With the sword, Salem was cutting through every offense they could mount. With the torch she endlessly regenerated her Grimm and healed the wounds of her loyal followers. Tyrian was at the head of her vanguard, destroying one veteran Huntsman after another with the gifts Salem and Watts had granted him: with his tail having claimed nearly all of Atlas's best. Watts had seized the machines from Ironwood's control and had encircled the small alliance of kingdoms and hunters banding together. Their defeat was a certainty: all Salem and her forces had to do was press on.

Cinder had no such goal. There was only one foe she sought in the throng of enemies, only one whom she needed to kill to be complete… both for acquiring the last of the four Maiden gifts and to soothe her own wounded pride.

She passed by more vulnerable targets and even better strategic options. She didn't care how many others died, only that one very specific woman died at her hand.

Raven Branwen rallied her tribe to join the last stand in Atlas, as she had little other choice. Her powers made her an asset to that loose mixture of kingdoms, and as a result they'd taken steps to protect her. Steps Cinder was only too happy to step on.

Once, Raven Branwen bested her. History would not repeat. No one would ever even know that history. When Salem shattered this alliance and acquired the last two relics, there'd only be a few people left to tell the story. "History" would be whatever they wished it to be.

Cinder had acquired Winter and Summer in her battles. All that remained was Spring. All she had left was one final battle to gain the missing piece- the last fragment that prevented her from being whole.

Raven's eyes found hers'. She knew what awaited. She stepped forward, confident she could best her foe a second -and final- time. Cinder was incredibly powerful, but Raven believed her greater experience would be enough to win the day.

They clashed several times over the battlefield. Many fighting on the ground were annihilated as collateral damage as one element after another struck beneath.

But after many savage blows, Raven Branwen fell, and Cinder stood triumphant. She had only to deal the final blow and look in Branwen's blood red eyes when she did… see the life leave her as her power was drawn to Cinder in that single moment.

As Cinder approached, however. Raven drew her sword. Cinder was amused, expecting a feeble last stand she could easily press past..

Instead, Raven asked: "What was the girl's name? Your follower?"

Irrelevant prattle...

She drove the blade through her chest. As she shook, Raven's blood red eyes met Cinder's own. "Emerald…?"

At first Cinder thought nothing of it… until she realized what Raven had done. By the time her second arm reached Raven, the power had flown from her…

And flown to-

Emerald… her loyal right hand.

The last obstacle between Cinder and everything she wanted.

Raven had one last act of defiance to mar Cinder's progress. Her last stand would linger in Cinder's memory whether she wished it to or not... she couldn't help but understand such spite.

Cinder wouldn't risk failure. She wouldn't risk so much as waiting.

Cinder found Emerald away from the battlements, confused by what had overtaken her, as unfamiliar magic seeped out from her eye. Emerald looked up at her and spoke her name, looking to her teacher, her protector -her savior- for guidance.

Emerald had been nothing but loyal to her, standing by Cinder even at her lowest. But the end was too close. Destiny was too close.

Cinder hesitated only a moment before impaling Emerald. Some part of her hoped she could extract it without killing her, that all the power could be hers' without the cost of Emerald's life.

She kept going. She had to know.

She had to know.

Emerald lost her mother very young. Cinder took a similar role for her, somewhere between parent and… altogether different. She loved no other woman in her life. There was no one else she could've thought of.

When Cinder felt the Spring Maiden's power join in her soul, when she knew her mission was complete, Cinder told herself it was worth it.

She kept saying it over and over.

It took a few hours more for Salem to crush what remained of the resistance. All that remained of Faunus and humanity alike had pledged themselves to her and united under her banner. Cinder doubted there were more than two hundred left, and many of them swore allegiance only out of abject terror. One the crown was used upon them, however, any despair; any thought of rebellion vanished.

Cinder watched the ceremony, standing with the others of Salem's inner circle. Those left anyway… Hazel had served his purpose and been summarily disposed of, and Emerald…

Well.

Cinder was still telling herself it had been worth it.

Salem brought the four together: Creation, Destruction, Choice, and Knowledge. The spirits of their chosen trinkets harmonized together, playing the hymn that would draw Light and Dark back to this remnant and finally end this quest.

Salem looked triumphant as their energies carried up into space, summoning the gods back to her. How she'd delight -how Cinder knew she would- when they returned and saw the very woman they cursed had been the one to inherit the remnant they'd left with all their creations united under their banner as they had before.

Instead… nothing descended from the sky. No gods returned, and Salem found no revenge.

For a long time her master just stared at the four trinkets, unable to process it. She'd been working towards her goal far longer than Cinder had, and to know that all her hard work, all her suffering, all her loss… had seen this as her reward.

Watts was content. He had mastery over the world -what was left of it- second only to Salem herself. Tyrian was as distraught as his 'divine savior', whom he thought infallible. When Cinder turned to Mercury, hoping his mentor understood what had occurred, Cinder thought back on Emerald, and Raven, and Amber, and the others she slew to get this far…

And she laughed.

All that she sacrificed… all the people she killed, all the pain she suffered, all the maiming she willingly inflicted upon herself, all that she had sold her soul to acquire and… this was the reward Salem had always promised?

Nothing?

She had her power. But she was even less whole than when she'd had only half a Maiden's power.

She'd had Emerald then. She'd had purpose then.

Now…

Now she looked over a dead world, more powerful than any save Salem herself, and… this was it? This was her victory?

She kept laughing long after Salem commanded her silence. She couldn't help it. Laughter was preferable to tears.

She got what she wanted.

Just as she was destined to.

It was worth it...

She couldn't say it anymore.

All she could do was laugh.