I'm back again, hope you enjoy.
In their usual meeting place, Cinder had summoned Raven, Roman and Adam. After the riot at Beacon was brought to an end, they had learned of the Huntresses survival and escape. Naturally, she was furious at their failure to take them out when they had the chance. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't burn you alive for this." she demanded from Roman and Adam, who she had put in charge of dealing with the Huntresses.
Roman wasn't happy about sharing the blame with Adam. "It was Adam's mongrels who were meant to kill them, this failure is on him." he claimed. He had helped Adam with the plan, but it was the White Fang who were meant to take the Huntresses out. For that reason, he believed it was only fair for Cinder to punish the Bull Faunus for the failure.
"Fuck you Roman, my people gave everything trying to take them out. Your mute whore did nothing to stop them." Adam snarled in response. As far as he was concerned, Roman and Neo hadn't pulled their weight. It was because of them that he had lost so many people and it was their fault that the Huntresses were still alive. He was almost as angry as Cinder, about the situation.
Roman wouldn't allow Adam to criticize Neo. "Neo was on the other side of the prison Bully Boy, your people were in the same damned room." he argued. The plan had been to use the White Fang to take out the Huntresses, so it was unfair to blame Neo for what happened. After all, Neo would definitely have tried to kill them if she'd been able to get to them.
Cinder wasn't willing to listen to anymore of Adam and Roman's bickering. "Enough. I'm yet to hear any reasons why I should spare you, this failure is on both of your heads. Now you can either give me a reason to spare you, or I can give you the punishment you deserve." she ordered. She was being extremely merciful allowing them to live for as long as she had, but they wouldn't live for much longer unless they could prove themselves worthy of life.
"Why aren't you threatening her? She fucked up just as much as we did." Roman asked, pointing at Raven. He knew that there were a lot of Branwen Tribe members in Beacon, yet they had done nothing to stop the Huntresses as far as he knew. So if he and Adam were going to be punished for the failure, he wanted Raven to be punished as well.
Raven gave him one of her infamous death glares, but she didn't respond to him. Internally she wanted to kill him where he stood, but she didn't because Cinder hadn't granted her permission. She was already enraged by the events at Beacon, so the last thing she wanted to hear was Roman blaming her for it.
Cinder wasn't angry with Raven, it was the other to had failed her as far as she was concerned. "Raven did more to stop them and lost more than either of you. She has proven herself to me, but you have failed me yet again." she snapped at Roman and Adam. Raven wasn't just her lover, she was also unquestioningly loyal. She was willing to sacrifice far more for their cause than either of the others, and it hadn't gone unnoticed.
"How is that fair? She did nothing to stop them. She's playing you Cinder, she deserves to die more than we do." Roman protested. He didn't know how, but Raven must have been manipulating Cinder in some way. If he was going to die, then he was going to drag her down with him.
"I've seen the CCTV footage Roman. Vernal came close to killing Yang, closer than any of your people. Raven lost one daughter trying to kill her other daughter, so don't tell me she deserves to die." Cinder explained. She had people who were able to acquire the CCTV from Beacon, so she knew exactly what had happened. She watched it and seen exactly how much each of them had contributed to the effort to take down the Huntresses. There was no way Roman or Adam could argue with that.
Roman now realized that there was no way he could sway Cinder, so he just had to accept that Raven was safe. "Fine, but I don't deserve to die either. Neo would have killed them is she saw them, but how was she supposed to find them in that chaos." he pointed out. Anyone who knew Neo, would know that he had a fair point. If she hadn't been stuck on the other side of the prison, she would have done everything in her power to take out Yang and the others.
Cinder was willing to accept that, but Roman had still failed her. "You make a good point Roman, you can live for now. But if you or Neo fail me again, I won't give you the chance to beg for forgiveness." she told him. Giving people second chances was normally not in her nature, but Roman and Neo were still valuable assets. However, she would not be so forgiving the next time they disappointed her.
Needless to say Roman was pleased with himself, having just talked his way out of being killed. "You don't have to worry about us failing, it's Bully Boy you need to worry about." he told Cinder. He really didn't like Adam, so he couldn't pass up an opportunity to throw him under the bus. He also wanted to assure Cinder that he was just as loyal to her as Raven was.
"It would seem so." Cinder agreed with Roman. Adam had been much more of a failure than Roman, the White Fang's job should have been easy but they managed to fail spectacularly. "You are yet to give me a reason to spare you Adam, I'm growing impatient." she then said to Adam, making it clear to him that he was running out of time to save himself.
"I lost a lot of people in the riot, people willing to die for our cause. I have many more where that came on, but you'll lose them if you kill me." Adam responded. In his opinion, he had done much more to stop take out the Huntresses than the others did. He wanted Cinder to know that and he wanted her to think that the White Fang were vital to her plans.
Cinder didn't like Adams response, he seemed to have forgotten his place. "I could always find another source of manpower, so don't think for a moment that threatening me like that will work. That being said, I will spare you. But only so I can use your people as cannon fodder." she told him. The White Fang were expendable as far as she was concerned, and they could easily be replaced if they refused to work for her. But she was always happy to have more people to throw at her enemies, so she would hold onto them for the time being.
"If that's what you want then fine. As long as Blake dies, you can do whatever you want with them." Adam accepted. He didn't care how many of his people died, as long as he could take Blake down once and for all. She needed to die for her betrayal, no matter the cost.
Roman was disappointed that Cinder wasn't going to kill Adam, so he took the opportunity to antagonize the faunus. "Way to stand by your principles there Bully Boy." he said. He found it funny that the leader of the White Fang was willing to sacrifice his own people, to help a human achieve their goals.
Raven was sick of Adam and Roman's attitudes. "Both of you just shut the fuck up, you both serve Cinder so start acting like it." she snapped at them. They weren't respecting Cinder's authority, and she could not tolerate it. She hated both of them for their insolence, and she would have happily watched on if Cinder had decided to burn them both alive.
"Thank you Raven." Cinder said, grateful that at least someone understood what loyalty was about. She then turned her attention back to the two men "Now, I want you to find out where they are, and I want you to deal with them. You can kill all of them except Yang and Ruby, I want you to bring them to me." she commanded. The Huntresses needed to be taken out, but she had special plans for those two.
Adam and Roman nodded to Cinder, before making swift exits. They both knew that failure meant death, so they would do whatever they could to ensure that Cinder's goals were achieved. With that in mind, they headed back to their bases as quickly as they could to start planning their next moves. Neither of them even stopped to question why Raven was staying behind.
Now that they were alone together, Cinder and Raven's demeanors changed. "Now that they have left us, I want you to know that I'm deeply sorry for what happened to Vernal." Cinder said, in a rare display of compassion. Raven was one of the few people she had ever cared about, and she genuinely felt bad that she had lost her adopted daughter. Of course she wouldn't let anyone else know that, so she had to wait until they were alone.
Raven was extremely grateful to Cinder for caring so much about what happened to Vernal, it reminded her that her loyalty was well placed. "Thank you Cinder. I had hoped she would survive, but I'm proud of her for going out fighting. She may not have been blood, but she was a true Branwen." she responded. She was extremely proud of Vernal even if she had failed to defeat Yang, and she wanted Cinder to know that she remained loyal to them to the bitter end.
"No need to thank me my dear Raven, it's the least you deserve after everything you've sacrificed for me." Cinder told her, as she caressed her cheek. To everyone else she was ruthless and hateful, but not to Raven. To Raven she was kind, affectionate and eternally grateful. Because as impossible as it seemed for someone like her, she had fallen in love with Raven and Raven fallen for her.
"I don't do it for the recognition, I do it for you. Everyone else may abandon and fail you, but you never have to doubt my loyalty Cinder. I will make sure Vale recognizes you as its true leader, or I will die trying." Raven replied, before taking hold of Cinder's hand. Cinder's end goal was to claim the throne of Vale and show the world the way things really worked, she understood that only the strong deserved to live so Raven would do everything in her power to get her there.
"I know, and that is why I want you at my side when I take control. Together we can rule the kingdom the right way, and purge the world of weakness." Cinder purred in her ear, before pulling he in to a kiss. One day they would win, one day they would have absolute power. But first, before any of that, they needed to take out the Huntresses.
If you guys want more of Cinder and Raven let me know and I might write a sex scene between them in a few chapters time. Though I might just write one anyway because I'm messed up and I have a tendency of putting them in my other stories.