RWBY: The Hidden Grimm Book 2

Chapter #17 inner demons

I throw the Paladin Pilot to Salem's feet and stand behind him as Salem looks him over. "You have served me well. But there is one last thing, he needs to be dead." Salem says as she looks at me. The pilot screams but his mouth is covered so only the muffled screams can be heard as I ready my axe. "Tough break bud," I say before I cleve him in half with his blood splattering onto my attire. "Very good, now I can begin. Clean yourself and await my summons," Salem orders. I bow and walk into the halls where I find emerald waiting. "I'm gonna take a guess and say that's not your blood," she says as she notices the stains on my clothes. "You would be right. Does this place have a laundry room or something?" I ask as I put away my axe. "Follow me," Emerald says as she takes the lead. "Wheres your shadow?" I ask. "Mercury? He wasn't exactly excited about waiting for you." Emerald says. I laugh as I notice emeralds unease. "So if you don't mind my asking how did you figure out that Mercury was the one that killed Tukson?" Emerald asks. " I found his body and noticed the massive hole in his head and bullet holes in the ceiling that matched the size of buckshot pellets. There was also a bootprint on what was left of his head so I put it together when I saw him fight in class." I explain. "Oh yeah class heh, I hated those skirts we had to wear,"  Emerald says nervously. I stay silent as we reach the laundry room. "What, no "You look good in a skirt," I thought you were the flirty type," emerald says. "Just because I don't want to kill you doesn't mean I like you, besides I thought you were into girls?" I explain as I put my clothes in the wash after removing my gear. I notice the silence and turn to see Emerald staring at me. "Your staring," I say as I lean against the washer. "How did you-" "I was out in the world for a long time, most of it not in the safety of a kingdom. So with enough time, I got more and more scars, but some were from humans and Faunus." I explain.  "Can I ask you something?" Emerald asks. "You just did," I say with a chuckle. "Ugh I mean if you don't like me then why did you say all that stuff to me before you left?" Emerald says as she rolls her eyes. " I don't need to like a person to give them advice or try to help them," I explain. Emerald just looks at me as the washer dings and I throw my clothes into the dryer. "Is that the only pair of clothes you have?"  Emerald asks. "Yes since I put a lot of effort into it," I say as cross my arms. "You made that!?" Emerald says shocked. "Well I modified it, I just picked this off the corpse of my village's peacekeeper when my village was attacked," I explain. Emerald's eyes widen and she stares at me as I laugh. "Oh, the look on your face is priceless!" I say while still laughing. "Well, what do you expect when you hit me with something like that." Emeralds says. "I guess that is a lot to take in if you're not used to it," I say as the dryer finishes. "Maybe give me a warning next time at least before you just-" The door burst open as Mercury busts into the room. "What is going on in here!" He yells as he sees me shirtless and Emerald realizes what was going through his mind. "Oh no, no, no it's not what you think!" Emerald says as she's a flustered mess. I laugh as I put my clothes back on and walk past mercury. "Thanks for the help Emerald I've needed that for weeks," I say over my shoulder as I nearly die laughing. "You son of a bitch!" Emerald yells as I laugh even harder. Me, Aaron, and Lance are all laughing like maniacs while the girls just stare at us. "Did you really have to do that to her?" Angel asks. " No, but if it screws with Mercury then whatever Emerald does in retaliation is worth it." I say as I wipe a tear from my eye. Aaron and Lance manage to recover by the time we get back to Salem and kneel. "I am ready for my next assignment my Queen," I say as I kneel. "Good, your next assignment is to collect an artifact lost to time. This artifact is said to show the future and provide infinite wisdom, bring it to me! The kingdom this artifact resides in has long been destroyed but from what I have been able to gather it lies in Sanus. I trust you will figure out the rest, Now go!" Salem orders, I stand and bow before leaving. "Sanus huh, sounds like we're heading back to Vale, well what's left of it." Krystal says. "we might be able to find a lead there, and it would be nice to see some familiar faces." I say as I walk the halls. "So any idea what or who may be able to help out?" Angel asks. "Professor Port?" Lance suggests. "Maybe but he tells a lot of tall tales so I'm not sure if he'll actually be of any help. Besides we don't exactly know where he hangs out outside of school since Beacon hasn't been fully rebuilt yet." I counter. What about Dr.Oobleck?" Eve says out of nowhere. "Where the hell have you been!" Aaron says. "I've been looking through all of his memories, lucky I tuned up right as I got to a memory of Dr. Oobleck giving a lecture about history," Eve explains. "Oh yeah Dr. Oobleck, can't believe I forgot about him, well we still have the problem of not knowing where he lives or hangs out. But I do have an idea, now let's ride." I say as I mount Cerberus and ride off to Sanus.