AN: In no way am I connected to Rooster Teeth
Fairy tales are told to kids as bedtime stories. Meaningless stories that try and teach kids right from wrong, good from evil. Children have their favourites, ones that they ask for every night. They're not real and the world was never as simple as that. Sometimes life had rules, sometimes life didn't. The line between good and evil could be blurred or not exist at all.
Destiny. Did it exist? Do you control your fate or would everything happen despite what you want? Did things just happen or was someone else pulling the strings?
There was no way to know.
Cinder had known of two Maidens: one in her late twenties and the other a late teenager.
She had chosen to attack the elder Maiden. This had been for two reasons. Number one: the location was convenient as it was close to her latest acquisition and was also close to the White Fang, who she intended to recruit. Number two: the older the Maiden, the more control they had and so when Cinder took it, she would have the same control the original owner did and those that were older tended to have habits to exploit. The younger one was more likely to have a stronger imagination and also wouldn't be alone.
Cinder had picked incorrectly.
While the greater control would lead to a challenging battle, she had believed it would end in her favour. However, she understood now that was impossible. She had not made a mistake in planning nor had any of them made a mistake in its execution. They had greatly underestimated their opponent and had started a fight they could not win.
A retreat was necessary.
Cinder despised failure. In this case, if the attack continued, the only outcome was death. As much as she loathed it, she would have to fall back and rework her plan. While she had known it was a gamble to attack someone with the power of nature, she had believed the odds were in her favour. With any possible gamble, she had lost and she had lost much.
Emerald and Mercury couldn't be saved.
The Maiden would want to keep her power secret, so she would leave no witnesses. Cinder was currently a fair distance away, nursing multiple injuries after her aura shattered. She could see blood on Emerald's arm. Mercury was struggling to get back on his feet.
The Maiden didn't even look tired.
It was a pity. Mercury's fighting skills, obvious even now, would be missed. Emerald's Semblance was exceptional, even if it needed tweaking for use in battle. A waste of potential and a long rewrite of her original plans.
However, there were others to choose from that were just as easy to manipulate.
Mercury didn't actually fault Cinder for bailing. He had known for a while this was a hopeless fight. The problem was that he couldn't break off long enough to run. He was fast, but the Maiden's attacks were even faster. Nursing several cracked at best ribs wasn't helping him either. Honestly, he didn't see a way out of this.
He had been very lucky that she hadn't incinerated his prosthetics at the beginning. The fire she was streaming at him now certainly would have done so.
Mercury had never heard the story of the Maidens before Cinder had told them. He didn't think Emerald had either. Fairy tales had never been read to them. Then he had been told that Maidens actually existed and they were going to attack one. Who would turn down a fight against someone would could fight with nature?
In hindsight, it hadn't been a very smart idea.
Emerald had frozen when she saw Cinder run. As such, the lightning hit her dead on. She smashed into the ground, gasping for breath. Getting back up was beyond her.
Mercury had been hit with a stray bolt as well. It was nigh on impossible not to; the electricity was everywhere. He had dodged three and got smacked by a fourth, then a fifth when he was down. He too was struggling to breathe.
For a moment, the air was still and quiet.
Then a cry pierced the silence.
A blast from Mercury hit the same invisible force field. With energy he didn't really feel, he was back on his feet and attacking. The Maiden was certainly surprised he was able to and he used that. A few weak hits, then a stronger one to send her back.
She skidded and rolled, regaining her balance. That took two seconds at best.
It should be enough.
Mercury knelt down, putting pressure on the hole in Emerald's side. "Now."
Emerald knew what he was saying, but she was drained. Cinder had gone, she had no energy left, and there was no point. They were both going to die. They couldn't change that. It was typical really. She had tasted happiness and it had been ripped away. She couldn't take another disappointment.
But the part of her that had kept her alive this long obeyed on instinct. Once again, Emerald and Mercury were invisible to the Maiden. She couldn't hold it long, a few seconds at best.
Ignoring his pain, Mercury immediately rolled them to the right and stood up, Emerald in his arms. Her eyes didn't follow them. He knew they didn't have long and he could also see a man in the distance. There wasn't a chance Emerald could fool two people in her state.
Cinder had already left, but Mercury didn't have the time to follow. He picked a different route, heading off the road and into the wilderness. He knew there was an unofficial track there that would lead him into a nearby city, even if he did risk getting hit by a stray something.
Lightning rained down, fire spun and ice crawled along the floor.
But Mercury was already gone.
Tai sighed softly as picked up the tray, Yang placing a plate of shortbread on it.
Ruby had been ill for a week now. If she hadn't been at home the entire time, he would honestly have thought poison. Once someone's aura unlocked, they didn't get ill. Somehow though, Ruby was.
It wasn't that she was throwing up. The symptoms appeared to be fatigue with a fever, but no sweating. It was very strange. When she was awake, she didn't say anything. She smiled and she ate, but she didn't stay awake for long. She would also rub her chest like she was in pain.
Recently though, she had just been sleeping and the fever had been going down last night.
Yang had quizzed him thoroughly and had been upset when he didn't have an answer for her. He understood and agreed with that. Something was wrong with Ruby and they didn't know what. Something that should be impossible.
Maybe she was feeling a bit better. He could only hope.
Oh no…
Ruby's bed was empty.
AN: The problem I have is that once I get an idea in my head, it doesn't leave until I write it, so I can't really focus on my other stories without starting this one. I didn't intend to put it on here originally, but I want to know what people think, though it may take a few chapters to understand. The next one is going to be longer, but this is a logical place to stop. This will be updated very soon.
