A.N. (10/14/20) - Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything. Here's to another one of E-Rin's adventures.
Chapter 23 - End of a Week
-10 Months Before the Fall of Beacon-
Cinder woke up abruptly, panic sharpening her senses.
Her body was bound tightly to the ground, leaving her in a kneeling position that absolutely humiliated her. She was inside a large room that glowed with a dim green color. The floor felt cool to her touch, and if she willed it, could be converted to hot glass in mere moments.
Not that it would help much if she correctly guessed how exactly she was taken out.
A snort to her left took her out of her thoughts. "Wow, and I'd thought you would never wake up."
"Where am I?! Who are you?!" Taking in the man's appearance, the word 'scruffy' came to mind. After a few moments looking over him, she finally recognized him.
"Hmph, so Ozpin's already got his hand in the criminal elements of the city. Salem did say that he was the Second Owner of the city for a reason."
Qrow Branwen, for who else could it be, shrugged his shoulders. "Believe it or not, Ozpin's got nothing to do with that. You just happened to run into a weirder freak than him."
She frowned at his words but chose to ignore it to concentrate on the current situation.
Taking a moment to calm down, she felt her mind slowly return to that blissful calculative state she trained herself to maintain. Taking note of her state, she considered her options.
Right now, she is currently captured by enemy forces, with no clear idea of whether or not anyone knows where she is. So far, she noticed that only Qrow was watching her. But if she truly believed that he was their only defense keeping her here, then she was a fool. Even if she could count on Emerald and Mercury to somehow get her out, Adam alone would cause problems the longer she let him on his own.
Just from educated guesses alone, she might be somewhere near Beacon. It would make sense for Ozpin to keep some kind of prison near his main base. Escape was currently the top priority. Not because she feared whatever torture Ozpin and his group could inflict on her, but because the idea of her failure reaching the Mistress would most likely have her killed for her mistakes.
Or even worse, she'd send Watts to help her.
She clenched her teeth in anger as she vaguely recalled being hit by some kind of strange attack. If only she had the Maiden's power... no. Forget about thinking of what-ifs.
"You know, as amusing as it is to watch you think about all the ways you fucked up in life," Qrow started, causing her to grind her teeth loudly. "I was kinda told to talk to you once you woke up from your nap."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" She gave him a coy smile. "Are you gonna spend all night here with little ol' me getting me to whisper sweet words into your ear?"
To his credit, he didn't react. "Nah, I'm gonna offer you a deal." Pulling out a parchment from somewhere on his person, he held it out to her. "Just sign your name on this and you're free to go."
She frowned at the unexpected move. Leaning in to look at the paper, her frown deepened. "What language is this?"
"Hell if I know. All Ri— err, I mean - Ritsuka told me was that it would keep you in line while you're staying here."
Well, that didn't sound ominous at all. And while Cinder had no idea what exactly would happen if she signed that paper, she was 99% sure it wasn't anything good. Either it was the product of some strange Semblance or something magical in origin, Cinder knew that she couldn't let herself get caught up in their flow.
Luckily, all she has to deal with the moment is a dusty old crow.
"I'll have to refuse that option, thank you very much." Seeing him frown, she continued speaking. "Instead, how bout we wait for old Ozpin to come back to Vale to personally interrogate me. After all..."
Lying through her teeth, she spoke. "I might be willing to impart information on Salem's forces."
}-{
"She really hasn't noticed?" Glynda asked from right next to Rin.
Rin wanted to snicker but felt that Glynda would disapprove if she did so during this situation. "I doubt she has that much exposure to the full extents magic could reach, despite who she works for. Besides, curses aren't really something you can feel if you don't know how to spot them."
"Can..." the older woman sighed while pressing a hand to her forehead. "Can you go over the effects of what you did to her again?"
Rin hummed and then started to answer. "Well first, I made her more susceptible to questioning by messing a bit with her mind, nothing a little hypnosis can't fix. Then, I set up a bounded field around the room linked to her so that she'll have some trouble running out of here without at least alerting one of us. And the spatial warping effect makes it so that it's almost impossible for her to escape anyways. Not to mention the countless Crystal Golems I have guarding the place on clockwork. And then there's the pain seal, making it so that whoever she attacks also hurts herself. I'm still working on figuring out a more sophisticated slave seal, so I haven't applied that to her yet. But just in case, I implanted a few gems inside her body while she was asleep with some pre-set spell constructs to incapacitate her. Some lethal, I admit, but those are just in case of the worst scenarios."
Glynda was deeply concerned at what exactly went through her young charge's thoughts. Maybe she should have a talk with Tukson at their next meeting.
"And this... is the temporary imprisonment methods you suggested until Ozpin got back?"
Rin looked at her with a confused look. "Well, yeah? It's not like I have any idea what to do with her. That's your guys' jobs. I made sure nothing I did to her is permanent, so we can get rid of everything once you figure out what to do with her."
And Glynda didn't know if it was concerning how Rin honestly believed that she needed their input for her to take action. If she was any less moral of a person, there would be nobody capable of stopping her if Rin Tohsaka truly wished to do as she wanted.
If this is what Tukson had to deal with daily, then the man deserved a gift basket. Then again, it's not like the guardian knew about his daughter's extra activities.
...maybe she can sneak in an extra bottle of wine to go with that gift basket. Lord knows he needs it if he ever finds out about his daughter's secrets.
"Regardless, we have other problems to deal with. Qrow can keep watch over Salem's agent for now, and until Ozpin comes back, I will take charge of this school and city."
Rin nodded and the two started to walk away. "We still got that White Fang problem, right? Somehow, we fell for their peaceful discussion act and overlooked a group of armed terrorists into the city."
And that cut deeply for Glynda. Working with Tukson these past few years was something that Glynda thought mattered. Like she actually accomplished something, allowing peaceful discussions with dissatisfied Faunus civilians and government officials.
To think that even after all that, those with souls full of anger still banded together to cause harm to others.
"Do you have any information on where the majority of the White Fang forces will be?"
Rin took a moment to think. "Hm, if I recall right, they'd be hiding it out in the city recruiting others. Either that or they're at Mt. Glenn."
She quirked an eyebrow at that last part. "Mt. Glenn?"
"Yeah. Some plan about using the tunnels connecting the city to where the Grimm infested city is. Making it so that the Grimm can break into the city or something. It's honestly a stupid plan that only works as a distraction at best, even with the potential number of civilian deaths it could cause."
Glynda deadpanned. "Yes, such a stupid plan." Ignoring how this girl got her information, the way Rin seemed to gloss over the potential deaths that could occur.
Sometimes, this girl...
"But really, their plan is stupid for so many reasons. I mean, their base is literally right smack in the middle of Grimm territory. It isn't exactly like the frontier villages, since they don't have proper lodgings or resources. And also the fact that they're living under... a..."
Rin started to trail off all of a sudden, before shouting at the top of her lungs. "I'M AN IDIOT! HOW DID I FORGET ABOUT THE WYVERN GRIMM!"
"The wyvern what?!"
"Not now, gotta go." And with that, Rin dashed ahead and left Glynda behind.
}-{
Ruby continued to gush as she rolled around on her bed. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that Weiss would be the first one out of all of us to ask someone out."
Weiss glowered at her from the other side of the room. Ruby noted that there was a faint blush on her face. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"To be fair, we're on a team with Yang," Blake interjected.
Weiss raised her finger only to lower it after a moment. "Hm, good point Blake. That was silly of me to forget."
Her sister choked at that. "H-Hey, I'm not that bad."
"I dunno sis," Ruby started. "Pretty sure those guys from that time we slept before initiation have a different opinion."
"Bah, you're all just jealous that I'm as amazing as I am. So Ice Queen, when are you gonna call him?"
The blush from earlier came back full force on Weiss' face. "I-I believe that I should wait for a sufficient period of time for the b-both of us to collect our thoughts before we decide to meet again."
"Sheesh, you don't have to put it in so many words. All I'm asking for is when you're expecting to exchange saliva."
"Xiao Long, I will murder you in your sleep!"
"If her snoring doesn't kill us first," Blake muttered under her breath. Ruby snickered after hearing that comment, but curiosity forced her to talk to Weiss.
"So what makes that Ritsuka guy so special? Sure, I guess he's kinda cute if you squint a certain way. But I kinda would've thought you'd go for someone fancier."
Weiss looked like a cornered rat, with how all three girls suddenly started to stare in her direction.
"I-I don't exactly know exactly why myself. I just had this feeling that I met a... kindred spirit. Does that make sense?"
Yang rolled her eyes. "Oh, you have nooo idea."
Ruby ignored Yang's comment. "That's fine Weiss. Love doesn't have to make sense, that's why it's love."
"I don't really think that's how it works," Weiss replied, before blushing furiously again. "And besides, who says I'm in love with him. At most, this is just a crush."
Ugh, now it was Ruby's turn to roll her eyes. "Fine, we'll support you and your crush. I'm sure that between the rest of us, Team Bravery can kindle enough courage in your heart to ask him out."
Yang stuck out her tongue. "Bleck, that's sounds so corny Rubes."
Weiss sighed. "I seriously doubt that I can get any love advice from the three of you."
"Well..." looking at Yang, Ruby silently laughed before deciding that was a big NOPE. And besides that one not-really-sorta-date she went on when she was a kid, Ruby didn't really have that much in romantic experience to help either.
Yang laughed. "How about you Blake? Surely you have some raunchy tales with some of your previous romantic partners. I've seen the kind of porn you read."
Blake looked affronted. "It's not porn, it's art."
Ruby sighed, before berating her sister. "Yang, I seriously doubt our leader is like that. Just because she reads books like that, doesn't mean that she also has convoluted romantic stories. Right, Blake?"
Silence lingered in the air, Blake's eyes wouldn't meet any of them.
"...Blake? You were supposed to agree with me."
"Y-You know what?! I think I'm in the mood to finish Oobleck's assignment."
"What! No, you can't just dangle bait like that and run away."
"Yang, let me go! I won't talk."
Weiss recoiled from Blake with a different kind of blush on her face. "Y-You pervert! Our leader is a pervert!"
"What?! Weiss, I haven't even said anything yet."
Huh, Ruby did not expect to learn that much about her new partner. Somehow, this week seemed to last a lot longer than she expected.
}-{
As the four girls continued to roughhouse, thousands of miles away, a black shadow turned towards a direction while sniffing the air. Moving along the ground, everywhere it walked, frost formed.
"Gggrroooaahhahhah." A strange groan escaped the creature's lips. Picking up speed, it started to run towards a certain destination in its mind. Having caught the scent, it focused all its attention on where it was coming from, an unusual excitement erupting from the creature.
There was no doubt, that scent was exactly what it was looking for.
Because the scent of a Maiden always stood out in this world.
Yup, finally finished with the first week of school, which somehow took (looks back to previous chapters) thirteen chapters to go through.
And wow, I did not expect to spend so much time on the beginning of Beacon. I'm gonna try to change my pace a bit to see what works, so hopefully, I won't be releasing a lot of fillers after this.
I know this chapter isn't much. This was more of a transition chapter that's preparing for the story to go the next month. Chapter updates are looking good so far coming out on Wednesdays. Still gonna be a bi-weekly thing, cause I'm a lazy asshole who still cares about his education.
I guess I got nothing else to say. Look to my profile to see if I have any updates (since that's where I let people know when chapters are coming out - late or not). That's it for now, see ya.