Cinder was already incandescent with rage. She was screaming so much, she inadvertently lost her focus and tumbled through the air, forcing to readjust herself before she plummeted further.

Thwarted again by Ruby Rose... and now that cursed robot girl...

Power had been at her fingertips so many times, and once more it slipped from her grasp. That would not do. That wasn't how it was supposed to end. The old woman was supposed to die, and Cinder was to usurp her position...

That was her destiny. It was inevitable.

It had been from the very beginning.


I see you there, Cinder. Undermining me with your every glare. Swearing one day you'll kill me. Stronger women than you have made the same promise: go and look for them now.

Cinder tried to maintain eye contact; to keep up her defiance. But she was powerless. This woman ruled her life now, and no matter how Cinder wished to be strong enough to change that fact, she could not. Not yet.

Return to your tasks and waste no more time. I hope I won't have to teach you this lesson again.

Cinder was cowed into submission, but only for the moment. Whatever she may have wanted for herself, her life remained subject to this woman's whim.

There were lessons to be gained from afar. If she could be strong enough to hold on...

She wasn't there. Not yet.

Lean and hungry, for a while longer... waiting for her chance.


Saviors came in unlikely forms. None more so than Neo, whom only weeks prior came seeking Cinder's head.

Yet she bowed gracefully and presented Cinder the Relic of Knowledge, the key to returning to her master's house.

Cinder snatched it from Neo's hand. She had no time to match her subordinate's formality and generosity; she didn't breathe a word of thanks. She was all but consumed with need.

She did not know how many questions were left. It was possible Cinder could squander all that remained.

That didn't matter. If so, she'd lie and say Ruby and her friends used them all. Neo would never contradict her.

Cinder managed to compose herself, to see past her anger to the possibility now in her hand. She gripped to the handle of the lamp and whispered: "Jinn."


I want to be strong. I want to be feared. I want to be powerful.

The last one mattered more than any of the others. She had spent far too much time being small. She never wanted to know that feeling again.

Power must be earned, Cinder. No matter how you acquire it, there is always a terrible cost.

I am ready.

She did not fear taking this step. What had she to go back to? The scene of the crime? The blood and ash she'd left behind?

The only way was forward, no matter how dark the path.

More blood, if need be. More fire, if it could illuminate the road and guide her to her goal.

My goal is not so different from yours'. Just remember... in the end, when you have everything you've sought... when you are truly powerful... you will have to make a choice. The world is not meant to answer to two queens.

Another woman so sure of her position. Another Cinder had to submit to.

For the moment.


Jinn gave her the answer. Neo was not eager to help, but knowing Ruby Rose would come to aid her friend when her life was in danger... for now, at least, she could be convinced to follow Cinder's lead. All she needed was incentive, and Cinder was finally willing to let it come to them.

Though her goal... it wasn't the life she'd intended to take, but it was but one more to add to her total. It was just another bump in the road.

Cinder waited for them to arrive at his shop. She waited for the old man to rush inside and collect his things, assuming no one would be seeking his life.

Cinder drove her left hand through his back, though she kept her fingers from his vital organs. She needed him to live a while longer.

"Hello, Pietro," she greeted. "I've been eager to meet your daughter..."

A daughter whose Aura was tied to her maker's. A daughter whose soul -a soul crafted from this old man's- now carried the Winter Maiden within her.

Ruby Rose reacted quickly, rushing her dear friend to the source of her life. Neo moved to intercept her.

Cinder waited for the robot girl to enter the room. She waited for her to rush in and reach desperately for the man she called father.

A daughter would do anything she could to save her father's life... to never know a world without his love and support.

When Penny finally rushed in -just as Jinn promised she would- Cinder blew out the old man's flame.

She cradled Penny's head, those green eyes peering into her own...


Ruby Rose and Neo continued to clash. Cinder might've interceded there, to satisfy her grudge against the silver-eyed girl, but she had a much loftier goal.

Skies were darkening over Mantle. Cinder recognized the force of Grimm approaching, but did not move to their position.

Why give Salem one prize when she could offer two?

Cinder's greatest threats were gone. Save Ironwood himself, none could hope to intercede.

The Ace Operatives were broken. The Atlesian fleet moved to engage a force of airborne Grimm, rather than concern themselves with a tiny bogey approaching from beneath.

When Cinder reached the vault, the general had already moved to a command center to coordinate the defense. He left his flag unguarded for her to capture.

Cinder did not know what protected it -this vault had been the last in Salem's time table and the details had not been discussed- but she no longer had reason to fear. Ice and fire danced within her, and whatever sought to repel her hand, to deny her destiny...

Cinder took the staff in hand. It responded to her touch...


Cinder briefly considered seeing what became of Neo and Ruby Rose, but ultimately decided to go on her way. They were well beneath her now, and even Ruby's silver eyes could not repel the force that now bore upon Atlas.

Cinder knew the Grimm would not attack unbidden, and she knew her master would sit atop the greatest flagship, upon the back of an immense monstrosity. Cinder flew up the side of the beast's scaly back, searching for the woman standing atop it.

When Cinder approached her master -clad in her finery, dressed for battle- Cinder took the time to genuflect when she presented a staff and a lamp.

But rather than give Salem her prizes right away, Cinder offered to destroy Atlas herself.

She pointed the staff at the floating city, the miracle of a false promise... and bid it levitate no more. She could not hear the screams nor see the terror in the eyes of the citizens... only watch man's hubris slowly return to the ground.

If all went well, Ruby Rose was crushed in the fall too. Perhaps Neo got her revenge, if only for a fleeting moment...

Salem savored the sight. Cinder did not begrudge her that: Salem's destiny was right before her, and she wished to savor the moment.

But Cinder had taken one lesson to heart, after too many setbacks and too many losses: no matter how close you were to your goal, you could never afford to remove one eye from your back.

That was a lesson that would never leave her.

The staff could do anything. But just in case Salem was truly invulnerable, truly beyond even the gods' power to destroy...

Cinder bid the staff to seal her, in a prison her magic and her fierceness and all her Grimm could not pierce. For that briefest moment when Salem's back was turned, Cinder made sure her aim was on the mark.

Salem was surprised only a moment. She knew this clash was inevitable, but she had expected Cinder to wait a while longer... to acquire two other powers and two other relics before she made her move.

Cinder was not willing to be so predictable. Not when only one final obstacle had truly remained in her path.

Salem was graceful, even as she knew she'd been outmaneuvered. Her Grimm ran wild without her direction, and the Atlesians in their ships fled, abandoning their kingdom and Mantle below it to the slaughter. "Here we are... are you happy now, Cinder?"

Cinder looked down at the staff. The ability to do anything and she had to squander it, forever tasked with imprisoning a single foe.

Salem was immortal. A day could eventually dawn when someone else put the staff to another purpose and she could begin again.

But for now... for now Cinder could earnestly say...

"Not yet."

She had not yet collected all her regalia. She would need her sword.

And her crown.

A lamp to light the way, a staff to ground the darkness, a sword to cut through those who might rise to oppose her...

...and power, forged in ice, flame, and blood... all resting in her hand.