Chapter 3: She's (Finally) Texting me Back?

"You did what ?"

The dorm lights were dim at the moment, and it was night already. Oh why had she waited so long to tell them?

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologized on instinct, already aware of the storm to come.

Nora wasn't having any of it, and leaped from her bed to face Pyrrha, "Why would you do that? I said make friends with her, not to turn our party into a tribal hunting ritual."

"It's called Matsuri, Nora!" Pyrrha said, folding her arms and leaning forward, "I'll have you know it's a very ancient, important, and not to mention sacred festival! It's not what I wanted to do, I just used it as an example..." she hesitated for a few seconds, not wishing to give Nora even more ammunition.

Nora put her hands to her hips, and as she was about to say something, Jaune cut in, "Nora, I think Pyrrha's idea is pretty good," he said, looking up from the comic he had in hand.

Nora looked from the blonde back to Pyrrha, "See? Even Jaune thinks this is a bad- what?"

"Well, Oobleck did say it was important when he read her report, as Huntsmen and Huntresses it is our duty to-"

"Yea yeah, unite and protect, yadda-yadda," Nora mimicked Oobleck's stance with an imaginary coffee cup as she recited the words, "Jaune you're just saying that because you didn't even know Mistral had festivals. Or that Huntsmen have a code."

Jaune, still wearing the blue Pumpkin Pete's onesie, closed his comic book and leaned back on his bed, contemplating, "But it still doesn't mean we can't have Cinder come over. The more the merrier, right? Making a new friend can't be that bad, and Pyrrha already invited her, I don't wanna be rude."

"Hey," Ren cut in, "It's easy for you to say that when I'll have to time my cooking on a pancake per minute rate."

"See?" Nora pointed a thumb to Ren, incensed by the comment, "You'll overwork poor Ren! Who'll cook me pancakes if Pyrrha's amazonian hunting ritual knocks him out for good?"

Was Nora hiding something? Pyrrha couldn't tell, but a feeling nagged on the back of her head, one she quickly stomped out of her mind like she had done many times before. Nora was her friend, she was probably just nervous, or stressed.

"It's not a ritual, Nora," Pyrrha argued, and she'd be lying if she said reducing Mistralian tradition like that didn't annoy her. She sighed, letting herself cool down before continuing, "And what's the problem? I thought you'd like the idea, we'll meet someone new, Cinder will get to have fun for once, it's a win for everybody."

Jaune jumped from his bed, "Oh! I'll help Ren cook, that could help!" he offered.

"Wait a second, let's not go that far. I like a culinary challenge every once in a while, and my cooking is not going to lose to Yang's. Again."

Nora looked at them, frustrated, even more than when she overslept only to find out they were out of Ren's homemade pancake syrup.

"That's not the only problem. It's not even a problem, ok!" Nora admitted, then let her tone fall to the rarely seen serious one, "Pyrrha, when you were writing that report with her? She was looking at you like a hungry Ursa. It was like seeing the cogs behind a Grimm's eyes turn just before an attack. She's bad news. There, I said it."

Pyrrha's brows furrowed, "Maybe it's just the way she looks at people?" she considered.

Nora turned to her boyfriend, planting a foot down in her exasperation, "Ren, you noticed it too right?"

Ren, on his part, only looked at Nora and offered her a so-so gesture. She groaned, annoyed by her partner's supposed lack of perception.

"I think someone's jealous," Jaune teased, folding his arms, "Afraid the new girl will take Pyrrha from our team, Nora?"

"I'm not! That girl just... I know what I said a few days ago, but she really gives me the heebie jeebies," she continued with an exaggerated shiver.

"She's very nice once you get to know her." Pyrrha reassured. "We could take her with us for our next mission and you'll see. I'm sure the teachers will allow it, since she doesn't have a team. It's just recon anyways, and the party is only this weekend, plenty of time."

"I think that's a good compromise for now," Ren said, touching Nora's shoulder, "Who knows, maybe you'll make friends with her too, Nora,"

"Hmph, fine, but you'll do all the training paperwork, Pyrrha," Nora pointed towards her, "They're a snoozefest, Oobleck always packs it with filler, and don't even get me started on the budget-"

"A snoozefest would be welcome, actually," Ren interrupted, "We need sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day."

"Yeah," Pyrrha breathed the word, and the others nodded in return. Everyone was already in their pajamas, weary, and as much as they didn't want to talk about it, the upcoming mission would set expectations. "I'll send Cinder a message, and fill out whatever. Good night everyone."

"Good night," they answered in unison, laying down on their beds. Pyrrha turned off the lights, sat down to text Cinder and turned on the desk lamp, so she could fill the exercise paperwork that mimicked Hunting Contracts, or 'Quests', as some liked to call it. Considering the moonlight, maybe turning on the desk lamp was unnecessary, but she liked the warm, soft glow of the device, and how cozy it made her feel.

Try as she might, Pyrrha couldn't resent being stuck with the paperwork. She kinda liked it, in the same way she liked the more quiet moments with her team. It was just as much a part of being a Huntress as training, law enforcement, or hunting.

She opened her scroll, and tapped the name of the raven haired girl.

[Private Message 11:27 PM] Pyrrha Nikos

Hello! R u awake? Srry, 4 texting this late :)

Pyrrha put her scroll down, wondering if the message was a bit too lively for that time of the day, maybe she should delete it and resend? No, then Cinder would get two notifications for just one message, that would bother her. Would it? When Pyrrha texted her the other day she hadn't answered with much more than monosyllabic answers. That, and Cinder seemed to be very formal. Almost as much as Weiss

Was she freaking out about it? It was just a text, who cared if Cinder didn't like the way she typed? At least she wasn't afraid to talk to Pyrrha like other girls. Sure, Nora wasn't afraid of her either, but hanging out with Nora involved a nearly deadly amount of exercise and sweet food. Cinder seemed like she'd like some different things. What if she thought Pyrrha was weird?

Okay maybe Pyrrha cared a lot, but that wasn't a bad thing. She cared about Jaune, Ren and Nora too. Thinking about it, Pyrrha gazed at them for a few moments. They were sleeping already, but Nora was turning in her sleep, enough to let concern and guilt wash over pyrrha.

As she reached for her scroll the message notification popped up..

Damn it . Too much time spent agonizing over the message, too little actually writing it.

[Private Message 11:45 PM]Cinder Fall

Hi, it's okay. I was finishing one of Port's exercises. However, a mistake must have happened, because I only received one message, not four. What did the other messages say?

Was Cinder serious? No, no way, she must be joking. Maybe Pyrrha misunderstood her.

[Private Message 11:46 PM] Pyrrha Nikos

Haha, you're really funny! Anyways, I talked with my team about the party, and unrelated but do u like recon missions?

[Private Message 11:48 PM]Cinder Fall

I have no problems with recon missions.

[Private Message 11:48 PM] Pyrrha Nikos

Gr8! U wanna come with us to our next mission tomorrow? Asking cuz we haven't posted our quest yet :)

[Private Message 11:52 PM]Cinder Fall

Sure, it'll need my signature, correct?

[Private Message 11:52 PM] Pyrrha Nikos

Yea, still can't believe they're using paper for this. I'll take it to class tomorrow, they only take a few minutes to process the request anyways

[Private Message 11:59 PM]Cinder Fall

I'm not doing anything, so I could sign them right now. If you'd like to come, it's the west wing room 636.

[Private Message 11:59 PM] Pyrrha Nikos

I'll be right there

The west wing? Pyrrha thought that was where mistral students would be staying months from now, but right then, they should have been empty. Maybe it was another paperwork mistake...

Nora tossed and turned on her bed again, then sat up and launched a pillow across the room, hard enough to startle Pyrrha. She was having nightmares again.

Pyrrha couldn't remember, was it Jaune's turn to wake her up, or was it Ren's? A long as they did so before Nora reached for Magnhild, it should be fine and nobody would get hurt. It was earlier than usual though.

Maybe I should wake Ren up, just to be safe.

Pyrrha took the quest papers and whispered to Ren's bed, calling his name. Her quiet teammate opened his eyes on the first whisper, and simply asked, "Is it Nora?"

"Yea, I'm sorry, I must have stressed her out."

He sat up on his bed, stretching his arms and neck, "Not anyone's fault. It's pretty early for this though, she didn't get the hammer, right?" he asked, breathing a sigh of relief once Pyrrha shook her head.

"Good, I'll wake and watch her, if you want to go to sleep."

"Actually, I texted Cinder, I'll go take the quest papers so she can sign them, bye!" She whispered, so that they wouldn't wake Jaune.

Ren opened his mouth to argue, then gave up, and got up to walk to Nora's bed. He kneeled close to her, and whispered her name a few times. Unsurprisingly, she didn't wake up.

"I'll be back soon!" Pyrrha said, opening the door and looking back just in time to witness a half-asleep Nora launching Ren through the window.

That's the third one this month.

She jogged into the corridor. Not only was it too late to be walking around the hallways, now she had two things to solve before going to bed today. Great.

Admittedly, installing new windows was getting easier with time.

Hook, line and sinker.

Who would think that Pyrrha would simply offer to take her into a mission? Cinder herself couldn't believe it when just as she demanded Watts would stop being an insufferable tool so they could move on with their plans for control of the quest board, the champion of mistral herself simply… offered it. It was discombobulating to the infiltrator, was Pyrrha that innocent? Or perhaps she meant to make Cinder let her guard down?

No, that was unlikely. It would have required Cinder misreading her, and she could read anyone like an open book. This was no attempt at manipulation, she simply wanted her company. Perhaps gaining her trust would be easier than she believed, especially when it was so freely given.

Wonderfully, it also spared her the effort of talking to Watts, or even recognizing his existence. Even through text the man managed to exude the energies of a pompous buffoon, unwilling to acknowledge the fact that his skills lay firmly within the realm of cyber security, not the nuanced art of manipulation.

Cinder smiled at her scroll as she sat on her bed, leaning on the surprisingly soft pillow. Fifteen minutes ago Watts had demanded an answer regarding how much control she wanted. A foolish question, when he should have known anything less than complete control would be unacceptable for an operation such as this. She was happy to leave his messages on read, especially now that someone far more important than him was on her way.

Roman, the thief, still hadn't confirmed the paladin deal. The White Fang rally would be happening soon. Those terrorists had their chance at their revolution before they bit more than they could chew. Now it was up to her to guide them to Salem's path, what better motivational device could she give them other than a batch of Paladins?

Atlas did love to give so many sermons on how their style of warfare couldn't be defeated, wasn't it time to put it to the test? She delighted in the idea of using their own weapons and vehicles, created to serve in the front lines against Grimm, White Fang and defiant citizens alike. Boasting a successful utilization record of seven thousand, four hundred and thirty six simulated…

And one actual that had conveniently been redacted. They were ready to fight on demand.

If the fugitive thought he could swindle her out of the resources necessary for the next step in their plan, then perhaps she should make it clear to him how much of his continued existence depended on her. One anonymous call to a Hunting Center and soon his hideouts would be swimming with Huntsmen and Huntresses that coveted the bounty placed upon him.

Wouldn't that be an entertaining night.

There was a knock on the door, and Cinder put her scroll down on her bed. Good, she was here, although that was surprisingly quick. Looking through the peephole with the bunch of keys in hand, Pyrrha had both hands on her knees, one holding a stack of papers, and she breathed heavily. Had she run all the way to the west wing?

"Just a second," Cinder said, as she opened the chain-lock. Then the knob lock, the padlock, the secondary, tertiary and quaternary locks, and finally, typed 1-1-7-3-4-3 into the password lock, opening the door.

"Come right in," Cinder invited, as casually as she could, "Do you want something to drink? Or…"

"Yes, I'd very much like that," Pyrrha gasped the words between breaths, leaning on the door as soon as Cinder closed it.

Just beside the Beacon-issue study desk Cinder kept her mini-fridge. Kneeling as she opened it, Cinder hummed to herself, "I still have some strawberry juice if you'd like it,"

"I don't want to take your good stuff, just water is okay," Pyrrha said, offering a smile as she tried to keep her breathing steady.

"Oh, please," Cinder dismissed, "Like I'd let the Mistral champion have just water after you ran from the other side of Beacon in record time? Here, I'll pour us some," she said, taking the jug to the dorm "kitchen". A name she used, if only because it certainly embellished reality, considering how it consisted of a microwave, a sink, a sink shelf, and a single cabinet, all crammed in a single corner, just besides the window opposite to her bed.

Cinder still debated inwardly the benefits of smuggling a dust-powered oven into Beacon Academy. Ozpin would pay for reducing her into someone who subsisted on 'instant noodles', that much she was sure of.

She handed a glass to Pyrrha, who took it and drank without further hesitation. As she poured her own, Cinder heard the rhythmic sound of her scroll buzzing. It was on mute, so thankfully didn't need to hear the obnoxious default jingle-

Until she heard a light chuckle coming from her bed, and remembered she had company. Damned be that device.

"Umm, Cinder, who's 'Clockwork Cretin'?" Pyrrha asked, and for a moment Cinder appreciated how the she didn't struggle to contain her laughter, at least it made this blunder sting a little less.

Cinder rushed for her scroll, "Oh, no one in particular, family, you know how it is," Cinder said, rejecting the call, forced laugh escaping from gritted teeth, "And I'd rather they didn't interrupt our conversation," she reassured the redhead that now sat on her bed.

"You didn't have to reject it just for me," Pyrrha smirked, "what if they miss you?"

"That's certainly not why they're calling," Cinder answered, and that much was entirely true. Roman most certainly would like nothing other than distance from Cinder, and had the nastiest habit of calling when he could simply have sent her a message.

Cinder sat down next to Pyrrha, perhaps a little too close, but the she didn't seem bothered by it in class, and Cinder understood why. A lot of people, human or faunus, needed some degree of proximity, and life as the untouchable champion of Mistral must be tragically desolate, "To continue our conversation, you want me to go on your next team mission, then?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, you don't have a team, and Recon missions are important too, so I'd like to take you," Pyrrha chirped, bouncing slightly

A question popped into Cinder's mind, and before she could begin maneuvering the conversation, she let it fall into the space between them, "Just you, not your team?" she asked.

After querying, she noticed how much of an important question it was. To know who was amicable, neutral or hostile was important, details that weren't in her mind previously. She had almost let her guard down for a moment, and what a disaster that would have been.

Pyrrha's expression was confused for a second, "What- no!" she gasped, "They… accepted it pretty well, after I pushed back a little."

Wretches. Fools. Imbeciles. They barely knew Cinder and already passed judgement. What did they know about her other than how she looked, where she was from, and that she talked to their dear teammate twice ? Why did they reject her?

No matter, it didn't change anything, she didn't need them. Cinder overcame rejection, isolation and ridicule before. She should have expected no less from Ozpin's pawns.

"Cinder?" Pyrrha asked, breaking the silence she failed to realize had set into the room.

"I'm sorry, I just space out sometimes," she offered a couple of chuckles to redirect the Pyrrha's attention.

"You were shaking,"

"No I wasn't. Anyways, about this mission, Any idea who we'll be shadowing?"

"Ah, well, you see... normally we wouldn't know. But let's just say that if, hypothetically, I just happened to come across the room where the selection process was taking place..." Pyrrha offered her a playful smirk, and Cinder redoubled her attention, not only to every word, but also to how the redhead looked bathed in the moonlight. She had underestimated how apt Pyrrha could be as rogue if she so wished. The champion took her time recalling the events, "Well, if I had come across such a thing -"

Pyrrha stopped mid-sentence when Cinder's scroll lit up again. Once more, it read 'Clockwork Cretin'. Amazing, Cinder would have to remind herself to have a stern conversation with the thief. Again, she refused the call, that time activating the scroll's 'airship mode', and making a mental note to change Roman's name to 'Clockwork Clam Jam' in the future.

"I'm sorry, please continue," Cinder said, repressing her fury and frustration with herculean effort.

"Well, if such athing had happened, I would have been there, in the middle of the night, just after I had picked up a new window from storage, and staff had gathered in auditorium zero-five. Oobleck, Port, Goodwitch, Peach, Mulberry, Greene, even Ozpin himself. They were there at two in the morning, can you believe it? So I thought it was strange, at least I would have if I was there. Hypothetically," She said, punctuating her sentence with a wink.

So Ozpin's conspiracy preferred to group up during the dead of night, how appropriate. Cinder leaned closer, as if the words would leave Pyrrha's mouth sooner when she did so.

"Then, they were there, discussing who should take what teams, and I heard the word 'Juniper'. I swear my heart stopped for a second. I almost thought they spotted me but it wasn't the case. Ozpin called it, and then he called-"

Once more, the naive redhead was interrupted by Cinder's scroll lighting up without a warning. Now the name read 'Detestable Pinhead'. Of course, who else would bypass airship mode other than Watts?

She picked the scroll and would have torn it apart were it not for Pyrrha's presence. Instead, she satisfied herself with breathing in deeply, and firmly removing the battery, despite the fact it was bolted on. It earned her a confused and intrigued look from her current visitor.

"Ignore that, please continue,"

"Who was that, was it fami-"

"It was family," Cinder answered bluntly.

"I'm sorry, do you wanna talk about that instead?"

"No, please continue,"

"Did… Did they do something to you?" Pyrrha asked, with a concerned expression and with the slightest bit of confusion in her words.

"Yes, they're very annoying and they keep interrupting you," two separate problems that managed to intersect that night of all nights, "So, you were saying something about Ozpin, and him assigning your team a professor?"

"Oh yeah! Well, there I was, and Ozpin starts saying something about how Mistral bandits were making their way to Vale, then something else. I don't know, couldn't hear it very well. Glynda wasn't buying any of it, she didn't think any of her students were ready for 'search and destroy' missions yet, especially against people, and I kind of agree. I hear those can end up in more than a few casualties, you know?"

Cinder nodded, and in the midst of it, felt her left arm flare with pain. It was the Grimm parasite, the one that granted her the fragment of power she currently held. Odd, because it never hurt before, so maybe it was trying to call her attention? She felt lightheaded, but pushing her senses out with her aura, she understood why.

Near the dorm, on the tree a few stories below, Salem had sent a Seer to check up on her.

Again ? Why now?

"Cinder, are you okay? You're looking a little sick,"

Oh she was. Her head spun as she turned to look at Pyrrha, offering a nice and warm smile to make her pay attention to anything else, "Yes, yes, I think I just need a little fresh air," she answered. Cinder left a subtle fire mark on the back of her scroll -about the size of a pin - before she laid it on her bed again. She rose as quickly as she could without firmly planting her face on the flood, which is to say, painfully slowly, and walked towards the window. Catching the Seer within her vision she could see the pest was a few stories below, but it was floating up, mistaking her presence for confirmation that it should approach. With a thought and a subtle wag of the index finger, she activated her fire mark, causing her scroll to smoke, alongside her bed.

"Oh no!" Pyrrha cried out, sensing the smoke as soon as it surged. She shot up from the bed, careful not to spill the glass of strawberry juice. It was a good distraction, enough for Cinder to vaporize the pesky Seer that threatened to blow her cover when she used a quick and dangerously inconspicuous blast.

At least destiny was kind enough to have placed her in an empty wing of the Academy.

Cinder leaned into the window so she could use it as support, strength had briefly left her body and she couldn't tell for what reason. The scroll was quickly engulfed in flames, in response the champion ran to the hallway, picked up the fire extinguisher, and exclaimed, "I'm sorry!"

Before Cinder could realize what Pyrrha was even apologizing for, it had already been done. Her dress, bed, floor, walls, kitchen and even some of her drink was covered with the white, powdery substance that the fire extinguisher used. Great, Ozpin didn't even have the courtesy to grant his students carbon dioxide extinguishers. Another misdeed she'd add to the ever increasing list of Ozpin's sins.

They stood there for a couple of moments, before Pyrrha spoke up, "Well at least it didn't spread, that could have been a disaster."

Cinder processed the words for so long she couldn't tell if it was moments, second or minutes, wondering how much of this could be considered a disaster. Salem certainly wouldn't be happy that Cinder hadn't answered, "That's okay, I'll just turn the mattress over. Anyways, so who picked your team?"

"Oh, that? It was Goodwitch." Pyrrha answered briefly. Almost too briefly, when at the moment Cinder could've used a good distraction. That would have to do.

Glynda Goodwitch, the combat instructor. How interesting that they'd send one of their biggest guns to a recon mission. Perhaps it would be more dangerous than Ozpin was letting on.

"So," Pyrrha caught her attention again, "Do you want to come?"

Cinder nearly allowed herself to be startled for a moment, before realizing that the champion most likely hadn't thought of the implication those words could carry. Whatever reaction she might have shown, would surely be excused for standing so close to the window. She steadied herself, letting the nausea slowly wash away from her body, then answered, "Yes, I'll go with you, and your team."

She signed the papers, and almost too quickly Pyrrha was ready to make her way out, "I have to run. Gotta pick up a new window on my way back, long story. Sorry," Pyrrha shrugged.

"It's okay. See you tomorrow, I suppose. You can tell me all about it then," Cinder all but purred the words. Pyrrha went red, and although Cinder wasn't sure if she was aware of the fact, she didn't need to ponder on it after the invincible girl took off running. They had said their goodbyes already, and she had provided plenty of important information, willingly, even.

But now that she was gone, something bothered Cinder, formed a pit in her stomach, and it was hard to place her finger on why. Was it Roman and Watts repeatedly interrupting her conversation? No, that barely struck a nerve at the moment. Was it the chance that Salem would scold her? Unlikely, Salem would understand that she needed privacy, once she explained. What bothered her so much?

It would have to be left as a problem for future Cinder to solve. Already her relationship with Pyrrha was paying off. She was unknowingly feeding Cinder with information, knowledge, the most important of weapons. Tomorrow she would be handing Cinder a direct pipeline to Beacon's intelligence and operations. And, as a bonus, she did invite Cinder to a party, a perfect opportunity to vent the stress of running a sabotage, and to raise morale.

Too tired to follow her better judgement, Cinder sat down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Before she almost let herself lay down and drift to sleep, something clicked on her mind and it was almost fleeting, yet she managed to trap some of the impulse. Tomorrow she'd meet Pyrrha's teammates. Is this what bothered her? No, but it was close. She didn't particularly care about them, but did they really already dislike her? If so, would they influence Pyrrha? Would they advise the champion to stay away from her, or even force her hand, with whatever excuses they find?

She couldn't allow that, no matter what.