RWBY Loops 10
Flare
A/N: A bit on the late side, I admit. Don't worry though, you're all getting two chapters for the price of one! I hope you like it, because I put a lot of work into this chapter, and Cinder is going to be a great big sister to Ruby.
See you at the end of the chapter!
9.15 (Alt.)
Rare sights could be called commonplace in the loops. Indeed, many a world seemed fated to have strange, wondrous characters. Be they Harry Potter or Naruto Uzumaki, many denizens within the multiverse were strange, powerful, and often defied the odds. On the planet of Remnant, with its powerful Hunters and strange monsters, such sights could often be seen, despite claims to the contrary.
The Loops simply compounded this. If it was strange, but possible, or strange and impossible but cool, it could and eventually would happen. Events were linear, playing upon repeat with many a variation. So, naturally, the characters, for whom the old and familiar were often the strange and wondrous, took great pride and revelry in the rare addition to their small social circle.
Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren were few, but close. Teammates, and family. They had long since come to take great joy in each other's presence, and the presence of the ever exuberant and joyful Ruby. To them, she was their little sister.
Naturally, as the world does expand, so too does their family. It had been genuine, countless millennia since a new face joined them in the loops, but Cinder Fall, their greatest enemy, had arrived as their peer. And what was perhaps most wondrous was her history.
Cinder could not recall the world as it truly was. She believed herself, rather than a terrible villain, to be a somber, mysterious, loving, cheerful, and dynamic elder sister to the ever so luminous Ruby Rose. In a strange twist of fate, Cinder claimed to be, not the woman of evil she was, but a trusting, scared girl, weak and meek and wishing only for the comfort and acceptance of her dear sister.
With open hands and open hearts, Team RWBY and Team JNPR welcomed her into their midst with only… slight grumbling from Jaune and Ren, pertaining to the fact that the loop was becoming a real estrogen fest. It was as they laughed, and joked, and welcomed Cinder into their makeshift family, that Team RWBY and JNPR experienced something new and amazing. For them this was truly a moment of greatness.
And yet, they forgot two things. The first was Cinder's MP3, which, unattended, played on its song, and from it came strange lyrics.
"Black and White melt into Grey,
Til every truth is stripped away.
When nothing's wrong, nothing's okay.
Everyone has been betrayed."
The second thing they forgot were words. Words uttered an unutterable time ago, beyond the reaches of the furthest of realizations. Words of praise, and truth, spoken by Garrick Olivander. Words to speak of someone who must not be named. "After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."
7.9 (Alt.)
Staring out over the darkened city of Vale, Cinder Fall was thinking. This meant that she was also plotting, with a side of scheming. If you wanted to be poetic (or comedic) she could be said to be conniving.
If Cinder had been able to read minds, she would have blown up anyone who thought of her like that. She was genocidal, not a cartoon villain.
Said genocidal woman glanced at her Scroll for the third time in the last ten minutes. Cinder was waiting for something very specific, and very odd. She was waiting for the end of the loop.
With the benefit of hindsight, Cinder would later admit the sheer oddity of her mere existence. She was one of many Cinders in the Loops. A Cinder of only a certain history, a certain disposition, a unique Cinder. At least, in the beginning. Cinder Fall, at least this Cinder Fall, was Aware of the Loops.
Now Cinder had, in earlier iterations, been Loop Aware. She had known about the Loops on a fundamental level. This Cinder wasn't like those Cinders. She had learned of the Loops from Ruby. Ruby had told her, not two nights ago, told Cinder that she, Ruby Rose, was a time traveler.
Cinder had been naturally skeptical. Time Travel was impossible. Incredible. Couldn't happen. So to disprove her, Ruby had pulled her into a frankly massive pocket dimension, blew the lid off of her plans, and thrashed her comically. Cinder had decided that, maybe the Time Travel thing wasn't so crazy after all.
After all, the craziest thing she had seen that night was the pie throwing machine that had been holding General Ironwood at bay.
As the clock on Cinder's Scroll ticked along, the elder Huntress thought. Ruby Rose knew her plans and, while strong, needed to be eliminated. The easiest time to strike would be immediately in the morning. Between the fatigue of waking up and the destitution caused by her realizing that her dream of time travel was simply that.
Cinder also knew how to eliminate people discreetly. Ruby's Aura was probably strong, but nothing could survive magma temperatures inside of the stomach. Cinder already had a Magma Dust crystal and had ground it into a fine powder. She'd mix Ruby's food with the Dust, and start a fight. Maybe have CRDL throw in their lot. Spill the beans for Blake, have them attack Team RWBY. Ruby would activate her Aura, trigger the magma Dust in her stomach...
Cinder grinned and pulled a pestle and mortar out of her bag, along with the Dust crystal. Yes, Ruby's death (and that of her team) would be investigated by the teachers and the military, but really she was just getting ahead of the rush. Cinder had absolutely no-
8.3 (Alt.)
And now she was inside of the Bullhorn Tiltjet airplane waiting for Roman. Cinder blinked. "Wait... what?"
This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. It was...
"Impossible..." Cinder murmured as the gout of ice summoned by Glynda locked her tiltjet in place. "No... NO!" She grabbed the controls and wrenched them back and forth, but nothing happened.
"Damn... Hey, chill out," Roman joked at her. Cinder immediately stopped trying to get the bullhead moving. She decided it was time to just beat up Roman. Unfortunately, there was a flash of light, a loud crack, and the air that was formally occupied by Roman Torchwick was now empty.
A moment later, the bay door cracked open and Glynda Goodwitch and Ruby stepped inside. Cinder looked at them and flipped them off.
The cops arrived soon afterwards and Cinder, ever the evil woman she was, ended up carted off to jail. While Glynda and Ruby would go on to discover that Headmaster Ozpin had declared himself the world's future ruler due to lack of caffeine Cinder would spend the next six months rotting in jail, and thinking.
'I wanted to do what now?'
Specifically, Cinder was dwelling upon her reasons for recruiting the White Fang, Roman and everyone. In her previous incarnation, Cinder Fall had simply wanted to burn the world because it was a terrible place and deserved to die. Now she wanted to rule it with an iron fist. Upon collecting her thoughts and deciding that she wasn't dreaming, Cinder started screaming, and kept screaming...
Until she found herself back in the cockpit of the Bullhorn that she had twice before used to retrieve Roman. Cinder blinked, and decided she would have none of that.
Up on the rooftop, Roman skidded to a halt as Ruby showed up behind him. "HEY!" Ruby shouted at Roman. Ruby wasn't exactly planning on any big alterations in the loop until it came time to thwart Roman and the White Fang's big Dust robbery. Maybe bringing the whole of Team SSSN into the mix would bring up some nice deviations.
Cinder's airship came up over the ledge, rose higher, kept going, turned around, and flew off. Far below, Roman and Ruby, and then Glynda, all stared at the retreating speck that was the airship. "Ah fuck."
High above them, Cinder set a course for home. So what if she left Roman behind. He...
Knew her face, her name, some of her plan. Cinder grumbled and turned around, the airship's course changing neatly.
Back on the rooftop, Roman was between a rock and a hard place. Said rock was a delightful drop some seventy feet into hard concrete, and the hard place happened to be a pair of Huntresses who planned to take him alive. Probably. "Easy now ladies."
A sniper bullet ricocheted off of the brickwork next to Roman. Ruby winced and lowered her sniper rifle. "Sorry."
The increasing bellow of the Bullhorn's engines were music to the thief's ears. Even as Glynda wrapped him up in Dust bindings, Roman laughed and laughed as Cinder approached. "What, you think this will-"
Cinder set the autopilot, opened a window, and blew Roman's brains out with a sniper shot. She turned away and flew off. 'Well, there's the problem solved. Now, why...'
Cinder then recalled something regarding this iteration of time. Apparently she was a humanoid... Grimm.
As confused as ever, Cinder continued piloting off into the night sky.
8.5 (Alt.) Shimmer712
"Well, this back story sucks," Cinder muttered, reviewing her loop memories in the isolation of her room. In this loop, she was a former child-slave who had escaped her owners. Their efforts to locate her had failed, probably in part because they had to be discreet – the illegality of owning her meant they couldn't afford too much attention, so they had limited resources to call on.
In this Loop, she wanted the world to burn for its malice and ignorance. For those who had known and supported or ignored her plight, and those who were honestly unaware that such things happened in this day and age. Then she wanted to reshape the ashes into something more just, more moral. The ends justify the means and all that.
Cinder smirked as she recalled visiting her former owners. She had enjoyed herself. They had not.
"Hmm, what approach should I take?" she mused to herself. She could conceal the fact she was Awake and simply continue as she pleased. Nothing wrong with some self-indulgence.
Well, if that indulgence harmed someone, it could be viewed as wrong but she couldn't bring herself to care.
Or maybe she could put some subtle alterations to her schemes into action, just to give them a test run.
The dust collection, for example. Maybe if she had had Roman search out alternatives… there were a number of explosives that don't use dust at all and the materials for them wouldn't attract as much attention as vast amount of dust.
Then again, she could go for both the dust and alternative explosives. The large dust collections to keep eyes focused there. And the explosives set up discreetly in the appropriate locations.
Cinder pondered the likelihood of this succeeding then shrugged. The Loops were such lovely things. They gave her so many opportunities to fine-tune her plotting.
Maybe she should turn her hand to assassination. Avoid the Loopers, yes, but take advantage of the Loops to find out what defenses various figures have and how she could neutralize them. That information could be very useful.
No, she should be careful and only go for one person in a loop and infrequently at that. Less chance of the Loopers taking personal attention. Cinder was sure they would dislike a serial killer running around. Keeping things low key was the way to go.
Or maybe she could set up shop. Have them think this was a Variant where she was a good guy, even without them in her life. Set up shop in the Vale, maybe close to Beacon, be sweet and charming to any who come in, enforce the notion that she isn't necessarily a villain just because she isn't family this loop. From what she had seen, her goody-goody Loops had her related to Ruby and her sister. Best to snip the notion her not being a criminal is dependent on a relation to them in the bud.
Cinder paused and made note to think up some shop ideas for future Loops. Maybe a boutique?
Maybe she could apply for as a teacher at a Hunter School. Beacon would be ideal, it would let her observe little Ruby Rose and her troops. But it would give them opportunities to notice any slips on her part.
Cinder tilted her head. Maybe she should teach at a different school. It would give her a chance to see what other semblances were out there. And she could view the skills set of the rest of the staff.
Or maybe she could take a vacation. Vacuo was sunny and warm, although the environment was a bit harsh and dry. Mistral could be nice. Atlas was out. General Ironwood was extremely influential there and very suspicious. She saw no reason to risk his attention if she was not gaining anything.
Hmmm... speaking of Ironwood... he had access to all sort of technology, him and Atlas. Maybe infiltrating his group to help herself to some blueprints should be taken into consideration. Granted, from what Roman reported, one Paladin was taking down by four girls but there was nothing to stop her from finding a willing helper who had the knowledge to tweak things. And if nothing else, she could identify any weakness in the machines to exploit when it suited her.
But building an emotional connection to the hunters-in-training would be beneficial. They tended to give sway to their hearts and if they found out she had started looping earlier than she claimed, if they had affection for her, it would be to her benefit and make them less likely to be excessively harsh. And she could claim their influence had an effect on her. It would be tricky. Too soon and it wouldn't be believable and depending on which loop they thought had been her original…it would be better to not be discovered to have awoken earlier.
Stacking the odds in her favor, always an enjoyable hobby.
And if they gave some insight that could be of use to her…all the better. Cinder wasn't foolish enough to believe no one would come up with something she hadn't considered. So the fact the children had a drastically different perspective to her could be very useful, providing she played her cards right. And she had to admit, spending time with them was enjoyable. It gave her a chance to unwind and indulge. One couldn't spend all their time plotting. All work and no play made things so very dull.
"Decisions, decisions," she hummed, considering.
Non-Applicable 1
'I wonder if I can kill Ruby?' Cinder thought to herself on the airship ride to Beacon. Ruby herself was standing a few feet away, talking with Yang and Jaune. Cinder pulled out a handgun and shot Ruby in the face.
"This was a bad idea," Cinder decided, tripping for the fiftieth time. "I could have lived with the harem mechanics, the continual romantic pining for my body by Jaune, Neptune and Mercury... But I draw the line at-"
Cinder overbalanced and fell flat on her chest again. "The Z-Cups."
8.7 (Alt.)
Cinder was not having a happy loop.
It had taken the possibly psychotic woman not too many repeats of time to figure out that the loops wouldn't be ending anytime soon. This meant that unfortunately her plans were on hold indefinitely, mostly because... well, she couldn't keep them straight. They changed every loop and it got on her nerves. This loop especially.
Summer Rose, alias Cinder Fall, felt like ripping Ruby Rose's heart out, fleeting familiar connection be damned. Of course, this would mean that the loop would end and then Cinder would be sent to Eiken with it's boring harem comedy and gigantic breasts and the endless pain of being romantically pursued by Jaune and Mercury and Neptune.
Cinder did not want to repeat that hell. Ever.
The dangers of killing Ruby though also had long term consequences. Cinder had been able to verify that all seven of Ruby's friends were also looping, if the downright insane antics they got up to (who kills Grimm with Pies? Seriously?) were anything to go by. Which meant that any showing of severe power may tip them off to her presence.
It also meant that Cinder couldn't deviate from the script too much, lest she accidentally reveal herself. Which in turn translated into going to Beacon for the umpteenth (twenty-third) time so far. While Mercury's casual bloodthirstiness and Emerald's possible romantic feelings towards her had made for some easily manipulatable tools in the beginning, she now knew them well enough to never really need to worry about them rebelling.
All in all, experience and secrecy had sucked the fun from everything. It was driving Cinder up a wall as well. There had to be something to spice up her time in Beacon, wasn't there?
This was a question that Cinder had resolved to ponder as she, Emerald and Mercury moved through the halls of Beacon. Certainly there was something fun to do. She was in a school full of teenagers with high caliber weapons for god's sakes! Surely there was some-
So engrossed in her thoughts was Cinder that she completely missed the approaching blond boy until it was too late. Cinder staggered back, glaring daggers at... Sun Wukong. To his credit, the monkey Faunus seemed as surprised as she was. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."
Emerald opened her mouth to say something that would have probably blown their cover (or confessed her undying love for Cinder, which was equally likely) but Cinder beat her to it. "Don't worry. You're hardly the first person I've run into."
Sun shrugged in good nature. "Yeah, that's life. Never know when you're gonna meet a new opportunity. Well excuse me."
Cinder let Sun pass when a light bulb went off in her head. "Stay here," she told Emerald and Mercury. Cinder spun on a ceramic heel and marched off after Sun.
The Vacuo boy raised an eyebrow when Cinder came level with him. "Can I do you for anything?"
"You're from Vacuo, right? Didn't they recently legalize several... potent herbs?" Cinder asked, layering her voice with subtle seductive tones.
Sun grinned and chuckled a little. "I don't know... I'm not really a herbalist. You'd need to ask my friends." Sun stopped at a door and pulled it open. "Hey guys, we got a girl here looking for a good time."
Neptune, Scarlet and Sage looked up from their homework and board game. Neptune raised an eyebrow. "Sweet heart," he said to Cinder. "Looking for fun time with an intellectual?"
"Happy times on my own with some special herbs and spices," Cinder declined.
"Oh, I'm out," Neptune said dejectedly. "What about you Scarlet?"
"You into Ecstasy?" Scarlet asked.
Sage pulled a large bag from his equally large coat and tossed it at Cinder. "Don't smoke it all at once sugar."
Cinder smiled at Sage and took a lock of marijuana between her sizzling fingers. "Oh don't worry. I'll be just fine," she said, inhaling the smoke, an orchestra starting up around her. "All I am is someone looking for a good-"
Cinder stopped dead. The weed fell from her grasp. The orchestra began to crescendo.
"THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE UNFOLD BEFORE ME! MY MIND STRETCHES INTO THE INFINITE! I KNOW EVERYTHING! I AM EVERYTHING!"
Meanwhile, outside La La Land:
"Yooooooooooooooooooooooo..."
The obscenely high Cinder droned, completely lost in her first taste of the drug. Sun and his team winced.
"Okay, she's not getting any drugs from us anytime soon again."
8.11 (Alt.)
Reflexes saved Cinder from taking a stone disk to the gut. Instinct drove her to charge its thrower, but a loud buzzer brought her to a screeching halt. It was right about then that Cinder's brain caught up with her body.
She was in a large blue and red arena, above a water pit. Her memories (even as inconsistent as they were) also reared their ugly head, telling her that her name was Cin, she was the sister of a guy named Mako, she was a martial artist who could control stone, dirt and rock with Hung Ga Kung fu, and apparently she used all of this to be a combination of Pro Wrestler and Ultimate Frisbee player, which made her a "Pro-Bender". She was also breaking one of the rules of Pro-Bending.
'Well, my memories can be counted one to provide a timely exposition dump when needed,' Cinder thought. "I forfeit!"
The referee coughed awkwardly. "Uh... Ma'am? This is a practice match. You requested it. Why are you forfeiting?"
Oh yes, this was practice. Right. "Uh... Time out?"
"Do you have... any idea who I am?" Mako (her brother, which was still weird) asked.
Cinder shook her head. "Look, Mako. I really wish I could tell you that I knew... whatever the hell was going on. I have no idea who you are, except that you're my brother. You're not my brother."
Mako and Cinder had retired to the Fire Ferret's (that was the name of their team, apparently) locker room with third teammate Hasook. Of course, Mako didn't seem to want Hasook present, and had summarily kicked him out for the following discussion. Now Mako seemed contemplative. "Are you time traveling? You know, not now, but do you usually time travel elsewhere?"
Cinder's brain made and discarded a dozen plans, reading the angles. Mako seemed familiar with the loops and this entire situation seemed to be normal for him. He may have experienced a similar situation prior. This meant that he could provide an even more detailed explanation than Ruby had so long ago. The issue though, was that if Cinder tried to pump him for information, he might recognize her. She needed to tread carefully. "Maybe we should... start from square one. What's happening here? Where is..." Cinder took a calculated risk. "My world?"
Mako shrugged his shoulders. "A world away. Is this your first Fused Loop?"
Cinder analyzed those words. Mako's words almost confirmed that he was familiar with her situation (who knew, maybe he had experienced it first hand) which meant he'd be the best source of info she could get. However, even though he didn't seem to recognize her, she couldn't be sure. "Fused Loop?"
Mako's eyes widened. "Do you know what Yggdrasil is? What the Loops are?"
Calculated risk time again. "No, I don't." Cinder ran through her word choice. 'Don't try to play nice, you're confused and lost. Minimum word count.'
Mako slicked back his hair. "Damn... Well, you're not the first looper to show up who didn't know anything about the Loops. Come on, let's go to the roof."
Cinder raised an eyebrow and followed her "brother" out of the team room. Winding through hallways and ascending along stairs and then ladders. Through a trap door, and onto... the roof. Cinder's jaw dropped.
A vast, enormous metropolis stretched all around her, on the ring of a great bay (Yue Bay, her memories supplied). This city (Republic City) was the technological and cultural center of a powerful republic, founded by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko. It stood as a representation of unity, peace, and harmony. It was a world that had never known the fear, the desolation, the horror of the Grimm.
This was peace. "My... god..."
Mako glanced at Cinder. "Amazing, isn't it?"
"Y... Yes. It's amazing. Do the Grimm really not exist?"
Mako raised an eyebrow. "The Grimm? No, I can't say they do. What are they?"
Cinder started shaking. "You... Your world is free. It's covered by nations... cities... people... Everyone, everything is free." Mako opened his mouth, only to realize that Cinder wasn't shaking in surprise.
No, it was fury.
"Why," Cinder growled, red light flicking across her skin, the glass roof cracking under her feet.
Mako gulped. Cinder, whomever she was, wasn't powerful enough to threaten him, but she could certainly hurt herself. "Not every world is the same in Yggdrasil Cinder. Some are peaceful. Others are not. We... we're in a balance. I can explain this to you, if you let me do it now."
Cinder reached into her heart and stilled her rage. Her Aura diffused, her Earthbending calming. "Begin."
"There is a tree..."
Cinder sighed.
Mako's explanation been long, detailed and very, very thorough. The entire speech had actually run into the indigo evening, a small camp fire ignited by the man calling himself her brother. This was a natural occurrence in the loops as he said; "Familial connections are pretty consistent. They can be changed though."
Cinder had used the time to plan as much as she could, running up what she could and figuring her best plan was to act as if Ruby was a "Stealth Anchor" as Mako had said. She also melded the history of Remnant with a dose of her favorite piece of Literature, Rose Potter. Mako seemed to buy it.
Cinder gently rubbed her fingers together, a pulse of warmth slipping through her hands. "So... I'm looking forward to... eternity. Eternity here, in this world?"
"It's overwhelming, I know," Mako said gently. "It's surprising to a lot of people. I remember, right when me and my brother started up. We, and our friends Korra and Asami all started together. We had about eight months for a loop, same as you. It got longer with the expansions of course, but back then it was short, and snappy." Mako snapped his fingers for emphasis, a little spark erupting from them. "It was weird, sure. But we lived with it. Eventually the Expansions started up, we got to see even more of the world... Heh. Bolin learned Lavabending. I never knew he had it in him. Proudest day of my life. Sure, it also got weird for me when I ended up in Loops where me and Korra or Asami were still dating, but we got over it eventually."
"Got over it?" Cinder asked.
"Didn't let it bother us. Sure, we broke up every time, but we're friends. Can't let that get to us. Now, I'll tell you right now, even if no one will believe me, but I knew that Korra and Asami were an item before they did."
Cinder clicked her teeth. "Right. Sure..."
Mako rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm pretty observant. You do not become a professional, major league Pro-Bender when you're not paying attention."
Cinder shrugged. Mako may have been more observant than she gave him credit for, but ultimately he only partially managed a "Smart jock" persona. Even if he did have some nascent (by his own admission) experience with police work thanks to his working relationship with the being who was essentially god, he really failed completely to give a deep, full 'I am a smart person' illusion. "Hey, I believe you," she said disingenuously.
Mako smiled, proving Cinder's point. Moron. "Thanks Cinder."
Cinder flipped a small rock in her hands, rolling it along her fingers. "So, from what you've been saying all this time, from now on I will be an Earthbender, and a Lavabender."
"If you want to, sure," Mako said lightly. "Do you like Earthbending?"
"Well, I can pick up martial arts I guess. And my technology does rely on crystals. I guess..."
Mako ran a hand through his hair. "One of the... things about loops is that, occasionally, you'll find a fused loop that, if you let it, will change you. You'll use it; it will become a part of your history, your choices." Mako exhaled slowly, breath steaming in the cold air. "This isn't always your first fused loop. But if you want it to be, this could be your Formative Loop."
Cinder stared at the stone, feeling inside of it an... inner warmth. She closed her fist around the rock. "Teach me."
Several miles away, far across the cold bay on Air Temple Island, Jinora set her telescope aside. Another Mako standing next to her didn't lower his own. "What do you think? She being honest?"
Mako pursed his lips. "I don't know. I've pulled my personal databases on a miss Cin Rose, but I'm getting blanks. I'm seeing a pattern for Harry Potter, Charlie Bones, RWBY, even a little bit of Naruto. I just..."
"She's lying, obviously," Jinora said. "We just don't know what she's lying about."
"We have three and a half years. She can't even see that I'm leading her on," the experienced cop pointed out. Mako focused closely on his distant doppelgänger. "You think we can keep this up for three years?l
"You said you were the Anchor and you were also the only one to ping. I'm one of the better Stealth Loopers anyway, she'll never see me coming."
Mako nodded. "Alright Jinora. Let's get to work."
9.1 (Alt.) Shimmer712
Cinder drummed her fingers, musing to herself. Okay, she was Looping. Good news: She could perfect her plans through trial and error with no real legal consequences.
Bad news: She wasn't the only one Looping. And the other Loopers Looped more than she did. Meaning they had more time to grow in power and skill. And they weren't her allies or pawns. Very bad news.
Killing Ruby Rose was a bad idea. It just made things reset. So unless she desperately wanted a quick end to things, killing the girl was a no go. She paused and shuddered at the memory of what happened when she had done just that. She wasn't sure how that place fit into reality but it sucked. Ridiculously huge bust, a wanna-be male harem pretty much stalking her, she definitely did not want a repeat.
What was the best way to exploit things? Take advantage of everything?
Cinder gritted her teeth and pulled out her sewing kit. She was getting too tense. She needed to relax. She selected the fabric, thread and dust and started sewing, her fingers automatically carrying out the task and her body relaxing at the familiar motions.
Ruby had said Cinder had changed from Loop to Loop. One had been monstrous, Cinder admitted to herself. What was the point of destroying everything and everyone? While it may get you so short term satisfaction, there'd be nothing left in the long run and you'd have effectively screwed yourself over. No more medicines or weapons being produced. No more mass food production. Cinder admitted that as a huntress, she could survive well enough without civilization, foraging and killing animals for food; skins and some plants were good for clothing, caves for shelter. But all it would take was one inconvenient injury or illness and she would be at real risk of dying. She wondered if that version of her had cared about that or if she had been psychotic in the clinical sense.
Then she considered the other version Ruby had mentioned. That one had sounded…almost heroic. The sort that would work with others for the "greater good". Cinder wrinkled her nose at that. Honestly, the greater good? Exactly what was the greater good?
But, if she Awoke in a loop where her Unawake self had been that sort of person, it would mean she had opportunities to get close to Ruby and see about taking advantage of her being a "good guy" to coax information out of the girl.
Cinder considered this. It could be beneficial, but if she accidentally revealed herself, it could turn out badly. Could she pull it off and was the potential gain worth the risk? Or would she be better of concealing her awareness of the Loops and discreetly taking advantage?
9.4 (Alt.)
Cinder was beginning to seriously consider that Team's RWBY and JNPR were as psychologically unstable as Ruby had claimed so long ago. How else would you explain... What was Ruby doing to Team ABRN anyway?
'I wonder if I can use this?' Cinder idly thought.
Zwei the Corgi then nearly took her head off with a cannonball from somewhere cannonballs were frankly not meant to come from.
'Nope, I can scratch War Corgi's off my list of weapons,' Cinder concluded.
Non-Applicable 2 BIOS-Pherecydes
In a quiet clearing far from the normal hustle and bustle of humanity, a single figure danced. Not a ballet or waltz, but a dance of passion and energy. And fire, lots of fire. Her body on auto-pilot as she allowed it to reacquaint itself with her newest skills, Cinder contemplated. The world, the universe, her plans, herself.
Planting her feet firmly on the earth she raised her arms, a torrent of Lava moving in time to her motions. Spinning, she swept her leg out and the molten rock bathed the surrounding trees in flame.
It was fitting she supposed. She had first Awoken by what she assumed was a fluke, so how appropriate that the rest of her existence follow. She wasn't normally a pessimistic person, quite the contrary. She had absolute confidence in herself and everything she did. Her every act was perfect in execution because it stemmed from a keen mind honed to razor's edge and tested time and again in the heat of battle.
But that was before. Now she had no such confidence. How could she? Every time she returned to the past she was someone, or something, completely different than what she was before. Resistance fighter, witch, human, Grimm, hero, villain, mercenary, male, female, other. There was no consistency, and it was INFURIATING!
What were her goals? In her original life it had been to set the world aflame for its deplorable state, and rule over the masses as they rebuilt from the ashes of her wrath. In her third Loop it had been to burn a hole into the center of the planet and unleash a sleeping Grimm from the subterranean tomb where it had been banished. In other Loops it had been an insane plot to somehow protect humanity from the Grimm by transforming them into living flames. In one of her more recent Loops she had just liked setting things on fire. In all her time Looping, she had not once had the same motive, and never again had she had the intent which she had started with her first lifetime.
She now had her own steadily growing Pocket much like the one Ruby had shown her when this whole mess started, thanks to her time with the Avatar's group, and she could identify and make use of a Ping. Additionally she was steadily memorizing the instruction manual and with experience was rapidly building up a catalog of possible reactions to choices she or others made to their Baseline. For instance she now knew that it was possible to eliminate the threat of an Unawake RWBY before it even became an issue by simple funneling a few extra Grimm into the area where they kept the totems used to decide teams.
But that was wholly ineffectual against their Awake counterparts. She frowned as she unleashed several balls of flame from her hands and a curtain of fire from her high kick. That was the real issue. Teams RWBY and JNPR. Her fellow Loopers. In the end the true crux of the matter remained. Age truly made all the difference, and as it stood she was less than a toddler in Looping terms. She could count all of the variables down to the last decimal, eliminate all other threats with ease unmatched, and tear down the corrupt world around her with a few well-placed words... but she remained a passing threat to the older Loopers of Remnant.
An unfortunate Nevermore made the poor decision to attack as she was considering this, and without noticing she lobbed a boulder of flaming stone down its throat. As the dissolving carcass fell to the ground she spared it a passing glance. As easily as she had struck down the hostile Grimm, so too could any member of her foes do the same to her. And she might never even see it coming.
She honestly couldn't count the number of times one of the Huntresses or Huntsmen had blown into her stronghold, torn her organization apart and either killed her in battle or captured her and imprisoned her for the remainder of the Loop. Often before she was even aware of there being intruders.
What she really needed was information. She had her suspicions regarding Roman and his pet, but so far nothing that couldn't be explained away as circumstantial at best. She needed a plan. Something she could depend upon to last her beyond a single Loop's duration. She had earlier dismissed trying to ingratiate herself to the others, but perhaps it wasn't as bad an idea as she had first thought. Certainly there were enough opportunities to do so. She had Looped in as a misguided hero, anti-hero, jerk with a heart of gold or family member to one of the teams numerous times before.
But the timing would need to be perfect. She would have to slowly ease the thought into their minds that it was possible that they could enjoy her company when they were not mortal enemies. That would mean multiple Loops where she played the role of one of the good guys; properly spaced out of course, because she couldn't live with herself if it was nothing but friendship and family all day every day. Sometimes she really did just want to watch the world burn.
There would also need to be several fail-safes and backups. Maybe it was time to finally reveal herself to Ozpin and his white witch, if nothing else they would make for excellent scapegoats.
She would need to upgrade her equipment as well. And if she was honest with herself, that was a particularly enjoyable challenge. Once she had gotten over the ridiculous idea that her greatest cyber opponent was in fact a corgi, it had become a pleasant game to try and one-up the 'data dog'. Her current record stood at 3 wins to his 497. Progress was slow, especially since as far as she could tell that particular Variant wasn't anywhere near as common as she would like, but the mental challenge was perhaps one of the few things keeping her from going as insane as the others clearly were. Barely, but even so.
There was also the matter of making connections she hadn't had before. There were at least a few groups whose allegiance was as fluid as her own, she would have to look into methods for recruiting as many as possible whenever the opportunities arose. Perhaps she could even recreate the circumstances of her own Awakening if she played her cards right, and revealed the truth to the right people.
A shout interrupted her musings. "Cinder! Where are you?"
She grimaced but turned. "I'm coming mother."
"Hurry, your Aunt Yang is here and she brought presents! And its almost lunch time, so don't forget to wash your hands. You're messier than Zwei when you play outside." Ruby called back to her daughter for the Loop.
The currently twelve year old mastermind frowned irritably, as she raised a ball of magma under her feet and pushed off back towards her 'family's' cottage. 'If I go through with this, I'm not using this as my start point. The last thing I need is a motherly Ruby Rose lecturing me on hygiene during battle.'
9.11 (Alt.)
Mercury Black was in a room that very closely matched his names. The curtains were drawn, the lights were off, and the company were assholes. Cinder was also there, and for the last few days had been acting... strangely. Tense, almost impatient. Waiting for something.
"Welcome everyone." Cinder strode around the room, her eyes everywhere. "Everyone... welcome."
"I'm missing a sale for my favorite fashion store Fall. Can we hurry this up?" Coco Adel grumbled. The White Fang plant and her traitorous team had been summoned as well, though were obviously unwilling. "Is this something we can wrap up in five minutes?"
Cinder chuckled, just a little bit. "Oh Coco. Trust me: fashion is going to be the last thing on your mind when this is over." The villainess passed behind the leader of CFVY, a finger trailing on her shoulder.
Velvet Scarlatina facepalmed. "Oh, get on with it you stupid woman. And stop trying to seduce us, we're not interested in you." Velvet glanced at Emerald and sneered though. "Most of us."
Emerald blushed. "Look, I-"
Cinder's finger neatly covered Emerald's mouth. "Now Emma, please be a dear and don't deny it. Everyone can see it."
"Ahem," Yatsuhashi coughed. "Look, you're here because you need us. We're here because we need you."
"Get on with it," Fox muttered.
Cinder sighed and clapped her hands. "Oh well." She chuckled as she pulled a syringe and needle from thin air. "I guess I'll just do this the old fashioned way."
The air seemed to still around Mercury. Instantly, his senses expanded to their full extent. Pure fear slammed his mind into top gear. He had to move. Now.
Cinder's hand flashed, driving the needle into Emerald's jugular vein. Team CFVY rocketed forward, weapons drawn. Mercury ran like hell for the window.
With a blast of glass, Mercury was out, flying through the warm, safe sun. The air felt alive after the darkness of Cinder's presence. Mercury hit the concrete and broke into a flat sprint. "She is not getting me."
There was a flash of movement, almost too fast for Mercury to see. Cinder was in front of him, her hand a vice around his neck, lifting him. "Hello Mercury."
"..." Mercury choked around Cinder's hand. Reflexively he drove his boots into Cinder's stomach, praying for the recoil to knock him loose. The mechanism failed completely.
Cinder chuckled. "That's what I love about clairvoyance: it's so easy to see how to win. Almost too easy. I guess this is why Alice Cullen is a sociopath. Never able to see her friends as anything other than dolls to move and pose."
Cinder lowered Mercury to eye level, her skin sparkling unnaturally, horrifyingly, in the sun. "You like the new look? I picked it up in another universe. Along, with this." Cinder produced another syringe of mercury silver liquid. "This is vampire venom. It allows immortality, makes you fast, strong, nearly indestructible hardens the skin to diamond strength. Of course, you're not in danger of dying in the sun. Running water won't stop you. Garlic is just a strong odor. But you'll need blood."
Cinder pressed the syringe into Mercury's chest, depressing the plunger. Warm, then heat, and then burning molten agony spread through Mercury's body. "Mercury, look into my eyes." Cinder's eyes flashed as Mercury met her gaze. "Do you like them? They're hypnotic."
Cinder chuckled as she brought Mercury under her spell. Mercury felt his will vanishing. As the last of his self slipped away, he could hear, faintly, Cinder's words.
"Some people never realize the potential of practicing powers from outside of their world. Magma powers, earth powers, vampirism, hypnotism. Heh... This world will tremble before me. Me..."
Mercury slipped away, lost in Cinder and pain.
"And my little army."
Cinder pulled the convulsing, transforming body of Mercury into her subspace pocket, chuckling darkly. 'Well, that was productive. Now then, what to do with them?'
An idea struck Cinder, a grin bleeding out from her lips. "Team RWBY hasn't had a real fight in quite a while. Perhaps it's time to give them a shot of..."
Cinder glanced inward, to her traitorous team. "Caffeine."
9.12 (Alt.)
Roman laughed heartily. "Neo's going to go ballistic when she hears you decided to flip for a loop."
Cinder's hand nearly crushed the Bullhead's yoke. She had woken up barely five minutes ago, Roman had ran to her from his robbery, she was piloting the Bullhead, he was gloating, then Glynda Goodwitch had decided to switch sides mid-battle. It had been strange, hearing Roman and Goodwitch banter about benefits, but not beyond belief. The loops were weird like that. And then Roman said it.
"Flip for a loop."
The words bounced inside of Cinder's mind, against the edges of her skull. It reverberated in her thoughts. Flip for a loop.
"What are you two talking about?" Cinder said, expertly feigning ambivalence from the cockpit as she steered the airship higher above Vale. "She's a Huntress, and a teacher at Beacon you know."
Roman's laugh felt like nails on a chalkboard. "Trust me, me and Gigi go way back."
Cinder almost threw up. 'This can't be happening. He, she... they...' Cinder almost missed Glynda's next line.
"I've argued with you, I've argued with Neo, I've argued with Zwei... I've argued with the dog over that damn nickname."
'Neo... Zwei?' Cinder felt sick. This meant... it could mean that she wasn't the only Stealth Looper in Remnant. If Roman and Glynda, Neo and Zwei were there, then... did they know about her?
Cinder acted the only way a Stealth Looper could act. "You're both crazy," Cinder grumbled.
Under her faux-ambilvalence though, Cinder knew it was time. She had to move soon. She had to move now.
It was time to become Ruby Rose's sister.
10.1
Cinder Fall smiled serenely at Weiss as she fretted over her attire. Apparently her dresses were "the highest quality a non-looper can achieve. I've even seen some that would rival Rarity Belle's early work."
Yang rolled her eyes and ribbed her. "This is what you get for being a looper. An eternity of Weiss fangirling on you."
"She's not that bad Cinder," Blake stressed quietly. "Weiss will settle down… eventually. Right, Weiss?"
"Nope!" the heiress declared.
"Weiss, you're being a total Jaune for Cinder," Nora teased.
"Wait, when did that become a saying?" Jaune asked in bewilderment.
"Just now, apparently," Ren said cheerfully. He lightly punched Jaune's shoulder. "You know, a stubborn fangirl or fanboy."
"I think it's not a bad thing to be stubborn," Pyrra asserted. "But you should give Cinder some space Weiss. We don't want to overwhelm her with this."
Ruby, throughout it all, said nothing and gently hugged her new sister, walking alongside her. Cinder may have scared her as a villain, but she had always believed in redemption. This was the happiest moment in her life.
Cinder gently chuckled, almost not meeting Weiss' eyes. "It's alright. I mean… thank you." She looked at everyone. "Thank you, for taking me in. Thank you for… forgiving me. Thank you."
'…For being the grand, powerless fools you are.' Were her silent, malicious, unspoken words.
Cinder Fall had come. And no one would be able to stop. Her. Now.
9.15: Cinder Fall, welcome to the loops.
7.9: The birth of a villain.
8.3: Entry wounds, always so hard to close. Glynda's partner looper everybody.
8.5: Sometimes, you roll the bad dice. In such a case, get better dice.
Non-Applicable 1: Eiken. Welcome to Looper Hell.
8.7: Naturally, things suck royally when you're bored. To relieve boredom, you get high!
8.11: Cinder as Bolin. The world will tremble.
9.1: Knitting, sewing, great stress-relievers. Killing, manipulating? Better stress relievers.
9.4: No War Corgi's for you!
Non-Applicable 2: Cinder Rose, as you've never seen her before!
9.11: She's evil, plain and simple. She's also a serious Vamp.
9.12: Now she's in on the big secret, oh my.
10.1: Cinderella, welcome to the Masquerade.
A/N: Didn't I tell you that Cinder would be a great big sister?