Chapter 9
"Haaah…Haaahhh…. It seems like you win again, Ira." A red haired girl says as she leans over to catch her breath.
"Two against one, I didn't know I wronged you in some way." I say, with a mock hurt expression.
"Shouldn't we …..be the ones….. saying that, were you… going easy on us in….. the tournament last year?" A blue haired boy, in worse shape than the girl, says as he collapses onto his back.
"No, Pyrrha isn't someone people can go easy on, I might have lost if I didn't change it up at the end." It had been a year since the tournament, and we had just finished the school year.
"So…. Against me…" The blue haired boy, Neptune, mutters to himself in between breaths.
"There is no need to doubt yourself, Neptune, I am sure you will grow to be just as strong as me, maybe stronger than I am now." I say to the still exhausted boy.
"It truly was a difficult match." She says as she readies herself again, having regained a steady breath. "But even back then, you didn't use your semblance, and I haven't got any closer to figuring it out. I can only think it is some speed-type semblance or a technique type semblance to switch techniques like you do."
"My semblance is rather….unique to say the least." I say, she had been right; I haven't fought or even used my semblance in front of anyone in the last year, even during sparing in classes at Sanctum. I have a nagging feeling that if I do, someone might come for me with less than reputable reasons, and I don't think I'm strong enough to be a Schnee without protection just yet. "But aren't you as guilty as me? You have only used your semblance a little, to alter the trajectory of a sword for example.
"Then as practise for the upcoming tournament, how about a dual with our semblance? No holding back." Pyrrha says as Neptune drags his exhausted body out of the arena after hearing our discussion.
"No holding back? That would be…interesting." I say looking around the training room that is filled with metal objects, perfect for little miss magnet. "And destructive."
"Yes, I think you are right." She says after realising that most things around us are magnetic, and chuckles lightly.
"Since you don't know what mine is, I'll show you first." Deciding I would like to see who would win in an even, nothing held back fight, I go to show her my semblance.
"Ira!" Someone shouts at me before I could however. Turning to look at them, I notice it is t familiar secretary I've grown to know over the past year.
"Miss Dia, is there something I can help you with?" I ask as she walks over.
"Please, call me Kora. I tell you this every time I see you." She says with a stern expression, she is the type to wear her heart on her sleeve as they say.
"Kora, I take it Leonardo is here as well?" I ask, changing my previous question.
"Uh, yes he wishes to speak with you."
"I see… Tell him I'll be right with him." I reply as I turn to talk to Pyrrha who had realised that our match had to be postponed.
"It seems we were interrupted, perhaps tomorrow then?" She says to me when I walk over.
"I might end up being busy; it doesn't look like you'll ever find out my semblance." I say with a wink. Before continuing, "I have to go see Leonardo; it seems he wants me for something."
"Ah, it must be something important. Good luck." She replies, going to walk away, I grab her arm before she turns around and whisper into her ear, "Is it just me, or has Leonardo been acting different since the start of this year?"
"I, uhm, I think so too…" The girl says, blushing slightly due to how close I am to her, I let her go when she finishes speaking, typical reaction for a girl her age I think as I do.
"You know, I always wanted to go to Beacon Academy in Vale. The other 3, they don't really feel as real as that one feels; like they all are copying an original." I say as I turn around and leave, leaving a blushing, but puzzled girl.
###
'I knew it.' I think to myself as I sit down in a chair after seeing the guest with Leonardo. 'With the difference between his previous demeanour and his current, I knew something had happened.'
"Ah, Ira, This is Cinder, she just completed her first year at Haven academy." Leonardo says, gesturing to the guest.
"I see…" I say as she stands up and extends her hand,
"Ira, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure's all mine." I say, returning her handshake.
After we sit down behind the desk in Leonardo's temporary office at Sanctum, I continue,
"Is there a reason I am here, Professor?"
"Ah, yes, it seems Miss Cinder has been assigned a mission to Kuroyuri which was destroyed 2 years ago, and I thought this would be perfect for you to see what attending Haven will be like." He says with a slightly gloomy expression, before putting on a smile. While he has attempted to appear like nothing has changed, it is obvious for some of us to see, shown by how Pyrrha had noticed the change when she only ever interacts with him when I am there.
"I am only 13, while you have assigned me….small missions they have never been as dangerous as leaving the city and going to a place destroyed by Grimm before, is there a reason for this?" I say, which is true the missions usually range from attacking some small amphibious-type Grimm that have washed up on shore at the docks to joining older Sanctum students in their missions, they have never been something as dangerous as this. The difference between the missions I had been assigned, which were more like errands, and this one, which was assigned to someone going into her second year at Haven, is like the difference between night and day.
"I assure you, recent scouting missions have all deemed it safe, it is just a routine mission that Cinder would have been doing alone. And due to the lack of danger, I had thought it to be a good experience to go outside the walls of Argus for you." He says, getting slightly desperate, changing the reason slightly in his attempt. I am getting more and more suspicious; or rather I was already suspicious as soon as I entered the room, now though I am on full alert. I shouldn't even be on their radar, yes I may have beaten Pyrrha last year, but it wasn't anything spectacular. As I think to myself I catch an almost imperceptible glare from Cinder aimed towards Leo.
"What the Professor is trying to say, is that it would be a good experience for you, this has never happened before to a student still attending a combat school. It is something many would jump at the chance, you might even enjoy it." She says, "I myself am quite excited to see last year's Tournament winner fight against Grimm instead of people."
Even as a student she had that silver tongue, but I can tell there is a hidden meaning behind the words, coupled with the strange atmosphere Leo is giving off, more than usual, there is a chance they have more intel than they should, whether they think I am a good find, or they found out I am a Schnee. Whatever it is, I don't think I will be able to refuse, 'better to pretend I fell for the honey trap than to fall to the blade' I think to myself as I go to reply,
"Alright, I will accept, however will I be getting any payment for this like usual?" I ask, there are typically only two types of honey, and I seriously doubt I'd get the other one from Cinder, unless she has a thing for children.
"Er…." The Professor is a bit tongue-tied, obviously this wasn't his idea.
"I believe there should be a payment from the Academy, isn't that right, Professor?" Cinder answers for him, 'do they seriously think I am stupid or something, she clearly knows how suspicious this is right? Maybe they are counting on me being suspicious.'
…
'No if I begin going down that kind of thought I'll burn myself out.' The joke was always used in shows, 'maybe they already realised that I realised that they would realise…. Etc' I had no intention of going down that loop, I'm cautious, not paranoid.
"Would it be possible to get it in advance? I am in need of a new sword." I say, taking out my rusty sword, in honesty I could continue to use it, but it was a good excuse for getting an advanced payment, and it's always good to get an advanced payment when dealing with….less than reputable people.
"…There shouldn't be a problem." This time the Professor answered. "We leave tomorrow, I will have Kora give you your payment before you leave."
"I see, thank you." I say standing up, giving a light bow before being spoken to by Cinder,
"I hope we can…get along… on the mission." She says in her typical sultry tone. Seriously, should she be like that with a 13 year old?
###
"Is there a reason we are going to Kuroyuri? I know it was destroyed by a Grimm attack, but why are we going back?" I say to Cinder as we set up Camp under the moonlight, the sun had set. It took us a week but we finally reached Kuroyuri, it was about an hour walk from our camp, meaning we would reach soon after we rest tonight.
Our camp was set up to be surrounded by bushes in a forest, out of the way from the road. After she finishes setting up a tent, she replies
"It was as good a place as any." Sounding ambiguous
"…."I look her in the eyes for a few seconds to ascertain what she means before breaking the silence, "For what?"
"For a test." She says calmly, at the same time I feel a strong impact against my legs, luckily I had activated my aura during the period of silence earlier, so I wasn't injured by the attack, which turned out to be an arrow fired at my knee.
Jumping back, I notice she has vanished. Quickly drawing my rusty blade, I look around.
Not even having time to think, I jump away from where I am standing, as I do, a fire pillar rises from the ground.
"He was right, you're aura is quite substantial to be able to shrug off the arrow, even at such a young age." A voice emits from beyond the shrubbery. However I can't pin down its exact location. "And to be able to dodge the fire pillars, you aren't the same as other kids, are you?"
"I could say the same to you, Cinderella." I say in a teasing tone, it must have agitated her, as a fire pillar rises from the ground again, which I dodge, then another, which I dodge again. Every time I dodge, a fire pillar erupts in the spot I land, the time frame I have to dodge them decreases each time. As I am busy dodging, having no time for anything else, Cinder continues,
"No, to continue dodging, I can say for certain you aren't normal. I might even call you a prodigy."
All the while, I am still dodging, if I'm not mistaken, isn't her semblance glass related? She must have covered the area with dust and is now setting them off from a distance, but where?
"Don't you feel like you are wasting your time at Sanctum, having to hold back against people weaker than you, not able to fully let loose, to go wild?"
"For people like us, we can do so much more." The fire stops and she comes out of the bushes wearing a red dress with her weapons behind her back; two swords and some arrows.
"How about you join me, I can make sure you are never bored again." She says, she really does have a silver tongue; finding something that someone wants and offering them it. I see, she assumed I was bored.
Releasing the tension in my shoulders, I put on a jovial smile, which in turn causes her to lose her guard slightly, not much, but enough for me.
Dashing forward at a speed incomparable to when I fought Pyrrha last year, my sword swings toward her neck, however she blocks it. But I have already moved, a kick comes at her from behind, however she grabs and throws my leg, sending me flying.
Getting up, she fires three arrows of glass that surround me, forming a triangle. I go to escape, but before I can do anythi….
BOOM!
They explode.
"It's a shame; we might have worked well together." She says as the dust settles and begins to turn around, stopping as she sees a figure in the smoke.
"Kahuh, Kahuh," I cough, trying to clear my throat of the dust, "I wouldn't be so sure, didn't you just overreact? And it was only going to be a love tap." I say as the dust settles, revealing my figure being shielded by my semblance, a magic circle which disperses shortly after, however not quickly enough for her not to see it. But I didn't care if she did, now wasn't the time to be secretive about my identity. If I had any intention of surviving, I couldn't hold back. It may be Cinder, but I might have a chance to escape, she isn't as strong as she was in the show, so I shouldn't be in too much danger.
"A… Schnee." She mumbles, seeing my semblance and readying her two swords. "Now you really are coming with me."
"You need to work on you recruitment skills, word of warning, don't attack them before they refuse." I say as I use a circle to send me back, away from a double overhanded attack. Seeing her swords miss, she charges forward again, breaking through the circle I set up as a shield almost instantly as I use a different circle to side step her and go in with a thrust, however I have to again back away as shards of glass shoot toward me from above.
Dodging left and right as the shards are coming down like rain, Cinder begins speaking again,
"To think, the 'Prodigy of the Schnee's' had been right here all this time, we had thought you had died after you disappeared from the Schnee's home"
Ah!.. getting hit with a shard slicing across my side, through my clothing, I reply, "So what, you want to kidnap me?"
"Oh no, we already found out what happens when we kidnap two Schnee's, a disowned one still wouldn't get us any money."
…
'Two Schnee's? When? When we were younger? But then, the other was…'
"8 years ago." I say through gritted teeth.
"It seems you've remembered? It wasn't me of course, I didn't learn about it until last year myself. But yes, it seems we were the ones behind it, even if we didn't do it ourselves. Your parents didn't even respond the demands. What's wrong? Finding out your parents would rather you were dead than pay off a small little ransom?" She says as I stop moving, whether it was luck or not, none of the shards hit anything serious, just grazing my flesh leaving shallow cuts at most as they flew by.
…
…
Silence.
That's what it was like, as if the world had stopped at the same time I did, not even the previous rustling of wind through the leaves could be heard; it was utter silence.
###
Noticing the change, Cinder put's up her guard. Then she notices something under the boy, 'a yellow Glyph? He shouldn't have any dust with him.' She thinks to herself, the Schnee Glyphs needed dust, so how is he using a dust effect? She notices her own dust she had brought with her, it's possible he had secretly stolen some when she wasn't looking, he had been suspicious of her from the start, but he hadn't acted on his suspicions, perhaps he was just preparing, he has already proven his intelligence in our short conversations, She thinks to herself, as the boy suddenly looks straight at her, what was previously a gloomy atmosphere, at what she thought was because of his parents lack of love for him, was now anger.
Pure, unadulterated anger. As she looked at the boy, one thing stood out about him; his red eyes. It she could describe them in one word it would be 'Bright' as they seemed to glow under the light from the moon.
Before she could even process why his eyes were suddenly so bright, he vanishes; she almost missed him as he closed the distance, however before she could even react, she felt an impact to her side as she slides a few meters to her side.
Then another…
And another…
And another…
The boy whom she had been toying with before had sped up; it was if he was a changed person. A hit to her flank, her solar plexus, her arms; she felt the impacts one after the other as her aura absorbs the blows.
There were countless numbers of glyphs littered through the air, if this had been earlier, she could have calmly looked at them and noticed that they had a different design from the Glyphs of the Schnee's, however she couldn't now.
With each hit she felt, she grew annoyed just that little bit more. Some boy, who knew nothing of the world while living a sheltered life in Atlas, had been hitting her, if not for her aura, she might have been defeated, this angered her.
"Enough!"
###
Faster
Faster
Faster!
FASTER!
I keep repeating in my head as I hit, hit, and hit.
I'll kill her
I'll kill her boss
I'll kill THEM ALL!
I'll kill her. It doesn't matter about needing her alive for the story, I'll kill her.
Just a little bit faster…
"Enough!"
"Gah!..." I cough as I am blown back by a blast.
Looking around , I see my sword still in my hands. Looking up, I see Cinder, appearing as if literal flames are coming off of her as dust scatters in the air.
"I've had enough; we already thought you were dead, so I'll just make sure of it!" She shouts, rushing towards me.
I need to kill her. Picking up my sword I rush forward.
She'll die, as long as she dies, so die!
I meet her in the middle where what was once our camp, our swords meet, then
Shatter.
My sword is broken by her glass swords, ironic.
But as that shattering sound resounds and I am blown back, I regain some of my usual calm, enough to think calmly at the very least.
'What am I doing? She needs to die. But if I die here, she won't and Weiss will be dragged into something and get hurt again, just like when we were 5. I need to live, then come back and kill her later when I'm strong enough. If I die here, everything was for nothing.' I think to myself.
Thinking calmly I weigh my options; I'm almost out of aura, my sword has shattered, and I'm facing someone stronger than me. Okay…
Standing up, she charges me again, she doesn't seem as calm as she usually does, she seems kind of angry actually. Okay, this is good.
If I was stronger I could just kill her and it would be over….. But I can't.
Activating a yellowish magic circle below me, time slows down. Time dilation, it seems I have finally unlocked it. But now isn't the time to be happy about it. I need to be able to use it.
Running towards her, I speed up using a path magic circle, each step increasing my speed just that little bit faster. As I get close, she makes a large move to attack, turning in a circle to cut me in half as she turns back around. But just as she is about to hit; I jump.
Using my speed with the help of what little aura I have left, I use a repulsion magic circle, sending myself into the air. I just sail through the air in an arc, flying for who knows how long before,
Dong!
I am knocked out by hitting something hard.
A/N
We saw a…different side to Ira today. He isn't psychopathic or anything, he doesn't just indiscriminately kill, but he is not above doing so if it is necessary, he just didn't have the power to, if he did, he would have. But he couldn't because, while he is strong, he isn't so overpowered that he could defeat Cinder when he hasn't even joined Beacon yet, even if she hasn't reached the level she was in the show. He is still growing after all.
Anyway, thanks for reading.