There was a loud, dull boom, followed by another, and then another. The sky lit up with a variety of colours and shapes that no doubt dazzled any that saw them. The soft sounds of amazement and of cheers with a constant background of people walking on the grass and the cement. Their feet crunching on wrappers and cheap toys that parents bought for their children who then promptly forgot all about them. There would be talking, even with fireworks and displays like this one. People were always talking. For it didn't matter if something very important was going on right in their face; something that literally shouted for their attention, there was always something more important. Something that, for whatever reason, took priority over the screams of those who were getting trampled like the forgotten toys.
It made Cinder sick to her stomach.
Yet here she was; sitting on the roof above her dorm watching the fireworks from the city of Vale below her, imagining what was going on. Not that it was hard, from her experience it all basically the same. The same lights that distracted, the same sounds that would drown the real screams she would make as her step sisters tortured her. Eventually, those same fireworks that had let the little demons do their dirty work would help cover up their own screams as they burned…
Cinder sighed and held up a hand to her forehead, trying to push to memories out. This was the reason, more than anything, that the fire user always watched the sceptical. This had always been a weakness of her's and, as she told Emerald and Mercury over and over again, weakness was never tolerated. Cinder had to move past these memories. What happened had happened and despite their screams of pain and the disgusting smell of their skin and fat burning and especially hair burning it had been a very important step to building a new and better Vale.
Yes…she had to focus on the future where the Crusade would save them all. It has been much, much too long since the last. Tonight, she let Emerald and Mercury go out to enjoy themselves, but tomorrow would be a new day in-
"Oh! Just you wait until I get you Yang!"
A voice suddenly shouted not far from her and Cinder would blink as she lost her train of thought. Looking over to see who had done this, the woman would see a young girl trying to pull herself out of an opening in the roof, the same opening that Cinder herself had used. Though it was dark out, Cinder could easily see the scarlet red cape that seemed to be stuck on something. She recognized this girl immediately…indeed the image of rose petals, a red cape and, most importantly, red eyes never left her mind. They would still appear in her head every now and then…just like the image of eyeballs turning into jelly.
Ruby, as Cinder had learned rather quickly her name was, continued to struggle with her cloak and whisper out swears that probably would have impressed a ten year old. Then again… at times this child didn't seem much older. In trying to be quick to see the fireworks her attempts were hasty, clumsy and seemed to just make things work. If she would simply calm down than she would no doubt get her cloak unstuck from whatever nail it had latched itself upon.
At least…that's what Cinder thought.
The dull booming became louder and the fireworks started to shoot faster and brighter. This caused Ruby to look with her eyes wide and struggle even more with the cloak which seemed to just make things worse. Cinder watched this small struggle over the bright lights that showed above. To her, this was far more interesting.
Eventually, Ruby would finally unhook her cloak from whatever it had been latched onto and with a cry of triumph would turn around…to see the last firework explode and then fade. A second or two would pass as the echo of that last bright explosion made its way through the air…but no more fireworks came. Cinder found the expression on the girl to be very interesting. From it you would have thought that someone just told her a pet, perhaps that dog she kept around, had just died. Her knees lost their strength as she feel on them to the roof, looking up in complete disbelief.
Cinder just sat there, watching her. At the moment, she was really disappointed. This was the girl she had Emerald keep an eye on in their classes? This was the girl that she had risked a mission for to test her skill. Cinder quietly scoffed, thinking that her judgment must be lacking. However, despite how quiet that sound must have been, Ruby would look over at Cinder and with a startle would get back up on her feet.
"O-oh! Um…s-sorry, didn't…didn't see you there," Ruby said with a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head, looking around, "sooo…um…those were some cool fireworks, huh?"
Cinder would look at Ruby for a little while before turning her head back to the city. "They were not, 'cool' at all," she said in her low voice, "in fact, I found them rather dull."
"What!?" Ruby screamed her silver eyes wide in disbelief "B-but…you actually got to see them all! How were they not, like, the coolest thing ever!"
Cinder sighed. "Fireworks are all the same," the woman said with annoyance clear in her voice, "there's a loud 'bang' followed by a bright lighter or vice versa. Maybe they can make the explosion into a Beowolf or change the colours but it is still all the same."
"B-but, that's what makes them so cool!" Ruby argued childishly.
"If they were so 'cool'," Cinder continued to say, trying to hide her growing annoyance, "than why were you not out here earlier to experience their 'coolness'?"
"Aah…well…" Ruby began, rubbing the back of her head again, "y-you see…we just came back from a long and really tiring mission. I told Yang, my big sister, to wake me up when they were leaving but they didn't! So then I woke up and the fireworks were already going and it was late and then I tried to find a way onto a roof but couldn't find anything and then when I finally found a way my stupid cape got stuck and then I tried to get it out and then the fireworks were going even more and then by the time I finally got it out they were done!"
Ruby said all of this in one breath and very quickly. Cinder could almost see the words running into each other.
"Well, they're over now so I suggest you just go back," Cinder said.
"Yeah…I guess you're right…" Ruby said with a sigh and, with her head down, would make her way back to the opening. However, right at the entrance she stopped and turned to look at Cinder. "Hey…did you watch them all by yourself?"
Cinder sighed and would look to the cloaked girl again. "Yes, I did," she responded.
"Well no wonder you didn't like them!" Ruby announced as she was suddenly right next to Cinder. If it wasn't for years of training, Cinder knew she would have flinched. "I mean, fireworks are no fun if you don't have people around you to enjoy it with!"
Cinder narrowed her eyes at Ruby. "If that is the case than why did you even want to watch the fireworks in the first place?" She asked with a slight edge to her voice.
"Well, true, it wouldn't have been as much fun without Yang or my team," Ruby said without the slightest hesitation, "but I have plenty of memories seeing and experiencing fireworks with my friends and family! I can just focus on that and imagine what it would have been like seeing these fireworks with them." Ruby sat down right next to Cinder, her feet moving back and forth. "Yang would have said that she could have made a bigger explosion than the last one. Then Weiss would have pointed out how much damage it would have done and how much money the city would lose. Then Yang would have said it would have been worth it to which Weiss would have pointed out how she would have to buy that dust she wasted. They would get into a bit of an argument while Blake simply stared off into the distance like she does and…"
As Ruby rambled on and on about what her friends would do, Cinder would think back to her experiences with fireworks. While the time with her family during them had never been good… in the lull before it the bright lights would dazzle her so. It would almost make her forget about what was coming next. Then she remembered the first time she took Emerald and Mercury to a proper fireworks show. She thought it was a waste of time but they were young and really wanted to go. Since they had done very well that day Cinder thought she could somehow bare it. Her mind then wander to a time before that…to the first time she had lift her arm into the air and, at her very command, sparks would have appeared and exploded in a way similar to those very same fireworks she so hated…
As she thought about these things, the memories that held her back of her sister's death seemed to fade. They were still there, of course…but they were not near as strong as they were just a little bit ago.
It was then that Cinder finally found her solution.
"Ruby…" Cinder said, causing the girl to finally stop her rambling.
"Um…how do you know my name?" She asked, quite confused.
Cinder actually smiled at this. "You ran into my friend on my first day, remember?" she said.
Ruby blinked a couple times and then would narrow her eyes. Suddenly, she gasped as her own memories came flooding back.
"Oh my goodness! I remember you!" She said, pointing dramatically at the raven haired woman. "Yeah, you're from Haven, right? Oh my goodness I am really, really sorry about that still-"
"That's not important," Cinder interrupted before the girl went on, "but you said you wanted to see some fireworks, correct? Well…"
Lifting her hand up into the air just like her memory, the inside of her uniform would glow as fire raced out of her finger tips and into the air. They went up many feet before exploding in a brilliant light that cast ember to fall down.
Ruby's mouth was open wide. "Oh wow! That's amazing!" She said.
Cinder simply grinned as two more shots came out of her hand. These would explode but then reform into two phoenix-like birds. Their fiery wings spread out wide until they began to dance with each other in the air in perfect synchronism. Ruby giggled in delight and was bouncing on her seat when Cinder shot another blast of fire into the air which, when joined with the birds, would turn into a massive serpentine-like dragon that would coil and turn in the air on a dime. The dragon would even fly right above the two; blasting them with its heat and causing Ruby to just start laughing in pure joy. Finally, the dragon would race up high into the sky before it paused and burst into flames brighter than even the last firework. In its place would be a burning rose with the broken moon within its petals.
Ruby was going nuts. The young girl just gushed about this over and over again to Cinder; calling her 'amazing' and 'wonderful' and many other terms of endearment. Cinder knew that very soon those words would never be used to describe her again and that the very girl who said them would turn and twists them into their cruel counterparts.
But that was okay.
For Cinder would instead focus on the words themselves and knowing that someone had called her these things. She would always remember this night; when Cinder's enemy had unknowingly made her even stronger than before.