Chapter One

The Workshop

"This place has really changed," Cinder said as she strolled at a docile pace along the streets of Mantle.

And she was not wrong. For one thing, there was no Atlas to look up to in the sky any longer. The sun shimmered down on the clean streets of the city and the air held the laughter of children running around and the bustling chatter of the marketplace. There was still a lot of work to do with distributing all of Atlas's resources and integrating it throughout a city that was once falling apart, but it had come such a long way under Councilwoman Hill's wing.

Even Cinder wanted to take the scenic route to Pietro's workshop, stopping every so often to look at new street vendors and food stands.

It had been over a year since Cinder had begun this path. The path to healing. A year since she had unofficially declared herself the Protector of Argus. After Salem had been sealed away, the Fall Maiden had wanted to fall off the face of the world but Jaune Arc was forever the chain that kept her from slipping away. He took her in, cared for her, lifted her up…until Cinder had felt something consistent to warmth for him in return.

Love made time fly by fast. Was it just the feelings of Pyrrha that had rubbed off on her? Cinder certainly liked to pretend it was so when it came to that blonde idiot, but as soon as she laid eyes on that goofy smile, she knew that was a lie.

Her thoughts held Jaune fondly as she turned to some of the booths on the street. If Jaune so happened to find a gift on the table when she returned home to Argus, maybe he would make her some pork vindaloo later…

"You're certainly taking your time," the soothing voice in her mind chided. "I thought you wanted to get in and out of Mantle."

Cinder rolled her eye. "Once we get to the workshop, then yes, I'll want to make things quick. But out here…" She glanced over at a booth overloaded with orange flowers and pink roses. "It's really not so bad."

"Is that a bit of warmth I detect?" Pyrrha let out a soft chuckle. "Do you like flowers, Cinder?"

Cinder shook her head. "Not particularly. I suppose I'm just impressed by their growth in this type of climate. Maybe it's just artificial."

She placed her lone hand on her hip. For a moment, her golden gaze tilted to the left stump of her arm. It had been only a few years since the removal of her monstrous limb that had been eating away at her aura and fear. She mindlessly touched the bandages and then narrowed her eyes back at the flowers. Whatever made these plants grow… was it something similar that made the Grimm go hungry on her?

Pyrrha could feel her unease. "The Grimm arm is gone," her voice echoed through Cinder's mind. "It can't grow back."

"You say that now but-" Cinder started but she was cut off by a child standing beside her. The little boy reached up to tug at the red sash tucked under the belt at her waist. Cinder knelt to the child's height, prompted by Pyrrha's immediate warning to be kinder and more accessible.

Cinder looked at the grey-haired child. "Yes?" Creepy. The child kind of looked like what she would expect Mercury to if he were a kid.

The child glanced around as if unsure, then timidly spoke up. "Why are you talking to yourself?"

"Cinder…" Pyrrha started, already sensing the biting, mischievous spirit rising up in her host.

But it was too late. "Oh?" A smirk pulled at Cinder's lips. "Well you see, I'm crazy and unhinged. That's why I talk to myself." Fire spurted out of the corner of her eye as those words exited her lips.

The child flinched and stepped back immediately. Cinder stood back up, putting her nose up in the air to Pyrrha's protests within her. She expected the child to scram, but they appeared too timid to run off.

"You're crazy?" The child challenged.

"Yes. I never know when it happens," Cinder said, leaning against the wall. If nothing else, this was amusing. "Sometimes I just black out and…"

The child interrupted her, turning their attention to Cinder's stump. "W-What happened to your arm?"

"Cinder-!" Pyrrha tried to interject, but Cinder remained in control.

Cinder's smile widened. "Oh, that? I ate it. Bit by bit. Cooked and ate it." The child went sheet white. "Oh, don't give me that look. I told you. I'm crazy…" She flashed the child another cheeky grin, then strode off without another word. She could hear the child break into a run, probably to look for its mother and cry about the tall tale of partial cannibalism.

"I'm glad you're gaining more of a sense of humor," Pyrrha said, her voice only vaguely encouraging. "If a bit morbid… was that really necessary?"

Cinder shrugged as they neared the workshop, looking back for a moment. "Hmmm… it put the flowers out of my mind well enough," she said, her voice now light and content.

—

"Salutations, Miss Fall!" The robot burst through the doors of her father's patient room to greet Cinder, floating just before her on her rocket propelled heels. She joyfully flipped her long hair back and smiled at her client.

Penny dropped to her feet and gave a curtsey. "And to you too, Miss Nikos." She stared at Cinder with wide-eyed interest, a little shake in her head as she did so.

Cinder gritted her teeth and inwardly tried to decide what she hated more: the fact that this girl was the Winter Maiden or her unending enthusiasm that shone brighter than a thousand suns. For now, she pinned it on being the latter that she despised.

"Pyrrha," she said, not caring if it was out loud. "Switch with me. She's your friend, so you two can have some time together-"

"Ah, ah, ah," Pyrrha tutted. "What did we talk about?"

Cinder inwardly pushed back against Pyrrha's command to try and force her soul out instead of hers, but all she experienced was a mental slap that sent her back to the forefront of her own mind.

"Pyrrha…" Cinder cursed under her breath, turning back to Penny. She inhaled silently and then sighed, trying to maintain eye contact. "Penny Polendina. I am very sorry for the trouble I caused you. I realize that my actions have caused you significant harm, that I even once referred to you as nothing but a toy and a puppet."

She took a step forward, a bit of pink slightly rising to her cheeks. This was so embarrassing, but Pyrrha was never going to let it go if she didn't get it over with.

"I can't change the person I was back then, but I will work hard to be a better person. And the first step to that is recognizing that you are a person too." Cinder tried to swallow her pride, pushing her shame down. Apologizing is always the worst part but somehow, she always came out of it feeling sort of… rested and restored.

"Here." Without asking, Cinder took Penny's hand and placed a decorative glass bow. It was skillfully shaped and molded, each corner bursting with tiny red rubies that shimmered as bright as Penny's eyes. "This is for you."

Penny gasped, lifting the bow within her gloved hands. Cinder almost immediately reached for it back, worried that it would shatter immediately in Penny's hands.

"It's… It's lovely!" Penny cheered, jumping up. "Look at how it shimmers in the light!" She bounced back down, holding it above her head to observe the bow sparkling in each different corner.

Pyrrha's voice chimed in. "Yes, especially since I did not ask her to bring any sort of gift."

Cinder snorted. "Please. It took five minutes to put together on the airship." Her arm touched her stump again as she averted her gaze from the ecstatic Winter Maiden.

"Oh and rubies are easy to come by, are they?" Pyrrha gleefully teased back.

"Shut up."

Penny prodded Cinder's shoulder and then pointed to her head. "Do I attach it to my other bow? I don't see anywhere to clip on."

Cinder shook her head. "No, not really. It's just a trinket. Something for the office, you know? I figured it was better that way since it looks like your bow is where your power is focused." She placed a hand on her hip, looking over her work in Penny's hands. "However, if you give me a bit of time, I could fashion it into a necklace."

A gaudy necklace, but it would be Penny's choice. Penny shook her head and placed the little bow beside the Number One Dad mug on the desk.

"Not too worry, Miss Fall. I think it looks perfect right here!" Penny nodded, putting her arms behind her back. "Thank you."

"Right… Cinder is fine, Penny," said the Fall Maiden, her voice trailing a bit. Why couldn't Pyrrha just switch with her and talk to this… machine turned person herself? This was a bit too awkward for Cinder's liking. It was best to change the subject. "Sorry. I don't mean to move things along but Jaune told me to come by because he said you wanted to give me something?"

Penny stared at her for a moment, then her eyes lit up again after it appeared she was trying to remember something. "That's right! I am sorry as I forgot due to your wonderful gift!" She tugged on Cinder's lone arm, marching her to the back of the office. "I have a gift for you too, Cinder Fall!"

"Cinder is fine-wait, what?" Cinder blinked.

The back room seemed to be a patient room. There was a chair in the center with a working observation light. A few shelves full of academic books lined the walls, complete with a wooden whale sculpture. Penny led Cinder over to the chair, urging her to settle down where she was comfortable by another desk.

Before Cinder could rise back up to question anything, Penny giggled and put her arms up to placate the impatient Maiden. "Just a moment, Cinder Fall. I will be right back with your amazing gift. Please make yourself at home!" She saluted Cinder, then fired her jets to blast through the double doors of the office again.

"I really don't like her," Cinder said after a moment.

"Right," Pyrrha responded. Cinder could make out her form across the room, leaning against one of the office support beams. "I remember that you make gifts for people you don't like."

"Pft. I was being nice."

Pyrrha gave her eyes a roll, her shoulders lifting slightly. What was she going to do with such a stubborn woman? "I see. So you feel Penny is worth the effort of being nice to?"

Cinder huffed, narrowing her eye at the desk beside her. Beside a few stacks of paper and smaller tools rested a picture of a large, dark man who had one of the biggest smiles Cinder had ever seen. He was situated in a big chair, leaning to his left side as if he were gazing out the window. Beside his chair was Penny, her arms linked with his right arm, beaming at him with love and adoration.

Holding the picture in her gaze, Cinder felt as though she had seen the man somewhere before. It must be Penny's creator and from what she heard from Jaune, he had sadly passed away during a battle. Apparently he deleted his aura to revive Penny for one last time. Well, Cinder mused, Maidens certainly weren't immortal, so it all made sense as sad as it was.

"This man looks… very gentle," Cinder said, leaning on her lone arm against the desk. For some reason, she didn't want to look away from the picture. Something about its happiness intrigued her. Was it the man's smile? Penny's? "Jaune said he died to revive her. He must have given his little girl everything."

Pyrrha wandered over or maybe Cinder's mind projected her wandering over. Cinder wasn't sure how it worked since she was the only one who would be able to see Pyrrha beside her. "He seems like a nice man," she added to the conversation. "Penny was very lucky. It makes me want to visit my mother."

Cinder nodded. Well… she would make a note of that later. Maybe surprise Pyrrha by checking on her mother later in Argus. But she continued to stare at the picture.

"Imagine being the sort of father who would do anything for his daughter," said Cinder, her mind turning back to something rather unpleasant. She broke her gaze from the photo and sighed, leaning forward.

Maybe Pyrrha could imagine that sort of parent, but Cinder didn't know if she could. And she didn't want to search her memories for a moment when she felt the same amount of affection for any of her caregivers… except…

A brief flash of blackened cloaks with crimson lining shot through her mind. She imagined Salem's full lips, her red eyes when they would rest upon Cinder during their training sessions, those hands covered in snake-like veins all down her arms. A shudder ran through Cinder's body. Just as Pyrrha could visit her mother, could Cinder possibly…?

Pyrrha sensed her thoughts. "Cinder, she's gone. She can't find you. She won't find you."

Cinder opened her eye after a moment of wandering through a haze of feelings towards her old Master. They were such a mixture that Cinder didn't know what to make of them. Was it fear or longing? She would tense but her thoughts swam with remembering the sensation of Salem's long fingers combing through her hair. Her mind would repulse her as the memories of Salem's arms wrapping around her after a particularly bad training session that nearly broke her spirit. Those arms… they were warm. Inviting. There were times where Cinder wanted to falter inside Salem's grasp and just give into whatever Salem molded her to be.

It all felt too easy back them, especially with the Grimm arm.

"Sometimes," Cinder began. A part of her didn't know where she was going with this. "Sometimes I swear I can still feel her. I know it's only the memories, but-"

Pyrrha lifted her head to listen, but Cinder was cut off by Penny bursting back into the room with a large, rectangular gold and red box inside her arms.

"Here we go!" She called brightly, landing next to Cinder's chair. "Surprise! For you, Cinder Fall! And Miss Nikos when she operates your body!"

Cinder blinked again, staring at the shimmering package. "Oh… er… thank you?" She scooped up the package in her arm and settled it on the desk to unbox. "It's pretty hefty."

Penny bounced anxiously behind her. "Open it! I know you are going to be 100 percent satisfied. And then we can hug and then cheer and then celebrate!"

'None of those things are going to happen,' Cinder inwardly said before Pyrrha could pipe up. Pyrrha gave a small scoff as Cinder set to unwrapping the shiny present that Penny forced upon her. Once the paper was carefully unpackaged, she opened the box only to gape at what was inside.

"Isn't it wonderful?" Penny leaned beside Cinder as the Fall Maiden bathed in silence, staring at the gift. "I've been practicing my father's craft and yours is the very first I have ever constructed!"

An arm. It was a prosthetic arm. The gold and red finish glinted from the massive overhead lights in the workshop.

Cinder swallowed. A bead of sweat trickled down the back of her neck. When she closed her eye, she was in a different place. A darker place. Penny wasn't behind her. Instead a ghostly pale woman leaned over her, her long fingers against Cinder's chest to reassure Cinder's frantic heartbeat.

"It's a gift, Cinder. Just for you. Your new arm."

AN: Thanks for reading. This is my first fic in a long while, so I hope it provides some entertainment. I made it for KnightFall/Arkos on Fire blog on tumblr. 3