AN: I'm back (temporarily). So I ended up taking too long to write this story (cursed assessments and uni duties), so I hope I didn't make anyone wait too long. Anyway, this chapter is not edited properly so minuet errors may be present. Enjoy.

The three adults stared at each other in syncopated expressions.

Vix clearly wanted to burst out laughing.

Nel glared at Nameless while Nameless attempted to avoid his gaze.

Cinder's nerves grew more and more unsettled as three more bangs rattled the shutters below.

"Atlesian military! Open up!"

The faunus woman hiccupped her laughter; "Can I just say how funny-"

"-Shut it Vix, you're not helping," Nel groaned before he stood from his seat. He then eyed Cinder then turned towards the other two- "Vix, hide the little one. Nameless… You're on standby. I'll send you a signal if anything happens."

Nel rolled down his sleeves, loosening his flowing red hair from the hair tie and made his way down stairs. Vix then stood up and headed over to Cinder's side, offering her gauntleted hand to the child, puzzling her at the gesture.

"Your hand, please," Vix smiled. "Or would you rather like to hold my paw instead?"

The mere question incited the child's curiosity as she stared at the gauntlet hand before turning towards the paw. Since Vix offered, she had no reason to hold back and grasped the latter. The fur was softer than it looked, but the feel of the fox pad of it fascinated her.

"Now," Vix interjected her thoughts. "No matter what you do, do not let go, alright?"

Pimpernel took in a deep breath, clearing his mind as the unwanted guests continued slamming the shutters. He reached for his sword that hid beneath the counter, latched the scabbard belt to his side and strutted towards the door.

As soon as he rolled up the shutters, he was met by two uniformed officers. One had a discoloured helmet over his head, with his cyber armour a little too rustic for wear. The other was clearly an Atlesian huntsman; but his white and blue uniform seemed a little tacked.

Of course.

"Atlesian military," the two officers brandished their scroll devices to show their licenses.

"Anything I can do for you gentlemen?" Pimpernel said boisterously. "Tis' a tad bit too late for patrol, is it not?"

"We apologize for the disturbance, sir. But we have a tip that two heinous criminals have entered your shop since yesterday."

The florist sputtered, "T-two heinous-! Good sirs, are you certain?!"

The two officers turned to each other, clearly thrown off by his performance. "Mister-"

"-Scar," Nel interjected.

"-Scar. Have you not heard the news? Two wanted suspects are on the loose here in Atlas."

One of the officers showed him sketched profiles on his scroll. "Pyro Rabbit and Vixen Vella. The notorious moonlight thief and the vigilante rogue faunus."

Taking one good look at the images on display, Pimpernel wanted to laugh at the hand-drawn images. On Pyro Rabbit's profile was a top-hat wearing individual with an upturned nose and a small jawline. Whilst Vixen was just a silhouette of her black combat gear without a face at all.

"Forgive me gentlemen," Pimpernel cleared his throat. "But you must understand that my trade of business involves meeting a good hundred patrons who come and go as they please. It's impossible for me to keep track of all of them, you know?"

"Yes, but rumour has it that even Pierce Black has made his appearance within this city."

At this, Pimpernel raised his brow. "Continue?"

"We have a warrant to inspect this entire building," they flashed a document on their devices. "We ask for your cooperation."

Seeing this, the florist stepped aside; allowing the two officers to enter. In that moment, Pimpernel let his semblance come to life, sending a warning flower to the people upstairs. "Is there a specific lead that 'warrants' this warrant?"

The two officers persisted and headed straight into the staff room, leaving Pimpernel to trail behind them; his sheathed sword ready for the worst to come. He knew their schemes; their tricks; their sub-par acting. These weren't officers of the military; they were bounty-hunters, huntsmen who specialize in hunting wanted individuals.

Cinder's grip trembled as she listened to the muffled voices from the floor below. Vix on the other hand bared her teeth in eager vigilance.

Where's Nameless?

She flitted her head from side to side, wary at the sudden realisation this might be what Nel was talking about.

"Don't be so nervous kid, or else the grim will come and eat you."

Cinder cocked her head up, eyes wide and wary at the faunus woman's confidence. Despite Nel's instructions to 'hide' her away, the two of them remained at the table, in plain view for others to see. A soft cluster of hot pink flowers with curved pointed leaves bloomed at Vix's gauntlet, only for the blossom to wilt as soon as Vix raised the flower to her eye-level.

"They're coming," Vix smiled.

"Coming?"

Two pairs of footsteps began to ascend from the stairs below, her heart jolted as the fear of the madam's wrath returned. She wanted to run; hide away into the shadows where she couldn't be seen. Cinder squirmed out of her seat, only for Vix to rest her gauntlet hand on her shoulder.

"Relax and stay seated," Vix assured. "As long as you don't let go of me, they won't find us."

"Huh?"

The masked woman turned her face to the direction of the stairs as a pair of shadows crawled to the wall. She sneered, "here they come."

Cinder stifled her breath as two uniformed men entered the floor, one wearing a helmet, the other was obviously a huntsman. She frantically shifted her gaze back and forth from the two men to Vix; shifting her seat to move. Vix's gauntlet gently pressed on her shoulder, holding the child in place as the two strangers surveyed the room.

"I assure you, gentlemen," Nel's voice trailed from the stairs. "Despite my not so humble earnings from my trade, my wares could only afford so little as a plain accommodation like this one-"

The huntsman made his strides towards the kitchen; Cinder recoiled as he approached, hugging her knees on the chair and shut her eyes. A passing puff of wind blew past her; she dared to peak at the stranger's direction.

Despite the obvious presence of a girl and an adult woman in black hanging around the dinner table; the stranger didn't look their way.

He… ignored us?

She didn't understand what was happening and turned towards Vix. The huntsman walked around to their side of the table; eye-contact always seemed to miss their direction. Vix put out one foot in the way of the man, to which he had sorely stumbled on to fall flat on his face.

"What the-!"

The huntsman turned towards Vix, but once again, his eyes weren't pointing at the mask on her face. Only then did Cinder realise-

She did something.

Whatever it was that Vix had done, she made it so that neither her nor Cinder are to be seen in plain view.

"The hell are you doing?" The uniformed stranger clicked his tongue.

The huntsman said nothing but grunted, picking himself up, now red-faced and silently fuming. He glared at the leg of the chair Cinder was sitting on before he returned to the uniformed man's side. "Check the rooms," the huntsman ordered. "See if there's anything-"

What came after happened within seconds in the child's eyes.

Nel raised a sheathed weapon over his head; the blunt object crashes into the uniformed man's back, sending him to the ground. A flying spool then came out of nowhere and struck the back of the huntsman's head; only for the object to zip back to the direction it came from.

The child quickly stood up; golden eyes wide open at the suddenness of the attack.

"Aw," Vix whined, releasing Cinder's hand. "It's already over."

"Be thankful its over," Nel crouched down before the felled stranger, turning the man to let him lie on his back. "Any further than this then our cover's blown."

Nameless suddenly appeared out of nowhere, unveiling her shining head from the confines of her hood. The once grey cloak now moved like cloth made from a threaded mirror, draping its wearer's body. The moment Cinder made eye-contact with her, the glowing adult smiled; "Don't worry, we didn't kill them."

"Um, that's definitely not something you should say to a kid," Vix walked over to the uniformed man, kicking the helmet off his head with her boot. "Huh, pity the guy here's ruggedly handsome."

"Look sharp, Vix, here's your latest portraits," Nel grinned, tossing a scroll at the faunus.

Vix opened the scroll, laughed at what she saw, before tossing the device back. "Funny no one's listed you yet, eh?"

Cinder treaded the floor, unsure of what to say or do in a situation like this. She took a side-step away and headed over Nameless's side, her hand grasped the woman's cloak. "Were they… after me?"

Nel and Vix looked to Cinder's direction.

"Oh no my dear," Nel waved his hand in the air. "Rest assured, no one's come for you as of yet. It's just a terrible coincidence."

Nameless patted the child's head before ruffling it, "See, I told you it'll be fine."

Nel scoffed, "You said nothing of the sort. But in all seriousness, since the dogs have come forth, we're going to have to rethink our strategy plan." His gaze returned to Cinder- "We're going to have to get you as far away from the capital as possible. The last thing we want are human traffickers breathing down our necks."

The weight of his words brought back Cinder's fear, despite her lack of understanding. A familiar frown adorned his lips, but not one of dissatisfaction, but the kind Nameless made when they first met.

Vix hauled one of the fallen men by their underarm. "What's the plan then?"

"I'm thinking," Nel pressed the bridge of his nose. "Just give me a moment."

"We still haven't met our quota for this month," the masked faunus persisted and began to drag the man towards the sofa. "Any more delays we'll-"

"-At this rate, we're going to have to send you and Pyro away from Atlas for a while," Nel inhaled sharply, closing his eyes. "It might have been too hasty of a decision to come to Atlas so soon."

Vix frowned at this, saying nothing. Silence dragged for what felt like hours before Nel gave out a long sigh.

"We need to report to the colonel."

Vix clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes. "Wonderful."

"Vix-"

"-I didn't say anything."

Nel paused, grimacing before he released another long breath. "…We'll also have to proceed with the commission by ourselves at this rate."

Vix groaned.

"Vix-" he warned.

"What?" she dropped the unconscious man like a sack of potatoes. "I didn't say I wouldn't do it. Except, oh, yeah. We still have this to worry about!" she twiddled her fox paw in the air. "Abbot hasn't fixed the other hand yet!"

What are they talking about?

Cinder had been so used to the madam shooing her away from discussions between adults. So much so that seeing these adults discussing something so cryptic felt weird. Similar to how the boys of the orphanage would whisper amongst themselves, leaving her out of the loop. Her grip on Nameless's cloak tightened, raising her head up in hopes of finding an answer to an undefined question.

With Nel and Vix bantering, Nameless crouched down to Cinder's level, "Curious?"

"Not really," Cinder released her hold on the strange cloak, turning towards the other two. Despite Nel's assurance, she couldn't shake off the feeling she wasn't welcomed within the presence of adults.

Nameless said I'm welcomed, but-

She could tell when her presence is no more than a nuisance. They won't say it, but it was more than obvious.

At least… they're being nice about it.

"At any rate," Nel turned towards Nameless. "We're going to need to find an alternative before the morning comes. Especially if the madam finds out we took away the little one over there."

Cinder hung her head down, tapping the tip of her foot on the floor.

At the scrape of her boot, Vix's mouth gaped at Cinder's direction. "Wait a minute," she took a step forward. "That… choker. Why is it glowing?"

"Huh-"

Before she could react, the familiar volts of pain shook her entire being; the child collapsed to the ground, writhing, tossing and turning. The three adults stood in horror as Cinder howled and screamed; "IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP!"

"Shoot!" Vix was the first to jump in, reaching for the pendant on Cinder's neck, only to recoil at the mere spark of electricity.

"What's happening?!" Nameless panicked. "Cinder!"

Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop-!

Thoughts and words jumbled in Cinder's mind, coiling, jittering as the volts of boiling pain continued to burn at her neck. The amount of pain was worse than she had experienced before. Like a lightning bolt striking at her a thousand times.

Vixen didn't know what to do.

If only I realised it sooner!

She, of all people should have known was the same type of collar she had seen among faunus labourers in her childhood days. 'Subjugation collars' they'd call it. The kind that triggers a lethal voltage the moment its wearer stays out of its boundary line for too long.

Those sick bastards!

Nel crouched down before the kid, taking an earth dust crystal in hand. Thick vines sprouted out of the dust shard, coiling around his hand before he reached for the child's neck. His purple eyes darkened at the sight of the kid in pain before he grabbed hold of the lightning crystal.

"Nel it's too dangerous-!"

"Quiet!" he ordered as his vine gloves tried to pull the choker free. But as he tried, Cinder's violent spasms prevented him from doing so. Cursing under his breath, the more he yanked, the more powerful the voltage grew.

"I can't get it off!" he grunted.

"What are doing?!" Nameless grabbed his shoulder. "What's making her-"

"This damn collar won't come off!"

Vix could have sworn she saw Nameless's skin grew brighter, glowering at Cinder's hapless state of distress. The amnesiac then did the unthinkable and reached for the lightning crystal with her bare hands.

"You idiot, sto-!"

Vix gaped as Nameless clenched the dust crystal in a tight fist and broke off the collar without a hint of pain or jitter. Her red eyes glared with a ferocity of an angered beast, her fist illuminating as the broken ends of the collar melted into drops of liquid metals. Nameless unfurled her hand, the lightning dust pendant now crackling with raw static energy on her hand right before the ore turned to dust within seconds.

"How the hell… did you…" Cinder's coughing brought Vix's attention back to the kid. "Kid. Hey, kid! Are you alright?!"

At the sight of that small body curled in harrowing pain, Vix closed her eyes; flashes of her father's experiences came to mind. The aftershocks of the collar still lingered in the form of shudders on the kid's limbs. Without another word, Vix lifted the child from the floor and into her arms.

This kid. She's a lot skinner than I thought-

Within that moment, Cinder puked on Vix's shoulder. She froze as the pungent stench of sick permeated her sharp nose. Shoot.

"Aah-!" Nameless stood up in panic, shifting her gaze from the kid to the floor.

Nel covered his mouth in a poor attempt to stifle his laughter.

"Don't just stand there you dumb idiots and help me! Set a bath or something!"

After the entire mishap was put to a close, with everyone having to clean up after the entire mess; Cinder was put to sleep with the help of Pimpernel's semblance.

As soon as the child was put to rest in Nameless's bed, Nameless closed the door behind her. Vix had been long gone into the bathroom to wash away the stench. Crossing his arms, Pimpernel kept his mind focused on what to do with the bounty hunters in their hands, who was now tied up within the storeroom downstairs.

"Isn't it safer to keep watch over those guys below?" Nameless pointed.

"I've made certain of their security," he reached for his scroll to open the live footage from his cctv camera. "I barely have any aura left from just tying those two down."

"Can't you do things the old fashion way? You know, get a rope and tied their hands with it." Nameless pantomime the action in the air.

He smirked, switching the scroll's screen to his contact list. "Better we do things this way to assert our capabilities. Besides, Atlas military would find it rather suspicious if we were just capable of knocking out unlicensed hunters. I've made it so that this entire ordeal was just a mere coincidence."

Besides, with the colonel on our backs; there's no room for suspicion. Pimpernel walked down the stairs and into the storeroom. There the two unconscious hunters lie there, their hybrid weapons in their hands to make their current state look incidental.

There is an art to the life of a smuggler. The kind of art that involves a slight of hand with a dual existence. He'd have to admit, he was surprised these men came this close to finding out the truth. It was their mistake to make the mere mention of Pierce Black before him; less they would have been able to walk away without a hint of suspicion.

He dialled for the emergency number connecting to the public security section;

"Atlesian security, how can I help?"

"Oh! Oh thank goodness!" he said in a forced panic. "You- You will not believe what had just happened!"

From there, he enacted the role of a troubled florist who had called for a case of burglary within his shop. As soon as the call was done, he switched his contact list to the initials; 'CIJ' and pressed the call button.

His tone grew morose as the other side of the call line opened; "It's me."

"…Did you finally make a decision?"

"Yes," Pimpernel answered, knitting his brows at his own decision. "We'll take the commission."

"Good."

"Another thing, colonel. I've just had a suspicious breech within my shop; possibly due to some 'unsavoury' suspicions. Mind if you- well, how do I put it? Oversee this matter before looking the other way?"

"…What happened this time?"

"Hunters, good sir. The kind who stole outdated uniforms and pose as one of your kind; both of whom have come to suspect the quality of my wares."

A long sigh could be heard from the speaker. "… must you bring me more trouble to work with?"

"It's a very small price to pay, sir," Pimpernel sneered. "Especially since you're just as guilty in holding one of us hostage."

"-Alright. But make no mistake, you've brought this upon yourselves. If you want your entourage to fall into the legal category, I suggest you proceed with the commission in flying colours. I'm counting on you."

The line ended there, leaving Pimpernel to chuckle at the irony. He's right, as much as I hate to admit.

His purple gaze returned to the two unconscious individuals as the sound of an Atlesian security truck drove in front of the flower shop.

It was warm.

It was the warmest, sweet-smelling bedroom Cinder had ever slept in. Though the bed itself has lot left to be desired, it was undoubtedly, still a better alternative than the foam mat in the cellars. Her eyelids slid open by a crack to find a soft, warm light engulfed in protruding shadows from the farthest corner of the room.

A candlelight?

Her languid muscles jolted her awake, reminding her of the throttling pain she endured not so long ago.

"Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?"

Cinder wearily turned towards the source of the light to find Nameless sitting in front of a strange set of contraptions. A cady of light dust crystals sat on the corner of the table; next to it was a glass lantern, encasing a bigger shining crystal. What stood out the most was the unusual spool made from rosegold-coloured metals. But what struck her wasn't the size of the spool, but the strange shining thread it held.

"What," Cinder rasped, feeling her throat dry and course. "…What is that?"

"Oh, this?" Nameless pointed at the strange contraption. "Want to see?"

With her fatigue temporarily dismissed by her curiosity, Cinder crawled to the foot of the bed to see the work desk clearly. Nameless's brows knitted in concentration as her glowing fingertips touched the surface of the encased crystal. Like pinching a piece of clay from a wet mound, Nameless pinched the dust crystal and stretched its piece thin till the dust crystal became a molten stretch.

"How?!" Cinder couldn't help but gape at the process.

"This isn't the best part yet," Nameless winked. The glowing woman then pinched the molten crystal, her fingertips now glowing red as she rolled it with her two fingers. A small blob was made before she melted it onto the spool's hook that sat at the end of the spool, then began to spin it. With her fingers still pinched at the stretch of molten crystal, the more she twisted and stretched the material, the thinner it grew until it thinned into a strand of clear thread.

Fascination took hold of the child's eyes as Nameless spun the dust crystal into yards of thread that coiled around the spool's bobbin. It was the strangest thing she had ever seen in all her life; like witnessing an artist making their sketch in delicate pencil strokes on paper.

With every coil of clear thread, the thread gleamed before it cooled down into something that looked like-

"Glass," Cinder murmured.

"Correct," Nameless nodded. "I- may have forgotten my name and everything else about me, but I'm quite surprised myself to be able to retain a skill like this."

"But, that's impossible," Cinder pointed at the spool. "Dust can't turn into string. Glass and dust only break when you try and break a piece of it."

Nameless chuckled. "Not if it involves heat. From past experience with the use of dust, I find that there's always a melting point in any element. As a starcatcher, we naturally are capable of emitting heat at varying degrees; to the extent of estimating the boiling point of any object. As for my case, with the right amount of heat, I am capable of melting minerals into strings. Oh, and this isn't dust crystals, by the way. They're… star fragments, rather, pieces of a star's essence."

"A star… fragment?" Cinder remembered that was what Nameless called it in their previous encounters. "What is a star fragment?"

Nameless coiled the remaining threads into the spool and picked up another. "If you breakdown the term 'Starcatcher' what does the name mean?"

"…Star… Catch….!" The child's ember eyes flashed in realisation. "You catch stars?!"

"Ah-huh," The glowing adult wore a proud smile. "The only memories that remain is the knowledge of what I am as part of a… species? Race? Pfft, whatever we call ourselves, anyway. But yes, it is in our nature to consume- rather eat the very essence of stars, or something with a powerful source of radiance. Something like dust for example. But when it comes to 'catching' stars, it's a matter of stealing a few of their flares is enough to live by."

"So what you did back then-"

"I was summoning small piece of it, yes."

Cinder continued to look onward at the process as she watched Nameless spin and fill the spool with coiling glass threads. The hand spinning skills Nameless demonstrated almost put Cinder into a hypnotic trance, but one that only encouraged more questions.

"So… why are you turning these… star fragments into thread?" the child asked.

"A request from a friend. He said that these glass threads are the most ideal for combat."

"But they're glass. Wouldn't it break?"

"Not these ones," Nameless then stretched a long clear thread before Cinder. "Feel it, try and break it."

Cinder reached for the string, and felt that familiar slipper texture from the cloak Nameless was wearing. Her blistered fingers tugged at its length and tried flicking it, only for the material to remain sturdy. A swell of eagerness filled her chest at Nameless's creation.

"Rather than calling it glass threads, I'll call it 'fibreglass'. How does that sound?" Nameless withdrew the string.

"I don't know," Cinder shrugged, her attention reverted back to Nameless's craft.

"Hmm, yeah, I might need to reconsider," the adult laughed. "Oh, and don't worry too much about the madam in the glass unicorn. We'll make certain that she won't find a whiff about you and your whereabouts. Promise."

To hear this, despite that promise, Cinder still didn't know what to make out with Nel and Vix. Within that incident where the choker had suddenly activated, she vaguely remembered seeing everyone's panicked faces. The child could distinctly remember Nel's attempt to tug the choker off her, but could barely remember everything else.

Maybe… maybe I could trust them?

So far, she could only guarantee that Nameless was the only person who cares. The first to one to ever extend a helping hand to her. For that, it was enough to put her faith in this strange adult, convincing herself that this person would never hurt or abandon her.

Cinder could only pray that her decision was the correct one.

A/N: I'll let you guys guess which fairytale Nameless is based off of. (I don't know if its obvious or not, but hey!)