The mace crashed down from above like a meteor, swinging with enough force to smash through brick with effortless ease. To a civilian it would have been too fast to even flinch at, yet alone dodge. But Cinder was no mere civilian; not anymore. She'd seen this exact blow a hundred times over: strong for sure, but overly telegraphed in order to deliberately give the target plenty of time to see coming and react to. Back when she'd first began her training blows just like this one had sent her reeling countless times; each one delivered at just the perfect speed that she could only dodge if she dedicated all her focus to the fight. They hurt like hell, there was no denying that, but Cinder had never minded the pain. It only ever hurt enough to teach their intended lesson, to condition her mind to never let its focus slip for even a moment when in combat. A little pain here would undoubtedly save her life later.

"Not like stepmother." She thought and she rolled to the side, letting the mace impact the floor next to her, then retreating back and crouching lower; preparing to pounce like a panther at the next opening she spotted. Stepmother used pain to teach her as well: to teach her to only speak when spoken to, to do her chores quickly and quietly, and to remind her whenever the opportunity arose that nobody ever had, and ever would, love her. That pain she minded. Not the physical pain, but the sharp twisting sensation that flared up in her chest. It was a sorry state of affairs when a literal mace was more affectionate than your supposed parent, but Cinder had come to accept long ago that life had dealt her one of the worst hands you could ever ask for. She'd only ever drawn one lucky card in all her life: the days she stole a sword from the only man she'd ever met who seemed to hold a shred of kindness in his heart. The day she met Rhodes.

Said man lunged forward and swung his other mace in a wide arc towards her shins, forcing her to leap up over it like her stepsisters did a skipping rope. She thrust forward with her dual swords, chopping at his face with a scissor motion, as grunted with disappointment as Rhodes twisted to the side and deflected the strike off the metal pauldron he wore on his shoulder as if he had seen it coming a mile away. He probably had; every trick she knew were ones he'd either taught her or helped her to develop. Back when they'd first started he'd deliberately let her land a few hits to encourage her, but now that her body and mind were honed to a fine point she really had to earn each and every strike. It was impossible to match him for strength, stamina or skill yet; if she wanted to impress him she had to rely on agility and improvisation.

Rhodes continued the twist from his deflection into a spin, bringing both maces careering around to swing at her right side: one towards her knee, the other at her shoulder. With the elegance of a ballerina Cinder jumped again; not away from the attack like he'd trained her to, but towards it, twisting her body in the air so that she was parallel with the floor. Time seemed to slow for a moment as she slipped gracefully through the gap between the maces, the corners of her mouth curling into a slight smirk as she felt the surprise radiating off of Rhodes' body.

The moment passed as Rhodes' maces swung away past her feet, and Cinder wasted no time curling her body to land in a roll, bringing her directly behind his back. In a flash she was on his back, bringing a sword up to his throat, but her move was halted as Rhodes let go of his maces and shot his hand up to grab her wrist.

"Not bad at all." Rhodes grunted, his gruff voice holding just the faintest ghost of a chuckle. "Great creativity. You almost had me."

"I do have you." Cinder shot back.

"No you don't kid. Don't forget, you're not the only one who knows how to improvise."

His grip tightened, and alarm bells sounded in Cinder's head as her sense of balance began to tilt. She tried to pull away but Rhodes' grip pinned her wrist tight against him. "Wha-... No no no Rhodes, wai- Aaahhh!"

She shrieked in alarm as Rhodes, like a mighty oak tree chopped at the base, toppled to the ground, crushing Cinder against his back. The breath in her lungs escaped in an explosive "oof", and she began to tap weak, ineffective blows at his shoulder.

"Rhodes! You're heavy! Get off!"

Rhodes chuckled to himself and, with deliberate slowness, picked himself off of her. "See. You're learning though. One day you'll be strong enough to throw even grown men like me across the place."

One day. Cinder couldn't wait for that day to come. The day she could leave this place behind, become a huntress and live her own life.

With today's training drawn to an impromptu finish, Cinder pushed herself to her feet and shuffled over to the hidden compartment she kept the sword Rhodes gave her in. She carefully placed the weapon inside and moved her hand to the door, but stopped as Rhodes sheathed her other sword in his belt and spoke up again. "I've got another job tomorrow."

Nothing unusual about that. For all their strength hunters still had bills to pay, and permanently reserving a room at an establishment like the Glass Unicorn for the past few years racked up quite a bill. Still it didn't stop the unpleasant feeling that lanced through her stomach whenever she saw him walking out the hotel doors. It was lonely without him around. "How long for?"

She thought she'd done a good job of keeping her tone even, but Rhodes stilled at her words as if he'd heard the unspoken message behind them clear as day. She heard the muffled sound of his footsteps closing the gap between them, and suddenly a large, warm hand was on top of her head, lightly tousling her hair. "Three days, maybe four at a stretch. I'll be back before you know it." His hand slowed but never left, gently patting her head. He'd never been comfortable giving big displays of affection like hugs and she'd never been comfortable receiving them, so it was in the little motions like this that he showed he cared. "I'm proud of you. Proud of the progress you've been making. It won't be long now until you're old enough to apply to one of the academies, and you've got more than enough skill to graduate. Then your stepmother won't be able to lay a finger on you any more. You'll be free."

"Hey... Rhodes?"

"Yeah kid?"

"When I'm finally a huntress… can I come on jobs with you?"

Rhodes' hand stilled, and Cinder turned her head to look up at him. His expression was reserved as always, but Cinder though she could see the ever so slight tension in his brow that betrayed when he was concerned about something. Disappointment curled up in her gut as the realisation sunk in. Rhodes didn't want to be saddled with her as a partner. Once she was enrolled at an academy he'd walk away on another mission and she'd probably never see him again.

"Look… Cinder…" Rhodes knelt down next to her, silent as he tried to gather his words. For as kind as he was inside, the aging hunter had a terrible way with words. Why she did not know, but Rhodes kept a wall of stoicism around his heart and seemed very uncomfortable whenever he needed to deal with delicate feelings. In all the time she'd known him she'd never seen him speaking to any of the other hotel guests about anything but meaningless pleasantries and business. She also knew that he hunted alone, and had never once talked to her about his own experiences at the hunter academy he attended. Perhaps it was because of that lack of experience that he preferred to choose his words very carefully, and succinctly, when talking about personal matters.

"When you become a huntress-in-training…" He began, his gruff voice tinted with awkwardness. "You'll become part of a team, and they'll be like fam-... close to you. You'll all be young and-... you know… youthful?" She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, and Rhodes replied with a heavy sigh. "What I mean is that you'll get used to fighting together, to sharing interests, to living together… You'll be friends."

"Friends?" Cinder echoed. She'd never had a friend before. She had Rhodes, but that was different somehow. She was the student, and he was the teacher; their relationship had a different dynamic.

Rhodes nodded encouragingly. "Yes. Friends. Somewhere out there are people who you are destined to meet: friends who will love you, and laugh with you, and give you all the things you've been denied up until now. I know there are. And when you find those people…" Rhodes smiled at her, but his eyes looked so sad. "I don't want you to be stuck with a dusty old man like me. I want you to get out there and live your own life for a change. I want you to be happy, Cinder."

Friends? A team? Cinder didn't feel so sure of that. The only other people her age she'd met were cruel and vindictive. Scratch that, the only she'd met of any age were cruel and vindictive, Rhodes being the one and only exception. Rhodes claimed that it was her destiny, but she honestly couldn't see herself walking among the crowds outside the hotel window, shooting insults dressed up as jokes at each other and doing whatever they could to gain some level of social superiority. She'd rather life her life alone than be a part of that. But Rhodes was the exception. Rhodes was the only kind person in the whole wide world. She didn't mind the thought of striking out alone, but if she could stay with Rhodes all the time… she'd like that.

But Rhodes didn't feel the same way.

"Well… I should be going." Rhodes said awkwardly, standing up and taking his hand off her head. Her hair felt cold and unpleasant without it. "Remember to go through your workout drills every night."

"I will."

An uncomfortable silence grew between the two of them. Rhodes remained still, and for a moment Cinder thought he looked like he wanted to say something. She wished he would say something, anything, that would make the unpleasant knot of disappointment inside go away. Then his padded footsteps were sounding again, putting distance between them, and Rhodes was at the door.

"See you soon Cinder." He murmured, then walked away back to his room.

"Goodbye…" Cinder replied, watching him leave. When he was out of sight she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, stood up and walked out the door as well, taking the corridor in the opposite direction back to her room.

She never realised that she'd left the door of her hidden compartment open.

"Mommy, mommy! Cinder's got a weapon!"

He should have said something.

That thought had been knocking around in Rhodes' head for the past three days. Even in the midst of his battle with the Ursa he'd been hunting, a time when he normally tolerated no distractions, his thoughts turned back to his one and only student and their conversation before their parting. Had he gotten his message across to her clearly?

Cinder was like a dau- like a little sister to him. He would have loved to have her company on his hunts until the time came for him to hang up his weapons and retire. He'd taught her everything he knew about combat and theory, but there were still so many tricks left that he could only show her out in the field. If he closed his eyes he could almost picture Cinder walking beside him, swords in hand, grinning with pride as she basked in the feeling of a successful mission. How could he not want to keep her by his side as long as possible?

But that wasn't what was best for Cinder. She'd been denied so much already: the opportunity to make her own friends, her own choices, her own life. Becoming a huntress-in-training was the perfect place for her to make a fresh start. But she'd been hurt so much by others already that he doubted she'd ever open up to strangers if the easier option, staying with him, was available. She'd become dependent on him, and in doing so the bond between them would become just another collar around her neck, stealing her choices away. No, sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind. He'd never abandon her completely, but he'd ensure she had the space to grow on her own before it became too late.

But had he explained that clearly enough?

Rhodes shook his head and sighed, trying to banish the grey clouds from his mind. Perhaps he was starting to get foolish in his old age. It wasn't too late to sit down with her now and have this talk: say all the things he'd left unsaid so far. A lance of discomfort shot through his gut at the thought of having such a personal conversation, but he resolutely pushed that feeling aside. Uncomfortable as it made him or not it was something that Cinder really ought to hear before the end of what little time they had left together, and putting it off would only make it more awkward for him.

He pushed open the doors of the Glass Unicorn and strode inside. It was late at night, so he wasn't surprised to find the lights switched off and the great hall deserted. All the guests were sleeping soundly in their beds after all. So why was it that something about the stillness of the night, some haunting quality to the dead silence, made their hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end.

"... Hello?" He called out, hand subconsciously reaching for one of his maces. "Anybody here?"

Nothing answered. Rhodes let out a shaky breath, mentally cursing himself for getting spooked by nothing. He was too old to be jumping at shadows damn it! Still his instincts insisted that something wasn't right tonight, and he'd learn long ago to trust in his instincts. He needed to check that Cinder was alright first, then once she was safe he would investigate.

Rhodes set off with the quick, silent steps he usually fell back on during missions; prowling through the hotel corridors unarmed, but ready to draw his maces at a moment's notice. No grimm leapt out of the shadows at him, but for some reason that only made the knot of tension in his chest grow tighter.

After what felt like an hour later, but in reality had only probably only been a few minutes, Rhodes spotted the door to Cinder's room up ahead and found himself speeding up. There were no signs of danger, and so despite the way his instincts continued to screech at him Rhodes huffed a short sigh of relief and pushed open the door.

Bong.

Some idle part of the back of his brain registered the sound of the nearby clock tower issuing the first of its midnight chimes, yet to Rhodes the sound seemed muted. At all once his body felt like it'd been dropped into a vat of ice water: stealing his breath away and freezing him solid to stare in horror at the sight that awaited him.

Two bodies lay on the floor, as motionless as puppets with their strings cut. Their expressions were almost peaceful without the saccharin smiles or mocking smirks that usually adorned them, but Rhodes had no trouble recognizing the blonde curls of their hair. Cinder's stepsisters. They had been cruel, there was no denying that, but so were many children! That didn't mean they deserved death!

No! This couldn't be-... she couldn't have…

Yet even as his heart protested his conclusion, his head already knew who the culprit was. His eyes were drawn further up the room to where two women stood: one pressing with feverish fury at the button of the remote in her hand, the other…

Cinder?

Illuminated by the contrasting soft light of the moon and the harsh flashes of electricity sparking from her collar, Rhodes could barely recognize his apprentice. It was her same body, same hair, same clothes, but the way she stood: head held high in defiance, eyes closed in some mockery of meditation, one hand raised to lift her stepmother off the floor by her throat, was like nothing he'd ever seen from her before. His Cinder would never do something like this! She was a shy girl, a child! Not this… murderer!

"You're right."

Rhodes jumped as Cinder spoke, seemingly in answer to his inner thoughts. Yet it wasn't him she was speaking to. Her grip tightened around her stepmother's neck.

"Without you, I am nothing."

Her stepmother tried to choke out some response, eyes filled with terror as she frantically mashed the shock collar remote. But after years of torment it was clear that Cinder had grown so used to the pain that her arm held resolute and steady throughout the shocks.

"But because of you…"

Cinder opened her eyes to stare up into her stepmother's, and Rhodes watched in mortified horror. He'd met his fair share of killers before: people who'd become so deadened to emotion that their eyes were flat and dark like coal. But her eyes were not like that. They were too wide, too bright, filled to overflowing with too many wild, manic emotions for her body to contain any longer.

"I am everything!"

She squeezed harder, and with a sickening, fleshy snap her stepmother went limp. Without another glance Cinder cast the body to the floor.

"Cinder…" Rhodes hadn't even realised he was talking until his lips had already stilled, and suddenly Cinder's eyes were on him. Had they always been such a bright, unsettling shade of amber?

She took one small step, turning her body to face him, and Rhodes was struck by how unnaturally relaxed she looked: as if a weight had finally been taken off her shoulders, but the lack of pressure had left her giddy and unbalanced. She smiled and shrugged at him with the arm not holding her sword, as if explaining the obvious solution to a problem, but her voice held the weak, pleading tone of someone who was well and truly lost begging for help.

"I don't have to run now."

Rhodes' heart burned with the urge to reach out to her, to hold her, to assure her that everything was going to be okay. Cinder had been abused all her life, and by none more viciously than the three who lay lifeless now on the floor. Today had been the breaking point of years upon years of fear, loneliness and helpless rage. And yet in those tempestuous amber eyes of hers Rhodes could see no trace of the frightened little girl he'd found stealing his sword all those years ago. She'd gone insane, he realised in a moment of terrible clarity. Drunk on the power he'd so foolishly offered her after being parched of it all her life. She'd succumbed to the fear that clung to her like a shadow, and now in that fear she'd murder anyone who denied her everything she'd ever wanted.

He had turned her into this. Made her a danger to the rest of the world. And now it was his duty to stop her!

"That's all you'll ever do." He replied, reaching for the maces on his back and watching with grim determination as the desperate hope on her face shattered with heartbreak, then twisted into a feral snarl. He spun his maces and adopted a combat ready stance, issuing a silent challenge, and grit his teeth as Cinder adopted a stance of her own. For a moment they were both still, waiting as the bell tower sounded out its twelfth and final chime.

Bong.

In a flash of rage Cinder burst forwards, fuelled by a mad aggression she'd never possessed before. She leaped and swept her sword down towards his face: a move he'd seen her pull hundreds of times before, but now honed to a wicked speed by vengeful ferocity. Rhodes parried with one mace, wincing as he slightly misjudged the force behind it, and swung to counter attack with the second. Cinder twirled back with the grace of an acrobat, and the two fell in a familiar routine of attacks, blocks and evasions.

Cinder was a wild cat: eking out every advantage from her superior speed, agility and youthful vigour to score light blows wherever she could. Again and again her sword struck like a viper, whittling away at Rhodes' aura. But Rhodes fought like a tank: an immovable colossus of strength and endurance. He weathered her blows with practiced patience, keeping his guard up while skilfully using footwork to try and lure Cinder into revealing an opening. Each of his strikes were tempered by restraint; not for Cinder's sake as they once had been, but to save their energy for the one or two real heavy strikes that, if he could land them, would demolish Cinder's aura.

With one risky gambit Cinder snaked around his back and grappled him from behind, just as she had in their last training session, but Rhodes was prepared for that move now. He called upon his semblance and felt a metallic chill as the skin on his neck mimicked the properties of iron. The increased weight and inflexibility it gave him prevented Rhodes from relying too heavily on his semblance in regular combat, particularly since aura was good enough to protect him from most attacks, but it was very handy to have when an enemy tried to put pressure onto a vulnerable point like the throat.

The only issue was that Cinder had seen this trick before, and as fate would have it she possessed one of the rare semblances capable of penetrating his iron defence. Her other hand shot around to grab his neck, and within a heartbeat her palm was getting hot enough to fry his throat. Realizing he had to break the grab immediately, Rhodes dropped one mace to grab her wrist and bodily threw her over his shoulder, sending her crashing into a nearby shelf.

Before he could lose his advantage Rhodes swooped down to pick up his fallen mace, taking his eyes off of his errant student for just a moment, and flicked his mechashift weapons into gun mode. He fired a couple of shots, which Cinder masterfully deflected off her sword as she charged at him again.

Yet before they were in reach of each other again Cinder's free hand, which she'd had hidden behind her back since that brief moment he'd taken his eyes off her, flung something towards him, and Rhodes' instincts moved to bat the object out of the air before he could even consciously register what it was. A cloud of white filled his vision, and Rhodes quickly settled into a guard to protect his vital areas as the improvised smokescreen faded. Flour huh? Cinder always was good at thinking on her feet.

Before the flour had even settled Rhodes sensed movement behind him, and turned to face Cinder now brandishing two swords. So she'd swiped the second one off his belt while he was blind? Clever. She was good with one sword, but had always taken more naturally to dual wielding just like he did. With both weapons the fight was going to get even harder. He needed to get more aggressive in order to draw this fight to a close before she could overwhelm even his impressive defence through a sheer, never-ending flurry of cuts.

As one they charged each other, both swinging wildly with their twin weapons and filling the space between them with a frenzy of metallic screeches and clangs. Cinder's heightened ferocity made her daring, and after a clever vault off his chest she struck true with a pair of clean cuts, shattering Rhodes' aura. But in doing so she'd messed up her footwork, bringing her centre of balance too far forward. The one things they'd never done in all their training was continue on after breaking an opponent's aura, so her instincts had never prepared her for what came after a finishing blow.

Rhodes seized upon that weakness. His twin maces swung forth with the energy he'd been conserving, forcing Cinder to scramble back and devote all her effort to evading. To her credit she did well to dodge the first two strikes, but without an opportunity to regain her balance it was inevitable that she'd stumble eventually. Rhodes' third blow hit her like a wrecking ball clean in the stomach, kicking her up in the air and knocking the wind out of her lungs. Winded, dazed and unable to manoeuvre, Cinder had absolutely no chance as Rhodes wound up and put all his strength behind one last killer double blow. Her crimson aura shattered into sparks as Rhodes knocked her out of the air like an oversized tennis ball and sent her careering into a chest, where she slumped back lifelessly.

Rhodes had seen his fair share of horrors out on missions before, not to mention earlier tonight, but in that moment where the realisation struck him that he might have just killed Cinder, Rhodes felt terror more intense than anything he'd ever known. It was quite literally like a cold, icy vice was crushing his heart, and for a moment his lungs refused to breath. Every paternal instinct in his head screamed at him to forget his duty, drop his damn weapons, and go her before it was too late! His hands wavered as his grip on his maces came tenuously close to breaking.

And yet Rhodes was a huntsman. It killed him inside to see Cinder like this and not rush to her aid, but when he received his license he shouldered a duty to stand between the public and anything that would try to harm them. Cinder was hurting, both outside and within, but that just made her more likely to lash out violently at anyone who came close to her. He could not afford to drop his guard now.

A flicker of relief sparked in his heart as Cinder groaned with agony and her eyes flittered open, but he did not let it show on his face. Instead he raised one mace up to point the barrel of the built-in gun directly towards her chest.

"You are under arrest." He declared, surprising even himself at how steady his voice sounded despite the emotions warring within him.

Please, come quietly. He thought to himself, begging to the brothers to not let this night end with yet another tragedy. Once she was in custody and safely detained where she couldn't harm anyone then they could talk, fix this broken bond between them and finally deal with the fear that possessed her. All she had to do was give up, and they could still have a chance to say all the things that'd been left unsaid between them.

Cinder glared up at him, eyes alight with so much hate, so much betrayal, that Rhodes could swear he felt it burning him. Slowly one hand reached up, as if to surrender…

Until the other shot out like a snake to touch the bucket of mop water next to her.

"NO!" Rhodes' bellowed, prepared but unable to pull the trigger that would deal the killing shot. Cinder's hand superheated the metal bucket in a heartbeat, and in a repeat of the first trick she'd ever learnt the water within burst apart in a cloud of scalding steam. Rhodes stepped back and fell back into a defensive stance, prepared for an enraged Cinder to come flying out of the mist at him, but instead heard the crash of shattering glass. By the time the steam cleared Cinder was gone, the broken window behind her a clear giveaway of her exit strategy, along with the only sword that'd fallen within her reach: the one she'd stolen from him back when they first met.

Logically Rhodes knew he should pursue her before she got too far away, or at least call the authorities and get them searching for her, but at that moment the aftershock of the sheer terror he'd felt at seeing her seriously hurt crashed into him, and Rhodes felt his knees give out from underneath him. Never had he felt so drained, physically and emotionally, in all his life. With one hand he reached out to pick up the other sword she'd used from where it had fallen.

"Oh Cinder…" He breathed, clutching the sword to his chest and uttering another prayer to the brother gods. He wasn't quite sure what he was hoping for; that she be found and detained before she could harm someone, or that she would escape Atlas and disappear into the rest of the cold, wide world. But whatever destiny had in store for her there was just one thing that he wished of the gods.

"Please. Keep her safe."

Cinder trudged through the knee-deep snow, scowling at the falling snow and biting wind around her. Atlas was fading away into the distance as she pressed further and further out into the wilds, but she refused to look back, refused to acknowledge any sign of that cursed city behind her. Many would have said that it was impossible for anyone, let alone a teenaged girl, to survive out in the arctic wastes with nothing but clothing as thin as hers and a single sword. But Cinder knew better. She had fire to keep herself warm, a sword to hunt and protect herself with, and that was all she needed! She was strong after all. She could survive anything. She didn't need anyone!

Especially not Rhodes.

Tears stung at her eyes, frozen into tiny daggers by the cold that cut at her cheeks, but she refused to acknowledge them, refused to surrender to the part of her that wanted nothing more than to break down and cry. How could she have been so foolish? She'd learnt long ago that everyone only ever used you for their own benefit and abandoned you when you were no longer needed, so why had she believed Rhodes to be the one and only exception?

It was all so clear now. Rhodes had never cared about her. All those little moments when he'd pat her head or tell her that he was proud of her hadn't been about her, not really. He'd only cared about her semblance: about her potential to be the perfect little huntress that'd follow all the perfect little rules he set. And the moment she stepped a foot out of line, took justice for all the torment and abuse her stepmother and sisters had put her through, he cast her aside like yesterday's news. Stepmother had been right all along: there was nobody in the entire world who loved her, and there never would be.

Fine. That was fine. She didn't need them! She didn't need anyone! All their spite, all their malice, had only made her stronger! And she'd keep getting stronger, no matter what the cost, until nobody would be able to hurt her ever again! That was why her semblance let her control fire; because her destiny was to burn away everyone who stood in her path! Like a phoenix she would rise from the ashes of her past and set the whole world of fire so that they could get a taste of what it was like to be hurt for a change!

The moon shone down onto silvery snow before her, illuminating her path further into the darkness that lurked outside the lights of Atlas. One day she'd be stronger than everyone.

One day.

Hello, and thank you for reading the first chapter of my new story: Unsaid.

I've know that a few people weren't very impressed by the reveal of Cinder's backstory, but I'm inclined to disagree. As tragedies go I thought it was a simple but effective one: the story of an abused girl being given one chance at a better life by the one person to show her kindness and coming so very close, but ultimately being unable to escape being the person that other people had made her into. I personally found that it tugged my heartstrings a bit.

Was I think wasn't handled so well however was the build up to it. Besides one little hint at the start of the season Cinder's backstory was never really alluded to, and while I understand that this was because it likely hadn't been decided on until recently I feel like it would have been so much more satisfying if there had been more of a build up to it during the earlier seasons. Maybe a throwaway comment that she despised unicorns, or a barb about general Ironwood where she reveals that she knows all about how to kill men made of metal. Once I got thinking about that my thoughts turned to what it would have been like if Rhodes had survived their encounter and had a small part to play in the main story, and before I knew it this story was sprouting in my head: an alternate universe where Rhodes was a teacher at Beacon during the first three seasons. It isn't super divergent from the main storyline, as I wanted to focus more on the personal relationship conflict between Rhodes and Cinder, but there will be a few changes to keep things interesting.

As I'm sure many people in the RWBY community are I'm a big fan of Coeur Al'aran. I figured if I'm going to write this story I'd give it my best to make it as high-quality as possible, and while I can't commit to a weekly posting schedule I am at least determined to make sure that every chapter is as substantial and well written as I can make it. If all goes as I have currently planned it this story will be 15 chapter long, and will shift points of view between Cinder, Rhodes, Ruby and Qrow. Now that the different between canon and this universe has been set, the next chapter will focus on how Rhodes ended up a teacher, and from then on it'll follow the first three seasons in order.

So if this sounds like your kind of thing, why not click the follow and favourite buttons and come along on this story with me?

I did not draw the cover art I'm using for this story: it is the work of the supremely talented Sunny Teea. I have never met them and admittedly should have tried harder to get into contact before using their image, but I hope that they'll forgive me if they ever see this. I'm only using it without permission because it captures everything I like about Cinder's backstory so damn nicely that it'd be a crime not to use it. If you happen to be Sunny Teea reading this I will of course change the cover image immediately if that is your wish.