Chapter 22: Dread

It was dark, save for the single, weak light she worked by. Her fingers stung as she gripped the brush, scrubbing the cold stone floor. It was a familiar darkness, and one she had hoped not to revisit.

Cinder was dipping in and out of consciousness. Her head throbbed and her eye socket stung. She felt a pressure on her gut, like she was being carried. Judging by the limpness of her limbs, she assumed it to be the case. She could not process much else before fading out again.

Through her haze of distorted thoughts, she envisioned fire. There was smoke and flame, debris and blood. Her vision was blurred but full. It was as if she had both eyes again. She remembered coughing as the smoke filled her lungs, thinking each firebomb would be the last one and that Lord Ozpin would finally relent. But he never did.

"Salem!" she remembered screaming. "Salem, where are you?"

"She must have gotten out of the city already!" Emerald's voice called.

"We have to go now!" Mercury's voice joined in.

Cinder's eye slowly began to open. Grey light poured in, and hurt. She quickly shut it again, and fell back into the darkness.

The water from her constantly-scrubbing brush was mixed with blood. She looked up from her tedious work to see a crumbling building, and a woman weeping over the charred corpse of an infant. Suddenly she was on her feet and out of rags, running for her life with her allies close behind. Even through the smoke and tears, she saw an escape route; a worn path between the buildings leading up a hill, past some rocks, and out of danger. There were already so many clamoring, crawling over each other as they fled on the path. Cinder was just another one, constantly looking for her mentor and friend.

She blinked, and she was on her knees, naked and bruised. She felt the all-too-familiar shock of pain through her body, and the terrible sensation snapped her back onto the route. There was screaming coming from the front of the crowd. Children's cries were cut short. Women's screams echoed. Men's pleas ended in yelling. Cinder could not see what was going on. She gripped her blade and pushed forward, attempting to help in whatever way she could. As she approached, a figure clothed in a long red cape and hood burst out from behind a stone, a massive scythe in hand. There was a sound of magical laughter as it swung the scythe at her face.

Cinder snapped back to consciousness with a start. Her nightmares were blending together. She gasped loudly as she came to her senses. She tried to flail, but felt a tight resistance. She breathed heavily, trying to remember where she was and what was going on. Her eye scanned around her to see Emerald, laying on the dirt across from her. Her eyes were shut tight, and she had a trickle of blood running from her green hair and over her dark skin. Her arms were bound behind her back, and her legs were tied at her ankles with thick rope. Cinder pressed against her bindings to conclude that the same had been done to her.

She looked further down to see Adam, wrapped in a rusty chain. His mask was still on, but Cinder could tell he was unconscious as well. The end of the chain ran across the dirt and into the grip of a figure standing in front of them all. Even from behind, Cinder recognized her as the rabbit Faunus that had loomed over her then she had lost consciousness. Next to her was the other girl. They looked to be older teenagers, but they were not dressed like Huntresses.

They stood in front of a metal door, and the girl in the beret knocked on it firmly. A grille in the door slid open, and Cinder heard a gruff voice speak from the other side.

"What's the passphrase?" he said.

"The real world isn't the same as a fairytale," the girl replied. The Faunus groaned, as if the process was annoying her.

"Password?" the man asked.

"Shade," the girl said.

The grille slammed shut, and the sound of clicking was heard on the other side of the door.

"Seriously, man, you know it's us!" the Faunus girl said in a thick accent as the door opened. "Do we really need to go through the whole passphrase/password thing every bloody time we want to come in?"

The man revealed himself to Cinder: he was an ugly man with dirty blonde hair, dirtier clothes, and a missing tooth. "Jus' doin' my duty, miss," he said with a sly smile.

The girl in the beret chuckled, and began to turn around. Cinder quickly shut her eye and pretended to be unconscious again.

"Will you give us a quick hand hauling these bounties in, Shay?" the girl asked.

The man glanced down at the girl's rear as she turned around, then cleared his throat and stepped out. "Sure thing, Miss Coco."

Cinder felt arms grab at her, then a feminine grunt as the girl in the beret struggled to lift her onto her shoulder. Cinder was bigger than the girl, but she showed impressive strength by carrying her. She heard the sound of a chain, and the Faunus girl grunt as Adam's body was dragged through the door.

"What we got here?" the man asked, picking up Emerald by her wrist bindings and hoisting her up.

"One bull and two cows," the girl in the beret said. "And the bull's got a big one."

The rabbit Faunus huffed from inside the building. "Coco, you know I don't like it when you use animal terms for our bounties. It's… demeaning."

"Sorry," the other girl said. Cinder felt her shrug her shoulders.

The man chuckled. "You're worried about makin' them feel bad?"

Even with her eye closed, Cinder could feel the death glare that the Faunus gave the man. "You know damn well why I don't like it, Shay."

Cinder felt herself being shifted around as the man handed Emerald to the girl carrying her, and he helped her mount Emerald on her other shoulder. The girl grunted.

"Oof," she said, shaking.

"You got 'em?" the man asked.

"I'll manage until we get to the room," the girl said, clearly struggling and trying to catch her breath. Cinder heard the door close.

The man chuckled sinisterly. "If y'all need to drop the cows off, feel free to leave 'em with me. I know I could have a good time with this one." Cinder could not see it, but she heard him run his fingers through Emerald's hair.

"We'll keep that in mind," the girl carrying Cinder and Emerald strained. She began slowly walking, and Cinder heard her grunt as well as the chain around Adam drag along the floor.

They were inside some kind of building, and she guessed from all the talk that these people were bounty hunters. If that was the case, then her fears of them having bounties had been realized. Adam had warned her about this, but she had no idea that the gangster's hunters would be so far out into the waste.

As Cinder attempted to process a means of escape, her thoughts were being drowned out by the growing sound of electronic music. She opened her eye slightly, first checking if it was safe to do so, then opened it a bit wider. Across from her, she could see Emerald's still-unconscious face, her body draped over the girl's shoulder. Cinder could feel her subtle breaths on her face. They were in a dark hall of some kind, and as the music grew higher, so did the light level. Suddenly light filled Cinder's vision, causing her to wince before her eye adjusted. They had entered a large room, which looked like it once was some kind of nightclub or dance hall. There were broken neon lights on the four large pillars, and a tile dance floor with three poles crudely fixed into the ground and ceiling. A boombox connected to a Dust generator blasted music from the corner, and there was a bar across one of the walls with half-empty shelves behind it.

The room was full of people. There were at least three at the bar, as well as a bartender behind the counter, a dark-skinned young woman with dreadlocks sitting by herself at a table drinking from a bottle, a sheep Faunus girl talking with a dark-skinned woman with short hair and facial tattoos, two almost-identical looking girls leaning against a wall staring at everyone, and a young man with red hair covering one of his eyes arguing with a muscular, green-haired man with tattoos across his neck. There was also a naked girl with large orange pigtails dating erotically around one of the poles, a dark-skinned girl with blonde hair giving a nude lap dace to a disinterested-looking burly man, and another naked girl with tan skin and dusky-rose hair sprawled out on the dance floor, sensually touching herself for a trio of laughing men.

Cinder closed her eye, hoping not to be caught. Considering the description Adam had given her of the Faunus gangster's operation prior to them leaving, she was certain that's where they had to be. While the music and talking continued, Cinder could feel eyes on them as they walked through the room.

"Hey, Coco," a man shouted from the bar. "Hey Velvet. "You caught Taurus, I see."

"And some of his friends," the girl carrying Cinder and Emerald grunted.

"Don't get any cute ideas, Bolin," the Faunus girl warned. "He's our bounty, fair and square. And we're not splitting the money."

Cinder heard the man sigh, and the other patrons laugh.

"You got shut down!" another man jeered.

"Shut up, Nadir," the first man said. The bartender, a thin elderly man with grey hair, grunted.

Cinder heard Emerald groan and shift. She was slowly regaining consciousness. Cinder hesitated for a moment, then opened her eye as little as she could to check on Emerald's status. Through her blurred vision, she saw Emerald's face begin to twitch, painfully waking up. As she watched, something else caught her attention. Her heart sank when she saw the burly man again. He had a low frown framed by a black beard, and had his steely gaze not on the dancer in front of him, but on her, clearly aware that she was conscious. Cinder froze, bracing for him to speak up to her captors.

However, to Cinder's relief and confusion, he just kept staring. The dancer finished her performance with an erotic pose, and the man simply stood up, pulled some Lien out of his black vest pocket, payed her, and walked out towards a side door, his eyes still on Cinder the whole time. He opened the door to a brightly-lit room and entered.

Cinder breathed a subtle sigh of relief. She was not sure what had just occurred, but she was thankful that she was not given away.

There was a loud bang, and Cinder was once again grateful that she had not been startled by it, or else she would have flinched and announced her state to her captors. The Faunus girl, who Cinder suddenly remembered was called "Velvet" by her partner, kicked open a metal door to the left of the bar. The girl carrying her, who Cinder assumed was Coco, grunted as she carried her and Emerald into a dark room, with the Faunus dragging Adam close behind.

"Hurry," Coco said, trembling. "I'm not sure I can hold them much longer."

There was an audible click, and Coco fast-walked forward. As Cinder felt herself shift and move, she closed her eye again. Coco set Emerald down first, sliding her off her shoulder and into her arm before lowering her roughly to the floor. Cinder was next, dropped in much the same way, and dumped onto what felt like cold stone. Velvet dragged Adam to someplace nearby, and Cinder could hear her fastening the chain to a piece of metal.

"Man," Coco panted, wiping her brow. "What have these bitches been eating?"

"You were the one who said you could carry both of them," Velvet remarked.

"True," Coco giggled. "So, when can we get our bounties?"

"The boss isn't here right now," Velvet explained. "He's trafficking some weapons to the White Fang in Mantle. But he should be back by tomorrow."

Coco sighed. "Can't Neptune just give us the money? This guy from Vacuo has a purse I really want."

"You know the drill," Velvet scolded. "Let's just tell him what we've caught and wait for Wukong to come back. Come on, I'll buy you a drink."

Cinder heard footsteps, then another metallic bang. The room became silent, save for the faint sound of music.

Cinder figured it was safe to move around now. She opened her eye to check if the coast was clear, then groggily sat up. Her arms were still tied tightly behind her back, and her ankles had been bound similarly. She squinted as her vision adjusted to the darkness. They were in a small stone room. Lining one wall was a series of four cramped cells with dark metal bars; she and Emerald were in one, and Adam was in the other, his chain fastened to one of the bars.

Cinder grunted as she adjusted herself, attempting some degree of comfort. As she did so, she heard Emerald groan.

"Emerald!" Cinder said in a hushed voice. "Emerald, can you hear me?"

"Ugh…" Emerald moaned, her eyes opening slowly. "C-Cinder? What happened?"

"We were ambushed," Cinder explained. "From what I've gathered, they're bounty hunters who were after Adam, and they decided to take us as well."

Emerald groaned again. "My head hurts…"

"You've probably got a concussion," Cinder said, leaning down to try and look at the wound. It was difficult to see in the dark, and Cinder could not brush Emerald's hair aside, but she managed to find a convent part in Emerald's green hair. There was a gash towards the center of Emerald's scalp, blood running through her hairline.

"You're bleeding, but it doesn't look too bad," Cinder said. "Just keep laying down and resting as much as you can."

"Cinder? Emerald?" a voice said. Cinder looked up to see Adam sit up, his chain rattling.

"Adam, thank the gods you're awake," Cinder said. "We're in trouble."

"I know," Adam said, shaking his head gently. "I recognized the ones who attacked us. They're some of Sun Wukong's bounty hunters. He stomped his bound feet, rattling his chain. "Damn! I thought…" he trailed off.

"What?" Cinder asked.

Adam sighed. "The only one who'd want me bad enough to place a bounty is Blake. But I thought her hatred for Wukong would far out prioritize her hatred for me. I was wrong." He gritted his teeth. "I should have known not to come. I thought that we were far enough away to eliminate any threat… I'm so damn stupid…"

"Quit beating yourself up," Cinder said. "If they grabbed Emerald and I too, that means they would have done so even if you weren't here. But we are here, together now, so let's start coming up with a plan."

"Not much I can do," Adam said. "I assume all our weapons were left where we were captured, and Wukong's going to be here any minute to send me to Blake."

"Not quite," Cinder said. "I overheard the bounty hunters saying he's returning from a trip to Mantle right now. They expect him back tomorrow."

"That buys us a little time," Adam said. "But not much. He could still come back early."

"Well, we just need to do our best with the estimate we've got," Cinder said. "Now let's stop arguing and start thinking."


The two girls glanced at each other. They locked eyes and simultaneously nodded, then walked single-file towards the door. The one dressed in the off-white dress and long high heels twisted the handle, and they both waled through into the brightly-lit back room. The other, dressed in a crimson dress and red gloves, ensured that the door closed completely behind them. Their footsteps echoed through the empty chamber as they approached the burly man in the black vest and red tie.

"You saw what I saw, right?" he said in a gruff voice. The two girls nodded in unison, their black hair waving as they did so.

The man sighed. "It's sooner than I thought, and they have three of them. Can one of you let the bosses know the situation?"

The girl in white held up a Scroll and opened it, demonstrating her willingness to complete his request.

"Tell them everything we know," the burly man instructed. "Remember, nothing happens without their approval."

The girls nodded in unison again, and then both turned and walked a few paces away, the girl in white typing into the Scroll.

The burly man crossed his arms and leaned back on the wall. "I hope we have enough time," he said to himself.


"Girls!" Neptune Vasilias cheered, raising his arms as Coco and Velvet approached. "So good to se you again!"

"Nice seeing you too, Nep," Coco said, smiling. They walked up to him as he leaned back in his cushioned black chair.

"You know the boss isn't in right now, right?" Neptune asked.

"Yeah, we know," Coco said. "We just need to file some bounties with you for when he gets back."

"No problemo," Neptune said, reaching down and pulling some crumpled papers and a pen out from under his seat cushion. He clicked the pen and pressed it against the paper. He jotted down Coco and Velvet's names, then glanced up at them.

"Adam Taurus," Coco said.

"Ooh, big one," Neptune said, writing down some information. "A hundred thousand, wasn't it? Very nice."

"Yep," Coco said. "We also grabbed two of his friends. They're probably Resistance."

"Any bounties on them?" Neptune asked.

"Not that we know of," Velvet said, crossing her arms. "But they'll probably sell well on the slave market, and if they do, we want a cut."

"I'll see what I can do," Neptune said, finishing writing. "I'll make sure the boss sees this as soon as he gets back."

"How long do you think that will be?" Velvet asked.

"Not long," Neptune said. "He's on his way back right now. Good work, you two."

"Thanks!" Coco said, waving to him as they turned to walk back down the hall. She smiled at Velvet. "Now, about that drink…"


The entire elevator ride, Ruby felt a sense of unease. She had to constantly remind herself how she had gotten to this point, and why she was doing it. Still, it felt wrong to her to be teaming with anyone. Lord Ozpin was not subjugated like Yang… yet. It was difficult for Ruby to get used to being on equal footing with someone for once. She knew she would surpass him, whether he liked it or not, but she kept her charade going in order to get what she wanted.

Lord Ozpin felt a similar sense of discomfort allowing Ruby to live despite her behavior. He had learned much from his many years, and he knew not to trust her, but her usefulness was too intriguing an offer to pass up. Everything was falling into place, and it was imperative that he take care of any possible obstacles. Even if he had to employ behaviors he was unaccustomed to, it would be worth it if it meant all threats to his plans would be eliminated. The Resistance and Salem were obstacles, and this pitiful girl wanted them dead as much as he did. Even if her aid was extraneous due to Qrow Branwen's involvement, she would serve as passable assurance as to the rebel's destruction.

The elevator was a claustrophobic box of pale green light that felt like it had been descending for an eternity. Just as Ruby's patience began to waver, the elevator slowed to a halt and its metal doors swiftly opened. Lord Ozpin and Ruby stepped out, and Ruby was admittedly impressed.

They had entered a massive underground chamber, with high arches and intricate marble flooring. The ceiling was shrouded in shadow, and the walls were lined with lanterns of green flame like the grand hall above their heads. However, this chamber was much larger, and at the far end of it were what appeared to be both modern machines and ancient relics.

As they walked down the chamber, Ruby craned her neck to look up. "What is this place?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"An ancient place," Lord Ozpin hissed. "A vault of sorts; a place for secrets lost to time. My secrets."

"A glorified storage room, eh?" Ruby said facetiously.

Lord Ozpin grumbled. "In a manner," he said.

Ruby was able to get a better look at the items lining the back wall. There was a pair of staffs, one with a large green gemstone affixed to the top and another that seemed to be fitted with clockwork pieces, a golden lamp that pulsed with blue light, a long spear with a crystalline tip, a golden diadem with gemstones on it, and an imposing ornate longsword with a black blade. Below them on a long desk was a flask of bubbling black and crimson liquid, four ancient-looking human skulls, and two maps: one clearly of Remnant, and another of a single large land mass Ruby could not identify.
"Trophy collection?" Ruby asked.

Lord Ozpin scoffed slightly. "That would be correct. Some of these items are millennia old."

Ruby scoffed. "The rich get all the good shit," she said sarcastically. Material possessions meant nothing to her, aside from maybe Crescent Rose.

Lord Ozpin lowered his head, then turned to face Ruby. "Before we go any further," he said, "I need to ask you another question."

Ruby sighed in annoyance, but shrugged. "All right," she said. "What?"

What looked like the extremely subtle beginnings of a sly grin began to spread onto Lord Ozpin's face. "What is your favorite fairy tale?"