Chapter 2: Ashen Marigold
Her heels could be heard clacking on the floor, the sound of a stack of papers hitting the table and catching Roman's attention. "What are these?"
"Just some information Mercury and Emerald gathered."
"Ugh, the kids again"
"Well, Emerald was off to get a… gift, when she noticed."
Roman frowned a little, reading the files over as Cinder took a seat next to him. "And she just happened to witness?" He raised his eyebrow before setting the file down, eyes flickering to the side as her felt Cinder's hot breath on his neck. Roman removed his hat, sighing and looking to her. "What do you want?"
"Roman…" she trailed off, her finger sliding down his arm.
"Cinder... What are you doing?"
He watched her eyes wander from his hat to his eyes, tensing up a little as she leaned closer to him. "Oh Roman…" she said, her face close to Roman's as she placed her hand on his thigh. "I know you're better than that."
He took a deep breath, contemplating if he should go in for a kiss.
"Maybe this time you won't mess up," she said, leaning back and crossing her legs. "One more chance, Roman. It's embarrassing to lose to a child… though, Junior's men were incompetent, and we will be finding better, more efficient men to aid us."
Taking notice of his own image being displayed on the screen, Roman rushed to change the subject. "Hey! I look so good in that shot! I'm sure they're all running scared from the king of crime himself!"
Cinder partway glared at him, the air around her burning. Roman tensed up again and leaned back, his arms up behind his head and his eyes closed. "Look, I know I messed up but I was told there should be no trouble. Get in, get the dust, and get out with all of it before the cops arrived. Little red was too big of a problem for Junior's useless grunts and the cops were coming. Who knows, maybe she's a lot older than she looks, like you?"
The death glare he received made him wish she had set him on fire instead. "L-l-lo-look, Cinder, you look like you're around 18, maybe 20, but I don't mean you're that old…"
Before anymore banter could come out of his mouth, something on the screen caught her attention. "Of course, they would be the perfect pawns to get our opposition off their high horse. Roman, we've found our help, and I'm sure they'll be more than enough. I'm sure they have close enough of a goal to ours… It should be easy to persuade the White Fang to join us."
Roman looked at the waving red and white flag on the screen, grinning with a hidden sigh of relief. "I'm sure they'll be perfect underlings for the job."
Cinder watched Roman carefully, yet another glare slowly developing on her face.
"…I'll go see if Mercury and Emerald are back yet." Roman stood up to leave, his feather burning to ashes as he walked to the lower warehouse. After he was out of sight, he brushed the ashes off his hat and put it back on, cursing under his breath.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neo enter. "Hey, can you take me to the usual place?" he said, Neo nodding in response. "I'll meet you out in the bullhead, go ahead and take care of anything you need to."
Neo arrived a couple minutes later, taking the passenger seat as Roman smoothly took off. "Sorry to drag you along, but I'm sure Cinder isn't too trusting of my actions and you never know how safe you are in the heart of a mass of Grimm. It's not much for me, but you know there are Grimm out there we haven't even tried to handle, and your illusions should get us there."
She nodded, the bullhead fading from sight as they reached a dense forest. After another ten minutes, Roman lowered the bullhead into a small clearing, Neo taking out a book to read while she kept the bullhead out of sight. Roman grabbed his cane and headed down a narrow path, worn only by a trek to the destination and back a couple times a month. Roman paused at an extremely wide, fallen tree that had lost all its leaves and started to rot. The air smelled faintly of pine and fresh rain, grey clouds slowly skimming across the sky above him.
Roman kneeled where the tree first splits, aiming Melodic Cudgel toward the sound of a low grumbling across the clearing, slightly larger than the one where the bullhead was hidden. As soon as a red streak could be seen in the shadows, Roman took a shot, the monster bursting into ashes. Several simultaneous roars were followed by rampant thudding of the beasts now swarming towards their dead brethren.
Roman was quick, swiftly shooting down any Grimm that came into the clearing. As a large Ursa attacked him from behind, Roman used another shot's recoil to twist around and land Melodic Cudgel on its forehead, a brief pause before blowing it to bits. A final group of Grimm amassed in the clearing, taking notice of him as he turned around. He jumped on top of the tree, pulling the pin from a grenade and tossing it into the cluster of beasts, taking a shot at the grenade with his cane, causing the Grimm to burst into a cloud of ink-black ashes, burning out of sight.
Roman thought it resembled an ashen flower before it died down, an orange flower catching his attention in the corner of the clearing. Roman walked over to the marigold, gently breaking the flower off the plant, leaving about a foot of the stem on the flower. Some of the ashes from the trees hit by Melodic Cudgel had gotten between the petals, but Roman thought it might suit Cinder's liking.
On the ride back, Neo maneuvered the bullhead in silence, Roman exhausted and scribbling away on a piece of parchment. In his hat, where the feather used to be, was the ashen marigold. "Thanks for the help, Neo," he said, folding the parchment in three. She smiled and nodded, both silent as they arrived at the warehouse. No sign of Mercury or Emerald yet, and Cinder seemed to have wandered off as well.
Roman entered Cinder's room, resting the flower on her makeshift nightstand, setting the note down next to it, signing her name on top in lettering that must have been twenty times nicer than the writing inside. "I should get her a vase for all these damn flowers," he thought aloud. "They're all going to wither and die without some water, though I'm sure she burns them all anyways." With a soft sigh, he left the room, retiring to his own for some rest.
"Dear Cinder,
I made a mistake with Junior's men, but if the White Fang agree to join us, I swear I will do my best to make up for said mistake. I know I made you upset, so I get if you're mad, but we'll both be busy enough kicking the plan into gear; we don't need to be bickering about like a married couple and I'm sure we've got bigger problems.
I'm sure you remember my past with the White Fang, so you probably already know I'm not going to be very tolerant of them. I'm sure we make excellent villains at this point, though no one knows our plans yet. Will we be letting Mercury and Emerald know? Neo? The White Fang? All of Vale? You need to let me in or things aren't going to go as smoothly as they should. You've grown cold lately and I know we need to keep our relationship hidden, but I don't think keeping secrets was a part of the plan.
Questioningly lovingly,
Roman
P.S. If you're looking to keep this a secret, maybe you shouldn't be close enough to kiss me. Tease. "
. . .
"Neo," Cinder purred, resting a hand on Neo's shoulder. Neo froze briefly, turning to meet Cinder as she came to a halt at Neo's side. "Where were you and Roman, today?" Neo's lips slipped into a small smile as she replied. "Practicing some combat, you know, with my umbrella and his cane. He's okay, but I still could kick his ass any day." Cinder smirked, leaning close to the small girl. "You two should be able to practice here in the warehouse; if you two get caught, we're going to have trouble. Just make sure you stay away from the dust or things could get very messy very fast."
Neo nodded, making her way to her room. Cinder released her, walking up to her room, exhausted from the recent trip. It was no easy feat, but the White Fang would be joining them on their mission. All they needed to know was they were out to get the governing power due to the general mistreatment, especially to the Faunus, and with growing armies, they are well on their way to making sure they have no opposition to their growing power.
As Cinder entered her room, she immediately noticed the flower next to her bed. She smiled a little, shaking her head as she grabbed both the note and the flower. She slipped off her heels, laying back on the bed slowly. "That damn fool is going to kill all these flowers if doesn't put them in any water," she thought aloud. She admired the vibrant marigold for a minute, noticing some ashes embedded between the petals. "Sparring, huh?"
Cinder crystallized the marigold, looking over Roman's note with a sigh. "Oh, Roman…" She slid the note into pillow, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep, marigold still barely held between her fingers.