June 9th
Kuroyuri
Mistral
Anima
6:39 PM

The rain began to drizzle on to his clothes and off of his back though the sun was still peeking through the clouds. The village of Kuroyuri was reasonably out of one's way which, for a person who needed and wanted to disappear, was perfect. For him, this was especially important - considering the fact that not only were the officials in Atlas looking for him for charges of attempted murder, but because of the fact that Lisa was known for her wrath and his failure had put a target on his back when it came to her. He wasn't helpless - having been trained as a hunter, he knew how to defend himself. It hadn't been easy to admit, but he now recognize that he was no longer a hunter. More like a gun for hire. A businessman. He didn't really care. At this point, his former teammates were simply that. Glynda and James were parents and, as for Emmett, it wouldn't shock him if he were going to be one soon enough.

Dean clenched his fists as he all but stormed around the town. There was a jealous streak running through his blood despite the fact that he was relieved to have had ended the relationship. Still, when he clenched his fists, he found that there was a little bit of blood coming out of the palms of his hands in shiny red beads. Brushing them off against his pants, he sighed in irritation and made his way into the town's meager bar with his hands shoved in his pockets. Wrapping his hands around the lien that he still had, Dean went up to the small woman who was running it and pushed seventy-five lien towards her. Her eyebrows raised in surprised and she looked at him critically.

"Seventy-five?" She clicked her tongue. "Really?"

Dean sighed and looked to her with a look that was equally critically. "Bottomless shots?"

"In this town? For me? Hell, seventy-five is more than I get paid for…" She shook her head and started to pour from the top shelf. "Want anything else with that? Like me?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you hitting on me?"

"No but, since you paid me so much, I assumed that you were making up for the sex." A weak sigh escaped her lips as she watched him take shots. "Where are you from, torch? You don't seem like you're from around here…"

"Atlas," Dean admitted, continuing to take shots and allowing the warmth from the alcohol to come through him. "Things are a little more -"

"Uptight?" She suggested, laughing when he nodded curtly. "I'm not surprised - everything I've ever heard of the northernmost kingdom involves a complex government system and how most people are self-righteous asses who need to get the fuck over themselves. Am I right?"

"Pretty much," He nodded and continued with his drinking. "I had to get out. I may or may not have a target on my back because I attempted murder."

The woman laughed. "Oh, really, torch? Funny thing is that I don't see it in you."

Dean smirked. "There's a lot people don't immediately see in me. I was a poor boy from Mantle, once upon a time, and now I've gone to Atlas Academy, got certified as a huntsman and, now, over a year or so later, and I am close to being a convicted killer."

"Oh, then allow me to get started," The woman returned his smirk as she lit a cigarette and leaned towards him seductively. "Ooo la la. You're so fancy, aren't you? Should I slap an expensive hat on your head, or have you stolen one already? By the way…why don't you get something from the top shelf for your bottomless shots. I think you'll like that a lot better than this, after all."

Dean laughed heartily, almost choking on his drink. "Gods, could you get more accurate?"

She winked. "I'm not done."

He gestured for her to go on. "Then finish."

She smirked. "Yeah, well life's all about who gives a fuck, isn't it? Especially in Atlas. Aren't all of you convinced you're better than the best of us? Are you sure that you're really Atlesian? Torch, honey, you are nothing like them. Can't you see? There's no going back."

Dean considered that and then took another shot. "Yep, that's about right."

She flicked a tad of ash aside before taking another long draw. "Ugh, I hate this. Fuck this, fuck Atlas, fuck it all. Fuck it all."

Dean smiled and continued to take down more and more drinks while she slowly joined him between her draws. Objectively, he observed her and tried to take in her appearance. She was slim and had strawberry blonde hair with multiple rings on her fingers. Her earrings were large and hung like chandeliers from her earlobes. Her dress was strapless and very tight while her heels were at least six inches high. Her necklace was large and had a red jewel in the center and her breasts were mostly exposed. He could see her cleavage very clearly and she was intentionally exposing it to him more and more. Dean couldn't deny that she was beautiful, and he could imagine why she assumed that he may have been throwing an extra bit of lien at her for sex. He was starting to get the feeling that she was used to it and had been for years. Still, he couldn't let his fantasies overtake him. He knew full well that there was a bright ass target painted on his back at the moment and the chances of it going away were slim.

Just make yourself at home around here. Dean took another shot to drown out his inhibitions. After all, with the way things stand, you're probably going to be here for a while. Fuck.

June 7th
Kuroyuri
Mistral
Anima
8:14 PM

The town of Kuroyuri was quaint although it had an irritatingly secure feeling to it. Cinder couldn't help but imagine the havoc that a few grimm could do to this placid little Mistrali town but, at the same time, she wasn't going to push her luck until she knew she was doing it for something that would undeniably please the Queen. With nothing better to do at the moment, she made her way into the town's bar and decided to have a drink no matter how disgusting. It was alcohol that she needed in her system if she was going to get through this. The regulars, or at least the majority of the men present, who saw her come in immediately started sizing her up and some even hooted at her. She ignored them. She knew that her outfit was revealing and seductive at the same time, but she was just being a bit of tease. She had recently cut her hair again into a pixie that emphasized her waves and, although it had started to grow out a little, it still vastly differed from her appearance over a year ago. Her red dress was short, and she had form fitting, black shorts underneath it. It had separated sleeves and was held up by multiple straps tied tightly around her neck in a bow.

In spite of her recently discovered affinity for glass, she had made the choice to wear heels that were of a more conventional disposition. That was especially true since she was still learning how-to walk-in glass heels without injuring herself. Her glass heels were still difficult to walk in and, while she was beginning to practice fighting in them, she hated how much pain they caused to her feet and ankles. This was made worse by the fact that Salem had, in a moment of rage at her apprentice for not progressing fast enough, stabbed her ankles with the sharp, pointed ends of a seer. The blood had dripped onto the floor and sloshed in her heels and the blisters that she was getting from her glass slippers did not help the matter. Things were not at their highest points for her, and they certainly weren't doing her much in regard to making her feel powerful. The most obvious signs of her humanity caused her anger. She resented the fact that her humanity was something that Salem found trouble with and she particularly hated the fact that Salem used her humanity against her.

Cinder, my dear, you are still human no matter how powerful you are and no matter how powerful you may become. Salem had said as she had appraised the physical appearance of her apprentice, examining every part of the young woman before tilting the woman's head back and hyper-focusing on her neck and face. The only ties you have to your former self are biological, and no matter what you do or what you gain in power and strength… you will never be able to defeat me. Ever.

It was still strange to look at herself and realize that only a little over a year prior she was still white-haired and, amongst other things, unaware of the true fight that lay ahead and of the way the world of Remnant really was. It was irritating to look back on the woman who had been named Ashlynn Schnee. Ashlynn was self-righteous and followed what she believed and wanted above all else but, at the same time, she had no damn back bone when it came to taking power. It was shit out of luck that turned her into the woman she was; it was shit out of luck that killed Ashlynn Schnee. Cinder Fall was slowly on the path to becoming one of the most fearsome users of magic in Remnant's history but even she knew that it was probably going to be over a decade before she did anything significant.

November 3rd.

Her favorite day of the year, if only because it would be the first day the Queen would allow her to act.

Cinder moved over to the bar and sat down next to a red headed man taking shots. She ordered herself a full glass of gin and demanded that it be snappy before she looked at the man's face. Shock waves went through her. Of all the people for her to see again, Dean Carson was towards the bottom of that list.

"Dean Carson." She smirked.

He looked up at her in surprise and fear. "Who the hell are you?"

She knew full well of his current situation and smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Cinder Fall. See, I want to help you."

"And what makes you think that I'll believe that?" His gruff reply was off-putting, but she retained her smile.

"If I told you that I could help you get revenge and gain power..." She tapped her fingers against the edge of the bar. "What would you say?"

He stared at her in shock. "I would take that deal a million times over, but what's the catch?"

She smirked and placed a kiss on his lips for the briefest of moments. "Come with me and I will explain the basics on the way. It's a need-to-know basis."

June 9th
Government Offices Of The Atlesian Council
Department Of Local And National Law Enforcement
City Of Atlas
United Kingdom Of Atlas
Security Level: Mid-Range
Necessary Security Clearance: Low
3:21 PM

"Yes, Elizabeth, I am completely aware of the situation involving Dean Carson and the attempted murder. I may actually be more aware of it than I'd like to be." Leanne Tanner knew that her voice was constrained, but she was beginning to lose patience with the onslaught of questions in regard to what happened to Dean Carson.

"He's gone off the grid, Miss Tanner," Karissa pointed out, trying not to provoke her as she knew the things that the woman had to deal with members of the Department of Foreign Affairs And Military Action. She felt out of place and uncomfortable. Elizabeth had sent her to this meeting ahead of her, and she was not sure how she felt about the situation. "Is that not concerning?"

"It is highly concerning," She agreed, her tone clipped. "However, at the present time, there are some other...aspects of the situation that need to be addressed."

Next to Karissa, Kiara Davis raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Such as the final messages sent between him and his sister," She brought up the records and capitalized on the last few. "As you can see, it is possible that Carson can not only be charged with attempted murder but conspiracy as well because –"

"Because the last few messages reveal a plot by Lisa to 'deal with' the Atlesian government. Apparently, she was a member of a splinter faction," Davis sighed, having been Lisa's parole officer when the woman had been younger and she herself had been in early twenties. "I shouldn't be all that surprised but it is regrettable that she has, evidently, not changed."

"It's hardly your fault, Davis." Leanne assured her, knowing full well the story behind the woman's attempts to help the elder Carson sibling after she had been released from prison when she was in high school several years prior. "You are not to blame for Lisa Carson's...issues."

Davis sighed heavily. "But I -"

"Kiara, really" LCDR Ciel said, sending her a sympathetic if pointed look. "If it were your fault –"

"It is my fault," Kiara spoke shortly and looked to her hands. "And if I had been better at my job -"

Leanne Tanner snapped, struggling to understand where Kiara's concern was coming from. "What would have changed? Lisa Carson's issues were not of any fault of yours. They were tied directly to the suffering and pain that she experienced so early on in life. She never developed positive coping skills, and that was what led to the incidents that caused her to be arrested on multiple occasions. I'm quite sure that my father had told you that sort of thing before."

She paused upon the stunned looks everyone was giving her. Leanne shook her head. She was not cut out for dealing with the intricacies of people; she was the head of the Department of Local and National Law Enforcement, not a psychologist.

"Edward Ciel, rest his soul, saw the best in me, even when he was just an influential representative of this district on the council. And he thought highly of my abilities as a law enforcement officer, even in my twenties, but I was not nearly as capable as I ought to have been to be dealing with a troubled, underprivileged teen." Fighting back tears of regret for what she viewed as her failure, Kiara Davis tightened her grip around the edge of the table as she stood up. "The work I had been dealing with before I was handed the Carson case, which in any other circumstances would have been viewed as a step down, were much less involved when it came to be dealing with interpersonal communication and reform. I was predominantly dealing with human and faunus rights violations, crime scene forensic science, a few cold cases that ended in dead end leads, kidnappings, suicides, and murders. I profiled serial killers and caught a few of them. I have and continued to appear in court as a state prosecutor...but I didn't recommend Lisa Carson for reform school when I had the chance. Your father supported my decision making and seconded it to the council at the time. I thought I was doing the right thing, but I let my pity for Carson blind me -"

"It's not necessarily a bad thing that you felt a level of compassion towards her," Emmeline said reasonably, picking at her nails. "And if –"

"To all of you, I'm sorry that I have to keep cutting across you, but I don't think you understand! It was my responsibility to turn Lisa Carson's life around and I failed! I failed utterly!" Kiara walked away from the table with tears dripping out of the corner of her eyes as she stepped over to the window, grasped the sill, and glared out into the city. "If I had just seen the goddamn signs!"

"Kiara," Leanne finally said, her arms folded calmly across her chest. "You did what you thought was right, and there is no shame in that. You cannot save everyone and, as hard a truth as that may be, you have to recognize that you can't save or help someone who doesn't truly want it."

"There are charges for aiding in an attempted murder and for possible conspiracy targeted towards her now." Davis turned around and forced herself to look at the group. "That is more than enough proof that I failed."

"I disagree," Leanne said, narrowing her eyes at her. "Lisa Carson could have turned her life around but she didn't, even though she was given practically every opportunity to."

"But I'm her aunt!" Davis lost her temper and shouted halfway across the room, startling everyone present. "I'm family, and if she wasn't going to listen to family, then who in the -"

"Davis, for god's sake, calm the hell down!" Leanne snapped, her authority written explicitly in her tone. "There is nothing that can be done to change this, and you know it."

"Why, though..." Her voice was barely audible, and tears were pinning at the edges of her eyes again. "Why did any of this have to happen?"

Silence echoed throughout the room as they all took in what she was saying. The pain and guilt that she was experiencing could not be easy to carry by any stretch of the imagination, but it was especially awful to realize that Kiara was family. Lisa and Dean's aunt on their mother's side. She had seen them in ways that other people hadn't, the way that only family could. It was unfair and needlessly brutal but there was no escaping it. Everyone took a second to look at Kiara Davis before looking to Leanne Tanner, who sighed and rubbed her temples in resignation. As much as she knew that Davis was struggling, even she couldn't stop her own thoughts from traveling to her life in the silence.

"I am so sorry I'm late!" A breathless voice exclaimed as she stepped into the meeting room. "Miss Tanner, I -"

"Elizabeth, calm down," She said tiredly. "I already know that your meeting with the DFAMA ran long. Karissa Mar here said as much."

Elizabeth bit her lip as she sat down, still scared by the way Rebecca Neale had cornered her after the meeting. "Sorry."

Emmeline stared at her. "Are you alright?"

Elizabeth looked down at her hands and shook her head. "Not really..."

"Later," Tanner said, sighing heavily. "We can discuss this later."

June 12th
Location: Unknown
11:45 PM

Salem narrowed her gaze on the young woman who was currently standing before her with the red headed man who had been on Schnee, Goodwitch, and Ironwood's team at Atlas Academy. She restrained herself from killing both of the right then and there. Cinder for an apparent lack of prudence, and the man for being simply being there. Instead, however, she glared at the young woman and decided that demanding an explanation would be better. With Cinder, she had found that by taking a cold approach with an 'I'm not angry, simply disappointed' strategy that she got better results when it came to the young woman's discipline. The man quaked in her presence which she noted, and she fleetingly considered the possibility of not killing him. Perhaps he could be useful. Cinder retained a deathly grip on his wrists which she had tied behind his back though her gaze was at her feet. The Queen's eyes narrowed and, when she spoke, her icy voice was sharper than usual.

"Look up," She commanded, and Cinder obeyed. "Explain...this."

Cinder shoved the still unnerved man towards Salem. "This is Dean Carson. Former member of Team JGED of Atlas Academy. He recently attempted to murder Jacques Schnee and is willing to support our cause."

Salem's hand swung hard across the young woman's face. "Stupid girl! Have I not told you specifically that revealing any of this is dangerous? Mankind is our enemy, Cinder, I should think that you know that by now."

"But he agrees!" Cinder protested. "He wants power, just like I do. He'll support us, he'll -"

"You did not have orders to do such a thing, Cinder!" Salem snapped as she appraised Dean. "However," She said slowly. "This may yet prove...beneficial."

"Beneficial?" Dean asked, trying to not shrink back in fear at the harsh gaze that the Queen imposed upon him. "I really will do -"

"Dean...Dean if I... if I bring you into our cause," Salem began slowly with a dangerous edge in her voice that Cinder recognized all too well. "You must swear your loyalty to me and do know that I do not take insubordination lightly."

Salem glared at Cinder and used a seer to capture her throat and choke her for as long as possible without killing her. The sharp ends of the seer pierced the young woman's arms and the tubular ends wrapped tightly around her throat. Cinder fell to the ground as her breath was cut off and, once the seer was released, she bent over heavily clutching her chest and breathing heavily. Her hand went to her head in pain and she collapsed further onto the ground while trying to regain her breath. Several minutes passed of Dean observing this in horror. Once her breath was back, the seer was directed to tie tightly around her wrists and ankles. She screamed out in pain as they continued to tighten. Salem had a small, sadistic smile as she watched the young woman's pain and she slowly released them, and Cinder's screams abated. The Queen looked to Dean who attempted to hide his horror. Blood was dripping off of Cinder's arms, and her breathing was unsteady. Retaining her glare and sadistic smile, Salem turned on her apprentice who was still on the ground.

"Get up!" She commanded and, once again, Cinder obeyed. "Despite your best efforts, you are still human and will always be that way. Distance yourself as you may from your past. I know that what I do occasionally brings back repressed memories of the abuse you suffered as a child."

"No…" Dean's voice was barely audible but it was enough to anger the Queen.

"Sympathy makes you weak, and I do not tolerate weakness. You have two choices: do as I say verbatim or die. We fight Ozpin and his group: Cristal Schnee, Emmeline Ciel, Emmett Schnee, Glynda Goodwitch, and James Ironwood amongst others. What do you choose?"

Hearing the names of his former teammates and friends caused him a moment of pain and hesitation but he knew better than to let himself die. Especially if there was a chance for power.

"I will do as you say," He said after a moment of hesitation.

A genuine smile graced Salem's lip. "Allow me to explain our fight and why mankind, Ozpin, and its...creations are our enemies."

"Of course," Dean said, adding a glance to Cinder who nodded weakly. "But may I inquire as into one thing?"

Salem's eyes narrowed, but she nodded slowly regardless. "One thing only."

Dean looked to Cinder. "Who was she?"

The Queen turned to glare at Cinder. "Explain, Cinder."

An uneven gasp escaped the young woman's throat. "I... I was...you knew me, Dean, I know you did."

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I mean, you seem a little familiar but there is no way in hell that you -"

"I…I was Ashlynn Schnee," Cinder sighed upon his shocked expression. "Dean, I am not her anymore. Ashlynn died en route to Haven Academy."

"Not biologically," He pointed out, feeling sick. "And -"

"I am going to be one of the most powerful sorceresses that Remnant has ever seen." Her face was hard in determination and she did not relent. "I will finally gain the power I crave. The Schnee Dust Company was once my birthright, but it was taken away from me by a complete and utter… sorry, I just despise reminiscing over what I once was."

"So, Emmett wasn't lying when he said that you attacked him?" Part of him was incredulous, but he couldn't help the fact that there was a part of him that admired her will.

Yeah, you're a straight arrow.

Lisa's harsh words came back to him as his conscience tried to stop him from going down this path. His mind was made up already, however, and he decided that although he did not like what he knew he would have to do or what he imagined he would have to do, he had to do what it was going to take to preserve himself. Besides that, he had already told Salem that he would join and support their cause against mankind. He allowed the feelings towards those who had dominated his life for years to flood into him. Hatred, hopelessness, anger, oppression. He remembered the violence that he had witnessed in the plagued streets from a young age and he reminded himself of the reasons why his niece was an orphan and why his parents died.

If the world hadn't pushed me over the edge, if it wasn't pushing me over the edge, then maybe I'd be less willing to do this. How many more innocents have to die before something is done? Even if the people I'm working with fight the wrong things for the wrong reasons, if I gain enough power, I'll be able to fix things. I'll be able to make this world better.

He sighed as he leaned back onto a chair in a half stretch. "I'm listening. Tell me about our enemies and how to fight them."