Rwby: Child of Grimm: Volume 4

Chapter 3: PhanTazem

[Mirror] "H-huh? wh-where am I?"

Waking from his enforced slumber, Mirror awakes with slight headache. Panicking, he frantically searches his surroundings, seeing nothing but cell walls. Within moments, the sound of footsteps on the stone fills his ears.

[???] "so, yer the one? The one with a budding seed in yer soul?"

The man spouting these strange words seems to have been standing there for a while, wearing a brown duster over a black shirt, a red kerchief around his neck, blue jeans, brown boots and a brown, flat brimmed hat to finish the ensemble. A thorny rose bud is embroidered on the back of his jacket and two revolvers hang loosely in their holsters.

[Mirror] "w-what? Who are you? Where am I? Where are my teammates? What do you want?"
[???] "hold up there kid, too many questions at once. Name's Thorn Kelly, you're in a cell, mostly dead and I'm not the one who's got business with you."
[Mirror] "that...You only answered your name!"
[Thorn] "not true. I told you your friends are dead. Y'know, the here, there and everywhere variety of dead."
[Mirror] "w-what?"

Mirror remembers the scene of his brother being sliced apart by the armoured assailant, followed by him blacking out.

[Mirror] "Dan..."
[Thorn] "don't forget the armoured boy. He blew up."
[Mirror] "w-what?!"

Mirrors eyes open wide in shock and horror when he learns of this new information.

[Mirror] "W-what about...what about Gwenn?!"
[Thorn] "don't know about that one. Last I heard she got out of there."
[Mirror] "a-ah...thank god..."
[???] "having a nice chat there mercenary."

Thorn and Mirror turn to looks at the figure entering the room. A man with white hair and red eyes wearing a black, button up coat and carrying a malicious looking scythe over his shoulder.

[Thorn] "y'know, you could at least call me by my name."
[???] "we're paying you to work with us, not to be friends."
[Thorn] "yer chose to hire me out of everyone yer could, so I'd say yer don't want to be on my bad side."
[???] "it would be an annoyance yes, though I'd be more than enough to take care of a gunslinger like yourself."
[Thorn] "yer lookin' fer a fight there pardner?"
[???] "hmph, relax, you've done good work so far. Keep it up and we won't have any problems."
[Mirror] "uh, who are you?"

The two adults shift their attention back to the caged boy.

[???] "my name's Blüt. This is my partner, Nehmen."

Blüt places his scythe in front of the boys face, its blade glistens with a shine that shows the love and care the man has for his instrument of murder.

[Mirror] "I...see...nice to...meet you? Wait no, why are you holding me here!?"
[Blüt] "ah, that. Well, you've sparked an interest in our leaders."
[Mirror] "what?"
[Blüt] "while you were unconscious, you were put through some tests. They showed that, while incomplete, you have the building blocks of a stable corrupted."
[Mirror] "a...what?"
[Blüt] "*Sigh* essentially, you've come across one of us at some point yes? A powerful one at that. And whatever happened to you then, whatever they had done to you, they seem to have left something within you. A power without consciousness, an empty shell just waiting to be filled."

Mirror thinks for a moment before recalling his meeting with Sol. Both the first and second time, the 'semblance' he copied, the effects it had on him at other points, the rage he felt during the tournament and when his brother was killed.