Wow, it's been too long. School's been a pain, and I'm finally able to get this chapter out. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I won't be posting any chapters on the other stories due to school, but we'll certainly be more diligent about posting chapters for this one. I hope you enjoy this; I feel confident that this will be satisfactory. I apologize for the late release, but hopefully, this makes up for it. Enjoy.
That smug, arrogant bitch. She knows how I feel about Sun- she just wanted a response out of me. That's all. I just keep thinking that over and over and over as I storm off in an angry trot that was followed by Yang. It's sweet of her to follow me. The angry shiver you get when you're angry about something but can't do anything about it was shaking my entire body. It sounded like I just ran several miles, my breathing was so deep. I stopped at the rail by the bridge to cool myself down. The heavy breathing continued, but the voice in my head saying "kill Cinder" died down a little bit. I wanted to cry, but that would cause too much of a scene and might damage any reputation that I had from the match that we just won. Yang was right on my heels, coming to a soft stop, her shoes stamping as she slowed herself down.
She didn't say anything because she knew that I had a head full of thoughts, which was appreciated. My thoughts were very concentrated; all I could think about was the burning desire to yell at the top of my lungs. And about Cinder. Why was she acting like such a bitch? What was she to gain? Was there even really a purpose? If not, the big question still lingers: WHY? Her face shines unappreciated in the darkness of my head. The face that she made when she looked at me mocks me; I can hear her laughter deep within myself. And what could I do?
"You can't really do anything about it, Blake," Yang says to me from behind. That didn't really help.
"You don't say?"
"Hey, don't get sassy. I'm not the one who you should be mad at," she said to me sweetly. I interpreted it in a kind way. "You can't do anything about it, so you really can't be mad. Well, obviously you can, but there really isn't that much of a point. It's a waste of energy." She slips her hands around my shoulders and kneads out the tension that has built up throughout the day. "Instead, worry about the good. That's what makes life so wonderful- I guarantee you that it's not the bitch who enrages you. We did exceptionally well in the tournament, for example. Take joy in that. And if we end up losing, which we won't, just focus on the fun that we had! I like to think of life as a great big lesson, and every day is an opportunity to learn. I've learned that to get past the bad things, you have to look to the bright side." She flipped me around and stared in my eyes, studying to see if I struck a chord with what she said; they said yes. She smiled and embraced me, and the breaths that were once so furious died down to a steady rhythm.
I inhaled deeply as I always do when I hug someone or meet them for a first time; Yang smelt of no particular smell, just a barrage of so many sweet things. She was playing with my hair as she hugged me, and it was actually very comforting. She gave the most delightful hugs. After she released she gave a sympathetic smile, as all people do after I act up to kind of ease the tension. We didn't talk after that, but instead she guided me by my waist to a bench and we sat down. Again, silence. I could definitely tell that it was an intentional silence though; Yang's body wasn't writhed up and she wasn't looking from side to side anxiously. She was slouched and her eyes were fixed on something-or perhaps nothing at all, I wasn't able to tell. I looked at her questioningly, and she responded with a sharp head turn and a "don't expect me to talk, just think!". I faced front and did as she instructed. I thought. I didn't, however think about Cinder, or how badly I wanted to scratch her eyes out, I thought about Ruby and Weiss and Yang. I thought about my closest friends.
I remembered a time when it seemed like we did nothing but study, a few tests were coming up and we had no time to do anything but study and occasionally train. That's all that we thought about. We didn't even notice one another through the span of those days. The only thing that we thought about were words on a page and knowledge in our head. After class, we would study mercilessly, even Yang, and not a word was spoken between either of us besides a sigh and a groan. I remembered looking up at each person and studying their faces. Such immense concentration. It was amusing to see them so busy and usually I do prefer if it were quiet, but I hated it. The silence felt so…wrong. It felt misplaced. I stared at Weiss: she had piles of paper and a row of books neatly placed on her bed to ease her incredibly OCD mind. I stared at Yang: there was a strain on her face- she REALLY didn't like it. She was staring at a giant book like it was in a foreign language, but even she didn't speak a word and continued on. Then I glanced at Ruby: she was staring directly back at me with those striking silver eyes over a history book. I blushed to be caught staring, but she caught me in her gaze and I was unable to look away. She dropped the book and revealed a mischievous grin. Ruby, sitting next to Weiss, lifted her foot to where it was slightly over the height of the bed. She then gave me a childish wink as she thrust her small foot across Weiss' side of the bed, knocking all of her books and neatly stacked papers into the White Queen, the papers fluttering through the room like giant white butterflies. We all watched them fly through the air, our eyes wide. We looked quickly over at Weiss; her head was down in a rage and her fists were clenched very, very tightly. She was a pot of water that was about to boil over. And then…
"RUBY YOU DOLT! DO YOU REALIZE HOW LONG THAT TOOK ME, YOU IMBECILE?" There was a brief silence before we burst into laughter-loud and obnoxious- and all silence was totally gone. We bent over in laughter and Yang fell out of her bed, throwing the papers wildly throughout the room. The sound of laughter was so foreign and our faces cramped from lack of use. I didn't get to see people in the act of laughing-my eyes were closed most of the time. There was a stream of tears that strolled happily throughout the wrinkles that my face made. We didn't think about studying or anything that we had tests over. We didn't really think about anything; all we knew was hilarity. It was great. It lasted for about 2 solid minutes, but after we stopped, someone would start again, causing the cycle to start all over. After our faces hurt and the tears beaded our shirts, we just sat (some on beds, some on the floor) and smiled. Yang asked if we wanted to grab some food in the cafeteria, which we all agreed sounded amazing. We ate so much food and had such a good time that we didn't study for the rest of the day. The test was tomorrow, but we didn't care at all. We were tired of it. We came to the final conclusion that each other's company would do us better than studying would, so we just did stuff the rest of the night. We talked, ate, sat around, and eventually watched a movie. Then we slept, woke up, and took our tests with a smile on our faces. We had some of the highest scores in that class. It really reinforces what Yang said earlier to me, to focus on the good things. I'm thankful for her.
"I can see you've gotten over it," Yang says. She noticed that I was smiling.
"I just remembered that time when we were studying and Ruby kicked Weiss' perfectly stacked papers everywhere." She chuckled abruptly, making me smile harder. "It just reminded me that things shouldn't always be taken too seriously, I guess." She nodded her head at me in agreement.
We were shoved away from one another by a pair of pale hands and silvery grey hair. Mercury's arms rested in the small space on the back of the bench and his head was parallel with ours, making us turn our heads completely to the side to even decipher who it was that disrupted us.
"Hello, ladies." We were both equally unamused that he was here. I because he was associated with Cinder and he had an outrageous ego. "That was quite an impressive round you and your team won. I'm sure you had quite a struggle." Dick.
"It wasn't nearly as hard as it looked, believe me," Yang said with a subtle hint of pissiness in her voice. "Funny how things look from afar." We both stood up slowly, trying to act unintimidated and strong. Maybe it played well for Yang, but I was a little anxious.
"Hm," he chortled to himself, staring at Yang with a certain indescribable stare. It looked like he was going to beat her…but then it looked as if he was going to ask her out…but it also looked like he was intentionally trying to piss the both of us off. It was working. There was something scary about him. He was, for the most part, an ordinary person. He didn't look like he was anything special but he gave off this strange aroma of power and hate that made me cringe. The way his eyes looked over Yang made me feel really protective. I don't know why I haven't realized this until now, but he's VERY menacing. I stood in front of Yang to break his eyes' contact with her. He saw what I was doing and smiled. I stared at him with wide eyes and a quivering lip. I felt so weak and almost childish, but anything is better than the way he looked at her. I didn't know why I was so worried, but it felt like he was the bully at school and I was the kid in the corner who never spoke.
"I like that look you're giving me, Blake. It really brings out the cowardice in you," Mercury said with a large smile stretched across his face. I kept staring at him with my pathetic stare that came off more pitiful than threatening. "Is there something wrong with me? Hm? Perhaps there's something on my face? Something in my teeth?" He grew more and more with each word that had the displeasure of reaching our ears. "Or... maybe there's something you'd like to know?"
Me and Yang stared at each other confusedly.
"What the fuck are you implying?" Yang said with a powerful tone in her voice. My blood felt colder and colder with fear. He knows something about something. But what? What could he possibly know that we couldn't? The look in his sharp eyes told no lie; he does know something of importance. He continued to look over us, his facial expression glistening with confidence and knowledge. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. When an enemy knows something that you don't you can't help but feel a little scared.
"Well well well…that depends."
"On what?" I asked.
"On what information you really want to know. I'm brimming with information. I know a lot about a lot of things, you know. However, I'll narrow it down. One, who exactly I am. Or "we", more precisely. Two…well I'll save that bit for a little bit later down the road." He kind of annoyed me how mysterious he was trying to be, but it was threatening in a sort of way. It felt like a child would feel knowing that something bad would happen but he is tortured with the awful silence of waiting. All my anxiety is pent up, and I don't know if I want to hear what he's got to say.
Yang quickly replied, "Well hm, it seems like you're to tell us either way, so stop trying to be smart and just tell us, dick. Oh, and don't drag it out like you've been doing, please."
He laughed villainously, seemingly on purpose just to show how much of a douche he is, and he smiled so that you could hardly see the black of his pupils. "Okay then, fine. We, being Cinder, Emerald and I, don't go to school anywhere. Emerald and I work for Cinder. We were orphaned, she found us, yada yada yada. We became students under her. Cinder taught us how to fight, our ideals, how to live in this awful world…how to fix it…" he chuckled. "I'm sure you've noticed that we aren't without training. We could beat you within an inch of your life if we wanted to." Now Yang chuckled. "Oh you think that's funny, do you, blondie? I think that's ironic."
"How is that ironic? Are you going up against us in the future or something?" I asked dully, trying to sound void of emotion so that he had nothing to pick on me about.
"It is ironic, but no. I know for a fact that you won't be going up against us. Not in the tournament, that is."
"And HOW do you know that?" I retorted. He looked at me out of one eye and smiled with the side of his mouth, then showing his clenched teeth.
"You two really don't have any patience, do you? Here I am giving you the pleasure of my company and information, and you-"
"You are giving us no such pleasure," Yang said. "If anything, you're being a nuisance. We don't care who you are. We just care about winning and you leaving us the hell alone."
"Oh, you might not care, which is understandable, but it sure is insightful. Knowing a person, how they think, how they live, their origins, it is all very helpful when it comes to understanding them. We don't have much in this world, but one thing that we do have is knowledge. What's a life without knowledge? So you should be thanking me for enlightening you." He tilted his head so that his ear faced us. He glared at us from the side expectantly. "Well?" We stayed quiet, trying to shoot a disgusted look toward him. He eased his head back to its normal position and he sighed. "We came here to do a job. A very important one, at that. Cinder has been planning this one for years. I'll tell you about it pretty soon. Or better, you'll see it for yourself in action. I'll give you a general idea of what we do though: we get rid of people with authority and influence and power and shut them out from the world in one way or another."
Me and Yang both squinted at him confusedly. It was a pretty unbelievable feat. I didn't believe him. I couldn't believe that he was some kind of terrorist. He had been rambunctious and suspicious, but not on the terrorist scale. He was our age. He was way too young. Every kid I know is just trying to do their best in school, get stronger, and not be overwhelmed by stress and anxiety. There are the kids in the White Fang of course, but that's different. I can't believe that he was trained by Cinder to become some villain. It sounds too fabricated. I could make up a better and more believable story. How could three people do all of that?
"Oh is that so? So you think that you can just go and take down Ozpin, the general, hell, even a student like Pyrrha? That's ridiculous," Yang spitted out. "That's the biggest load of bullshit that I think that I've ever heard. I can't believe a single thing that you say." She started smiling now. "You're just trying to start drama with us, aren't you? We aren't fooled by your dumb ass. Let's go, Blake." I was speechless. I couldn't say anything because frankly I was too confused to speak. My tongue became frozen and all I could really do is look at Mercury and walk beside Yang. We walked a fast paced few steps past the bench, and Yang took my hand hastily. A few seconds later, I felt a cold hand grab my arm by the elbow which completely stopped us from moving. Yang was yelling at Mercury, but I didn't pay attention. Mercury's lips were nearly pressed against my ear and he whispered sharp words that made my ears fold down and my spine compress.
"I have Weiss and Ruby. If you two don't stop being difficult all it will take is one word and I'll have them killed." I froze and I grabbed Yang's and tighter and told her to shut the hell up. She was startled and was hushed immediately. "Now, follow me, please. Don't make me ask twice or else there will certainly be a price paid."
I turned to Yang quickly and my feet stuttered toward Mercury. "He says they have Weiss and Ruby. We can't take the chance. We have to follow him, Yang." Tears of fear were coming to my eyelids and a lump was stuck deep in my throat. Yang didn't speak and walked toward Mercury slowly. It all happened so quickly. It was like if a stranger came up to you and said that if you didn't give him your money then he would rape you. So you give him the money out of fear and to avoid the chance of being violated. That's what it felt like; it felt like I was being raped. I felt so uncomfortable and scared. My teeth were glued together so that I could bear the cold fingers that were being wrapped around my arm. It might as well have been razors being held to the skin on my arm. His grip was so tight and threatening…
There weren't many people at all; the only people that we could see were with their friends and being entertained by one another's laughter. A match was going on, so everyone already left to go see that. I felt isolated. Even though Yang was right behind me, I couldn't help but think that I was the last person in the world. It was like I was being lead to see some gruesome sight, like a mutilated body; it was either all a joke, or it was an actual body and there was no joke, just harsh and awful reality.
We swerved through food stands and groups of people going to some place that I didn't know. For all I know we were taking a lap around the stadium and once we got back to the bench he would say, "Just kidding! I really had you going!" I hope that's what he's doing. The groups of people got thinner and thinner until we were relatively isolated. We were on a concrete pathway just outside of the stadium. Mercury was looking suspiciously and cautiously around him but kept walking at his normal pace.
"Almost there…Don't look anywhere but forward. Don't look behind you; curiosity killed the cat, you know."
I don't know if Yang obeyed, but I did. I wanted to comply to the best of my ability so that I can have closure that I did everything I could to keep safe. I just watched the back of Mercury's head as it bobbed up and down with each step that he took. He occasionally looked from side to side or down at his feet. We were walking on green grass that stretched out a long way. There were the woods in front of us, about 100 yards or so. My anxiety was still spiking. It was quiet, spare the sound of the grass being crumpled beneath our feet. That was probably the worst part-I was alone in my head and it wasn't a great place to be. Fear and uncertainty was swimming through the recesses of my mind and that's all that I knew then. I didn't think of any positive scenarios because the more we walked, the less assurance I could find.
We took a few steps into the forest and he turned around, letting go of my arm. His face was hardly changed from before; he was a little pale but still had a slight smile upon his face. I looked back at Yang for a split second, catching a glimpse of her uneasy face before I whipped it around back at Mercury, remembering that he told me to look forward.
"Well, here we are ladies." He was smiling so broad. I heard a loud thump behind me. Yang. I then was hit heavily in the head and I blacked out, only remembering the sound of footsteps on dead leaves, then nothing.
I woke up with a giant headache. It felt like the back of my head was bleeding- my hair felt wet with something warm. I tried to feel my head, but my hands were bound behind my back, along with my feet and neck. My breathing was short and quick and I started to panic. Where was I? Where was Yang? And Weiss? And Ruby? Tears formed in my eyes and they strolled down my eyes. My nose was stuffy and my throat was closing, so it felt like I was slowly suffocating, which made my cry even more. I tried to look to the side despite my neck being restricted. I strained my neck to the right. There was somebody beside me. It was Ruby, and she was awake as well. I tried to see her more specifically through the tears, but all I could see is her red hood. I looked to the left and it was Yang- her yellow hair is very recognizable. She was struggling to get out, yanking her neck and torso wildly. I tried to see beyond Yang, but I couldn't reach my neck out that far. It's only logical to assume that Weiss was there. I relaxed my neck and faced forward. A white sheet was suddenly right in front of me and I screeched a little. It dotted my eyes to wipe away the tears. I closed my eyes to allow the tissue to clear the tears off my eyelashes and cheek. I opened my eyes to Cinder smiling gently at me. The smile, I could tell, was very smug and pretentious.
"So everyone's awake now. Good. Very good. Then we can begin," she said softly but clearly. We didn't speak, we just listened. We were all in shock. I had never felt a fear like this. It felt so surreal, like it wasn't me who was tied up to a chair. I was in a movie, and everything wasn't real. I was in a dream, and I couldn't wake up. I couldn't calm my nerves. I could only panic. I couldn't cry anymore because I wanted to be able to see everything that was going on. "You were all chosen. You can take pride in that. You have… "interfered" with Mr. Torchwick more times than I would like to admit. You have skill, and you are very, very nosey. And that, ladies, is a problem. It is something that I do not like to have to deal with, so I don't. Being in the way of our goal is a road block that is simply intolerable, and on the road to achieve our goal there are many, many road blocks." She was so calm that it was unnerving. Her determination was threatening and everything that Mercury had been saying came into light, making it even more frightening. I studied her face and body while she talked so I could get my mind off the raw fear that was drowning me. She had the most beautiful dark hair. "And we get rid of roadblocks…" Her eyes were striking and luminous. "…by putting a certain…" Her dress was a beautiful red. "…handicap…" Her mouth was small and sharp. "…on them…" She was thin, but powerful looking. "…so that they can never…" Her nails had an interesting color on them. "…ever…" She was one of the scariest women I've ever met in my life. "…get in our way again." She walked quickly towards Ruby and I heard a bloodcurdling scream that echoed off the walls and made the tears stroll down my face once more.
A Cinder chapter will be released soon. Hope you enjoyed!
