Cinder awoke to an unexpectedly cold bed. No pressure on her side, nor her front... not even on her side...
Cinders... Cinders wake up...
There she was. Five more minutes Em...
It's time to get up... We have to start packing for our trip...
That was right, they were taking a trip to Mistral soon - and Cinder could not be more excited. In just over a week, they would be on a plane heading towards the gorgeous seaside city of Argus. She could see it now... Sun tanning on the beach, riding the cable cars through the city, visiting the Aquarium as well as the other various attractions at Pier 23, and of course the stereotypical romantic walks on the beach that every couples vacation trip needed. She could not wait.
Slowly opening her eyes, Cinder looked up, expecting to see the beautiful face of her girlfriend smiling down at her, but Emerald was not there... and neither was her room. Instead she found herself... somewhere else. A single panel light lit the small white room around her. It was... very plain. All that was in the room was a sink counter top, two doors - one labeled Bathroom and the other presumably an exit, and a small television hung on the wall opposite to her bed, or... the bed she was currently in, as there was no way it was her bed. Her bed was not a single - considering she shared it with Emerald - nor was its top half elevated. Where the hell was she... and where was her girlfriend? Now Cinder was starting to get nervous. She tried to get up, but every part of her body felt so... heavy. There was also another source of light coming from her left, but she could not see it... Something was covering that eye. Reaching up to feel what it was-
Clink.
Something was stopping her.
Looking down at her hands, Cinder's eyes widened in fear. Her entire left arm was covered in bandages, and it was... handcuffed to the guardrails of the bed... the hospital bed... She was in a hospital. Suddenly panic gripped her heart, her mind beginning to race, and her heart rate shooting through the roof. Only then did she notice the growing intensity of the beeping coming from a machine that was next to the bed. Why was she there? What happened? Where was Emerald?!
Cinder tried to yell for a nurse, or a doctor, or anyone, but the moment she did, she was instead forced into an excruciating coughing fit. Clutching her throat with her free hand, she could feel tears welling in her eyes. It hurt so much...
Thankfully, it was not long before the room's door opened and someone who appeared to be a nurse entered. She had olive skin, brown eyes, and curly black hair that was pulled back behind her ears. Looking up from her clipboard, her eyes widened slightly.
"Ms. Fall, I didn't realize you were awake." The nurse admitted before noticing Cinder was clutching her throat. "Are you alright? Do you need water?"
Releasing her throat, Cinder attempted to yell again, but all that came out was an unintelligible raspy whisper before a hacking cough overcame her. She clutched her throat again as tears streamed down her face.
Rushing over to the sink, the nurse grabbed an empty cup and filled it with water before bringing it over to Cinder. "Take small sips." She instructed as she held out the cup.
With a shaking hand, Cinder slowly took the drink from the nurse and brought it to her lips. It was... refreshing to say the least, the cold liquid soothing her injured throat. She did not even notice how dry her mouth was before.
"I realize this situation is shocking, it will take some time to get used to, but I'm going to need you to calm down, lest you hurt yourself further." The nurse advised.
It took a few minutes, but Cinder eventually did so, the beeping of the heart rate monitor slowly quieting as her heart rate slowed to a normal level. She still had questions... but she could not even fucking ask them because she was unable to speak. Luckily the nurse saw the strained look on her face.
"Would you like to know what happened?" The nurse offered. "Or-" Cinder simply nodded before she could continue, as she was incapable of vocally answering. "Last week you were... in a fire. You suffered from severe smoke inhalation and third degree burns. Until now you've been asleep, and you've only been breathing on your own for the past couple days."
Cinder could not believe what she was hearing. She was... in a fire? But how could that be? The last thing she remembered was... waking up next to Emerald... Oh gods. If she was hospitalized, then where was Emerald? If she were okay she would be by Cinder's side. The fact that she was not meant... she was hurt too. Once again the beeping of the heart rate monitor began to grow in intensity as panic overcame her. She looked to the nurse with fear in her eyes, wanting so desperately to ask where her soulmate was... but she was unable to. All she could do was stare as tears started streaming down her face. The nurse attempted to calm her down, but it was no use. Thoughts of what could have happened to Emerald filled her mind, each one being worse than the last. As the nurse realized there was nothing she could do on her own, she turned to leave to get help, but a hand grabbed her wrist before she could.
With pleading eyes, Cinder gazed into the nurse's. Taking a shaky breath, she swallowed. She did not care how much it hurt, she would find out where her soulmate was.
"Wh...ere... i-is... Em...erald..."
As first the nurse was confused, but soon realized what Cinder was asking. Her look of worry quickly shifted into one of grief. "I... I'm sorry Ms. Fall..."
She was... sorry? Wait, no... please gods no...
"Ms. Sustrai... did not make it."
What a terrible night.
The worst part of it was not even the nightmare itself, nor the fact that Cinder woke up crying - she was sadly fairly used to that - it was the fact that she woke up alone. It was a horrible feeling. There had been times where Nora was there to comfort her when she woke up from a nightmare, but unfortunately she had no such luxury the prior night. Cinder thought about going to see her friend, but she ultimately decided against it, as she had previously learned the hard way that Nora's apartment was the most... active during the night. Thankfully she kept her door closed, so Cinder never saw anything, but she heard things, oh did she hear things. Luckily she was not one to get easily aroused from just noises. Unfortunately, not going to see Nora meant Cinder was stuck alone, lying awake in her lumpy bed, too afraid to go back to sleep. She considered getting an early start to the day - it would have been a very early start - but she felt... safe wrapped up under the covers, like nothing else could hurt her.
Eventually the morning came, but by the time it did, Cinder was starving. It was a good thing she went shopping the other day. But at the same time, she may have to go again sooner than she expected, considering how much she ate for breakfast.
Once Cinder was finished, she threw on her work outfit, as well as her glove and mask, and headed out. Then after a short walk of ignoring the usual passing stares, she arrived at The Perch - nearly forgetting to use the correct entrance once again. Quickly walking around the building, she approached the back door before hearing the low rumble of an engine coming her way. Soon enough someone appeared from around the corner atop a Harley... Wow. Cinder felt her heart rate begin to increase as she had no idea who this person was, but upon them parking and removing their helmet, she breathed a small sigh of relief - It was only Vernal. Unfortunately that did not exactly calm her beating heart very much. If Cinder did not find her intimidating before, seeing her ride to work on such a beast of a motorcycle certainly guaranteed she did now. Mostly jet black and silver with blood red accents above the wheels and engine... it was like she was asking for people to fear her.
After dismounting her bike, Vernal made her way towards the bar, only to stop in front of Cinder. "Man you look tired as shit."
"O-Oh, yes... I had a... a late night..." Cinder managed.
"Well just don't be falling asleep on the job." Vernal advised. "It would be a shame to see you get into trouble in your first week here." She added before passing the other woman and entering the bar.
That was easier said than done. Cinder was not exactly sure quite how early she awoke from her nightmare, but it was more than enough to realize just how much she could use a nap. Following Vernal into the bar, she grabbed her name tag from her designated locker and made her way out into the front area to join the other woman behind the counter. After a brief period of standing around - it was still before noon so there were not any customers yet - Cinder realized something. Aside from a couple minutes in the break room, she had never been truly alone with Vernal. It was... strange to say the least. She was not very conversational - especially when compared to Yang - only talking to Cinder when she wanted something or there was business to attend to. And due to there being no costumers, Vernal was not exactly very talkative. It was kind of uncomfortable, just standing there not really doing anything. Cinder felt like she should say something to try to break the awkward silence, but was unable to muster the courage to do so.
Unfortunately the silence persisted, with Vernal just sitting there on her scroll - how productive - so Cinder decided to make herself useful by wiping down the tables. Thankfully that at least made the time pass a bit quicker, as she was able to work on autopilot until customers began arriving. Once they did, she hoped Vernal would start talking to her, but all she got was a you're up once she returned to the counter.
And so began a very quiet shift, at least between Cinder and Vernal. The only things she really said to her were work related - More specifically informing her that drinks were ready for a table... and that was about it. Luckily Yang would be arriving soon for her shift, so she just had to manage until then. It was not that she disliked working with Vernal, the blonde just made an actual conscious effort to make working with her more pleasant.
Cinder had to wait a little longer than she expected, but eventually Yang arrived. What a relief.
"Afternoon ladies!" Yang greeted with a wave as she joined Vernal behind the counter.
"Hey." Vernal simply replied.
Cinder offered a small smile as she approached the bar counter. "Good afternoon Yang." She expected the blonde to grab a tray and join her on the other side, but instead she turned to Vernal.
"You mind handling things out here for a minute?" Yang inquired. "I just gotta talk to Cinder."
Vernal nodded. "Sure thing."
"Thanks, that okay Cinder?" Yang wondered.
Cinder blinked. Yang wanted to talk to her... alone? Had she done something wrong? No... no of course not. It was probably just about... actually she was not sure what it could be about - Which made her nervous. "S-Sure..." She managed before following the other woman into the back area, where they took their seats on either side of the lone table. Yang was silent for a time, which only made it worse.
"So..." Yang finally spoke up, causing Cinder to flinch. "I just wanted to apologize for the other day."
"W-Why are you apologizing?" Cinder wondered, still nervous from thinking she was in trouble in some way.
"For not telling you Ruby and Pyrrha were coming." Yang clarified. "I was hoping I would be able to warn you when you arrived, but they got here sooner than I expected... And then Ruby spent more time with mom than I thought, so by the time I came back down..." She sighed. "I'm really sorry Cinder..."
The older woman opened her mouth a few times to speak, but no response came. All she could do was stare at the blonde. Did Yang know? No... If she knew about what happened there was no way she would ever be so nice to her. Hell, Cinder still found it surprising that she was actually hired after telling Raven about the incident. After all, as far as everyone was concerned she was an arsonist... a murderer.
"I should've made a better effort to make sure you knew." Yang continued. "I promise I won't let it happen again."
"Thank you..." Was all Cinder could manage, and all she could really think of to say. It was nice that Yang was apologizing, but at the same time, it also showed that she knew more than Cinder thought. She had to ask. "I-If you don't mind... why a-are you apologizing for that?"
"Because..." Yang sighed, her expression shifting to one of regret. "I know... About the fire..."
Cinder's eye went wide. She hoped so desperately that she could just move past the incident, to have some sort of fresh start, but judging from what happened the other day - and now Yang telling her she knew - that fresh start was farther than she thought. "Y-You... you know?" She echoed.
Yang nodded. "After my mom told me about you I realized who you were. My uh, my sister Ruby, who you... saw yesterday, was in that fire, so I understand why you don't wanna talk about it. I just wanted to apologize for keeping that from you."
"I-If you knew..." Cinder began, unable to meet the younger woman's gaze. "Why don't you hate me? Don't you think I did it?"
Yang shook her head. "I saw you on TV, during your trial." She explained. "You never said anything, just sat there and took it... it just didn't fit, someone who could do something like that wouldn't do that, they'd fight, they'd be angry and defensive. You didn't look guilty to me, you just looked... beaten, even when the verdict was delivered."
"Even so... why are you being so nice to me?" Cinder mumbled.
"Because you deserve it." Yang stated. "I knew that if I treated you differently it would make you feel... uncomfortable, or left out or something like that, so in the end I decided to just treat you like I would anyone else."
That explained why Cinder felt so at ease around her... and she was thankful for that. If it was not for Yang, there was no way she would be as comfortable as she was at work. Not only did she apologize for not telling her she knew about the incident, but she treated her normally because of it. No . Unsurprisingly, Cinder felt tears welling up in her eye. How pitiful. Years ago she hardly teared up at anything, now apparently all it took was someone telling her they treated her just like everyone else. A small smile found its way onto her face. Her high school self would be pissed at that statement.
"Are you okay?" Yang asked, a look of concern on her face.
Cinder nodded, wiping the tears from her eye. "Yes, it's just nice to hear that someone's treating me normally despite what happened." Then she let out a small chuckle. "And it's a bit sad to realize how easily I cry now."
"Nah, I get that." Yang chuckled. "But have you ever cried after looking at a pair of your pajamas?"
Cinder raised her brown in confusion. "I can't say I have. Could you... elaborate on that?"
"Well it's a pretty long story so I'll just give you the basics. We can talk about it another time if you wanna hear the rest." Yang explained. "So a few years back my sister bought me this pair of black cat pajamas, which at the time I thought was really funny because I had a Faunus friend, my best friend... who's trait was cat ears." She paused for a moment before shaking her head - possibly an unpleasant memory. "Anyways, since they reminded me of her, seeing them and wearing them... it always made me smile. But then... then she moved away..." She sighed. "I remember crying the first time I saw those pajamas after she was gone..." Yang let out a small chuckle. "It's silly isn't it? Crying at the mere sight of pajamas..."
Cinder shook her head. "Not at all. I have a box of loose photos in my apartment... Even now, I still can't bear to look at them..."
"I guess that's the problem with these sorts of things, hard to keep, even harder to get rid of." Yang shrugged.
"Tell me about it." Cinder mumbled.
"Well, we should probably get back to work." Yang advised. "Don't wanna leave Vernal alone for too long."
"Yeah..."
"You need a minute?" Yang wondered as she stood up from her chair.
Cinder slowly nodded. "If that's alright."
"No problem, take your time." Yang smiled before heading out to the front area.
As soon as the door closed Cinder sighed. That was not how she expected that talk to go. Until then every prior conversation had been fairly light and casual, none of them got especially personal, at least when compared to that one.
After a few minutes of silence, Cinder decided it was time to return to work. As she raised from her seat, she heard the door to the front area open. Turning around, she noticed Yang peaking in. The words that left her mouth were ones that Cinder hoped she would not have to hear.
"Hey, uh, Pyrrha just got here... and she wants to talk to you."
"Enjoy your drinks."
Making sure to smile after handing the customers their beverages, Cinder made her way back to the bar counter. Vernal was still making the next set of drinks, so she decided to take a quick look around, see if anyone else needed anything. Scanning each booth in her section, she found everyone was taken care of - aside from the one Vernal was currently making drinks for. Then her eyes landed on the booth closest to the bathroom, where a certain red-haired woman sat alone.
She's still here. Cinder grit, anger flaring in her chest. If she recalled correctly, when she learned of the woman's presence she told her to go away, yet there she was, sitting there, waiting. Unfortunately for her, unless she wanted a drink - which Yang already asked - Cinder was not going to acknowledge her. She had work to do. So that was what she did.
Over an hour passed, Cinder just continuing on with her day, doing her best to ignore Pyrrha - Hopefully she could last until the end of her shift. She saw Yang check on her a few times, but she assured the blonde all she wanted was to speak with Cinder - which was not going to happen. Unfortunately, the more time passed, the more abundantly clear it became that Pyrrha was not leaving. Eventually, Cinder got fed up.
Approaching the younger woman, Cinder tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Yang?"
Yang turned to face the other woman. "What's up?"
"Would you be able to... cover for me for a few minutes?" Cinder hesitantly asked before glancing over at Pyrrha. "I need to... handle something."
Yang must have seen where Cinder was looking, judging from her response. "Uh, sure. No problem."
Cinder offered a small smile. "Thanks. I shouldn't be long." As the younger woman turned back to go back to work, Cinder took a deep breath before approaching the lone redhead. If she was being honest, she had no idea what to expect. Pyrrha likely either wanted to talk about the incident, or about Ruby... or both. She hoped it was not both. Either way, whatever this was, Cinder was going to make sure it was quick. As she made it to the booth, Pyrrha looked up, her lips curling up to form a slight smile.
"Thank you for seeing me-"
"What do you want?" Cinder near-growled. She did not exactly mean for it to come out that hostile, but it was too late.
Pyrrha was shocked for a moment, but quickly composed herself. "I just want to talk. Explain things."
"Very well." Cinder flatly responded, failing to keep bitterness from entering her tone as she took a seat opposite the redheaded woman. "Explain."
"I wanted to apologize for returning so soon... I realize our meeting did not go well, with Ruby..." Pyrrha sighed. "The fire threw our lives into chaos, Ruby more so than others. Not only did she nearly lose her own life, but that of her closest friend, Velvet... as well as the friend who introduced her to me... Jaune... my closest friend..." Pyrrha swallowed the lump in her throat, wiping at the tears welling in her eyes. "We had planned to be married in the fall, Velvet was to be our photographer, Jaune my best man..." A small smile found its way onto her face. "Ruby had me play the part of the groom, she said it would be funny to look back on."
"I'm sure it was." Cinder deadpanned. Already feeling anger set in, she clenched a fist under the table. Her time was being wasted hearing about the struggles of people she does not care for, and might as well not care for her. "At least you had a wedding."
Pyrrha blinked. "I'm sorry?"
Cinder grit her teeth. She wanted so badly to yell at the other woman, scream at her, but she was able to suppress her anger, if only partially. "Oh woe is you, the woman who married her soulmate." She shot. Pyrrha opened her mouth a few times to respond, but no response came, so she continued, her anger only rising. Leaning closer to the other woman, Cinder kept her voice low, lest she disturb the other customers. "You think you know what loss is? Did you wake up handcuffed to a hospital bed with the entire left side of your body burnt to a crisp? Did a nurse then tell you the love of your life had perished in the fire that you would soon be blamed for? Did you have to appear in court where you had to face the fact that your life as you knew it was over?" Cinder could feel her heart beating uncomfortably fast as she struggled to contain her anger. "So don't you dare tell me you understand my loss, you may have lost friends, but you were able to move on and continue you life. I couldn't. You get to wake up next to your wife every single day, while I have to wake up knowing that my soulmate is gone and is never coming back."
In response, Pyrrha looked... genuinely shocked, seemingly unable to respond. "I... I had no idea..." She managed.
"Such details weren't important for trying to convict an arsonist, a murderer." Cinder muttered, her gaze falling. When she looked back up, she saw something she never expected - tears streaming down Pyrrha's face.
"I'm so sorry Cinder..." Pyrrha near-sobbed. "I know you had it rough from seeing you during the trial, as well as the other day... but I never imagined you lost someone so important to you..."
"She wasn't just important, she was my life, and she's gone." Cinder shot as she raised from her seat. "If that's all you wanted to say, I'm going to quit wasting my time and get back to work. Have a nice day." She bid before heading back to the bar counter to join Yang, who offered an awkward smile as she noticed her.
"Hey... you okay?" Yang wondered, a slight look of concern on her face.
"No." Cinder huffed, gritting her teeth as she attempted to school her features. "But I can handle it, I just want to get back to work."
"Oh, well, I've got everything handled for now, why don't you go take a break?" Yang suggested.
"Very well. I'll be back soon." Cinder responded before making her way into the back room. Once there, she slumped into one of the chairs, breathing a sigh of relief. What a disaster. She did not expect the talk to go well, but all the bitch did was whine about her own struggles. What were they compared to her own? She did not lose her fiancé, they were happily married, so what if they lost friends. Cinder lost her life. It was infuriating. Reaching down her shirt, she pulled out Emerald's ring. Holding the scorched piece of jewelry in her hand, she took a deep breath. She's not worth your anger. Cinder told herself, over and over again. Soon enough she could feel her anger begin to subside. Opening her palm, she gazed down at the ring and smiled. It was ironic really, it was a clear reminder that Emerald was never coming back, yet it was still able calm her.
Suddenly Cinder heard a door open. She expected it to be Yang, likely to tell her to come back to work, but it was not. Instead she was met with Raven's normal tired gaze. Once again, the words that left her mouth were ones that Cinder hated to hear.
"Hey Cinder, can we talk?"
Author's Note: I know it's a little short, but I wanted to get something out before Christmas. So Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Year as well, as there's probably no way I can get another chapter out in just over a week.
Anyway, as always, your feedback fuels me!
