And we're back. As I've said in my other stories, I have returned to College for yet another semester. So progress on stories are going to be slowed down a decent bit. I am sorry about this, but I can promise that I am not going to stop writing this story anytime soon. I will complete it, and if all goes to plan, it will be finished before I turn 21.

Maybe. I also now have a fish to take care of.

Beta: CrowSkull

Destiny Fated Black

Chapter 7

Things were going well, too well. I should have realized sooner. Soon enough, things started to get much more difficult…

The headmaster of Beacon heard the bell in his elevator ding, and stopped what he was doing to see who it was visiting him in the middle of the free day. An eyebrow rose when he saw that it was Glynda Goodwitch, his trust advisor and friend whom he made his deputy heir of the school just in case anything would happen to him. Considering everything that was happening in Vale at the moment, it was a necessary precaution just in case a certain assassin caught him while he was sleeping in bed.

"Glynda, what brings you here?" He asked with a presumptuous grin. "Perhaps we have business?"

"We do," Glynda replied with a huff. "Qrow messaged me earlier, said that he was going to be here in a few short minutes. Knowing you two, I wanted to be here for when he did arrive. I wouldn't want to miss out on potentially important information."

"Glynda, please," Ozpin waved a hand toward her as he stood up from his desk. "Qrow is one of my most trusted, it is only natural that there are other things that friends would like to speak with each other in privacy. In this case, it just so happens to be in my office most of the time."

"With a beer bottle on the side as well, I presume."

"You shan't blame me, you know Qrow." Ozpin chuckled softly. He turned away from the professor and started heading toward a row of windows that have been installed in his office in the large glass panes that his office had to give him a view of all of Vale, and even some of Beacon beneath them. He unhooked the one in the middle, and slowly walked back toward his desk, to which he sat in his chair and then continued his conversation with Glynda as if he'd never gotten up. "Everyone has their way of coping and letting loose as they say. Alcoholic beverages just happens what makes Qrow happy."

"I would be sorry for the man you speak of if he existed." Glynda scoffed.

"That's cold Glynda, even for you," Ozpin said, feigning disgust.

"Alcohol is a depressant, need I say more?"

"No, no, of course not." Ozpin looked as though he was going to say more, but stopped in favor of looking out of the window he had just opened. The loud slicing noise of the wind was overshadowed by a hawking crow that now stood on the windowsill. The blackbird had red eyes, which distinguishes it from any other bird beside a certain raven, which looks very similar to the crow. "And here he is, have you enjoyed your flight?"

The crow hopped off the windowsill and transformed into a fully grown man in a fraction of a second. Qrow's red eyes flashed as he stretched his limbs in every which direction. Glynda was about to greet the man, only to wince and pinch her nose with her fingers at the piercing stench that the old Huntsman gave off. "Heh, it was alright, I guess," Qrow said, noticing Glynda's obvious disgust with him and doing what he does best and not caring in the slightest. "Going from Mistral to Vale in a few days is just tiring though, I haven't stopped except to sleep, and eating random worms and seeds was starting to get bored. I don't know how actual birds do it." He explained as he shut the window behind him with his foot.

"Perhaps your bird side is out of shape then, Qrow," Ozpin said as he stood up to greet him, shaking his hand and resting one hand on his shoulder with a friendly smile on his face.

"Well, it's not like I ever trained in my bird form." Qrow's eyes brightened as he thought of something. "You think I should start doing that?"

"As much as I would love to be forced to withstand this immature drabble," Glynda interrupted them before they could go too far off-topic. "We have important matters to discuss."

"Hm," Qrow hummed as he reached into his inner shirt pocket, pulling out a flask of his favorite alcohol and drinking a nice long swig of it in spite of Glynda's glaring eyes. "Yeah, guess we should get it out of the way quickly enough. Good thing I visited my nieces already."

Ozpin sighed through his nose and moved to stand by the windows as Qrow took to sitting on his desk, crossing one leg over the other as Glynda moved to stand on his other side. The friendly atmosphere quickly died down into a much more serious and concerning one. There was a very important issue to discuss, one namely involving a name that has cursed their thoughts for the past duration of Beacon's returning semester.

"You know why I have called you back here Qrow, I shall not sugarcoat it nor shall I treat you as a student fresh out of graduation," Ozpin said as he turned to look at him, a sorrowful look in his eyes as he did so. "Marcus Black has returned to Vale, and we worry that whatever it is he is up to will result in something very unsavory. I have chosen you to be the man to hunt the assassin down, draw him out, and terminate him."

Qrow, despite already figuring this out on his way there still took a few seconds to process what his old friend has said to him. "I figured that, yeah."

"If possible, his capture would also be very beneficial for us," Glynda added, Ozpin humming his approval. They have discussed ways on how they could potentially deal with Marcus Black, and all ways unfortunately lead to either termination, or capture and interrogation.

"Yeah, can't make any promises on that one," Qrow said with a scoff. "He was one of the ones who took down Amber a while back, if I hadn't gotten there in time, he probably wouldn't have wasted his time returning to Vale."

Ozpin and Glynda looked to each other. "Are you positive it was him? I know we've discussed this before, but it has been years since any of us has seen him in the flesh." Ozpin asked.

"Double positive, I am sure." Qrow reached up to scratch the area behind his ear. "If there's any man that would be able to take down a maiden, it'd be him. We all know how dangerous he is, and we should probably assume that he's probably shacked up with Salem at this point."

"Didn't you say that he hates working for others unless he is getting paid for it?" Glynda questioned.

"Yeah, well, any man can change his mind when the Queen of the fuckin' Grimm is the one who wants his loyalty." Qrow scowled. "Guys probably being forced to work with her. Not that that'll save him."

"Well, in any case, Marcus Black has returned. And he has been quite active in these recent times. Two of the most notorious gangs in Vale have been reported assisting the White Fang in their dust robberies. The Red Axe Gang, and the… Rock… Gunners." Ozpin sighed at the horrible name. "We fear that he is rounding up all of the criminal underworld to use them for some ultimate purpose. There have even been rumors of Roman Torchwick also working with them as well, which we can safely presume is part of Marcus' plan."

"A little late to reconcile with that guy, ain't it?" Qrow scoffed.

"Despite that, they seem to be working quite closely," Ozpin added.

"Great, so a master assassin is working with a master criminal and has been rounding up all the powerful gangs. If I didn't see him attacking Amber, I would have thought that he was doing this for shits and giggles." Qrow said. "Sounds like something he'd do just to piss us off."

"Qrow, take this seriously." Glynda scolded him. "We are asking you to take down an old friend-"

"He is not my friend!" Qrow nearly shouted as he raised his voice, startling both the headmaster and the professor with his sudden outburst. He took a moment to calm himself down and looked away from their eyes. "Not anymore, that bridge burned a long time ago."

"Of course, I apologize for the assumption," Glynda said with a bow of her head.

Qrow nodded his head and muttered an apology to the woman for raising his voice, then looked back to Ozpin with questioning eyes, expecting him to say more. "So, what else do you want to ask me before I go hunting a Huntsman hunter?"

"Well… there is one thing, if you don't mind me asking." Ozpin said.

"Ask away," Qrow waved him the okay.

"In the worst and most likely case scenario. Can you kill him, if you must?" Ozpin asked him, his voice was soft and every word was enunciated clearly so that Qrow heard and understood each word that was being said. Qrow looked up toward the ceiling and sighed to himself for what must have been the tenth time already, and nodded his head.

"His semblance is all but useless against me, but imagining us fighting now, it's going to be a bloody and close fight. But at the same time… I'm pretty sure I am the only one who can do it." Qrow explained. "Unless you think you can convince my sister to take a whack at him herself, of course."

"That is good to hear, but I was more referring to an… internal conflict of affairs." Ozpin elaborated.

"Ah…" Qrow looked up toward the ceiling again. "Well, like I said before, that bridge was burned a long time ago." As he said this, his free hand reached up to grab the tilted cross necklace that his partner gave him as a graduation gift. Summer's gift to him years ago. He gave it a few tentative rubs, and nodded his head again, shaking away memories that would never become reality. "I got this."

And he swore that he would put an end to Marcus' long reign of terror.

Ruby hopped up on top of her bed and hefted her bag into the space beside her. Her mind was still thinking at a million miles a second, her uncle Qrow visited her and her sister not too long ago after all. It was so cool of him to do that! She told him about how headmaster Ozpin decided to let her in Beacon two years early, and explained everything that had happened the night of the robbery that she'd thwarted. Only to then realize her mistake when she remembered that Miss Goodwitch specifically told her not to tell anyone about the scary assassin man that she was warned about. Qrow was cool though, he laughed about it, scolded her for putting herself in danger, and then went on his way towards the Beacon tower.

But she couldn't stop getting this sinking feeling her stomach. Over the past few weeks, the news has been littered with updates on White Fang attacks, increased and decreased gang activities in certain parts of Vale, and what got to her the most was a sighting of Marcus Black walking freely in the streets of Vale. They had a picture of the man up on the screen in the cafeteria when he was still a student at Beacon. She found it sad when she looked at that picture, even though he was smiling so brightly, looked like a perfectly sane person, and must have had a team of his own. How could everything go so wrong? Now he was a criminal, and worse, a criminal who kills people for money.

"You okay, sis?" Yang asked her as she climbed up onto her bed beside her, a silly grin stretched across her face. "You look like you just found a rusty spot on Crescent Rose."

"It's not that," Ruby whined, playfully elbowing her sister in the side as she rocked her legs back and forth.

"Then what is it? My big sister's senses are tingling you know, and I won't stop until you tell me." Her eyes flashed red for a second. "Is it because of a boy?"

"No!" Ruby was quick to deny, then made a disgusted sound. She had no time to worry about any boys, not when she had to focus on Beacon and Weiss pestering her to study all the time. "It's just… Uncle Qrow is back, and I'm happy about that…"

"But?" Yang added for her, dragging it on and implying to her that she should continue.

"But…" Ruby relented. "I'm just worried he's going to be sent after that guy we keep getting warned about on the news."

"That Marcus guy from that robbery?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow, and quickly put the pieces together to understand what her younger sister was so worried about. "Ah… you're worried that Qrow is going to get hurt fighting this guy, is that right?"

"Mhm…" Ruby nodded her head meekly. "Miss Goodwitch and the headmaster were so insistent to warn me about him, saying how he is so dangerous and has killed even fully trained Huntsman. They told me the answer to the question, 'who hunts the Huntsmen?' and it scared me. I don't want Uncle Qrow to get caught up in that."

Yang knew where she was coming from, though she felt like she figured it out earlier than she did. It made sense when she thought about it. All this news about one dangerous man, and then her uncle, who is also a renowned Huntsman, is suddenly called back to Vale? She knew it was fishy the moment she puts her mind to it. Qrow was so busy with missions that he'd hardly have any time to spend idling about with his nieces. He was here for a purpose, or in this case, a mission.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much." Yang started, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulders and pulling her in. "Qrow is a badass, remember? He trained you how to use a scythe, and we've never seen him beaten before! He keeps telling us that the only person who can beat him was his sister, and since she's in wherever, there's nobody around that can stop him."

Ruby giggled when Yang held her tighter, and tickled her side with her free hand. "You think so?" She asked her, like the little naive and idealistic girl that she was.

"Yeah! I mean, if an assassin hunts the huntsman, wouldn't it work the other way around too?" Yang added. "The bad guys never win, if they did, then the Grimm would rule the world already."

"Yeah… you're right." Ruby said with a small smile, trusting her completely. "Uncle Qrow will be fine."

"Exactly." Yang ruffled her hair, which earned a deep pout from her little sister as she wrestled with her arm to get it off.

"I'm saying that perhaps you should be open-minded to the Faunus' cause."

"I've been nothing but! It is not my fault that they still choose to put all of their problems on my family and me!"

Weiss and Blake ruined their moment with their still ongoing argument. They didn't know how the managed to miss it before, but now things were starting to get heated, Blake and Weiss stood against each other with red angry faces and glaring eyes. It didn't take long for Yang and Ruby to realize that these two were going to keep going with no signs of stopping. It went from bickering, arguing, to nearly full-blown shouting at each other.

"Oh no…" Ruby hopped off her bed, trying to play the role of mediator.

Yang sighed and went down to help her. So much for Team RWBY's day off.

The sweat off of Marcus' body splashed onto the floor as he threw constant fists and kicks in nearly all directions. Using a practiced technique where he imagined an opponent equal to or better than him, and fought against that opponent. This time, it was an opponent who was just as good at close-quarters combat as he was. Which required him to train much harder than he usually did, and his older body was thankfully still up for the challenge. When he was done with the third bout, he took off his shirt and threw it to the side, opting to rest for a bit and drink some water. His aura would do the rest.

"You've been going at it for a while now, finally done?" Emerald asked as she read a book in the corner of the enlarged training room that the White Fang 'lent' them. They sorta decided to give it to them once a known lethal assassin walking into their makeshift training room.

"Not yet," Marcus said after a deep calming breath. "Since I've been getting a little more popular recently, I figured that I would try to keep myself in shape. Never know when a hunter or two get an order to take me down."

"Well, it's like you said. You were just walking around. That girl and professor from Beacon saw you at that robbery weeks back, and with you being seen taking down the maiden it was only a matter of time before they figured you out." Emerald explained needlessly.

"I'm more surprised with how long it took," Marcus said. "I mean, it's been weeks. What were they waiting for? Me to assassinate a council member? Hah, that would have caught their attention a lot faster." His muscles glistened in the light with the sheen of sweat he had on his body. The life of hardship he lead earned him such a body, and it would take months of remaining inactive for him to lose this physique and the strength that came with it. Strength that some Huntsman and Huntresses would only dream of. In his eyes, at least.

"You're worried that these Huntsman are going to be too tough for you?" Emerald asked, knowing what she was doing and playing on his pride. Marcus scowled at her.

"No, there's only a scarce few amount of people in the world that can make me scared, and the one on the top of that list is across the world," Marcus said as he stood back up and picked up his shirt, throwing it back over his head and on his body. "Unless they come at me all at once while I'm taking a shit, I'll be fine."

"Is that so?" Not Emerald questioned him. Marcus' eyes went wide with surprise as he turned to look at the woman who said those words. He didn't even sense her walk into the room, Cinder looked at him with those yellow-orange eyes of hers, smiling seductively as she usually does while she walked into the main training area. "I happen to be quite worried you know, they seem to think that you're the one running everything here." She laughed, apparently amused. "Can you deal with the potential threat of hunters on the usual? I predict that they'd send one at first, and after they die, they'll start to send more and more."

"I can take care of myself," Marcus claimed, a cocky smirk breaking through the stone-carved face he had put on. "I've had my fair share of run-ins with them before."

"As I already know." Cinder said as she walked around him, he turned to keep his eyes on her in case she tried anything. She had her weapons already summoned and were holstered at each hip. As they turned he could see Emerald in the background watching with a close eye, and it looked like she knew what was about to go down already. Marcus frowned and placed a hand on one of his knives holstered into his pants, ready to draw it at a moment's notice just in case she tried anything. "Though, I wonder the same for myself at times. Besides the little scuffle I had with the professor from Beacon during that faux robbery, can I deal with Huntsman?"

"I'd say yes but I feel like there is a deeper meaning to that question," Marcus replied.

"You would be correct," Cinder slowly drew her weapons. "What better way to test myself than to spar against one such as yourself?" She said, flourishing her weapons and taking a stance in front of him. As he was now, he was slightly winded from his training, but somehow he knew that Cinder would take that into account. She wasn't going to kill him just yet, if she was then she wouldn't make such a show of it.

"Well, are you up for the challenge?" She asked him next when he didn't make any motion or response. "I won't even use my semblance, it would seem pointless to do so against you anyhow." She added in an attempt to make things even the slightest easier for him to decide what to do. Emerald leaned in with her elbows on her knees, intent on seeing how this all panned out.

"I guess I'll have to be." Marcus submitted with a roll of his shoulders, taking out his hand cannon in one hand and a knife in a backhand grip on the other. Him against Cinder, it wasn't a matchup he'd always think about. In the beginning months ago he used to run those scenarios in his head all the time in preparation of his old plan to ditch them and run off to some unknown end of the world. The woman before him looked like a young woman, who might have been weaker than most men, but in this world, you had to know better than that. Cinder was as dangerous as he was, if not more with those magical fire powers of hers. Before when she wasn't the maiden, he was confident that he could have defeated her, but if she used her powers against him, he wasn't confident in being able to win, more like running away would be a more valuable option.

Cinder stood before him in a stance and expected him to be the first to attack. Marcus, still unsure of how intense this spar was going to be because of the lack of rules being said, decided to take the back foot and hold a more defensive stance. She raised an eyebrow, and circled him as a predator would its prey. Marcus remained steadfast, turning with her every second of the way. Emerald stopped what she was doing and watched from the sidelines, he could sense her red eyes observing and analyzing every little movement that each of them made.

After about a minute of circling each other Cinder finally seemed to give up on waiting for Marcus to attack, and dove in with a mirage of circular angled slashes that forced Marcus to hastily block with the dull side of his knife. Blocking it with a flash of sparks that cut a millimeter or two into his blade. He pushed open her attack and moved in close to counter, Cinder, however, twisted to her left and bent her knees until her chest was nearly on the ground, and twisted again to get away from the man. Bringing everything back to square one.

Marcus smirked at her when Cinder noticed that a bit of her sleeve was cut through, revealing cream pale skin that lies underneath, but that smirk was washed away as he realized that he had a cut of his own on his pants. It didn't go all the way through, but that exchange told him that Cinder was just as fast as him, at least when they were testing the waters. To spice things up, Marcus swapped hands with his weapons, throwing his firearm and knife into the air at the same time and catching them with different hands, and immediately went on the attack.

He fired his weapon three times, watching carefully as Cinder parried two bullets with one of her swords and leaned to the left to dodge the last one. He was in her guard by the time the third bullet reached her, and slashed upward in a reverse grip. It was parried by Cinder's second sword, and he allowed the knife to be blown out of his grip. Cinder, in her seconds of confusion, didn't notice how he caught it again with his other hand — Him holstering his hand cannon as he made his way to her — only to catch her off guard while she was focused on the sharper and more deadly weapon as a fist connected with her cheek. Aura flared and she refused to stagger. Opting to instead move on the offensive instead of moving back to give the assassin what he wanted; To make her panic and make a mistake.

Marcus' small knife was a deadly weapon, but mostly in the shadows. Cinder's dual swords were much more versatile, and they were just short enough that even with his knife if he closed the distance she would still be able to at least fight back. He felt the metal within his blade vibrate each time Cinder parried or clashed it against his. He knew that this wasn't going to work, his blade was going to give out before he made any leeway. Going mostly off of instinct and his training to fight dirty, he let Cinder land a blow on him, pure white aura glowing in an 'X' formation right when Cinder slashed into him. Cinder then cried out as she felt his blade stab into her hip. If it weren't for her aura, her kidney would have been nearly cut in half and if she went without treatment she would slowly die.

They were both knocked back by the power of their strikes. Both panting for breath. Their bout has only gone on for just about two minutes, but most serious fights shouldn't last that long. All the moving, thinking, and knowing just how dangerous the other was had them both working hard in more than just a physical way.

"You know what?" Cinder said, keeping one sword pointed at him. "Let's up the stakes, I don't think you are going all out, and I know just the thing that would motivate you."

"Is that so?" Marcus asked, smirking at her. "Go right ahead, try me."

"Freedom." Cinder said, shocking both him and Emerald. "If you beat me here and now, then I will release you from the contract, and allow you to leave us peacefully."

"Why would you offer me something like that?" Marcus asked, immediately suspicious. "What's the catch, what happens if you win?"

Cinder's smirk was ever-present. "If I win, then you will meet the one that I call a mentor. You see, I rely on your loyalty as much as you rely on your nonexistent friends you watch your back." Ouch, that one stung a little. "If I win here, you will speak with Salem, and you will dedicate your loyalty to her and I. That, is the catch."

Marcus was paranoid to begin with, and worried on top of that. Freedom. Something he has strived for, for most of his life. The worst thing about it was that he'd most likely never be free, the assassins would kill hunting him, hunters would keep hunting him, and he'd be alone. But somehow, that seemed more appealing than walking around in a city full of both that would be happy to collect on the bounty on his head.

"Sounds like a deal then," Marcus decided as he tensed his muscles.

Cinder was apparently satisfied with his decision. "Seems like it.

There was no halt to the fighting as Cinder decided not to let either of them get any more moments to breathe. Marcus kept a calm face and was content to do battle with Cinder in the middle of the floor.

A straight five minutes of attacking, defending, countering, parrying, and all other fighting tactics were used in a very small amount of time with no time between intervals and unspoken turns. There was not a second that went by where neither Marcus or Cinder were moving, and Emerald watched with impressed eyes as the older man kept up with Cinder quite well, and evenly traded with her at every turn, even taking the advantage at some points. Cinder's smile was long gone, and was replaced by labored pants as her red face dripping with sweat. Marcus' hair felt slick with the smelly substance as well, and some of his bangs fell over his eyes in the process. Despite the physical drawbacks of their fighting, they still had plenty of stamina within their bodies to keep this match going for possibly hours. They were both Huntsman class fighters, above them with the display of skill, strength, and the speed at which they were fighting. No average Huntsman would be able to hope to defeat either of them, and where Emerald was so sure in knowing who was going to win this 'sparring' match, she was no longer as sure. It was anyone's game at this point.

Marcus stepped in and Cinder backed up with a wide horizontal cross slash with both swords that very nearly cut the assassins head off. He leaned back to dodge it and watched as an inch of his hair was sliced off in the process. However, he kept his momentum moving forward and slammed the pommel of his blade into Cinder's stomach, while at the same time shooting down at her foot. The bullet missed, but the natural reaction was something that Cinder would have never been able to resist. She flinched and lost her balance. Marcus' full weight slammed into her midsection and he carried her forward a few feet before letting them both fall to the ground.

He had the obvious advantage in strength and weight as he toppled over her, slamming one of his metal feet into Cinder's left hand, catching her other by the wrist and holding that down, and then pressed the barrel of his gun into the side of her head. Cinder struggled for a few seconds before Marcus issued out a warning through his breaths. She then stared at him with wide eyes for a few moments before a satisfied smirk washed over her face.

"Impressive," She whispered to him, their faces a very small foot apart. "You caught me off guard and are now in a position to finish me off. You certainly don't leave your women unsatisfied."

Marcus scoffed. "'Course not, I'd never think of committing such a heinous crime." He tightened his grip when Cinder tried to wrestle her way out of her disadvantageous position. Keeping her smile on the entire time even as Marcus practically dug the barrel of his gun into her temple. "Nice try," He commented, glaring at his contractor with deep onyx eyes. Though for some reason, he felt like he was sweating even more, and had to take in deeper and more frequent breaths into his lungs so that he could feel his body. He grit his teeth and pushed through it however, determined to keep his win.

"I wonder," The woman underneath him cooed as she craned her neck up to look him directly in the eyes. "You are in a position to kill me right now, all you need to do is pull the trigger and I might be too slow to activate my aura in time. I'd be dead and Emerald isn't good enough to stop you, and I doubt that the White Fang would even try. You could set yourself free right now, Marcus Black. Will you?"

It was a trap within a trap if he'd ever seen one before. Marcus already thought of that, and while other men might have been fooled by her bluff, he knew where she was going with this. There was still the concern of whatever the hell she put in him after she picked him up after that day. Even if he did somehow manage to kill her now, and Emerald after that, there'd still be her hidden allies that she has alluded to, and this Grimm Queen as well. He'd never get far, and they both knew that.

"Nope." He said, holstering his pistol as he did so. "There's an unspoken rule among us assassins, and that is to not kill the ones paying you. Besides, I already am free." He gestured to his position on top of her. "I already won."

"Are you so sure about that?" Cinder asked as one of her eyes sparked into flames. Marcus had just about one second to react, and wasn't able to in time as Cinder's body exploded with flames. Sending him flying up into the ceiling, bouncing off, then slamming back into the ground with enough force that made his left arm feel like it was broken. Aura washed over his body and hid the pain away from his mind.

That didn't stop him from feeling a spike of fear as Cinder hovered a few inches off of the ground with her hands burning with fire. She was using that power that she'd stolen, and Marcus made the stupid mistake in thinking that she was going to hold back on using that power. He laughed bitterly as he recalled her earlier words. I won't even use my semblance… She'd never said anything about not using the powers of the fall maiden.

"Because it seems to me that we are just now getting started." She said as she touched down on the ground. She no longer had a need for her swords, letting them burn away into nothing but flakes of dust as the flames flickered and snapped around her. Marcus stood up and aimed his gun at her, emptying the mag into her overwhelmingly powerful aura. Every last bullet pinged off that aura, and melted into liquid metal before they even hit the ground.

Marcus laughed, there went his chances of winning. He should have taken her up on that suggestion to off her right then and there, because now, Cinder was the one with the advantage.

She made that ever more clear to him as she attacked him with ruthless power. He defended himself the best he could, dodging what he could dodge and trying to keep space. Constantly firing his pistol at her whenever he could. His knives were practically useless against her as she was now, but he tried to throw them into her anyway. All she needed to do was wave her hand, and a blast of wind had him and his blades flying back into the wall. He coughed and landed on all fours, just narrowly dodging the fireball that would have scorched his back had he remained there a second longer.

The next two minutes played out with a frantic game of keep away, a game that Marcus could not hold onto for long. Cinder seemed to be mostly toying with him anyway. She was smart. She tired him out first with old fashioned combat, and even let him think that he won the fight. Now, he was even more tired, low on aura, and was sweating profusely because of the heat while Cinder seemingly had enough aura for a whole school of Huntsman.

After another blast of air that knocked him on his back, he was too slow to recover that time. When he opened his eyes, Cinder was on top of him. Practically straddling him as she pinned his arms next to his head like a schoolyard bully would do to some other kid weaker than them. He tried pushing back, and was able to get his hands off the ground and very nearly got out, but Cinder pumped more aura into her muscles and forced them back down.

"I win." Cinder proclaimed in an almost teasing tone.

Marcus shut his eyes and accepted his defeat. It wasn't often that he lost, and the last time a person even came close to defeating him was months ago. Who now laid beneath the dirt in a shallow grave in front of a burnt down house.

Cinder's hot breath rolled across his face as she leaned down, her lower body pushing and grinding against him as she got a better look into his eyes. He was still panting heavily, and now his body was reacting to her movements mostly against his will. And she knew exactly what she was doing, and smirked at him when she felt his body's reaction. She then leaned back and cupped his cheek with a flaming hand. His skin turned red upon contact, and he felt his aura flicker and come close to going out completely. Cinder stood up before it did, and offered him a hand with the same hand that she used to almost burn his face.

He took it against his better judgment, and favored his left arm as he did so. The pain coming back to him as he finally relaxed his body and aura.

"Do take care of yourself, Marcus Black." Cinder told him as she caressed his cheek, he let it happen even though mentally he wanted to attack her for it. "We have a long road ahead of ourselves, after all."

She turned away from him, tracing her fingers along his jawline as she walked away with a swing to her hips. Marcus forced himself to look away, and half-limped his way back to a smug-looking yet impressed Emerald.

"You did well. I'm surprised that you managed to last that long against her." She said as he more fell into a sitting position than sit into it.

Slowly, Marcus nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, me too."

Almost an hour later when he knew that he was alone and Emerald wasn't around, Marcus limped his way into the bathroom and removed his shirt. He winced as he felt around the many light bruises he had on his body, but didn't complain about it since he knew that it could have been a lot worse. Today he was delivered a crushing defeat by the hands of Cinder, and as he looked at himself in the mirror and began to shave the white facial hair that has been growing on his face for the past few weeks to try to make himself look at least a little different, he thought about his situation.

He was going to meet this 'Salem' now, pretty soon he'd guess as well. The Queen of the Grimm, Cinder's mentor, and all that nonsense. Even with the display of control Cinder had over the Grimm when they recruited Adam and his White Fang he had his doubts on this Queen's existence, but now he kept asking himself the same question.

What if it was real? What if Salem really existed?

Then he'd been working not just against Vale, but all of humanity. Grimm was the enemy to all people, faunus and human alike. Black, white, yellow or whatever color someone was, as long as you had a soul, a Grimm would try to destroy you. And in that case, as long as he kept working with Cinder, he'd also be working with the Grimm.

One of the burn wounds on his chest had him clenching his fist at a thought. "Dammit." He cursed before he started to bandaged what needed to be bandaged, and then retired himself to a bed to let his body rest and recover for the night. There was still much to do, and he had the second to last name to cross off his list pretty soon.

He'd like to have all his aura back by the time he and Emerald went on another midnight walk.

Wow, I managed to write this all and not go over my mental word limit of 7k words each chapter. Go me, it's not often that I actually manage to do that. As you can see here, things are beginning to change. It should be obvious, but I have been making up a lot of this stuff as a sort of headcanon for what Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald did in volume one. It will be over soon though, and thankfully things will actually get much easier when I get to the stuff that we do know about Mercury and Emerald in Volume two.

Wish me luck, much more planning to be done. Because after Volume 2… things get a little more intense.

Please review and let me know what you think of the story!