Chapter Two: Enticed by Hope

Emerald and Mercury regrouped with Cinder on the hilltop, the latter looking a bit worse for the wear, with noticeable cuts in his pants. It seemed they'd underestimated the Beacon students again, as they'd managed to get through his Aura and targeted him where he was vulnerable. Cinder found herself impressed against her will, that her hated enemy had learned from their last encounter.

"What happened?" Mercury asked, tempering his clear impatience and anger by keeping his tone as flat as possible.

Cinder wasn't sure what to tell them. The truth was certainly out of the question: it would be exposing a weakness to her subordinates at the worst possible time, when they already had ample reason to doubt her. Whatever loyalty they may have had would be outweighed by their self-interest, and they'd run back to Salem's castle rather than remain with her if Cinder continued to suffer defeats.

But how could she explain… this to them? How could anyone understand that the feelings of a dead girl had driven her to embrace a boy she'd intended to kill only minutes before? Moreover, how could anyone understand she'd had an opportunity to remove a major obstacle to her queen's plans… and not taken it? Even going over it in her private thoughts it seemed like madness.

Still, Cinder attempted to provide a more measured explanation, but her words were lower and raspier than ever, and even Emerald had trouble making them out… if Cinder articulated words at all. She feigned frustration, and typed into her Scroll that she'd been sent to the wrong hotel, and had wasted several minutes looking for the quarry.

Emerald looked skeptical, while Mercury, simple and direct as he was, only seemed surprised anyone who'd provided Cinder bad intelligence was still breathing. Cinder encouraged the thought, feigning more outrage in subsequent texts to the two, vowing to kill their incompetent contacts or to get revenge on Doctor Watts if he'd decided to intervene somehow… both plausible lies.

Cinder ordered the two to monitor the girl and not lose sight of the opportunity to be rid of her, and remain undetected. Now that they'd lost the element of surprise, the four students would almost certainly regroup and hunker down until Qrow Branwen was healthy again. If they succeeded in that, Cinder would have to report a failure to Salem, and lose her chance to move two threats to both the queen and herself off the board.

Once they were gone, Cinder tried to summon the troublesome thoughts, so she could combat the impurity with her sane, rational mind. And regrettably, those thoughts were… vivid.

She remembered the day she'd met Jaune, when he was clumsily trying to impress Weiss in the locker rooms before initiation. She'd liked him immediately, because unlike Weiss, he hadn't immediately tried to get on her good side and exploit her talents for his own scheme; if anything, he'd seen past her and his infatuation had been elsewhere. What should've been a tremendous insult to her pride and sense of self-worth had transformed into a fond, endearing memory, because it was the first time anyone had treated 'the invincible girl' like an ordinary person, rather than an asset to be courted.

If nothing else, this provided Cinder useful insight… or would have, if the heiress to the SDC was not still in Atlas at a time they were about to close up their borders, rendering her out of reach. Instead it was just a memory of a foolish teenage crush, and not even one that was reciprocated. It turned Cinder's stomach to think of such foolishness.

Or, more accurately, that was what she wanted to feel. She'd have been more comfortable if such a sight left her feeling discomfort or annoyance. Instead, when she reflected on it, it felt like a treasured memory. When she thought of Jaune, Cinder felt… warm. When she thought of their first meeting, she felt a deep dullness in her chest, pulling her down with a weighty sensation she could not entirely describe.

From a very early point, she had dismissed the possibility of love. She did not need it, she did not want it, and would not allow its weakness to taint her or hold her back from accomplishing her goal. When she saw the children at Beacon going through the awkward motions of adolescent crush, Cinder had scoffed, grateful she was not indulging in such foolishness.

Now, she felt herself… longing for that feeling, because painful as it was for Jaune not to return her love for him, that she loved him at all…

Cinder tried to tell herself it was wrong, this lingering emotion. Whatever foolish love Pyrrha Nikos had for Jaune Arc must've been a weakness. If it had given her strength, if it had been something worth pursuing, she wouldn't have died at Cinder's hand.

Yet, when Cinder had been in Jaune's presence, the ache in her wounds had vanished. When she remembered embracing him, she felt no more pain. When she kissed him, she'd felt this weight in her soul lift and she'd felt unburdened.

Salem had encouraged her to use the pain of her wounds as motivation, to let Cinder's hunger for revenge drive her, let her ambition burn like a fire raging within her so she would be motivated to excel and improve. Now, the thought of revenge on Ruby Rose seemed like a pointless distraction. Not when she could take the pain away in Jaune's embrace.

Half of her was disgusted by this compromising weakness, but though she tried to convince itself it was her rational mind trying to bring her back to sanity, Cinder knew that half was losing out to the one that longed to hold him again. Invasive, alien, and terrifying as those feelings were, they overpowered Cinder, and Cinder couldn't help but respect what could overpower her.

And she wanted to see him, to hold him, to kiss him…

There had to be something about the noodly farm boy that had wooed the Mistral regional champion; something that now intoxicated Cinder and called her to him. Perhaps it was the taste of his Aura, perhaps he wasn't so honest after all, merely very blessed… in less obvious ways.

Cinder hoped it was something she could snuff out, so she'd be free of this weakness. Once she knew how to strike him, she'd burn him away and forget this pointless, hampering affection.

Cinder took a moment to sort through the vague recollections, trying to find a coherent picture… when they'd moved into the dorm with Ren and Nora, Jaune had eagerly handed out his number to his teammates, eager to add them as his friends. She recalled feeling a slight twinge of jealousy upon seeing Ruby Rose already in his list of contacts…

But there was the number. There was the way to reach him.

But what to say? Why would he be drawn out, knowing Cinder Fall was beckoning to him?

Normally, she could entice men without effort, but Cinder suspected it might be a bit harder with the boy after she killed Pyrrha Nikos, whatever she'd meant to him. A kiss from her would make a normal man beg at her heel. But Jaune Arc was too good a person to be seduced… at least by Pyrrha's murderer.

Still, Cinder now had overpowering memories of that girl's life. She knew secrets, hopefully secrets Jaune Arc had not shared with his teammates.

And if she could not entice him with her own wiles, Cinder would draw him in a different way… by using his own naïve, earnest hopes to pave the way to his demise.

Jaune received word from the others that they'd encountered Emerald and Mercury, Cinder's minions, and they'd had to fight them off. Ren had taken a bad hit from Mercury and he and Nora were finding their way to cover and a place for him to rest. Ruby was already on her way back to the inn to catch up with Jaune and Qrow.

Jaune was relieved his friends were alright, and eager to compare notes. Though he might leave out the part where Cinder had kissed him and he'd been distracted enough to let her escape.

He'd finally taken his eyes off his Scroll to check on Qrow, when he got a new text, this one from an unknown number…

I'm still alive within her, Jaune.

It wasn't possible. It was a deception, some kind of trick… why was that madwoman still toying with him after her scheme had already fallen apart? Jaune intended to ignore it, when:

Remember what I told you in the Emerald Forest?

You brought me back, Jaune. You're the only one who can.

Pyrrha unlocked his Aura in the Emerald Forest, binding their souls for the briefest moment. Jaune had not realized then the connection they'd forged, and it had cost him when he'd been so oblivious to all the things Pyrrha had tried to tell him.

It couldn't be real. No matter how much he wanted to believe it, Jaune knew there was no way back from death.

A fourth text followed, with a set of coordinates. His Scroll helpfully pointed out a hilltop just outside of Mistral.

He should wait for Ruby and tell her all of this. Whatever game Cinder was playing, maybe they could turn it against her.

But then:

Please. I don't have long.

Jaune dug at his blonde locks in frustration. It was a lie, it had to be. Cinder was trying to trap him, maybe even use him as leverage against his friends. She was just using Pyrrha's memory to taunt him, dishonoring Pyrrha even further than she had already.

But how could Jaune bring himself to abandon her? How could he ever allow himself to fail her again?

He took up Crocea Mors and went to see if there was more waiting on the hill than a ghostly echo.

Cinder waited on the hilltop, feeling cold wisps of wind sting her exposed skin. It hurt the scars above her nose, feeling that cold rush past. It seemed foreboding, feeling this cold, when she could easily start a fire and feel warm again, but she wanted to know for certain that the sensation she'd felt in Jaune Arc's presence hadn't been a fluke. She wanted to know that the warmth he'd generated within her was something that could be repeated, that he could take the pain away.

Once she felt the light of his soul again, once she knew how to move past the feeling, then she'd be done with him. And while his friends searched for him, she'd strike at Qrow while he was vulnerable, and take her time in destroying Ruby Rose.

But the thought did not excite her. Where before the thought of revenge had been all-consuming, now it left her with a bitter aftertaste. Jaune was what filled her thoughts now, and the dull weight in her chest when she thought of him brought on an entirely different pain, a longing that could not be fulfilled while he was absent.

Love… this felt more like obsession. That Cinder understood, and tried to focus on. She tried to find comfortable, recognizable thoughts, because the alternative was to be consumed by this irrational need for Jaune. Obsession with a target was easier for her to comprehend than this strange sensation of 'love.'

She heard his footsteps draw near. He was fully armed and armored, but he hadn't drawn his sword. Whatever advantage he'd gained on Cinder before, he wasn't such a fool as to think he could defeat her in single combat on a stage of her choosing.

Watching him walk over, Cinder felt the weight in her chest increase. He was confused and misled by her deception, and that pain in his thoughts tore at her own emotions. Why hadn't she simply been honest and asked him to speak with her?

Because she was not honest. The ghost taking up residence in her might've been, but soon enough that would be a vague memory of a very unusual day.

"I'm here," Jaune announced.

Cinder stepped towards him, taking in the sight. When he filled her vision, she didn't feel the pain of her wounds.

"Prove you are who you say you are," Jaune instructed, trying to stay steady and serious.

Such ardor didn't fit him. Jaune was much too nice to be demanding. Still, Cinder tried to comply, trying to prey upon his sympathy by reminding him of close, intimate memories… when Pyrrha had leaned on his shoulder in the courtyard, when she'd kissed him before rushing headlong into battle… moments they shared with no other witnesses to corroborate. These secrets were an embarrassment of riches.

Or would've been, if Cinder could speak. A few raspy whispers escaped her lips, but no words formed. All she thought of was Jaune standing before her. How could she deceive him? She loved him.

Pyrrha Nikos loved him.

Something about him had drawn her. Something powerful. Something magnetic.

Cinder looked away and tapped on her Scroll: "I lied."

Jaune felt his Scroll buzz, but ignored it. No doubt he was expecting his friends to try and reach him. "You called me out here, didn't you? What do you want?"

When she no longer met his gaze, Cinder felt the pain in her eye and arm, and the cold winds striking her scars. But how could she look at him? How could she bear to see him angry and hurt, with how she'd deceived him?

There was no denying it now: her feelings were not something she could suppress or control or even ignore. Pyrrha Nikos was burning within her, contorting Cinder's emotions with the sheer, unbridled power of that… love.

Love was not powerful, it was brittle and weak and fleeting… and yet Cinder was rendered powerless before it.

Since Jaune would not look at his own Scroll, Cinder held up hers', showing him the text she'd sent.

"You lied," Jaune scoffed. "Yeah, I figured. Well, what are you waiting for? I walked into your trap."

He was so brave. He'd always been determined to prove himself, but only very rarely was his bravado anything more than a show to encourage or impress. Now, it seemed, loss had steeled him, and made him truly daring, as he stood before someone much stronger than himself without fear.

Cinder looked at him again, knowing it'd be easier to endure without the pain, with his presence lifting her spirits. "I'm… sorry…" she managed.

Sorry for deceiving him.

Sorry for lying.

Sorry… for… killing…

Cinder flung herself to the ground, driving her fists into the dirt. She was not sorry she had killed Pyrrha Nikos, because the Fall Maiden's power had never been hers', and if she'd succeeded in taking a portion of Amber's soul, then Cinder would never have felt complete.

How fleeting that feeling was. Now she felt incomplete without Jaune.

She'd never needed anyone. Why did she need this boy?

Why did she want to?

Jaune knelt down, and at first seemed to move to help her, instinctively reaching to offer support to someone in need, only to draw back. He seemed unsure how to proceed, because even knowing how monstrous Cinder was, he pitied anyone their pain and suffering.

How could she not love him? How could she keep denying what was plainly true?

Cinder looked up at him, reaching up with her hand to his chin. Jaune briefly flinched as though to draw back, but did not retreat from her.

"Why are you doing this?" Jaune asked her.

"I… don't know," Cinder admitted. The more she spoke to him, the easier the words came to her lips, as though the pain of speaking lessened with her every statement. Speaking to Emerald had been a painful, labored process. Speaking to Jaune was healing her. "I don't know what's happened to me."

She averted his gaze, even though it meant the pain would return. "She loved you so much. And something… some part of her is still here within me."

She hated confessing weakness to anyone, and had fought it at every moment when Salem interrogated her. Yet speaking to Jaune was uplifting, freeing her from the burden weighing in her chest.

"So she is still in there?" Jaune asked, his eyes brightening.

The sight of his hope… when Cinder saw that, she would pounce and destroy this boy while he was vulnerable.

The sight of his eyes… when Cinder finally turned to look upon them, all thoughts of harming him disappeared.

She'd never been in love. But she thought this might be it.

"I don't know," Cinder answered, speaking honestly, no matter how strange a sensation it was. "But I can hear her whispering to me, drawing me to you."

She tried to deny it. She tried to raise her hand and kill him while she had him distracted.

That wasn't what she wanted to do. There was only one thing she wanted to do.

"Jaune…"

Cinder leaned up and kissed him once again, embracing him tightly, hungry for his touch and his warmth.

There was nothing but that moment. No pain, no ambition, no hate. Just her and Jaune and their kiss.

This was what she wanted, more even than revenge, more even than power. This.

In the distance, watching through the scope of her sniper rifle, Ruby's mouth fell agape as she dropped Crescent Rose to the ground.