"Does it hurt?"
Cinder smiled looking down at her arm before shaking her head. "I don't feel them anymore."
"Do they never go away?"
She shook her head again, running her finger down the bumpy line. "No, they are a part of me now. It's a memory of the past."
"Found you." The woman said, tapping her foot into Cinder's arm with a smile. Said woman opened one eye before sighing.
"Wasn't exactly hiding Em." She said, closing her eyes.
Emerald hummed putting her hands behind her back holding on wrist with her hand, she slowly walked to the edge before looking down. "Figures you would be up here," she mused leaning up against the half wall. "When in doubt find a high spot, you'll always find Cinder."
The onyx harried woman rolled her eyes before sitting up in her spot looking over at Emerald. "Can I help you?"
The woman smiled, leaning her elbow on the ledge before setting her chin in the palm of her hand. "Was I bothering your nap? My bad I didn't mean to." She said with a grin on her face before Cinder groaned pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I was just coming to check up on you, you didn't answer any of my texts." Emerald said, turning around leaning her back against the wall.
Cinder frowned, pulling out a small carton from her pocket and her phone giving it a quick glance, true to the other woman's words she had missed a few messages from her. "Sorry I wasn't paying attention to it." She paused, pulling out a cigarette. "Guess I zoned out."
Emerald hummed and in the blink of an eye she was in front of Cinder with a lit lighter in her face. The onyx haired woman looked up at her for a second before setting the cigarette in the flame.
"Seems the new thing you've been doing, zoning out, penny for all those thoughts of yours?"
Cinder shook her head taking a deep breath letting the smoke burn in her throat as Emerald sat down next to her, she sighed blowing it out letting the end of the cigarette rest in her lips. "Just got a lot on my mind is all."
Emerald nodded before plucking the stick, taking a drag from it before frowning at the taste. "Come on Cin, since when don't you share your struggles with me? We used to be close." She handed the stick back to the woman before leaning back letting her hands support her as she looked up at the sky. "I feel you don't come to me anymore when you have a problem, even that human knows a lot… what's her name?"
"Coco." Cinder muttered, flicking away the bud. "And she doesn't know more than you, she's a friend and my boss that's about it."
"Boss, honestly." Emerald shook her head. "Still, I heard she called mother a few weeks ago, concerned with you not eating enough."
"You're just bringing this up now?"
Emerald shrugged, running her finger along the ground. "You've been away, plus you don't talk to me anymore, always busy with this or that."
Cinder huffed, running a hand through her hair before pulling out another cigarette. As she held up her hand she stopped when Emerald held the lit lighter in front of her face making her sigh. She leaned forward letting the end get lit. "Welcome to my life Emerald, I needed to see Neo and take a break."
The woman hummed giving Cinder a side eye glance. "It's because of the Branwen's isn't it? You've been acting weird since mother told you about it."
Cinder shook her head watching the smoke float up to the sky. "Not everything is about them, it's the White Fang I'm stressed about, you remember what happened to father." She paused, sighing. "I guess maybe it is them a little as well, I have no idea if that Belladonna girl has anything to do with this, over the last few weeks there has been nothing."
"And the redhead? Let me guess blondie has fought tooth and nail to prove her sister's innocence."
"So far she's right, I've been watching whenever I can, I've seen nothing that points to either of them being involved."
Emerald nodded. "Do you believe her however?"
The onyx haired woman paused for a moment taking a drag from the cigarette before shrugging. She wanted nothing more than to believe her, but nothing was adding up.
"We will see, right now I'm pushing to see if I can get more information. Also got called in, a body was found off of 17 in an alleyway."
"Could it be the White Fang?"
Cinder gave no reply besides a shrug as she flicked the bud away.
"Any word of the council getting involved?"
She shook her head. "None, nothing from the Association as well, just the possible lead on this body. Everyone has been quiet, which honestly is getting to be really annoying."
Emerald snorted. "You know this job sounds so complicated and confusing. That kill off 17 could be anyone, Qrow could be lying hell even blondie could, it feels like you're being roped into some wild goose chase. I'm so glad I didn't get assigned this." Emerald said.
"...you make one wrong move and all the years you've built up will be gone."
"It's just one giant puzzle picture, of course I have to find all these pieces to put the picture together…" She sighed leaning her head back. "I was never good at those." She closed her eyes letting the wind flow through her hair.
She felt her back slam into the door as a loud bang was heard, she took a deep breath, her eyes slowly going to the floor watching small droplets of blood fall.
Her body slid down the door before she hit the ground with a groan, she felt hands rest on her shoulder, muffled words reached her ears. All she could see was mint green hair and piercing red eyes making her sigh. Her hand went slowly up to her shoulder as her hand gripped the knife before she tugged pulling it out in one go… all she could see was red…It was all red.
She felt her shoulder shake making her open her eyes looking up at Emerald who was now standing in front of her. "You sure you're okay? You zoned out again, maybe you should feed."
Cinder shook her head quickly, before running another hand through her hair. She glanced at her watch frowning at the time. "Yeah I'm fine, I promise." She said standing up before grabbing her backpack before Emerald stopped her from going too far.
"Why don't you go home, you don't look like you're doing well, I'm sure you can take one day off from playing human."
"Like I said Emerald I'm fine, I don't want to skip out on the first day. If anything happens I promise I'll leave." She said resting her hand on Emeralds, she could see the struggle in the woman's eyes before she sighed.
"Whatever you say, Cinder."
"What's your favorite thing about Fairy Tales Ruby?"
The redhead hummed looking up from her book before putting her finger to her chin thinking for a moment. "It's the happy endings, I love them. Like the one in the book mom got me, the one with the girl stuck in the tower."
"You know life isn't always a happy ending right?"
The redhead nodded slowly, closing the book before holding it out in front of her. "Well that's why we get to choose, we get to decide if our life is happy or not."
"Pretty ambitious for a child… but you're right, we get to decide our own story and how it ends."
Ruby felt something poke her shoulder before she sighed looking over to Blake. The redhead gave her a look tilting her head. "You zoned out, wanted to see if you're okay." Blake whispered as she set something on her tray.
Ruby nodded quickly grabbing a few things before following Blake. "Just tired, only halfway through the first day and it feels like it's never going to end." She said adjusting her bag before pulling her phone out.
Y- The gang's all outside, I'll wave for you when I see you.
The redhead nodded towards the doors she assumed went outside as they made their way through the cafeteria. "Well if you didn't force down a gallon of sugary coffee in the morning you wouldn't be feeling this way."
"Also doesn't help that I have horrible insomnia, nooo just my coffee addiction."
Blake rolled her eyes elbowing the redhead in the shoulder making her chuckle.
As they walked outside they both looked around, Ruby's eye caught onto something bright she laughed a little gesturing for Blake to follow. She noticed Yang look up and around before spotting them smiling. "Looks like I didn't need to show you the way."
"I'll be honest, it's hard to miss Weiss' hair." Blake said, earning a few laughs from the table.
"Total ice queen." Nora half whispered behind her hand getting a glare from Weiss.
"Honestly it's not like I had any control over the color of my hair," the woman said, crossing her arms over her chest with a small huff. "And I told you to stop calling me that, it's almost as bad as vomit boy."
"Hey, we said this year we would never bring that back up again." Jaune said deflating at the name.
"Sorry vomit boy but we made no such promises." Yang said, getting a groan from the blonde.
"I'm never going to live that down." Jaune muttered letting his head fall onto the table.
Both Blake and Ruby raised an eyebrow looking at each other before laughing a little.
"I promise one day I'll tell you the story of why he's called that." Yang said ignoring the refusal from him.
"Sounds like it would be an interesting story with that name." Blake said, popping her salad container open.
Lunch was filled with small conversation throughout the group, mostly Blake and Ruby listening in on the stories of the high school and various teachers.
A few weeks before school started Yang got the group together introducing the two to her friends. Each of them had their own unique personality, but it was something that added more to them. The blonde wanted to help ease their transition into the school, it was something that didn't go unnoticed at all by them.
Despite the redheads' cold nature over the weeks they were accepted into the small group.
"Hey Jaune, is Pyrrha joining us?" Yang asked, pulling Ruby out of her thoughts.
Jaune gave a hum before pulling out his phone scrolling through. "I think she might be having lunch with her mom, since it's the first day and all." He said.
"Wait, Pyrrha?" Blake asked, taking a bite of her salad.
"Yeah, Pyrrha Nikos. She's another person in our group, she's been away for some time with her mom. They take trips during the summer overseas. Do you know her? Wouldn't be surprised if you do know her, she's quite popular."
The woman hummed tapping her chin before giving a shrug. "Name sounded familiar is all, could've been someone else." She said, giving a hesitant smile.
'Nikos, that was the nurse's last name, and Jaune just said mom.' Something clicked in her head as she slowly took a sip of her water.
Bright red hair and Emerald green eyes, a spitting image of that woman. She leaned her chin in the palm of her hand as she looked at Blake out of the corner of her eye, even if she did try to hide it she could see the slight panic. Was she thinking about it?
She leaned back a little slowly moving her hand to hold the woman's elbow getting her attention. Blake looked over to her their eyes meeting for a second before she tilted her head.
Over the years she learned how to tell when the other woman started to panic, even as she tried to hide it many times from her.
Blake gave her a small wave and a smile as she went back to eating her salad.
Ruby frowned, picking up her other half of her sandwich taking small bites, she kept a side eye on the woman. After a little she sighed, putting all her trash on her tray before standing up. "Blake and I are going to go to the bathroom before the next class," she said, swinging her backpack on her shoulder. "Yang, I'll meet you by my locker?"
She could see Yang look at Blake really quick before giving the redhead a thumbs up.
Ruby looked at Blake before tilting her head to the side for the woman to follow, both of them giving their goodbyes to the group as they left the cafeteria area. It didn't take them long to find the designated location, both of them wasted no time in going in.
She watched as Blake tossed her bag onto the counter before turning the sink on to splash her face.
The redhead waited for a moment as she set her bag next to Blake's before leaning back against the counter waiting.
The woman let out a sigh as she leaned above the sink watching water droplets fall.
"You didn't have to pull me out."
Ruby sighed before giving a shrug. "I could see you needed a moment, you try to hide it but I know the look."
Blake shook her head grabbing a paper towel from the slot before drying her face.
"I heard that name and I thought about him." She whispered, patting her face, leaning up against the counter a few feet away from the redhead. "When I see Kira it's fine, I don't feel… panicked. Yet the moment I heard her name it just… something snapped."
"Well also Kira doesn't know what happened, Pyrrha does. Hell, even her mother does." Ruby frowned, scooting across bumping shoulders with her. "To be honest I'm surprised it took me this long to realize that the school nurse was her mother… never had time to meet her."
Blake snorted as Ruby rolled her eyes as she leaned her head into the redhead's shoulder. "I wonder why…"
"Shush you before I kick you."
The redhead said as they both went quiet sitting there.
"What are the odds that she moved to this town?" Blake asked, running a hand through her hair.
"Very low." Ruby said as she grabbed her backpack and Blake's. "I mean if we run into her we run into her. I doubt she too wants to relive any of it."
Blake nodded before taking a deep breath. "You're probably right, thank you for this."
The redhead gave a wave shaking it off. "You do the same."
Jaune groaned as he fell onto the ground huffing for air. "I'm not made for running." He said puffing out his shirt hoping to cool himself down.
"Damn you even got beat by a girl, a short one at that." Yang said, wiping her brow with the back of her hand before popping open her water bottle.
Ruby rolled her eyes, stretching her arm out to her leg. "I'll have you know it doesn't really make a difference if you're short or not, it's relatively even… you're just slow." She said rolling her neck before getting up from her spot. "It also doesn't help you that I used to do track back in middle school, so I know how to run."
Jaune groaned again, getting up from his spot as well as the class slowly made their way back to the gym. "Why didn't you tell me that before I asked to race?"
The redhead shrugged tugging on the long sleeve shirt. "Watching the struggle was enjoyable."
Yang laughed, shaking her head as she caught up to Ruby walking next to her.
"I'll be honest, aren't you hot in that long sleeve shirt? I'm surprised, most of us wear them during the winter time." The blonde said.
Ruby nodded, recapping her water bottle. "I get cold easily, plus it's more comfortable for me." She said scratching her cheek.
"I can understand that, Weiss gets cold easily too, it's why we call her ice queen, also because she's cold to everyone."
"Seems something we have in common." The redhead said as the class slowly filed their way into the gym, her hand slowly went to her shoulder before she shook her head.
"Dads going to kill you." Blake whispered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"That's if he finds out, and if he does well it's covering my shoulder and that's it. Nothing on my face or anything visible, so he can't get mad about me not being able to get a job." She paused before kicking her foot out, stuffing her hands in her pockets. "It's also because I want to get the scar covered… I hate seeing it, that's why I asked you to come."
Blake frowned, stopping before letting out a sigh. "When are you going?"
Ruby looked up from the paper in her hands before blinking a few times at the door in front of her. She looked around, noticing students walking down the halls to get to their classes, making her frown.
'I really need to stop losing my focus. I could wind up somewhere I don't want to be.' She pinched the bridge of her nose before glancing down at the paper looking back up at the door.
She took a deep breath before pulling on the handle walking into the class. As she walked in she looked around the class at a few students who were already seated at some of the desks, her eyes stopped at the front of the class looking at the main board, a seating chart displayed.
Out of all her classes in the day this was the first one that had a seating chart for the class. She scratched her cheek as she gave a quick once over searching for her name…the only problem was she didn't find it. After a few more tries she sighed looking down at her schedule again making sure she was actually in the class.
"Having trouble?" Someone asked behind her making her jump, she spun around looking to see who it was, coming face to face with Cinder… and boy she was so close.
"Well… I think I'm in the right class." Ruby said, taking a step back away from the woman pointing towards the board.
The woman nodded looking at the board herself before looking over to the teacher.
"Mr. Oobleck."
Ruby gave the teacher a smile as she noticed him spin around at the call of his name, she gave him a once over noticing how messy his appearance was…how was he a teacher?
"Miss…. Branwen here is new to the school," Cinder said pointing towards the redhead before pointing to the board. "Her schedule says she's in this class but you don't have her up on the board." She said patting Ruby on the shoulder lightly before walking off to what Ruby assumed was her seat.
"Right yes yes, please let me see your schedule." He said holding out his hand to her for the paper, she did as she was told before taking a step back away from him watching as he quickly went over the paper.
'Is this what I look like to Blake when I have too much coffee.'
"Yes, right, I made a mistake." He said holding out the paper before letting it go giving Ruby barely enough time to catch it. He stood in front of the board, chin in the palm of his hand as he looked it over before he pointed at a spot.
"Right now to Miss Fall in the back middle row Miss Branwen, only available seat left."
She looked back to where he said before her eyes locked onto Cinder's. Fall… Cinder Fall.
'She never told me her last name, only her first.'
Ruby adjusted her backpack as she quickly made her way to the back of the class before sitting in the only empty desk. All the desks were in pairs, so each person would be sitting next to someone.
"Yes yes, let's get started everyone. Welcome to European History, the person you see next to you will be your partner for the year, trying something new this time around. If anyone has any objections please speak your mind now." He said pulling his glasses down a little looking at everyone, not one person made a single movement. "Good let's get started."
Ruby sighed, pulling out a few items she thought she would need.
"Seems you and I are stuck together." Cinder said as she leaned her chin into her palm, while her other hand drummed against the desk.
The redhead nodded, flipping open the notebook as she looked up to the teacher. "Seems so."
Cinder hummed doing the same thing, she picked up her pencil spinning it around a few times. "Well it's a good thing, Oobleck loves to talk extremely fast. I'm a pretty good listener so if you need any notes I'll help you out."
"You just love helping don't you?" Ruby said taking the papers a student had passed back to them.
Cinder shrugged, taking the paper, slipping it under her notebook. "Guess it's just in my nature to be helpful to those in need. Plus you seem like the damsel in distress type."
The redhead frowned, shaking her head as she looked over the syllabus. "You obviously have the wrong type of girl in mind, I don't need someone to save me." She sighed marking a few things to remember later. "But it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the help."
Cinder nodded, continuing to spin the pencil in her hand. "So not the fairytale type of girl, sorry if I hit a sour point."
"Maybe if you asked me when I was younger, sure." She paused for a second. "But life isn't always like that, not everyone has a happy ending."
"That's true, but sometimes we just have to make due. Well besides that then, since we're going to be partners why don't we find out who Ruby is, of course you can ask me who I am… since we're going to be stuck together this year." She said, giving the redhead a side eye glance.
"Since I have no choice, might as well." Ruby said, watching as the teacher sat down, having given them the instruction to do what they were about to do. "Well obviously it seems you know far more about me then I do, so why don't you start?"
Cinder nodded before setting her pencil down, she crossed her arms over her chest thinking for a moment. "Well now you know my full name, Cinder Fall. I'm 17, obviously the age to go to high school, or do you still not believe me?" Ruby rolled her eyes at this getting a laugh from the woman. "Let's see, what else, well I've lived in this town for my whole life pretty much, nothing too crazy about me."
Ruby hummed. "If that's the case, can't say we've ever met, then again I really don't remember much about this town before I moved away."
"We probably would've never met anyway." Cinder said, giving the redhead a smile. "I was home schooled by my mother since I could read, one of those helicopter parents who never let their child leave the house without miles long bubble wrap."
"Trust me, I know all about that." Ruby muttered looking up to the clock checking the time. "Well one other thing, you mentioned you were friends with my sister? How did you two even meet?"
She watched as Cinder paused for a moment, amber meeting silver before she looked away.
"Well I knew her mostly because of school, but it wasn't until I took my car to her dad's garage… we are more acquaintances really I guess, friend being a loose term. I heard about you a few times though whenever I went there."
Ruby gave a slow nod as she looked down at her desk. 'Everyone keeps saying that… how much do they really talk about me? What does he say?' She felt her eye twitch before she sighed quietly.
Cinder frowned, cursing under her breath before adjusting in her seat slightly. "Well, all in all how are you enjoying school? Didn't seem like you were having a good morning."
"I had a headache, and was getting frustrated at being lost. Thankfully I know the basics of how to get around… but still feel I'll get lost anyway."
Cinder laughed, bringing her knuckle to her mouth, covering it slightly. "That seems to be your thing, you always look lost."
"That's what happens when you move back and everything has changed." Ruby said, looking back up to the clock before closing her notebook.
"Here, before class ends." Cinder said, tearing off a small piece of paper from her notebook before scribbling something down that Ruby couldn't see. "Might as well," she handed the paper to the redhead. "It's my phone number, like I said before it seems we will be seeing each other around more often than we think." She said standing up from her desk as the bell rang.
From where Ruby was sitting she could've sworn she saw a pained expression on the woman's face, watching as she quickly walked out of the classroom being the first one to leave, her eyes slowly went back to the piece of paper in her hand.
Cinder took a deep breath as she rounded a corner before leaning back against the wall, her hand slowly going up to her neck.
"Dissociative amnesia is associated with traumatic events, you may forget or block out a memory from the trauma. Humans are fragile dear, she experienced a traumatic event that therapy may never solve. However, given her current status if you completed what she started-"
"God damnit." She brought her hand to her mouth feeling sharp ends poke into it.
"You'll get closer and closer until," She closed her eyes, taking a shaky breath as she bit down ignoring the pain. "I want you to realize what you're doing Cinder, it's killing you. How long are you going to keep this up?"
Hush your cries
Close your eyes
Stay with me
Let's just dream
Quietly
Of what might be
Calm your fear
I'll be near
To you
I'll cling
Rest my friend
Time can mend
Many things
I don't know the answers
Tomorrow's still unknown
But I can make this promise
You won't be alone
The redhead let out a yawn as she stretched her arms above her head, she hummed to the song as she looked down at the papers spread out on her desk. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand before closing her eyes focusing on the song.
I don't know where we should go
Just feeling farther from our goal
I don't know what path we will be shown
But I know that when I'm with you
I'm at home
Yes, I know that when I'm with you
I'm at home
There's a quiet place
In my embrace
A haven of safety where
I'll dry your tears
Shelter here
In my care
She slowly opened her eyes looking at the picture on her desk smiling a little, she leaned forward picking it up running her finger over the picture with a sigh.
"Oh come on, we need to get a picture here! You only see things like this once in your life!"
Ruby smiled as she glanced at Blake who let out a laugh.
"Alright Summer, give me the camera then before you break it." Qrow said holding his hand out to the woman, the woman handed him the camera before walking over to the two girls, she wrapped her arms around them giving them both a kiss on the forehead."I'll make a scrapbook of all of our best moments, so when you two have children you can add onto it as well."She smiled, pulling out her headphones before setting the picture back down, her eyes wandered over to the clock on her nightstand.
12:54
She stretched her arms again before collecting all the papers into a neat stack, a small ripped piece of paper catching her attention as she did.
Cinder
xxx-xxx-xxxx
'Right, I never messaged her.'
The redhead frowned, holding the paper in the hand as she rested her chin in the other. No matter how many times she saw Cinder… she always had a feeling, some feeling about the woman she couldn't quite shake. There was only one other person who made her feel this way… and after a bit of time her hunch was correct. She felt a shiver go down her spine just thinking about it.
"Well I knew her mostly because of school, but it wasn't until I took my car to her dad's garage… we are more acquaintances really I guess, friend being a loose term. I heard about you a few times though whenever I went there."
She frowned, leaning her head back to look up at her ceiling. What did she mean by friend being a loose term? Were they friends or not? Or was there something more? She groaned, running a hand through her hair shaking her head again. Something she would have to ask Yang later at some point.
A light knock brought her attention away from her thoughts, she got up quickly to the door before pulling it open. Qrow stood on the other side leaning against the doorframe, he gave her a look making her sigh as she gestured for him to come in.
"I saw your light on, figured you were still awake, as usual." He said as she closed the door behind him. "No, I'm just sleepwalking, wouldn't be the craziest thing I've done." She walked over to her bed before sitting down, she looked up to him seeing that he was looking over to her window.
"Something wrong with my window?"
He hummed looking over to her before back to the window, she watched as he walked up to it before he shifted the curtains to the side, the locks clicking. "It wasn't locked," he sighed, fixing the curtains walking over to the bed sitting next to her. "Even if you're on the second floor you shouldn't leave it unlocked."
She frowned before nodding, she pulled her knees to her chest both quiet as they sat there. The redhead glanced in his direction out of the corner of her eye watching him, he had his eyes closed as he sat there.
The hand rested on her head as the man sat next to her in the seat, she didn't say anything as he sat down. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, turning her head away from his direction.
"No wonder you won all those races pipsqueak, you can run fast, that's for sure." He said looking over at the redhead, she stayed where she was with her head down. "Listen kiddo, I know you're angry, but you can't run off like this." He ran a hand through his hair before scooting closer to Ruby, he pulled her closer, as he did this she turned stuffing her face into his shoulder.
Ruby took a deep breath shaking her head as her shoulder shook. He ran his hand along her back leaning down lightly kissing her head as she cried. "I… was angry!" She sobbed gripping on his shirt. "At her…"
He nodded, wrapping his arms around her. "I know, I know."
She adjusted in her seat scooting closer to him before leaning into him. "How was work"? She whispered, resting her chin on top of her knees.
"Busy, nothing ever wants to slow down." He brought his hand up resting it on top of her head. "School was okay?"
The redhead gave a small shrug, closing her eyes. "Nothing special so far, school is school honestly. Hanging out with Yang's friends is nice… but still getting used to all of them." She whispered, taking a deep breath, the smell of old cigars filling her nose.
"When this case is all done I'll bring you girls out to dinner, probably go to that old diner."
She hummed, scratching her cheek. "Isn't that the one that has those really good strawberry milkshakes?" She gave a small laugh. "Out of all the things I remember, it's a strawberry milkshake."
He smiled, shaking his head before patting her shoulder. "Strawberry milkshake it is then, we'll get you one." He said getting up from his spot on the bed before making his way to the door. "Please try to get some sleep at least?"
"Wait dad," She hopped up quickly from the bed, she stopped for a moment rubbing the back of her neck. "About this morning-"
He waved it off, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it kiddo, we'll talk about it another day. Just try and get some sleep for now."
It's me again \o/ I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
For some that don't know the song she is listening to is Home by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams. I'll be honest I was listening to that song while writing that last part and it took me a hot minute to write that.