In earliest morning Cinder awoke. Woke to softness, and to warmth.
She removed her arm from around Maggy and carefully, quietly escaped the bed - tucked the covers in around her after.
Bare feet touched hardwood floor. Chilled, sleek - and detectably filthy. She froze, lifting a foot and running her toes across the planks; one was loose, and there was a clump of dirt, and a long dried, heavy stain of some sort. She hadn't noticed it the other night!
With heart beating furiously and a tightness in her chest, Cinder dropped to her knees and put her palm to the floor. She was certain now: certain it had to go.
She kneeled there for a long moment, realizing she had no idea exactly where she might find any of her usual tools in this place. She'd try real quick first without, then. Just real quick!
Cinder grabbed up the hem of her gown, drawing it up to her face; she mustered up all the spit she could and, well, spat furiously. The feeling was mounting, it needed to be done, before the footsteps or the voice cutting across the world to her, before the squeak of the old door to the room she called hers...
She scrubbed furiously, upending the dirt. She felt a rush of relief. But it was gone next moment; she couldn't do anything about the stain yet! But the dust, at least, she could do away with.
Cinder buried her fist in her gown and took up methodical swiping, right to left, until it was all gathered finely against the nearest wall. She crawled over a few more feet to her right, repeating this method again to gather more.
She knew she'd catch hell for ruining her clothes, but that could rarely ever be helped - she always just took it. At least that punishment. Because it was light compared to the things in store for her if she utterly failed the entire task.
Untold time later - time never mattered, just doing it, no matter how long it took - Cinder emerged from the methodical movements and her own mind at last. She stood, giving her gown a smoothing out and a swiping down anyways (it never hurt anything; but it did make Cinder personally feel better).
She moved swiftly and silently for the door, slipping out into the hall. She touched her hand to the wall as she found her way to the bathroom. Several frantic minutes were spent on locating what she desperately needed. Under the sink she snatched up the first bottle her hand made contact with - brought it to nose. She set it back down and found another, familiar in shape before she even took a whiff, and recognizable in scent before it reached her nose physically (it was always a powerful smell). It was the one she needed. She held it to herself with care as she straightened. Momentarily set it on the counter to reach for the nice sponge she'd noticed the other night, when she had been in here with Flora.
Taking both items in single hand, holding them to her body, she shuffled out back down the hall, back to that small room.
This wasn't going to be too bad - Cinder was comfortable enough working in the dark. It would be a lot more challenging in total darkness, but it was a challenge she'd take on. She had to. She was also reasonably comfortable doing this with one arm; it wasn't like she hadn't had one broken before, either from accident or her stepfamily going a bit too far... She could do this.
She leaned her whole body low and set the bottle down with hardly a sound - the sponge, too, noting its position.
Cinder unscrewed the cap on the bottle - nudged the sponge a bit more to the left - and upturned it. Just a dash!
She closed the bottle and set it directly beneath the bed, right up against a bedpost, where she was certain she wouldn't accidentally knock it over during her work.
She was missing something, however - but what?
She squeezed and unclenched the sponge in her fist. Then it came to her. Of course!
She rose to her feet and snatched up an empty food bowl off the nightstand, and took a swift trip back to the bathroom to fill it with water before returning to the room again. After another moment of panicked idiocy, she made a second trip to liberate a tiny trash bin for her use as well.
Now she had everything; she was sure of it! She had to be sure!
Cinder lowered herself back to the floor, drew a breath and took a pause to mentally orient herself - just to be sure - and then she took up the sponge and started with the methodical scrubbing born of a lifetime of familiarity.
It was time to be very, very thorough.
After finishing the entire floor - underneath the dresser and the bed included - Cinder heard the noises starting up in the rest of the house.
She quickly stood and set to work on the furniture. Surfaces, sides, bed frame - all done. After that, she stepped over to the nearest wall to begin there - a mess of cobwebs, peeled paint, and general grime.
It all had to go!
Footsteps - the door's handle turning. The creak...
"Cinder, hey, are you-"
"I'm nearly finished, ma'am!" Cinder whirled, bowing her head and slinging her arm across her stomach. "I just need to-"
"Cinder...it's alright, it's j-just me. Just Flora. And you didn't have to...do all of this." A long pause. "It looks - amazing - but this was only ever going to be a temporary place to stay. I'm sure that Qrow's old buddies will be...happy to see what you've done with it so far, but it wasn't necessary."
Footsteps entering the room; Cinder flinched, squeezing the sponge in tight fist.
"It's alright, honey. Still just me. Look, I just need to get Maggy up for breakfast, that's all. If you- really want to keep going with this, that's fine. That's w-wonderfully kind of you. It's so- so thoughtful, and I'll leave you to it. Just...let me slip by here and grab Maggy..."
After Flora had left, Cinder returned to her task vigorously.
After finishing up the bedroom, Cinder moved out into the hall to continue her work.
She found a closet there, with broom and dust pan; she liberated these, along with moved her other cleaning items out with her too.
Endless minutes were put into this task, until her arm began to take on a familiar ache. It was a real challenge, figuring out how best to even do this with a single limb - but it was one she took to with a fervor. Put a foot to the dust pan, hold it to the base of the wall, and take the broom in hand by its lowest point - pole tucked under arm. It was awkward and strange, but it worked for her.
Even as footsteps came and went, even as voices sounded over head.
Until one voice, familiar footfalls, and then a slender hand on her shoulder and a presence beside her.
"Cinder, I think it's time to take a break from all this. You need to eat...and maybe try spending a little time with Bae."
"I c-couldn't do that, I'm not finished yet," Cinder protested, furiously shaking her head. "It's not finished yet; you don't eat until it's all done!"
"No, no, it doesn't have to be. I'm sure no one is going to be angry with you if you just stop for half an hour or so. And, you need to eat now so you can work better later."
"I can't!"
"You need to. Come on. There are some things Bae needs to hear from you."
"She can't hear them from you?" Cinder said, panicky. Brain throwing out the first argument it could form.
"I've already told her what I can. Now it's your turn to tell her what you can."
"B-but I..."
"Cinder. Please."
"I- okay...but I'm getting right back to it after! I have to."
"You don't have to - but, alright. That's fine."
"What does she need to hear from me?"
"That you're okay - that things are going to turn out okay for us. She needs reassurance - and she can only get that from you. You know she worships you almost as badly as Emerald does."
"She worships the Fall Maiden from fairy tales," Cinder muttered. "And I'm not her anymore. I can't be that for her anymore."
"That's true," Flora said plainly. "But you can still be her mom for her. And that will be enough for her - I promise. Just try for her. Please..."
"Okay. I'll- see what I can do. But not- not just yet! I need...time to..."
"As long as you get around to it soon, that's fine. Thank you."
Cinder cringed as she dropped the broom.
She took great pains to move everything off to the side before she finally went with Flora to get something to eat.
Flora complimented her on being "very organized" and that she wondered "where all this effort was at home the past two years."
"You have been really, really half-assing it, haven't you?" Flora's laughter carried across the table.
Cinder took a quick bite and cringed in her seat. "I'm s-sorry; I'll do better from now on."
"Oh no, no! I don't want you working yourself to death. But, even just ten percent of the effort you've shown this morning would go a long way," Flora concluded.
"I swear I'll do better."
"Well, we'll have to talk about that," Flora said with a sigh. "I think your idea of 'better' and my idea of 'better' are very different. And 'normal.'"
Cinder shoveled more food into her mouth as quick as she could, head down.
Although quiet came between them, it didn't take Flora long to break it once again.
"Cinder," came the most delicate pronunciations. "when I found you in that place, you were..."
"I was naked, yes, I know," Cinder said flatly. "It was nothing - not what you're thinking."
"Was it?" Softest tones.
"It really wasn't - at all," Cinder said firmly. "And it wasn't anything I wasn't already used to - I told you I could handle it."
"Alright." A pause. "Could you tell me?"
Cinder shrugged. "What's there to tell? My stepmother liked to punish me sometimes in a similar enough way; she'd strip me down, lock me in this tiny, dusty room with a window with no glass on cold nights - make sure I'd freeze my little ass off and decide to do better the next day. It was west wing, second floor. Close enough to my stepsister's rooms. They liked to stand at the door and hurl insults at me for a few hours, at Lady Nuveri's encouragement. They were glad to help, to have a hand in my punishments."
"I see. Well, I'm really glad, then, that that's all it was. As horrible enough as that is to think about."
"Yes...well...you said it: my normal isn't your normal - or anyone else's." Cinder rose to her feet. "We need to find Tyra again. Blake and Neo, and Miltia, too. We're just back at square one."
Not exactly...
Cinder gasped, clutching hand to her head.
The world spun and thrashed, and then she found herself on her knees.
"Cinder, are you okay?" Flora was at her side in an instant - as ever.
"Y-yes, it's just- Imryll. She's starting to wake up in here, even if I didn't finish it."
"But she isn't fully awake yet."
"No, she's not. But I'd bet Tyra will try and force me into finishing it soon enough."
"We won't let her."
"I hope so. This isn't fun..."
Flora's hand on her arm, helping her back to the table. Screeching chair legs, a warmth pressing to her. Side by side they sat now, in another kind of silence. "Cinder...this might be the most inappropriate time to ask, but I think it has to be."
"What?"
"Your mother...she...she is an Ascendant, isn't she? She has that plague in her. The same one that turned Blake, and Neo, and Miltia against us. Turned them...to Imryll's will."
"I- she is. What of it?"
"You want to free our friends, you're scared for them. And you even feel sympathy for Imryll. You want to help her, at least her. But Tyra...all you want is to kill her with a passion. Why? Isn't she same as them? Her mind warped, her will...slaved to that girl's? If we freed her too, wouldn't she-"
"What? You think she'd turn around and be some happy go lucky, loving mom to me? Like it was some fairy tale, like the evil witch had her under a spell the whole time, and it was never her?!"
"Well...isn't that how it is?"
"No! The things she's done- the worst things she's done...she told me herself, in there. She told me. And what she did...she did them before she became an Ascendant. She did them all by herself, of her own free will! For that, I'm going to kill her! For my dad-"
"Your dad? Is that what it is? Did Tyra do something to hurt him before?"
Cinder's lip curled. Her nails drew blood in her palm. "She...she said it to me herself. She- she raped h-him. Multiple times over, just- just to get me - just because the Order told her to. And that was all before, it was before!"
"I am so sorry. That's horrific, and disgusting, and...I'm sorry. But, surely, if the Order...ordered her to do that, then it had to have been under duress. Like the way they forced you to do what they wanted by using Maggy against you-"
"No, Flora, it wasn't!"
"So that's it? You just want her dead? No matter what."
"You don't understand. You can't; you grew up with two happy, loving parents in a normal-as-could-be home. From birth to age of maturity. You went to a normal school, you had wonderful relatives, and you've never had to really ever imagine...you don't know..."
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I just can't understand. She isn't my mother, it wasn't my father, and even with all the empathy in the world, I can't imagine what I would do if I learned what you did about them. About how my own birth happened. But I still don't think-"
"I don't care. She dies. End of story."
A breath drawn. "And how are you going to do that, now?" Flora's voice was sharp as any blade.
Cinder froze. Her shoulders sagged - her head dropped.
"Cinder...haven't you killed enough people in cold blood in your life? Why add your own mother to that list too? When- you could save her, or...or at least spare her...?"
Cinder pulled away. "I d-don't want to spare her..."
"Clearly. But maybe...you should do it anyways?"
"How can you not want to kill her? You met her, you saw how she treated Maggy! I don't- understand..." Cinder choked.
"Honestly? I did want to. But that was me falling into the same trap as you, making the same mistake as you, Cinder - it was just emotion. And maybe I would still want to - if that was all I saw. All I knew. But I can't ignore everything else I know about her situation. Because everything else I know, the context of her actions, it points to her not being all too culpable for them."
"How the hell can you say that?!"
"Cinder, forgetting her, just talking about you for a second here: if everyone went around killing everyone they wanted to kill so badly, the world would be a hell of a lot emptier." A trace of amusement in that lovely voice. "Talking about you...you don't want to kill our friends, or even Imryll, and you feel so bad about the people you a-already have...but you really still want to just go do it anyways - excuse it? Excuse one murder, while decrying the others? Maybe you haven't exactly changed as much as I thought these last two years, if you still don't get that. If you still don't see...that that is still just as wrong of a mindset to have."
Cinder let her head drop. "Then maybe I haven't..." she agreed, whispering. Stomach twisting up at her own words.
A sigh. "Well, that's just all the more reason not to let you do it; you need to really think about this, Cinder. Think about yourself: do you really want to feel awful about it for the rest of your life, pile one more onto all the others?"
"I w-wouldn't feel b-bad about her-"
"Bullshit," Flora's voice came, in simple tones. "We both know that's just bull. Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself. I thought we'd left that behind a long time ago, too."
Cinder's unwillingly recalled her mother's outburst, claims that she didn't want to do any of it, and the real remorse in her voice when she'd told her about circumstances surrounding her conception. And she recalled, too, the way Tyra had suddenly seemed to be in such pain, clutching at her head in much the same way Cinder had just...
No!
Cinder pressed her fist into her chest, shaking her head.
Flora's arms slid around her, pulling her into embrace.
"You know, I never took you for a clean freak."
Cinder tensed, head whipping up. "I'm not..." she murmured, resuming her work.
"Well, whatever you are, you're damn relentless with this; I know a few people who are going to be real pleased when they come back home again." Qrow's familiar chuckle. "Seriously, this is some great work here. You always been this good at cleaning, or is it something you picked up these past two years with the family?"
"The first one," Cinder muttered. "It's the only thing I can do now for anyone..."
"Ah. We're doing self-pity, huh?"
"No, it's just a fact," Cinder replied. "I can't fight anymore, I can't-"
"And you think that's the only thing that matters? Seriously? That just 'cause you've lost that one capability of yours, that it means you're just-"
"Well, obviously not - I still can do this," Cinder interrupted pointedly.
"Sure, but you're not doing it with a smile on that face of yours. Clearly it's not something you think has any value. Not really."
Cinder ignored Qrow, scrubbing hard at a particular stain at the base of the wall.
A sigh. Footsteps - another sigh, then, heavier, and at her level now. "Listen, I'm serious here: fighting isn't all there is. Not to anyone, and not to you. You're still worth a hell of a lot on your own, without being able to do that anymore. You can do other things, you can be other things; a good spouse, a good mom - not that you aren't already, but you could try for that mom of the year award if you really wanted to - and whatever else out there you want to try. Learn some new skills, get a new hobby. Hey, take up dancing; that's similar enough to fighting, isn't it?"
"It is - Flora's told me that before, too," Cinder agreed, nodding.
"Well there you go. Learn to dance. Try making a career out of it, if you want. Join some stage crew, get into theater."
"That would be...no. I couldn't."
"Well, then how about that Semblance of yours? You could run a circus. Get all kinds of animals doing all kinds of tricks for you..."
"No!"
"Well you've gotta do something. You can do something. Maybe not anything anymore, but was that ever true for any of us? You've still got talents, skills, things you can apply to whole other parts of life - not just combat, and killing. Whole new parts of life. Just because you lost this one part of it, doesn't mean all the rest has to come crashing down with it. You hear me?"
"I wish I wasn't."
Laughter. "And then there's that acid tongue of yours. Could come in handy somewhere - you ever tried customer services? There's plenty of assistive tech out there that can help you."
Cinder hated her mouth for betraying her just then, even if it was only for an instant.
"There we go - got one out of you. See? The world hasn't quite gone to hell yet."
"Maybe, but it's close to."
"Nah, we've got this."
"Since when are you the optimist?"
"Since we've been down one; where's all that burning determination of yours? Hey, I've got an idea. Speaking of animals...how would you like a nice little visit from the greatest bird this side of Mistral? Haven't seen him in a while, have we?"
"W-wha-?"
A flutter of wings and a squawk, and sharp talons were digging into Cinder's left shoulder. Or, what remained of it, anyways.
Cinder sat there on the floor for a minute. Then, she slowly reached up, and began to stroke at bird's flank with careful fingers.
After some time of silent working, she spoke to the bird - much the way she had to all kinds of animals as a child.
"This is how my story started," she said softly. "Just this. Day in and day out. I came from nothing, I was nothing. And then, I became one of the most powerful people on the face of this entire planet. I was powerful, I was skilled, I was even moderately wealthy, and I even married a lovely princess. I had it all! Everything I'd ever wanted, and even a lot of things I never knew I did. Kids, real friends in my life who'd s-stand by me and b-behind me, no matter what happened. But now here I am again...and I'm just nothing again. Except, now, I'm even worse off than when I was a child - I had two arms and both eyes, back when I was a girl..."
"I k-know, you'll probably say I still have a lot of those things - I still have friends, I still have kids, I still have my princess - but...I suppose I was never one for the immaterial. Bonds, relationships, love and happiness. I've never been the kind of girl who really cares about having that. People, and socializing, and relating to them...it was never important to me. Because to me, people sucked; people hit you, people put a knife in your face, people made you work until your hands bled, people locked you up in a cold, empty room at night because you failed! You always failed, you always just- you were never good enough for people. So people...were never going to be good enough for me. Why care, why bother? Why see any of them as anything but- hated- stupid- idiotic..."
Cinder clenched her fist and drove it into the wall.
A ruffling of feathers and a loud squawk.
"None of that mattered to me! I've always just wanted...the material. Magic, weapons - lien in my hands. A nice, sexy dress on my figure. A product of, when you get right down to it, what I only ever really wanted: power, and control in my life. Over all those people who...once had it over me. Over my life. I'm not saying that power is the only thing that matters to me - it doesn't, not anymore - but that also doesn't mean that it means nothing to me now. It still has its worth, it still...I could still be using it to protect my family, my friends! But now I- I've lost it again. All of it."
"I just have to sit around, putting my life into all of your hands, and into my mother's hands. Knowing that she could show up at any moment and screw it up, and I couldn't do a thing to stop it! I have nothing, I am nothing, and it's all of you people who have it over me again! All of you people who get to look at me now and see some stupid, useless, pathetic- worthless girl who you can toy with, jerk around however you please! Stomp on her hand, kick her in the head - what's she going to do about it?! I'm not a stranger to that treatment. And I hate that so much, and I don't know what to do with myself now except...go back to what I know I can still do. What I did before, the last time I had no power. No magic, no weapons, no lien - none of it. Nothing. Because...because I'm nothing again!"
In ensuing silence, Cinder heard the sharp gasp of Emerald's voice, and quick footsteps retreating from the room.
"I had no idea she was so dedicated..."
"Look at her fingers!"
"What is she doing...?"
"Would you all please just let her be!"
Cinder shuffled her way into the living room on her knees, exploring around the small end table beside the bookcase with her hand.
"Ms. Rynon?"
Cinder straightened instantly, turning to face the voice. "Yes?"
"Ah..." Discomfort in Ozpin's voice. "Would you care to actually sit in on this planning session with the rest of us?"
"Yes..." Cinder sat back on her heels and rested her hand in her lap. "I'm listening."
"Very...well. Ah, yes, as I was saying: I believe our best bet now is to remain where we are and fortify our position - given that the enemy needs to retrieve you to force you to finish what was started in their stronghold. If we remain where we are, all of us together, we can focus our efforts on guarding you, and keeping you out of their hands again. As well, there is an advantage in forcing an enemy to have to come to you - to make them fight you on your own turf, as the youth of today say, I believe. As well, the ability to lure them to us will give us another chance at using the Sword, once they come close enough. And lastly, there is the fact that this safe house is situated on city's edge; at first sign of enemy contact, we could vacate it in favor of retreating into the woods, where battle should not result in much civilian harm - or property damages." A pause from Ozpin. "Your thoughts, Cinder?"
"I like it."
"I...see. Very good, then. Thank you for your opinion - it is valued."
Cinder returned to her work, tuning out the world.
She was valued still? Why?
What could she even contribute now?
Even after the meeting ended, Cinder sensed certain people hanging back.
Hanging around her.
One of those people made themselves known to Cinder in her usual way: annoyingly cheerful and attention-seeking.
"Cinder! You're doing awesome work on this place, you know that?"
"I know."
Silence.
Emerald tried again. Because of course she would. "I know it might seem really awful, but I'm certain you'll be back in the game soon. You just need some cybernetics and some time to get used to them."
Cinder didn't respond.
"Listen, I know you're upset over losing your Maiden powers! And, don't get me wrong, I'm so glad you gave them to me, but...I think I can fix that for you. You gave me your powers, you made me the first double Maiden - but I can give them back to you. I'll use the Sword on our enemies, and in the process I can-"
"No!" Cinder snapped.
"N-no? Wh-what do you mean no? Cinder, I could-"
"I said no!"
"But, I-"
"Don't you ever say a thing like that again! Get that stupid idea out of your head: now!"
"But, Cinder, I could give you the powers of two Maidens! And do one of the greatest things I can even think of to do for you: save your whole family for you! Why wouldn't you want me to do that?"
"Because I won't lose you too!" Cinder snarled. "Not like that! And then to have to carry around those powers, like some physical manifestation of all the grief and guilt I'd have inside after that?! No!"
"But if I can-"
"Doesn't your own life have any value to you at all?"
Emerald's voice descended; she was right there, right beside Cinder on the floor. "No! All that matters is you; you've given me everything I could have ever wanted and more! And I need to repay that!" So urgent, so intense, so...
"When you thought I was dead-" Cinder began to counter.
"And still now!"
"No. I won't let you."
"Y-you can't stop me-"
Cinder drove her fist into Emerald's gut, seized her by the throat and yanked her in close. "If I have to pin you down and knock you out, I'll damn well give it my best shot! You. Are not. Killing yourself for me. Do you understand me?"
"C-Cinder-"
"Do you?!"
"Yes! Okay, I'm sorry!"
Cinder shoved her away with a growl. "Go do something useful that doesn't involve trying to commit suicide at first opportunity."
A little high noise, and then rapid footsteps fleeing the room.
A tiny little trilling noise right in her ear.
Cinder lifted a hand and brushed the bird's back with absent fingers. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I do try not to be that way anymore with people..."
The bird left her.
"You're literally immortal, and it's wasted on you!" Flora's yelling carried from living room to kitchen.
"Excuse me?"
Oh god no, not again! Cinder trembled on the kitchen floor, putting a lot firmer strokes into the motions of scrubbing away at it. Please, Flora, please...
"You heard me: it's the most wonderful blessing any of us could ever have! Time, life itself! You could be doing so much in this world with it: traveling, seeing every last landmark, learning new languages, participating in different cultures as they evolve, picking up different skills or trying out new hobbies, sampling all kinds of foods - hell, you could do some great humanitarian work, helping people learn details about history that we could never learn from empty structures and old scrolls! I'm sure you have amazing stories to tell!"
A pause, before Flora barreled on. "And for yourself most of all, what about family? You could have settled down in peace and had a string of a dozen different families by now! You could have seen your own grandchildren, great grandchildren, and more! The things everyone wishes they could live long enough to see, to be there for! But you...you just aren't. You don't. All you do is waste it all on evil overlord schemes, trying to ruin the world, instead of taking the unique opportunity to participate in every last facet of it that none of the rest of us will ever have the time to! You're the most short-sighted, self-centered woman I've ever met. You have the greatest gift in the universe, yourself alone, and you're squandering it!"
"You think I'm-" Salem's hissing tones began.
"Now, now, dear, she does have a fair few good points," Ozpin's voice carrying, faux casual as ever. "I think it would be unwise not to take some of it to heart. You could honestly do with a bit of-"
"Keep your hands off of me!" Salem's voice snapped. Stomping footsteps, and then the sound of a door slamming.
"We're just letting her leave like that?" Flora's voice filled the silence after.
"It's best to let her cool off out there," Ozpin sighed. "She always did have quite the temper. I believe she will return to us when she's ready."
"Or when she realizes she's on her own out there, ripe for the Order's taking," Flora snorted.
"Yes, that as well," Ozpin agreed. "Though, regardless, you really must cease this behavior with her; sooner or later you are going to push your luck with her. Though my presence may deter her from harming you, there is a limit - and I won't always be around to keep her in check. After this crisis is dealt with, I fear she is likely to seek retribution upon you."
"She's only pissed off because she knows I'm right. Everything that she is is wasted on her."
"I fully and wholeheartedly agree with you; she could have been doing so much else with herself, all these millennia past. Productive, decent, wonderful things. But I'm afraid that confronting her with such will do little good."
"Someone has to. I'll take advantage of you to do that as long as you're here - sorry, not like you're some kind of tool."
"I'm happy to aid you in such a pursuit. Perhaps we might finally even reach her. I do believe, these past few days, I have seen...I believe it's more possible now than it ever was before."
"There you go, then. Just have my back with her, and maybe we won't have to deal with her later at all."
"Maybe."
"Soooo...I brought the kid to you, which sent the mom right to you - and it's not my fault she escaped you after that. Which means I did exactly what I was asked to, in a roundabout kind of way. Which means..." Aisha held out a hand, fluttering her fingers.
She tensed as the shadows on the walls began to vibrate, as a stadium's worth of voices began chattering all around her.
Then, it all stopped.
"You did." Tyra Aryle kicked the briefcase at Aisha, sliding it across the floor. "A billion lien, as promised. Enjoy yourself on some vacation island for the next few months - or buy the island - I don't really care. Just be smart about it: don't let anyone know who you got it from, and don't let anyone know you have it if you don't want people doing their best to take it from you."
"Be smart about it - yeah. Alright! Thanks. God, I could kiss you right now for this!"
"If you kiss me, I'll make sure you don't leave this room in any fit state to make use of that money."
"And that's a no on the kiss; got it, that's cool with me. Hard no. Respectable no." Aisha beamed. "Well, later! Call me up if you have another job for me - I won't say no to more!"
"Have you never heard of quitting while you're ahead?"
"I'm quitting now," Aisha replied. "A nice, looong break between this gig and any future ones, that's for sure."
"Then we're done here."
Before Aisha could say another word, Tyra became shadow herself, and disappeared from the room.
Aisha left the room with briefcase at her side, and the biggest of grins on her face.
Where was she going to go first? What was she going to do first?
The possibilities for her in life were now endless, as wide open as the ocean!
As long as she focused on those fantasies, she wouldn't have to stop and wonder just what might have happened to that kid after she had delivered her to those people.
Besides, the kid had gotten taken away from that place later, hadn't she? Same with that Cinder woman, the mom herself.
So, it really had all worked out fine for everyone, in the end.
No harm done.
"Hey," Cinder spoke clearly. She'd known who it was even before the door had opened. She guessed it was time for this.
"Hi." High and uncertain. Shuffling little feet. "Can I-"
"Yes. Come here and sit down."
Bae hurried over to Cinder, seating herself on the bed beside her.
A small hand that took hers.
Cinder gave it a squeeze, a stroke of a thumb. "Look, I know things are- scary- lately, but it will all be over soon. I'm going to make sure of it. And after it is, and we can all go home again...why don't I upgrade you to a hoverboard?"
"I don't want a hoverboard, I just want-"
"What?"
"You."
"O-Okay. Then...how about we...talk. Let's just keep...talking. Here." Cinder gave Bae's head a stroke, then pulled her into her lap. "Why don't we just- sit here like this a while, and talk about whatever you want."
"Ok." Palpable relief in the girl's voice. A small frame relaxing into Cinder's greater.
She felt her own relief - she must have made the right call, for once.
"Bae, I-"
The world rocked, and the the ceiling came crashing down on them.
Cinder activated her Aura and threw herself to the floor with Bae, shielding her with her own body; a large piece of debris came down on her, flaring her Aura as it took the hit.
Long, steely claws and a great hand was grasping Cinder's legs, pulling her back, off of Bae...
No, dammit!
Cinder threw herself over onto her backside and thrust her palms out, blasting out with her Aura.
Her mother's recognizable, monstrous voice cried out with pain and surprise alike.
The hand holding her didn't let go - it lifted her up and swung her aside, slamming her against the wall, then back the other way for a second blow.
Cinder's Aura wasn't doing well at all.
Probably what her mother was hoping for.
Cinder threw out another wave of energy, causing her mother to growl at her and rip her up clean out of the house.
Open air, chilly night's winds.
"Let her go!"
Emerald...
Billowing heat of scorched air, blowing right past Cinder, and a scream from mother.
Those claws finally let her go, right into the dirt.
Cinder was on her feet and racing in the clear opposite direction of her mother.
The sound of shattering glass on her right - and someone was tackling Cinder.
A gust of wind swirling around her, and the body pressing to Cinder was gone.
Cinder hard hardly risen again when a strong ribbon was wrapping around her body, pinning her arm to her side! There was a hard tug, and she careened over again.
"Blake - I'mreallysorrypleasedon'ttakeitpersonally!" The high voice of Ruby rose rattled off in a single breath - and then the rapid fire of her powerful sniper rifle cut the air.
The ribbon went slack, unraveled and pulled away from Cinder.
"Cinder, I've got you!" Suddenly there was Flora, her grip on Cinder's arm very firm - pulling her away from the sounds of combat. "We need to keep you away from them. Here - Nora, can you carry her for me somewhere that way?"
"Ready whenever she is," Nora Valkyrie's serious tones rang.
"I am not ready, because I am not going to be some human hot potato!" Cinder protested fiercely.
"You don't have a choice; I'm sorry!" Flora responded swiftly. And then slender arms were picking her up and shoving her into other arms. Stronger arms. "Go!"
Goddammit!
If not for her familiarity with voices and weapons discharging, Cinder wouldn't have had even half as much of a clue as to what was going on around her as she did.
And it still wasn't much!
It seemed like Raven, Emerald, and Team RWBY were engaging with Tyra, Blake, Neo and Miltia, while Team JNPR plus Mercury were escorting Cinder away from all of that business. Hazel, Sinna and Flora seemed to be safeguarding Bae and Maggy - which was good.
A change of air, a brush of her feet against bush and branch - a little stumble by the one carrying her - told Cinder they were now entering the woods proper.
Some little thuds and more racing boots to join theirs, after a time. Deep in the thick of it, where combat was only a distant thought.
"While the others are attempting to land the winning blow, we need to focus on keeping Cinder out of their hands!" The voice of Ozpin was panting. "If I'm not mistaken, there is an old, abandoned mansion not far from here - it was once attached to a small nearby village called Eydriss, and once belonged to a rather wealthy family, the Nuveris - we can hole up there and regather ourselves. Situate ourselves entirely around Cinder's protection."
"No, no, no, no..." Cinder squirmed and lashed out with an arm blindly for the face of the one holding her.
"H-hey-!" Nora's voice, reproachful and confused. "Watch what you're- oh, come on!"
Cinder landed a blow, and Nora dropped her to the ground.
"Do you seriously not know how to do anything except make our lives difficult?" Jaune's voice, all scathing sarcasm.
Cinder pushed herself up and stumbled away, hand feeling for trees and brush - but she still smacked into one with her whole flank. Twice.
"Someone grab her - we cannot afford to-" Ozpin was saying.
A strong hand grabbing at Cinder's wrist. "Hey - cut it out, would you?" Mercury, irritated. "If you screw this all up for me, if I can't get Miltia back because you-"
A flutter of wings, crunching boots.
Cinder shoved out at Mercury and whirled away.
"Hey, what're you doing? Come on." Qrow, seizing her by the arm and yanking her back! She fell again immediately, breaking free out of sheer dumb luck. Qrow was after her again, taking a firmer hold this time. He started pulling her back the way they'd been going. "Shit, what's the matter with you? Did you get injured somewhere, or what? What's with all this...?"
"P-please, please I can't go back, please I w-won't, I'll do a-anything, I'll be good, I'll be quiet, please just don't send me back, don't let her take me b-back-"
"What the hell is wrong with you? Okay...look, we don't have time for whatever this is. Sorry." Qrow swept her off her feet and threw her over a shoulder.
"Nooooo! No please don't, you c-can't, you can't I'm s-sorry, I'm sorry, please just let me go, please just p-put me down, please I can't, please!"
"What the hell is she screaming about?! She's completely giving away our movements!" Raven's harsh voice, totally perplexed as much as furious. Sudden and unexpected.
"Did you manage to strike the blow?" Ozpin asked.
The soft voice of Salem's, to make Cinder quiver all by itself. "Unfortunately not - our enemy called in a swift and great number of reinforcements; we already suspected they had to have a dozen or more Ascendants still on Remnant, and now they've shown themselves. And that's in addition to our stolen allies." A sigh, frustrated. "And they aren't stupid; they discerned that we were very focused on using that Relic on them. I believe one even recognized it as such. And you know how they are - if one knows, they all know. They began using evasive tactics, refusing to let us land any kind of blow on them."
"Well, now this is all going to be a great deal more difficult," Ozpin sighed.
Crashing boots through bush. "Cinder! What's going on? Did she get-" Flora started quickly.
Two little voices chattering, and then the voice of Sinna whispering, admonishing them to be a bit quieter right now...
"I have no idea," Qrow said. "She just started up with this a minute ago, and she hasn't stopped."
"Cinder, are you okay? What's happening? Is it Imryll? Did you get hurt? I need you to tell me, please!"
Cinder continued to struggle the whole way, fiercer and harder the closer they drew to it.
She exploded with her Aura, she got free several times this way - earning a harsh chiding from Raven about "Pointlessly lowering your own defenses!" - but everyone always managed to get her back.
Endless minutes passed like this, this game of back and forth, but in the end, as they emerged from trees into a great clearing, Cinder had nothing.
No more aura, no strength to try again.
She clung to Flora's neck and went entirely slack in her arms.
"Where are we?" Flora's voice, breathless. "This place looks abandoned. I had no idea there was even a-"
"Try using your eyes," Raven said, exasperated. "Read the sign: Nuveri Manor."
A swift intake of air. "We are not bringing her into that place!" Flora exclaimed, stopping dead in the grass. "Gods, Cinder, I am so sorry, I didn't think- I didn't realize we were so close to where you grew up! I didn't- I'm sorry!"
"What? She grew up in a mansion? Here?" Jaune's voice. Perplexed. "Why would someone like that even choose to do all the things she-"
"She's not going inside!" Flora's voice cut over anyone else's.
"She must," Ozpin said firmly. "I know the power of memories, believe me, but we have no choice but to take refuge here for now!"
"No!" Flora hissed. "I'm not doing that to her, I'm not-"
"Just tell her to keep her eyes closed, and she'll be fine," Raven said coolly.
"Mom grew up here?" Bae's voice, curious and amazed...
"Not now!" Flora's voice, snapping in a way she rarely ever had to their girls. "Ozpin, please-"
A sigh from Ozpin. "Either she goes in, or she stays out here to get captured again. Memories and ghosts cannot harm her; the Order can! It offers great tactical positioning for us at present - your children can be better safeguarded here. Do you want them to be taken as well?"
"I'm sorry..." Flora was moving again, very quickly.
Please, just let me go, just let me down, please don't bring me back...
Great double doors creaking open.
Entry hall echoing with many boots on hard marble...
"It's okay, it's alright, Cinder, shhh, just breathe, just try to-"
Cinder burst with recharged Aura and threw herself to the floor, scrambling off to her left with a whimper. Hand slammed against wall - slid two feet to the side to adjust - and the side door was ripped open to slam against the wall. She hurled herself through it and raced down the hallway.
Voices echoing behind her, furious with her - they always were.
"Where the fuck is she going?!"
"Someone go get her!"
"I'll go after her!" Flora proclaimed.
Light footfalls were in pursuit of her; Cinder's hand trailed the wall on her right, passing doors, her mind racing. She passed a sixth door, and she turned right down a new hallway that was right where it was meant to be - where it always was in memories...
Left door, six doors, right turn, straight on - four doors - left turn...find the stairs!
Navigating this place in the darkness was something she was very used to!
The smells.
The layers of dust under her feet.
The grime on the walls she'd touched.
Cinder closed the door to her dad's room as quietly as she could - she still jumped at it.
She slid down to the floor, back to the door.
She let a breath go free, wrapping her arm around herself.
The footsteps wandering in the distance, the voice calling out for her...
Cinder crawled across musky carpet.
She pushed a chair out of her way. Crawled under a table.
Her hand struck something, sent it smacking into the base of the wall.
She reached out, feeling it: a scroll?
Old, dusty, cracked screen...
Cinder held it to her chest with trembling hand, pulling her legs in under the table with her.
She remembered her dad recording her birthdays, a few times. She most recalled her last one with him, a few months before he'd died - how couldn't that one stick with her? That was when it had all changed, when it had all gone to hell for her.
Clutching this scroll, she dared to wonder. Dared to hope...
She pressed the button on side of the scroll - one she'd never before used. That function.
A chime. An artificial voice. "Scroll activated. State desired action." So loud in the quiet - please be quiet!
"F-find v-video files. Recordings." Cinder said, as clearly as she could. Voice hardly above a whisper.
"Searching scroll data..."
Cinder held her breath.
"Eighty-two video files located: 'Annabelle's Third Competition Winning-'"
"Find 'Cinder.'" She had zero desire to hear the voices of her hated stepsisters again (and it had nothing to do with guilt or remorse over killing them when they were mere teenagers - a grisly fate they hadn't deserved, just for taking cues from their mother). Those voices...no, she couldn't hear them again. She wouldn't. There was only one voice she wanted to hear again.
"Search results narrowed - twelve files located; 'Cinder's Sixth Birthday', 'Cinder Learning to-'"
"Play 'Cinder's Sixth birthday!'"
"Beginning playback."
A beep - still too loud! Please, you'll-
And then-
-hi daddy! You're recording me again?"
"It's your sixth, honey; I'm only going to get to record it once."
"But I mean - you recorded my last birthday! Do you really have to record this one too?" A small voice gave a sigh far too big for her. Cinder could picture the way her head shook with that stupid double bun hairstyle of hers, the way her shoulders squared...the way her eyes just... "Are you going to record my next birthday too?"
"Cinder, honey, I'll be recording your hundredth birthday. And every single one till then!"
"Ugh! Fine, daddy - but only 'cause it's you!"
And there was the laughter Cinder hardly ever recalled in memory, real and present again after so long...
"All right, little spitfire, what would you like to do today? Lady Nuveri's given me enough to take you down to the village for a nice treat - whatever you like."
"Really?! Can I go to Carma's and get a big plate of those chips? The ones that made my tongue go all-" An obnoxious noise that current Cinder couldn't even hope to describe. "-like that?"
"If that's what you want, of course, honey. And while we're there, you can tell me all about what happened at school today."
"Daddy, I already told you: nothing happened!"
"That's not what your teacher said. You know what she said?"
"Nothing true." A high voice huffed.
"I don't know, honey - it sounded exactly like the sort of thing you'd do."
"Whatever it was I didn't do it!"
"So you didn't call a boy a 'half-wit with marshmallows for brains' for making fun of Onyx's voice problems - along with plenty of other colorful things I had no idea you even knew how to say?"
"Oh, that. Yeah, I did that..."
Another laugh, sending stabbing pains through Cinder's heart. "You did. And between you and me, I'm proud of you for it. I know Lady Nuveri isn't happy with you for it...and neither are most of the teachers...but I want you to know that I am. I'm so proud, and happy to know that I have such an amazing, strong, fierce girl to raise. I love seeing you at six, honey, and I can't wait to see you at sixteen. At twenty-six. At forty-six. At sixty, even!"
"I'm never going to be that old, daddy!"
"Really? Well, if you say so..."
"I do say so!"
"Why don't you get dressed up in that nice little outfit Lady Nuveri got you, and we'll walk to the village together."
"I don't want to wear it."
"Why?"
"Because it was from her."
"Now Cinder, it was a very expensive, wonderful gift for her to give you. The least you can do is wear it once."
"She didn't buy it 'cause she likes me; she bought it 'cause she likes you."
"I'm sure that's not true."
"I'm not wearing that!"
"All right. Then put on something you do like."
"I was gonna already," was the most flippant of replies. So rude, so-
"Oh, sweetheart..." Just amusement, nothing more.
A long-dreaded beeping sound.
The room was silent again.
You wouldn't have liked me at sixteen, daddy...
Cinder leaned back, dropping the scroll to her lap.
She suddenly felt very tired.
Exhausted.
Cinder drifted off, without a care for the sounds of combat that had started up, echoing through the mansion.
Flora squared her shoulders and brought her fists up as the monster broke through the tall windows lining the hallway, bursting in with the cold winds.
She was too big to even fit, hunkered over with spikes tearing up the ceiling and the walls, claws dragging on the floor.
"Where's my daughter?"
"I don't know," Flora admitted, taking a step back.
"Why don't we go find her."
"That's not happening," Flora said loudly.
"I wouldn't be too sure."
"You don't have anything on us now - nothing to threaten us with, nothing to coerce us with. You can't make us do a thing."
"Well, there's you," Tyra's monstrous voice replied calmly. "Right in front of me. I think you'll do just as nicely as the girls - don't you?"
"Look, we want to help you, we really do - but not like this. You, all of you, could have just asked." Flora sighed. "But I guess that one isn't your fault. Imryll: if you're listening to me, I want you to know this too! If you could agree to stop all of this, we could agree to help you ourselves. Cinder would! She wants to! She does. You don't need to do all of this arm-twisting; that just makes her want to help you less. You want to be normal again? We'd like it if you could be normal again, too - it would save us all this big headache!"
Tyra hesitated; her expression flickered. Then she started forward. "We can't trust that - that you people aren't just stalling for time, time to put some sort of plan into action to kill the rest of us. You've already killed two of us that way. And plenty of others who were there to help us."
"No, that's- I'm telling you the truth! Please, if you could just try and-"
"Enough stalling, enough baiting, enough lying!" Enraged, Tyra swung for Flora. "We're finishing this tonight!"
Imryll Mordeya opened newly formed eyes, looking out at the world itself anew.
She blinked in the dark, shifting new limbs around - just three - as all the memories and voices came flooding into her head. From her other self, from all the others still trapped on the other side!
Just before she was going to panic, she felt the missing arm reform; she moved the fingers and bent the elbow - it all worked fine.
But it wouldn't last; only as long as Imryll was awake. Which itself wasn't going to be too long a time.
Imryll sifted through recent memories gained.
Things involving Tyra, and Cinder, and...it was her - the little kid. Her name was Maggy, wasn't it?
The one Tyra had hurt, because Imryll - the other Imryll - had gotten so angry, so upset, and just said to...she hadn't meant to!
She'd said she didn't care what they did to make Cinder help them all - but that wasn't true! But she'd said it, totally thoughtless, just mad, and she'd forgotten all about the effects her words always had on them. Tyra had done it, she'd done it without thinking herself, because they always did! Always what Imryll wanted, always what she said. Because that was how they were, how she was...
This Imryll felt like crying now.
But she didn't have time to cry! She had to go, she had to do this - while she could! She was here, she was awake and up, but she wouldn't stay that way for too long - Cinder hadn't given her as much as she should have; she'd fallen short by a couple...it wasn't enough energy. Not as much as anyone would've liked. She'd only have a couple of minutes until she had to sleep again!
She breathed, reaching into her soul - for the connection to all those others.
Her Ascendants, all her friends. All those people who were alive and stuck in Kintu because of her.
I'm awake; what should I do now?
All the voices came to her, as eager as ever to help her - advise her. Comfort her, over the thoughts and feelings inside her now that they all felt as acutely as Imryll herself.
The first voice was the strongest: the other her. The one still stuck in Kintu.
Tyra feels bad that she had to do all that; it wasn't fun for her. She made herself do it - like she does everything - for you. But she doesn't blame you!
We just want you to be happy, dear.
We're only doing what you want.
We're doing our best for you!
We know it hurts - it hurts all of us, too. But it's just the way we are; we can't help it. You can't help it.
I know... Imryll responded to them all. That was why she wanted to make this all stop finally - so all these people wouldn't be tied to her anymore, forced to obey her like this. Slaved to her. And...she herself wouldn't have to ever worry about a stray word or a burst of anger causing people to go off and do the worst things. But I didn't mean to get so mad; I didn't mean what I said! I didn't mean to make Tyra-
A feeling of sadness rose in Imryll - a new sadness. A different sadness. And then Tyra's voice in her head, reaching her quietly. I didn't want to do it, either; but I did it - for you. I'd do it again for you if I had to. I willl - just give the word.
I know, Imryll repeated, closing her new hands into fists. That was the problem. But I don't want you to do something like that again - not even to get Cinder to cooperate! It wasn't supposed to...we weren't supposed to...
I'll always be willing to do anything for you, anything you want. Tyra went on, passionate and reverent. What are friends for?
You're not listening to me! Imryll yelled. Listen to me! You're never to do something like that again! That wasn't helping her, it wasn't helping anybody - it was wrong! That was just hurting her to hurt her!
And then the other her was joining in. You, Blake, Neo, Miltia - you're not supposed to just go hurting them! Listen to her, and listen to me!
I... A steady flow of confusion from Tyra. A little flicker of doubt, a half formed thought of- and then it was gone. Squashed. If that's what you want - then I won't. Of course not! I'm your friend, Imryll, I just want to do what makes you happy. That's what friends do. But I'm not sure how else we're going to get to Cinder...
Just find her! Imryll retorted. Just don't hurt people to do that! I don't care how long it takes! Listen to me: I don't have a long time here, I know that - and when I have to go away again, she'll come back, and she'll probably just run away. Again! So you need to be ready to find her again, but...just don't hurt her for it. Don't hurt any of them for it!
The other Imryll, speaking now too. And don't let them use that sword relic on any of you! Thank god Emiya recognized it before they did!
Of course; we're friends. I'll always listen to you.
Right...friends... Imryll sighed.
And family, came the very special voice to chime. I'll do anything to make sure my daughter is happy. And I'm proud of you for wanting to help all of us, too, first.
Thank you, mother. Imryll said wearily. Just tell me how to break the wall now; I'm ready to go do it.
That isn't exactly the right metaphor - but, yes, all right. First, we'll need you to get far away from all of those Remnant types.
Okay. And then what?
You make the magic happen. Just follow our instructions to the letter, and it will be quick and easy.
Okay. Imryll let out a second sigh, forcing her new body to move. It was all going to be over soon; everything would be okay soon. For everybody.
Mother, after we do this...could I have a kid of my own finally?
If you want to, of course you can - though, it will take a while yet, a bit of aging still.
I'm okay with that, Imryll responded. She had waited three hundred years to find a way to get free of all this - she could handle another two decades. Maybe one and a half. Standing now, she looked herself over more properly. This was the kind of body she wanted - the kind she should've had by now. Or, something like this, anyways. She felt another surge of frustration; this body and her mind, they were so at odds already, it was all just so...she hated it, she hated herself, she wanted it to fit! Her own mind had never felt like all the others she could reach - like her mother's, or Tyra's, or...
Imryll sighed as the body of the mother again brought thoughts of the child. I'm really sorry for all of this, she pleaded silently with that girl - Maggy - in her own head alone. I didn't mean for you to get hurt like that. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I just lost my...it wasn't Tyra's fault. She couldn't help herself. She didn't want to hurt people - she wanted to help them - but, no, she didn't even want that anymore. She just wanted to be done with all of it! That was the Relic talking, that was...wrong. She knew it now - even if it still felt so right in her head. That drive, that purpose, those feelings...they were all wrong!
She pulled the shadows around herself, and disappeared from the room.
She didn't have much time to do this at all.
Standing in the middle of the forest, Imryll worked diligently.
Imryll traced her hands through the air, forming the sparkling trails, the floating sigils, and the pattern around it all.
No, Imryll, it's not circle, line, line, "X"; it's line, line, circle, then the X.
It really matters? she replied, exasperated.
Mother's laughter, a burst of amusement that felt like Imryll's own. Yes, honey. It matters very much. Magic is about symbols, symbolism, and doing things just right - or it can all blow up in your face.
Ok. Imryll corrected her mistake, redoing the latest series of motions. How does it look now?
It looks like it will work. But if you've made even one mistake somewhere - on your side, or on our side - it could become unstable and collapse on itself. And if that happens, we'll have to do everything over again.
On her side, on their side; it was weird to think that there was another her still back in Kintu, doing the same thing she was doing right now. Almost like a twin, a sister. Except with the same memories and thoughts as her. Except, the other her had been here first; Imryll...herself...she was the younger one, by far. Centuries! Because the other- the first one of her- had created her, put her here, for this plan of theirs. It was all so... Imryll didn't really want to think about it too much.
Does it look all right? All of it?
We think so, yes. You've done a wonderful job. Now - push it all back five feet, and change them from red to green. Mark the "corners" of the circle with diagonal lines, left to right.
Imryll bit her lip and concentrated as she obeyed her mother's instructions; a miming motion of her hands shoving out, causing the symbols to slide back in the air. A tap of a finger in the center shifted the colors to sparkling emerald. And then the markings, very carefully drawn with a finger.
The swirling red portal appeared, and the woman came flying out of it with flaming scarlet eyes.
And then a whole large group of others came spilling out after her.
Mother, they're here - those Remnant people!
We know, we know - just keep going, just finish it. Tyra and everyone else will all be there to protect you!
As shadows formed and half a dozen figures emerged around her, Imryll focused her best; she had to do this, for everyone! She had to! They deserved to be free as much as her! Even if all of them always insisted she was the only one that mattered - that only making her happy was what mattered. She wouldn't just abandon them! If she was going to be free, then so were they!
Another circle, a sideways figure eight in the middle of it - don't touch the edges! Make a horizonal line straight through...layer the whole thing overtop the first circle of sigils and symbols, spaced apart by a single foot...
The energy crackled, connecting the space between like lightning bolts.
Imryll swirled her hand around all of it and pushed her fist into the center; magic burst from it all, almost toppling her right over backwards!
The symbols all began to spin and swirl, the lightning bolts were getting bigger and more hectic, casting off into the air - one almost hit one of those Remnant people!
Now all Imryll had to do was the last touch: just turn her fist ninety degrees to the left...drag it over to the right, and then pull it back out as careful as she could, or she'd tear it apart!
She twisted her hand, slowly began to move it to the right-
And then something fast and small slammed into the side of her head! She fell to the side, as pain exploded in her head, yanking her fist out of the vortex of magic energy, landing with a cry on her side.
Someone had shot her!
Imryll, you can still finish it - quickly!
How do I finish it?
Just repeat the last motion - but make sure you-
Imryll pulled her magic up out of her soul and flushed it through the body; that bursting pain in her head faded to a dull throbbing. She stood up, and shoved her fist into the vortex again. She committed to the motion again with a shaking fist.
The vortex changed from green to white, and then it started to sputter and fade before coming back again.
It's not going to last long. You didn't correct for the-
Can I make it stay up longer?
Not at this stage of things. But you did your best, you did well enough. It should be enough for at least-
Suddenly Imryll was overtaken by a bout of severe drowsiness, and she collapsed in the dirt.