The Knights of Grimm - Act 3 - Shattered Memory

Chapter 56 - Not an Angel

Ruby

Her heart skips a beat from the thunderous bang of the doors suddenly bursting open, she and everyone else spins round with terrified expressions on their faces. Both Ruby and Blake draw their weapons, aiming through the sights of their firearms at him as he enters. With his arms splayed out and a sinister smile on his face, he stares into their eyes with his cunning brown irises. "I made it! Finally...here at this prestigious academy...I mean I have been here before, but you know. Still one of hell of an honour to be here." Vir Nominis Umbra chuckles as he walks into the Amphitheatre, acting at theatrically as ever as he walks around.

Her heart is pounding at the speed of sound, anxiety flowing with the blood in her veins. Because this is the first time she has ever seen him in person, she has heard of him, had nightmares of him. But she never imagined that he really was real, or perhaps she had hoped that he was not as dangerous as they thought. And the twenty dead Bandits outside shows that he is not a foe that they want to mess with. Her hands are shaking erratically as she holds her beloved Crescent Rose in her grasp, the hospitalised Hunters watch the Soothsayer with lumps in their throats as he walks round slowly with both hands clasped together. "Ruby Rose...what an honour it is to finally meet you in person." He says with a smile, before bowing before her.

"You..." Ruby stammers with her silver eye wide as she stares at him, her teeth beginning to grit together despite the fact she is quivering with fear right now. Her bones and muscles going stiff from anxiety as she watches is ever move as he walks into the building.

"You're him..." She stammers as she stares at him, and the Soothsayer chortles away as he walks round them in the huge building.

"Aye...I am." He confesses, stopping in one place as he stares straight at her.

She waits for him to speak, and even though she has a good feeling she knows what he is about to say, she is still afraid. Oscar stands beside Ruby, with his hand close to the hilt of Traveller's Atrocity. Qrow is there too, all of them are, staring at the lone Soothsayer. And all of them are intimidated by him, despite the fact they outnumber him nearly twenty to one.

"Vir Nominis Umbra." He introduces, not even moving when he speaks, until he bows before her with that chilling grin on his face, watching her as he bows downwards. "At your service." He comedically adds, as if he has just met a friend of his in a bar. Then he continues to walk, and he reveals something that they never realised. "Well – I say that this is the first time we've met...but we both know that is not really true – is it, sweetie pie?" Vir Nominis Umbra asks her, spinning round on his heel to stare at her, then at Yang.

"When?" Ruby questions.

"Well, Miss Xiao Long over there may not realise it but I think we shared a lovely little campfire before you came across your beloved Kassius Locke." Vir Nominis Umbra reminds, and her eyes widen when she remembers, staring at him with disbelief. A memory flashes before her eyes of the Merchant that emerged from the night at her campfire.

"Vincent...Reeve..." She gasps as she stares at him and he chuckles.

"Funny isn't it? Vincent...just like Vir...wouldn't you say?" He chortles as he stares at her, then his brown eyes turn to Ruby. "And I believe you actually bumped into me when you went to see dear old Professor Leonardo Lionheart for the first time – gods rest his soul." Vir Nominis Umbra reminds, bowing his head respectively to the traitor who was killed by Death. Ruby thinks back to when they were literally just about to enter the building to meet Lionheart, and she did bump into a man.

Only now...does she see the striking resemblance.

Ruby gasps with disbelief, she had literally passed right by her arch nemesis the whole time, the one responsible for all the terrible things to pass. "Wow...did I really make that much of a fleeting impression? I would be offended if that was not my intention all along, but I did have a better one." He says as he points at them, and they are all lost for words as they stare at him.