[Author's Note: The following chapters from here will be filler, until I figure out which arc to do next involving Scarlet.]
The rain in Tengu City tasted like ash. It fell in slick, oily sheets, plastering discarded newspapers to the cracked pavement and pooling in the craters left by things that were never meant to walk the earth. From the fortified basement of what was once a bustling department store, Shido Itsuka watched the city's new inhabitants on a flickering monitor. Beowolves, their bone-white masks gleaming under the perpetual twilight cast by Salem's malevolent influence, stalked the empty streets in packs. Their red eyes were hungry, soulless beacons in a world drained of its color.
This was their life now. A war of attrition against an immortal witch and her endless legion of Grimm. Every day was a desperate scramble for resources, a prayer that the city's remaining spatial quake alarms—now repurposed to detect Grimm concentrations—would remain silent.
Shido ran a hand through his blue hair, the exhaustion a physical weight on his shoulders. Across the makeshift command center, the others bore their own burdens. Miku sat in a corner, her fingers tracing the keys of a silent portable keyboard, no song in her heart left to sing. Natsumi, in her adult form, nervously practiced shapeshifting into a gargoyle, a form she used for scouting, her features flickering with anxiety. Yoshino sat quietly, her puppet Yoshinon on her other hand, next to her sat Marigold, Kurumi and Scarlet's daughter. The two of them were searching through a box of canned food.
"Staring at them won't make the monsters disappear, Shido." The voice was dry and matter-of-fact, coming from a ginger cat meticulously cleaning its paw on a stack of outdated schematics.
"I know, but what else can we do?" Shido asked glancing back at Hero, Scarlet's furry companion who had been within Tengu City after his last journey with Scarlet in the Overloard universe. "There's too many of them, and some of us just don't have the strength to take down a horde of Grimm."
"We have to do something Shin." Reine spoke in her low, tired and calculated tone. "Sitting here won't help us, they will find us...the smell of fear will lead them here.."
Not taking his eyes off the screen, Shido spoke. "I'm just… trying to find an opening. A weakness."
Origami, in her AST gear, and not in her spirit form. Glared at Shido for a bit. "Salem's arrogance is her weakness." Her voice was as sharp and cold as the combat knife she was methodically sharpening. "And that is a fortress we cannot breach."
Marigold, bless her soul. Walked over to where the Yamai twins were at, which were bickering and silently arguing over a map and a plan of action. Held up a large can of butter chicken curry, the twins went silent. Their gaze met the can Marigold was holding, their stomachs rumbling. Kaguya, took the can from Marigold's hands as she opened it. "It may not be heated up...but it's the best we can do right now..."
Yuzuru, calm and collected like a robot. Spoke. "Confirm...it is necessary to heat up the butter chicken curry...results, we cannot as it would give away our position." Glancing over the can, she spoke once more. "Cold, and unheated. It will have to do, for now. To fill our bellies."
Kaguya nodded lightly as she dug her index and middle finger into the opened can, scooping out some butter chicken curry. Passing the can over to her sister, Yuzuru had done the same. She placed the can down in the middle of her and Kaguya.
Nia was sketching furiously in a notebook, trying to use her Angel, Raziel, to divine some future where they weren't all destined to become Grimm-food. It seemed her last encounter with Scarlet had left her in shambles, she cursed under her breath as she mumbled quietly to herself.
Mana, who was out on patrol, while being sneaky and not to be discovered by the Grimm. Spotted something off the corner of her eye, she called in over the ear piece she was given. "Shido, it's me. I found something, or rather someone."
Shido's heart leaped into his throat, the first actual signs of life. Standing up, he put his finger over his ear piece. "Who?"
~~~
The sky was bleeding. A violent, jagged fissure of pure white energy split the bruised-purple clouds. It wasn't a clean portal; it was a wound, raw and unstable, spitting arcs of black and red lightning that sizzled against the rain-slicked skyscrapers. The fissure pulsed violently. A silhouette, small and fierce, was spat out from the chaotic vortex of light. It plummeted downwards and towards Raizen High's half standing building.
Mana hurried over, avoiding any dangerous traps that were laid out waiting to snare her or anyone for that matter. "I'm checking it out now, it seems like someone came through..."
"It could be a trap." Origami warned over the com-link, already moving towards the exit, her CR-Unit materializing around her. "A new kind of Grimm."
"No." Shido said, his heart hammering against his ribs. He felt it. A flicker of a presence he hadn't felt in so long, he'd almost believed he had imagined it. A familiar, fiery spirit signature, buried under layers of that strange, alien energy. "It's not."
"You're right it isn't." Mana spoke, as she stopped, catching her breath, her DEM gear, bracing herself for what was to come, she covered her nose and mouth with a mask. The ashen rain instantly soaked her. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and something else, something metallic and strangely spiritual, like a temple after a storm. There, in the center of the school, kneeling on one knee, was Kotori, but Mana didn't recognize her, not at first, given what she had went through previously. Her outfit was matted with grime and what looked disturbingly like dried blood.
As Kotori, slowly looked up, her crimson eyes met Mana's gaze. "Hey....I'm home...."
Hearing Kotori's voice over the com-link. Shido, for the first time in a long time, felt tears building up inside him. "Welcome home Commander..."
Mana took a step forward, she extended her arm out to Kotori. "Here, let me help."
Kotori glanced at the offering gesture, grabbed Mana's hand as she was pulled up to her feet. However, Kotori glanced around. She didn't see Scarlet anywhere, she knew what happened. Both her and Scarlet had been split off within the tear in time and space. Shaking her head, Kotori glanced up at the darkened sky. "Good luck...not like you'll need it."
Mana didn't question her, she had a gut feeling at who she was talking about. "Let's get you back to the others."
Kotori nodded. "Right...I may need Shido's assistance..."
Shido heard what Kotori said. He, Reine and the other spirits knew what she meant. But Miku glanced towards Shido. "Darling, where's Tohka by the way?"
Shido's face froze in that moment of joy, it faded. "I...I don't know." Which was true, he had no idea where Tohka was at, he prayed that she didn't do something stupid and get herself captured or worse.
~~~
Perched within the center of Arubi Island like an obsidian crown of malice, stood Salem's newest castle. Its spires pierced the perpetually twilight sky, a monument to the immortal witch's dominion.
Inside the bowels of this oppressive fortress, in a chamber draped in perpetual darkness, Kurumi sat cloistered. Chains the color of dried blood bound her to a cold stone wall, each link humming with a sinister energy that seemed to leech the very life from her. Her raven black hair, once tied into twin tails, now were untied and flowed down her face and neck like a black waterfall, Kurumi had bags under her eyes, her crimson and golden clock eye usually blazing with a mischievous fire, were dulled with weariness, yet a flicker of defiance stubbornly refused to be extinguished.
Suddenly, the door to the chamber opened, the room seemed to greet the visitor with an eerie silence and a cold draft. Standing tall in her usual black dress and ghostly pale white skin, was none other than the immortal Witch herself, Scarlet's mother. Salem, Queen of the Grimm. Her shadow loomed over Kurumi. Her crimson red eyes glowed, a displeased look on her face. "Have you given up yet? Or do you still hold onto hope?"
Kurumi didn't answer immediately, her gaze fixed on a minuscule crack in the stone, a silent testament to her futile attempts to break free. She heard Salem speak and the question she had asked, her throat was dry and her lips were parched. "I will....I will never lose....not while I still have breath left in me."
"Is that so?" Salem asked, she reached her left arm out, her hand cupping Kurumi's chin, tilting her head up to look at her. "You've still yet to realize, my daughter will never come for you, she will never show up to save you or anyone else here. Face the facts, your world is mine, everyone's choices were merely that. Holding onto a small spark of hope, but fine..." Letting go of Kurumi's chin. Salem walked to the other side of the room, her gaze lingering on the wall for a moment. Then, she turned around. "Continue to hold onto that small spark of hope, it won't do you any good, the longer you hold onto that, the more you will slowly realize that Scarlet, will never come."
Kurumi didn't say a word, she listened as Salem left the room, closing the door behind her. The Nightmare spirit, glanced up. Her gaze watching as Salem's shadow flickered in the torch's flickering flame, before her shadow vanished. One of Kurumi's clones stepped out from the shadow of the room, she walked over towards Kurumi and helped her get unchained.
"Quickly, we don't know if Salem as a Seer Grimm watching." Kurumi whispered quietly.