian anime.
The cannons on it were massive, it looked like the kind of mecha that would be a dream to use against the Grimm, and she could spy the symbol of Atlas on the side of it. Hopefully Blake would be able to tell her what they were talking about. Her scope drifted back to Roman just in time to see him freeze, eyes locked on something in the crowd before he moved again, whispering something to the human girl with him.
It sent a trill of alarm through her, he'd been startled by something, or someone.
Did he see Blake?
A gunshot rang out and the entire building went dark, cutting off her view of Roman, punctuated by screams of chaos and panic from inside the warehouse.
"Dammit Blake!" Ruby cried out as she heard some kind of thundering movement from inside of the building. The window shattered as her teammate ran out the window and she looked down through the scope to try and dissuade any pursuers. She couldn't, however, dissuade the massive robot that essentially walked through the solid wall of the warehouse. Firing a few rounds proved futile so she changed tactics, chambering some ice dust rounds and firing them at the robot's joints. It didn't look like it did damage but it did slow it down enough for her to jump down alongside Blake who was sprinting through the street.
"Really Blake!?" She shouted as she alighted next to her, "What happened?!"
"Torchwick spotted me!" She replied, "What was I supposed to do?!"
"NNot cause a scene!" The young leader shot back, "How do you know he saw you?"
"Our eyes met!"
Ruby just shot Blake a withering glare, of course she would overreact like that. Now Roman was chasing them in the giant death robot, they were lucky there wasn't any traffic on the roads at the moment. As they ran she pulled out her scroll, she needed to call Yang and Weiss.
-SY-
The scroll on the desk began to vibrate violently and Carmine shot it a curious glance, looking up from the paperwork she was buried in. The name on the screen was simply 'Roman' but she was not expecting a call at this time of night.
"Roman?" She asked as she answered the call.
"Your brats are here!" He snarled through the line, his voice coming out slightly tinny from the small speakers on the device.
"What brats?" She asked in confusion. It was far too out of the blue for her to make sense of.
"The kids! Little Red and the broody cat!" He explained as she could hear the sounds of machinery from his end, "They crashed the rally, the whole White Fang saw them, my hands are tied. If I want to keep up appearances I need to deal with them."
A bolt of fear shot through her and she growled out, "You'd better not harm them Roman."
"Then you'd better get down here!" He yelled back before hanging up, cutting off any words she might have had for him.
Carmine stood from her desk, chair toppling over as her mind raced. It was all too familiar and she cursed it. Of course tonight was the rally in which Roman revealed the Paladin to the Fang and of course Blake had to stick her stupid nose in it when she'd told her not to. Sweeping around the room she grabbed Bloom and Scatter, strapping the holsters to her thighs as she started sprinting down the corridor.
Those girls were going to be in so much trouble.