Darkness. That's all that surrounded a lone figure floating in the emptiness. A cold black that seeped into the body and through the bloodstream. He couldn't see anything. For all he knew, this was death. His hands splayed out around him like wings from an eagle, his legs flowing through the liquid like the fins of a fish. He didn't know what was going on. He had no idea what happened or where he was.

He opened his eyes and saw a tiny blue spark fly past his face. He watched as it moved around him in circles. Through his clouded and blurry vision, he caught sight of a red light far off in the distance.

"Where am I?" The words barely came out before they fizzled in the blackness. The blue light came by him again, drawing his attention from the red light.

You are at the very center of the magical energy of this world, a voice whispered into his ears. Strange how you came here and didn't die. This much exposure to the primal force of Remnant should've killed you a long time ago. How did you survive?

"Probably my semblance. It's saved my life countless times before. As well as the lives of many others."

What is your semblance? I've never met or heard of anyone with an aura as strong as yours, and yet, your supply is far less than that of the people you grew up with.

"My semblance is called World Memory, and like all of the Trandifir bloodline, it has two aspects to it. I can read the world around me through the energy that it gives off, and in some circumstances, I can manipulate it. It is very powerful, but in some cases, very dangerous."

I would know all about the secondary aspect of Silver Semblances. After all, those weapons you carry on your back almost all of the time, I made those. A thin smile stretched across his face.

"I thought that's who you were, Adira Trandifir."

You know who I am. I noticed you digging through history when you were showing that girl the story of the night when She attacked.

"So, that was her doing. I think I may have found a way to finally kill her forever. Salem," his voice grew dangerously deep, "you will pay for what you have done to my kind. Millions of people in a single night were slaughtered because you couldn't have them getting in your way of bringing the gods back."

What are planning to do?

"Right now I can't do anything, but first I'll have to free Tempest's soul from Salem's control. I will need your help. When I fought him this last time, I was using his own power to fuel my Berserker Form. If I am to beat him for good, I will need greater strength. Can you give it to me?"

I will, but only if you swear to free the rest of the Lusus Naturae when you finish.

"I can't promise anything, but I will do what I can. Even if I have to kill them all, they will walk free and Trandifir will live again. Here's what I'm planning."

"Vara Rose, Laura Star, Roy Winchester and Yael Arc. You gathered the white bishop pieces and will come together to form Team VLRY(valkyrie), lead by Vara Rose." The teenager smiled at his accomplishment.

"Cinder Fall, Rust Azure, Matilda Brown and Nello Celadon. You gathered the black bishop pieces and will come together to form team CRMN(crimson), lead by Cinder Fall." The young woman didn't really think much of it, but appreciated the position all the same. The two new teams had worked rather well during initiation that morning. Vara was eccentric and strange at times but he certainly knew his way around a battlefield. It was almost as if he switched personalities when he got in a fight.

Vara threw his arm over Cinder's shoulders in a friendly manner. "Nice job Cindy, becoming the leader of your own team. You did pretty well earlier too. I can't believe you took down that Goliath all by yourself."

"Me?" She shoved him off of her. "You're the one who killed an entire army of beowolves before we could do anything to help. How do you explain that, huh?" He whistled as if he didn't really care.

"I can't tell you that, but on another note, if you want to spar anytime, I'm free, and I bet I could take on your entire team and win," he taunted her. She kicked him in response. He jerked back as her foot connected and held his shin in mock pain.

"Ow, why did you do that? That wasn't very nice of you Cindy," he mocked further.

"First of all, if you want to fight, you're going to have to bring your whole team if you want to have a chance at beating us. Second," she kicked his other leg causing him to fall in the floor, "stop calling me Cindy." She held out her hand and helped him up. They than started laughing.

"Well, see you tomorrow." The two parted ways for the time being.

The Next Day

Sparring Class

"The first match of the day will be randomly selected," the instructor stated. They pressed a button on their scroll and two screens above the arena started the process of choosing the students. "Looks like it's Cinder Fall vs," the second screen landed on the next person, "Vara Rose. Please step into the ring." The two students did as they were asked and faced each other.

Cinder pulled two blades from her waist and took a combat stance. Vara pulled the two daggers from his thighs and switched them to an under-handed grip and positioned his hands for a punch.

"You may begin when ready." Vara nearly vanished from sight as he flew through the air and clashed blades with his opponent. Cinder barely managed to block the strike by crossing her blades over each other, binding their blades with the friction of the hit. She ducked out of the bind and dove in between his legs, him being so freakishly tall made it easy. (At this point, Vara is about 6'6") When she came out, she ran a little ways away, only for Vara to kick her legs out from underneath her. She fell to the ground and rolled over to hit him.

Cinder struck his leg and he backed off, only for a second. When she stood up she met his daggers against her swords again and was nearly pushed into the ground. She looked at his face and saw his eyes were cold and uncaring, very different from when she had seen them before. Cinder activated her semblance and pulled blistering shards of the ground up and threw them at Vara. He turned around and extended his shield from his arm, blocking the barrage but opening him up for an attack from behind.

Cinder took the opportunity and swung at his shoulder with one blade. He moved an empty hand from his waistline and took hold of the hilt of one of his two swords on his back. He pulled it partially out and blocked the swing. He turned to face her and that cold look startled her. She had seen it during initiation just yesterday and it still didn't sit right. Vara turned around and pulled the longsword from his back.

She backed up and took a quick glance at the aura meters above their heads. Vara's aura was slowly draining for some reason, but why? She had looked away for too long and had given him an opening to strike. He swung the blade at her face and she missed the block. She felt the metal hit a little to hard and could feel her aura weaken a considerable amount. Cinder glanced at her scroll on her arm and saw she was in the yellow. Her opponent stalked toward her menacingly and raised his sword again. He pulled the shield back into it's storage form and gripped the hilt with both hands.

A swing from above, Cinder thought. He brought the sword down and she brought her's up to block it, only for him to redirect his sword around her guard and nail her in the side. A feint? She was knocked to the ground and Vara was bout to go in for another strike when the two heard a beeping sound and the instructor stopped the fight.

"As you can see students, Miss Fall's aura is now in the red and in a tournament, this is when the judge would then call the match. Mister Rose wins the battle." Vara reached his hand down to help Cinder from the ground after re-sheathing his sword, his eyes looking normal again. She took his hand and stood.

"That hurt you know," she complained.

"Hey, I was just trying to end the fight as quickly as possible so neither of us would fall into the red at the same time," he retorted.

"Speaking of which, why was your aura constantly depleting throughout the whole thing?"

"That was my semblance at work. What it is I can't tell you yet, but maybe you'll find out someday." He smiled mockingly at her and she punched him in the lower ribs. He held his chest in fake hurt.

"That's wasn't very nice Cindy," he said sarcastically.

"It wasn't supposed to be," she laughed, "and don't call me Cindy."

"Oh come on, you know you like it." They walked back to their seats to watch the next match.

Three Years Later

Cinder stepped out of the airship and lept into the arms of her very best friend. Vara caught her and lifted her onto his shoulder.

"So how did it go Cindy?" He asked her as he walked toward the school.

"It went well, and don't call me Cindy." She never meant it when she said it, and Vara would always know. He would never tell her how other than, 'I just know.' It was infuriating when he would say that, but she didn't really mind it anymore. "I got some more fire rounds for that rifle of yours. Where do you stash that thing anyway?"

"Who knows, who knows?" He replied with a laugh. "I keep it in a holster on the inside of my coat."

"Don't you have everything you own hidden in your coat somewhere?"

"Nah, not everything. I don't have my little sister in here all the time. When I'm here at least." He laughed again.

"You're being a little extra annoying today aren't you?" She asked him. She didn't really mind if he was, she just wanted to know if it was purposeful or not.

"Yeah I am. Summer sent me something that one of her new friends said. I thought it was hilarious and now I can't help myself." He smiled and looked up at her.

"What did they say?" She inquired.

"Oh nothing." He dropped her from his shoulder and they kept walking. "Just that I am the worst big brother ever. I disagree with that strongly." He added a dramatic flare to his voice with that last part. "And besides, Summer says otherwise."

"Were you just saying that to get to me?"

"Ugh, I'm hurt. How dare you say that I'm trying to make you jealous of my little sister." His tone was thick with sass.

"Well you may be the best big brother in the world, but you could use some work on being a boyfriend," she replied cheekily. Cinder walked up in front of him and stood on her toes. That was the only way she could reach his face, so he stooped down just a little and met her for the kiss.

About a month later, team CRMN was called off on a mission in northern Vytal to find a pocket of grimm that was growing in strength so the army could go in and destroy it. Vara volunteered to go with them as backup but was denied because there would 'be to many people for a stealth mission.' Vara saw that it was a viable argument and didn't say anything more.

Team CRMN came to their destination and went to work. They found the pocket of grimm, but they had also been spotted. The grimm rushed them and they got trampled. At least that's what they thought at the time. They had no idea that Vara had followed them anyway, and he got the four of them out of the way of the stampede.

"Get back to the ship, I can handle them," he told them.

"But Vara," Cinder started.

"No buts Cinder. Get out of here, now!" He drew the two swords from his back and attached the pommels together, creating a double-ended longsword. He spun it in his hands and readied for the oncoming horde.

"You didn't call me Cindy." She was dumbstruck. In all the years they had known each other, he had never called her anything but Cindy, so why would he stop now?

"Cinder," Rust Azure grabbed her by the arm, "we have to go. If Vara says he can handle the grimm, I'm inclined to believe him. He's always been trustworthy about everything. But we have to go now. Come on!" The four of them ran and Cinder turned to face Vara as he looked at her. He smiled and nodded as his eyes turned steely cold. He turned and started spinning his blades. That was the last time she ever thought she was going to see him.

The next thing she knew she was laying on the ground with no one around her. Her vision was blurry and full of black spots. She looked in front of her and sat up. What she saw was a figure dressed in black with white hair and red vein-like tendrils coming from her chest and creeping up her face.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Salem, and who are you?"

"My name is Cinder Fall. Where are my team-mates?"

"That other friend of your's, Vara Rose, has killed them." Cinder's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No. That can't be true. What happened?"

"Vara is able to draw the skill of others into his body to make himself unbeatable in combat. It is what his semblance does, but he draws it from whoever or whatever is closest. When he started fighting, he began to draw it from the grimm, and he went berserk. In his frenzy, he not only killed the grimm but also your friends. Look behind you and you can see their bodies as proof."

Cinder turned and looked behind her as she was told, and low and behold, the bodies of her team lay behind her, their throats ripped out and disemboweled. She almost threw up from the sight.

"It can't be true. It can't."

"I'm afraid it is, but if you help me, I will help you get revenge against him if that is what you desire." Her voice was so soothing and almost hypnotic. Cinder's head swayed back and forth a little as she tried to decide.

"There is one more thing you should know. The headmaster of Beacon sent Vara to aid you. If you help me, I can bring your friends back to life, and they can be with you forever."

"What will happen if I do decide to help you?"

"You will have to go back to Beacon, and be my eyes and ears there. Here is a necklace that will allow me to see whatever you do." Salem produced a necklace with a black crystal in the palm of her hand. She knelt down and and offered it to Cinder. "This will also give you all the power you could dream of. You could use it to destroy those who wronged you."

"What do you want me to do?"

"First and foremost, Vara will be to difficult to deal with by yourself, so I will provide you with all the necessary reinforcements to bring him to me, but before you can do that, kill his little sister, Summer Rose." Cinder's eyes widened in horror.

"But, no. She's just a sweet innocent little girl. I can't kill her."

"If you want to get revenge against Vara for what he did to you, than you will have to put him through a similar agony that you will be going through soon. Though you don't have to do it until she's much older, when she has innocent blood on her hands too." Cinder thought for half a second and made a decision.

"I'll do it, for my friends. I'll do whatever it takes to bring them back."

"Good." Salem stood as Cinder took the necklace.

Cinder's team had been wiped out and she lay in the infirmary. The headmaster and the other teachers were talking to her about what she would like to do now.

"We'll take her." Everybody looked to the new voice. It was Vara and his team.

"We talked it over, and if it's alright with Cinder, we'll take her as a permanent member of our team. We could add her first initial, C, to the middle of VLRY. The name would stay the same but with an extra letter." Tears nearly came from Cinder's eyes as he said that, but than remembered what Salem had told her.

"I'd like that."

And you already know the rest.

Author's note: This chapter is meant to be the one year marker for this story. I wrote it over the course of two consecutive days for that purpose alone. It is a bit longer than what I normally do but I promised you guys a few chapters ago that I would give you the backstory with Cinder and team VLRY. I think I did that fairly well, but let me know what you think of what Vara and Cinder's relationship was like when they were still at Beacon. I thought it would help explain why Vara has such a hatred towards her. If you like it, great. If you don't, well to bad I'm keeping it that way no matter what anybody says. Leave a review if you feel like it and in case you couldn't figure out who the voice talking to Vara in the beginning was, well, do you remember what he showed Ruby several chapters ago? The woman with the veil fighting the horde of grimm in the winter at night? Well, the voice was what was left of her soul. Her spirit if you will. One more thing before I finish the chapter off, when Vara gets out of the place the chapter started out in, let's just say he's going to be a little less than alright. That's all for now so, goodbye. End author's note.