Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?

Chapter 12: Cinder Fall

A RWBY Fanfic

What happens when all the fairy tales you are taught about from the time you are young go so horribly awry when you get older? That's a question that one young woman found out for herself. Her answer, you make your own ending to the stories that fits your own desires and wishes! Who is this person that wants to change things soooo much?

Cinder Fall, a young woman from a family that was well to do when she was younger. As she grew up her father and mother would tell her all the stories of Remnant. And she really believed that all the happy ending were true and that her life was good and she would have a happy ending to her story. And Cinder kept hold of the fairy tales as a hope of her future. But there was something that she and others never thought about or remembered; that in every story there is always someone who has a sad ending to their story so the hero will have the happy ending.

Cinder was soon to learn this fact in her young life. When she was seven years old her mother grew very ill, none of the doctors or even specialists of all sorts could figure out what it was. As her mother grew more and more ill she would try to keep Cinder's hope alive and would tell her the stories over and over and they did keep her hope up as her mother was very happy even though she was ill. But, as things went on her mother got far too ill for her to spend time with Cinder and she started to become sad, and her father couldn't help her as he was dealing with the sadness and despair he was feeling as well.

Then one day her father came to her and held onto her as tightly as could and cried. She asked her father what was wrong and he couldn't answer her because he was so broken in his spirit and his heart. When he was finally able to control his sobs he was able to tell her that her mother had passed away and would not be able to comfort either of them again, in this life.

As she grew and dealt with the loss of her mother her father grew worse. He was steeped in depression and there was no end in sight for him, even with the medications and counseling he was receiving, he continued to decline. And this left Cinder with all the responsibilities for taking care of her father, the house and of course herself. She had to make sure all was getting taken care of with the bills and food and everything else that came with life. This was not how a child should grow up being the grown up and never the child. But she did it begrudgingly. Until something somewhat miraculously happened; her father found another person to love and came out of his depression!

But, was this truly an answer for Cinder to get back to some semblance of the life she should have had? You see, her father had found another woman that he claimed to love and she also had children. Cinder at first thought this was going to be a great thing because now she might have siblings to get to know and be able to develop a relationship with. Only this was sadly not the case. Her father ended up spending more time with this woman, lavishing her and her children with lots of gifts and love. Cinder was relegated to nothing more than a servant and her father, step mother and step sisters did nothing but treat her with great distain. She was tossed about when she didn't do as she was told. She wasn't allowed to eat at times because she was not part of the family and she was not responsible for the money that was used to buy the food. This continued until she was so beat up and depressed that she ran away from her father and started to live on the street.

Cinder soon found that living on the streets was no better than living in the family that she was not a part of. She only survived by quickly learning to fight and steal, money and food. She even found 'friends' that she thought would help her to get ahead in this life. Only these friends used her for their own gains. Cinder had fallen so low that she even ended working in a brothel doing unmentionable things with the men that would come there. All she learned was to hate and yearned for a time and way that she would get strong. She was going to change the world and she would be the powerful one!

Walking down a road to another town, Cinder was lost in thought. "How could all the things in the stories my mother told me be so wrong? How is it that I am not protected by the huntsmen and their kind? They are supposed to watch over those who cannot protect themselves." She continued to walk so engrossed in her thoughts of her mother and the stories she did not realize that she was being followed by a group of less than respectable men. None the less Cinder continued to think about these things and kept getting more and more angry that she was lied to by her own mother, she had learned the hard way that the truth about things was completely different than the stories.

Still unaware of the danger that she was in she started to seethe with anger. The men made their move and grabbed Cinder and dragged her into a dark alley and started to rough her up and tried other things that were on their perverted minds. But, Cinder was now seething with so much anger and hatred for all mankind, but unbeknownst to her she was starting to have a ball of fire develop in her hand. She had the hatred gain such hold in her heart and soul her semblance had activated and she was releasing the hate and anger on all those that were around her. Unfortunately the men attacking Cinder and herself, no one had noticed that she was now fighting back and was using fire to incinerate the group of attackers.

When the fight had finished Cinder looked at the aftermath of what she had done. She felt a strange strength and joy at the outcome of what she had done. But, she hadn't seen the other person that had been in the alley watching the entire thing. When she turned and saw another living being there she was suddenly gripped in fear.

This other being was draped in a black cloak covering her head and face. But her arms were stark white with what appeared to black markings or veins, it was hard to tell, running up her arms from her hands. She spoke calmly and quietly to cinder. "There you are. Do not fear."

"Who are you? What do you want?" Cinder replied with some trepidation in her voice.

"I have been watching you for some time now Cinder."

"Why, I have nothing and don't want anything from you."

"Are you sure about that Cinder dear? Don't you want to be strong? Don't you want power?" The figure said with sweetness and temptation in her voice. "I know what is in your heart. I can help you to gain power and strength."

"And how are you going to do that you are an old hag." Cinder said with spite in her voice. "I can see you have no power, so how are you going to give me strength and power?"

"Oh, don't let my looks deceive you, my dear." Salem returned with a deep quiet whisper. "I have more power than you can imagine. And with that she summoned a Beowulf to her side.

As the Grimm appeared at Salem's bidding Cinder started to tremble. Staring wide eyed at what she just witnessed she was speechless. This was too much for her to imagine that it wasn't a dream or even a nightmare! But here she was being offered everything she wanted in her life to make all the things right that were done to her. She would have everything to prove the stories wrong and that she could write her own ending and she would be the one with the power and strength.

Cinder asked Salem, "What must I do to get what you are offering me?"

"It's simple girl. Just bow down and follow me. And I will give you your heart's desire for just doing as I ask of you. We will shape the world and make all Remnant fall at our feet!" Salem spoke with a snide snicker and small laugh at the end of her statement.

And with those promises Cinder did the one thing that she would….. She bowed down to Salem!

AN: Sorry it has been a while to get this done. Some characters are just hard to figure out their lives and then real life also tends to like to throw wrenches at you. And so here is the latest and I do hope that you all enjoy.