Chapter 40 – The Grimmlands: Prison Blues

Cover Art - Mi Chumi

Chapter Beta - ZoroEpsilon

Selene had formulated a plan. And she had time, right now, to execute that plan.

The first step was to approach the man she loathed more than any other on Remnant.

"Doctor Watts."

The lanky man turned from his desk and scowled at her. "Is it time for me to play glorified chauffeur again?"

"My apologies, Doctor. Had I Blackfeather here, I would not have bothered you." She eyed his desk, and his scowl deepened as he gestured and all the computer monitors went immediately blank. "And since I do know your time is extremely valuable, and there is less rush in my return, would you prefer to instead bear me to Vacuo?"

Green eyes glittered, "Oh… does the Princess have a second love interest there?"

Gods the man is an ass. She kept her face carefully neutral. "Unless you consider my father a love interest, of the platonic nature, then no, Doctor.

"Hmph. That was a rather unfortunate turn of phrase." He shuddered. "But you're not incorrect. That would dramatically shorten the distraction. Fine."

Selene Lumerent exited the bullhead in Vacuo's public airport, and Watts neither wished her safe travels, nor did he wait for her to get clear of the wash of air as the bullhead took off and headed east. "Thrice an ass," Selene muttered. She had little money, minimal luggage, and no Scroll, having left her secure device back in Argus as a precaution against Watts. But this was not the bewildered waif of two years prior. Selene had roamed countryside and cities with Garek, and faced multiple challenges and so, she was confident that she could find what she sought.

And what she sought was a public CCT terminal, first of all.

It took only minutes to reach Garek, who was apparently back in Menagerie yet again with Lionheart this time.

"You're where?" Garek asked, surprised.

"Vacuo, love."

"Can I ask why?"

"I would prefer to wait until I am no longer using a public terminal."

"Ah. Yeah. Right. Pete would kick my ass. What do you need?"

"I need someone to contact my father, and have him retrieve me here. I shall be spending several days, perhaps a week, in Vacuo… and other places."

Garek's eyes narrowed. "You're being careful?"

"Always. I shall fill you in when I am with father and it is safe to do so."

"Alright. I'm on it. And I'll notify the others for you. Love you."

"And I you."

Her fear of crowds had long since faded to a background tension, but busy terminals still set her nerves on edge, so she was pleased when she saw her father's familiar burly form with his long white hair and braided beard, waving at her.

This time, she felt like giving her father a hug, and did so. There was a suspicious hint of moisture in his eyes as they parted.

"Selene, I didn't have a clue that you were coming!"

"It was… unplanned, father."

"Well, let's see if I can't show you some Vacuan hospitality and you can catch me up. Hungry?"

"Famished!"

Over a spicy meal at an outdoor café, Selene filled Forrest in on her recent activities, along with what she knew about Garek's work in Haven and Menagerie. The older man whistled.

"You know, there was a time I feared that you'd end up like one of your mother's servants or agents. Just another tool in her little bag of tricks." He shook his head. "But you've grown into something else entirely." He was quiet for a few minutes. "I wronged you, leaving you like that."

"You did. But I will give you the opportunity to correct your error."

The man barked a laugh. "You've got your mother's direct approach to life, that's for damned sure, though you use it more gently."

"I do." Selene smiled.

He took another bite, and chewed on the food as he chewed on what she'd told him. "So… a secret facility where old Visha has been sent, to serve as punishment." Selene winced. "Oh, don't blame yourself. You know who is to blame for all that, and it isn't you. His face hardened, as it always did when her mother came up. "But what you're doing with the whole Queen and Mother thing… you're playing with fire, Selene."

"I am doing what I must. In many ways, they are two different people, with different personalities."

"But they aren't. It's not like she can hide information from herself."

"I am… unsure… she is very old, father. I do not know what she is incapable of."

"Still…" he sighed. "She clearly wants you to visit Visha. And I've never known her to be altruistic, except when it comes to you. So there's no telling. So that's why you're staying around here?"

"Yes. I need time to summon Blackfeather, and time for him to arrive. It made no sense to slow both of us by having Watts take me all the way back to Argus, and then return to the Western portion of mother's realm."

"Well, looks like I reap the rewards for your plan. I assume you need my Scroll to fill the others in, and a place to stay."

"And a trip outside the city, to summon some Nevermore chicks as messengers."

"Alright. You can stay with me here in Vacuo. I'll tell you a little about the contacts I've been rebuilding out here."

It took almost two days for the Nevermore chicks, flying both day and night in a more direct route, to reach Blackfeather's location as described to them by Selene, and to then summon him with their calls. It took another three for Blackfeather, avoiding populated areas and flying over the sea as much as possible, to reach the secluded clearing near the Vacuo coast, where Selene and Forrest had set up camp a day prior. The wait even then had been somewhat tense.

Forrest stood by, tense, as she checked Blackfeather's harnesses and climbed up among his neck feathers. "It's still strange, to be camped out in the woods and not have to worry about Grimm with you around," he mused.

"Do not let your guard down completely, father. None will attack me, but there are some who, if mother had given them prior instructions, will not obey my orders not to attack others."

"Noted. You'll be safe?"

"I will. And I will return here in four days."

"If you don't, I'm calling in the cavalry." He touched the weapon at his belt, and Selene smiled.

"Thank you, father."

The older man nodded, and she was off into the evening sky, Blackfeather bearing east across the sea. Clear of land, she consulted her map, bearing slightly northerly back to the Grimmlands. Back to the short arc where she had estimated she'd find Visha.

Four hours later in the late evening, Blackfeather circled and slowly descended toward a structure carved from a blasted mesa. She was tense for any form of danger, and as they neared the ground, just above the level of the top of the mesa, there was a sudden and unsettling feeling of wrongness, as if her aura were being strained through a mesh and then reformed on the other side. But there was no apparent harm and no alarm was raised. Bands of earthbound Grimm milled outside and on the top of the flat landscape. As they landed before the mesa, she saw a large set of iron-reinforced doors, flanked by a smaller person-sized door. There were barred windows further up the sheer wall, carved directly into the rock.

Selene dismounted and walked, unafraid. The Grimm seemed to wander just outside the area, not crossing over some unseen barrier. None would challenge nor harm her. She rapped upon the smaller door and waited.

It was many minutes before a panel slid aside as she heard a voice from her memory muttering, "Just had delivery yesterday, was aught missed? Won't turn down a bit more company, mind. What-" There was a gasp, and internal bars were quickly slid aside. Selene had been unable to see into the dim light on the other side, but she knew who she would see when it swung inward.

Visha. The older woman had aged further. She was gray-haired as Selene had remembered her, wrinkled and slightly more stooped. Visha's eyes rounded in awe. "Young Selene…"

"Visha." Selene breathed, stepped toward her, and opened her arms. The servant looked panicked for a moment, then an expression of defiance and joy crossed her face, and the two women embraced. "By the… Selene, you look so happy!" Selene felt moisture on her shoulder where the old woman's head pressed against her collarbone. She was shorter than Selene now.

"Yes, I am. But it is a long tale. Can we not take refreshment inside?"

"Ah, my manners. Come in! I will show you where I spend my days."

Minutes later, they sat in a modest living area, a suite of both private and public rooms that served as both Visha's living quarters, and a location where others would stay or linger before returning back to Evernight. It was not a cell. There was food and drink.

Visha was delighted, elated to see Selene. She begged her for tales of her life the last three years.

"My old eyes can't believe you. An even more beautiful young woman you have become. Tell an old woman with nothing but time what you've done these years that I've missed!"

Selene began. She told of personal matters, much like those she had shared with her mother, and found that she viewed Visha less as a servant, and more as an adopted aunt. They talked for hours, Visha's expressions alternating between sorrow, horror, awe, and joy.

"I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you have found a life. A true life." Visha gestured at the walls around her. "Outside the walls placed around you."

Selene noted that there was not, would not be, any implied criticism of their Queen. "Do you suffer here?"

"Suffer? I am old and lonely, and tired. But I live. And I find ways to occupy my time. I could have suffered worse punishment for not obeying my Queen's commands."

"I fear I wronged you, Visha, in asking you to do that which we were both forbidden."

"Pfah, you were more innocent then. All inquisitive and wide-eyed, but hemmed in. I knew better what was required of me, and I made my choice."

"But you need not have done so. My happiness was not your responsibility."

Visha grunted. "Call it arrogance, but… I saw you as more than just someone I was charged with keeping clothed and fed and clean. I've had no family of my own, and saw you as a near-niece."

The thought made Selene feel warm. "But I am sorry, Visha, that you find yourself thus."

"Don't fret, young lady. My mistake, and my choice. And like I said, could be worse. And I'm not completely alone here." She lifted the corner of her mouth. "Brecket and the others come monthly, and stay for a night. The Queen and some of hers used to come for a few weeks, every couple months to work on something in the basements, and that broke the boredom too, though they've not done that in at least a year." She seemed to grow pensive. "And of course there have been prisoners kept here, though some were more willing and able to talk than others. I pass the time." She grew quiet. "Will you stay the night, Selene, it's so good to see you. Can you fill an old woman's boredom?"

"Of course, Visha. I had planned to. The Queen knows me to have returned to the other Kingdoms, and my friends do not expect me to return immediately. This is but a rest stop, in my eyes. I shall stay for a few days, for you."

Visha's face lit up, smoothing wrinkles and making her look years younger. "Good. I'll show you the quarters for guests. They're not nearly as horrible as you'd think, for a prison."

The rest of the evening was spent with Visha making sure Selene was well-fed and then showing her to a guest room. Selene noted several doors nearby that appeared solidly closed and locked. But it was late by then, and she was tired from the excitement and her travels.

Visha took note of her yawns. "Let's get you to bed young lady," she smirked. "Never could get you to stay abed at night, now could I?"

The next morning, Selene woke in a strange room to the smell of breakfast having been cooked, and exited to find Visha puttering about the galley area setting food and drink onto a small tray. "I have to take this, and tell… the prisoner, that I have another to attend to. I'll come back and we can eat together, if that's alright?"

"Of course, Visha."

The woman left and Selene spent time perusing the common areas more carefully. This area, at least, was more like a hostel or modest inn than a prison. But she supposed that made sense. Several bedrooms ranged in opulence. Some were clearly furnished and decorated with Salem or her agents in mind. The common areas included the galley where meals could be prepared, pantries and closets, an area to take meals, and naturally, bathroom facilities.

Visha returned and they ate their own breakfast, making small talk. The food was remarkably not poor, and Selene said as much. "Ah, well, I won't say that I wasn't cheeky enough to complain." There was humor in her old eyes. "And besides, with only one prisoner, it didn't make sense to have two types of food made. It's easy enough for me to cook for two as it is one."

"Ah, so you have but one prisoner now."

"Yes. For a couple of years, now." Visha grew pensive again. "We spend time talking and playing games together." She frowned. "No one said I couldn't, and it seemed cruel to leave her there to rot away on the inside. People need a reason to keep eating and breathing, you know, and it's my responsibility to take care of them."

"And you would otherwise be lonely here, as well."

"That too. It's hard for… The Queen to understand us. She forgets we ain't plants or pets that you can just feed, water, and then ignore."

"Yes. I do understand, Visha."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes.

"Would you like to meet her?" The old woman asked, fretting.

Would I? "She is your… companion?"

"By now? Yes."

"Then yes."

"Alright. Wait here. I have to do some things first, before you can see her."

"Alright, come this way young Selene." Visha had returned to lead her upstairs and down a hall to a locked door. This one had no openings in it at all, and the seams of the door were blocked by metal and plastic flanges. Visha unlocked and opened it, and Selene it was merely an antechamber with a second door at the other end, which would only open when the first was closed.

Through that, a hallway turned to the left, with barred windows on the left side. To her right, Selene saw an empty cell that was almost a suite. The front was barred, with a heavy section that could open, and the front area was furnished like a simple sitting area. Beyond that was an open wooden door, and she caught a glimpse of a bedroom through that doorway.

"It is… not so horrible as I imagined, for a prison."

"Ah, but a gilded cage is still a cage, Selene. And isolation's a torture all its own."

"True. Yes."

They came to the second cell, and she heard a voice call out from further down. "Visha?" It was, as expected, a woman's voice. Selene felt a thrill run through her. She felt like… like she had heard that voice before.

"I've brought the visitor I told you about. You promised to be on your best behavior. She's very special to me." Visha turned to Selene and spoke quietly. "We're ordered to take special precautions, when The Queen visits. I… I assumed the same would be needed for you, Selene. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were hurt. She agreed to let me put it on her. Usually it's a guard that comes with The Queen that does it."

What manner of creature was this, whose voice seems familiar, but is so dangerous? Could it be… after all these years? Was she always this dangerous?

Am I not an example of this? Someone who could be benign in appearance, but dangerous in my own way?

They made it to the cell in question.

It was, again, modestly furnished. There was a small circular table with two chairs just inside the barred front wall. A chess set, cards, and a few other games were stacked nearby. Further in, a small sofa. Bookcases overflowing with books, including many stacked haphazardly on top of it. A tray bearing the remains of breakfast was set just outside a slot in the bars, clearly placed there by the prisoner after finishing her meal.

The walls were plastered with sketches and drawings, of amateur quality, many of them showing small roughly drawn figures in reds and golden yellow palettes.

And of course, the prisoner herself drew the eye. She was slight, similar in height to Selene but clearly older, dressed in plain clothing of gray and white, almost a jumpsuit. Selene could see that her frame was somewhat gaunt and skin pale, as if she were slowly wasting away, though not, eyeing the tray, through lack of food. What of her face could be seen was likewise lean, showing too much bone along the jaw and lower cheeks.

Which was all of it that could be seen. A complex helmet fitted about the woman's head, with a neckpiece that locked it in place, leaving only the bottom of her nose and cheeks and jaw visible. Where a visor might have been, a strange reflective metallic surface spanned from ear across eyes and upper nose to opposite ear.

"Summer," Visha said quietly, "this is Selene, who I cared for when she was a child, and who you spoke with all those years ago. Selene, this is… my friend, Summer."

"Summer…" Selene breathed.

The woman seemed to peer at Selene, apparently able to see through the visor, and spoke again with a voice tinged with sadness. "Hello Selene, I do recognize your voice. So you were my secret visitor that got Visha in such trouble." She smiled gently. "Visha talked about you." She shook her head. "We've had a lot of time to talk, and not much to talk about except memories. You are some of her happiest."

The revelations were hitting Selene harder than she would have expected, and Visha looked away. "Now you've embarrassed me, Summer," the old woman reproached.

Summer gave a soft smile. "Well, my social skills have probably atrophied along with my muscles. You can't expect me to handle polite society." She tilted her head toward the table. "Would you like to sit down?"

Selene blinked, and then blinked again when Visha pulled a third chair from the open cell next door, unlocked the one that Summer resided in, and brought it inside, beckoning to Selene to join her.

Summer seemed to sense her hesitation. "I'm harmless, Selene. I don't have any weapons, and I haven't been able to train in years."

"The Queen doesn't think you're harmless, Summer," Visha said.

The woman grumbled. "Well, that's not my fault. I didn't ask to be born with them."

Visha laughed. "Grouchy pants."

"Old fusser." Summer grinned. "Sorry, Selene. I really am bad at people now. It's been over two years since I've talked to anyone but Visha, other than some less than pleasant people. And my conversations with them weren't exactly friendly." She seemed to look Selene up and down. "So, it turns out that my secret friend from Evernight was Salem's daughter…"

"I am."

"I can see the resemblance in features. Is your skin white like hers? This thing doesn't transmit color."

"Yes. I have her skin, and her eyes."

"But clearly not her bitchy personality."

"Summer…" Visha warned.

"Sorry. Sorry. Well not sorry, but sorry."

"It is… understandable. Depending on whether you are talking to Queen or Mother, she can be…" She searched for the words… "The Queen can be terrifying. Difficult to understand or predict, prone to fits of rage and their consequences. But I have seen the other side of her as well. A mother who loves her daughter and is, in turn, terrified of what the world would do to her one and only child."

Summer's gaze through the helmet seemed locked onto Selene as she spoke, then turned roughly to the side.

"Selene," Visha said softly, "family is a painful subject for Summer."

Now it was Selene's turn to be ashamed. "My apologies, Summer, I did not intend harm." She laughed ruefully. "Where you say you have lost your social abilities, I am yet trying to master them."

Summer seemed to take a few minutes to bring herself back under control, before she turned back to appraise Selene. "I wouldn't have believed you were Salem's kid, three years ago, and you aren't what I expected now either, regardless of what Visha tried to tell me."

"We are different people. I am perhaps closer to what Salem was, in temperament, before she was cursed, and then cursed again, and yet again."

Summer seemed to stare at her for several minutes, absorbing that, before she spoke again. "Want to play a game? Do you play chess?"

"I have been taught, though I am not very proficient."

"Eh, not like winning or losing matters here. It's about passing the time."

Visha brought over the board, and they set it up. The pieces were carved alabaster and onyx. Summer chose black, and Selene white. There may have been irony there.

"Strange to imagine a person inside that monster." Summer shifted a pawn. Visha frowned.

"Yes, I understand." Selene thought for a while, then moved a pawn in response. "What lies beneath the helmet?"

Summer frowned as she moved out a bishop. "A curse of my own. One that's cost me my freedom and my family," she said bitterly.

"If I pry, please tell me." Another white pawn.

Summer shook her head. "A fairy tale. A legend. Ozpin says the trait is very rare. Silver Eyes. Warriors who could burn weaker Grimm to ash, or turn more powerful ones to stone."

Selene gasped, and found herself pulling back into the chair.

Summer gave a grim smile, and moved her rook over. "Ah, now you understand the helmet. Salem had it special made, just for me, so she could pretend she wasn't terrified while she tortured me." Her laugh was not pleasant. "Ain't I special."

"I… yes I see."

"I would have killed her, you know. If I'd been a little faster. Would have given my life to do it, too." She shook her head, defeated, then rallied. "It's your move."

Something ugly gnawed at Selene. A realization. "No, I'm afraid you would not have," Selene whispered, as truth bit into her bones and turned her cold.

"What do you mean?" Summer's voice was sharp. Visha looked between them in confusion.

"I assume you attempted to use your silver eyes on her. Had you succeeded, you would have turned her to stone." Selene swallowed, and moved another piece, not really caring whether it was a good move or not.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Summer's mouth turned down.

"For me or any other minor Grimm, yes, it is the same thing. For Salem, it is not. Salem cannot be killed. The very gods themselves have cursed her thus. You would have turned her into a living tomb. Unable to live. Unable to die. An eternity of suffering."

Visha gasped, and Summer sat still for a long time.

"Good enough." Summer said quietly as her rook advanced, and Selene felt as if she would throw up.

She immediately fled the cell, game abandoned.

"I'm sorry, Selene. I didn't realize." Visha said, after following her and finding Selene standing in the middle of the common room, arms wrapped tightly around herself. The old woman approached her carefully from behind and wrapped her thin arms around the younger woman. They stood that way for several minutes before Selene finally sighed.

"It is not your fault, Visha. In truth, it is no one's fault, or the fault of all. My mother is cursed. Summer is cursed. We are all of us victims of the games of the gods. I can no more blame her," she nodded to toward the cells, "for lashing out in her pain than I can my mother having done so." She sighed. Her back ached from how tense she'd been as she'd stood and left the cell, Visha following and stammering her apologies.

"I will retire to my rooms for some time. I wish to think. I have learned more things today that bear on my activities. Things I did not expect." She considered. My mother knew I would find Summer here. She wished me to learn that Summer is here, without the Queen's awareness. This is important. She wishes me to do something with this knowledge.

They ate lunch in contemplation, and Visha took away a tray for Summer, then returned.

"Summer… wants to talk to you again, if you'll have her."

"Not yet. I am… still considering things."

It was after dinner when Visha asked again.

"Yes. I will."

Visha prepared for the visitor once more, and they returned to the cell, finding Summer sitting stiffly on the sofa this time. The unfinished game still sat on the table.

"Summer."

"Selene." The woman's jaw worked. "I won't apologize for how I feel about… that. But I can apologize for saying it to your face."

"Accepted."

"Just like that?"

"My fiancé and I are teaching each other the value of failing to hold grudges. The first time we met, he tried to murder me." Selene laughed, and it was a musical sound in that place that caused even Summer to smile.

"There's a story there."

"It is a long one."

Summer gestured to the world at large. "I've got all the time in the world, Selene, and I could use some new fairy tales." Visha smiled at that. She had heard the story earlier, but loved the thought of it repeated. "Want to finish our game?"

"Very well. It began, frankly, because I mourned the loss of my oldest friend, and what I believed was my newest. And because I felt confined…"

The telling took hours, and they completed one game of chess, then another swapping colors, and another. No one really paid attention to who won. Selene paused when it began to touch on her mother's story.

"I fear to share with you some things that I know."

Summer barked a laugh. "Who'd I tell? That arrogant butthole Watts? Not in a million years. Tyrian and Hazel?" Summer leaned back and lifted her shirt, showing masses of scar tissue criss-crossing her abdomen from just below her bra to her waistband, "They did this to me." Her voice was raw. "I'd only just recovered enough to talk for more than a few minutes when you first spoke to me through that door." Summer shook her head in frustration. "I'm going to die in this cell, Selene, unless they kill me first. I'm the perfect secret-keeper. Best you ever asked for." She looked at Visha. "And Visha would drink poison before she would hurt you. You're all she has." Selene gasped. Visha just muttered. "Tell me it ain't true, you old fool. All you talked about for like six months. Selene this and Selene that."

Selene considered. From her conversations with her mother, and the information from her Queen, she felt that in reality, Ozma… now Ozpin… already knew everything she did about Salem's past. There could be little harm in sharing what she knew about Salem and Ozma's origins.

So she did. Including the fact that Selene was slowly, carefully, creating a clear line of separation between the two aspects of Salem. Queen and Mother.

By the end, Visha was openly weeping. For her, Queen Salem was terrifying, but she was also Selene's mother as well.

Summer had grown very, very quiet.

Selene continued her tale regarding how she and Garek had travelled to Mistral, and then Atlas. She spoke of the rescue of a child from slavery and torture, without mentioning names. She explained in very general terms what their goals were.

When she finished, Summer didn't speak for many minutes, and they took turns moving pieces across the board before Summer broke the silence.

"Gods… we would have made a heck of a team…"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You and me. Stupidly optimistic, completely convinced that we could find a way to change the world single-handedly."

"No. Not single-handedly, Summer. Garek and I are gathering friends. Allies."

"Yeah. You're right." Summer sighed and moved her Queen. "And unlike mine, yours don't keep you flailing around in the frickin' dark." She hissed in frustration. "I feel used. Raven was right," Summer griped, and continued on for several minutes muttering quietly about stupid friends and people she trusted playing games before she spoke again for their benefit. "Crap. I had no idea what the big picture was. We barely knew about Salem. I thought I could fix this. The big damn hero at the right place at the right time. And maybe it would have worked." Selene made a sound. "Oh, calm down, I understand. But your… Queen is a monster. Even you know she wants to take down the whole world with her."

"Yes, I have told you that we are aware of this, and that we seek to avert it. My mother suffers already. Condemning her to an eternity of even worse suffering... I cannot allow that either. That is not justice."

"Nope." Summer popped the p in the word. "It's not." She clicked her tongue. "Oh, Raven would do it in a heartbeat, anyway. I might too, if there was no other way. But that's kinda a moot point now." She gestured at the cell around her in an exaggerated fashion.

Selene chewed on that, and knew if she swallowed the idea, it would shred her soul like eating glass. "It is late, I should-"

"Selene?" Summer said suddenly. There was a level of pain there. "Would it be possible…"

"Yes?"

"My children. My babies… they don't know what happened to me. I asked you once. Could you…"

Selene frowned. "What would you have me say?"

"I don't know… I'm terrified that if they know I'm alive, somewhere in the world, that Tai would try to find me, and get himself killed. But at the same time…" she took a shaky breath "I don't want them to just… not know." A single tear ran down the right side of her face from below the visor. "Maybe if someone could tell them… a gentle lie? That they were with me when I died, and that I told them that I loved them?"

"Perhaps that you died bravely, defending the helpless?" Selene thought back to her mother's original plan to protect her from that pain even as she had planned to kill Garek, to temper it. This felt much too similar. "I will have to consider this. It would be… difficult. To do so in a manner they would believe, yet not place myself and others at risk." She raised a hand when Summer made a sound of dismay. "But I will think on it. I will retire now, and give you an answer tomorrow."

"Thank you, Selene. I…" Summer couldn't finish, and turned away, shoulders sagging.

Back in the galley, Visha joined Selene after another thirty minutes. "Beginning to wonder whether this was a good idea, Selene, letting you two meet again. You're tearing yourselves up on each other."

"As you have said, Visha, the choices are ours. I don't know whether we are helping or harming. Perhaps after a night's rest, I will know better."

Selene didn't sleep well that night. She kept going over Summer's situation again, and again.

Oh, the woman appeared stoic, and to have come to terms with her situation. But Selene suspected that this was the… what was it that Garek had told her? The final stage of grief. This woman had experienced three years of captivity, and had cycled through each stage, and finally reached acceptance of her own condition, and now Selene's presence had thrown her back to bargaining. Would she survive it?

Because there was still pain there, grief for her children. That pain could still be drawn out of her, like poison from a wound. She had heard it, the desperation and ache. It made her own heart feel constricted. She thought of Garek, of Cinder, and how they would feel if she disappeared one day, never to be heard from. Never to know her fate. The thought made her stomach churn.

And all because this woman had been, in some ways, cursed by the gods just as her mother had been.

Pieces and pawns on a grand chess board. Silver Eyes, Cursed Women, Immortal Men. Maidens. Relics.

Need it be so?

What if, instead of a pawn, or a tool, Summer were an ally. Or at least, willing leverage?

The thought finally gave her respite, and she slept.

The next morning, she asked Visha to set up another meeting with Summer after breakfast. The game was still there, and she and Visha sat as before.

"I have given thought to your request. I understand the pain that you bear. I will promise that no matter what else is done, I will find a way to bring word to your children in a way that eases their hurts."

"Thank you," Summer breathed. She was still for some moments, and again, a track of tears crept from under the visor, down the left side of her face.

"However, I would like to consider… another alternative first." She moved a piece.

Summer's face, what little she could see, seemed to tighten as she examined the board. "Oh?" Her voice was controlled. There may have been curiosity, but it was tempered by years of destroyed hope.

"I think, perhaps, you need not resign yourself to meeting your death in this place."

Summer's gaze through the helmet snapped onto Selene's face so hard, they heard the bones crack in her neck, and her hand accidentally knocked over several pieces. Visha gasped to Selene's left.

"What do you mean," Summer hissed.

"Selene, don't do that," Visha warned. "Don't hurt her."

"I will not harm her, Visha." She turned back to the prisoner. "Summer, I cannot promise anything, but I will think on whether I can... obtain your freedom." She picked up a pawn, holding it up. "If I could, what would you do with that freedom?" She put it back on the board.

Summer sat, hands clenching and unclenching for minutes. She started laughing and there was a hysterical edge to it. "You're nuts. I'm never getting out of here. Sure, I'm prepared to beg you on hands and knees to pass a note to my family telling them that you heard my dying words. But there's no way I'm gonna believe you can get me out of here."

Selene gave a tight smile. "I can be… persuasive. Resourceful. Summer, my mother told me of this place. It was she who suggested I come here to visit Visha. Do you truly believe she did not expect me to learn of your presence here? She knows me, her daughter, well. She knows what I would do with this knowledge."

"I think you're walking a dangerous line." But a flicker of hope burned in Summer's chest, and it felt like Tyrian's knives all over again. "And it's your Queen that had me nearly bled out and broken, brought me here, and did this to me." She pointed to her helmet. "She's the one who sees me as a threat."

"She sees you as a tool of Ozpin."

"Yeah. A weapon."

"And if you were not?"

"Not what?!"

"Not a tool of Ozpin."

Summer picked up one of her own pieces, a bishop. She rolled it over in her palm, let her thumb rub across its edges. Selene could see her arm was shaking. Summer closed her hand on the piece, knuckles turning white. "I'd give my other eye to hold my children again, Selene. I won't betray Ozpin, and I won't join your so-called Queen. But I'll do anything else you want, if it means protecting my family."

Selene's brows lowered. "What do you mean, other eye?"

"The man Watts took Summer's eye, on the Queens orders," Visha said quietly.

Summer laughed bitterly, and set the bishop down on the board. "Mine eye offended her, and she had it plucked out."

"For what cause?" Selene breathed.

"That I dunno. It wasn't to disarm me, or they'd have blinded me completely. This is Watts and Salem we're talking about, they don't do mercy. And it wasn't torture. Watts actually used an anesthetic that time, which kinda shocked me. They… wanted it for something. Some kind of research or experiment."

Selene stared at Summer. "Visha, please remove Summer's helmet."

"Selene, no. If something-"

"Summer, do you plan to murder me? Have I harmed you? Will my death allow you to escape this place?"

"No, no, and no. What are you doing?"

"I want to see yet another sin my Queen has committed." Selene stared at her own hands. "I have led a sheltered life. Recently I have seen the sins of humans against their own kind, and against my lover's kind. It is good to remind myself why I seek my own path in this world." She frowned. "Also, I wish to look you in the face. I want you to see me as a person, not as whatever that filter shows you."

"You don't have to," Summer objected. "It's not pretty."

"If you tell me no, I will accept. But I do not believe you will hurt me, and I do not believe that barrier helps us to trust each other."

Summer took several breaths, and then dropped the bishop on the board. "You're nuts, Selene."

Visha chuckled, causing both to turn toward her. "No… not insane. That's just Selene. She was always like this." There was a hint of pride in Visha's voice. "She was a precocious child."

Selene continued. "You say you will do anything to protect the people you love. That is our goal as well. Except the people we love include humans, faunus-kind, and my mother. My mother wishes to be released from her curse, not necessarily to destroy the world. I have faith that we can find a way to allow that."

Summer shook her helmeted head in wonder. "Gods… it's like listening to a recording of myself. How can both of us even exist?"

"Perhaps it is another of the gods' little jests."

"Very little."

"So, I ask you again, if I could gain your freedom, either by petition or subterfuge…" here was the crux "would you return to Ozma's service? Tell him of our plans? It would likely destroy us, and along with it, any hope of a different ending than disaster for one or the other."

Summer was quiet for a few moments, then finally murmured, "Visha, can you take this helmet off?"

The old woman looked between the two of them. "Do it, Visha. Please," Selene requested.

The old woman shook her head, but nonetheless drew a key from her pocket and unfastened the neckpiece and separated it. Summer tilted her head downward, allowing Visha to draw the helmet off. As it slid away, Summer lifted her head to face Selene, who inhaled sharply. Summer's left iris was a reflective silver, catching the light in ways that a simple gray would not. It was bright, and warm, and slightly glassy from her earlier tears. The woman was holding back an ocean of emotion. Hope. Pain. Sorrow. It was hard to read. But she held Selene's gaze, steadily and without threat.

Summer's right eye socket, however, was a ruin of scar tissue. And her face was revealed to be worn and haggard by over three years of captivity and despair. By lack of sunlight and little exercise. But there was still determination in the set of her jaw.

"If you can get me out of here. If you can let me see my children," she laughed bitterly, "or at least feel them, I'll help you. I meant what I said. If it means sacrificing my other eye, I'll do that. If it means cutting ties with Ozpin, I'll do it. But only if I see that you are really trying to do what you say you're doing. I won't serve your Queen. And I won't become your personal Hazel, or gods forbid your Tyrian."

"I would not ask that, and Garek would not allow it. Garek and I are not monsters, Summer. We are… like you." She took a deep breath. "Now, let us discuss. What leverage can we identify to convince my Queen that your release is more beneficial to her plans, or to my mother's desires, than your captivity? And once your release is secured, how do we keep you out of Ozpin's machinations without raising his suspicions? Or how can we remove you from this place, without anyone noticing?"

"You really think you can convince Salem to release me?"

"I can make the attempt."

"Might be better to just sneak me out. I wish I knew why Raven never tried. Maybe she died."

"Raven?"

"She was my teammate, and my best friend. Her Semblance was making portals to people she'd bonded with. She should have been able to sense me here, open a portal, and get me out any time she pleased." She shook her head. "I can't believe she wouldn't at least try. I don't know if she's given up, or dead, or something's stopping her."

Something about that reminded Selene… "When I flew in here, there was a moment, a feeling of… discontinuity, as if my soul flipped from one side to the other. Do you think-"

Summer looked thoughtful, then nodded. "That could be it. Her portals are linked to Aura. If something can affect Aura, it might be able to interfere with her Semblance. So maybe Raven is alive… and hasn't just abandoned me."

"I would need to find her, and we would need to find out what is causing this effect."

Summer suddenly started to shake. "Gods… you really… this isn't some sick joke? Some new torture? I might get to feel my girls in my arms, again? Taiyang?"

"I can make no promises, but I believe it very likely."

"When…" she breathed.

"Ah.. that is more difficult to answer. It may take months, but I will pursue this immediately."

"Months..." Summer breathed, "So soon?" After years in that prison, that months would seem to be soon.

"Yes. So… soon as that. Do not give up hope yet, Summer. I will send word to Visha if I have secured your release, or if we must seek alternatives, or if I have tried and failed. You will know. And if I cannot free you, then I will tell your family, in some fashion, of your love for them. This I promise."

Summer stood. "Selene… can I…" her hands twitched. "Gods, this sounds stupid. I've been here so long. And I've come to care for Visha. She's the only friend I have here."

"Not many to choose from, Selene." But the old woman's eyes were blinking.

"Oh, can it, you old coot! You know you love me." Summer sighed. "But… can I touch you? I need… to feel like this is all real and not just some fever dream."

"Of course." Selene stood, stepped to the side behind Visha, and to the woman's shock opened her arms.

Summer hesitated and then Selene felt the woman's arms wrapped around her, trembling. Summer felt… frail. "…Thank you," the prisoner whispered against her ear. "I'll hold on for a while longer."

"Please do."

Selene accompanied Visha back to the common areas to help prepare lunch, which they intended to eat together at the cells.

It was only a few minutes before Selene realized that Visha had become withdrawn and quiet. Realization dawned slowly. She turned to her former maid. "Visha…" Selene placed a hand on the old woman's shoulder. "I will not leave you behind, if Summer can be released. You will join us as well, regardless of our methods."

Her former maid's eyes filled with gratitude. "I would do what is necessary, young Selene. I've lived a long life. But if you choose to bring me with you, I'll come, and take care of you again." She smiled. "You always were a precious little thing. I'm glad to see you've grown to be such a wonderful young woman." She frowned. "But what is this game you're playing, talking about your mother as if she isn't the Queen?"

"That is complicated. And if it is a game, it is one my mother plays willingly."

"But won't she… are you daring to work against her?"

"Am I? My mother told me of this place. Could you not believe that she wants me to take this action? I can only assume as much."

Visha shook her head. "It all seems mad to me, Selene. But I'm just a servant."

"You are not just a servant. You are my Visha. That is important."

"Yes. Yes, I am. Until my last breath, and I'd do it again, too."

"I will hope that day is a long way off. Come, we have one more task before I leave. This… force that blocks aura. I would assume it is controlled by a device of some sort. Likely of Watts' manufacture, similar to that helmet. Do you know where it might be?"

"It's not in the prison cells, Selene. And it's nowhere in the living quarters either. I clean those, and I'd notice something like that… or at least I'd hope I would." Her wrinkled face drew up. "There's locked doors, though. Some of them I've never tried to open. We can check those."

In the end, their explorations found four locked doors. Three of them, Visha had keys to. One she did not. And it was that door that opened into the same space the larger double doors visible outside opened into. And Visha could not open either of them either. "I'd guess that leads to his part of the facility."

"Yes, I was told that he conducted experiments here. I would suspect there is a laboratory below."

Selene took photos of the door mechanisms, as much as she could see. "I will return to my friends with what I have found here. Watch for nevermore chicks bearing messages from me."

[A/N] And so we come full circle.

I hope you enjoyed the return of Summer Rose. I spent a lot of time trying to consider how she would still be alive, what mental state she would be in after three years, and any possible tortures she might have endured.

And here it is. Summer Rose and Visha from Chapter 2 are reunited with Selene. and Selene... is being Selene about the whole thing.

Summer... well she has clearly been through some shit, but she's still got some of her fire.

I can't imagine how introducing her into the plot at this moment could have any sort of canon impacts. Nope. Definitely not. I did say things were going to get exciting once Lionheart came on board, didn't I? Well hold on to your hats.

PS: Special thanks to ZoroEpsilon for Beta Reading my recent chapters. If you haven't checked out their WIP "Neo Penance", I highly recommend it!