Would eye shadow be appropriate? She wondered, staring in the bathroom mirror. She wasn't that good at putting it on and her teammates worse than useless… Especially her partner. If he ever saw her like this, urgh.

The brush felt heavy between her fingers. She could match her hair and dress, or her eyes.

She looked at the greens she had. She had one that went with the dress, but clashed with her hair. She could try to lighten it up, but… no, that was a bad idea.

Then again, would the restaurant care? Would she care?

Probably…

It would at least be noticed.

She sighed and went back to the closet. There was only one good dress. It was not the most useful gift she'd ever been given, but it was probably the most expensive. A shiver ran down her back as she ran her fingers over the silk. Maybe… after this date… she'd be able to wear it again with...

No, that was hoping for too much. Besides, this one needed to go well first.

She had a couple of accessories that could work, a pair of earrings and a bracelet, but they were so much cheaper. The most expensive and impressive things she owned were... Her eyes drifted over to the dual sheaths on her dresser. How would she have her weapons while wearing it?

She could strap them to her thighs, but the skirt would be too short. The ends would fall to almost to her knees and ruin the flare at her waist. Her blades weren't elegant, so she couldn't just wear them openly, unlike, say, a masterfully crafted rapier or a dust summoned weapon.

With a sigh, she turned back. Either of them would have a much easier time with this. They were beautiful, elegant, able to command a room without saying a single word. If they were challenged, the fool would be left sputtering. She'd have to force whoever it was to not notice with her Semblance and that would give her such a headache if she had to keep it up all night.

If she didn't want to look like some sort of thug, she'd have to leave her weapons.

The knob rattled in the door behind her. She spun around, stepping next to her dresser. Her teammates were supposed to be on a mission all weekend. Had someone caught them?

The steel handles were cold under her fingers.

If it was Hunters, would she be able to get away? If it was, had they already caught…

The door opened.

"Cinder?" Emerald gasped, putting her weapons down. "You're already done?"

Cinder stepped into the room, brow furrowed. "Yes."

Emerald flinched back. "I- Are our…"

A blush crept to her cheeks as she realized that she was standing in front of Cinder… in her sexier underwear… with just the two of them in the room.

"Are our 'friends' doing well?" Emerald smiled, forcing herself to sound normal.

"No. They're still fighting over who's side to be on after the breakup." Cinder met her eyes, glance not flickering down for a moment. That was their code for the White Fang still being caught between maintaining Adam Taurus' methods or breaking away.

"Great." Emerald didn't need to keep the annoyance from her voice. "Do you think they'll still want to talk to us?"

"They don't have enough people to really throw parties anymore."

Emerald nodded. That meant that she really needed to get Weiss to gi… to… join them. That was it, she had to bring Weiss on board with the plan and then they could still be… something… together… or at least, something, hopefully.

"Has she spoken about the end of last semester yet?"

"No, whenever I brought it up, she just went quiet."

"You've had weeks."

Emerald shuddered. "I can try again tonight."

"Do so." Cinder finally looked somewhere besides her eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Where exactly are you going with her?"

"The Valeia Bistro. She said to dress nice and"- Emerald pointed to the dress -"this is the nicest thing I have."

"I see…" Cinder opened her scroll, scowling at the screen after a moment of typing. "That dress is appropriate for such a venue."

She looked over Emerald again.

Emerald smiled, clasping her hands in front of her.

"What about training with her group? Have you made any progress there?" Cinder's eyes bored into hers.

Emerald looked away. "She hasn't offered. I've just been training with her… alone."

"Doing what exactly?"

"What we used to do." Emerald whispered. Right after Cinder saved her, they spent almost two months sitting in a room together, staring into each other's eyes. Cinder assaulted her mind with every spell she knew until Emerald could resist them. "She's… terrifying when she wants to be."

"Well." Cinder's scowl turned into a smirk as she walking up to Emerald. "You wouldn't want to keep her waiting."

"Of-" Emerald gasped as Cinder's fingers ran along her waist.

"Emerald." Cinder pressed into her side, whispering in her ear. Her body was warm, even though her arms were frigid. "Such diligence deserves a reward, especially when you were so uncomfortable with the idea at first."

Emerald stood completely still.

Cinder ran a finger up her belly. "Take as much time as you need. I'll still be up when you get back."

She drew the tip of her finger up Emerald's chest, then neck, ending just below her lips.

Emerald shivered, nodding very slowly.

"Now then, while you get dressed, go over everything she's done to you, in detail."

Cinder waited for almost a minute after Emerald left. When Emerald appeared in the window, walking in the courtyard with the Schnee girl, she looked at the 'empty' bed. "I know you're there."

Neo appeared on her own bed after a moment, in her black haired disguise.

"How much of what she said was accurate?"

Neo raised her hand and wobbled it.

"Show me."

She pulled out one of her new scrolls. The first was a short clip of Weiss staring at a shuddering Emerald, then embracing her. That had not been part of what Cinder did during their training.

"How often has she done that?"

Neo held up three fingers.

"Anything else?"

She played back one of their discussions. There was something off about it. The words were innocuous, but Emerald's responses had too much intensity for what was being said.

"What about the group? Has Emerald ever joined them?"

Neo shook her head and swapped to another image. It showed a picture of Weiss Schnee, Coco Adel, Sun Wukong, Neptune Vallies, and Penny Polendina walking into training room together.

"Has Nikos broken with them?"

Neo shook her head, then held her scroll up with one hand; with the other she mimed crushing something.

Cinders arms rumbled, growling. "I see. And Valkyrie?"

Neo swiped to an image of her in Weiss' office.

Cinder nodded. It was a connection, but not of the same sort. "Does anyone else behave like Valkyrie does?"

Another shake of the head.

It could be a coincidence then, but she couldn't afford to assume that any more. Any plans would need to include the girl as well as the rest of Schnee's group. "I'll assume that you haven't gotten anything useful recorded."

Neo tapped her scroll again.

"Ahh, that's just… so unfair." Sun's voice echoed as Schnee danced around him, casually deflecting the attacks of three others. "How can you be that… oh wait… nevermind."

Cinder watched the battle for almost a minute. The girl was not only able to weave between three opponents at once, but also lecture them on their technique in the middle of fighting. Impressive, but not enough for a student who had been forced into the second investigation her freshman year. Her movements were barely outside of what a mature Huntress was capable of. The video would not cause the panic she needed if released to the public without a lot more proof.

"If your first recording had survived, we would have no issues." Cinder closed her eyes, considering the likely outcomes of each plan.

She had made a mistake, a mistake that might prove fatal. If Neo had heard correctly a few weeks back, then Weiss Schnee was not the person who killed all of the Grimm surrounding Beacon, it had been the goddess Mars. That meant she'd sent Emerald up against an Anathema who was not focused on sorcery and combat, like they'd assumed, and that Ozpin didn't have a secret weapon they couldn't directly fight against.

Everything that had happened since they arrived at Beacon was consistent with that notion.

"Follow them to the restaurant and record everything." Cinder needed to know if she'd completely lost Emerald before planning any further. Neo could replace her for certain roles, her Semblance was more versatile in many ways, but Neo could not be trusted to act with the correct intent or goals.

Neo made a gagging noise, proving the point.

"Are you incapable of such a simple task?" Cinder formed a fireball in her palm.

The girl sat up, shaking her head. She held up a picture of Emerald on her scroll, then clasped her hands. Bright pink hearts floated from her eyes as she blinked at the ceiling.

The flame stretched with a twist of her fingers, shattering the illusion with a whip crack and revealing that Neo was still lying down. She gulped, eyes white as she slid off of the bed.

Cinder held Neo in a glare until she left the room. The feeling of hunger vanished from her arms as the girl ran away. Only then did she go back to the window.

Emerald and Weiss Schnee were standing near the fountain, very close to each other. Emerald was smiling, laughing… Cinder's arms growled as she grit her teeth.

She glanced at the tower. What remained in the Fall Maiden was in there, somewhere. She could feel the void deep in her soul; half of a flame that yearned to be whole again.

Cinder shot a glare back to Weiss Schnee. If she wasn't responsible for destroying the Grimm, then she could still be beaten down.

No one would take what was hers away from her.