I've been wrestling with this one for quite a bit, and due to several reasons. Mostly my own fault, and I've definitely some room for some improvement in some areas. There's some bad habits within my writing that EmperorLuffy has been able to spot, and those habits have proven rather tenacious despite my sincere efforts. Clearly I must continue my training if I'm ever going to kick them to the curb. I just hope they don't kick me right back the moment I turn away from them, making me fall on my face. Painfully.

It's that kind of process.

Ah well. I'll find my stride with this story eventually. Hopefully. Probably? I guess I'll consider that my own odyssey.

And wouldn't you know it, I've been playing Super Mario Odyssey recently. Maybe it's an influence!

Let's begin.


The next day arrived without too much of a fuss. For Cinder, was honestly quite the accomplishment. Reflex had given her a bit of an edge at first; she listened instantly in case there was anyone nearby lying in wait for an attack. Though remembering that she was actually inside a building that could house her and that she wasn't exposed to the elements, she relaxed. But only a little bit, enough to where she allowed herself to recall what had happened and take a brief look around.

She lies idle in a wide space, although she could see that she was in one of the rooms that she toured during her official joining of a guild. A part of her still tried to reconcile with the fact that she made a decision like that and was now a part of an organization of sorts. Or that was somewhat pressured into it both by the person who protected her and one of his closest friends. When she recalled those details, in particular, she couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed at having to do this, even if it was for her benefit.

Well, there wasn't much she could do about it now. She had no intentions of going back on her word. Still, even with that silent promise, she could help but still be somewhat surprised by it all. It was every day that she was allowed like this, let alone to have that opportunity be given to her with the utmost sincerity from all parties involved. From what she observed, their intentions to her so far are not genuinely benevolent, but they've shown a sincere will to see it through. And she supposed she was curious enough to see how far they'd take it. Given how Ruby and Jaune have continued to act around her when CK fro ted with questions related to such, they've been very adamant about following their choices through. She had to hand it to them, they at least had the sincere desire to commit to this choice they've made concerning her.

Speaking of which.

"Morning!" Ruby could be heard explaining as she does by the sleeping dragon.

Cinder grumbled audibly at this, though decided to fully pull herself up since she was unlikely to return to sleep anytime soon. With that much in mind, she allowed herself to stretch a bit outwards, her yawn being quite loud given her current size. And such a loud and wide yawn allowed for all of her sharp fans to be put on display, with every tooth appearing akin to sharpened blades, much like her claws. Her tail lightly whipped the ground a few times, before she eventually settled for lying on the ground still.

She's like a giant scaly kitty. So cute! Ruby thought quietly. "Didja sleep well?"

"Adequately enough." Cinder replied while craning her neck, cracking some of her clawed fingers. "It's rather rare for me to awaken and not have to immediately flee the area in case someone comes by to take my head. Mostly because I simply do not feel like fighting so early in the morning if it isn't extremely urgent and I have no strong attachments. Hence why I'm used to slumbering this way."

"Because willingly approaching a slumbering dragon is asking for trouble?"

"Precisely."

"Oooh. Okay." Ruby swept her cape around herself as she leaped to her feet, clasping her hands. "I didn't wanna bother you while you were sleeping, but since you're awake now, I just wanna let you know: I've already got a handle on what our mission for the day is gonna be. And we'll be off to complete it as soon as Weiss arrives." Ruby lightly pushed her fingers together while tilting her head. "I hope that's alright with you. I didn't want you going in completely blind or anything."

"It...is of no trouble." Cinder growled at the mere mention of Weiss's name, her claws threatening to come out and tear up the floor she was lying on. Oh, she didn't mishear Ruby's roll call from the other day. She certainly heard the name 'Weiss Schnee' amongst the listed names. And she wasn't sure just how she was going to be able to tolerate someone like that without lashing out violently. She wondered what exactly lead to Ruby and co associating themselves with a Schnee. And judging by how cheery Ruby sounded when mentioning her, she seemed to consider her a real friend. She couldn't fathom how such a thing could happen, thus she must see it for herself to draw more solid conclusions.

Ruby briefly took several looks at Cinder, noticing that she twitched slightly, and even snarled lowly, when she mentioned Weiss. She briefly flickered her eyes in concern, shook her head, and clasped her hands. "Do you want to have breakfast with us?"

Cinder blinked. Breakfast? Breakfast...

Ruby could see that she appeared a bit confused. "Have you never been offered breakfast before?"

"That...is not a very simple matter. I'm not particularly used to being offered food. I've always had to hunt for it most of the time. It is a simple matter on this form, finding sizable enough creatures to sustain myself with." Cinder hummed. "Occasionally, I would happen upon them when coming across a settlement being harassed by them, so I would eat them. The nearby settlers would show gratitude for this."

"Oh, well that was mighty nice of you!"

"It wasn't out of the kindness of my heart. I hunted for food, creatures I eat happened to be attacking a community I occupied. They happened to benefit from my interference, that's all." She grumbled idly while laying her head on her paws. "The bottom line, being offered food is not something I'm quite used to. I've always had to hunt for it, fight for it, earn it. This offer...it doesn't feel wrong, but it feels somewhat off balance for me."

"Well, there's no need to worry. We all eat well here." Ruby smiled kindly, patting the top of her snout. "Come on! Jaune's got something fixed up for all of us!"

Cinder scoffed at how excitedly Ruby dashed off to the dining area of the guild hall, but she didn't object. She simply returned to her human form in a flash of fire, tugged on her scarf, and followed Ruby into the dining area, where the others likely were. Walking through the halls was still something she had to adjust to if she was going to take up residence here now. She had to properly memorize the place top to bottom, left to right, to ensure that she didn't constantly get herself lost. That was the last thing she needed, and she wanted the others to see how competent she can b-

Cinder blinked. She lifted her head a bit and sniffed the air.

What...is that smell? And...why is it so delicious?!

Got her. Ruby smiled as she skilled forward and waved. "Hi, Jaune! Cinder's awake!"

"Oh, great! I was worried she might oversleep through this." Jaune turned his head a bit to look at her, and Cinder noticed he was wearing a red apron, with a rose insignia on it. Cinder blinked and raised an eyebrow at this. Jaune picked up on it and chuckled. "Yeah, this is kinda mine. Ruby had it made for me during the early days of adventuring, and she got hooked on how well I could cook."

"Rhyme." Ruby quickly pointed out as she took her away and kicked her feet back and forth. "Also it's super nice that Jaune's able to cook and bake so well. A bit of a needed thing, given how many sisters he's had to feed growing up."

"I can still hear their snarling..." Jaune quietly shivered, his eyes starting through a wall rather than at it. He stayed there for a good ten seconds as the sounds of chairs being knocked over, tables being flipped-and immediately being out back-and constant arguing about how they were to be served breakfast first above all the others, while he simply stood stock still waiting for them to calm down so that they could eat. It happened every single time he stepped up and offered to cook. Every time. "...Anyway! I've got something for ya!" Jaune smiled as if nothing happened.

Cinder simply looked toward him as she took her seat, not completely taking her eyes off of him. "You...have sisters, I recall."

"Seven of them, yeah. That's not an easy thing being a part of, lemme tell ya." Jaime waved his hand while placing a pan on the table. Cinder still kept her eyes on him.

"...Are they...kind?"

"Eh? Sure they are. I mean yeah, we have our fair share of spats here and there, but we're all still family by the end of it all."

"I know what ya mean." Ruby smiled while still kicking her feet back and forth. "Jaune and I tended to bond over just how annoying our sisters could be despite how much we love them. Weiss would pitch in too from time to time, but her sister is more upright and strict than actually annoying. Though Jaune for sure for more for patience than me when he's had to deal with seven of them!"

"Not an easy feat."

"Sisters. You have...sisters...and they're kind..." Cinder muttered quietly, her hair briefly covering her face. The sudden somberness of her tone wasn't missed by either of them, as they looked her way with concern. "...No, it's nothing. Don't mind me. I was just thinking deeply for a little bit."

"If you say so..."

"Seriously, when I hear the occasional stories of their siblings, I tend to seesaw being a little envious, and being glad I'm an only child." Oscar sighed as he and Penny sit down together, with the latter gasping as she found herself a cup of fresh orange juice.

"I too, am an only child!" Penny raised her hand.

Cinder simply nodded through, before she looked back towards the prepped food and noticed now there reveal smells to it that mixed to form something a bit more unsure to her. She was highly unfamiliar with it, taking closer inspection. "What is this...?

"Maple bacon sweet rolls!" Ruby points out while having strawberry juice of her own, set to the side. Cinder looked slightly confused at the concept, looking back towards it. "Heh? Don't tell me you've never heard of this! I mean, I wouldn't exactly know what your knowledge of pastries is, but still! That would be an of the more reason to give them a try, right? I think that's pretty fair! Go on!"

Cinder was a bit put off by Ruby's insistence, but the woman didn't notice, for she had already gone on to ravenously eat as many of the pastries as she could. Signing, she turned to her own pastry and takes a curious bite into it. And that was when her eyes slowly opened with surprise. It was a mix she hadn't been expecting and was completely unsure about, until she actually got to taste it.

It was...sweet. Super sweet due to the combination of cinnamon rolls and maple syrup. And also rather crispy due to some of the bacon as well. It wasn't often that she's tasted something so sweet, and she couldn't help but show her appreciation for the experience by taking another bite out of it. Then many more larger bites. And almost immediately after finishing one, she went for another.

It didn't take very long for both Cinder and Ruby to begin eating as many maple bacon rolls as were available, with Penny joining in not too soon afterwards. Jaune and Oscar watched on while the latter sheepishly laughed at the display, scratching the back of his head.

"It looks like we've got another one on our hands..."

"Just wait until the others get here. Then it'll all be back to the usual rush, plus one." Jaune sighed while running a hand through his hair with a laugh. "I'm both looking forward and dreading when everyone makes it back. I've actually gotten a bit of a break not having to make food for an entire guild. Not to say that I don't like doing that. Just that I'm appreciating the lighter load while it lasts."

Penny's eyes lit up suddenly, and she paused and lifted her head, turning towards the entrance. "It appears that one of our friends have arrived. It's Weiss!"

"Oh dear." Ruby briefly munched the rest of her rolls as she dashed towards the entrance, stopping in place and taking a look towards Cinder. "Uh, I hope you and Weiss are able to get along. We've got quite an adjustment period ahead of us, You know."

"I make no promises."

"Good enough!"

What about that is 'good enough'? Jaune and Oscar thought in exasperation.

With a pause of anxiety, the next upcoming finally enters the fray, and Ruby ends up turning towards her with raised arms. "You showed no first! Congratulations!"

The first thing that Cinder could see of the woman were the sky blue sunglasses in front of her eyes. Then there was her skin-fitted short sleeveless white dress, a short cap attached to the dress, a grey mesh top underneath that has a black snowflake styled design, a trenchcoat with black thorn and black snowflake like designs that hung off of her shoulders without falling off-Cinder was briefly VERY confused over how she was doing that-wearing light grey tights, and white high heel pumps. And when she went to take off her sunglasses, one could see her blue eyes again at the space before her, with a scar running down the left side of her face.

The coldness in the room increased quite a bit once she stepped into it. But strangely, it wasn't a very harsh cold. The cold that slowly slipped into the room actually felt quite cool and relaxing, refreshing even. Something akin to the cool falling snow that would fall on a fun snowy and cheerful snowy day. The cool air around her brushed against everyone, aside from Cinder herself, who's heat gently pushed against the cold.

After she's taken a moment to take in the current situation, the young women sighed as she turned her gaze towards Ruby. "Good grief. What have you introduced into our halls this time, Ruby? I'm pretty sure that we've discussed this several times before, no?"

"Weiss! You came home! Welcome back!" Ruby's eyes sparkled as she enveloped Weiss in a hug, lifting her of her free with her tail wagging cheerily. Weiss rolled her eyes at Ruby's enthusiastic greeting, before she I'd her arms around her and kindly returned the hug. "I'm so very glad you managed to get back safely/ You're also the first one to do so, too! Congrats!"

"Hmph. Of course I'm the first one here. I'm far more punctual than the others. I've proven this time and time again. " Weiss smirked as she patted the small of Ruby's back. "Good to see that you're alright and the place is still in once piece. It seems like you can at least keep a building together. Suppose we all have to cherish the small victories, hm?"

"Yeah! Like-" Ruby was stopped by Weiss stoically chopping her upside the head, making her stumble forward slightly. "Ouch! Why?!" She whimpered while nursing the top of her head.

"Don't try to distract me." Weiss deadpanned. She then lifted her head to look at Jaune and Oscar, both realizing that they currently weren't safe from her needling. "Both of you have very simple tasks when I'm gone. And one of them was to make sure that Ruby didn't go out making impulsive decisions left and right."

"Well, to be fair, I think we all kinda agreed to the decision, so laying it all upon one person's lap wouldn't be fair." Oscar scratched his check nervously while Weiss was giving them all criticizing looks. "Weiss, a lot of things happened, and it all lead to this agreed decision to let her stick around. So it wasn't that entirely impulsive. We really took our time to think about it and come to a decision. Of course, it really might have been better if the others at least would have been here and had their say before doing so..."

"But who knows how long that would have taken?!" Ruby through her arms up in slight exasperation. "You can't blame us all the way, Weiss! It's just something we had to do! And it's not like we're not gonna do our best to make her adjustment smooth! And now that you're here, it's gonna be even easier! So you see? It's all good, it's all good."

"You're making quite an assumption there."

"Come oooonnn Weiss..."

"Quit your sulking! You're our leader and also becoming a grown woman! Act like both!"

"Hmph!" Ruby folded her arms and pouted, turning about face.

Weiss sighed while massaging the bridge of her nose. "I honestly don't know what to do with you sometimes..." She turned to Cinder, who was quietly watching the entire time, and stepped up to her. "But I do have an idea on what to do with you. As rash a decision as Ruby recruiting you was, it was still a decision she finalized on. So regardless of my misgivings, I will have to do my best to make sure you're adjusting to our guild properly. Of course that doesn't mean I intend to be too lenient with you, however."

"Hm. And why would that be the case, Schnee?" Cinder raised an eyebrow. Weiss's eyes narrowed in response.

"I must ensure for myself that you won't be a serious threat to my friends."

"Tch. I have no intentions on causing any trouble."

"Having no intentions to do so doesn't mean that you won't."

Jaune and Oscar looked awkwardly as the temperature began both rising and falling around the two women as they glared at each other with steeled eyes. Jaune sighed and lightly clapped once.

"This is a great start."

"Absolutely!" Penny raised her hand in agreement. Jaune, for Penny's sake, chose not to correct her on what he actually meant by that, it was much easier to just roll with it at the moment.

"Alright, I think we have enough people for a small scale mission!" Ruby rubbed her chin as a small smile spread across her face. "And I have just the right assignment to start us off!"

"I don't think they're listening, Ruby." Oscar muttered tiredly as Weiss and Cinder were continuing to glare at one another with quietly building animosity.

This wasn't going to go smoothly, he could tell.


"Are you content with taking this form at times, Cinder?" Penny questioned as she and Cinder were walking alongside one another, with Ruby leading the way forward, and Oscar around the middle, and Jaune and Weiss behind her. Cinder nearly rolled her eyes as she noticed that Weiss has rarely kept her eyes off of her, while Jaune sighed and scratched his head at how tensely they sometimes glared at each other.

Nevertheless, she addressed Penny.

"At times it's more useful to be in this form than my draconic one. Also, there is some nuance to it." Cinder hummed as her tail gently touched the ground, her finger lightly brimming across her horns. "It took some practice to be able to hold this form. While I was born a dragon, this is my 'true' form just as much as my dragon self is. You can consider this appearance the essence of what I would look like if I were legitimately born a human."

"Fascinating..."

"That's pretty cool. You really grabbed hold of your own identity that way." Ruby noted while casually skipping ahead in the lead. "You're still you on the inside. The only thing that really changes is your shape."

Cinder lightly folded her arms, tail lifted up slightly with a huff. "I suppose that's one way to look at it."

"Are you considered highly dangerous in both of your states?" Weiss curtly asked, getting another tired sigh from Jaune.

"Weiss..."

"Why ask, Schnee? Do I intimidate you, perhaps?" Cinder turned to her with a smile, her eyes glowing for a few moments. "Does being near me truly unnerve you that much?"

"Far from it. I'm simply making sure you aren't up to anything. I'm not exactly keen on handing over my trust to anyone I haven't gotten to know." Weiss narrowed her eyes. "And I'm still debating on whether or not I would even want to know you that well."

"That does sound like a bit of anxiety to me. How shallow of you."

"We're here!" Ruby eyes opened and she pointed the way forward, with everyone else managing to catch up quickly at her behest. Though once they did, they were met with a rather curious sight. Ruby held her hand over her eyes and narrowed them slightly. "Yuuuup. Just like it said."

The area they could see was submerged in a malevolent miasma, a dark purple mist covering the setting. Levitating above it, was some sort of orb of energy that was constantly pulsing, like a sort of sinister heartbeat. And with every 'beat', the miasma grows a bit more noticeable from afar.

"I'm detecting a highly concentrated level of malevolent energy in this area." Penny noted while pointing forward.

"It looks like that thing up there is causing this." Jaune also noted his own hand over his eyes. It definitely didn't appear to be all that sturdy, but that wouldn't matter much given what he thought next. "I could try cutting it down from here, but I think this is one of those 'attack the source' kind of deals. Or else it'll keep manifesting. Come across those kinds of cases once or twice to think that this is one of them."

"That's probably the case. But let's test it, juuuuust to be sure. Penny?"

"I'm on it!" Penny readily volunteered, before lifting her hands towards the dark orb in the air. With a huff, she formed a green sphere of energy and fired it towards the menacing orb, and watched it blast it into several pieces. After a small pause of anticipation and caution, everyone watched as the sinister orb slowly pulled itself together again, until it fully reformed to the shape that it was moments before. "Indeed, it seems that destroying the orb itself will not dispel the effects. Thus confirming that we should eliminate the source of said orb first."

"Which means...yeah. This place is under some Grimm's thrall." Ruby hummed while rubbing her chin. "We oughta find the Grimm responsible, and slay it quick. How do we approach this?"

"It's an expansive area, but there aren't many places to hide. If luck is on our side-it usually isn't-we'll be able to single it out pretty quickly, before it does any further damage." Jaune noted while carefully surveying the entire area from where he stood. "Alright. Ruby, you're definitely the best one to confront the owner of the domain head-on, so you should probably take point, with Penny and Oscar side by side with you. You three can definitely overwhelm it fast enough together. Penny will be able to detect it the quickest."

"So that means you'll be hanging a bit far back with Weiss and Cinder. I guess that's fine!" Ruby nodded, rolling her arm with a pep in her step. "You just leave that Grimm to me. I'll be trusting you to watch my back, as always, Jaune. As for Penny and Oscar, I'll need you both to stick with me while we do this."

"Okay!" Penny shot her hand up in agreement.

"You've got it." Oscar clutched onto the Long Memory, nodding. "Though, uh, try not to speed ahead too quickly, alright?"

"No promises! Let's go!"

Oscar could only sigh as Ruby and Penny both leapt on ahead, with Jaune being left behind with Weiss and Cinder. And as he felt the temperature around them beginning to rise and fall against each other, he realized that he might have made a slight error in judgement in agreeing to stay behind with them without any support. Which means that he would have to manage these two and keep them from going at each other's throats all on his own.

That didn't sound very fun, yet here he was.

The burden of being second in command is a troublesome one...

Weiss and Cinder were marching in ahead, still quite irritated with each other, with Jaune hanging back with a sigh while keeping an eye on things. It didn't seem like the danger was near, but that could change at any moment. It was far too quiet as well, aside from the silent seething of the two in front of him. He could see several structures around him, though they seem to have been abandoned. Signs of life had been present in this town. Where the inhabitants went, however, was still unknown. He could sense that life has been here, and there was a small inkling of life he could actually detect. But he couldn't find the proper source.

As he was trying to figure out the exact circumstances of the town, Cinder and Weiss were still subtly pushing against each other with their respective clash of hot and cold, while barely looking at each other. Though they've occasionally taken the time to glare harshly at each other before turning away with a huff. Though as they kept moving, Cinder couldn't bring herself to ignore just thow empty this town felt, there should have been some form of life to be seen by now, even though they might be afraid of being attacked by the Grimm undoubtedly occupying the area.

"Hey, Schnee." Cinder casually called out, causing the white haired woman to glare at her with annoyance. "Do you have any inkling of an idea of what's going on here? Of course, if it's too hard for you to comprehend, much less explain, please don't hesitate to admit to it. We all have our blind spots." Cinder shrugged casually as her tail swished behind her, with Jaune groaning over his blatant she was about her disdain. It was awfully clear and easy to see, but he wasn't sure about the source, and he doubted that she'd tell him outright.

Weiss grumbled while turning towards Cinder. "Of course I'm aware of what's going on. Though the very fact that you yourself don't seem to know, is just evidence of how much of a burden you might be." She turned her head back around with a scoff. "Either way, are you really in such a position to be talking down to me? You're the new recruit here, after all."

"Then please, oh superior, fill me in on the details that I might have missed. Though I'm not sure you'll be able to speak much with the silver spoon in your mouth."

Weiss nearly said something at that, before she scoffed and folded her arms, keeping her attention forward. "This is just wasting time and energy, so I'm not going to indulge you any further. There's far more important matters to attend to than getting into a spat with you, someone who's recently joined and hasn't yet proved that they could be a capable and dependable member. You're not worth the effort."

Something snapped. No one could hear it but one person. And they definitely heard and felt something snap.

Cinder's eye twitched violently. "...Worth?"

The orb in the sky suddenly pulsed with a sinister dark purple aura.

"Worth?"

The orb pulsed again, as Cinder opened her fists as they morphed into draconic claws. Her golden eyes flashed a bit while her hair waves erratically in front of her face.

"WORTH?!"

Weiss could sense the surge on fury exploding behind her, and she turned around quick enough to catch a fiery lunch from Cinder before it could strike her face. Steam emitting as the ice gauntlet she formed around her hand countered the sheer heat from Cinder's fist, as they both glared into each other's eyes. Cinder's eyes were wide and her lips were pulled back through her snarl. Weiss could see her fangs setting in by the moment.

"Who are you to talk to me about my worth, Atlesian?!"

Jaune could barely manage an interruption before the resulting explosion of ice and fire blasts him back, he managed to regain his footing incredibly quickly, stopping himself from going very far. He lifted his head as he could see the women jumping away from one another, shards of ice forming around Weiss while wisps of flames swirled around Cinder. Several structures were beginning to freeze behind Weiss, while Cinder was burning whatever was behind her that managed to catch fire. Both elements slammed into each other, with the resulting burst of miss briefly covering their vision and forcing both of them away from each other.

Weiss slid back away from the enraged dragon. She sensed a massive increase of malice from the woman that seemed to suddenly burst into the surface and take point. And now observing that the flames around her increasing in intensity and possible destruction out of sheer sudden outrage, she wondered what had gotten into her. Though at that moment, the orb in the sky pulsed again, and she looked towards it right that moment, then back towards Cinder's increased snarl of aggression. It didn't take long for her to put piece things together.

"That orb in the sky is giving us problems! We have to find the perpetrator and defeat them quickly!" Weiss declared, before focusing back on Cinder as she launched herself towards her, throwing her clawed hand towards her and attempting to clash her across the chest with them. Weiss parried the clawed slash with Myrtenaster, the sparks spraying outwards and causing them both to push each other back.

"Atlas Elites...there's no difference between you all. Not a single one." Cinder muttered, standing up as her clawed hand caught fire. "Always believing you're above everything. Always lording your superiority over us. Who the hell are you to decide anything about my worth?" Cinder pulled back her hand as the flames violently increased around her hand. "A pampered little girl who's never suffered hardship in her life thinks she's better than ME?!"

Weiss wondered where this was coming from, but she had little time to settle upon and sit upon the question, for Cinder sped towards her while surrounded by flames. Weiss stood her ground against her as she was surrounded by cold frost, with it countering the intense heat. She looked up as a trio of fireballs manifested over her head and launched themselves towards her. A shining white glyph formed under her feet, with allowed her to dash quicker in another direction, did dying the three fireballs that combined together to explode where she was previously standing.

Jaune, in the meanwhile, looked desperately between the two, before bringing up his Scroll. "Ruby, Cinder's going on a rampage! She's gonna destroy everything around her to try and kill Weiss at this rate!"

"I know, I can see the flames from here!" Ruby voiced from the Scroll. "You can handle this! My group will try and take down the source!"

"You have quite a bit more faith in me than I do." Jaune sighed as he locked the Scroll, lightly cracking his neck. "Oooookay, Jaune. You can handle this, no problem. Worst case, you'll either get killed by ice or killed by flames. Or if you're really unlucky, both at once. All due to friendly fire." He dejectedly shook his head, then a firmer expression took over as he went after Weiss and Cinder. "Gotta try, though!"

Weiss landed on a wall, which she placed a Glyph onto ahead of time. She could see the wearing fireball heading her way, thus forcing her to launch herself off of the Glyph she was placed on, causing the wall she was on to be destroyed by the resulting flames. After landing on the next Glyph she manifested behind her, looking up to see Cinder's clawed flaming hand smashing downwards towards where she stood, resulting in several flaming trenches to be seared into the ground, destroying a bit of the area around the impact.

Cinder's eyes glowed a fiery gold as wings sprouted from her back, before she made a leap and flapped them, soaring towards Weiss in a blur. Weiss grunted as she hardened her ice gauntlets and raised her arms, before Cinder forcibly charged into her with her fiery clawed hands. She grunted as she was lifted off the ground and crashed right through another wall, being taken quite a distance away from where they initially began fighting. Both of them ended up tumbling against a ground after a block of ice slammed into the small of Cinder's back, stopping her charge and dropping both of them. Each of them were quick to roll and recover from the crash, with both of them having one knee on the ground. Weiss breathed heavily as she lifted her hand up to her face, which was blessing slightly. Cinder herself ignored the blood running down hers, for she was far too furious.

"You're making quite a bit of assumptions if you believe I didn't have my own share of hardships." Weiss muttered as she pushed herself to stand on her two feet, an icy mist swirling around her. "I have no idea what you yourself have went through, but do you believe that entitles you to lashing out towards me so violently? After you've been welcomed with open arms by my friends?"

"That right there is exactly what I mean. You think you're in any position to tell me these things? Why should I even entertain a scrap of anything you have to say to me?!" Cinder launched herself forward and punched right at Weiss, who raised her rapier up in time to block against the explosive blow. She was sent skidding back as the icy mist helped maintain her defense at the moment, with Cinder gritting her teeth angrily while patches of ice attached themselves to her arms. "Hoarding all of the power you're capable of handling, and you believe that makes you untouchable!"

"Is that what you truly think of the denizens of Atlas?" Weiss muttered in disbelief as she held up Myrtenaster in front of her. With how much fiery anger she was putting into her voice, this wasn't coming from a random place. "What exactly did Atlas do to you?!"

"That doesn't matter." Cinder lifted her arm as it turned even more draconic, her claws sharpening further as they ignited with fierce flames. "What does matter, is what I'm going to do to YOU!" She shot off like a cannon, explosion and all, launching herself towards Weiss claws first. Weiss braced herself as she prepared a Glyph as one manifested right in front of her.

Both were surprised as Jaune managed to appear in front of Cinder and block against her charge. The blast resulting managed to push him back several feet as he struggled to stand his ground, though ultimately his guard wasn't broken. It nearly faltered under the sheer explosive power behind the blast, but he managed to hold true and keep his shield up against the dragon in front of him. Though once the surprise winded down on Cinder's side, it quickly gave way to fiery wrath once more, as she deliberately began pushing against him.

"Out of my way, Arc!"

"I can't do that, Cinder!" Jaune replied apologetically, yet firmly. "You need to get a hold of yourself!"

"I said MOVE!" Another blast of explosive fire slammed against Jaune's shield, and he was nearly knocked off his feet due to it. But he stood firm regardless, keeping himself in front of Weiss, who observed with a cautious gaze.

"And I said no." Jaune once again firmly, resolutely denied. "Guess we've reached an impasse, huh?"

"Why do you defend her?!"

"She's my friend. All the reason I need." He shook his head. "More importantly, whatever you're mad enough about to attack her over, it's not right. She herself hasn't done anything to you."

"Not yet! She will, if I give her the chance! And I refuse to give her that chance!" The flames around them grew ever fiercer, with Weiss actively applying a cold frost to them in order to keep them at bay. However, she did so with a struggle since Cinder was showing no restraint with allowing her flames to go wildly out of control.

Jaune's shield didn't give way, but the increasing amounts of heat, even though they were combated by Weiss's frost, was beginning to get to him. At this rate he was going to weaken enough for his guard to wear down, and Cinder will knock him over and attack Weiss again. He needed to calm her down quickly.

"Listen, Cinder. I don't know what might have lead you to say or think such things, but you must have your reasons. Be that as it may, I can't just let you be when you're trying to hurt or kill Weiss." Jaune shook his head, wincing as he felt the intensifying raging flames beginning to surround him. "It goes both ways. She might hurt you if you give her the chance, but how can she prove she's not who you think she is if you don't give her that same chance?" Jaune pleadingly looked into Cinder's eyes as he tried to find the reason within them. "Think about the things you said you wanted to do while you're with us. Is this really going to help you accomplish them?"

Cinder snarled and growled at this, at nearly everything around her. Though to Jaune's relief, it looked like she was actually able to think over those words. Weiss looked around as the flames slowly died down from their previous intensity, until there was little of them left behind but small crackles of flames. Jaune felt like she calmed herself enough that he lowered his shield, confident she wouldn't try and lash out again. Cinder took a breath and sighed. And as she did so, she felt the overwhelming rage she felt leave alongside the breath. Once she managed to focus, she lightly held her head with both hands as they returned to normal, her tail slapping the ground irritably.

"I...I..." Cinder shook her head, things still felt a bit hazy. Though once she cleared said haze with sharp focus, she snarled and looked around rapidly. She shot a blast of fire through the air with a shot of her hand, snarling and causing Weiss and Jaune to jump back in surprise.

"Woah! Cinder! What's gotten into you...now?" Jaune slowly stopped as he sensed a surge of malevolence. The stream of fire forced something to come out of hiding.

A ghostly being soon came into existence, and it's malice made itself known. It had a ghost-like body. It was black and had red lines running across it's chest. It's head resembled a grey-red skull turned upside-down, which had uneven teeth, black lips, and one red eye. It had long black nails, and there were some tears in it's skin, revealing black and red striped tentacles underneath. Weiss felt something off about the being, until it surrounded itself in intense crimson flames. After seeing how violent and destructive they were, it immediately clicked as she sensed that those were some of Cinder's flames.

"An Enmity." Weiss narrowed her eyes as she and Jaune brandished their swords.

"GOTCHA!"

The Grimm turned around, only to raise it's arms up in defense as Ruby suddenly came in and dropkicked it, launching it right into the ground and crashing right into it. Ruby landed on the ground next to Jaune, briefly patting him on the shoulder.

"Landed just in time! Are you guys alright?" Ruby asked, as Penny and Oscar landed next to her after managing to quickly catch up.

"For the most part, yeah." Jaune uneasily nodded as a golden glow surrounded his body, his burns beginning to gradually heal. Cinder seeing that she had burned him during her brief rampage, managed to make her slightly look away with shame. "You managed to get here pretty quick."

"I knew I had to hit it hard and fast!" Ruby soon jumped in front of Jaune, as she could see the Enmity beginning to recover from the sudden blow, the flames around it starting back up. "Weiss!"

Weiss twirled Myrtenaster and stabbed it into the ground, multiple Glyphs forming as a wave of ice roared it's way towards the Enmity Grimm. A ghostly wail emitting from it, it threw it's arms across as a wave of flames countered the ice, just barely able to cancel it out. The result was a burst of steam that briefly managed to cover the area, and obscure everyone's vision for the moment. It attempted, after manifesting a flaming scythe in its hands, to decapitate one of them with the steam cloud distracting them.

All but one, as Penny swiftly appeared before it, smiling as her green eyes glowed brightly through the steam.

A sword materialized in her hand, and she slashed downwards. It raised it's scythe up to block the attack, and Penny was fascinated by the surprise in it's eye sockets once it discovered firsthand that she was stronger than she looked; it ended up hurtling downwards into the ground, enough to cause the earth around it to erupt upwards. Penny landed gracefully on her feet, patting down her skirt.

It slowly managed to pick itself up again, shaking it's head. Sensing something approaching it from behind, it turned for a blurry swipe of it's flaming scythe. Oscar was revealed to be the one it tried to strike, and he barely managed to as it managed to get a somewhat shallow cut across his cheek. Oscar exclaimed as he dashed outside of the range of another flaming swipe. Ruby soon took his place, helping him u and pushing him safely away, before ducking under another flaming swing from the Grimm.

"Hey! You're wielding a flaming scythe! So cool!" She beamed excitedly, before she jumped over a swipe at her feet and kicked it upside the skull, knocking it across the ground. "You're so sloppy with it though! Take it from a fellow scythe wielder!" She lands on her feet as the Enmity slowly rises again, as it simply dissipates it's flaming scythe and rose it's hands upwards. Soon enough, large flaming pillars soon began erupting all around the gang, and they quickly dodged around them so they wouldn't get hit by the flames.

"Don't give it time to recover!" Weiss exclaimed as she hovered over it on a Glyph platform, another forming in front of her as it shot several icy rays down upon it, keeping it from escaping as it frantically tries to dodge them all to occasional success, but was soon overwhelmed by the barrage as multiple rays managed to hit it dead-on, forcing it closer to the ground.

Jaune kept his focus on it as he tripped Crocea Mors, light channeling through it, before he slashed towards the elusive Grimm. Surprised at the sudden interference, it briefly turned intangible and allowed the flying slash to pass through it, cutting several corners in the process. It retaliated with interest with a flaming spiral sent his way, which he held up his shield to block,holding fast as he wasn't pushed back nearly as much as when Cinder was wielding the flames.

Speaking of Cinder...

Whilst it had it's focus on Jaune, she appeared as a fiery wisp right behind it. Realizing too late that she approached it, it couldn't react as she smashed her claws diagonally through it's body, from shoulder to torso, unable to both send off it's flames and be intangible at once. This resulted in it being bisected, it's bottom half immediately falling to the ground and swiftly burning up per it's slayer's spite.

It was briefly held by the skull as Cinder brough it closer to her face. She would only narrow her eyes in absolute irritation, before she crushed the skull within her hand, killing the Grimm and causing whatever remained of it to be burned away by her flames. She slightly opened up her hand again as the slight anger in her eyes slowly began to die down, but not by much.

Just above them, as Ruby and Jaune concludes, once the Enmity had been slain, the dark orb in the sky that it conjured promptly bursts into pieces, and didn't put itself back together this time. Ruby let out a sigh as she wiped her brow at the job well done. Jaune as well, albeit scratching the back of his head.

"Well, looks like we guessed right again! Great job, everyone!"

"Mission complete!" Ruby and Penny cheered, both of them energetically high fiving each other with both of their hands and a leg lifted up.

Although throughout the celebration, Oscar couldn't help but notice that Weiss and Cinder were the slowest to celebrate,for they cast a distant look towards each other, before shifting away trying to focus on something else. Oscar and Jaune both sighed at the silent interaction.

They couldn't entirely blame them both for this current attitude, in all honesty.


"Got some more hidden citizens over here!" Penny noted as she was pushing aside some wrecked debris over in one side of town, allowing them to emerge from their hiding places. She effortlessly lifted the rest of them out of the way so that they could emerge and confirm that they were safe.

"Upsie daisies!" Ruby beamed as she hoisted one of the children up with the help of their parents, seeing as they preferred for them to recover first.

"Anyone with injuries, come see me." Jaune offered as he was currently healing a group of townsfolk at once, in a gentle circle. A healing flow that pulsed outwards and gradually healed those that stepped into his circle.

Oscar sighed as he was keeping lookout for any potential trouble attempting to happen upon them from afar. "It doesn't seem like anything's gonna come at us out of nowhere, but I'll keep lookout just to be sure!" The others were quite busy with the surrounding area and making sure everything and everybody was in order.

Which left the last two.

Weiss and Cinder had been a bit further back, with Weiss using her Glyphs to lift several debris pieces out of the way, while Cinder forcibly moved them and cut/burned through things that wouldn't easily budge after a few food pushes. Things we beginning to settle down, having slain the Grimm that had held this place down as a personal territory all on its own. And once it became clear that no more dangers would be passing by for the moment, this left them with the silent awkwardness that was acknowledging what had happened back there before slaying said Grimm. Of how Cinder had did her damnedest to try and kill Weiss before Jaune managed to break her out of the trance.

Out of the two, Weiss took the first step.

"The Enmity Grimm was influencing you, wasn't it?" Weiss quietly brought up once she was sure Cinder was somewhat listening. "I could feel your power residing within it. Grimm of that unique type are capable of reducing the suppression on certain negative emotions within people until they overwhelm them, ripe for empowering themselves from them like drinking from a running fountain. That Enmity wouldn't have lasted longer than a minute if it didn't siphon such power from your immense hostility beforehand."

Cinder narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "What a dirty trick..."

"I agree. Though, there's something I must ask. Do you truly feel the way you do about Atlas and it's people?"

Cinder paused for a moment, unsure if she wanted to entertain Weiss with an explanation. Though given how her poor self-control over her temper lead to a Grimm taking advantage of her-a moment of weakness she's kicking herself over-, she has no excuse to not give at least something to her. With that, the woman grumbled as she sits down. "There's no use in denying it, after what happened. I have no fondness for Atlas, that much is true." Cinder muttered as her hair swayed in front of her face.

Weiss, after pondering, slowly sits down next to her, closing her legs as her dress gently splays out around her. "What exactly did Atlas do to you?" When Cinder didn't respond, the younger woman lightly turned away with lowered eyes. "You don't want to tell me. I suppose I can't blame you for not telling me of all people. Furthermore that we've only just met today."

"So why bother asking?"

"To gain a better understanding. For better or worse, we'll be working together more. So I'd rather take the steps necessary in order to make sure that we'll be able to perform effectively. I don't want to be one of the causes of the guild being held back, and I'd imagine you don't want to hold them back either. We can at least agree on that much, right?"

The wind blew across the two of them, with both of them looking outwards for the time being. A mixed breeze of hot and cold brushed across their faces, leaving a balanced atmosphere of warmth and coolness. The intensity has mostly died down for the time being, leaving only a slightly awkward air, but one where they could quietly coexist.

"...We've definitely gotten off on the wrong foot. There's no question about that. I wasn't being very fair to you myself, given your rather abrupt inclusion into our ranks. Then again, I should have known better. Ruby tends to make abrupt decisions sometimes, and I tend to reprimand her on them." Weiss continued on after regaining her focus. "I don't know what it is that you have against Atlas, and you're most likely not going to tell me, so I won't pry." Weiss slowly stands up, patting down her dress. "If there's one thing I would like to make absolutely clear, Cinder, it's that whatever reasons you may have to think the way you do, I'm not your enemy. We belong under the same faction now, and that will have us cooperating to succeed under it's banner. Be that as it may, I also don't think it's proper to call ourselves friends just yet, due to how rocky our start is. I haven't exactly made things easier for the both of us, so I apologize there."

Cinder briefly looked away for a moment, clenching her fists as she realized she did indeed have a part in instigating their clash, even though she was somewhat manipulated into starting the actual fight. She wasn't about to deny that her real emotions being forced to the surface wasn't sufficient enough an excuse to blow the incident off. "I...I suppose I will have to apologize for attacking you the way I did. So, I sincerely apologize as well..." Not to mention that her giving in so easily to her wrath resulted in a rather pitiful display of a lack of self-control. And almost nothing productive came from it. She grit her teeth in frustration as she clenched her fists.

She needed to do better than that. Be better than that.

Weiss could tell that was a much harder effort than it appeared to be, though dropping the subject entirely before doing so probably wouldn't have suited her well. "We'll just put that unfortunate incident behind us and use it a springboard for bettering our relations. We might not become cats friends, though we might be able to build off of one another through a competitive rivalry."

"What does that mean?"

"I mean to say that we both strive to see who can achieve greater results than the other." Weiss folded her arms. "I should warn you. I'm not known to laze around. There will be no handed victories for you if you complete against me."

The woman scoffed, slowly standing up herself and folding her arms arrogantly. "Like I need your handouts. I'll create better results that you ever could, because that's how superior I am."

"We'll see."

Looking from a little bit away, Ruby and Jaune watched the two women slowly come to somewhat of an understanding, even though it didn't exactly result in them becoming friends. Some sort of sturdy wall in-between them was still keeping them from going that kind of step. Regardless, it was better than them staying at each other's throats.

"Well, at least they're starting somewhere." Jaune scratched the top of his head with a sigh. "That was pretty close, though. Thought I would have to try a bit harder to get them to separate from one another."

"Good thing you succeeded when you did, huh? Awesome job, Jaune." Ruby smiled sweetly to him, before both of them turned towards Penny and Oscar, who were both observing something, notably the space around the spot where the Enmity was slain. "Did you find anything, guys?"

"Something about this case seems a little bit peculiar." Penny noted with a finger on her chin, meaning forward. "Was wondering if Oscar could try and get a better understanding of it."

"I'll try my best, but I'm still not quite advanced with this one." Oscar nervously admitted, before he closed his eyes and lifted his hand over a certain spot on the ground. A green gylph with a clock imagery do wly manifested below the hand, and expanded. The group stepped back as the gylph expanded just enough, and images began to hover above it and move.

The first thing they saw was several people surrounded by a Grimm Pool of sorts, with restrained prisoners around them. The pool pulsed and lurched several times, with the prisoners uttering something in terror, before something emerged from it with a skeletal clawed hand, gripping to the ground. It clawed itself out of the pool and rose out of it via levitation, hovering over those that it was surrounded by.

And with this, it had happened upon this town, after killing the prisoners around it. Several forwarded instances of terrorizing the townfolk and siphoning off of the rage at their torment only seemed to make it tougher and stronger, until it was too far above the citizens for them to effectively fight back against it. They were effectively at the whims of a Grimm sustaining itself off of a town that was expressing hostility towards it, and each other for their supposed helplessness, which left them even further unable to band together to stand against it.

The glowing green clock glyph soon dissipated, and the group was left to ponder over what they've seen. Penny in particular hand a thumb on her chin while tilting her head. "It would seem that the Enmity was somewhat lead upon this town and was using it's people to continually siphon off of their hostility towards it and each other. Somewhat as if it were farming their malice and occasionally reaping the resulting negativity from them."

"Guess it detected the sheer amount of animosity Cinder had for Weiss the moment we stepped into it's range, and tried to push it to the surface so that it could empower itself from it directly." Jaune deduced. "Guess it threw caution away a little the moment that she appeared, which eventually gave us the opening to take it down quickly."

"The imagery almost made it look like those imprisoned were sacrificed." Oscar uttered quietly as his eyes narrowed. "Why and how would something like this happen?"

"That's something we're gonna have to figure out for ourselves." Ruby allowed the image to be bookmarked in her head for a while. It would be something she'd need to recall if s similar incident happens again. "It's probably gonna take some time. We'll have to put a pin on it, but in a place we won't be able to forget about it. It's pretty important that this remains within our attention when it's time to pick it up again. Is that alright?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Good. Now then..."

Weiss gasped as Ruby suddenly dashed at her, wrapping her arms around her neck and nearly making the woman stumble over. "What in the world are you doing?!"

"Job's all done for the day, Weiss! Now we've got time to get some ice cream together!"

"That didn't have to involve you hopping on my back, that's not a proper hug! Get off you crazy woman!"

"Ooh! I wish to join in as well!"

"Penny NO-"

Penny colliding into the duo definitely caused them to stumble over and crash into the ground. It didn't take much to guess that the impact was a bit painful, for Ruby and Weiss were left frowning while Penny still obliviously gave them hugs. Jaune and Oscar winced heavily at the impact, knowing that must have hurt quite a bit. Cinder had watched the suddenness of the event with wide eyes, before they settled into half-lidded ones, paired with an amused smile.

Ruby grunted as she shifted under the weight of Penny, smiling sheepishly at Weiss, who was buried under the weight of both of them. She grumbled while lying on her side. "Every time something like this happens, I question my life choices and how they lead to you. I clearly made a wrong turn somewhere...ugh."

"Good to have you back on board Weiss...ow."


Weiss is here! She and Cinder are off to a...not so great start, it seems. Yikes.

Talk about a clash of fire and ice.

Cinder has always had such poor over her anger when something goes wrong or she's faced with someone who irritates the hell out of her. The results of putting that much aggression and a lack of control over that temper into a dragon should tell you something about how destructively dangerous that can get if someone isn't around to calm her down. All it takes is a push, even an imagined one, and she'll do whatever it takes to absolutely destroy the source of her irritation regardless of the cost.

Such anger is not very productive when she turns it on those she's supposed to be working with. Especially when some unique Grimm is nearby to exploit the hell out of it. So yeah, maybe she oughta consider getting better control of her explosive temper. That'd be a mighty good start, I'd say.

Hopefully the next encounter with the next rapidly approaching Red Riding Hood member will go a lot smoother. Still have plenty yet to arrive.

Until next time!