Here's another chapter of this brand new story. I have a question for those who have been reading this story for now. The 3 followers that this one has Lol, and any who have just joined up now. Since this is not really picking up a lot of popularity, I was thinking about either putting it on hold to focus on my other stories, or cancelling it entirely to start up a new story. More details on that other new story in the later AN.

So keep that in mind when you see these bold letterings next. For now, enjoy the story for what it is. If this does end up getting canceled, I will save the story and leave it here for now, then maybe delete it and restart it just so the start date isn't two years old Lol.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 2

Marcus yawned as he leaned back in his seat, and swung his feet up on the table he was sitting at. The green haired girl, whose name he has already forgotten, sat next to him. She kept staring at him with suspicion and a certain degree of jealousy. Marcus yawned again to show what he thought about that. It was very early in the morning at this time, so early in fact that it was still dark out. It must have been two or three in the morning, and they haven't even left the bar where his other fellow assassins have been hiding. Thankfully, they were all greenhorns for the most part. The best one in there wasn't nearly as good as he was, but he went after him first nonetheless. The guy now laid dead with a stab wound in the back of his neck and the middle of his back, even if he somehow managed to survive that, he would have never been able to walk again.

The woman in the red dress, Cinder, sat across from him. Ignoring the way he made himself at home by tilting the bottom of a bottle up toward the ceiling and downing the whole drink in a few seconds. He wiped his mouth with the back of one of his hands, and burped.

"Disgusting." The green haired girl commented.

"No one asked you, Grass." Marcus said with a smirk, already thinking of a decent enough nickname for the girl.

"What did you just call me?" Emerald asked, one of her red eyes twitching violently in irritation.

"Grass, 'cause, you know, the green hair and brown skin. You're literally walking dirt with grass where your hair should be." Marcus explained. Emerald didn't look any more happy. "If you want, you can call me Snow. 'Cause you know, the white hair."

"You-"

"Enough," Cinder butted in before Emerald could form any comebacks. The dark skinned girl clicked her mouth shut and bowed her head toward the woman, to which Marcus simply snickered and swung his legs off the table, sending the now empty bottle flying into the wall across the room. "There is no time for banter now, Marcus, do you understand what I have just told you?" She asked.

"You want to go and try to recruit the White Fang to help out with what we're doing in Vale." Marcus said, then sighed. "I'd suggest you don't bring me along for that, the White Fang don't exactly like me after I was hired to assassinate some of their officers."

"Noted," Cinder said. "In that time, you will be tracking down a woman for me. The death of this woman is paramount if we are to proceed on to Vale to officially begin our mission."

"Amber Fall," Marcus tested the name on his lips. Cinder explained to him who this woman was, the holder of some ancient power that only existed in four young women like herself around the world. It sounded like some far fetched fairy tale, something that he might have even told Mercury when he was a young infant. He doubted it, but the analogy was still the same. "She your sister or something? Or did you just choose that last name of yours because it sounded cool?"

"That is none of your concern." Cinder narrowed her eyes at him. "Your only concern as of this moment should be to track her down, and notify me as soon as you find her."

"And according to this little piece of paper you gave me earlier," Marcus scrounged about in his pocket, and flipped out a folded piece of paper and started to read it. "She travels by herself throughout the wilderness of the outskirts of Vale. You do know that the 'Outskirts of Vale' can literally mean the entire damn forest surrounding the damn city?"

"Correct." Cinder smiled smugly. "Of course I hardly expect you to find her right away, I expect it to take weeks, or even months. Sanus is a very large continent after all, and there is much searching to be made."

Marcus groaned his frustrations. It was going to be a real pain, he was already considering just ditching these two girls and run off to Vacuo or somewhere. Vacuo was a very difficult area to find a target, and all assassins in their right mind hated having to go after a target in that sandy desert kingdom. Miles and miles of sand as far as the eye can see, and it stretched further still. He would probably be able to hide out there for a few years, at least until he got old enough to the point where he couldn't put up much of a fight anymore.

"Also, there is one more thing I must do to confirm your borrowed loyalty until my task is complete." Cinder said, and extended a hand toward him. "Give me your hand."

Marcus narrowed his black eyes, suspicious. "Why?"

"Insurance." Cinder said, surprisingly honest. "Something my superior has suggested I use on you to insure that you will stay for as long as we need you."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound ominous at all." Marcus gritted. "Sorry if I say that I am a little reluctant in letting you-" He was cut off by a grunt of pain. Pain that lanced up his right arm and into his shoulder and upper back. He staggered and almost fell out of his chair when Cinder shot her hand forward to grab the back of his, something akin to a black mist steaming from his hand for a moment. He felt a burning sensation, like something was burrowing into his skin. He yanked his hand back and stood up.

"The fuck did you just do to me?" Marcus asked angrily. Instinctively drawing his knife.

Emerald was more than happy to draw hers against him in turn, and stood in front of Cinder as if she could protect her. "Say the word Cinder, and I'll put him down right now."

"No need for that, Emerald." Cinder said, standing up slowly and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We still have need of his services, that wouldn't do if he was forced to kill you." Emerald turned to look at her superior with shock at the lack of faith Cinder had in her, yet it was the truth. Marcus was the trained assassin who knew an uncountable amount of ways on how to kill a person. Emerald learned to fight from the streets, and whatever training she had from Cinder, it wouldn't be enough. She backed down wisely, and holstered her weapons behind her lower back.

"What did you do!?" Marcus screamed, looking over Emeralds head and toward Cinder. He glanced down to his right hand, and didn't see anything wrong with it. Nothing was externally damaged or injured in any way, but he felt like it should be. It felt like something was branded on him, yet there was no sign of any branding anywhere. The pain slowly subsided and gave way to some kind of warmth, a warmth albeit comfortable did not make him feel any better. "What is this?" He asked again, glancing up and down his arm while keeping an eye on the two women.

"A way to track you, in case you suddenly decide that you no longer wish to be a part of this mission." Cinder said, and crossed her arms. "I've been given the same, as was Emerald. My superior likes to keep her subordinates in line. One of her orders was to bestow the same boon onto you because of what your past dictates."

"Tch," Marcus waved his right arm around, but kept his knife clenched in his left hand. Some kind of tracker? He almost wanted to test it out, but thought better of it. This Cinder woman proved to be dangerous, and while he thought he might be able to take her down himself, there was always the chance that it would backfire immensely. Not to mention the green haired girl would most definitely help her out. He'd lose, even if he somehow managed to bring down one of them. "Could have said that instead of insurance, probably would have made me more willing." He said, sheathing his knife in a sheath on his hip. No more fighting for now, he was tired and still sore from his earlier battle with his son. If they wanted to make sure he wasn't about to ditch them halfway through this mission, then so be it. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go anyway, no more family and all his friends were most likely going to try and kill him the next time they saw him.

"I got a question though," Marcus said, relaxing his stance. In turn, Cinder and Emerald relaxed as well. "You keep saying your 'superior', who exactly is this superior of yours? Other than knowing that they are a she. I like to know who exactly I am going to be working with."

If his question was going to be answered, it was going to be answered with a truth mixed with lies. Cinder kept that smirk on her face as if she had not just burned some kind of tracker into his aura. "She is who is going to bring this pathetic world to heel. The one who grants wishes of those who deserves them, and the one person in this world whom I respect. She has a name, but for now you shall simply know her as The Black Queen."

Black Queen… that wasn't ominous at all. Marcus sighed internally, just what the hell did he just get himself into now? He refrained from making a joke about this Black Queen, but if that person could keep a woman as dangerous as the one who had just helped him kill trained assassins with ease, then she must be someone of great power and influence. He'd have liked to ask more about who that person was, but he knew that he wasn't trusted enough to know the entire story. He knew his role, he was the assassin, the one who was paid and pointed in the direction of their target. Just as he has been doing as far back as he could remember.

"Fine, then. About this Amber girl, you know the drill I hope." Marcus said, smirking. "I don't work for free, what am I going to be getting for killing her?"

"You will not be killing her." Cinder corrected him, her smirk disheartening. She was very serious suddenly, and didn't speak in that borderline seductive tone as she was before. "As I said before, you are only to track her down, let me know when you find her, and then follow her until Emerald and I find you. Only then will be take her down, together. Listen to me Black, the Fall Maiden is not someone you can simply assassinate. Her aura stronger than what you are used too, and her abilities far surpass even my own. If we want to have any hope of taking her down, we must all do it together. Do not try and kill her by yourself. It will only lead to your death."

It wasn't like he has heard that before, but you would be surprised at the amount of skilled Huntsman and Huntresses, even some of the best of their generation, could be killed in their sleep. It was the easiest way to assassinate a Hunter if he had too, no fighting, no chance of having to deal with any reinforcements, and getting away would be easy. No matter how much training one person may have, it counted for nothing when you were lying somewhere unconscious, where your aura is down and you are at your most vulnerable. Anyone with a knife could kill a Hunter, all they needed to do was stab them in the neck while they slept.

Whatever a 'Fall Maiden' was still bugged his curiosity more than it probably should have, was an anomaly. He couldn't say he has ever killed one of those before. But, he was being given specific instructions, and if he just had to track the bitch down and follow her for who knows how long then whatever, as long as he was getting paid.

"As for your reward," Cinder continued on as if she was reading his mind. "You shall get anything you desire, money, weapons, freedom." She started smirking again after that last word. "As long as you do what is expected of you, you will be rewarded with everything you will ever need for the rest of your days. Of that, I promise you."

"Promises don't mean shit to me, but…" Marcus smirked back. "I think that is a deal I can get behind. Alright, I am going to need some way to contact you when I find the soon to be dead woman. I'm sure you know that the outskirts of Vale hardly have a signal mostly anywhere."

"An associate of mine has seen fit to bypass that issue." Cinder said as she tossed him a scroll. Marcus caught it with one hand, and inspected it. It just looked like a normal scroll to him, but you didn't become an assassin without being able to look into things like these. It may look normal, but there was always something hidden about it that you could only find if you looked for it.

"I'm guessing this is going to bypass that whole no signal problem?" Marcus said as he opened the scroll, it was completely blank save for a few contacts, the only ones in there were Fall, which had to be Cinder, Emerald, which was Grass. And a third name he didn't recognize, simply named Watts.

"Watts is the one who created these scrolls. Don't bother trying to call that number, even if it worked I doubt he would pick up." Cinder explained, reading his mind. "When the target is found, you will inform me from there."

"Got it." Marcus said, closing the scroll and putting it away in his back pocket. He was almost certain that the scroll also had some kind of tracking device, it'd make sense, probably would make tracking him once he found the Maiden much easier so that they could set up an ambush ahead of time. He didn't like to be tracked, but it wasn't like he was going to get out of this anytime soon anyway. "Unless you still need me for something, I suppose this is goodbye for now. At least until I find this woman."

"Yes," Cinder nodded her head. "If anything should change, I shall contact you. Of course, if there is anything you feel that needs to be brought up to my attention, inform me as soon as possible."

"Got it Boss." He spat the term out like it was venomous. He did really hate having to play the role of a loyal lapdog, but this Cinder woman seemed to have a power fetish, and wanted to lord it over everyone else. It would make it easier for both of them if he just played along. "See ya next time Grass." He said as he made his way through the many bodies that still littered the floor of the bar. Marcus spared a glance toward the dead Brett, whose blood has dried up all over his chest and neck. His eyes were still open, a testament to the shock and fear he felt moments before he died. Marcus made sure to spit on his corpse before making his way to the exit. Stopping only when Cinder called out to him.

"Do make sure you are not caught, Marcus Black." Cinder said to him. "If you do, there will be consequences. In that case, maybe trying to fight the Maiden by yourself wouldn't be so bad of an idea."

Don't get caught or you die, was the rough translation of those words. Marcus humphed and stepped through the exit. It was still raining outside, and the village that this bar resided in was currently being overran by Grimm. Which explained all the noises he heard while he was having that conversation with Cinder. He was cautious of them as he made his way through the town, waiting for one of them to jump out and attack him. But true to one of the things Cinder said to him, none of the Grimm made to attack. Which proved her honesty at least on that front. He didn't know how this worked, only that this Black Queen was responsible for it.

He ignored all cries for help as he left the village, uncaring for the worthless people who were dumb enough to make a home out in the outskirts without knowing how to defend themselves from the Grimm. He kept walking and walking, through the forest before coming to a stop to look at what remained of his old home. Burned and collapsed. The corpse of his son was still lying there on the ground, face down in rain water with blood pooled around him.

Marcus didn't know what compelled him to dig a shallow grave for his son, he felt like he shouldn't have cared. The kid had tried to kill him in his last moments of life after all. Was it a late blooming affection for his offspring? Was it respect? Love? He laughed at them all, he wasn't capable of love. Not anymore. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

He even went so far as to make a cross out of the burned wood of his old home. Carving the letters. 'MB' into them for his sons name. Despite his earlier thoughts, he sighed and laid down one of his knives beside his son's graves. The knife that Mercury had almost killed him with.

"Goodbye Mercury, this is the last time I'm going to be here, which is probably something you wished for a lot." Marcus snickered. "I wonder what you would have done if you managed to kill me. You would have had your freedom, but what would you have done with it? You would have been lost, probably would have got strung along by that Cinder woman." He sighed. No more words came out of his mouth, he simply stood up from the grave, and walked away. Turning his back on his son's grave. No emotions came forth, he didn't feel anything. He didn't know what he expected to feel, but found himself disappointed.

Marcus pushed the thoughts of his murdered son to the back of his mind, and thought about the future. Another knife twirled in his other hand, the one he mainly used for his kills. A small weapon, but what made it dangerous was its size.

Amber Fall. The next target on his list.

Cinder was an interesting person, someone I couldn't really get a bead on. But damn, did she expect a lot…

Marcus scratched his itchy growing white beard and yawned. Going out into the outskirts of Vale searching for one woman with apparent magical powers was a lot easier said than done. Especially when the damn woman did nothing to get herself known. She just walked around, rode her horse, set up camp, ate, and slept. She looked to be enjoying herself though. Which only made Marcus even more irritated as he watched her sit beside her horse as it drank from the river.

"Tch." Weeks. Over a month, it took him to track the woman down. It would have helped if she didn't have such basic and common features. Brown hair. Brown skin. Brown eyes. There was nothing that made her stick out of a crowd, except for that green cloak of course. Then again, most people who traveled a lot wore a cloak or hood of some kind to protect themselves from the beaming sunlight.

He's been watching and following Amber for a few weeks already. Someone would probably have something to say about some guy following a young woman through the woods, but screw them. He already had a few chances to off her himself, once for every one of the amounts of times she slept in a small tent with the flaps open. It was like she was begging to be assassinated. He refrained from doing that however, whatever Cinder wanted from this girl involved her needing to be alive for her to take it herself and in person. He sent her the message long ago, with nothing else to do, and this Amber woman still sitting next to her drinking horse, he pulled up the conversation again.

His old message was still there.

Black: Found the bitch finally, what's happening on your end?

Fall: Good job, Emerald and I are meeting with the Fang soon. I will let you know when we are on our way.

Black: Please do, and soon. This girl does literally nothing but walk. It's boring.

He got no response after that, and got left on read for over a month and a half and going. He tried messaging Grass, the name he gave Emerald on his new scroll, and got nothing in response. Though, he supposed he should have expected that, since he opened up with "Hey Grass". She already hates him just for existing and being needed by Cinder, and now the nickname Grass was going to be another thing she hated him for. He thought it was clever, not that his opinion mattered.

Sighing after waiting for another message to no avail, he turned back to the Maiden, who was still enjoying the sight of running water going down the river. He wondered how long he could keep this up before he finally got caught. The woman was kind enough, from what he has noticed so far. From the rare moments that she actually stayed in a village, she was always helpful toward the inhabitants, and even went out to slay Grimm for them from time to time. She'd probably question him at first, and probably won't be able to deduce that he was an assassin sent to track her down and stalk her until it was time for her to be killed. He already had excuses that he could spit out if that situation came. He was also a wandering traveler, he was nervous and didn't know how to talk to her, he just happened to be walking in the same area as she was and more and more for each mood and level of suspicion she might have against him.

She stood up suddenly, which put Marcus on guard, he stood up slowly while perched up on the tree branch and watched what she was doing. She looked left and right, and then over her shoulder, making sure there was no one around her before facing the river again. Marcus knew what she was doing before she did it. He made sure he was unseen before getting a few feet closer to get a better look at what was about to happen.

Amber raised her hands up to above her hips, and the wind around her blew more harshly. Marcus instinctively clutched a tree branch and held on tight. The first time this happened, he was blown away and almost gave away his position. Watching curiously and attentively, Amber wind blew all around her sharply, but focused it into the river. Marcus watched with widened eyes as a burst of water was shot out of the river, and into a basket that the Maiden had prepared. The straw basket was now wet and full of fish, and so now she was going to be able to eat for many days.

He ducked down before he could get spotted, hiding his body behind a tree as he did so. That woman… really was incredible. He would not have believed that she would have any magical powers of any kind unless he saw it himself, and if there was one, three more didn't sound all that impossible. From what Cinder told him, there was one for each season; Fall, which was Amber, and then Winter, Spring, and Summer, who were all unknowns at the moment. He didn't know which was the strongest and which were the weakest, but he did know that they were far beyond his league. If he tried to kill this woman, and failed on his first try, he would have to pull out all the stocks to get away from her. Because he did not think he could kill a Maiden unless he caught them off guard, and only if they died from his first attack. He considered the possibility of being able to lock away her semblance and powers, but he didn't know if his semblance to steal other semblances extended that far. He might be able to lock away one ability, but all of the magic shit? Yeah, he'd rather wait for Cinder and Grass before he tested that one out.

Marcus groaned softly to himself and stood up on his tree branch when Amber started moving again after strapping and lidding the bucket onto her horse. She then mounted the horse and continued on whatever journey she put herself on. Keeping up with the horse wasn't bad all the time. But it really sucked when Grimm came around. He almost got caught once because a Beowolf snuck up on him while he was watching Amber to make sure she wouldn't get too far. He slashed its throat and had to hide when the Maiden came to investigate the noise. If she simply looked up right then and there, he would have been found. He still feels relieved that she didn't do that even to this day. Now however, Amber and her horse were at a relatively slow trot, and his job was about to become much harder.

He hated it when she traveled through fields.

There was a dirt path with a wooden fence on either side, but the grass surrounding them was hardly even at knee height. He had to crawl through the grass at incredible speeds, and sit still whenever she looked over her left shoulder. It was such a pain, but he was in this for the reward, not the experience.

Amber slowly came to a stop in the middle of the dirt road, and Marcus found himself afraid that he finally got caught when she hopped off of her horse and started walking. He sighed out of relief when he saw that she wasn't walking toward him, but to the side of the road to one of the wooden fence posts. Marcus raised an eyebrow when he peeked out from his hiding spot and saw that there was nothing she was walking toward. Not even damage in the fence that she might have fixed.

His scroll buzzed in his pocket, his hand snapped to it immediately.

Fall: Now

Gunshots sounded off, and Marcus cursed and jumped out of his cover. Grass was hiding behind the wooden post, and from what he knew she had some kind of illusionist semblance. The Maiden blocked it with her hand and reached behind her back to grab a staff like weapon with a red crystal on both ends of it. Before he could reach her, she twirled said staff and Emerald went flying across the dirt road.

Running with silent footsteps, Marcus jumped onto one of the fence posts and flipped forward through to air to give his axe kick even more power. The woman he had been stalking for so long turned around and caught it with one hand. Her eyes stared into his as he was suspended in the air.

"I was wondering why you were following me." She said to him with utter hatred. He only had enough time to widen his eyes as a burst of flames surrounded his body. His aura being the only thing saving him from getting burnt to a crisp.

Marcus twisted his body and foot along with it, and kicked at the Maidens grip. She let go and he fired the mechanisms at the end of his boots to push himself away from her. Thankfully, Emerald took the aggro again by taking shots at the Maidens back. But every bullet pinged off of her powerful aura and fell to the ground harmlessly. Amber turned around and waved a hand, Emerald following through with it and slamming through the fence post.

Marcus gritted his teeth and landed on his feet, immediately breaking into a sprint so violently that the ground broke up and shattered as he took off. Amber heard his loud footsteps and pointed her staff toward him. A plume of fire burst out of the tip of the crystal. Marcus jumped up and used his legs and arms to cover and protect his body from damage, his clothes burned away and it felt like his aura was melting off of his body, but his legs took no damage, no. Instead the clothes covering them burned off, revealing the now white hot bionic legs that lay underneath. The same legs that his father forced onto him, and the same type of legs he forced onto Mercury.

The assassin roared as he pushed through the flames all the way to the wide eyed Maiden, and kicked her across the face with his very real steel toe. Amber staggered back and clutched her face, stepping back again to avoid getting her throat slashed open by a knife. Marcus threw a barrage of kicks and knife attacks toward the Maiden, finding out exactly how good Amber was at fighting human opponents. But right now she was rocked, and he was warmed up thanks to her flames.

He kicked her in the belly, and as she keeled over he flipped over her back and slashed at her backside. He watched as his knife shattered against stronger aura, but hid his shock well as he instead kicked her away before she could blast him with whatever magical attack.

Emerald flew over his head and slammed both of her feet into the top of the Maidens head, stunning her before kicking off to give herself more distance between the two. Marcus took the opening and before Emerald landed, he switch kicked Amber in the chest, and then roundhouse kicked her as hard as he could, sending the Fall Maiden slamming into the ground, creating a crater upon impact. He felt Emerald latch onto his shoulders and used him to gain some air, and stomped down on the Maidens stomach to cause even more damage. She flipped back to his side straight after, and the two of them took a fighting stance beside each other.

"Good seeing you again Grass, where's Cindy?" Marcus asked as Amber got back up to her feet.

"Waiting for an opening." Emerald simply replied.

"Oh, great." Marcus rolled his eyes.

"You are not the first assassins sent to kill me." Amber slowly said as she stared at them, flames bursting out of her eyes. Marcus did not like the way this fight was going, especially when the Maiden started floating up into the sky. "And you will not be the last!"

A hurricane of wind and fire surrounded them all, Marcus and Emerald looked around desperately in hopes of finding some opening to escape through, only to find nothing. With no other option, Emerald and Marcus nodded to each other and silently agreed to give the Maiden everything they had. Emerald with her revolvers and Marcus with the mechanisms on his legs. He has had enough time to upgrade his legs to the point where a single projectile had enough impact force of a rocket propelled grenade. Seeing that projectile disperse harmlessly against the Maiden's aura showed him just how far out of his league Amber was.

Amber weaved her arms up into the air as if she was praising the sky, the clear blue sky gave way to dark grey and stormy clouds, crackling with yellow lightning. She then shot her hand toward Marcus and Emerald, sending a bolt toward them.

Emerald took the force head on, the attack simple too fast for her to keep up with. Marcus however, had the reflexes to jump up and take the lightning strike to his legs, and before he hit the ground, he kicked his leg forward. Sending the lightning right back at her.

Amber wasn't expecting her own attack to be used against her. She had to cross her arms in order to properly defend herself as the lighting struck her body, bypassing whatever external aura she had. She gritted her teeth as her muscles tensed up, and the lightning had nowhere the dispense through since she was up in the air.

"That's as good an opening as any!" Marcus exclaimed as he limped on one leg. Doing a lightning reversal was incredibly dangerous for him, if his luck was bad, his own leg would have exploded the moment he reversed the lightning. But it was either take it and have a chance of losing both legs, or reverse it and have a chance of only losing one. Thankfully, he lost neither, but it did damage his left leg considerably.

Amber looked around helplessly as she heard sprinting behind her. Out of desperation, she released a powerful wave of wind and hardened leaves of ice all around her. Marcus fell onto his back and used his arms and legs to protect himself, but Emerald had no such protection. Cursing, Marcus rolled over and pushed his back into her chest. Using his legs to protect both of them as they lay on the ground helplessly.

Cinder kicked up dirt as she skidded to a stop, the ice hardened leaves that stabbed in the ground all around her became her ammo. She merged them all together to form small spearheads of glass, and fired it right back toward the Maiden.

Amber took it all head on, and fell out of the sky as a result. When she landed, the lightning that was still coursing through her body finally had somewhere to leave through. Causing even more damage to her aura as she screamed in pain from the electrocution. Cinder aimed to use this opening to try and stab her in the chest, but Amber twisted her body and twirled in an acrobatic maneuver that sent Cinder flying through the fence.

Cinder rolled onto her feet and ran right back toward Amber before she could summon up the power to blast her away again. Marcus watched on as Cinder fought with skill he didn't know she had as she fought the maiden at an equal level. They fought so quickly as well. Amber using her staff in ways that seemed impossible, and Cinder dodging and countering the best that she could. However, in the end it was Amber who won the scuffle. Kicking Cinder in the stomach and hitting her several times with her staff in the blink of an eye before finally blowing her away with her magic.

Right after, she used her staff to prevent herself from falling forward. She was tired, Marcus saw immediately. Tired, and vulnerable.

Amber spun around and clashed her staff with Marcus' foot. He didn't even realize it, but he was bleeding from a cut across his cheek, and his scarred arms now had a black tint to them because of the maidens flame. He felt pain all over, but he kept fighting through it. The Maiden was tired and could hardly keep up with him, and after the third time she was kicked in the face, she stabbed her spear into the ground. Marcus was blown away by an explosion of fire, and he landed awkwardly on the side of the road, tasting blood in his mouth.

Emerald tried to follow up with his attacks, but she too was blown away by the fire. But another explosion, this one not magical, exploded all around Amber's body. Marcus actually saw as her aura was finally broken, and forced his tired body to stand back up on its robotic feet. He looked to his right and saw Cinder, bow in hand with a smirk on her face. He smirked as their chances of winning skyrocketed.

Cinder tried to close the distance with her swords to finish the Maiden off, but Amber was still able to use her magic. A fist of air almost knocked out Cinder, and blew her weapons out of her hands. Cinder saw stars as she pushed herself up to her hands on knees, dizzy and unable to see straight.

Amber stood back up shakily, and looked around. Marcus was down on his face, Emerald was still recovering from the fire attack, and Cinder was barely able to push herself back up to her feet. Seeing her as the most dangerous one, she started making her way toward her.

When she got just two feet away from Cinder, she looked down at her with anger in her eyes. Flames reappeared as Cinder looked up at her, unafraid. Amber raised her spear, preparing to stab it through Cinders head.

A knife was thrown into her back, making her cough of blood and drop the spear, falling forward onto her hands and knees. Cinder stared wide eyed and looked around to see who had just saved her, only to see Marcus back on one knee with his hand still reeling back after throwing the knife. He smirked at her, and she smirked back. She would have to reward him later for potentially saving her life.

Marcus tore the knife out of Amber's back in a spray of blood and a pained scream. Emerald recovered, and took her other arm as they held her still.

Just in case, Marcus used her semblance on Amber as well. Stealing and locking away whatever semblance she may have had to get herself out of this after placing the palm of his hand on her shoulder.

Cinder reached a hand into a pocket of her dress as she stood in front of the defeated Fall Maiden, and slipped on a white glove with a strange red symbol on the back of it. Marcus strengthened his grip as Amber panicked and tried to force her way out.

"N-no, please don't!" She begged fearfully. Which only made Cinder smile even wider.

Marcus felt sick to his stomach as some sort of Grimm beetle pushed out of the palm of Cinders hand. He didn't know if the Grimm actually came out of her hand or not, but the thought of it was still disgusting. Amber screamed in pain and writhed as the beetle spit some kind of black goo on her face, connected to Cinders hand. He felt Amber grow weaker and weaker as the black goo glowed a pale orange color. The flames in Amber's eyes faded away, and appeared again on Cinders face.

Instincts told him to dodge, and he listened to them. Potentially saving him from getting his hands chopped off as a thick silvery sword slashed through the black goo that was feeding Cinder power. The Grimm beetle died, and the nearly dead Fall Maiden was carried away in the arms of someone Marcus hasn't seen for a long time.

"Qrow fucking Branwen." Marcus smiled. "Long time no see bud!"

Qrow narrowed his eyes at him, and if he was going to say anything he was cut off by a fiery explosion that was just delayed enough to give him enough time to dodge. Marcus was about to go after him, but Cinder caught his shoulder, stopping him.

"Let him get away," Cinder told him, and Marcus felt himself compelled to obey. "Did you block out our faces?" She asked, looking to Emerald.

"Yes, but I wasn't able to block out Marcus', only yours and mine." Emerald said, then bowed her head. "I am sorry."

"Hm. No matter." Cinder smiled, and allowed her new powers to flare up all around her. "This power is… overwhelming!" She said ecstatically. "I've never felt something so fulfilling… yet empty, at the same time. I feel… hungry… I like it."

"Bet you do," Marcus said, sighing as he sat down on the ground. Exhausted.

"You," Cinder looked to him, still smiling. "May have saved my life a few moments ago." She kneeled down and placed a hand on his cheek, it felt hot to the touch. Marcus backed away. Cinder chuckled. "I will have to reward you for that soon enough."

"Can't wait…" Marcus replied.

"What is the next step?" Emerald asked, kneeling down in front of Cinder.

"Now, my sweet Emerald. We go back to Adam Taurus, and make him join us." She looked back to Marcus. "Marcus, hun, you will be coming with us this time. It no longer matters if you are recognized by the White Fang."

Marcus nodded his head. If Cinder has even half of the powers of the previous Fall Maiden, then he didn't know who could say no to her anymore. "So, what's after the Fang then?" He asked next, curious.

"Vale." Cinder answered, her eyes flaming once more. "You have proven to be reliable Marcus Black, so I will soon explain to you our plans in full."

Marcus nodded his head, satisfied with everything that has happened so far. He was on Cinder's good side now, which was somewhere he aimed to stay. Emerald looked jealous as all hell, but also thankful somehow. He did save Cinder at the end there after all, Cinder owed him her life, even though it was never going to be said like that.

He looked up to the clearing sky and sighed, part one of this mission was over. He couldn't help but wonder what would be next after meeting up with this Adam Taurus guy.

And there we go, the end of the second chapter of this story.

Now here is where things get interesting. I want you guys to tell me if this is a story worth continuing. Nothing much as changed now, but a lot will once we get to the Vale and Beacon part of this story. I have another story idea that I am absolutely in love with at the moment, which is another comedy based story with the main difference being a complete role reversal of like every character in the story.

The idea is basically like this: Ruby is the big sister instead of Yang, who is now the excitable little sister with pigtails. Ren swaps personalities with Nora. Jaune is swapped with Pyrrha, so now he is the famous prodigy while Pyrrha sneaks her way into Beacon. Salem has Ozpin's role, and hers his. Etc, etc. It's a really fun idea that I was inspired by because of a fanart comic string of panels. If you want to see the fanart for yourself, simply type in RWBY Role Reversal in Google or something, and you should be able to find it easily. I'll ask the original creator if I could use it for the cover art.

Let me all what you all think. I could either put this story on hold or cancel to go on and write that story and focus on my other ones, or I can keep the Role Reversal story has a future story for when I finish another one. It all depends on what you guys say, honestly. So please do share your thoughts.

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