VERITY

Oscar laid on the ground whimpering in pain as Hazel took a step back, glaring down at him. "Hazel, please… You're a better person than helping her." Oscar spoke up.

"And Ozpin is nothing more than a coward for hiding behind your face!" Hazel kicked him in the stomach harshly, resulting in him coughing in pain and his aura shattering again. "Just tell me what the lamp's password is and your pain can end, you don't have to protect him."

"I have no choice, but to." Oscar sat up on his knees before Hazel picked him up by his collar. "He's me now, after all."

"That's what I hate about him." he restrained Oscar's wrists with a pair of gravity bolas and hung him from a hook hanging from the ceiling of the torture chamber. "He'll hide behind the face of another man, to let them suffer for him…"

He started toward the door. "I'll have to stop right now before I kill you."

Oscar started to struggle in his restraints again before Ozpin spoke up in his head. "Please Oscar, this isn't your pain to bear…"

"It isn't? If he knows he's talking to you that'll only make things worse." Oscar sputtered out.

"If I'm in control you won't feel a thing, please. It's the least I can do…"

"Do you have some kind of plan for how we can get out of this?" Oscar asked him.

Ozpin seemed to pause in thought for a moment. "Well, Salem's spent so much time inserting her agents into our forces to cause anger and division…"

"So why don't we give her a taste of her own medicine?" Oscar finished the thought, resulting in a faint chuckle from them both now. "Like Minded souls, huh?"

Hazel was adjusting his wrist bracers when Emerald approached him suddenly.

"Hazel, I wanted to ask you something…" she began, crossing her arms and looking away while doing so.

"I'm all ears." he assured her in his more gentle tone.

Taking a deep breath, Emerald looked him in the eyes. "I want you to be honest with me, what is your opinion on Cinder? Mercury's acting like she's the worst person ever, but I know she's better than that. She took me in and… And promised me I'd never starve again as long as I worked with her. But Mercury thinks she doesn't give a damn about me or anyone else. That's not true, is it?"

Taking a deep breath, Hazel put a hand on her shoulder. "If I'm going to be honest with you, in all her time here, Cinder and I haven't shared many conversations. All I've really seen are her actions and the results of them."

"Great, so you can give me an unbiased outlook on her-" Emerald was cut off.

"Her actions have been reckless and selfish." he began. "In all of her recent attempts to pursue power she's shown little care for anyone working with her."

Emerald grit her teeth. "You can't be serious! I know Cinder, she's… She's just coming around still, she's more than just some power hungry monster! She cares about me…"

Hazel now firmly locked eyes with her. "Look, nothing I or anyone else says will convince you to think any way about Cinder. So all I'm going to ask you to do, Emerald is to search for those answers yourself. If you truly want to believe Cinder cares about you, but are having doubts… Put your faith in her to the test. Go out and seek the truth for yourself."

The words Hazel shared with Emerald surprised her to say the least, given that his initial words were scathing about how Cinder's relationship with her were and yet, he cared enough to ask her to search for herself? Balling her hands up into fists, she simply nodded. "I will."

With that Hazel was left to his work again and entered the room.

Oscar's eyes lit up briefly and he looked Hazel in the eyes. "Hazel… What happened to your sister is one of the biggest mistakes I made. Had I known what was out there that day I would have-" Ozpin took a harsh punch to the chest and coughed.

"It was the biggest mistake you could have ever made, and I'm going to make you pay for it one punch at a time." he slammed his fist into Ozpin's chest after the full realization that it was Ozpin he was talking to and not Oscar.

The sounds of the car engine humming lulled the young Cinder's sense of awe as her new family drove toward what was going to be her new home.

The sights of the skyscrapers, ships flying through the air and all the fancy lighting and technology were truly wonders to the young girl.

"So this is what you see every day?" she asked her older sisters who giggled among themselves.

"You know it, sis! We just can't wait for you to see our home!" Esmeralda clapped as the young Cinder sat up in her seat now.

"Only the best for our little sis!" Drucilla hugged her, squeezing her a bit too hard, not that she complained given how little affection she had ever received prior to this.

Soon enough, the car's engine came to a halt and the doors opened, revealing the sight of a building called The Glass Unicorn.

"Whoa…" the young Cinder stared up in awe at the sign while Madame and her two daughters made their way in ahead of her.

"Come now, Cinder." Madame insisted as Cinder shook off her stupor and ran inside after them, the door slamming shut right behind her.

Several hard knocks broke the silence that the Schnee manor had fallen into since the events of the previous night and the door opened up, with Whitley standing on the other side of it.

"You have a lot of nerve to come back here after the damage you did to-" Whitley was in full on rant mode but stopped when he saw that Blake and May were carrying an injured Nora with them. He stepped aside to let the group in.

"My room should be a good place for her to rest." Weiss explained. "It's on the right side of the staircase down the end of the long hall."

"Got it." May nodded and with Blake's help began to carry Nora up the stairs and in the direction Weiss pointed them towards.

"Where's everyone else?" Ruby asked, looking around, expecting some members of staff to still be around these parts.

"They were all dismissed after father's arrest and with all that's going on, I doubt they'll come back." Whitley admitted sadly. "Now it's just Mother and I left here."

Ruby wanted to say something, but she had a feeling it wasn't her place to talk about Weiss's family.

"Whitley, do you know where our medical supplies are?" Weiss asked as Whitley immediately started walking ahead of her and past the staircase..

"Follow me." he seemed insistent now, which surprised Weiss. "Come on, do you want to help your friend, or not? She looks seriously hurt."

Willow's words to Weiss about forgetting her brother echoed into her mind as she nodded and followed behind her brother. "R-Right!"

"I'll be with the others." Ruby assured her before starting to walk over to the stairs.

The interior of The Glass Unicorn looked like your standard inn; a central lobby and multiple floors worth of rooms. One thing that really stood out to Cinder was the Ursa statue the lobby had and all the other fancy decorations the place was decorated with. "Whoa… Which of these is my room?" Cinder asked curiously.

"Follow me." Madame insisted now as her two daughters were already ahead of her, entering a back room to the place.

There was an air now about the woman that made Cinder feel uneasy, she didn't quite know why, but she almost didn't want to follow Madame to the back room.

"Cinder." the woman called out to her again as she quickly ran into the room where she was standing now, only to trip and fall on her face by a leg that was conveniently stuck out. The door closed behind her now as she looked up.

"Ow… W-What was that for?" Cinder asked as something was tossed at her feet. It looked to be a collar of some kind with a yellow gem attached to it.

"Put it on." Madame commanded as Cinder held it in her hands.

Cinder was still very much oblivious as to what this was. "A gift?" she asked.

A slight snicker echoed behind her from Esmeralda, that she turned to see, but the girl dropped it. A behavior Cinder was all too familiar with from her time in the orphanage. But perhaps that was more playful laughter than mean laughter?

"Yes." Madame implored the girl more as she did as she was commanded, putting the collar on, a sharp locking sound was heard, which caused Cinder to panic and immediately try and pull it off, but that was met with a sharp pain, a shocking pain.

She began to spasm on the ground as the collar she put on started electrocuting her. "W-WHY?!" she cried out as the electrocution stopped abruptly and Madame's hand moved from behind her back, revealing some kind of remote in her hand.

"From this day forward if you want to eat, you are to clean this Inn from top to bottom. Failure to do so will result in more shocks, am I clear?" Madame's tone changed completely from the kind woman Cinder thought she was, she now showed a very two-faced side of bitterness, and the two girls that were behind her began to laugh.

"What? Did you honestly think a scrawny brat like you would get anything more than this?!" Esmeralda taunted her.

"Oh dammit I forgot to get a picture of her face!" Drucilla seemed upset more at that, than the blatant abuse they had just witnessed.

"W-Why?" Cinder's eyes looked around the room as she began to tear up, hoping for sympathy or just anyone in the room to show some sign of basic empathy. But instead, she was met with another short shock that caused her to bend the knee more.

"You can start by cleaning the floors." Madame stated. "Clean them till they're clean enough to eat off of." the woman then tossed a small loaf of bread in front of Cinder that she immediately rushed for, snatching it up and eating it.

"She's like a rodent! You sure she isn't a faunus, Mom?!" Drucilla asked her.

"Of course not, I made sure in the paper work, after all. It wouldn't speak well for the reputation of our lovely Inn if we were to taint it with their kind." Madame assured her daughter. "Now then, I expect results within the hour, am I understood, Cinder? Your new uniform is in the closet."

She didn't respond, instead just picking herself up and walking toward the open janitor's closet while her two 'sisters' snickered among themselves.

Clean the linens, sweep the floors

Cinder immediately got to work with a sponge, starting to thoroughly scrub the floors down. Her uniform was a white shirt with gray laces on the sides with gray pants and matching gray shoes. Her hair was tied into a small bun on the side of her head.

Shut your mouth and do your chores

When Madame checked the floors, she noticed a dirty spot left that Cinder missed and dragged her into the back room, electrocuting her with the shock collar again.

Scrub the dishes in the sink

No one said that you should think

Cinder began to scrub what was in the sink as hard as she could before getting abruptly poked with a fork by Drucilla, causing her to drop a plate into the sink, breaking it, right in front of Madame, who responded with another shock.

Shine the silver, wash the clothes

And when you're finished, darn the socks, draw my bath

A cake was being removed from the kitchen that caught Cinder's eye and she wanted just a try of icing, but her hand was slapped away from it by Esmeralda, who took a cherry off the cake and handed it over to her sister, who snickered while walking away from the kitchen, making sure the missing Strawberry was in their mother's line of sight, resulting in Cinder getting shocked again.

Fetch my slippers, fill my glass

And rub my feet; Hurry up, you're so slow

Cinder was now dusting around the Inn, reaching around in places that she needed a ladder for, that Esmeralda and Drucilla purposefully started shaking. She scrubbed the toilets and folded towels as well, under Madame's watchful eye.

You're no good I hope you know

That your life is of no use

Just outside of a guest's room Cinder picked up a tray of finished food and began to eat whatever scraps she could from it before walking past

And the truth is that

No one's ever loved you

Cinder clumsily fell over in the lobby of the Inn, dropping a tray full of plates and bowls.

"I didn't even trip her that time." Drucilla whispered to her sister with a laugh as Madame glared down at the fearful young Cinder.

Cinder's late evenings were mostly spent in solitude in the back storage room that was her designated Bedroom.

By following the mice that plagued this room, she found a vent that she could open up and so she climbed inside, being able to see guests in the rooms on this floor as well as observe how her new family acted without her around.

Drucilla and Esmeralda liked to try on clothes in front of each other almost like they were using each other as reference, while Madame spent her evening sewing clothing that seemed close to designer.

This of course caught Cinder's eye among many things the other guests in the other rooms busied themselves with during the night.

Taking things was easy for her, and she made sure to only take small things as she knew the jig would be up if she was found out, things like food, scraps of cloth, small belongings caught her eye.

It was just another simple day of scrubbing when the sound of a sword being unsheathed drew Cinder's attention, down in the lobby below her, she saw a dark skinned man with black hair, holding up a sword in front of a group of curious guests. He wore basic armor over what seemed like pretty casual Mistralian attire, there wasn't a shadow of a doubt this guy was a huntsman.

"And this is a recent addition to my arsenal-" he began to explain before the sounds of something nearby, forced Cinder to look back over at the work she was doing, only to see that it had essentially been undone.

There her adoptive sisters were, tracking mud on the floor for her to clean up. "You missed a spot!" Esmeralda stomped her foot down to ensure the mud would splash around and spread more.

For once in her life, she felt like her blood was boiling. Without knowing it, her hand was starting to glow orange while the two sisters laughed at her.

Before anymore could be said she slammed the brush she was using onto the ground, resulting in a misty fog spreading around the Inn as the two girls screamed out in fear while running away from her.

For some odd reason that felt good. Like something about those two running off from her in fear was gratifying, maybe it was the fact that it caused them to leave her alone, however, this would be something short lived when the two sisters ran to their mother's side and pointed up at Cinder.

The huntsman downstairs had noticed Cinder's outburst and seemed curious now.

In the kitchen's storage room, Madame electrocuted Cinder more. "How DARE you assault my daughters!" she yelled out at Cinder who was barely given any time to catch her breath.

"M-Madame, please I was-"

"And don't think I haven't noticed your little side-project." She took the scrap of cloth Cinder had managed to take for herself and use for sewing practice to create a relatively simple pattern.

"I-I just thought that maybe if I showed you I could do more, that-"

"Don't think… Obey." she glared down at Cinder before ripping up the piece of cloth in front of her as tears began to well up in the younger girl's eyes.

"W-Without you, I am nothing…" Cinder declared weakly.

Madame's eyes narrowed while Cinder's widened. She pressed the button on the remote again.

Salem sat on her throne, now gently stroking the head of the Hound who seemingly accepted her signs of affection by leaning its head toward her.

The door into the room opened followed by footsteps as the Hound stepped away from Salem defensively now, snarling at the individual who dared to approach it's master.

Salem raised a hand up, resulting in the creature turning away from this guest and moving back to her side.

"Cinder." Salem's voice stated from behind her throne as the other woman knelt down before her.

"Y-Your grace…" Cinder bowed her head down as well. "W-What is that thing?" she asked.

"An experiment." Salem stroked its head now. "One that's proven very effective."

"I see…" Cinder looked away. "I was just wondering if there might be any chance you could reconsider your stance on my pursuit of Ironwood's creation. If I get the powers it holds, then we could open the vault and claim the staff with ease!" Cinder reasoned. "This battle could be won with ease!"

"I made myself clear to you, Cinder, you are not to leave until I command you to." Salem raised her voice as the hound stood up and started growling at the woman again.

"But you don't understand those brats like I do! I think they're planning something that might complicate things-" before Cinder could argue anymore a powerful burning sensation spread up her arm and she screamed as her hand attempted to stab it's sharp nails into her face, her other hand just barely being able to hold it back.

"Do you hear that? She thinks." Salem held the Hound's head gently while standing herself up to face Cinder. "My orders are clear, Cinder." she looked the woman in the eyes now.

The Hound audibly let out a laugh, a single chuckle escaped it.

Cinder's Grimm arm finally stopped trying to kill her and she panted heavily. "W-Without you, I am nothing." Cinder apologetically bowed her head and dismissed herself from Salem's presence.

Walking back in the direction of the landing platforms, Cinder was starting to approach the ship she and Neo had taken to get to the whale as Neo made herself appear, leaning by a wall.

"I know what she said. But I need to check on something, she refuses to believe me when I tell her those annoying kids are up to something that'll put her plans at risk." Cinder explained while Neo was now following her to the ship.

The shorter woman transformed herself into Ruby and pointed at herself while glaring at Cinder.

"What you want doesn't matter right now!" Cinder snapped, which earned a scared reaction out of Neo, who quickly turned back into herself, wondering if taking Ruby's face on had triggered anything.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Cinder calmed herself with a deep breath. "Look, there's a chance that Ruby and her friends are planning to do something with Amity." she explained, which made Neo smile and nod.

"So you're adamant on going then if there's a chance she's there?" Cinder now stopped dead in her tracks and created a sword in her hand, pointing it right behind her, where Emerald quickly dropped the hallucination.

"Wait, wait!" Emerald waved her arms in front of her defensively. "I just wanted to ask if I could help too."

Cinder lowered her sword and decided to let her continue while Neo just rolled her eyes, and jumped up toward the ship with Hush open, letting a sharp current of wind carry her till she landed right atop the ship, sitting with her legs crossed.

"I've trained with my semblance and I know I can be of help to you." Emerald explained to her, earning a nod.

"Fine, we leave right away." Cinder stated before flying herself into the ship that Neo was starting up.

Emerald followed her into the ship as it soon took off, departing from Monstra.

The Hound snarled from the corner it watched all of this from before sinking back inside...

Commentary: This chapter surprised me. Not really as the first originally added chapter, but with the title. I went for something a little more on the generic side for it, "Patience", mainly because Cinder being told to stop being so greedy about power and show a bit of patience. But then I thought about it more... The song that plays in this section of Cinder flashback is called "The Truth". Then there's also the bit I added with Emerald's faith in Cinder being tested, with her being asked to search for the truth herself. Then there's younger Cinder in the flashback learning the truth of her new "family". So I decided on "Verity" which is just another word for Truth.

That aside, I do love how I've been pacing Cinder's backstory in these chapters where it's involved thus far. I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit gut wrenching for me to write the turn with Cinder's family, who had up till the middle of this chapter led her along, making her believe she was getting a nice home and life. Then that façade gets ripped away from Cinder and she's pulled into a life of servitude and abuse.

Not much to say about Weiss and Whitley's interaction here, other than that her Mom's words from last Volume are sticking with her here, and she's wanting to make amends with her brother...

As for the aforementioned stuff with Emerald, you can likely see where this one's going. Apart from that, Neo is still sassy and I love her for it.