A/N: By the time you read this, I'll be back in the hospital; being driven there right now. Cough's gotten worse. Hacking up blood every now and again. blood now.
I tend to write when I'm stressed so...sorry guys...hope I make it through this... T_T
In other news, I'm making/posting a plot bin for my NarutoxRWBY ideas after this! I've got too damn many requests buzzing around in my head. Hopefully that should tide people over.
We're sticking to the tried and true, "Embers" rule here, this'll be deleted very quickly if folks don't like it, so on and so forth. Peace out! Case in point! "The Golden Grimm" and "A Different Path" as well as "Fly Me to the Moon" fell prey to that rule. Into the plot bin with them! "Magic Unbound" might well meet the same fate at this rate. Don't know those stories? Haven't heard of them? EXACTLY. They weren't popular, I'm sad to say.
As ever I own no references themes or memes. Not a wit or a one!
And now, with that, I proudly present...Mama Knows Best.
"Even monsters can be kind...
~?
Hush
Cinder loathed the rain.
For as long as she could remember she'd never been particularly fond of storms. Perhaps that had something to do with her semblance. She was heat. Fire. She didn't much like the water. In truth, the rain brought back memories of a time best forgotten. Old memories. A time of weakness. Memories that burned like acid in her veins. A time of silence. A time in which she was nothing. No one. A time in which she'd been a helpless child at the mercy of others. A weakling, scrabbling for strength in a world where the weak were cut down.
Clutching her cloak closer to herself, she shook the thought away and kept walking. She wasn't a child any longer. She was strong, now. She had a Destiny.
This particular storm seemed determined stalk her every step no matter where she went, weeping from on high as she slipped through the slums of Vale. Dilapidated buildings rose on either side of her, stoic sentinels standing against the lightning and the thunder in sullen silence. Cinder glowered golden daggers at them, or rather, the warm lights flickering within. None were awake to question her presence at this hour; indeed, if anyone had taken notice of her at all she would have slain them out of spite. Such was her mood.
For she had failed again.
To be fair, Cinder was infinitely familiar with failure and all the humiliation it entailed. She knew what it was like to lose. To believe so desperately that she was right, yet fail all the same. The very concept had been carved into her hide-and her back!-more times than she could possibly count. Time and time again she had failed; first as a child, then as a teenager, then again as a grown woman in service to Salem. The latter often proved painful. But with pain came power, and she had proven herself a quick study since. These days, she didn't fail. Not anymore.
For the time being, her task was a simple one; gather intelligence as to the state of Vale and return to the Grimmlands to make her report.
In good time she would find assets of her own, loyal pawns who obeyed her and her alone. Her strike at Beacon was still a decade off at the very least; little more than a distant speck on the horizon. Something to dream of and anticipate, but Her time would come, but it was not now. She had yet to discern the identity of the Fall Maiden, much less secure said allies to do her bidding. Torchwick didn't count. The man and his moronic minions would obey out of fear; fear of her and reprisal from Salem. An ally, Roman was not. Still, he would do as he was told. For now.
But she hadn't found anyone of use to her. That alone made this outing a disappointment, even if Salem considered it a success.
No mere thug or outcast would do; she needed individuals with some measure talent, yet in the same vein they couldn't be too arrogant because of said talent. Prideful fools were difficult to tame at the best of times and she had no interest in acquiring someone...ordinary. Easier said than done, of course. It wasn't as if a star would fall out of the sky and strike her in the head andohdearwhatwasthatlight-
She looked up. Mistakes were made.
An almighty explosion shattered Cinder's world without word or warning, shattering her thoughts to burn the world red. The sheer force of the blast ripped her from her feet and flung her back, sending her body skipping and skidding across the street like a flung stone. For once her training abandoned her completely; her short-lived flight lasted until she finally struck a wall that actually managed to hold up under the impact. Aura gave an angry crackle. Pain snarled through her spine and her vision went white. Then came the fury.
Right, then. Whoever did that? They were dead. No! She'd almost kill them, drag them back, then kill them again!
Eyes reeling, ears ringing, Cinder Fall staggered upright, clutching at her head.
And everything changed.
She found not an angry huntsman before her but an unconscious woman sprawled out in the street. Striking red hair could barely glimpsed through the light rain in a messy tangle, sullen steam drifted from her exposed shoulders. Her clothes were burnt to an unrecognizable mess, and she bore a grievous wound bleeding in her back. Cinder eyed the spreading pool of blood at her feet with mild disdain. Who was she? Why was she here? Was she dead? It certainly seemed so. All around her the ground was pitted and scorched, as though it had been caught in a terrible blaze. And yet bar that wound, the woman was unharmed.
Curiosity compelled her to move despite her initial misgivings. Feeling terribly bold she dared to creep close. Closer. Closest.
In no time at all, she stood over the stranger, considering her as one would a strange and foreign treasure.
"What do we have here...
A pale hand latched onto her arm with frightful strength. Fingers like iron dug into her wrist and yanked her forward, forcing a stumble out of her. Their foreheads collided. Alarmed amber burned into her baleful blue, set within a wounded-yet-haggard visage. Fear sparked to life in Cinder's chest despite her best efforts to stamp it down. Try as she might, she couldn't break the stranger's hold on her. In a fit of pique, she reached back for one of her blades and drew it, determined to hack the offending appendage away.
"Where...am I?" All at once the woman spoke, her voice a thin, hoarse whisper. "Who are you?"
An angry scowl wrought Cinder's face. "I have no words for the deeeaaaaargh!"
Her proud statement warped into a startled snarl when the woman tightened her grip. Clawed fingers pierced her Aura and ground the bones of her wrist together to pinch the nerve. Had that been the end of it Cinder Fall might well have scoffed at it and cut her down where she lay. She was trained to resist pain. Outright ignore it, even. Salem saw to that.
Cinder was not trained to resist the glowing chains that burst from the woman's bloody back and tore into her.
Like a swarm of angry vipers they latched onto every inch of her, coiling onto her arms, ensnaring her legs, circling about her neck. Squeezing. Constricting. Choking the very life from her. In an instant she found herself dangling in the air like some mad marionette on a puppeteer's strings.
But that wasn't the worst of it. Pain! The touch of those chains brought fire, a hell she'd never known. Raw, primal agony burned through her body like a living flame, choking the words on her tongue. Her snarl became a scream. She couldn't think. Couldn't move. She could only cry. Her blade fell from nerveless fingers and struck the street with a dull clatter. She hadn't the strength to take up the other. And still, the pain didn't stop. It just...kept...going...!
"I asked you a question." As she looked on, still screaming, those beautiful blue eyes shimmered into a sinister shade of slitted scarlet. "Answer me, or by the sage, I will break you in half."
She looked like she would, too! Even on her last legs, with her lifeblood pooling on the floor, this woman was strong enough to back up her words with violence. She could respect that. Admire it, even. If she weren't writhing in pain!
"Cinder!" The word escaped her in a gasp. "My name is Cinder!"
Her captor scowled at that, battered shoulders slumping once more. But she didn't release her. Tears of pain blurred Cinder's vision. And still the redhead pressed her.
"This isn't the Hidden Leaf." her hand fell away, and she used it to prop herself up. "Where am I?! What happened to the village?! Where's Minato?!"
"Fool!" Cinder thrashed viciously in her grasp. "You're raving! I don't know what you're talking about!"
"ANSWER ME!"
The chains tightened and agony that followed actually caused Cinder to black out for a moment. But only a moment. Pain caught her in its cruel claws like a bird of prey and dragged her back to the world of the waking. A tiny gasp followed.
"You're in Vale! And I don't know anyone by that name! Please!" She'd sworn never to beg to anyone, never again, but the pain overrode even that promise. "Make it stop!" Before it she felt like a helpless child, no, even as a child she'd not suffered this kind of torture. It broke something, deep inside of her. "You're hurting me!" all the colors of the world began to fade away as she gasped for air. Death. This was death! She was going to die, here in the rain, alone and forgotten! No! Not like this! She didn't want to die! In a fit of frantic fear, she cried out.
"I'll do anything!"
That frightful gaze narrowed upon her. "Anything?"
Cinder dared a tentative nod, all arrogance stripped away by the torment she'd endured. Anything. So long as she could escape. She just needed a moment to catch her breath; to recover her strength. She couldn't hope to fight this woman. Not as she was now. She would flee the very first chance she had and never ever look back.
Slowly, inexorably, those ghastly glowing chains slackened.
Just a touch. Just a little. Not enough to free her; barely enough to let her breathe. She sucked in a ragged breath all the same.
"They're after him." the woman stretched out an arm plaintively, the arm she'd kept against her breast. "I can feel myself fading." There was something there, something she hadn't noticed in her panic. She was cradling it close to herself. "Everything's so dark. You have to protect him." an awful cough shook her body and she spat blood. "Keep him safe!" her eyes flashed and she shook her head, swaying in place before she rallied. "If you harm so much as a hair on his head, I swear I'll finish what I started...!"
She slumped over with a wordless cry and said no more. Bereft of their master, the chains went slack and dissolved into motes of golden light.
Free at last, Cinder struck the floor and scuttled backward like a drunken crab. Him? Who was she talking about? She wanted nothing to do with this madwoman! Still, her gaze betrayed her and swept to the bundle in her arms. What was it? Gold? Jewels? Whatever it was, the woman clearly thought it was well worth dying for. Her babbling hadn't made much sense, but the man seldom did. With each passing moment, she felt her courage creep back, like a dog that had been kicked one too many times. In the absence of those horrid chains, she began to feel bold again.
Trembling fingers reached in and pried it from her limp grasp.
With great care, Cinder peeled back the pale linen. Trembling fingers grasped the damp cloth and tugged it away. A weak little wail answered immediately. She jerked back with a frightful start; only her honed reflexes prevented her from dropping the bundle outright and dashing his head against the wet cobblestones below.
"A baby?!"
For their was indeed a babe in her arms. A newborn, only hours old. Small. Tiny, with blond hair and whiskered cheeks. Crying for his mother. A mother that lay dead at her feet-wait. Cinder looked back, startled to find the woman was gone. Only a bloodstain remained. She balked at it. Had the air rippled just now? Was she imagining things? What manner of magic was this? People didn't just vanish like that. It wasn't done. She didn't even have a moment to ponder it; because the babe in her arms began to cry anew.
Cinder balked and ducked into an alcove to evade the worst of the rain.
The boy kept crying of course; he was wet and cold and hungry. It made her even more miserable.
With a put upon sigh, Cinder called upon her Semblance to heat her palms. Gently -very gently!- and careful not to burn the babe pressed against her beast, she took the heat and spread it out across the linen wrapping him. Within moments he was snug in her arms, if not necessarily safe. She'd never held a child before and some tiny part of her was terribly afraid because of it. She rocked him in her arms slowly, careful not to make a single sudden movement for fear of what might happen. Still, the terror persisted. What if she slipped? What if she dropped him? What if he started crying again?!
"There. You're warm. Happy now?" she revealed none of these fears and scowled at him instead. "Hush."
Incredibly, he did. Blue eyes peered up at her, staring into her soul.
"Oh." she managed eloquently.
The assassin stole a glance over her shoulder. No one was there. None were here to watch her. Of course not. The hour was late, and the storm was fierce. A quick check to the left -followed by the right!- only further served to confirm her silent suspicions. They were, the two of them, alone. None would bear witness to this deed. Whatever choice she made, no one would see it. It would be the simplest thing to drop him in the river. She had little faith in orphanages after her own experience so many years before. It was a cruel thing to consider killing a child, but was not death was kinder than life? This boy was nothing.
A memory hit her like a physical blow and with them, words spoken by a little girl, so long ago. "Without you, I am nothing."
Cinder shivered, and not for the rain. She was a monster. She knew that and felt no shame for it. Embraced it, even. She had murdered many in service to Salem and she would no doubt slay many more. But there were still lines she dared not cross. Taboos that even she dared not violate. She knew what it was to be alone. To be no one. Nothing. Unbidden, the woman's words came back to her. A dire threat made in her final moments, the oath of a mother who would never live to see her child grow up.
She looked down. There was a name stitched into the blanket.
"Naruto." she sounded it out, then blinked at it. "Hmm. Not the name I would have chosen...
The boy babbled softly and wrapped a tiny hand around her index finger. Just like that, Cinder Fall was undone.
Her heart skipped a beat. Never had she felt this. A strange sensation bubbled up beneath her breast. The tiniest ember of empathy sparked to life. He was only a few hours old. If left alone he would surely die. Lightning flashed overhead. Thunder crashed against its heels, rumbling through her ears. And with it, a dull ache bloomed in her chest. The boy might be useful someday. She told herself a lie to make the prospect sound sweeter than it was. She could keep him. Raise him. Train him. By the time the assault on Beacon came, he would be loyal to her and her alone. Surely there would be no greater asset than this...?
'Sure.' a small voice sighed in the back of her head. 'Go ahead. Keep telling yourself that. You've already made your decision.'
...she really had, hadn't she?
Her pride bridled at her choice regardless. She was Cinder Fall! Terror of Mistral! Evil incarnate! She would not be undone by some bawling babe! One day she would slay all Maidens, and take their powers for herself. She would take the Relics and overthrow Salem. She would be legendary. Invincible. Eternal. The world would tremble before her. She had no need of petty attachments or distractions or...or...
The boy mewled softly.
Cinder clicked her tongue at him. "I hate you."
She did not, of course. Not at all. Nay. Not in the least.
Humming a familiar lullaby under her breadth, Cinder Fall settled in to weather the storm.
"Hush, little baby," she sang and began to rock the child in her arms, "Don't say a word...mama's gonna buy you a rocking bird...
A/N: I regret nothing! Behold Mama!Cinder!
Hopefully I'll be out of the hospital soon. Can't wait to hear from you guys and gals.
As ever, we're sticking with the "Embers" rule. That's not a threat, but the truth. Three stories have already gone to the void because of it.
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review...Would You Kindly? It means the world to this ailing old man.
I've got a ton written but I'm not keen on/revealing overmuch unless folks truly enjoy this tale. If they don't, the previews below will never see the light of day.
(Previews)
"HA!" Tyran saw the bundle in her arms and cackled. "My, oh my! A child! I never thought I'd see the day! Are we going to kill him? Or maybe you'll let me-
Cinder's fist cracked upward. Callows sailed away with a shriek, spitting teeth. Watts clapped at the sight.
Salem, oddly enough, proved inquisitive. "Will you protect him?"
Cinder stepped back, shielding the child with an arm.
It proved answer enough for her dark queen.
"I always wanted to be an aunt...
"Mama!" Little arms reached up for her. "Up~!"
Cinder felt her heart skip a beat.
"Did I make you proud, mom?"
Golden eyes fixed on him intently. Saw the blood on his face.
In that moment, Cinder knew. He'd be stronger than all of them someday.
The thought frightened her, not for herself, but for how the boy might yet be treated.
"Yes, dear." she held him close and tried not to look at the ruined corpses. "You were marvelous."
Emerald had never expected to have a sibling, let alone a big brother. It was an...oddly pleasant feeling.
Amber tried to crawl away.
Cinder stalked after her.
"I know what it's like to lose, child." she retrieved one of her fallen blades as she walked, wielding it loosely in a reverse grip. "To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. It's frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end?" a heel slammed into the Fall Maiden's back, pinning her in place. "Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same." her blade swept up in a gleaming arc. "And now, it's here. Or should I say, I am." lightning crackled through the grief-stricken sky overhead. "Die now, and know that I will use your power in ways you cannot possibly imagine."
The blade came crashing down.
R&R~! =D