After hours of fighting, the voice came over her scroll.
"We've got a real problem going on up in Atlas!"
Qrow Branwen's voice, unexpected.
"What problem?" Cinder asked, tensed. Tired.
"Winter Schnee and Penny Polendina aren't responding to any calls, and there's reports out of a hospital of some kind of battle going on - or, was going on; it all went quiet a few minutes ago. This place is the same hospital where we were keeping the Winter Maiden."
Emerald...what the hell did you do?
"I'll take care of this - give me the location," Cinder replied shortly. Qrow obliged her, and she ended the call and soared into the sky for Atlas, faster than an airship.
She came upon the towering building and flew right in through the window of the level Qrow had told her the Winter Maiden was being kept.
Cinder ran through the halls, until she finally found the right place.
She stalked in, and found Emerald standing in front of an old woman on a bed - she had a gun trained on her skull. Nearby, laying unconscious, were Winter Schnee and Penny Polendina, and even Neo, too!
Did Emerald beat them all...? How powerful has her Semblance become?
Emerald's weapon was shaking, she noted.
"Emerald, don't."
The girl turned, staring with wide, tearful eyes. "You- you're here?"
"Yes, I'm here."
"You left me...you left me and never- Mercury was right, you never cared!" The girl accused, wild and high.
"Yes, I left, and that's right: I didn't care," Cinder admitted plainly. "But I care now. I want to care for you now! I left you, I left you with Salem, and I left you in all of this...and I'm sorry! But I'm here now, I can take you away from it all - I can take you from her! I can protect you, I can care for you - like you wanted me to, all this time! I can do it for real, I can show you, I can- please. Just let me try, let me show you."
Emerald lifted her second weapon, aiming it at Cinder. "But I've come this far! I'm right here, aren't I?! I'm just doing what you did!"
"I don't want you to do what I've done!" Cinder pleaded, voice cracking. "I don't want you to be what I was, I don't want you to- to do these things! Emerald, you were just a child, trying to survive, and I- I never should have used you like I did, I never should have brought you into all this, I never should have...you didn't deserve any of it! At- at Beacon, when you said it was sad, you were right, okay? You were always right! It was wrong, it was awful, and I know that now! Because you were right! And you're right, you are here - you're standing here, about to murder a defenseless old lady in her bed. For the sake of power. Stupid power - what power?!"
Cinder breathed, controlled. "But unlike me, who's just- so far gone already- you don't even have to start walking down the same path as me! You can just walk away, right now, step away from it. You can come with me, come with Mercury, we can go away together. All of us. Like before. Only this time...I promise you...I will do everything in my power to protect you, and show you just how much I care. Just give me the chance to make things right, please. And don't...don't make the same mistakes as me. Don't do such- awful things. Disgusting things. You don't have to."
"Y-you really mean it...? All of it?"
"I really do, Emerald. Please...just...step away..."
Emerald dropped her weapons, whirling around and collapsing at the woman's bedside. She dropped her head and burst into wracking sobs. "I'm s-sorry, god I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...!"
Cinder watched as the old woman opened her eyes. As her dazed blue gaze found Emerald; a shaking hand reached out to touch her arm.
Emerald gasped, head coming up. Tears falling. "I- I'm s-sorry, I'm sorry I-"
"Are you the one?" The Winter Maiden spoke quietly. "What a pretty young thing...Has it really been so long? Well, I'm ready now."
"I'm s-sorry..."
"Don't be sorry, dear - I knew I'd pass on from this. I knew...in passing this power on...and I'm ready."
"N-no, what? I-" Emerald choked out, backing away.
The woman took her hand, holding her. "It's all right, really...this isn't your fault. It's just my time, I think..."
A swirling Aura of white flared over the woman's body, and it traveled along her arm and crossed over onto Emerald where they were joined.
The woman gave a gasping breath, and her body went limp in the bed. Her hand fell away, arm hanging off the side.
Emerald stood slowly, turning to face Cinder. Dark green flames rippled out from her blotchy eyes.
Well...shit.
Many hours more into the night, Mantle was a battleground.
A battleground now with two flying, powerful beings involved.
Beating back the grimm, aiding huntsmen and huntresses where they could.
Until exhaustion had taken almost every single one of them.
And night gave way to burgeoning dawn.
Light, and beautiful pink clouds and streaks across the sky.
Things had calmed by now, considerably so.
But the calm was only the kind that comes before a storm.
A literal storm, bursting and crackling with scarlet energy - magical energy.
Cinder sat on a rooftop with Emerald, staring up into the sky, as the clouds parted and out of it came a massive grimm - a whale grimm. Surrounding it were hundreds of flying grimm, Manticores, Sphinxes, Nevermores - all of them.
And atop the whale grimm, Cinder saw the crystal structure - the castle. Her castle.
And she knew, somehow, with cold certainty...
"She's h-here," Emerald whispered.
"Yes," Cinder said quietly. "She's-"
A ripple of scarlet and black energy nearby, and then Salem was standing right there, seizing Emerald in a purple, magical glow and lifting her up, and then they both vanished together.
Cinder launched to her feet, swiping out at the energy - but it was gone before she even got there!
"Emerald!" she screamed, panic gripping her soul. No, no, no - don't do this to me, don't make me fail again, already, so soon! I just promised her, I just told her I'd care, I'd keep her safe, I just...
No, shut up - stop freaking out, she told herself fiercely. Think. Why would Salem take Emerald? What would she do to her?
It was obvious: Emerald was the Winter Maiden now, and Salem, in all the ways she just knew things, had to know that too. And so she'd taken her, and she was going to use her to get into the vault. To get to the Staff of Creation.
Cinder keyed into her scroll, calling every single person she had on it simultaneously in group call (she'd entered in a lot of new numbers over the night's course of events).
"Salem just took Emerald; she's going to go right for the vault - for the damn staff! If you have people there, tell them to prepare...however they can," she ended in a mutter.
"Oh my god." The voice to exclaim this with tremor of terror was not the one she'd expected: it was General Ironwood. "Everyone, we need to start evacuating Mantle immediately! Get everyone down to the crater, there are mine shafts there that you can take shelter in!"
"Wait, what? Why, what's going on?" Qrow's voice came over the line. "Do you realize how long it'll take to get everyone down to that-"
"It will take far longer if you don't shut up and get to it!" Ironwood yelled. "Once- once Salem removes the staff, Atlas is going to fall. It won't just be Mantle that gets wiped out; everyone on Atlas will die in the impact as well!"
No. Maggy! Flora...
Did Cinder even have hope of getting to them in time?
She had to try, no matter what.
"I'm going up there," she said.
"No!" Winter Schnee's biting tone came. "You are going to obey the General's orders, and stay to evacuations in-"
Cinder cut her off and ended the call, and flew for Atlas one more time. Beaten, tired, her flying was a bit off-course now.
But she persisted.
She had to make it, she had to!
She'd snatch them up, bring them down to that crater, and put them in safe hands. And then...then she'd worry about everyone else.
Emerald, too; Cinder didn't know how she was going to save her now. Would Salem just kill her after using her, or would she think she was too valuable, and liable to be terrified into going back on her short lived decision to go over to Cinder's side this past night?
Maggy...how was Cinder supposed to know where to even find her? Or Flora?
She could make the most likely guesses, but in a time-sensitive situation like this, guessing wasn't good enough! She had to know!
How was she supposed to-
Oh...right. I can talk to people. That is a thing I can do.
She pulled out her scroll and called Qrow Branwen's up. "Tell me where Maggy and Flora are! I'm bringing them to the crater!"
"The Huntsman Academy," Qrow said quickly - and for once, without a joke or witty little comment in sight.
"Thanks." Cinder stowed her scroll and made right for the Academy, determination filling her soul.
She was almost there, she could do this - she wouldn't fail this...
Not this time!
Cinder soared down in front of the entrance to the Academy, ignoring all the alarms going off, ignoring the echoing voice of Ironwood urging evacuation by any airships to be spared - ignoring the Huntsmen and Huntresses crying out at sight of her.
Some of them didn't want to be ignored, however.
"Hey! You - you can't just come in here like this, it's off limits to civilians unless-"
Cinder seized the confronting huntress up by her collar, lifting her into the air, igniting Maiden eyes. "There are two civilians in here right now! A woman and a baby! Where are they?!"
"Hey, let me go, I'm not telling you a damn-"
Cinder screamed in her face, whirling and slamming the woman into a pillar so hard it shattered - and her Aura broke, thrown up hastily and lasting only a second. "Tell me! They're going to die, you're all going to die - Altas is going to fall, or didn't you get the memo?! I'm here to evacuate them, one of them is my family, so tell me goddamnit!"
"Alright! Just please don't- t-they're- the last I heard, they were staying on level three, in the spare-"
Cinder didn't let the woman finish her sentence; she tossed her aside, quite literally, and ran for the nearest elevator.
More calls came after her from other, idiotic, oblivious huntsmen.
Cinder ignored them all as elevator doors closed, and it began to rise to level three.
She waited impatiently for those doors to open again.
Then she took off down the hall, following the helpful signs on the walls.
In all her haste, Cinder ran smack into someone emerging out of a door on her left.
Two Auras flickered, crashing against one another; two voices cried out.
One of them fell back, landing flat on their ass.
Cinder spared a glance down- and froze.
"Flora!" she cried. Her eye immediately found Maggy, being protectively cradled in Flora's arms.
"Wha- Cinder?" A quaver, eyes wide. Filled with... "What are you-"
"Altas is falling - literally. I'm here to get you and Maggy to safety; everyone is being evacuated to the crater below," Cinder said shortly, reaching down to grab Flora's hand and help her up again. Flora accepted it, still just sort of staring at her.
Flora took another moment, searching her face, looking her in the eye. Then, she nodded, lips pressed. "Alright. Let's go."
Cinder smiled with all that she felt right then - and Flora, in flickering hesitance, offered a ghost of one in return that might not have actually been there at all. She turned away, scanning the wall nearest her. A window, large and tall. Perfect. She gave Flora a look over, shifting on her feet. "I need you to hang onto me - I don't want to drop either of you on the way down."
Flora just nodded, stepping over to her. She placed herself in front of Cinder, back to her, backing up against her. "My waist," she spoke flatly.
Cinder wrapped arms around Flora from behind, firm and powerful. "Okay...ready for this? I've got you, but please don't drop Maggy."
"I haven't dropped her once, in all this time I've been taking care of her."
"Y-yes, but you've never gone flying with her before," Cinder said patiently, pointedly as she could be.
"Alright, good point...I've got her. We can go."
"Wait." Cinder hesitated still. She burned her Maiden eyes, and focused on something she had rarely done before, save for on the wall: creation. Several strong straps materialized, wrapping around both her and Flora's bodies. One formed right across Maggy, binding her specifically to Flora's chest. It was awful looking, but it was the best she could do - and she felt satisfied at having done it at all.
And now, at last, Cinder burned flames out of her feet, and she hovered with her passengers. She carefully maneuvered forward, out the window, and then she was soaring down at an angle, for the crater, at much higher speeds. Though, not nearly as fast as she'd gone to get up here in the first place.
Cinder flew for a familiar few people among literal truckloads of randoms descending the side of the crater, heading for a mineshaft entrance.
Cinder dematerialized her straps, let Flora and Maggy go, and stepped away.
Flora turned to look at her. "Thank you."
Cinder just nodded, and she prepared to fly away to help with evacuations.
Just as she was going to, the world went silent - an absence of common, constant sound.
All the power of Atlas, every sign, every light, every screen, every generator up there - it all went silent, instantly.
And without it, the very air itself was different.
Cinder's head came up in time to see the city of Atlas begin to move...to fall through the air, from thousands of feet up.
Qrow Branwen was staring with pure shock on his face. Devastation - of the kind that was to come.
Yang looked at her uncle, at her sister, horror etched in every feature. "T-there has to be...something we can do! We didn't even- we only got a few dozen people out of Mantle!"
"There was never going to be enough time..." Qrow whispered, more to himself than to his niece.
No...no...no...
Cinder's arms were useless at her sides. Her lips trembled. Her legs were still half-bent, prepping to fly. But fly to what? To do what, now? To save who?
Failure...fail...another kingdom...another city...two whole cities...to be destroyed because of what she'd brought to them - once again...
No.
What use was all this power, this ancient magic in her, what use was any of what she'd done all these past few weeks, what was the point in anything she'd ever done and said and thought and felt, if in the end none of it fucking meant anything, if she was just going to fail again, and fail so monumentally that she'd never be able to-
No!
Intense amber flames roared to life from her eyes, Cinder exploded flames from her boots, and she rocketed right up for the underside of the now plummeting city of Atlas.