Surprise! Early chapter :D and as I am sure you already see, it is a mystery pov! OOoOOOoooOOOooo.

Well, the Prom Arc is slowly coming to an end, but let's see what kind of trouble we can get into before then! Enjoy the chapter!

As always, leave me your reviews. I am not so sure I pegged this character's personality perfectly . . . (s)he's not an easy one to get into the head of x.x

POV: ?

Chapter 25 – Falling Petals in an Angry Rose Garden

"One of the student lockers has been deployed near your location. You have approximately 50 seconds to get out of there."

"If it's a student, then I have nothing to fear, darling. I will carry things through until the end, just as planned."

I smile tapping the small intercom within my ear, killing communications between myself and my little partner in crime. I gaze down at the two unconscious forms at my feet. Sitting within the small confines of this slowly-rising elevator that is bringing me to the top of the Cross Continental Transmit (CCT) Tower.

"Hm…" I lower down to a knee, spotting one of the scrolls of the guard's out, and on a screen that is currently displaying available wifi signals. I grasp the small device, bringing it closer to my face so I may look at it. After scanning the screen for a moment, I now know the password for Beacon's wifi. As quickly as I took down the two guards in the elevator, I drop the now the useless scroll in an even more timely fashion.

"Let's see…" I reach into the small pocket of my skin-tight black pants, next to another pocket that keeps as a large amount of red dust in case of any confrontation that requires my semblance. I tug one of my gloves off, making it easier to use my thumb on the touchpad. I open up the wifi tab, finding the Beacon Campus wifi and quickly entering the newly discovered password

b3acon#

As my scroll starts to connect I place my glove back on and snap my head towards the elevator door when I hear a small ringing sound, indicating I am at my stop. At the same time my scroll vibrates, letting me know I now have the wifi saved.

"Hm . . . that's handy." I say to myself while the elevator door opens and I proceed straight ahead, gazing at the several rows and columns of computers, but the one I want is the very first one I come across; the main console. I sit myself down in the large, cushioned chair, placing my scroll on a small pad near the monitor that is used for data transfers while I quickly search for what I need.

Let's see . . . let's see . . . Here we go . . . Schnee Dust Company cargo transportation schedule. Excellent

I waste no time pressing a button on the console to begin the transfer of data onto my scroll, along with leaving a small bug within the system to give me access to whatever else I will be needing from the database. I can hear the rest of the machines scattered throughout the room begin to light up in response to the master computer being used. It takes all but 10 seconds to get all the data I need, placing my scroll into the secure pocket on my thigh, and standing up to make my leave. That is of course, until I hear the elevator door open and make it a point to lower myself behind the counter just as a precaution until I know who it was that had the lack of common sense to continue through a trail of unconscious bodies.

"Hello~?" I hear a squeaky little voice call out. I peek over the desk carefully, looking at a relatively short girl with black hair and white tips. It was a lovely combo to say the least, but it did not seem to be what she would normally carry. She's wearing what I would consider a semi-casual red dress, complete with a white sash to compliment her hair color well, but in her arms I spot what reminds me of our confrontation many, many months ago when Roman was thwarted during his robbery of From Dust Till Dawn. The useless prick.

"Anybody there?" I hear that voice call out again. I definitely knew this girl now, a slightly different hair color does wonders for throwing a person off, but that innocent melody in her voice, and that giant Scythe in her hand reminded me just who she was, and how skilled she most likely is, but nonetheless, I know I can take her, and that is all that matters.

"Shouldn't you be at the dance, my little Rose?" I whisper with a husky strain on the word 'dance'. I do not raise myself from my hiding place, and the high ceiling of the room made my voice echo plenty to hide my location well.

"Yes, I should be!" I can hear a snarl in her voice, "I should be there with someone very close to me, but after seeing you running along the rooftops I couldn't ignore it!"

Hmmm . . . Cinder Fall, you're getting sloppy.

"Well, then. Let's strike a deal." I purr, standing up and exposing where I am. I step out into view of the Scythe-wielding girl, my left hand resting on my hip, and my right hand hanging at my thigh, resting near a small pouch with red dust sitting within. "I'll quietly make my exit . . . and you can go back to your party. No fight, no questions, no hassle."

"We both know it doesn't work like that . . . now take off the mask, I don't have time for this!" She snarls again. I remember seeing her as a far more optimistic girl, but she seems all business, and in a rush to get to the dance. I wonder what is at that dance, or rather 'who' is at that dance to have her in such a state. I'm sure I'll find out when I rendezvous with Emerald and Mercury.

"Sorry, dear. I'm actually quite . . . fond of this mask, but maybe I'll see you around." I slowly move my middle finger along the pouch to open it without the little reaper in front of me noticing my slight movement. At the slight click of the pouch being opened I slowly curl my fingers, causing about half of the dust I keep inside to rise out and begin to crystalize itself into several extremely thin shards.

"You're not going anywhere! Take the mask off NOW!" She screams, then undoes the safety switch on her weapon and chambers her bullet.

"I told you . . . I'm quite attached to it. Now, if you're not going to shoot, I will gladly make the first move." Without giving the girl a chance to react I flick my index and middle fingers violently towards the girl, the barely visible shards approaching her within an instant. I created 8, and they did their job perfectly. Two going into her thighs, calves, upper arms, and forearms."

"A-ah!" I hear the girl scream out and take a quick shot at me with her Gun-Scythe.

Still able to do that, eh?

I whisper to myself, slightly impressed. I lift my hand up, incinerating the bullet before it can even reach me, and now gesture my open palm towards this girl. The orange lining of my stealthy attire begins to glow, along with the ring of my amber eyes. The 8 impaled shards light up, heating themselves within her flesh where they are, making her wince in pain and drop her weapon, my shards just temporarily paralyzed each of her limbs.

I point my index and middle fingers towards her now, slowly curling them towards me. The motion making each shard slowly pull from her flesh, not leaving a single mark or scar. She may have been a slight annoyance, but we don't want her showing up to prom with burn marks, now do we?

"I should kill you now Red, but every girl deserves a happy prom night. You'll be able to move in the next 30 seconds. So, like I said earlier . . . I'll see you around." I smile, looking at the distress in her eyes, or relief as it appears now that she knows I won't kill her and be done with it. I walk up to the window on the far side of the room, quickly carving the 8 shards into the glass and rotating them to cut a large hole in the glass so I can kick it and jump outside the window. The high decent from the top floor of the CCT Tower becomes nothing more than a feather landing when I form two blades in my hands and jam them into the wall, slowing me down until I am no more than a couple of yards above. I make my blades disappear, landing quietly on the ground, but now I needed to do a little patch work. I open the pouch on my other hip, gesturing to send un-crystalized dust up to the two long gashes my blades made within the wall. I set the red dust inside the cracks and let out a slow exhale while I focus on my semblance, the dust heating up and melting the gashes shut, making it appear as it did prior to my vandalism.

My next step is changing my outfit. With a practiced motion of my hands, I can hear a small chiming sound, followed by a dim orange glow around my body when my catsuit is changed into a formal, black evening gown. To complete my shift to incognito, I take off the lovely mask I have grown to admire, and crush it within my hand, leaving the remains on the ground. I tap my earpiece, turning it back on and begin to speak.

"Emerald, it's done. I'm on my way back, but do me a favor . . . keep an eye out for a girl with black hair and white tips."

"Black hair and white tips? I don't think I've seen a girl with black hair and white tips in Beacon."

"Emerald . . . don't think . . . obey"

I tap the earpiece to turn it off. To avoid any accidental encounters I take a small stroll, taking the long walk towards the edge of the large area, and then following the walls of the buildings to get to the prom area. My detour turning a two minute walk into ten minutes, which is just what I wanted.

The moment I walk through the large doorway I am greeted to the sight of several students slow dancing. Some appearing to have two left feet. Other students are seated along the several round tables cascaded with white, and out the corner of my eye I can make out a set of mint green hair and a set of silver hair not too far apart.

There you are.

I shimmy my way through the crowd, keeping the two sets of hair in my sights until I begin to see the bodies they are attached to. The mint hair cascading over the red eyes and ebony flesh of a relatively short girl. That's Emerald Sustrai. The silver-haired boy dancing with her is Mercury Black, a sarcastic, overconfident ass, but those character traits are irrelevant. He has done the two things I required of him, that being his loyalty, and to simply obey my commands.

"Mind if I cut in?" I whisper while approaching the two. Emerald making quick to step from Mercury. As she departs I tap my earpiece to leave it on for now.

"Keep an eye out for that girl, Emerald."

"Understood"

"And how's your night been?" Mercury asks with that trademark smirk of his.

"Hm . . . A little more . . . exciting than expected." A smile crosses my lips, thinking of that girl from earlier. Something about her, the way she carried herself, the anger in her voice at not being able to be here. It has caught my interest and I plan on learning more about her, and seeing just what it is that makes the Red Reaper of Beacon academy tick.

"Oh? Should we be worried?" His question brings a slight chuckle to my lips.

"Hardly, they'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for."

"So then, what now?"

"Cinder, she's here" I hear Emerald's voice whisper in my ear.

I look over Mercury's shoulder to the doorway, seeing the girl from earlier, but without the deadly weapon my nickname for her (Red Reaper) derives from. I keep a careful eye on her as she appears and disappears through the crowd.

"Enjoy the rest of the night . . . after all . . . it is a party."

I whisper to Mercury before stepping away from him, carefully making my way through the crowd of couple dancers.

"I lost sight of her, Emerald."

"Upstairs, near some blondie."

I pause where I am, the balcony is directly above me. I look over my shoulder, brushing my hair away from my eye so I can see a little further than my hair would normally allow. Sure enough I see her leaning against the banister, talking to a tall blonde girl in a yellow dress.

"Hm, teammate? Isn't that . . ?"

"Yang Xiao Long. She beat Melanie Malachite in The Pit about a month ago. She's talented."

I nod my head, walking over to a set of chairs that were set along the side of the room and sit down. I watch the conversation between the two, it seems Red is explaining what happened and why she is late based on the gestures she uses while they speak. My concentration on them is broken at the sound of two people conversing two chairs away, one of them sounding like a girl with a very slight slur in her voice. Possibly having had a drink or two to loosen up. The other voice being a suave boy who may be trying to get a decent conversation started.

"Y'know, we should hang out later, Snow Angel. By later I mean like . . . tomorrow maybe? Not sure, but you seem a little tired and groggy, otherwise tonight would have been nice for a small walk" I look over to them out the corner of my eye, he has a sea-blue hair color, and is currently standing up. The person he is talking to is sitting, but there is another person seated between us, not allowing me to get a clean glimpse.

"That sounds wonderful, Neptune. But I don't think Ruby would be too happy with that~" The girl follows with several giggles, "Where is that girl anyway! I did my hair like this just for her . . . and she has the audacity to not show up!?" The rants of anger – or whines of anger – could never be taken so seriously from someone with such a relaxed tone. I am no professional on drinking, but this girl seems to still be clearly aware of what is going on, but instead suffering a possible personality change.

"Why would it matter? I mean, yeah Ruby's your team leader, but why should she get the final say in who you hang with on your free time?" He disappears from my sight now, sitting himself next to his current companion.

"Because~ She's MY dolt~!" Another series of minor giggles follow. The sort of giggles given when a joke passes and it takes several seconds to understand the pun, resulting in a laugh that is more to yourself for not being able to catch on sooner.

"Oh, well speaking of Ruby. There she is." I hear the boy addressed as Neptune say.

I turn my head to look back up at the balcony, seeing that Red is no longer there, but instead she is hurrying down the stairs with a distasteful look on her face. I lower my head, allowing my hair to cascade over the side of my face and hide my profile from her.

"Ruby, you dolt~! You made it!" I can hear the sound of heels touching the floor, and when I look over I now see the partially drunken girl stand.

Cute twintails . . . wait, she's a Schnee . . . actually, she's an heiress. Hmm

I keep my eye on the white-haired woman while Red walks up to her, placing her hands on the Schnee girl's shoulders.

"Weiss, I'm sorry I'm late, don't be mad. I got caught up with something, and I wanted to make my sash and hair white so they look nice and surprise you, but it took longer than I thought. Then something happened at the CCT, and then I rushed here, found Yang, found you, and now I'm here and I'm really, really, really sorry!"

I think she just broke a record for the most words per minute . . .

"Oh pshhhh, It's fine~ you dolt. But you have a lot of making up to do~" I see the snow heiress squint and look towards the ceiling a moment, "Or making out, depending on what the case may be."

"W-weiss! A-are you drunk?" The silver-eyed girl's eyes widen.

"Nah~ I had a drink to calm my nerves, then one to relax, then one to keep from getting angry, and one more just cause Neptune got it for me~"

"Woah, woah, woah! The punch is spiked?" Neptune asks while he stands up, entering my view once more. "I drink water, I had no idea, I swear!" He goes wide eyed, but I'm not sure why. I turn my head carefully to look at Reap- I mean, Ruby, and see a glare full of killer intent in her eyes.

"Were you trying to hit on Weiss?" She asks, those eyes of her squinting, locked onto Neptune.

"N-Not at all! I mean, I was chatting with her, but I didn't know the punch was spiked . . . wait that actually explains why Sun was breakdancing during a slowdance earlier tonight."

The people around us felt the awkwardness in the air, and to keep their happy moods they moved a few feet away and kept their backs turned to the ongoing spectacle, all for me who sat quietly and listened in.

"Neptune . . . stay away from her." There it is again, that threatening voice from such an adorable form. It brings a smile to my lips to see such a fire boiling within.

"Wait, Ruby. You should know me better than that. Yeah, I like Weiss, but I would NEVER in a million years try to butter her up with a drink. I asked her to hang out tomorrow or something cause she seemed groggy . . . I didn't think it was the punch." He defends.

"Neptune, she's mine."

"Wait wha-"

I look to my right at him, seeing a look of shock on his face, a similar look taking my face as well when I look ahead of me to see the two girls embraced in a very compassionate liplock.

I see . . . so this is why you were in such a rush . . . understandable.

"Like I said . . . she's mine, Neptune." Her eyes pierce his after she breaks the kiss.

I begin to chuckle, seeing the Schnee heiress resting her head on Ruby's shoulder, completely oblivious to the conversation going on. The pale, slender fingers holding onto the jealous girl's shoulders, and possibly being the only thing keeping the enraged reaper from getting closer to the blue-haired mess of a boy.

"I thought I was supposed to be the angry one . . . but I guess when I am not angry Ruby 'Rose' to the occasion." Several more giggles escaping the drunken heiress.

"Weiss . . . your bad puns are adorable, but let's get you to the dorm room. You still have common sense, but I don't trust anyone else around here." I watch as the brunette gives a soft kiss to Weiss' temple and interlaces their fingers prior to making their way out the door.

I look back to Neptune who is standing there in complete shock. I assume he just watched a girl he liked get taken away by someone of a different gender. I guess that could be a bit of a morale shock, poor guy. I lean back in the chair, smiling to myself as the two girls leave my sight and out of the club.

"Like I said earlier . . . enjoy the rest of the night . . . after all . . . it is a party"

Well, Weiss is now established as semi-drunk, and seems quite adorable like that in my opinion!

I wonder what sort of evil plot Cinder has with Ruby Rose :3

I think Neptune won't be seen near Weiss anytime soon either xD Oh boy, things are getting interesting now!

So, do you guys think I did good with Cinder's POV? Or did I do good at certain parts, and bad in others?

Give me some feedback! After all, if I have some more fun with mystery POVs in the future, I'm gonna need some reference so I know where I did good and where I did bad.

Anyway, thank you guys for reading, you have all been amazing to me! As always, leave a review on what you did and didn't like! I love getting feedback!