"A friend?" Ruby asked the aged minion with a cute tilt of her head. This action caused some minions working around them to dry heave at the display.

"Yes, young mistress," Gnarl said with a toothy grin as he walked around the young child. "You see I have been in service to your family for generations."

"But I've never seen you before," Ruby pointed out. "And mommy and daddy never said anything about you."

'At least she's not that gullible,' the old minion thought with some relief. While it will be a bit more of a challenge to mold her at least he didn't have to worry about anyone fooling her in the future.

Letting out a cough, Gnarl kept speaking to his future overlord. "Well, the reason for that is quite sad really,"

"Why?" Ruby asked with a little bit of concern in her voice.

Smiling at the fact he got her hooked now with pity the gray minion answered. "For you see my Mistress, we have been looking for you since the last master in your family 'sadly' passed on."

Gnarl had to hold back a gag from pretending to be sad at the coward's death; however, he needed to persuade his new master to trust him. Though he would give the failure of overlord one thing, at least he was able to pass on his lineage for them to find, and with a silver eye warrior no less!

The young child didn't know what some of the words the gray creature was saying to her but a part of her felt like he was being truthful... for the most part.

Nodding the young child asked the minion leader what he wanted.

"So now that you found me," Ruby trailed off as she twirled her fingers in a nervous manner. "What's going to happen?"

"Well isn't that obvious?" Gnarl said with a grin as the minions around them stopped working and surrounded them. "We celebrate of course!"

And with those words, the minions around cheered and even did a little dance here and there.

"Yesh we is gettings party!"

"We cans eats more thens breads and rats tonight!"

"Prais the overlord!"

'Overlord?' Ruby thought with a raised brow. But before she could be asked, the small girl was lifted up with by a few browns and was being rushed to another room at surprising speed, the child could only let out a small 'eep' as she was taken away to prepare for supper.

"You sure abouts thish," asked a Blue Minion with a stethoscope wrapped around his neck. One of the few they still had since the blue hive went missing… again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gnarl said in a warning tone. "Don't go questioning me Doc, just because you're one of the only blues we have doesn't mean you won't get beaten for any signs of insubordination."

The blue minion flinched as he let out a cough and said. "Me is sorrys master Gnarl, me's just worrieds dat new overlord might nots be any bads, she seems too goods to be overlord."

The blue minion finished is little speech as he fidgeted under Gnarls glare, the gray minion staring down at the best (and only) healer the minions had. After a few seconds, the leader of the minion horde scoffed and started making his way to the dining room where his new master waited.

"You just focus on healing Doc, and I'll worry about our master," Gnarl barked back to the blue minion.

"Besides," he said with a twisted grin. "The darkest evil always hides under a good heart, hehehehe."

(a few moments later in the dining hall.)

Ruby was confused.

First, she gets separated from her sister while they looked for Yang's real mommy (that still confused her). She then wakes up to a bunch of scary-looking but goofy creatures that keep calling her overlord.

And now they're serving her dinner?

In front of her place on a nearly rotten table was a line of meat, meat, and even more of the same, all set out in front of her on cracked plates and bent forks and chipped knives for them to use, and the meat was also strange, some looked normal like a roasted pig, some ribs and some lamb chops!

But then you had strange things like roasted fish with spider legs and even giant baked bugs!

Ew.

Ruby stuck her tongue out at the nasty dish while the Minions took their portion of the meal, being mindful to leave the best stuff for their overlord and Gnarl. Said minion master just entering the dining room and making his way to the only seat at the table beside Ruby's.

"Ah looks like a good haul this time around," Gnarl said with a small nod. Good thing those browns that brought their new overlord also grabbed some food from the farms they pillaged. One can only survive on spider fish and giant bugs for so long.

"So mistress how do you like the food?" the elderly minion said as she tore into a lamb chop. Said child nibbled on some pork as she gave the leader of minions of shy look.

"It's good," she mumbled. "I just wish daddy and Yang were here."

"Ah while it pains me to see you like this mistress," Gnarl said while showing some sympathy. The only sympathy he was able to give that was reserved for only his masters… as long as they stayed his masters that is. "But the browns said they only found you in the area and no one else."

"I hope Yang is ok…," Ruby said as she took a sip of (thankfully) clean water from a goblet that one of the browns gave her. "There was a lot of Grimm."

"Speaking of which," Gnarl said as he sipped some red wine. "What were you doing out there with this Yang person? It's awfully dangerous to be out with the Grimm about."

As the young girl started to think about how to answer that, the old minion smiled as he saw the child already trusting him. No doubt the blood of the overlords that coursed through her was showing making her trust the one creatures that stuck by her bloodline for the eons.

It reminded him of how said blood always helped Gnarl convince every new overlord to expect their birthright. Like Lord Gromgard or the "first" overlord to take up the mantle after the passing of their first master The Black Baron.

Then there was the fourth overlord who was the child of the third and grandson of the second overlord, simply known as witch boy in his village. How easy it was to get him to their side, being hated by all but one person in the village you were raised in will make anyone jump to the call of evil.

And it seems like the overlord blood was at work again as Ruby looked towards Gnar with a hint of trust in her eyes.

"Me and Yang were looking for her mommy to help cheer up daddy after… my mommy died," the small child whispered the last part as she tried to keep the tears from spilling. "We were going through the woods when we saw an old cabin that Yang said her mom lived, but the only thing there was Grimm."

"Ah, I see," Gnarl said while trying to hide a grin behind his wine cup. If he was lucky then this Yang might have died, and the trauma of her death could push his mistress to evil even faster.

"And the last thing I saw before the wagon Yang carried me in was pushed down the hill with me in it was the Grimm attacking my sister and someone trying to save her," Ruby said as she hoped her sister made it out ok.

'Of course, someone needed to play hero,' Gnarl thought as he wondered why heroes needed to go around and inspire young children. It either caused kids to become great heroes or they ended up dead. A waste ether why in the old minion's opinion.

"Speaking about that…," Ruby trailed off as she gave Gnarl a pleading look. " could you please help me get back to my family?"

"Hmmm," the minion master hummed at his mistress request as a few minions look on in worry. "Perhaps, but it might take a while, the Browns aren't known for their tracking skills, it's one of the reasons why it took us so long to find you."

"But I know where I live," Ruby protested. "Daddy once told me the place we lived in was called Patch."

"Well that's good," Gnarl said while looking at a piece of meat on his fork. "Do you have a map?"

"Wha?" Ruby said while blinking in confusion.

"Or know where it is or what direction to go?" Gnarl asked with a little bit more force. "You see my mistress the Browns are very forgetful and don't bother to keep track where they go or even make maps."

"Maps to hards to reads," a random Brown muttered. "To hards to make, Greens better at it buts they all gone with hive."

"And without them or the means to make portals like we used to," Gnarl said with a nod. "And the under tunnels shift and move so we can't use the one the browns used to get you here while you slept."

"Under tunnels?" the young child said in a confused voice, starting to get overwhelmed from what she was hearing.

"Yes, pesky little things," the gray minion said. "They're what we use to get to other places around the world in short amounts of time, but they're flimsy at best and shift around and will lead to one place one day and then another place the next. The only consistent thing about them is they always lead back to the underground, that being where we are right now my mistress."

"Those sounds like magic," Ruby mumbled. "But that's only in fairy tales."

Gnarl let out a bellow of laughter as soon as he heard that. "And my dear mistress would you call us?"

"A bad dream?" the child said in a meek tone. This got laughter not just from Gnarl, but from every minion in the room.

"Thank you for the compliment, my mistress," Gnarl said as he gulped down his drink. "But no, we are quite real and so is magic, and magic flows through your veins."

The small child looked at her hands as the gray minion's words rang in her mind. "It.. it does?"

"Yes," Gnarl said with a grin. "Having magic is your birthright along with plenty of other things that involve being an overlord."

"Overlord?" Ruby asked. "Why do you all keep calling me that."

"Because that's what you are!" Gnarl cheered. "You are by far the most important thing in this room."

And with that, the old minion snapped his finger and a few more Browns came into the kitchen carrying a large object wrapped in a red silk shroud.

"And this," Gnarl said as he grabbed the shroud and with a pull yanked the fabric off the object revealing a grand piece of glowing crystal. "Is your greatest treasure my mistress."

The small child looked towards the glowing piece of crystal. Its glow was almost felt like it was calling her as the warm light caressed her in its glow.

"What is it?" Ruby asked feeling a strange sting of guilt for even asking that. She felt like she should have known what it was from just looking at it.

The old minion smiled as he had the browns move it closer towards their mistress. "The tower heart, well at least a part of it."

"What do you mean just a part of it," Ruby asked with anger in her voice that didn't fit such a young child. "What happened?"

"An incident that lead to not only it breaking into pieces but also why we're in this rundown castle underground instead of a glories dark tower up top," Gnarl said. "Something I will get into more detail later but for now I feel like you might want to get a closer look at what's yours."

"What's mine," Ruby said as her focus went back to the Tower Heart. "It's mine..."

Reaching out, the young girl placed her hands on the smooth part of the fragmented Tower Heart as she felt a thrill shoot up her entire body, and a tingling feeling that she only got from raiding the cookie jar back home but a million times better!

Sadly the joy has to end as a spark soon jumped off the Tower Heart piece and shocked the young mistress, causing her to let out a yelp and fell off her seat.

"Mistress!" the minions cried as a few swarmed around her to see if she was alright.

"Move your morons," Gnarl shouted as he pushed past the hoard of browns and made his way to his fallen overlord. "My mistress are you ok?"

Letting out a small groan the young overlord got up from the ground with the aid of a random brown. Shaking her head the child cracked her eyes open revealing her silver eyes now had a slight glow to them.

"What happened?" Ruby muttered out as she tried to get her balance back and shake this new tired feeling away to no avail.

"It seems the Tower Heart piece reacted to your presence my mistress, but in it's broken state it shorted out," the gray explained. "I'm terribly sorry, I take full responsibility."

Letting out a small groan Ruby waved off the old minion apologies. "It's ok…, it's not like you knew that was going to happen."

"Is mistress ok?" a Brown asked in worry. "You no looks so goods,"

"Y-yeah," Ruby said as she tried to walk but had to grab a minion before her legs gave out on her. "I just need some rest."

"Then that's what you will get," Gnar said as he ordered around a few Browns. "Get the bedchamber we had picked out for our glorious overlord ready! She needs her rest! Move it, you dolts!"

Not needing any further orders the selected browns rushed out of the dining room.

"Rights this ways mistress," the brown that Ruby was leaning on said as it started to lead the small child out.

"Don't worry mistress," Gnarl called out. "Once you wake up, we'll get started on searching for your home."

"That's… nice," Ruby said with disinterest. "Gnarl?"

"Yes?" the old minion asked with a knowing smile.

"Maybe instead," the young girl trailed off as she made her way to the door of the dining room. "We could talk more about what being an overlord means?"

"Yes," Gnarl said with a crooked smile. "I'm sure we can do that instead… my Overlord."

Glad to see the Tower Heart piece helped the young overlord think about the more important things.

Sorry for the wait, I've been sick and was working on other fics for people.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter even if it was a little short.