"Cinder hurry up, we can't be late," Summer said speeding a head to graduation most likely already tripping on her gown while using her semblance to get there.
"Just stop going so fast and I wouldn't have to try to keep up," Cinder said, "after all, we left Adam and Rosemary behind again."
"Well why don't we just wait for them then," Summer said abruptly stopping right in front of Cinder as her cap held her symbol of a white rose pinned to be dangling at the end of the tassle.
"Do really have to keep that pin like that?" Summer asked as she attempted to remove and place it somewhere else if not for Summer's outmatched speed.
"You're sounding more like Rosemary every day," Summer said not hearing Cinder's faint chuckle.
Of course she would go and talk about the other two. Their team was on her top priority/ importance list right under Lunar Dahlia, Summer's scythe/battle axe. Their team was Team SCAR, Summer Rose, Cinder Fall, Adam Taurus and Rosemary Schnee. A team formed by the Silver Talons they had retrieved during their first year at initiation. Summer was partnered up with Adam while Cinder was partnered with Rosemary.
"Not those memories again," Cinder muttered to herself as she woke up. How long has it been anyway? Fifteen…sixteen years since graduation and here she was, she abandoned her dream of becoming a huntress and now was nothing more but a criminal and leader of a faction of others? Did those petty memories only try to bring back the past she abandoned?
"Cinder what are you doing? That's a crazy idea!" Rosemary said as she unknowingly ran into Cinder with a vial of fire dust, "What were you trying to do set the school on fire?"
"NO I WASN'T!" Cinder shouted before continuing in a quieter voice that was rarely heard from by anyone but the team, "I just hate using a weapon, and I always liked fire more."
"You're always like that," Rosemary said holding out her hand, "here give me that vial and I'll help you with this idea of yours in a safer way."
It took hours but Rosemary finally had returned without the vial, holding out a red dress a few sizes too big.
"It took me a while but I think I got it to work," Rosemary said as her coral red hair was slightly singed at the tips, "I wove the dust into this, you'll grow into it."
Of course her dress had to be the unbearable reminder of her past. She never could find a reason to get rid of it, she couldn't weave dust into clothes like Rosemary did and she couldn't handle dust with the precision to not burn down the Emerald Forest. The dress was the only way to control the fire she loved. After that day, when she had abandoned the team before they disbanded for good, she had burned away everything to remind her of the past, everything except her dress, an anklet and the only yearbook from Beacon she ever bothered to keep. The dress was a gift from Rosemary. Looking at the other two, the pain seemed to affect her more.
"Summer what is it now?" Cinder asked as she knew her teammate was hiding something beneath the white cape.
"Why do you always ask when surprises are best whenever they are kept a secret until the end?" Summer asked running ahead.
"Adam doesn't like surprises that much," Cinder pointed out, "and Rosemary would probably shout her head off if she found out. She's worried about everyone on the team and you know it's not just because she's the team leader."
"I can agree," Summer said, stopping and turning around, "she's the one who has to carry the heavy burden after all."
Just as Cinder blinked, Summer disappeared thanks to her semblance leaving behind a single box in her place. Opening the box, inside was a single anklet appearing to be made completely out of glass that had dark glass shards dangling from yellow glass beads that were all connected by the anklet itself.
She never really understood Summer's motives with the anklet, but she kept it. Of course nowadays, Cinder rarely had time to think about what had happened to her teammates after Team SCAR's disbandment, she couldn't help it when she found out little details. Apparently Rosemary Schnee moved to Mistral and began working for the Mistral branch of the Schnee Dust Company until she went missing and hasn't been heard from since then. Adam was a part of the White Fang which was believable for Cinder but she had no clue of his whereabouts either. But Summer was the hardest to find, as if she disappeared from Remnant altogether.
Cinder couldn't take it anymore, once last time, she flipped through the yearbook before burning it to ashes once and for all. Looking at their team's page, she finally read the quote they had each decided to write, but took longer to understand Summer's. In the end, it didn't matter to her, to anyone, with a flick of the wrist, the yearbook was no more. There wasn't much left to her past anyway, it all burned away in the end.
"Cinder, we've return from the faction meeting," Neo or otherwise known as Neopolitan, reported, "although Roman had to go and destroy the Paladin-230, which now made everything a waste of time."
"What happened this time?" Cinder asked not even noting the hidden yet familiar disdain in her subordinate's voice.
"He had to chase after two Faunus that caused an uproar in the Paladin-230, steered it into a highway as others joined the original two and engaged in combat. Two of them left somewhere after being attacked while the other four destroyed the Paladin," Neo said, "apparently, the four girls are from Beacon Academy and Roman has engaged these girls in combat before, if only he learned how to fight properly in that robotic suit, then he would have had at least a fighting chance in succeeding. If that had happened, then I wouldn't have had to save him then."
"What do we know about this team," Cinder asked.
"Their leader is younger by two years and is known as 'Red' by Roman seeing how she has fought him three times by now, then there's Weiss Schnee heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Apparently Blake Belladonna is a Cat Faunus who was originally with the White Fang, however we don't have much information or evidence to prove this. And the blond one, is apparently related to Red somehow, was the one who caused the most damage to the Paladin and apparently was there at the club where Roman had 'borrowed' Junior's men," Neo said, "Other than that, they are students of Beacon Academy and that is all the acquired information we had found so far."
"What about you Neopolitan?" Cinder asked.
"What are you inquiring about?" Neo asked
"You're hiding something, I can tell," Cinder said, "You better tell me what it is now, otherwise, we'll find an easy way to dispose of you."
"Cinder stop it, as your leader, you need to think about the safety of others before you become a hazard to everyone's health," Neo said before gasping and realizing the words that slipped out of her mouth.
"Rosemary…Schnee?" Cinder asked as flames erupted from her hand, "What are you doing here?"
"Cinder it's nothing really," Neo or rather Rosemary said, "If you really want to know the truth. While I spent my time in the Mistral Branch, I had gotten into the Dust accidents that had appeared on the news a few years ago. I can't see out of my left eye anymore, a mixture of lightning, energy and ice dust did that. Fire dust burned my some of my hair but it wasn't badly damaged, it was just the shade of brown as it is now. A mixture of three parts energy and one part ice gave me the white streaks in my hair."
"What about your right eye then?" Cinder asked, remember how before, both eyes were an icy blue.
"They were always brown," Neo said, "I was wearing colored contacts so no one would question my heritage. It was because of my mother, she was the one I had inherited most of my traits from."
"So have you heard anything from Summer?" Cinder asked.
"Not recently," Neo said, "last I heard from her was that she was leaving a baby in the care of the Xiao Longs before disappearing. But that was almost one and a half decades ago."
The months that had passed by meant nothing until Emerald, Mercury, Roman and herself were fighting the team that interfered with their schemes, Team RWBY. Cinder was facing Red or otherwise Ruby Rose, and caught the sadness in the young huntress-in-training's eyes before she rushed at her using a semblance Cinder knew all too well.
"What are you going to do now after graduation?" Adam asked, "We can't stay here anymore and we already agreed to disband the team after graduation."
"I don't know," Summer said, "but I will miss you all."
"We'll be missing you as well," Rosemary said, "You're the ball of energy in this team that kept us together."
"Maybe we'll see each other again," Summer said as Headmistress Mavis was soon calling Team POGO, a team comprised of Peter Port, Bartholomew Oobleck, Glynda Goodwitch and their leader Ozpin.
Ever since graduation, no one heard from Cinder in the last five years, and now she knew the answer that was in Ruby Rose's silver eyes, Summer Rose somehow had gotten herself killed and left behind her daughter. There was nothing left for her with Ruby, she didn't want to see her face, she wanted to see Summer's face. However though, the pieces didn't fall into place that easily, but Summer had at least left behind one last piece to remind the world of her existence as Cinder's yearbook was nothing more than ashes blowing away in the wind, Once I've shattered, thus kindly I scatter.