"You... love me?" Cinder asked, tone skeptical.
The girl stared up at her, then closed her eyes.
"I do." She replied.
Cinder narrowed her eyes.
"What could you love about me?" She asked, spitting the word out with venom. "Are you lying to save yourself?"
"No." Her tone held nothing but resigned weariness. "I don't know how to explain it. But... I love you."
"How could you?" Cinder asked, scornful.
"I don't know how to explain it!" She repeated with exasperation, looking up to her. "Before I met you, I was just drifting along. Just - going through the motions, with no place to call home, no one to call family. I never wanted to trust anyone, never thought I could. But... something about you made me reconsider it. When I was with you, when I was living for you... everything was different."
She thought back to the time after she'd killed those men in the alleyway, how, after the adrenaline high had come and gone, and the danger passed, she had been utterly horrified with the realization of what she'd done.
There had been policemen patrolling the area, and she bottled her disgust to run away from the scene, hiding her guns as best she could as she ran away.
She had been aghast at herself, for taking the life of someone else, fearful of the consequences likely about to come down on her, once the police had their hands on her.
All throughout that night, she didn't sleep, with several days passing with her trying to fight sleep, mind fearing, and later dreading, what would happen if someone found out she was a murderer, countless ideas pouring through her mind, none of them easing her in any way.
She tried rationalizing it to herself, over and over, thinking of how they could have done unspeakable things to her if she hadn't acted, and her conscious would conflict with it, wondering if there could have been any way it could've ended differently.
Despite this, despite her building up a world of what-ifs, the same thing lingered in her mind, making her ever more wary of everyone around her, no matter how far she drifted from place to place.
Even when the dread had finally eased into the back of her mind, when she had fallen into a pattern of using her semblance to help her with stealing, she still kept to herself as much as she thought possible.
Knowing what she had done was irrevocable, she eventually came to terms with it, and from there, she fell into the same mindset that would shape her life until she met Cinder, that it was all a matter of survival for her.
This made her choose to not trust anyone, for the sake of staying out of trouble, and this persisted even when Cinder had first approached her, having seen exactly what Emerald had done the day they'd met, where she'd stolen jewelry from someone.
On that day, she found herself fleeing, running as quickly as she could, only to find herself in a dead end after a wrong turn, with Cinder at the entryway seconds later.
Initially as fearful as always, Emerald looked for every potential route of escape she could find, but the only way out of the alleyway had been through Cinder.
Having seen the weapons tucked on Cinder's back, Emerald doubted it would be so simple as simply running past her, and her first thought was to draw her weapons.
When Cinder made it clear that she wasn't there to apprehend her however, it gave her pause, and later on, when they'd escaped, and Cinder showed Emerald the extent of the sort of things she could do, she felt many different things when Cinder offered to take her in.
Above all, fear and uncertainty were the most blatant emotions she could feel, even as Cinder trained her to fight, simply because of how dangerous she proved to be.
That fear had faded away with time, and Emerald understood, to some extent, that this was perhaps the closest she could find to stability and companionship, given the circumstances.
Beneath it all however, there had been other things, things such as admiration for Cinder's drive, gratitude for helping her, and, beyond there, a part of her that quietly craved for her approval.
When those emotions had changed into what she felt then, Emerald didn't know.
Even as she'd confessed, she had spoken the truth already: that she couldn't understand her emotions herself, much less explain them to the person she felt them towards.
"I was... alone before. I didn't have any idea what to do, what I was living for, why I was still alive. But I only did what I did, so I could survive. I was scared, but I wanted to live. Despite that, that kind of life never made me... happy." She explained it up to her. "I was just a cluster of emotions, stuck between wanting it to end and wanting to live. Even if that doesn't make sense, it was how I lived. But with you - with you, I didn't feel that way. I don't know how to explain it, but you... you helped me feel more than just that. Every day I spent with you, I found myself not wanting it to end."
She breathed heavily, mind searching desperately to elaborate on her words, wanting to answer Cinder's question.
"Before I met you, I was just... alive. Alive, but without a sense of purpose beyond survival. There were even times where I thought dying would be better than living like that. But I still stole, did anything I thought I had to do. When I was with you, it was... different. You made me happy. Made me feel I actually could have a purpose. Now... now that I'm with you, I feel okay. I don't hate you Cinder. I never did. I... I love you. I would do anything for you, if you asked me to."
Cinder gauged the girl's expression, the wavering earnesty and desperation in her voice, and nothing made her believe that any of Emerald's words were lies.
Her eyes narrowed in a scowl, a hand trailing up Emerald's side, fingers moving up her chest, past her collarbone, stopping over the illusionist's neck.
"You would do anything I tell you to?" Cinder asked her, Emerald feeling her heart racing, heat beginning to burn into her neck from Cinder's fingers.
"Y-Yes." Emerald said, voice growing small.
(A/N: Trigger warning: Anyone uncomfortable with things relating to rape and the like will probably be better off skipping the rest of the text, until the next line skip.)
Cinder reached her hand lower, eyes narrowing.
"Close your eyes." Cinder told her, and Emerald did so after a brief second of hesitation, only for her eyes to snap back open when she felt her hand grasping the girl's top, tearing it roughly off of her as Emerald instinctively tried moving away, only for Cinder to reach her Grimm hand forward, tightly clasping Emerald's neck in her hand.
Cinder looked down at her, the unpleasant sensation in her body curdling anew.
Despite this, she remained calm, in contrast to Emerald, who stared with open shock at what Cinder was doing, the cold malice her gaze held making Emerald quiver in place.
"You've forgotten your place again." Cinder said, the poise of her words belying the anger she felt.
Emerald's eyes widened, whispering, without thinking, "Wait... Cinder -"
She tried to move, but Cinder's grip around her neck tightened, Emerald trying to reach a hand up to the hand serenely choking her, but her depleted aura making her grip as strong as a starved child, red eyes looking up to Cinder, trying in vain to beg her to calm down.
"Even now, you're proving my point." Cinder said coldly, leaning down to her. "You've only brought this on yourself. Remember that."
Emerald's hand reached up, attempting to push the woman off of her, but Cinder reaching down, taking hold of her arm and pinning it down to the bed, Emerald struggling instinctively to get Cinder off of her.
Despite this, Cinder looked down at her, smiling at her futile struggles against her.
Using her strength, Cinder released Emerald's neck, instead taking hold of the girl's burnt arm, raising her hands above her head, stacking them atop one another, and holding them both there with her Grimm hand, Emerald freed wind pipe flooding with air, but her still struggling against the Maiden with what little remained of her strength.
Again, the sounds of Emerald's voice sounded distant to Cinder, warped from that weak expression of earnesty to one filled with fear once again, Cinder's anger fading in lieu of satisfaction of such a change.
Her free hand reached down, violently tearing the remaining fabrics of cloth and leather away from Emerald's body, Emerald starting to try yelling, only for Cinder to reach to her mouth and clasp it, this inciting Emerald to struggle with even greater desperation, giving muffled screams as her body writhed with under Cinder's weight, Cinder leaning down into the helpless girl's ear.
"You seemed to enjoy yourself the day before... I think I'll have to try it myself."
Emerald's struggles eventually ceased, but the wellspring of pained emotions crossing her face, and encompassing Cinder's Grimm-corrupted senses, made Cinder derive a sadistic satisfaction that fed into itself, growing more insatiable by the minute, Emerald's eyes flooding with tears as she gazed into the feral delight of Cinder's gleaming eyes.
Emerald closed her eyes, her depleted strength rendering hoarse voice unable to do more than whimpers, struggles stopping when she couldn't bring herself to fight it anymore.
Cinder, seemingly realizing this, frowned, releasing Emerald's mouth, only to reach down and place her hand against Emerald's exposed stomach, flames burning into the girl's flesh as she gave a cry of pain, only for it to be cut short by Cinder ramming her lips against hers, the agony of the girl claiming to love her sparking her sadistic impulses and sating them at once, Cinder none too gently starting to grind her hips against Emerald's as she took in the girl's struggles with glee, wanting for more as the thief was made to suffer for her enjoyment.
Looking over the girl, once the feelings curdling inside Cinder finally simmered down enough for her to feel what she perceived as satisfaction, Emerald lay curled up, staring forward towards nothing.
"I think you've learned your lesson now." Cinder said down to her, smiling at the numerous burn marks covering Emerald's naked body, hand trailing almost teasingly against them.
Emerald didn't react, despite the pain this caused her, not looking to the figure sitting over her and stroking the marks burnt into her.
"You can borrow my dress, if you ever decide to leave." Cinder told her. "It wouldn't do for people to see your burn marks."
Emerald remained unresponsive, her only getting up after several minutes, doing what Cinder said, putting on the Maiden's clothes as she stalked away.
Emerald said nothing as she reclothed herself, the one-sleeved dress covering her arm, but her walking away slowly, making to leave the room.
As she exited, Emerald put little thought into what she was going to do, simply acting, activating her semblance to try and affect Jaune's mind as she walked to the room they shared, only to find the man walking up the hall, expression pensive before looking up to find her there.
Something in his expression changed upon seeing her, semblance or no, Emerald pausing in turn, him looking as though he was considering a number of different things, before he seemed to gather his resolve, walking towards her.
"Are you alright?" He asked her immediately, as though sensing something wrong with her.
"I'm fine." She shook her head, though her voice was weary. "I just... need a moment to myself."
She turned to the door without another word, Jaune looking after her, seeming to want to go after her, but stopping himself.
Staring at the door for a few moments, Jaune could only lower his head, whipering to himself in disbelief.
"... Of all the people to share my first binge drink with, and it ends up being her?"
'I have only got what I deserved, for taking compassion on so villainous a creature.'
A/N: This is how the normal route goes.
Things break off in a much different fashion on the other end of things though; I'll be posting Ending 1 of 3 later on, in the next chapter.
As a side note, I looked back at "Beginning of the End" to make sure I got certain details right about how Emerald and Cinder met.
It was jarring actually hearing Cinder speaking (I haven't really looked at RWBY, sans a few clips of fights, since Volume 5 ended), given how little emotion she uses.
It feels stilted and almost robotic, like it's an act of politeness and nothing more (which, given Cinder going from cold and calculating to blood-lustful and sadistic after Ruby Silver Eyed her, seems rather plausible.
More details on Jaune's perspective in this chapter will be given later on as well.
Just a matter of time.