The Knights of Grimm - Act 4 - Whispers of Arkhonex

Chapter 92 - Honour and Love

Jaune

Salem's Sanctum...

Ruby stared at the halls with wide eyes, both she and Oscar could feel the energy in here, the flashing memories of when they were here last. Trying to escape with each other after Mercury and Emerald helped them escape. If it weren't for Hazel, Oscar would have never made it out of there. Ruby looked at the glowing purple crystals in the walls, touching them gently. Her silver eye squeezed shut, and she could hear it again. Her echoed cries, her screams of pain...

... his maniacal cackling.

"Hey... are you okay?" Jaune asked Ruby as he gently held her shoulder. Ruby blew out a breath, her heart was hammering to stand inside of this place once again. It had been five years, yet nothing had changed, she knew it was going to be hard to be back here – but she never thought it would get to her this bad. She felt Oscar's hand gently clutch into hers, she looked into his eyes as he smiled – he was feeling the same way, but he was there for her.

"You're not alone this time." Pyrrha promised with a kind smile, Ruby smiled back.

"Yeah... c'mon, let's find her." Ruby said as she walked with Oscar. Jaune walked ahead of them with Pyrrha, and Cinder was beside her whilst Hazel hung back with Ruby and Oscar.

"This all feels so weird... it's been so long since I've seen these halls, yet it all feels like it was just yesterday." Cinder said, she closed both her eyes, now that her burned eye had finally healed and she could see through them both again. Only scarring surrounded her eye, but she was done hiding behind that patch. "Why did I waste so much of my life here?"

"Hey, you're not that person anymore... gods I never thought that I'd be saying this to you... but we're here." Jaune assured with a smile, Cinder chuckled with a smile back.

"A lot has changed. Yet some things haven't." Cinder said, looking at everything that surrounded them. The same halls, with the same scars from the past. They kept moving through the halls, and Pyrrha aimed down one of the splitting paths, there was nothing down there. All they could hear was the whistling wind, and the nearby explosions and gunfire of the Warzone outside.

"We need to keep moving, every second we waste is a soldier dead." Hazel said as he moved around the corner as well, pulling his Ancestral Blade from his sheath attached to his belt. He held it tight, ready to kill anything that was lurking nearby. Yet there was nothing inside of the halls, it seemed to be completely abandoned.

"Don't let the silence fool you, if Salem hasn't got any Grimm in here it's because she's waiting for us." Cinder said.

"You think she knows we're already inside?" Ruby asked her.

"Definitely. She's waiting for us to come to her – and I know exactly where to find her." Cinder said.

"Yeah, so do we." Oscar agreed, remembering that large room with the huge table. Where he played against Death at that game that got Mercury killed. They followed the former Followers of Salem down these halls, and they approached – a door.

With two levers.

"Hmm... eenie meanie miney moe." Jaune said as he looked at the two levers. "Which shall we pull?"

Cinder suddenly shot past Jaune and she stood beside him, and it was bizarre to see her act so – exuberantly. She pointed at one of the levers with her eyes closed and head held high with a grin. "Pull the lever, Jaune!" She called out, Hazel smirked and purposefully pulled the one next to the one she desired before Jaune could even do anything. The floor opened beneath her and her eyes widened as she plummeted down into the water beneath. "WRONG LEVER!" Her voice trailed down beneath them as they watched her fall.