Shamelessly obtrusive ad: I made a RWBY roleplay forum! Link is on my profile, so if you're into high quality RP with loads of original characters, come say hi! :D
(Ha! Tricked your ad blocker! XP)
And now, the important stuff.
Author's Notes:
Big thanks to everyone, who reviewed and faved my debut story "Lullaby." I did thank all of you personally before, but let me just tell you again, that you people made my week! :D Now, this story is not what I had promised you in Lullaby's AN. Sorry to get your hopes up and then drop you like this, but I realized I got a little ahead of myself. I honestly don't have the time and energy to start working on a multi-chap story right now. I also think I should probably gather some more writing experience before I can start on a big story, so I'm putting off the idea I have for the time being.
In the meanwhile, I came up with this. I've wanted to explore [Red Flame] for a while now. They don't make much sense in canon, but I feel like they have quite some potential for AU settings. Tell me what you think! I have a lot of headcanons for them already, so I might post more one shots for them based on the setting I create in this one. But that's only if enough are interested, meaning like at least five or six people.
Also, English isn't my first language, so if you spot any flaws, that really disturb the reading experience of the story, feel free to point them out. Otherwise, don't be a nitpicker. Everyone makes mistakes, even the most aryan grammar nazi.
All this said, thanks for your attention and please enjoy reading.
...
Dinner and a Homicide
...
Cinder Fall was not a woman of words. She was a woman of actions, especially of actions she was in command of. While others in the industry were usually so busy boasting about their business strategies, future plans and concepts, jacking off their minds (and probably even certain other body parts once given enough privacy) to their own alleged brilliance, she already set things into motion. Never having been anything less than a proud, confident alpha lioness, Cinder played the game like she invented it. She almost always managed to outpace or overpower her rivals, effortlessly claiming what could have been their profit right in front of their flabbergasted faces. Being the CEO of an internationally renowned airship construction company was a job, which required business skill on a level, that could only be described as terrifying. But Cinder liked it that way. She loved being powerful. She loved being feared by her competitors, despite the youth and relative lack of experience they continued to mock her for. Oh, if only she could strike that same fear into the hearts of the people she was close with, especially the ones she was involuntarily close with.
But let's rewind and tell this story from the beginning.
It had all started almost two years ago during what was supposed to be just another business party. These things were always the same. A number of people from the industry would gather somewhere dressed in fancy clothes to gauge one another like a flock of hungry vultures while pretending to laugh at half-assed jokes and knowing stuff about wine. This particular one had been held as a private invitation-only meeting at a very nice and cozy restaurant called Burning Rose in Vale City. The host? Roman Torchwick, boss of a company even bigger and more prestigious than Cinder's as well as her arch rival. Cinder had actually wanted to sit this one out, having already been in a bad mood that day and really just wanting some time for herself. If she could've gotten her way that evening, she would've torn up the asphalt with her sleek, black sports bike on her way home before flopping down on her white suede couch in front of her huge flatscreen with a bottle of Brandy and the first romantic comedy she would've found. However, since her assistant had decided to put her foot down and get a say in the matter, Cinder had ended up dressed to kill in the passenger seat of Emerald's BMW before she could've spelled her own last name.
According to Em, her boss cum bestie had pretty much been obliged to show up, if only to show Torchwick, that she wasn't the least bit intimidated by him. Annoyingly enough, Emerald's had a point and Cinder had been painfully aware of that fact. But deep down, she was really only a simple woman and she had her off days at times. In the end, she'd still allowed herself to be convinced. So, mentally prepared for one migraine of a wasted evening, she had walked through Burning Rose's entrance door, forcing the unimpressed scowl off her face and replacing it with a fake smile she'd practiced for years... only to be instantly caught off guard by the waitress at the entrance. Cinder had found herself unable to remember the last time when a simple greeting and an offer to take her jacket had sounded like angels singing to her ears. In fact, she'd been pretty sure this had been the first time ever, that a person had caught her interest that quickly. Now, this had definitely been a new one for her. Another new thing she'd learned about herself on that evening: green and red were definitely her absolute favorite colors.
Things had just went naturally from there. At the end of the party, Cinder and Pyrrha had exchanged numbers and started meeting each other as only friends at first. That was until Pyrrha's boyfriend broke up with her, which was when things had just somehow...accelerated. Cinder had been there for the tall redhead and her woes whenever she could. She'd tried her best to comfort Pyrrha, sometimes by listening and offering a shoulder to cry on, sometimes by sitting her down in front of her TV with a tub of ice cream they could share, sometimes by sacking her and Emerald and getting absolutely hammered in that shady nightclub where her and Em's friends, Mercury and Adam, worked at. These nights had usually ended with Cinder trying (demanding and threatening) to buy the club from the owner, Pyrrha not able to decide if she wanted to bawl or barf or both and Emerald, usually the one forced to play DD, getting really close to punching both their lights out just so she could drag them out of their own misery.
As stupid as it was at times, but someone simply focusing on her and telling her things like how she was so much better off without her ex had been exactly what Pyrrha had needed then. For a few weeks, Cinder had taken her world and made it revolve around the redhead, which had been a very welcome deviation from the norm of almost all of Pyrrha's friends trying to convince her to understand her ex's side. It had been at around this time, that Pyrrha had realized two things: Cinder's feelings for her... and her reciprocating them. Some more time had passed then, during which things continued to remain unspoken between them. Though once she'd gotten over her ex and realized her feelings for Cinder hadn't vanished with her residue feelings for him, it had been the waitress, who had taken the first step. Disguised as a way of saying thanks for having been a great friend, Pyrrha had treated Cinder to an unforgettable evening, which ultimately had culminated in a confession more beautiful than anything the business woman could have imagined.
However, as it turned out, a Nikos didn't come alone, oh no. Pyrrha Nikos had lots and lots of friends and now that Cinder had become her girlfriend, she obviously wanted the woman to meet them. Now, Cinder wasn't exactly a philanthropist and personally didn't really need more friends other than Emerald, Mercury and Adam. However, declining would've certainly made Pyrrha anything but happy, so she'd ended up agreeing to meeting all of them one after another, which has actually gained her some contacts really worth having. There were Velvet and Coco for one, who really knew their stuff about making amazing coffee, which lead to Cinder now having become a regular at their little shop. She was actually seriously considering offering the couple to invest in their little establishment. Then there were people like Neptune Vasilias, Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren, who were all decent people Cinder enjoyed knowing. There was also Weiss Schnee, who had by now become an extremely valuable business associate.
Well, and then there were...others. Pyrrha's ex for example, Jaune Arc, whom Cinder hated simply for having broken Pyrrha's heart. Who cared if he was a sweet guy, who'd broken up with Pyrrha fair and square after falling hard for another girl? Who cared if that breakup had been as hard for him as it had been for Pyrrha? Screw him! Useless douche. Then there was Pyrrha's incredibly hyper boss, a young woman at the age of twenty-two called Ruby Rose, whom Cinder couldn't stand to be around for longer than thirty minutes before she felt like she could physically feel her IQ dropping. Sun Wukong and Nora Valkyrie were two more on the young CEO's list of people she could do without. But the top spot on that list was occupied by someone else. That person was the icing on the cake of rage, the cherry and sprinkles on the sundae of pure wrath, the sugar and cream in Cinder's cup of freshly brewed, hot anger.
Yang Xiao fucking Long.
Older sister of Ruby and head chef at Burning Rose (and a sheer genius in the kitchen, to give credit where it's due)Cinder was sure, that if there was ever a reason for God to have invented the word "infuriating," she was that reason. With Yang somehow having decided, that Cinder was way too serious of a person, there was never a single encounter between them, that went by without Yang trying to "light up Cinder's life," as she herself called it. Cinder usually called it what it was: jokes and pranks, and neither were even good.
Which finally brings us to the present.
"Welcome home!" Pyrrha called lovingly from the large kitchen of Cinder's luxury condo when she heard the front door of the four bedroom residence open. She immediately knew something was up when Cinder not only didn't greet her back, but violently slammed the door shut behind her. Her eyes wide with wonder, Pyrrha decided to abandon her task of cutting veggies for a moment to check out what was going on. She made her way to the foyer and walked up behind her lover, who was just taking off her leather jacket and bike gloves, and gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head.
"Hey there," the redhead tried another sunny greeting, only to have Cinder turn around and give her a stone-hard stare; the same kind, that usually made her subordinates cower in fear. Sometimes, Pyrrha found herself wondering how eyes colored like a vivid flame could seem colder than the thought of eating ice cream in the Arctic given the right (or wrong, depending how you looked at it) circumstances.
"Your friend Ren is a lawyer, right?" Cinder all but demanded, her icy voice fitting her glare, which caused Pyrrha to stop her musings instantly. The waitress only nodded, an eyebrow slowly rising in confusion.
"And he's a good one, correct?" the business woman kept pushing.
"He has quite a reputation, yes. Why? Are you in trouble?"
"No, not yet. But I will soon need someone to help me lessen my homicide sentence."
This caused Pyrrha's eyes to spontaneously grow to the size of truck tires. For a few moments, she stood there as if she was glued to the spot. It wasn't a rare occurrence for Cinder to say things like these when someone managed to get on her bad side again. However, it certainly was rare, that she sounded so sincere about it. A talk was in order, figured the redhead, before she spun around and followed her girlfriend, who had meanwhile gone into the master bedroom to change.
"Mind telling me what in the world happened?" Pyrrha prodded carefully, concern clearly written all over her face as she sat down on the edge of the king sized bed and watched the shorter woman undress, patiently waiting for a reply.
After a few moments, Cinder told her the story: She had only wanted to stop by at Blake's book store after a tough day at work to say hello and see if the newest volume of her favorite novel series had already made it into the faunus' shelves. That's when she had run into, oh what a surprise, Blake's bloody girlfriend. Surprisingly enough, there had been no headache-inducing puns or jokes this time. Instead, Yang had given her a gift. A book, as it had seemed, wrapped nicely into cheesy, smiley-themed wrapping paper. While the mere sight of the paper had made Cinder want to regurgitate the cereal bar she had eaten an hour ago, she had actually appreciated the gesture. She'd even thanked Yang, an action she had started to curse herself for the moment she had opened the wrapper in the elevator just minutes ago.
"So, you're telling me you're angry...because Yang gave you a gift?" Understandably, Pyrrha wasn't quite following. Without further explanations, Cinder threw the plastic bag containing the book and the clawed up wrapping paper into her lover's lap and had her see for herself. Still confused, Pyrrha carefully shoved the paper aside and retrieved a small, dark red hardcover book, a few words written on its front cover in simple, golden italics.
"The original tale..." the redhead read the first three words of the title aloud. Then she slammed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from suddenly bursting into laughter. She failed. Miserably.
"I'll kill her," Cinder stated nonchalantly and nodded to herself after silently watching her girl lose her composure for a few moments.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh that much," Pyrrha laughed. "But you have to admit, this is actually funny."
Cinder turned to stare at her. The fact, that she was currently naked except for her underwear did nothing to lessen the hell-freezing effect of her typical I-am-not-amused-glare, which made Pyrrha smile sheepishly and scratch the back of her neck.
"Alright, it's funny to someone who isn't you -"
"Which, I'm sure, was that cow's entire intention!" Cinder finally snapped, her sizzling, passive aggression suddenly having turned into all-out, blazing rage. Pyrrha jumped a little at the unexpected increase of volume, but kept her cool otherwise.
"Cinder, come on," she tried to reason with her upset lover, her voice as gentle as always. "You know she only means it as a joke. Just laugh it off."
Cinder's only response was to roll her eyes and turn around to rummage through her wardrobe in search for a pair of sweats and a shirt. She wasn't at all surprised, when she felt a pair of sculpted arms wrap around her stomach and a warm body press into her back.
"Is this actually getting to you?" Pyrrha whispered, resting her chin on the older woman's tense shoulder before she turned her head to plant a feather-light kiss onto the smooth skin of her girlfriend's defined jaw.
"Of course not," Cinder sighed. She allowed herself to revel in Pyrrha's proximity for some moments, leaning back into her touch as she realized just what she had missed all day. The brunette let her hands travel down the other girl's lower arms and intertwined their fingers. They stood like this in comfortable silence for a bit before she spoke up again, this time audibly a lot calmer. "It's just that my day has been anything but easy and her mockery was really the last thing I needed today."
"Do you want me to give her the cold shoulder at work tomorrow?" suggested the waitress, a wicked smile on her pale face. "She always worries herself to death when someone does that."
"Literally?"
"No, I'm sorry."
"What a shame."
Pyrrha giggled at the obviously only half-serious responses, knowing exactly what caused them. The CEO was feared among her rivals and respected greatly by her allies. Little did they know, that the greatest weak spot of the notorious Ms. Fall was, ironically enough, affection. Pyrrha herself was obviously the one, who held the most power in that regard, but she wasn't the only one. Whenever Cinder decided, that burning the entire world down was the appropriate solution for whatever she was dealing with, a simple hug from Emerald or an encouraging pat on the back by Adam could sometimes do wonders to the woman's temper.
"She really only means well," the redhead tried one last time to gain back some favor for her blonde, incorrigible friend. However, while Cinder could be easily calmed with a few friendly touches, she could certainly not be persuaded to forgive someone she already had little to zero patience for that easily.
"Well, she has a less than ineffective way of showing it, to say the least," the shorter woman snarked, causing Pyrrha to sigh in defeat.
"Alright, here's an offer," she began as she let go of Cinder and slowly turned her around so she could look her in the eyes, silently stressing the sincerity of what she was about to say. "You let her live and I'll talk to Blake. She should be able to get Yang to back off. And if we get her to leave you alone, you consider giving her a second chance. Deal?"
Cinder's gaze became distant then. She carefully considered Pyrrha's offer and ultimately came to the conclusion, that in the end it was only fair play to at least give someone a chance to right their wrongs, especially when they were never even intended to be wrongs. And so, with a simple nod, she accepted the deal, making Pyrrha reward her with one of her signature kind smiles and a peck on the lips.
"Go shower if you want," the taller woman then said as she turned around and made her way to the door. "I'll finish making dinner in the meantime."
"Oh, what are we having?" Cinder asked, genuinely curious.
"It's a surprise," Pyrrha shrugged nonchalantly. "But trust me," she looked back over her shoulder and flashed a seductive smirk, "you'll love what's for dessert."
Cinder found herself returning the smirk as she watched her lover leave, her keen eyes not missing that little extra swing of her delicious hips, the blasted Cinderella book on the bed already forgotten.
Epilogue
A few hours later, Pyrrha and Cinder found themselves not in the mood for watching TV, so they decided to open the sliding roof of the living room instead and cuddle in front of the fireplace while watching the stars. Once Pyrrha had lit the logs in the hearth, an evil idea crossed Cinder's mind and she quickly excused herself to the bedroom only to return a few seconds later, a certain book in her hands.
"And the prince rode on his steed to get his new princess to his castle swiftly for some sweet, royal lovemaking, but alas! They did not live happily ever after!" the woman spoke flatulently in an exaggerated, dramatic voice as she approached the fireplace. "Because an evil dragon descended upon them on their way," she smirked when she knelt down in front of the flames and mercilessly threw the book into them, "and burned them both to ashes."
"You know, this is actually my favorite childhood story," Pyrrha pointed out sheepishly, which caused Cinder's sinister smile as she watched the book burn to instantly vanish from her face.
"Oh. ...Oops."
Fin
Author's Notes:
Hmm...yeah, it was really fun writing this. I really do think I'll write more AU [Red Flame] in the future. n_n
Thanks for reading! Comments and critique are always appreciated! n_n