Chapter 59: Northern Mistral - Unhappy Revelations
Cover Art by Mi Chumi
It was hours later, deep into the night, when Selene heard the sound of a Bullhead's engines in the distance. She tensed, then moved deeper into the thick evergreen foliage where she'd stopped to take stock of her condition. Most of her most serious injuries had healed. She could breathe without pain, and her voice no longer sounded guttural. Her skin had ceased looked charred on her left arm, and her scalp had stopped stinging, though her body looked battered and bruised, and her hair on the left side of her face still felt crinkled. Beyond that, her legs now felt like lead. Her arms were tired from carrying the tangled remnants of Blackfeather's harness and her weapon. She was freezing.
And her heart was a shattered husk, she felt dread at the sound.
It might be pursuers.
It might be Crystal, and that was still fraught.
Even if she assumed her human guise, she felt there would be too many questions, either way. And so she held herself still, hoping to be passed by. To buy more time to recover and possibly contact Garek once she returned to Scroll range of Springhill.
The Bullhead roared away into the distance, and then returned, closer this time. It was working a large spiral pattern. She huddled against a tree, trying to make herself as small as possible.
And then the machine suddenly veered toward her, a bright searchlight snapping on as it approached and then rapidly slowed. She concentrated, and assumed her human form reflexively, and found it a much larger drain on her Aura than expected.
More death? More pain? More sorrow?
"Selene! Is that you? Godsdammit, we've been searching for hours!" Pete's voice yelled over a loudspeaker. She heard a muffled conversation over the live microphone. "There's a clearing east of here. We'll meet you there!"
Perhaps not death then. But pain. Yes. And likely sorrow.
Selene slowly untangled herself from the brush, and worked her way eastward.
There, in the forest among the dense trees, Crys met her partway. The woman's face was pale, her eyes wide. She had her rifle slung across her back. "Selene! Are you okay?"
"I… I… I hurt. But I'm not—"
"Where's Cinder?!"
What?
"What do you mean. Did she not return to you?" Selene cried, heart sinking further. Would there be no end to this?!
"I had to go to the car! Back to Scroll range to call for help! Cinder ran toward you!" Selene felt her stomach drop. Cinder was still out there, somewhere in the forest. Crystal gripped Selene's arm. "Selene what happened?! We saw you and Blackfeather flying away, and then something hit him!" She began pulling Selene toward the clearing. "You can tell me on the way! We've got to look for Cinder. The Bullhead has IR cameras. It's how we spotted you. We'll keep looking."
"I—I—" Selene gasped as Crys pulled her along, faster than her legs could really manage, causing her injuries to ache again. In the end, Crystal nearly dragged her back to the Bullhead, to find Reggie in the pilot's seat. They took off before she could even get into a seat in the back. Crys helped buckle her in, then sat next to her.
"How's she doing?" Pete yelled back from the copilot's chair.
"She seems okay! Banged up a lot and exhausted. She doesn't know where Cinder is!"
"On it!" Reggie called back. "Pete, take over the thermal camera."
"Selene, what happened?" Crystal asked, checking her over carefully. Selene flinched when she tried to check the left side of her head. Her… normal guise did not change her physical form, merely her coloration. But now, she realized, she was expending extra effort to hide what had happened to her hair. It was slowly eating Aura. She needed to… gods… she needed time to recover.
Selene stared at Crys. Too much happened. Too much too fast. What could she say?
"I remember taking off. We were… flying. And the world went white, and then red."
"There was some sort of Dust projectile fired from the ground. Cinder and I saw it fly up. It hit Blackfeather." Crys continued checking Selene over, examining her bruises and marks. "We saw you fall off him, Selene. How are you not broken?"
"Aura. And luck."
Crys frowned at some of the injuries she found on her arms, recognizing tell-tale signs of defensive bruising. "You were attacked on the ground," she said quietly.
Selene nodded mutely. Crys was quiet and then her eyes widened. She had put two and two together. Something attacked Blackfeather on the ground, and then Selene who had likely tried to protect him. "Huntsmen?"
"They… they didn't understand… they attacked us. Blackfeather." She sobbed. "I tried. Gods I tried, Crys. I had to… I had to summon Grimm."
Crystal paled. "Oh gods."
Selene made a snap decision. One that felt right. She would bear the burden for this. Not Cinder. "Cinder came too late. She… she found me there. I killed them. Even if the Grimm did it, it was my fault." She sobbed. "Cinder saw. She fled." She stared at Crys. "I am a monster, Crys."
Crystal's face hardened, and she put her hands on Selene's shoulders. "No, you aren't! A monster would have left me in that forest to die. A monster would have me torn apart with the rest of Red's idiots." She squeezed Selene. "You are—"
The radio in the Bullhead squawked an emergency signal. One that had apparently been boosted enough to reach even out this far into the wilderness.
ATTENTION! ATTENTION!
REPORT OF DEADLY GRIMM ATTACK ON HUNTSMAN TEAM SOUTHWEST OF ARGUS, 20 MILES WEST BY FIVE MILES SOUTH. REPORTED HUNTSMAN CASUALTIES. GRIMM SIGHTED INCLUDE LARGE NEVERMORE RIDDEN BY HUMANOID GRIMM. ADDITIONAL GRIMM INCLUDE BEOWOLVES AND URSAE. ALL AVAILABLE AIR AND GROUND RESOURCES PLEASE CONVERGE TO ASSESS AND ADMINISTER ASSISTANCE.
The entire Bullhead went deadly still.
"What the fuck," Pete muttered. He turned back toward the two in the passenger area. Selene could see the moment that The Lone Huntsman's primary conspiracy theorist put all the digits together and finished doing this math.
And she felt Crystal's hand tighten on her shoulder at the same moment as she inhaled with a quiet gasp.
Pete's mouth opened, working, as his expression began to shift toward something between shock and anger. Selene felt the world collapsing beneath her, yet again. She was here, alone, in an enclosed space with three people she'd come to see as her friends.
And she did not see any manner in which this would end well for her.
Garek why did you have to go with Lionheart? Why could you not have stayed here with me? She felt the aches and weariness. The continued drain on her sparse Aura reserves of maintaining her appearance. She felt a sob welling up from deep in her.
"Later, Pete," Crys growled, eyes flicking between him and Selene.
"Crys—"
"Fucking later! We're looking for Cinder! And anyone else. We can worry about that later." Selene turned to look at the woman beside her, blinking. She was… upset, that was obvious. But she did not appear to be directing that anger toward Selene?
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Pete yelled, louder than needed in the confines of the Bullhead. "Selene—"
"Reggie, tell Pete to shut the fuck up." Crys said through gritted teeth. There was a hint, the faintest bit of flickering at the corners of her eyes.
Selene dragged her attention toward their pilot. Reggie hadn't moved. Hadn't even spoken yet. He was still focused on piloting and scanning controls and screens. But his back looked… tense? Or was that her projecting. "Pete." Reggie said in that unnaturally quiet and calm voice he used when under extreme stress. "Shut the fuck up."
Pete stared at his teammate, and then back at Crystal and Selene. "Fine," he said, face sour, "Pete shutting the fuck up." There he blinked again. "Right. Cinder. Right."
Crys didn't say anything to Selene. She just started alternating between staring at the opposite wall of the bullhead and glancing at her, but her hand didn't leave Selene's shoulder. Holding Selene in place.
And then slowly, her hand transitioned from feeling like she was restraining Selene, to gently squeezing her shoulder.
The desperate hope that brought her was painful.
. . .
The first of the Bullheads from Argus arrived within a few minutes, and immediately hailed Vacuo -1 when they reached local radio range.
"Bullhead Callsign Vacuo-1, this is Argus Patrol Delta."
Reggie gave the rest of the craft a warning look, and clicked on his mic. "This is Vacuo-1, we read you. We've been on station for about thirty minutes, executing a spiral search pattern."
"Roger that. Any signs of life or Grimm activity."
There was a long, pregnant pause, and Selene forgot how to breathe.
"We've been scanning with thermals. No survivors so far. There's a pack of Beowolves and Ursa about ten clicks north of original coordinates, continuing north last we passed them. We figured it was more important to track down higher priority targets than follow minor Grimm, but we took note of their position and speed."
"Thanks for the heads up. Argus Central, do you copy that?
There was the echoing sound of a voice being relayed through the speakers of the other craft's cockpit. "Roger that, dispatching a second craft north of coordinates and we have a Comms Station en-route."
Gods… what if they find Cinder and she… and she…
The thought terrified her. They would question Cinder, and Selene did not know how the girl would react. Whether she would confess her own actions, or Selene's, or worse try to fight them. Or flee. None of those were good options.
But she couldn't speak. She did not have words at the moment. She had only fear, and seeds of hope.
They continued their slow spiral, no one speaking, until Pete yelled out. "Reggie, I've got fucking Scroll signal right now!"
"Must be a repeater on that Comms Station, probably airborne. They're hoping any survivors will get signal and call in." Reggie said, nodding toward a handful of lights converging or circling to the north of them." He glanced back toward Selene, then to the others. "Crys, call Garek. Tell him we damn well need him back here now. Have him rent a bullhead and pilot if he has to. Pete, get Sophia and tell her we need a fix on Cinder's Scroll."
Pete nodded and immediately dialed his girlfriend and resident IT Guru, even as Crystal tried Garek. Selene missed her hand on her shoulder, but couldn't help but be hopeful. That hope fell as she saw Crystal's screen announce that Garek's Scroll was out of range.
"No signal on Garek," Crystal said. Selene could hear Pete having a quiet but intense conversation with Sophia from the copilot's seat, but couldn't hear what they were saying, beyond the words Cinder, Selene, and Scroll.
"Probably in the air or in the middle of nowhere with Lionheart," Reggie frowned. He glanced back toward Selene, keeping half his attention on the skies for any approaching craft. "Selene, we're going to have to split our work here. We're still looking for Cinder. But we are also looking for any survivors." He made eye contact briefly, then turned back toward the front and continued in a lower voice. "Are we going to find any?"
"I… I saw three Huntsmen. Two men and a woman." She closed her eyes. "They did not survive." Selene swallowed. "There may have been a fourth they spoke to."
"Huntsmen typically work in teams of four," Reggie nodded, his voice not betraying any emotion. "Must have been the fourth who managed to call in for help. Got back to Scroll range."
That also meant...
"Alright," Reggie continued. "We aren't looking for survivors. That means we're here to appear helpful to these other craft, but our goal is finding Cinder. Selene, you sit tight. Got it? Your job is to keep your ass in that seat and your mouth shut. If we end up having to land, stay in the fucking Bullhead and stay quiet. Am I clear?"
"Yes."
"Good." Reggie gave her an appraising look. "We're going to have us a long conversation after this. Once we've located Cinder."
"You fucking think?" Pete growled? There was a sound from his Scroll, and he started, and put it on speaker.
"I've been able to triangulate based off pings from that circling Comms Station they've got overhead. Cinder is about fifteen clicks southeast of you, not moving at the moment. If you get closer, I can probably guide you in."
Reggie frowned, and then widened his search pattern so that it would eventually reach that area. It meant taking thirty nail-chewing minutes to reach it rather than the five they could have made going directly there. But he was trying to avoid arousing the suspicions of the other craft that had converged o the Grimm further north. "There's a handful of civilian craft joining the search parties," Reggie announced, "They're well north of us and none heading this way right now. The patrols from Argus law enforcement and offshore Atlas base are keeping most of those away from the clearing where… Selene fell.
Where she'd killed those people.
Selene felt herself beginning to shake.
They finally made it close to the area that Sophia had indicated. Reggie frowned. "No heat signatures near here, Sophia. Got any updates?"
"Nope. She's sitting tight. You're practically on top of her."
The shock of that hit Selene like a punch to the stomach. That might mean. "No… no. She can't be," she whispered, bile crawling up her throat.
"Easy Selene," Crystal murmured. "There's a lot of possible explanations. She could be—"
Selene threw up on the floor of the Bullhead.
"Fuck!" Pete yelled.
"Oh hell, Selene." Crys grabbed a bottle of water and made Selene rinse her mouth out, grabbing an airsick bag and letting her spit into it as she moaned and coughed.
"I am sorry, Crystal. I am so sorry."
"Just hold it together, okay? It's gonna be okay." Crys leaned in so only Selene could hear. "I understand. I can do math as well as the next woman. It's… gonna be a little rocky. But I owe you. Got it?"
Selene looked at her supposed bodyguard, a woman who'd pledged her life if Selene would take her with her those months ago, and realized that if she'd done anything right so far, it had apparently been sparing a terrified Mistralian bandit.
"Very well," Selene breathed, stomach settling slightly.
"I'm bringing us down," Reggie announced.
The comms speaker on the Bullhead crackled again. "Vacuo-1 this is Argus Control, did you folks find something?"
"Not sure. Landing to check it out. I've got fire support with me from Springhill Training Center. We should be fine."
"Roger that. Be careful out there. Yell if you need backup or find something."
"Thanks Argus."
. . .
They found Cinder's Scroll. It was stuck in the crook of a tree with a chat window open. There was a single sentence typed into the box, addressed to Garek and Selene. She'd not hit the send button. There hadn't been any signal.
I'm so sorry. I messed up.
"Fuck." Pete cursed quietly when they returned to the Bullhead and reported it. "She knew we'd track her with it. She's fucking hiding from us." He glared back at Selene. "Why the hell is she hiding from us? And what the fuck does 'I messed up' mean?"
"Just a minute, Pete," Reggie raised a hand. "Argus Control, this is Vacuo-1, false alarm. Picked up a heat signature but it was just a deer."
"Roger that, Vacuo-1." There was a long pause. "Be advised that based on what we've found so far, do not anticipate any time-sensitivity." Another pause. "Appreciate the help, but you folks RTB at your discretion."
Reggie let out a slow breath and Pete just cursed again. That kind of language among Search and Rescue and military was code for 'we don't expect to find survivors'.
"Understood Argus, Vacuo-1 out." Reggie kept his view forward. "Bad for them, good for us. They won't be aggressively looking for survivors, so they won't find Cinder accidentally." He'd apparently realized that they didn't want any of the other crews to find Cinder. There was no telling what she'd say to them about what she'd seen.
"Selene," Crys slipped a hand under Selene's chin, and lifted her head. "Cinder's a strong girl. You've said it yourself. She's got at least a knife with her, and her Semblance. She'll be okay."
"It is my fault." Selene mourned softly, unable to meet Crystal's eyes. "She saw. She saw, and she fled."
Crys nodded understandingly. "She'll come around. She loves you guys."
"She loves something that…" Selene swallowed. "I am not—"
"Bullshit," Crys hissed quietly. "Stop that right now. I've seen you under pressure, Selene. Unless you tell me that this, your personality, is all an act, then you're exactly who you are." She shifted her hand, cupping Selene's cheek and forcing her to meet her dark eyes. Her brows knit. "Look… you don't, like, Grimm out or anything, right? Go all bloodthirsty and tear people's throats out?"
Selene flinched back in revulsion. "No!"
"Alright. Good enough for me."
Selene stared at the woman beside her. "Gods… you are... not…"
"I made a promise," Crystal said shrugging slightly. "I've got a good life here, thanks to you. I intend to keep that promise. The others'll come around. We'll just have to give them some time to be pissed off first." She thought for a minute. "Garek knows, right?"
Selene nodded once, slowly. "Yes. He… he saw me as I truly am."
"Good. Anyone else?"
"My maid, Visha. She raised me. And Summer Rose. I believe she told her husband."
"Huh. Well, that's something. When were you planning on telling us?" There was the faintest hint of unhappiness, judgment in her tone.
Selene felt a bitter laugh bubble up, and let it. "Soon. Very soon. I felt we were almost there. That I could trust you all." Her cursed eyes were filling up, and she was tired. So very very tired. "I feared you would hate me. Or someone would learn of me." She gave another bitter laugh. "Now the world will know a creature like me ex—"
Selene's entire body felt like it had been dunked in ice-water. She gasped and her eyes widened. "My mother!" Her voice rose. "Gods… we must… I must call my mother! I must call her now before she learns!" She pulled out her Scroll and started to turn it on.
"Selene!" Pete warned. "The hell are you doing?! Crystal, I don't give a fuck who she thinks she's calling, but she's not talking anyone until we sort this out between us!"
Selene felt panic rising, tried to keep her voice even, not to sound hysterical. "No. I must… contact my Mother. I must reassure her that I am not injured. The Queen will hear of the attack!"
Reggie and Pete glanced at each other, and Reggie spoke softly. "Pete's right. We should wait until we have a chance to talk. All of us. Back at Argus. After we get Garek online."
"But you do not understand…" Selene could feel her eyes overflowing, through fear or frustration or just an overload of emotion.
"I understand that things are really fucked up right now," Pete groused. "And I understand it's at least partly because you've kept something big secret from us. So, I'm gonna veto any Scroll calls from you until we sit down and you explain all this, with everyone present."
Selene shook her head. "You do not understand!" She cried. "The Queen will… she will overreact! She will hurt people. Because of me!"
Pete glared at her. "You're backing us into a corner, Selene. And you're doing it because you didn't share information."
Sophia's voice sounded from the Scroll in Pete's lap. "Pete."
It was just one word. Just his name, but Sophia's tone was freaking weird. He froze, then answered carefully. "Yeah, babe?"
"Ease up. I've… been working on this puzzle, and I think Selene just gave me a shit-load of straight edges. If Selene's sure that this Grimm Queen is going to find out anyway, then we might have to let her make that call. We might not have any choice. And all of us except for Garek are already here. I've got a fix on him, he's in the air but his scroll doesn't have signal."
"Garek knows everything!" Selene offered, still panicking. "He will accept my explanation to you." She had to make them see! Yes, Watts would be monitoring emergency channels on the Queen's behalf. He would be interested, on her behalf, in anything that could be used in the future.
She knew this in her gut.
And he would recognize this event. What its description meant.
He would report to the Queen immediately.
Gleefully.
She didn't have hours. She had minutes to an hour perhaps. She did not know what her mother would do… no what her mother would bid the Queen do to those even remotely associated with the attack she had just suffered.
But she knew what the Queen was capable of.
Unrestrained, apocalyptic violence.
"Alright then," Pete said. "Selene, convince me."
Selene froze. She felt like throwing up again. No, I must.
Gods, do not let them hate me. Fear me.
"I am… not fully human."
It was Sophia's voice that sounded again, tone flat. "Part Grimm?"
Selene's throat closed. She couldn't get the words out, so she nodded.
"The emergency announcement said there was a humanoid Grimm riding a Nevermore." Reggie glanced back, but she couldn't read his expression. "Crys said you were attacked in the air."
Selene coughed, trying again. "Yes, I… I fell. When I struck the ground, I must have blacked out." She swallowed. "I was unable to maintain my appearance."
"And the Huntsmen show up and find a humanoid fucking Grimm," Pete spat.
The words, spoken allowed, made Selene's chest ache. She dropped her head, eyes finally overfilling, streaming. And then she felt an arm across her shoulders.
"I doubt they offered her a chance to explain, Pete." Crys interjected.
"You killed them," her friend accused.
"I am no fighter, Pete. You know this. I did not even have my weapon." She nodded toward Persuasive Argument, still tangled in the remains of Blackfeather's harness and stowed in the corner of the compartment. "I summoned Grimm to defend me. I was… panicked, desperate. I did not…" her breath hitched. "I did not give sufficiently explicit instructions." She sobbed, shaking her head. "Their deaths are on my shoulders."
"And now your mom…"
"Selene's mom is Grimm," Sophia interrupted. "That's the big secret."
Selene shook her head, trying to collect herself. To steel herself. She had to make them understand. To understand why this was important. "It is not so simple. My mother is… she is two people. She is my mother, who is desperate to protect me. Who cares for my happiness. Who had helped us." She reached out her hands, examining them. "But she is also my Queen, who plots to destroy Remnant, who is capable of thoughtless violence."
"Ho- Lee- Fuck," Pete breathed. "The Queen is the mole."
"No! My Mother is the 'mole'. She… She is ancient. I cannot fathom how her mind works, not really. But I believe she has managed to build a wall within herself. She has allowed herself to… not know things that the other knows." Pete started muttering something about eldritch horrors with MPD.
"What's she going to do if you don't call her?" Reggie had set the Bullhead on a gentle, curving course, and was splitting his time between navigating, checking the thermal cameras since Pete seemed distracted, and glancing back at her.
"If I cannot reach her before she learns of this from Watts, she is capable of anything, Reggie. She could… if she believed I were killed, she might level Argus."
The words hung in the air. There was an intense silence in the Bullhead as they all absorbed it. The lives of hundreds of thousands of people, all blissfully ignorant.
"Let her call," Sophia said firmly.
Reggie nodded once, sharply. "Agreed."
Pete struggled before throwing up his hands. "Fuck. Yes. Do it. Godsdammit!" He slammed his fists against the frame of the Bullhead in front of him.
"Don't break the Bullhead, Pete. We can't afford another one."
"Fuck off, Reg. Fuck right the hell off."
Selene powered up her Scroll and considered. She did not know if her mother would be… her mother at the moment. She needed to ensure the importance of this was communicated before the Queen learned about this from Watts.
She activated a video call to the secure scroll her mother held in Grimmlands.
The scroll answered immediately with video turned off and a single word. "Bide."
It was the Queen who had answered, to Selene's distress. The Power behind that single word caused everyone else in the Bullhead to flinch.
There was the sound of movement, a door opening and closing. Rushed steps. It took some minutes, during which the members of the Bullhead waited as it continued its slow curving route Southeast, in the direction Reggie had guessed Cinder might have taken. He managed to keep one eye on the thermal cameras, but he was beginning to give up hope they would find Cinder. It looked like she was trying to not be found.
. . .
When Salem enabled video to answer the call properly, she was still in the process of removing ornate hairpins and allowing her hair to fall to her shoulders in a small, darkened space.
What Selene didn't know was that Salem had created a ritual. When Salem spoke with Selene as her mother, she required these… time and ritual. Time to adjust her thinking, her reactions. Ritual to make it real. Ideally, she would have changed her clothing as well and retired to her private chambers. She would have taken at least an hour to adjust her thinking.
But Selene had called her with video. This did not happen. Selene needed her. And she would be there for her daughter. She would force herself to… be Selene's mother.
"Selene?" Salem took in her daughter's appearance. There were bruises on her daughter's face that were slowly healing thanks to Aura. There was debris in her hair. Signs that she had been weeping. A haunted expression.
Salem felt her mask slip, and the Queen forced her way to the front. "What has happened." Salem's voice held Power, and the threat behind her words nearly made Selene's blood freeze.
"Mother, I am well," She managed, voice shaking. "I promise you. There was an incident, but I used my training and-"
"You were attacked." Salem's scarlet eyes narrowed. "Who is this human beside you?"
Selene had not ensured that Crystal was fully out of the camera view. Her hand had been left on Selene's shoulder, trying to comfort her.
Selene looked to her right, and saw Crystal, throat bobbing as she fought to come to terms with the alien thing before her staring at the scroll. She managed to tear her eyes from it, to meet Selene's gaze. Something unspoken passed between them, and Crystal slowly, shakingly, removed her hand, and rested her arm instead around Selene's back and farther shoulder.
Selene could feel her shaking, but the woman managed to keep most of it out of her voice. Selene adjusted the screen so both were in view. "I am… Selene's friend."
Scarlet eyes appraised her and found her lacking. "You were unable to protect my daughter. I am unsure of the sufficiency of your… friendship." Salem said, tone dripping with derision.
"Mother I—"
Salem's attention snapped back to Selene, and her mouth opened in a snarl. The room where she sat or stood darkened further until the only thing visible was her bone-white face, black sclera, scarlet eyes bright with rage and power. "You will cease your excuses and explain what has occurred, Selene. Or by the cursed Brothers, I will lay waste to half of Remnant."
Selene gasped, feeling herself becoming dizzy.
"Easy, Selene. Deep breaths." Crystal tore her eyes from the terrifying apparition on the screen, and managed to focus on Selene instead. She realized she had the water bottle still clasped in her right hand, and offered it to Selene again. "Here, take a drink."
Salem's gaze flicked to Crystal for a brief moment, and something in the ancient woman's expression shifted, ever so slightly. "Selene." There was a hint of pleading in her voice, and the bulk of that terrifying power seemed to leach away with the single word.
Selene took a long drink, and handed the bottle back to Crystal. "I… I was to ride Blackfeather, in the darkness, to return to you as planned." Selene swallowed. "We had the misfortune to pass within sight of a team of Huntsmen. They attacked Blackfeather, and I fell. I… lost concentration when I struck the ground."
Salem's expression shifted to something that contained… awareness. "You changed, and they discovered you thus."
Selene nodded. "I could not… they would not listen to reason."
Emotions flickered across Salem's face. Sadness. Anger. Fear. Rage. Vindication. Back to sorrow. Fear again. "I warned you, daughter. Did I not tell you this? Did I not tell you of the consequences, should you be harmed by these… humans?" Salem's free hand flexed, fingernails digging into her palm as she began pacing in the small space she occupied, holding the scroll with the other. "They will never accept you. They will be punished for—"
"That's not true…" a slightly hoarse voice managed from beside Selene.
Crystal had dared to interrupted Salem. It had been centuries since a human had so dared, and that one had died screaming. Grimm-scarlet eyes locked onto Crystal, and the former Bandit felt her body begin to quake under that gaze.
"You have something to… add to this discussion, human?" One eyebrow lifted, though the feeling of rage did not lessen.
"I… I… I can accept Selene… what she is…" Crystal stammered, then trailed off as those eyes appraised her.
"A trivially easy declaration, for one who has never seen her true nature," Salem said as a sneer slowly crept across her face. "Words. Empty words."
Selene felt Crystal tense. And she knew what she had to do.
She turned her head to evaluate the woman who had started as potential accomplice to her death when her bandit group had attacked her in southern Mistral, then had become her prisoner after the others had been slain or fled, and finally someone who had declared herself Selene's bodyguard.
"Crystal," she said softly, and the woman managed to drag her attention away from Salem's face. "I will… show you…"
Crystal's eyes searched Selene's, then she nodded almost imperceptibly.
And Selene closed her eyes slowly. As she opened them, she released her mask. The mask that had protected her from her friends for over a year. She heard Pete curse quietly as the color washed from her, felt Crystal shudder, and then her eyes were fully open. Eyes that pled for understanding.
And found Crystals face had paled with horror instead. She felt… despair.
"Oh Selene, your face. Your hair… what did they do to you?" Crystal said softly. Selene heard the sound of her mother's gasp at the same time.
She had forgotten. Forgotten in the stress of the moment, the need to prove to her mother that her friends would not abandon her. She had forgotten the injuries that she'd been hiding. Most of the charred skin had already healed, but her hair would not, and the left side of her face was covered in ash and peeled skin from the previous burns.
"Daughter…" Salem breathed.
Selene felt Crystal's hand, gently, probe at her injuries. "Oh gods, Selene, they did a number on you."
It would be stupid to imagine that Selene's shift in appearance hadn't impacted Crystal. The sight of her skin losing all color, her hair shifting from light auburn to white streaked with black, her eyes shifting from white and blue to black and scarlet…eyes like the terrifying woman on the scroll... had filled her with momentary panic as her mind tried to reject what she saw. But she'd already seen Salem on the scroll. She was… sort of… prepared for what she would see Selene turn into.
But what had clinched it was the fact that Selene's expression had not changed. Her eyes didn't go from terrified and sad to hateful and angry. Her mouth didn't twist into a sneer. Her… feel… didn't change. And the fact that she'd been hiding injuries… that was what probably went the farthest toward pushing Crystal quickly past any revulsion or fear she might have felt.
Selene blinked and something eased in her chest. "You do not find me… horrifying?"
Crystal took a deep breath. "Well… it's gonna take some getting used to… and your hair is fucked. But…"
Selene felt a hysterical laugh threaten to bubble up and heard Reggie cough to cover one of his own. Pete made a choking sound.
Salem's eyes widened. "There are…others with you."
Selene regarded the screen again. Her mother's entire attitude had shifted yet again, mercurial as ever. She was bouncing between surprise at Crystal's reaction, concern over her daughter's healing injuries, and the reality that there were others present at all.
Selene nodded. "My friends are all here, mother. They came to my aid. Garek is in transit." Except Cinder. Cinder was missing. Cinder had fled.
"I can't believe I'm the only one who can't see anything," Sophia muttered. "Turn the damn Scroll around, Pete." Pete started, and then complied, adjusting it on the console in front of him so it would show the scene in the passenger area.
"You see, Mother," Selene said through eyes threatening to overfill again as awareness washed over her as well. "These are my friends. I had feared… delayed… but it appears the matter has been forced, earlier than I intended. But this is what I had hoped for."
There was a long silence, and then Salem's mouth turned downward. "Fine, a handful. A pittance of humanity is worthy of my consideration. Others shall not be so fortunate."
Selene understood what that implied. "Mother, I beg of you. I have… dealt with those who attacked me, to my sorrow. It has cost me already. Please, do not compound my guilt with the deaths of innocents to add to those of… of the ignorant."
Salem stared at her daughter for several long minutes, the only sounds the steady thrum of the Bullhead, rage warring with contempt for humanity across the ancient woman's face.
Rage tempered by something approaching pride in her daughter. Her daughter who had defended herself against Huntsmen.
And as she considered, several times her eyes flicked to the woman beside her daughter. A human woman who had called Selene her friend. Who Selene had just confessed to killing Huntsmen in front of. Who was comforting Selene, as Salem wished she were able to at that moment.
That mattered… to an extent.
"I will take your words into consideration."
"Mother—"
"Silence, daughter!" Salem snapped. "I will… I will think on this. I will consider what measured requests I will make of your Queen, carefully. Do not press me further."
"Thank you, Mother." Selene breathed. "I… I love you."
Something in Salem's face softened, and Crystal saw, for a brief moment, what Selene saw. "And I you, as well. Or I would not… I would not fear so. I would not wish to…" She halted, and looked at Crystal. "My daughter seems unable to properly take measures for her safety. If you are truly her friend, you will assist me in this."
Crystal swallowed. "I pledged to put her survival before mine, before I really knew what that meant, if it matters to you."
"It does. I…" the word seemed difficult to force out "…thank you. Make her be more cautious. Her death would have consequences far beyond the loss of one soul."
"I will."
Salem considered her daughter. "Rest, child. You are exhausted, and you have suffered injury." Her eyes drifted upward to Selene's scalp. "We will speak more. We will have to change the manner in which you visit Evernight." Salem's face registered awareness. "Does Blackfeather live?"
"I believe he does," Selene said sadly. "He was gravely injured. He cannot fly."
"Nor will he heal. If he still lives, and you wish him to recover, you will have to return him to one of the pools of darkness."
"I understand. Thank you, Mother."
Salem nodded, and the screen blanked.
Selene collapsed, and Crystal started to hyperventilate. "Gods… that was… gods…" she gasped.
In the front of the Bullhead, Pete started swearing profusely, though there was little heat in it. Sophia was silent.
Reggie continued calmly flying the Bullhead and monitoring the thermal camera. But inside, there was a storm brewing. He'd be having words with a certain Huntsman, when Garek got back to Argus.
He glanced back toward Selene. She was a wreck. And he'd bet money that in a few minutes, after the adrenaline from the call wore off, she'd remember that they still hadn't found Cinder.
It was going to be a long damn night.
[A/N]Thanks to recent reviewers Shadowstorm-Vash, AtomicR4y, Rookie80, and DragonL0RD. Sorry to have put you folks through the wringer here, but sometimes things just go off the rails.
And the cat is out of the bag, fully, among The Lone Huntsmen and Crystal. Crystal hasn't been, until now, fully read in on TLH's little cabal, though she trusted Reggie and Selene completely. And she's a survivor, as evidenced by her history. Personality-wise, Crystal is the kind of person who just stubbornly adapts to situations through brute willpower and a willingness to bend both her thinking, her morals, and her assumptions. And that plays well into how she deals with this. The fact that all the pieces were there in front of her from the first moment she met Selene probably made it easier for her to dial in than others. Selene had her completely at her mercy, in the wilds of Southern Mistral, surrounded by Grimm, and didn't kill her. And she watched her command those Grimm. The idea that Selene was both part Grimm, and not evil... if anyone could accept that, it would be her. And now she really is Selene's freaking bodyguard, or Salem will have her shredded.
Of course, Salem doesn't know she's a Maiden. So she wouldn't go down easy, that's for sure. Of TLH, it appears that Sophia was the fastest to understand what Selene was. Not surprising since she's been the one monitoring private communications. Pete's having the most obviously difficult time dealing with it. He's NOT happy. Reggie isn't happy either, though he doesn't show it as obviously. And Garek has freaking got his damned phone turned off. Dude's gonna get an earful when he gets in cell range. Anyone want to take bets on what Salem considers to be a 'measured response' to an attack on Selene, even after being tempered? Yeah. I didn't think so. Where the hell is Cinder? Cinder is on the run. Running from Selene. Running from herself. Running from everything. Any bets on where she'll run to?!