Full summary/ Inspired by various 'Mama Cinder AU' artworks, comics, and stories

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Cinder Fall, Crime Lord of Vale, finds a five-year-old child dying in the snow.

Twelve years later Yang Xiao Long moves to Vale, finally escaping a drama that centered on the loss of her sister, Ruby Rose. At Beacon High, Yang has a chance encounter with Ember Fall, a strange woman with a frightening likeness to people long dead. They form an uneasy friendship as Ember seems to have a fondness for keeping secrets.

All the while, trouble brews within Cinder's organization.

Can everyone get what they want without getting hurt, or worse, hurting each other?

AN/ A number of people have taken jabs at 'Mama Cinder' AUs, and I've always kinda wanted to throw my hat in the ring. Though, if I had to pick one story as the inspiration of this specific idea, it would be Fallen Shadow69's 'Everything Put Together Falls Apart'.

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This is my first major work since the start of my self-proclaimed 'writing rehab'. I am not finished writing this story yet, but the first five chapters are all ready. I have not decided on an upload schedule, I may upload once every few days or once a week. Once a week is my hard cap, as long as I have a chapter ready you won't have to wait longer than that.

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If you enjoy what you read, please let me know! Follows and Reviews are always appreciated, and is the best way to support me if you want to see more!

A gunshot echoed through the northern forest. Blood stained the snow, and Cinder Fall sighed. Contrary to popular belief, the ashen-haired woman didn't enjoy this dirty work. But she knew it had to be done, and sometimes people needed to be reminded why she was the boss.

"You didn't have to do that," Emerald Sustrai, one of her most loyal associates, argued.

"Do you want to join them?" Cinder warned her subordinate, cold amber eyes challenging the green-haired, dark-skinned woman. Emerald stepped in to take care of the bodies, but Cinder's hand stopped her. "Leave them to be found. A message buried is a message unread."

Emerald nodded, not needing to ask what the message was. 'We own Vale.'

The pair went their separate ways. Getting into their separate vehicles and leaving in separate directions. Cinder once again sighed behind the wheel of her black luxury sedan. It had been a rough few weeks. Some up and comers thought they could break Vale's rules, and when confronted they lashed at Cinder's organization instead of falling in line. After a bloody few weeks, peace would finally be restored. Two of the three ringleaders in question were now cooling off in the snow, and the third would learn their fate before too long. He would be a fool not to listen after that.

Cinder's car wound through the forest road, her headlights desperately fighting the darkness cast by the nighttime canopy. It was only thanks to the fact that the sedan was worth the money Cinder spent on it that she managed to avoid running over a man who had stumbled into the road. The car screeched to a halt and the man fell back. Cinder quickly jumped out of the car to check and was relieved to see she didn't actually hit the man.

The man in question was about her own age, blond, and drunk off his ass by the smell of his breath. There was another smell there too, one Cinder picked up as she helped the man to his feet. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" He shouted, pushing her away. "Better now… better than ever…"

Cinder watched the man stumble into the darkness once more. A flash of silver on his belt caught her eye, and she identified the mysterious second scent. Gunpowder. "Better now, you say…" Cinder murmured to herself as she opened her car door to leave. "Guess I'm not the only one who likes a cold forest to get rid of problems…"

She was about to step into her vehicle but hesitated. She felt a pull toward where the man had initially stumbled onto the road. She sighed one more time and closed her car door. She had bodies less than a mile away. Whatever that man had done, she probably didn't want it to be associated with her. That's what she had told herself, anyway. She followed the pull of fate into the forest with a flashlight and a keen eye against the ground.

It wouldn't be her eye, but her ear that alerted her. A whimpering breaking the dead silence of the dark woods. What she finally found made her heart drop. The dark-haired girl couldn't have been older than four or five years old. She was breathing slow, shivering breaths and blood seeped from the right side of her head. Cinder acted quickly, throwing her coat off and wrapping it around the little girl. She pulled one of the sleeved up to tie around her head, putting pressure on the wound.

The girl winced, unfocused, tear-stained silver eyes opening briefly. "Don't… daddy, don't… I'm… sorry…"

Cinder felt a fury rise within her. She was reminded of her own less-than-stellar childhood. Abusive authority figures were a thing she was intimately familiar with and had shaped much of her life. That man was lucky he had already vanished into the night. Cinder found herself wishing she had stomped on the gas rather than the break.

None of that now, Cinder refocused herself. She picked up the bleeding bundle and bolted back to her car. Any cop about to see my driving better recognize my car. I don't have time to be nice to good Samaritans.

Cinder paced the waiting room, hoping for word on her young discovery. Finally, the doctor she left the child with stepped into the room looking for her. "How is she?" Cinder immediately demanded.

"She's stable and resting," the doctor assured her. "She'll live, Ms. Fall."

"Take me to her," Cinder snapped, and the doctor quickly obliged. They were soon standing outside the girl's room, looking at her through the viewing glass. "What exactly is her damage?"

"The gunshot grazed her skull with only a slight fracture," the doctor explained. "There is no obvious physical damage to her brain, but with someone so young there's bound to be something. Her brain would have rocked around her skull, causing any kinds of bruising or chemical shifts to any area, even away from the actual bullet damage. Personality shift and mood swings, loss of motor function… anything, and nothing we can detect until she wakes up."

"If there is something like a personality shift, we wouldn't even know," Cinder realized, "I have no idea who she was before the bullet."

"There's also other things we found…" the doctor continued, "her right humerus is snapped, and just below the fracture is another in the late stages of healing. We've also found currently broken and healing bones in her ribs, and early healing in her left radius."

"I should have ran that fucker over…" Cinder growled.

"Ms. Fall?"

"Let me know the moment she wakes up," Cinder ordered, "Tell me, and only me."

"Ms. Fall, that goes against-"

"Don't tell me what it goes against, do as I fucking say!" Cinder shouted, "Before you need a doctor, doctor."

The man nodded shakily, knowing this woman's position and reputation only too well.

Less than twenty-four hours later Cinder was back in the hospital speaking to the doctor once again. "She's awake?"

"Yes, and only you, I, and her nurse knows," the doctor assured.

"Good," Cinder stepped passed him and into the room. She laid her eyes on the young girl, who was playing with her fingers and waiting, not knowing what to do. "Hello, little one," Cinder smiled, her entire demeanor shifting. This wasn't someone to scare.

"H-hello…" the girl mumbled quietly.

"Do you recognize me?" Cinder asked, curious if the girl retained what she saw in the forest.

The girl was quiet for a long moment. "S-should I…?"

"Hey, there's nothing to be scared of," Cinder spoke softly and moved slowly to comfort the girl. She didn't want to move to quickly. She knew all too well what that meant to an abused child. "I'm here to help, okay? Something very bad happened to you and I just want to know what you remember about last night?"

The girl cast her eyes down. "I don't remember anything…"

"That's okay, let's start with what you do remember?" Cinder asked.

The girl was quiet once gain. "I… I don't remember anything…"

Cinder was stunned. "Anything?" she asked. "Family?"

The girl shook her head.

"Friends?"

The girl shook her head again.

"…Your name…?"

The girl hesitated before slowly shaking her head one more time.

Cinder had nothing else to say, and slowly stepped out of the room. The doctor looked at her with a knowing eye. "She remembers nothing?" Cinder questioned.

"Nothing at all," the doctor nodded, "The only thing the solicited a response was the photograph, and it wasn't exactly a positive one."

"What photograph?" Cinder squinted her eye.

The doctor fished the item out of his breast pocket. "Other than the clothes she was wearing, this was all she had on her."

Cinder took the picture. It showed the girl in the room, the man from the night before, and another child with blonde hair and lilac eyes.

"We can try and track down her family, but-"

"We are not returning this girl to an abusive family," Cinder finished the thought for him, whether it was indeed his thought or not. She stuffed the photograph into her pocket. "I'll take her."

"Ms. Fall?"

"I'm getting real sick of you questioning my every decision," Cinder seethed. "The only thing on paperwork right now is she's a Jane Doe brought in by a stranger, correct?"

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Then bring me whatever paperwork I need to fill out to formally adopt her. Without the attitude, please?" Cinder added, not really asking.

"Yes, ma'am."

Cinder took a deep breath before re-entering the girl's room. She didn't want to bring that attitude in with her. The girl needed to be shown love, not anger. "Hey, little one," she greeted with a smile.

"Hello," the girl smiled slightly.

"How are you feeling?" Cinder asked softly.

"My head hurts… and I want go…" she stopped, realizing she didn't know where 'home' was.

"We'll go home soon, sweetheart," Cinder promised.

"We?" the girl asked, looking up at her hopefully.

"Yes, we," Cinder slowly shifted closer, trying her best to appear warm and inviting. "I'm your mother, after all."

"My…?" the girl's eyes went wide. "I… I don't remember…"

"That's fine, sweetheart…" Cinder finally held the girl close, kissing her forehead. "We'll get through this. I'll help you though this… Ember."

"Ember?"

"Ember Fall," Cinder nodded, "That's your name."

"Ms. Fall?" the doctor stood in the doorway with a set of pens and a clipboard of papers. "I have the…"

A sharp look from Cinder told him to be careful with his words.

"…discharge paperwork here."

Her smile told the doctor he was successful. "I'll be right there."

"We're… going home… mommy?" the girl, now christened 'Ember', asked slowly, getting used to the new information.

"Yes, dear," Cinder smiled, "We're going home."

Two weeks later

The girl now known as Ember found herself running through a strangely familiar house. A dark shape chased her, a monster she couldn't make out. She didn't know who or why, but she knew she was frightened of it. She tried outrunning it, but it was faster than her. Her feet followed an unknown path up stairs and through a door, where a different figure waited. A shining golden shape that enveloped her and made her feel safe. The light will keep me safe…

But the light wasn't strong enough. The shadow still came as it always did. There was a struggle, a sorrowful apology in the light's form as the monster won and pulled Ember away. Fear and pain surrounded her once again. Even as she was pulled away, she knew it wasn't the light's fault. It just wasn't strong enough. It and Ember were both trapped by the shadow.

With a start, Ember awoke. She was sitting in her bed, in her room, in her house. At least, she was told it was all hers. She couldn't remember being here before, though it wasn't like she could remember being anywhere else either. What she did know was that this room felt impersonal. There were no decorations, no character to the air, no worn books on the shelves. Do I like books? Ember didn't know.

She decided to leave the cold room with the 'too fresh to be lived in' feeling for the one place she did trust. She found her mother's room, and her mother sleeping peacefully in her bed. Ember slowly climbed in, trying not to disturb the woman.

"Ember, honey?" Cinder's tired voice told her she was unsuccessful.

Ember looked over her mother. While not everything seemed to match up, she did trust Cinder. There was love in those amber eyes when she looked to Ember. Cinder being awake didn't change the young girl's plans. She burrowed into her apparent mother's arms.

"The nightmare again?" Cinder asked. She felt Ember nod against her chest. "It's just a dream, dear. Mommy's here."

Ember felt safe here in Cinder's arms. It reminded her of the golden figure in her dream. Her mother gave off a similar, if slightly different feeling. A feeling of warmth, of protection. A feeling of love.

Twelve Years Later

Ember was startled awake. She sat up slowly, slightly shaking and confused. That nightmare again? I haven't had it in almost eleven years… The now seventeen-year-old suddenly felt five again. She quickly decided to retreat to the same place she had when she was five. She stood up, not bothering to smooth her simple pajamas, and followed the scent of cooking food to the kitchen.

Cinder stood over the stove, frying eggs to be eaten alongside the already finished pancakes. She turned to see her daughter walking toward her and smiled. "Morning, honey. Are you excited for Junior year?"

Ember didn't reply. She finished her walk to her mother and quickly embraced her, burrowing into Cinder's arms.

Cinder's surprise didn't keep her from reciprocating. She held Ember close and patted the girls head. "Not that I'm complaining, but didn't you tell me you were a little old for morning hugs? What's this for?"

"I had the nightmare…" Ember told her quietly.

"You mean the nightmare?" Cinder asked, knowing the girl stopped having it over a decade ago. She felt Ember nod against her chest. "Oh, honey…" Cinder tightened her grip, comforting the young woman.

They stayed like that for a few moments. Cinder didn't dare let go even to turn the stove off, and let the eggs burn. "Sorry," Ember quickly offered once she finally broke away.

Cinder turned off the fire and looked over the damage. "No need to apologize," she assured, "I've been wanting to get a new pan anyway. Cookware isn't that important."

"I don't know why," Ember sat down at the table. "Why after this all this time? Why now?"

"Maybe it's a sign," Cinder suggested, "Maybe fate is trying to tell you something?"

"You know I don't believe in fate, mom," Ember gave her mother a teasing smile.

"Not as an indisputable future, no," Cinder agreed, "But as a guiding hand?"

Ember shrugged.

"Well, it's up to you how you chose to interpret it," Cinder kissed her daughter's forehead. "Are you feeling better?"

"I am," Ember nodded, "I love you, mom."

"I love you too, honey. Now get ready for school," Cinder returned to the stove.

"Awww, do I have to!?" Ember complained.

"Yes. Only seniors can catch senioritis," Cinder teased.

"…So if I were a senior…?"

"Even if you were a senior, you can't skip the first day," Cinder insisted in her 'mother voice'.

"Fiine," Ember dramatically conceded and went back to her room to get ready for her day.

She stepped into her bedroom and gave the room a once over with her eyes. It was a far cry from the cold, impersonal room from her first week in this home. Splashes of black and red covered her bedding and walls. Books line the shelves, though her video game cases far outweighed them. There were no band posters on the wall, because Ember listened to way too much music and there wasn't enough room to cram all her favorite bands on the walls. Instead, dark toned and gothic art hung there instead.

Ember's eyes finally leveled with the full-length mirror next to her closet, allowing the girl to examine herself. Her eye was immediately drawn to her right temple, where her bedhead allowed a glimpse at something she generally hid. She pulled back her hair and fully examined the scar there, the wound that stole her memory and did who knows what else. It had stretched and grown as she had in the past twelve years, looking much larger than what a bullet should really leave.

She grabbed her brush and began sweeping her hair to completely cover the scar. When she was younger, it had always led to strangers asking questions she wasn't comfortable answering. Overly concerned elders, curious children, the occasional nosey individual at some age in between. It felt like every day someone was interrogating her. When her hair grew long enough to cover it, she did so with gusto hoping it was enough.

It wasn't. People who knew her but never got the story never stopped asking. Strangers began to question what she was trying to hide. She remembered one older woman asked her 'why would you hide your pretty face'. Admittedly that last one was likely good natured and was paired with a complement, but it still highlighted the issue. A distraction was in order, Ember decided, and that was how she got her first piercing.

The glint of silver in her lower left lip worked better than she thought. People started to assume her hair was just part of her new 'goth' aesthetic, an aesthetic she wasn't opposed to falling into anyways. Despite the complete success of the single lip ring, Ember got another a few weeks later. This one was on her lower right lip to balance her first. She then reminded herself she was trying to get people to look away from the right side of her face, so her third piercing was in her left eyebrow.

She wasn't sure when it all shifted from a practical decision into an obsession. Now, in addition to her original 'snake bites' and her brow piercing she had a second brow piercing right next to the first, a set of 'spider bites' in her upper left lip, a stud in her left nostril, two rings in her upper left ear and a piercing in each earlobe. She was hoping to finally get a tongue piercing for her eighteenth birthday.

Ember has had it all for so long now she slept with most of her jewelry still in. The two exceptions to that rule were one, a chain that went from her left earlobe and connected to one of the rings above it and two, a burning rose dangle earring. The burning rose was her favorite piece that took pride of place in her right lobe and was often covered by her hair along with her scar. Sure, it wasn't on display like the rest of her silver, but it didn't need to be. That piece was for her and her alone.

"You better be getting dressed and not staring at your face-holes again," her mother called out, steeping into the room to see Ember doing exactly that. She sighed, "That is one addiction I don't think I'll ever understand."

"Sorry," Ember offered, finally opening her closet.

"If you don't hurry, you'll have to take your pancakes to go," Cinder warned, "I want your car out of that driveway by seven-thirty, little flame."

"Yes, mom," Ember nodded, pulling out a pair of black jeans, a black tanktop, and a red lace shirt with long sleeves and frilled cuffs. "What do you think?"

"With your coat?" Cinder considered, "Simple, but standout. Well put together. Your boots may be too much, but the high tops may be too… little."

"I'll go with the boots. Thanks!" Ember smiled.

"I've got to get ready for my own day," Cinder announced.

Ember waved her off and began to change. Once she was completely dressed out, she looked over herself in the mirror again. She was never one to truly be concerned about her appearance, but the sight still made her smile. Someone once told her she made all that darkness look bright. She wasn't entirely sure it was a compliment, but she decided to take it as one nonetheless.

She opened a drawer that held her wallet as well as other essential day-to-day items. As she equipped herself with her daily gear, another item in the drawer caught her eye. A very old and worn photograph, quite possible the single most important thing she owned despite not having given it much thought for a few years now. First the nightmare, now this? Maybe mom is right… maybe there's something to this 'fate as a guiding hand' business, Ember thought to herself, dragging her fingers over the image of the blonde with lilac eyes, but what does it mean?

Halfway across the city, in a dorm provided by the high school as part of a special arrangement, a nineteen-year-old woman rose from her own nightmares to begin her first day of senior year in a new school. A woman with long blonde hair and glowing, if saddened, lilac eyes.

AN/ If you happen to know a certain other work of mine, you know I've used the name 'Ember' in a vaguely similar way as I have here. I did try to think of a different name, but honestly, 'Ember' as a name is fucking gold for both stories, and I feel is good in the different stories for different reasons to boot.