She takes another hit from the Grimm, it throws her back against a tree that shatters from the impact and the dying leaves fall around her all brown and orange and red as she struggles to regain her footing in her heels, her aura far too low for the Fall Maiden. Her black hair clumped together at the scalp as blood pooled from scratches on her head from the claws of a Grimm when she was just a bit too slow to move out of the way in time.
Ragged breathing escapes her lips as she finally stands again, dust swords summoned in her hands as she merged them into a bow and fires an arrow that hits the Grimm in the shoulder.
You know that she is just one hit away from her aura being fully depleted, and one more from dying, just like you know that your aura is completely gone.
You're resting, you have to be resting to regain your aura, but your heart is beating too fast and it's not coming back anytime soon. You're sitting under another tree, sword resting on your lap for you to strike out if you need and if she looks like she's dying, you must look like you're already dead.
Blood the colour of your cape is dripping down your face, smudged on your mouth from every time you lick your lips, the coppery taste is all you can taste in your mouth, drowning out anything else; so strong even the alcohol from your flask can't override it.
The Grimm charges at her again, and she moves but not fast enough and it is throwing her back against a rock this time and you can visibly see her aura shatters into thousands of tiny gold pieces around her like embers spitting out from a fire; almost ethereal if it wasn't so destructive.
You steady yourself, pulling yourself up from where you were seated. Your job is to protect her, but if you succeed in protecting her, you won't have a job anymore.
It charges, and so do you. Your bones scream in protest and so does she, an arm outstretched towards you, sleeves glowing fainter than normal. You run, your sword transforming into its scythe form as you head towards the Grimm. You hook the blade of the scythe around the Grimm's neck as it grabs you with its claws and throws you to the ground. The force of the throw pulls your scythe through the Grimm's neck and it turns to dust.
You feel your bones shatter as you hit the ground. Taste a growing pool of blood in your mouth. Your head screams in pain worse than any hangover you have ever known. Your insides are burning in pain.
You are dying.
She crawls over to you, her normally so immaculate red dress trailing behind her now covered in dirt and blood, her hair no longer falling perfectly to one side, and you let out a breath as she reaches you and places your head into her lap, her hand cupping your face as she looks down at you.
"It'll be okay, it'll all be okay, you'll be fine" she tells you, repeating it over and over and you can't tell if she's saying it to calm you or to calm herself down.
You shake your head, weakly coughing up blood "Don't stress" you said, your voice gravellier than it usually is.
She wipes the blood from your mouth and kisses you hard, her mouth pushing frantically against yours and for a second you can taste salt from tears and you aren't sure if they're yours or hers and you can't tell if she's gripping you so hard in an effort to keep you here, or to keep herself from falling apart.
You remember a spark.
You remember when you first encounter her when she attacks Amber. You were fascinated by her even though you knew she was your enemy.
Then you had a change of heart and she wasn't an enemy anymore and god your life was simple before this, you knew right from wrong and everything was black and white and it all made sense but then everything was confusing and grey instead of the black and white you had grown accustomed to.
Another ragged breath, she pushes your hair back, where it's stuck together by dried blood. Kisses your forehead and again tells you everything will be alright though you both know it won't. You've seen many sides of Cinder Fall in your life but you've never seen her mask so irreparably broken; normally she always has even the tiniest hint of being calm and collected, but now she has come apart frantically trying to hold you together.
You remember embers.
The two of you had flirted for months after you joined her side, casual comments over the planning table and in the sparse amount of free time the two of you would have. You would spend nights talking and sparring and her lights would light up such a gorgeous golden colour in the moonlight that you were entranced almost instantly, they were hypnotic.
You remember calming her through her panic when the half of the powers she had was calling out for its other half so loud it was deafening and all she could hear as she paced frantically for hours unable to focus on anything other than the burning hunger in her mind and her soul and her very being.
She's searching you for any wounds that she can attempt to heal, but the wounds that are killing you are internal. Fracture bones and internal bleeding, shattered wings and bloodied feathers.
You remember flames.
You kissed her the first time when everything was going so right, so incredibly right. She grabbed your face and held it tight and she took your oxygen like the fire she is and you let her feed off your strength and you think that maybe this is what you were put on the world to do. You fuel her power and she grows stronger when you're near and when she pulls you flush to her body on her bed you feel like you're about to burn alive but it's nothing compared to the heat in your body as you both move in a synchronized rhythm, calling out each others name.
It was never really the same after that.
She's grabbing your face again now, but softer. There is sadness in her eyes and that's not something you've seen from her before. She's clever, she's always been clever and she knows she can't do anything to save you.
You remember an inferno.
Flashes come back to you, when she was frozen on the top of the tower from Ruby – Ruby, poor Ruby, you're hit with a pang of sadness as you think of her – and when Cinder arrived on your doorstep months later. You remember so much all at once, memories of her flash through your mind in no particular order now; everything blurring together into one.
You remember her laugh, so innocent and free that you almost didn't believe it came from her lips. You remember pure, unadulterated, burning anger when Roman tells her of how the team of girls - of course Yang and Ruby were involved, but you keep a straight face - destroyed the Atlesian Knight and she is a firestorm, burning a path through anyone that gets too close because plans are all she has and now she has to change them but you wrap an arm around her and calm her down. You remember sweetness as she would come up behind you when you stood outside at night, her arms snaking their way around your waist as you both stood there in silence.
You take a deep breath.
You reach your hand up slowly to cup her cheek, and smile at her.
The burning stops.