Tuesday, August 15th

"Pietro, she's not quite like the others."

Dark-skinned face and bushy beard illuminated by the blue glow of the monitor in front of him, Pietro Polendina turned in his chair to see a tall, slim man with a yellow turtleneck under his labcoat. The man played with the ends of his bushy mustache, leaning casually against the frame of the door as he spoke.

"That's not the first time I've heard that one, Arthur." Pietro rubbed at his temple, glancing up at the screen. Several faces appeared before him – a young, bright eyed girl with green hair. A silver-headed young man with a bored expression. The daughter of the man funding their project, face stern and serious – and finally the amber-eyed girl who seemed to display no emotion whatsoever. She had been a topic of debate for some time now – and he must be the one Polendina's colleague was referring to.

"Her control is astounding." Arthur continued. "Despite such a small dose of Dust, she's capable of such… destruction."

"There's such a thing as too much power, Watts." Polendina clicked through the screens to find the files of their two previous subjects – the Branwen twins. As the young faces of Qrow and Raven stared at him, a red [MISSING] appearing over Raven's face, Pietro turned to Arthur. "We still don't have any idea where our last most promising student ran off to."

"I'm sure her brother will turn her up in no time. For now, we need to get this girl in for some real tests…" Arthur looked behind him, glancing back and forth as though to make sure no one were listening. "Field tests."

Pietro's eyes widened with shock. "How could you even suggest such a thing?" He stood, glancing around frantically, also to be sure no one could hear. "Field tests are months away, at best. The approval process alone could take weeks."

"But think of what we could do with that information!" Arthur cut his arm through the air. "Now is not the time to be idle while the CEO plays scientist. I know she's ready, and I can prove it. Why waste another minute while those blasted shadows run amok? Why let there be more victims to the Grimm Hour when we have the perfect weapon right here?"

Pietro closed his eyes and breathed deeply for a moment. He nodded, slowly. "It pains me to admit it, but you may be right." He looked back at the faces of the Branwen twins, their red eyes meeting his. "Perhaps if we had done this sooner for them, things would have turned out differently."

"Then it's settled." Arthur stepped away from the door frame and smiled at his colleague, and Pietro could not help but catch the glint in his eye. "We take the girl to Muspell. Tonight."


As the colossal shadow fell before her, Cinder let her shoulders relax. She looked down at her right hand, flexing the fingers experimentally as the telltale flames of her Persona licked up around her. She waved her hand gently, and the flames vanished. The black particles that were once the shadow's body filled the empty chamber around them, and Cinder turned to meet the gaze of a wide-eyed Watts and Pietro. Her expression betrayed no emotion – just a calm serenity despite the massive feat she had just accomplished.

"A… guardian…" Pietro said breathlessly.

"And by herself, no less…" Watts and Pietro shared quick glances. "I must say, my girl, that even we could not have expected you'd accomplish this much."

Even at this, the girl's expression did not show the joy Arthur would have expected. She did, however, seem to have a thoughtful look on her face as she examined the surrounding area. They were in what appeared to be a large cave, on a small bridge made of stone. The bridge was lit by the circular blue stones spaced throughout, and there were two tall trees with small lights across them. Between the trees, on the far end of the chamber from Arthur and Watts, was what appeared to be a small opening – a gateway into the next chamber.

"We'll have to run more tests, of course." Arthur continued, his voice rising. "But you could be the answer to all of our prayers."

"Once we get you back to the lab," Pietro said, "We'll examine your efficiency levels and-"

"I don't believe I'll be going back." Cinder's voice pierced the chamber. It echoed briefly throughout, bouncing off of the cave walls.

Confident expressions were immediately replaced by worry. Arthur and Pietro shared a meaningful glance as Pietro took a step forward. "Now, let's not be hasty." He said. "Surely you can't mean to put an end to all of the hard work you've done."

"I'm done working." Cinder started confidently strutting toward the gateway. "It's time to play." As her face turned to meet Arthur and Pietro's gaze, a smile crept across her face. A spark had been lit behind her amber eyes, and they burned with a passion that neither had seen in her before.

"Now see here!" Arthur stomped his foot on the ground, pointing at the spot where Cinder had been standing only moments before. His eyes widened as he was met with only his own echo. Pietro, face ashen, knees shaking, turned to Arthur, who matched his expression. She had already proceeded to the next area.

They both shared a few moments of staring at each other in abject terror before Pietro dared put words to what they were both thinking. "What do we do now?"

"We have to go after her." Arthur started to walk, but felt Pietro's hand on his arm before he could even finish his step.

"We've no Personas of our own, Arthur." Pietro swallowed. "If we don't leave now, we'll be devoured by the Shadows. It's only thanks to the Dust Implant that we're able to experience the Grimm Hour at all."

Arthur clenched his fist and glared where Cinder had only just been. With an agitated huff, he pushed Pietro's hand off of his arm and started marching toward the exit. Pietro raised a concerned glance toward the gate the girl had just passed through. A brief second passed before Doctor Polendina followed after his colleague.


Wednesday, August 16th

Jacques Schnee, CEO of the Schnee Corporation, was pacing in front of Pietro and Arthur with a stern expression on his face. His perfectly tailored white suit and slicked back white hair matched the clean white walls of the padded room they were in. They stood in a dormitory – one of the housing units they kept each individual specimen in.

"I hope you realize…" Jacque footsteps echoed throughout the room as he spoke, "That this represents a significant loss in investment for me." His gaze met Arthur's. Arthur clenched his teeth – and his fist. "I paid to house these children, feed them, paid your salaries, all so we could find some manner by which to effectively end this Grimm Hour. I even offered my own daughter for experimentation once it was shown she had the aptitude for dust."

Pietro and Arthur shared a concerned glance.

"And just as all of my hard-earned dollars are about to bear fruit, you…" in the pause, Jacques took a moment to examine the back of his hand, checking his nails. "You LOST…" he punctuated the word by slamming his fist against the wall. Despite the padding, the force of the blow was enough to cause a 'bang' to reverberate through the room. "our most promising subject."

"W-well, that m-" Pietro started.

"I wasn't finished." The CEO continued, staring daggers at the scientists. "This is after the last experiment of yours – the one with the twins – failed due to another promising subject going missing. Which means that two of our strongest Dust users, two of our strongest weapons against the Shadows, are nowhere to be found. Is that correct?"

"You don't understand! Without a field test there was no way-" Arthur raised his voice, only to be cut short by Jacques raising his even higher.

"No way? None whatsoever?" Jacques Schnee stepped within inches of Arthur's face. "There are protocols! Procedures! Methods by which you could have requested a field test be done in proper order. Instead, you decided to take a child into Muspell, watched only by you two idiots, just to prove a point."

Neither Doctor Polendina nor Doctor Watts dared speak. They continued to exchange worried glances as their CEO headed to the back of the room. Jacques placed his head against the padding of the wall and let out a deep sigh.

"What of our other subjects?"

"Your daughter is the most promising combatant remaining." Watts said clinically. "The young boy requires far too much Dust to manifest his Persona to be efficient, whereas the other young lady's abilities are… interesting, for certain, but nigh useless in combat situations."

"I've let you idiots take this far enough." Jacques' footsteps tip-tapped through the room as he made his way for the door. As he stood at the threshold, he turned. "All of your projects are to be cancelled effective immediately. The children are to be released, and I'll be taking back my daughter."

"But the other two are orphans," Polendina held up his hands, a concerned expression in his eyes. "Where will they go?"

Jacques waved his hand nonchalantly as he left their view, his voice cold. "That's none of my concern."


Thursday, August 24th

"Your bleeding heart got the better of you." Doctor Watts crossed his arms and he leaned once again against the doorway to Pietro Polendina's office. "It was bad enough you let them stay here for the remainder of the week, but the rest…"

"They're children, Arthur. I couldn't just leave them on the streets with nothing." Piedro sighed. "They needed something to defend themselves in the Grimm Hour."

"Schnee won't be happy if he ever learns how much Dust you gave them. It's not exactly cheap to produce." Watts played with the tip of his mustache as he spoke. "Though I suppose he'll have no choice but to take it in stride. We have better things to work on."

"What do you mean? All of our projects were cancelled." Pietro sighed as he looked at the box of his belongings he had begun placing on the desk.

"Correct, and per his last message…" Watt's reached over Pietro and with a few keyboard taps, pulled up a message with the Schnee Corporation's tell-tale snowflake emblem. "'All Projects utilizing live subjects in Schnee Laboratory SH4D-0W are hereby terminated. Failure to comply will be met with the harshest penalties, up to and including termination.'"

"What are you getting at, Watts?" Pietro leaned back and sighed. "That sounds fairly definitive to me. Besides, I've already put in my request to move to another department."

"I'd highly recommend you rescind that request. After all, we have an old passion project of yours to revisit."

Pietro gave Watts a concerned look as Watts continued to tap on the keyboard. After a few more strokes, Pietro's eyes lit up. He glanced from Watts to the screen, then to Watts again. There, displayed against the blue light of the monitor, were a set of schematics in the shape of a humanoid girl, labelled at the top as 'The Geppetto Project'.

"I believe," Pietro smiled, "that I will rescind that request after all."