After what felt like entirely too much walking, Cinder and Ruby finally arrived in the town that they'd been travelling towards. Seriously, Cinder had never exactly been one for long treks, and at this point she was starting to regret her choice of high-heeled footwear. Still, at the very least they'd managed to make it to this first stop along their journey, a town that went by the name of Kawagoe, and would be able to get some proper rest. Or at least they would, if they didn't immediately get sucked into solving the locals' problems for them.
Practically as soon as they stepped foot inside the town, they heard the sound of an alarm bell beginning to toll, along with the faint noise of cries for help coming from the other side of the settlement. Ruby, of course, had bolted towards the source of the panic without even a moment's hesitation, leaving Cinder to roll her eye in annoyance and then set about following the trail of rose petals that the huntress left behind.
"Just typical," the maiden murmured to herself. She could already guess what was happening, a grimm attack in all likelihood, and while she had little desire to play the hero, if Ruby was going to throw herself into harm's way then Cinder might as well tag along.
She rounded a corner and found herself at what seemed to be the site of the attack, a small market district filled with stalls that were presently being thrown into disarray. Evidently the grimm had forced their way in through the town's southern gate, on the opposite side of the market to Cinder, and then raced inside. She scanned the chaos, seemed to mostly be smaller creatures, creeps and a few beowolves, nothing too threatening. The only notable grimm was an alpha beowolf, which Ruby was presently engaging.
Rose petals fluttered in the air around them as Ruby zipped back and forth, flowing smoothly around the creature's attacks, her scythe twirling gracefully as she scored shallow cuts across its hide. There was something beautiful about the way Ruby fought. She was far from perfect, and even at a glance Cinder could tell that she was making little errors here and there, nothing fatal and nothing that the beowolf could exploit, but there were areas she could improve. Still though, she carried herself with grace, determination, and resolve. The way her cape fluttered behind her, or how her scythe caught the sunlight as it whistled through the air; It was all a little mesmerising.
Probably not the best idea to be standing there staring in the middle of a grimm attack though, so Cinder refocused herself onto the matter at hand. Ruby had the alpha handled, which meant that clearing out the small fries was up to her. She raised her hand toward the nearest grimm, a creep that was presently racing towards her, and attempted to summon up a jet of flame that would incinerate the poor monster.
Much to her chagrin, however, said flames stubbornly refused to materialise. She'd been expecting it, but it still angered her to no end. Ever since she and Ruby had destroyed the grimm arm, her maiden powers had become… difficult. Refusing to activate at times, being far weaker than they should at others. It was infuriating.
Still, at the very least she had other abilities at her disposal. A glass dagger formed in her hand with a pulse of her semblance, and without a second thought she flung it at the approaching creep. The blade pierced clean through the grimm's bony faceplate, its body dissolving into smoke as Cinder strode past it. With another pulse of heat she created a proper sword for herself, almost making a second on reflex before she remembered her current… disability.
Fighting one handed would take some getting used to, but nonetheless she continued on, doing her best to ignore the phantom sensations coming from her missing left arm the whole while. A lazy flourish was all it took to bisect her next foe, a beowolf too busy menacingly approaching a cornered pair of terrified civilians to even notice her approach. She didn't bother checking in on them, if they were well enough to cower they were probably fine, and instead focused in on some shattered glassware that one of the nearby market stalls had been selling. Probably vases and the like at some point, not that it particularly mattered to Cinder now.
She gestured towards the glass, feeling the energy of her semblance flowing out of her fingertips, reducing it down to a molten puddle. Said puddle then swirled up into the air and reformed into an assortment of darts. With a few more swift gestures, these darts went rocketing off, piercing through the hides of a half-dozen more grimm, reducing them all to smoking corpses.
Honestly, this all felt like something of a waste of her skills, but it at least made for a nice way to vent some of her anger over her malfunctioning magic. The wide grin and thumbs up that Ruby shot back at her, right before disappearing into a flurry of rose petals once more, also made her feel… she couldn't quite place her finger on it, to be honest, but it wasn't bad.
It wasn't that she cared about earning the huntress's approval, but… well, maybe she'd just spent too long dwelling on the 'conversation' she'd had with her imaginary younger self back when this all started. Maybe things like this helped her to pretend, at least for a little bit, that she was something more than just the monster that she'd realised herself to be. Whatever, this wasn't the time to be angsting over that.
In the time it took her to put a few more of the lesser creatures to the sword, Ruby finished bringing down the alpha, taking off one of its legs and then burying the point of her scythe into its throat while it was still too shocked to think about defending itself. It seemed that was also how long it took what passed for a town guard around here to rally, forming up and setting about exterminating the last few grimm.
Cinder tossed her sword aside, striding over to Ruby, who was presently wiping a thin sheen of sweat off her brow. "Well, I guess that's all dealt with," she sighed.
Ruby turned to face her and gave another warm smile. "Yeah, great job Cinder! That could've been messy if you weren't there to help."
Cinder rolled her eye. "I didn't do it to help, just getting rid of an annoyance. It'd be a shame if this place got torn apart before we even got a chance to sleep."
"Hah, well regardless of your intentions, you really did help," Ruby gestured to the market around them, to the injured being tended to, to the relieved people embracing their loved ones, "A lot of these people would've died if you weren't here. I'd try my best, but I wouldn't be able to protect them all on my own. So, even if you don't care, I really appreciate what you did." She reached out and let her hand gently rest on Cinder's shoulder.
The only response Cinder could manage in the face of that was a muttered, "Fine," which of course only made Ruby smile wider.
Thankfully she was spared having to continue this particular conversation by the approach of a smiling man that seemed to be some kind of town official. He thanked them both for their help in repelling the grimm and claimed that the town would be in their debt for this kindness, which provided a neat opportunity for Ruby to springboard into "Oh well we're actually running really low on supplies so if you could spare any-"
Cinder didn't have any real interest in this conversation, and so simply wandered off, finding a small crate pushed up against a wall that could serve as a makeshift seat. The relief she felt on finally sitting after a long day of walking followed up by a, admittedly short, fight, was nice, although she'd gotten pretty good at ignoring her own pain over the years so it was hardly necessary. If anything, there was something about just sitting there that rubbed her the wrong way.
She always felt like she should be doing something, even if at times like these she logically knew that there was really nothing for her to do. Like she should be working, striving towards something, pushing herself harder. Maybe it was just a remnant of her childhood that stubbornly stuck with her, any idleness had been punished quite severely back then, and there was always more work to be pushed her way. Or maybe that was just what all those years of desperately clawing her way forward, clinging to whatever scraps of power she could find, had done to her.
Her gaze slowly fell down to the bandaged stump of her left arm. That quest for power was quite decidedly finished now. She had no way to claim any more of the maiden magic, and it wasn't as if Salem would just give her another arm. Now that she thought about it though, she doubted that staying the course would've ever really given her what she wanted. She could have gained the magic of all four maidens, for sure, but even then she'd always have Salem looming over her. She'd never really achieve her goal.
"Uhm, e-excuse me."
The soft voice of a young child sent Cinder's train of thought into a screeching halt. She looked over to the source of the noise, and was confronted by the sight of a small girl, probably no older than eight.
"Y-you um, I wanted to thank you! You saved me, and my mum." The child was visibly trembling, nice to know Cinder could still cut an intimidating figure, with the way Ruby had been treating her lately she'd been worried she'd lost her touch.
"Oh, okay." Cinder thought for a moment. They'd probably been the two people cowering from that beowolf that she killed towards the start of everything. "You're welcome," she finished lamely, getting thanked like this was a rather new experience to her, and she didn't exactly know how she was meant to be reacting. She found herself wishing Ruby were here to field questions for her, this was really more her area of expertise.
The girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, then stepped closer, her hands clasped tightly together. "You're really strong!"
Strong huh? Cinder certainly didn't feel that way. But, she could understand how a defenceless little girl might think that. "I guess," was the only response she could come up with. She glanced about the market, desperately hoping that she'd see Ruby coming over to save her, but it seemed the little menace had disappeared somewhere.
"I uh," when Cinder looked back over she saw the girl's expression had shifted away from her earlier nervousness, instead it was full of admiration, "When I grow up, I wanna be strong so I can protect people! I wanna be a huntress, just like you and your friend!"
In a positively herculean feat of self control, Cinder managed to stop herself from laughing in the poor child's face. She really couldn't be further from the truth, on either count. Cinder certainly wasn't strong enough to protect people, she wasn't even strong enough to protect herself. As for being a huntress, that obviously wasn't anywhere close to right, nor was she Ruby's friend. Still… the actual truth of the matter might be a little difficult to explain right here and now, especially considering Cinder herself didn't have a clear answer on any count. Like, she definitely wasn't Ruby's friend, but they also weren't really enemies at this point. Maybe it'd be easier to just go along with the girl's assumption.
"Of course," she spent a second searching for the right thing to say. Maybe it'd be best to channel her inner Ruby? "I'm sure if you work hard and… believe in yourself? You can become a great huntress. Uh… just like me!" she finished with an awkward thumbs up. Wow, that was a lot rougher than she'd expected. How had she managed an entire semester pretending to be a student back at Beacon? To be fair, in retrospect she managed that mainly by avoiding interacting with people, and acting very aloof and mysterious whenever she was actually forced to speak. Trying to be genuine was a lot harder.
"That's right." Cinder could have screamed in relief when she heard Ruby's voice coming from behind her. Finally, someone who actually knew how to deal with children. Ruby stepped past Cinder, crouching down in front of the child and giving her a warm smile. "From the sounds of things, I'm sure you'll make a great huntress" She gave the girl a cheeky wink. "We'll do our best to keep everything nice and safe until you're ready to take over, alright?"
"Yeah!" The child nodded enthusiastically, grinning ear to ear.
"Well, I can't wait to see what you can do." Ruby stood back up. "Now, do you need any help finding your parents?"
"Nuh uh, mum's right there," the girl pointed at a woman a short distance away who seemed to be looking around in a panic. "Mum! Over here!" she called out, immediately grabbing said woman's attention.
She ran over to them, quickly sweeping the child up in her arms protectively. "Oh, darling, please never run off like that again." the mother cried out. She looked positively distraught when she turned to face Cinder and Ruby. "Thank you, both of you," She looked at Cinder in particular, bowing her head a touch, "We owe you our lives."
Thankfully, Ruby seemed to notice that Cinder was a bit out of her depth here, and so took charge of the conversation. "It's no problem, just glad we happened to get here in time to help."
The mother gave another respectful bow of her head, and then turned and left, taking her child with her. Cinder had the self control to wait until they were out of earshot before letting out a sigh of relief. That had been stressful.
Ruby turned and gave her a bemused look. "You might be happy to know that I was able to get us a free room at the town's inn tonight as thanks for us helping out here. Also, some free supplies for the next leg of our trip."
"Ah, good, I was wondering how we were gonna get around the whole no money thing." Cinder stood, shifting her cape round as she did to cover her left arm. She didn't really like the idea of people being able to see her injuries so plainly.
Ruby giggled a little at the joke, then turned and started to head toward the inn they'd be staying at overnight, with Cinder following close behind.
Cinder lay in the bed she'd been provided, staring blankly up at the ceiling. It was a nice enough place, although she'd long ago learnt to put up with whatever conditions she had to endure. Still, getting to sleep indoors rather than out in the wilderness was something, she supposed. Being able to have an actual bath and clean the accumulated dirt and grime off her skin was another nice bonus. The negatives, on the other hand…
The door swung open as Ruby stepped into the room, hair still damp from her own washing, clad in a nightgown she'd managed to borrow from somewhere. "Hey Cinder, I'm back!"
She grunted in response. The major negative was that she was being forced to share a room with Ruby. Apparently it was the only one that the inn had free, a fact that Cinder highly doubted, in all likelihood they were just being cheapskates. At the very least they had two beds in here though, no awkward forced sharing of one.
Admittedly it wasn't the end of the world, she'd been sleeping in the same general area as Ruby plenty recently with all the travelling but… well she hadn't exactly been sleeping much ever since her extended nap following the grimm arm's destruction. Or before that, for that matter. More often than not she was just laying there, pretending to sleep, and the few times she did drift off were brief and fitful.
One time when she'd woken from a particularly intense nightmare she'd even caught Ruby, who'd been up keeping watch at the time, looking over at her with that sickening look of concern she was so fond of using. She just… hated the idea of Ruby seeing her that way. Of Ruby looking at her that way. Like she was something to be pitied.
And so, she'd been rather looking forward to having some privacy tonight. A chance to get some actual rest. The nightmares wouldn't leave her alone, of course, but she'd been dealing with them for a long time. As long as no one else was there to see her, to know what was happening, she could handle it just fine.
But instead, it seemed she was in for another night of only pretending to rest. Whatever. She was tough, she didn't need sleep.
"Hey, Cinder?"
Cinder tilted her head over to look at Ruby, who was presently sitting on her own bed. "What?"
The huntress brought a hand up to her hair, rubbing at it with clear annoyance. "Do you ever just hate trying to get your hair dry? Like, I spent so long towelling it and it's still wet."
Ah. Well, good to see Ruby was only bothering her about the most important of topics. "Can't say I've ever had that experience."
"Really?" Ruby tilted her head, "Even when you had long hair? I know when mine started getting a little longer it was even harder to manage, and yours was way longer than that back at Beacon."
Cinder shrugged at her. "I just use my semblance to dry it out."
"Woah… that's such a good idea! Your semblance is so useful, huh?"
"I guess," Cinder looked away from Ruby, back up to the ceiling, "Though I wouldn't exactly call being a portable hair dryer that much of an accomplishment."
Ruby giggled a little. "Well, I guess not, but it's still handy. And there're so many other ways you can use it." She was quiet for a moment after that, which Cinder took as a welcome reprieve from the conversation, before continuing. "Having a great semblance is probably useful if you wanna be a… what was it, 'a great huntress, just like me' huh?" she finished with a thumbs up, before snorting at her own joke.
Cinder bristled slightly at the impersonation. Of course Ruby had to show up at the perfect moment to watch her embarrass herself. She shot the huntress a glare. "Well sorry that I wasn't exactly in my comfort zone."
"Oh, no," Ruby held her hands up placatingly, "I didn't mean that in a bad way, honestly I thought it was sweet of you to try and encourage her. Maybe a little lacking in execution, but you'll get there. Although, don't think I didn't notice you claiming to be a huntress. Some of us had to work hard for our licenses y'know," she finished by huffing in faux annoyance, before another smile overtook her face.
"The kid just got confused, it seemed easier to go along with it rather than try to correct her. Trust me when I say that I have no interest in pretending to be one of you."
The smile never left Ruby's face. "Are you sure?"
"Why wouldn't I be sure?" Cinder quirked an eyebrow.
"Well, I'd just been thinking about the future. I was wondering what you were gonna do, when this is all over, y'know? And being a huntress seems like it could be a good fit for you, if it was what you were interested in."
"I…" Cinder could scarcely imagine what wild leaps in logic Ruby had taken to reach that conclusion. "No." No for so many reasons. It was like Ruby had totally forgotten who she was even talking to.
"Hm," Ruby tilted her head to the side again, "Well, what do you think you'd want to do then? After the whole war is over, when things settle down."
The naive optimism made Cinder want to puke. Instead she just settled for a short laugh. "Ruby, I don't have any future after all of this." For some reason Cinder found watching Ruby's face fall as she spoke a little upsetting, so she looked back up to the ceiling, focusing on a particularly interesting scratch in the wood. "When Salem finally wins, at best she'll kill me for betraying her. And if by some miracle you and your little friends manage to somehow win, then you know as well as I do that they'll all be calling for my head next. Maybe they'd try to keep the moral high ground by locking me up for the rest of my life, but it doesn't make much difference. To be honest, I'd rather just be killed."
There were a few merciful seconds of silence before Ruby spoke again. "Well, what if you didn't have to worry about any of that? If you just had the freedom to do whatever you wanted?"
It was a ridiculous question. What was the point of thinking about something that would never come to pass? Still though… what was her answer? What did she really want?
She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be feared. She wanted to be powerful. She could remember saying all of that, could remember the way Salem had smiled back at her, could even remember really believing it at the time. But, she'd come to realise that none of that was entirely true. Strength, fear, power, none of that was what she actually wanted, it was all just a means to an end. What she really wanted was just… to be free, to be safe.
Of course, the only way to actually achieve that goal was through having enough power, so perhaps it was a meaningless distinction. Or at least, she'd spent a long time convincing herself that it was the only way. No, of course it was, she couldn't rely on anyone else. The memory of a huntsman drawing his weapons on her flashed into her mind. A man she'd let herself trust, that she'd believed actually cared about her. A man who turned on her as soon as he caught a glimpse of what a monster she was on the inside.
She knew that no one would ever really want to help her. But still… she found herself looking back to Ruby, who was waiting patiently for an answer. Over the course of the time they'd been travelling together, she sometimes found herself actually believing what Ruby said about sticking by her side. Even if she knew it was foolish, she found herself wanting to trust in her.
So… if she could live whatever kind of life she wanted after all of this, what would it be? She found her mouth moving before she was even fully aware of it.
"When I was younger, before I ever met Salem or knew about any of that… I actually did used to dream about becoming a huntress."
The way Ruby beamed back at her after that made heat start to rise in her cheeks in a way that was very unlike her. She quickly rolled over to face away from the girl and tried to focus on cooling down.
"Well," Ruby's voice was soft, gentle, "If that's something you'd still be interested in, I can promise I'll do what I can to make it happen. I know you're probably right about how my friends are gonna feel, but I can vouch for you, we can figure something out."
The offer just made Cinder feel… confused. After everything that had happened between them, why was Ruby still going along with all of this? Still offering to help her, again and again? "Ruby," she said slowly, "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, Cinder. What is it?"
"Why," her voice trailed off as she tried to order her thoughts. "Why are you doing all of this? I know what you've said, that you really want to look out for me and all that, but I just… don't understand why you would."
"That's actually something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately." Ruby took a moment to think before she properly replied. When she spoke again, her voice was even, strong, and heartfelt. "Cinder, there's a lot I don't know about you. I don't know why you joined Salem, I don't know why you've hurt so many people, I still don't know why you saved me back in Atlas. And, I understand that, whatever your reasons, you might not feel entirely comfortable sharing them. And that's okay. But, when I think about what you did for me, and what I've seen from you since then, I get the impression that whatever the reason, you don't want to be the same person that you were. I get the impression that you want to make some kind of a change in your life. Change is hard, it takes effort, it takes time, but I really think that it's something that no one is too far gone to do. So, even with everything you've done, and even though I'm sure a lot of my friends would disagree with me on this, I really think that you can make that change, and that you deserve the chance to at the very least try. So as long as you're willing to keep trying, I'm willing to keep helping you along the way. Does that make sense?"
Cinder found that she was slowly curling in on herself as Ruby spoke. It was ridiculous. There was no way that she actually meant it. There was no way Cinder could ever be anything but the monster she'd realised that she was back in Salem's throne room. But maybe… maybe letting herself believe, just for a little while, wouldn't be too bad. It was a beautiful lie, if nothing else. "It does," she replied quietly.
"Alright. I guess we should get some sleep huh? Gotta make the most of these beds while we have 'em," Ruby gave a soft laugh. She seemed to wait for a response at first, but when none was forthcoming she shuffled over to the lamp that was illuminating the room, snuffing it out and plunging them both into darkness. "Goodnight, Cinder."
There was silence for a few minutes after that, the only sound being that of Ruby settling into her bed, and then only the soft noises of the town outside their room. Still, Cinder found herself wanting to say something, even as her mouth ran dry at the thought. Eventually though, she managed to force herself forward. "Ruby?"
At first there was no response, and Cinder worried that she might've taken too long and the huntress was already asleep. But then, there was a soft, "Yeah?" to dispel that notion. Cinder took the opportunity to suck in one last, deep breath, and then said something she really, truly meant.
"Thank you."