I don't own RWBY. Someone wanted me to have Ciel's reaction to Penny's death after I wrote a short story about her so here it is.
Ciel just stood there with an emotionless expression on her face as she stared at the mangled body of her partner laying on the floor of the arena. She took it all in, the horrified look on Nikos face as she stood in front of the body. The look of shock and fear frozen on Penny's face before she was torn apart. All that Ciel could do was just stand there and have all of it sired into her perfect memory forever.
To anyone who might have spared a glance at her Ciel looked like a statue, but inside she was raging with emotions. Horror at the sight of her partner being killed right in front of her. Regret that she hadn't tried to open up to the always cheerful girl that she had been with for a year. The one emotion that she felt the most though was anger. Not at Nikos for killing Penny, but at the fact that Ironwood had kept the fact that Penny was a robot from her. Ciel thought that Ironwood trusted her, but apparently he didn't trust her enough with something as important as the fact her partner for the next four years was in fact a robot.
She also felt anger at herself for not noticing that Penny was a robot. It all made sense now that she looked back on the matter. The reason Penny never seemed to eat or drink whenever she was interacting with their team. Why Penny never slept in the barracks with the everyone else. Why Ironwood always seemed so interested in their team; it wasn't because of Ciel or the others, but because of Penny.
Ciel was snapped out of her thoughts when the sirens started to wail. An calm automated voice announced over the PA system that there was a Grimm threat level nine declared. There hadn't been a level nine since Mountain Glenn. Ciel ignored the lump of ice that formed in her stomach and started to run towards the exit, linking up with a platoon of Atlas soldiers. The group reached the air docks of the stadium ahead of most of the panicked civilians.
"Secure the perimeter. Protect the civilians at all cost," ordered the lieutenant.
"Yes sir," the soldiers and Ciel replied.
What followed next was mostly a bluer to Ciel as she and the Atlas troops fought off a flock of Nevermore and Griffons that tried to attack the air docks as large transports arrived to evacuate the civilians. Ciel activated her watch's blaster function and started shooting the flying Grimm, knocking a few out of the air. She then switched it over to it's blade form, a yellow light construct appeared with the rough appearance of a punching dagger. She quickly slashed at a Ursa that had somehow gotten onto the stadium. After decapitating the foul creature of Grimm Ciel looked around and noticed bullheads pulling up and offloading Grimm onto the stadium. A brief flash of anger shot through her when she noticed a White Fang grunt at the controls. With the question of where the Ursa had come from answered Ciel turned her watch back into its blaster form, took aim, and with one precise shot hit the port side engine on the bullhead. The craft lurched as smoke belched out of the engine. With Grimm still in the passenger hold, the bullhead plummeted down towards Beacon Academy, trialing smoke all the way.
Ciel allowed a grim smile to cross her face as she turned to search for a new target. She didn't have to look for long as a White Fang grunt came charging at her swinging a sword wildly. With a simple side step and a kick to the back of the head as he stumbled past her, Ciel sent the grunt screaming off the side of the stadium to plummet to his death. Not even giving the grunt a second thought Ciel charged at another grunt who was trying to stab the lieutenant in the back. She grabbed his head from behind and with a swift brutal twist she snapped his neck. A scream of rage from her right caught Ciel's attention and with a quick glance she sough yet another grunt, this one a girl, charging at her.
"You killed my brother," she screamed.
With little effort Ciel was able to dodge the incoming sword with a roll to the left. She then quickly activated her watch's shield mode and managed to deflect the frenzied flurry of blows the other girl sent toward her. After shoving the girl off balance Ciel activated her watch's sword form and with one swift stroke was able to cut the grunts sword hand off at the wrist. The faunus girl screamed in pain as she fell on to her knees clutching at her stump of an arm. She looked up into the emotionless eyes of Ciel as the Atlas girl stood in front of her. Ciel pointed her blade at the girl in front of her it's yellow light illuminating the faunus girls terrified face. Against her better judgment Ciel reached down with her free hand and tour the girls mask off. The girl had the same green eyes that Penny had, and they where currently filled with the same fear and shock that Penny's had been before she was torn apart.
"Please no, mercy," she sobbed.
Ciel thought for several seconds on what to do. The logical thing to do was to kill the girl and get back to the fight that was currently raging around them. With a huge Grimm horde about to overrun the city and the White Fang attacking she didn't have time or means to take prisoners. However, the girls eyes made Ciel hesitate. Finally Ciel decided to ask one question that was plaguing her mind.
"Was it worth it," she asked coolly.
"What?"
"Was it worth all of this to get what you wanted? A kingdom in ruins, and thousands dead. For what, equality? Or maybe conquest," Ciel screamed.
"I...I don't know. All I ever wanted was a place to belong, to feel like I meant something," the girl whimpered.
"All you and your friends have done is to doom us all. You have handed over the Kingdom of Vale to the Grimm on a silver platter. No one will be able to live here now, even the White Fang. So if you were hoping to drive all the humans out and create your on kingdom here you miscalculated," stated Ciel.
"I don't know. I'm just a grunt," the girl sobbed.
Ciel continued to hold her blade at the other girls throat for several long seconds. With a sigh she withdrew the blade and deactivated her watch. Glancing around she noticed that the other White Fang members were dead or captured. Ciel grabbed the girl and roughly pulled her to her feet. Then she shoved her over to the small knot of prisoners that the Atlas troops had managed to capture. A medic came up and started to treat the injured faunus as Ciel turned and walked away. Everything in Ciel's logic was telling her that she should have just killed the girl and moved on to the next target. After all one less White Fang member equaled perhaps a dozen civilians saved, but something inside Ciel had told her to spare the girl. Maybe it was the eyes . All Ciel knew was that before she meet Penny she would have killed the girl without a second thought. As Ciel boarded a transport to evacuate from the stadium she made an oath. Ciel Soliel was going to be the best person she could be as her way of honoring Penny's memory.
I'm a bit unsatisfied with the number of Ciel fics out there so I'm writing a few one shots about her to give her some love. My use of Ciel's weapon is based off of a a picture drawn by LobbyRinth over on Deviantart, go check out their stuff because it's way better than any picture I could make. As to Ciel's fighting style I picture her as quick, efficient, and ruthless. However, I hope that I conveyed the fact that she isn't without mercy and is in general a good person. Until next time folks.