Cinder was having a vexing week, she realized. When she'd returned to find Mercury spray painted across the floor last week, she'd known it was a sign. And look, she was right. Somehow, she had been unable to find the stores of Dust Roman had stored that hadn't been exploded at Mountain Glenn. It would have been useful on the attack on Beacon. It should have been easy to find. There weren't that many abandoned warehouses in Vale. Either Roman hid his hiding spaces well, or the White Fang were just that incompetent. Cinder was leaning towards the latter. She wondered how Roman had gotten anything done. She wondered if it was a mistake to kill him. The White Fang were simply too difficult to wrangle. They were an uncoordinated, unorganized mess. It was like herding sheep.

Cinder knew Adam was doing this on purpose as a sort of power play. Cinder grit her teeth. She half-considered to rip his head off his shoulders to show him power such the like he had never seen nor would ever possess…but the thought of having to deal with the White Fang by herself made her recoil with just enough horror to abstain. She needed the bull faunus, for now.

What she really needed was a breath of fresh air. Some good news after the week she'd had. Hopefully Emerald had made good on her mission to find the new Fall Maiden. If Emerald had become friends with the Fall Maiden and they could trick her into coming to Cinder of her own will, then she wouldn't even need to deal with the White Fang. Sure, she might just the Grimm on Beacon anyway just to watch the light show. Ozpin and his cohort deserved it for keeping what belong to her for so long.

It was with thoughts like these that buoyed her heart as Cinder made her way to the roof at Beacon she had met Emerald last. On the way up she passed a red smudge on the concrete. Either someone had taken a nasty fall or they had dropped their strawberry ice cream. Cinder shrugged. No skin off her shoes. Although, she quickly wiped her shoes on the grass. No telling what nasty disease you could get from blood.
It wasn't just Emerald that was on the roof when Cinder alighted at the corner like a bird in her black cloak. There was also another girl, a red-headed one. What was her name? Pyrrha? Oh! Cinder smiled. Looked like Emerald had been working hard. The two were talking about something quite urgently.

Pyrrha fidgeted with her hands as she spoke. "I wanted to tell you last week, even though the Headmaster told me not to. But he also said to trust your friends and you've been so good to me. You've been a great friend, Emerald," she said as she looked up into Cinder's apprentice's eyes.
Emerald looked stricken. "Pyrrha…"

Pyrrha held up a hand, smiling. "Let me finish. I don't guaranteed you'll believe me, but here goes."

As the girl went on to explain the entirety of the Maidens mythos to her apprentice, Cinder couldn't help but laugh to herself.
Oh Ozpin, the great fool. For all his intricate preparations, he had chosen the wrong people to trust. She wondered how he would feel if he knew all his plans were simply being told to his greatest enemies.

Pyrrha's confession was beginning to wrap up. Cinder decided it was time to step in.

"My, my. Emerald, would you like to introduce me to your friend?" She spoke in her sultry timber, the one that seemed to unnerve everyone so. She had no idea why, to be honest.

Emerald looked shocked. "C-Cinder. What are you doing here?"

Cinder raised an eyebrow at the uncommon form of address. Didn't she usually call her Mistress? Emerald's head was habitually so far up Cinder's behind she probably could smell her stomach acid and thought it was roses. Cinder's nose crinkled distastefully. Still, her infatuation made her useful, a loyal and devoted minion.

"Why, I just came for a check-up, a booty call, a tete a tete. Is something wrong?" Cinder narrowed her eyes and watched her apprentice carefully.
Emerald shifted and looked away. "Nothing's wrong Mistress." Interesting. Had Emerald pulled her head out of her behind? A welcome thought, surely. Perhaps the catalyst for change was this other girl.

Pyrrha had been standing to the side, shocked at the revelations. Suddenly she whipped out her weapon. "You!" She snarled at Cinder, who looked languidly on. "You're the murderer behind the Breach! And-" she suddenly turned to Emerald who looked horrified. Cinder watched, interested. "You traitor. You knew all along! You tricked me!"

"Wait, I can explain!"

Cinder stepped in. "Now, now, I think you've done enough, darling. Isn't that right, Pyrrha?" Pyrrha growled incoherently. Her shield and speared pointed at each of them. Cinder stepped forward gently. "Now, Emerald dear, why don't you subdue this friend of yours so we can get this over with."

Emerald was shaking. Poor girl. Her first (second?) love, only to be ripped away like this. "I-Yes, Mistress," she said, unable to look into her erstwhile friend's eyes.

"NO! Get away from me!" Pyrrha suddenly lunged, knocking Emerald's twin gun blades away and pulling Emerald in by the armor with some force. Was that her Semblance? How interesting. Still-

"Stay back!" The girl screamed, her spear at Emerald's throat. "Or your partner d-dies!"

"Oh dear." Cinder chuckled. "You've never even killed a person have you? Still, I applaud your initiative."

"Although, you are very stupid to think such a tactic would work on me." She conjured up a fireball. "Obviously you know very little about me." And then she fired it through the chests of both women. Emerald fell first, shocked. Cinder ignored her. Then Pyrrha, on her knees, face burnt, lips cracked, whispered. "Why?"

Cinder took the second to answer while calling out her parasite Grimm. "It's not personal, believe me. You simply have something that's mine." And then she pulled, golden light pulled like spider webs from the girl's face into Cinder's hand. The screams were only a side to the delicious feeling of power inundating Cinder's soul.

"Ah, that's it." Cinder sighed. So engrossed in the feeling of pleasure that suffused her entire body, that she failed to notice Emerald approach her from behind. It was only when the tip of the bloody knife pointed out her front that she realized something was wrong. "Ah?"

Cinder finally regained her bearings. She noticed Emerald behind her, distinctly lacking a hole in the chest, eyes full of tears. "I'm sorry, Master."

Ah. She noticed Pyrrha, the new Fall Maiden standing to the side, looking sorrowful, but not in a rictus of pain. She, too, looked unhurt. How? She looked again at Emerald, her former apprentice. Oh, that's right. Semblance.

She looked into Emerald's eyes, looking past the unshed tears and pain and grief, and saw a glint of something, something strong and unrelenting.
In spite of herself, Cinder smiled. "So you finally grew up, did you? That's a relief. I never did like how you lusted after me. Ours was more of a mother-daughter relationship, hm?" Emerald sobbed. And then, Cinder toppled off the roof of Beacon.

Staring at the onrushing concrete, her last thought was, "So it wasn't strawberry ice cream after all." And then all was black.