Ugh, writer's block is the worst. I've been having way too much trouble writing this lately.
Chapter Eighteen: Partners
Beta: HybridAlabaster
Cardin woke up at five in the morning to an apologetic message from Blake. He tried to go back to sleep, but he couldn't stop wondering at what Blake had been doing with her Scroll. To get it out of mind, he spent fifteen minutes drafting a response, saving it for the next day, but the sifting of words in his mind only made him more alert. With a sigh, he flung off the covers, got dressed, and started reading some more.
After an hour, he noticed Dove's covers glowing from his Scroll. He put his own down and whispered to him.
"You up?"
Dove grunted and pulled up the covers. He blinked at Cardin with sleepy eyes. "What is it?"
"You can't sleep either?"
"I was until a bit ago." Dove rubbed his eyes and yawned. "What's with that Cinder chick anyways? You've been hanging around her a lot."
"She's dangerous. She's well informed and well connected, and I can't risk making an enemy of her."
"That's it?"
"Well, yeah."
"Should've known. I'm going back to sleep."
He pulled the covers over himself, but flickers of Scroll-light still came from under them. Cardin closed his eyes. As worn out as he was, he managed a few hours of sleep before Russell shook him awake for breakfast.
During lessons that day, Professor Goodwitch went over the upcoming school dance. As dull as the affair seemed to Cardin, he absorbed every detail – dress code, time and date, the refreshments and snacks, other plans to come from Coco and Velvet that will be sent out by Scroll.
Once the class was done, Cardin noticed Weiss lingering in her seat, staring at him and giving him a subtle wave. He looked for Cinder, but she had already left with her team. Once the class had thinned out and Professor Goodwitch left, he tucked away his Scroll and sat next to her.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Well, it's about the dance," Weiss said. "I thought it might be fun if we went together."
Cardin shook his head. "There's enough rumors about us already. If we went together, a lot of powerful families would use it to turn our supporters against us."
"Oh." She hid part of her face behind her backpack. "Then who are you going with?"
"I don't plan on going at all. I have more important things to do."
"I see." She smiled at him and stood up. "Well, thank you anyways. I know it isn't easy for you."
Cardin waited a few minutes before heading to the cafeteria. Cinder was waiting with an open seat next to her. All the other seats around his and her team were taken. Once he got his food, he sat down next to her and tucked into a slice of pizza.
"The dance seems very interesting to me."
"Really? I figured it would seem drab and immature compared to what you're accustomed to. Personally, I don't have any plans to attend."
"I disagree. It seems like an excellent opportunity for us to get to know one another better."
Cardin put down the slice and turned to look at her. She was smiling, but there was no warmth to it.
"Others might think we're moving too fast."
"Do their opinions matter?" She ran her fingers along his arm, and an uncomfortable warmth crept up his shoulder. "If anyone asks, you could say we were acquainted before I came to Beacon. It wouldn't even be a lie."
Cardin swallowed and tried another reason. "There are a few families that would be displeased if they saw me in the company of another woman."
"And they all voted with Duke Orgen. None will openly object, and any that plot behind his back will be ruined."
"Duke Orgen approves of this?"
Cinder chuckled. "I wouldn't be talking to you if he might object."
Cardin felt as though he were walking alongside the edge of a cliff, with no way of knowing where the terrain might turn, or if the ground beneath his feet will hold his weight.
"I guess we're going together."
Cinder's smile widened. "I guess we are." She wrapped her left arm around Mercury and dragged him towards Cardin. "He could use a date as well. Do you think any girls would take him?"
Cardin scanned the cafeteria. "Most go with other teammates or people from Beacon, so I'm not sure." His eyes fell on Yang. "You could try her."
Mercury looked as though he'd rather ask out a Beowolf, but he still went towards RWBY's table when Cinder pushed him that way.
Cardin looked past the now-vacant seat at Emerald. "What about her?" Cardin asked. "If she needs a date, I've got three teammates for her to pick from." Russell grinned and puffed out his chest, Sky dropped his fork, and Dove scowled at him.
"I don't like men very much," Emerald said. "I'm not going."
"Beacon's a pretty liberal school. They'd be fine with same-sex couples." Emerald's eyes darted to Cinder, and she blushed. Before he had time to think about it, Cardin lunged at it. "Personally, I'm not into it, but what about you Cinder? Any interest in girls?"
Her eyes narrowed, and she glanced back at Emerald. "It's always nice to have options," she said with a soft, seductive purr.
"Well, Emerald, maybe you should try your luck. There's more girls than guys at Beacon, so there's bound to be a few feeling left out."
Emerald turned away from him and vigorously ate a buttered slice of bread.
Mercury sat back down. He was looking pale, but when Cinder asked him how it went, he nodded.
"Nicely done," Cardin said. "Word of advice, if you piss her off, watch for her left hook. She likes leading with that."
Mercury gave him an uneasy smile and thanked him for the advice. Emerald took the opportunity to poke fun of him, but Mercury immediately recovered and pointed out that at least he didn't have any trouble getting girls. That started another argument, with Russell taking Mercury's side and Dove defending Emerald. Sky hunched over his food and tried to ignore the barrage of insults flying around him.
Once the day was over, he slipped away with Russell to a secluded spot on campus and called home. With an exchange of coded greetings, Cardin knew it was safe to talk.
"What do you know about Cinder Fall?"
"Not much, aside from the fact she has a lot of influence with Duke Orgen, and she's rallying support from other houses. I don't know what she's doing either."
"She asked me to the school dance. For the past few weeks, she's been cultivating a relationship between us."
There was a long pause on the other end. "So I've heard. You've handled it well."
"Thank you. So, should I accept, or is there a valid reason to decline?"
Another pause, punctuated by some sips of wine, made Cardin grind his teeth. "I'll have a suit made ready. It wouldn't do to be outshone by your dance partner."
"I understand completely. I will attempt to play it off as a casual fling."
After that, he left Russell in his room and went exercising. This time, the text he had sent Blake got an immediate reply, and she was waiting when he made it up to the roof. She almost spoke right away, but he hushed her with a finger while he checked the windows.
"I am so sorry, I missed your text last night."
Cardin raised an eyebrow at her. "I saw you staring at your Scroll when I sent it."
Blake flushed, and she looked at her feet. "I had it on silent while I was studying. I didn't want to be distracted."
Cardin was tempted to pry further, but instead, he asked about her plans for the dance. Watching Blake's face go from confusion to horror nearly made him smile. Once he had made it clear to Blake exactly what would happen at the dance, he had her make up for the studying they missed yesterday. He nearly missed curfew, but it was worth it to have the rest of the year's reading done.
The suit arrived the next morning. He had expected something gaudier, something so laden with tassels and ornaments that he'd have to use his Semblance to move around in it, but what he found as he unwrapped it left him speechless.
It was cut from Vacuan silk, glossy black with the golden wings of the Winchester house sigil brushing the shoulders. The buttons were platinum and gleamed like gems. Along the hems and cuffs, delicate gold embroidery formed sinuous, enticing patterns. The pants were done in a similar style, and the shoes were made of black leather so soft he could feel it melting in his hands. The suit came with a red and gold tie, silken white undershirts, and embroidered black boxers that were clearly meant to be seen.
They were the sort of clothes in which he might have gotten married.
He checked the insides of the suit's sleeves. His fingers caught on a pocket meant for a hidden blade, empty, with no knife to be found, a signal to keep up his guard and go along with Cinder's plan for the moment. The blade might come later.
The days to the dance passed quickly. Exams were crammed into every class before everything shut down for the Vytal Festival, study groups filled their free time, and Cardin spent the evenings speaking with political contacts, putting his ear to the ground for any sign of Cinder's intentions. The conversations were long and meandering, often without a single mention of his target. All he had to show after a couple dozen calls was an interest in the Dust supply and Atlas' new military hardware. War profiteering might be her game, but it left no clues as to why he would interest her, or why she bothered studying at Beacon.
He met with Cinder at her room. Mercury stood stiffly in a freshly ironed suit, with his hair gelled into a straight comb and a fresh shave. Emerald wore her street clothes, but she looked just as ready for a dance. Cinder wore the same dress they had met in, but with red embroidery like flames licking up the hems of her skirt.
"You look good tonight," she said.
"So do you." He offered her his arm, and she took it.
Weiss and Ruby tended the door. Ruby looked at him with mingling fascination and fear while Weiss hid her anger behind a tepid smile.
"Welcome Cardin, Cinder," Weiss said. "I hope you enjoy this year's dance. Refreshments are on the back table, and the formal dances will begin in an hour." Ruby stammered additional welcomes as they passed them by.
Their entrance drew every eye in the room, and most conversations stopped dead. In the dim light on the dance floor, Cinder's dress flickered like firelight, and the wings on Cardin's suit hovered behind him.
With a throaty chuckle, Cinder said, "I think they're staring at us."
"That, or they're staring at Professor Port," he said, gesturing at the man who had paused with a glass of punch at his lips. Red liquid dribbled down his chin as he stared at Cinder's chest.
"You were supposed to say, 'They're staring at you, because you're so beautiful,' or something like that."
"I think that would've been boring, don't you?"
Cinder tilted her head towards him and smiled. "Yes, I suppose it would. Why don't we grab some punch and wait for the fun to begin?"
Cardin grabbed punch for them both and held a plate of hors d'oeuvres for them to share. With both his hands occupied, Cinder fed him bits of fruit and sausage from her fingers, teasing his lips with her fingernails. Cardin felt his face begin to flush from all the people staring at them and diverted his attention by studying the people in the room.
First to grab his eye were Ren and Nora. Ren was also holding a plate of snacks, but they were all for Nora, who was scarfing them down and glaring across the room. Following her gaze, Cardin found Blake and Jaune, talking quietly in a corner. When Jaune took her hand, she twined her fingers around it.
Nora wasn't the only one watching them. Close to the door, the monkey Faunus was standing with his blue-haired teammate, watching the pair with a disgusted shake of his head that sloshed punch onto his hand. The teammate patted him on the back and took him to greet a group of girls.
Near the center of the room, Yang and Mercury were hanging around a throng of couples. They were talking animatedly and smiling at each other.
"Looks like Yang and Mercury are getting along," Cardin said.
"Indeed they are. What do you think of those two? They're certainly an odd couple. It's almost as if they're being forced together."
Cardin didn't need to look where she was pointing, but he did so anyways. He scratched his chin and pretended to study them.
"Maybe their teammates paired them together, or it might be neither of them wanted to come alone."
"Or perhaps someone is putting them together to make a certain someone jealous?"
Cardin rolled his eyes at her. "Now that's just ridiculous. Sun only just got here a few weeks ago, and they've been dating for months."
Cinder plucked the last of the sausages from the plate and bit it in half. She waggled the bitten end in front of him. "I heard that one of Nora's teammates has been spending a lot of time in the bathroom. I hope they aren't ill."
"It would be rude to pry into their private affairs."
"On the contrary, one might consider it courteous to express concern for an acquaintance that isn't doing well."
"You've been acquainted with this person before?"
Cinder kept looking at him, but Cardin noted the slight twitch in her neck that indicated the urge to look away. "Perhaps once or twice. I've done a lot of traveling and have met a lot of people."
"A lot of powerful people, I would imagine."
"Oh, plenty. It pays to know people in all the right places."
"I take it I'm someone in the right place?"
She pushed the bitten sausage towards him. He opened his mouth, and she pushed the smoky morsel inside.
"That depends on where you stand," she told him.
"And where do you want me to stand?"
Weiss stepped up to a podium in one corner and announced into the microphone that the formal dances would now begin.
"On the dance floor," Cinder said. "Let's show these children how it's done."
Cardin examined the room. Most people still mingled along the walls or around the snack tables, but a few drifted towards the open space at the center of the room. He offered her his hand, and she took it. With a gentle tug, she pulled him towards the dance floor.
Another hush fell over the room as General Ironwood strode through the doors, but this time, a hornet's nest of angry murmurs broke the silence. Weiss asked the General a question, but he brushed it aside and went straight to Professor Goodwitch. He offered his hand for a dance, but she scoffed at him and strode away.
Cinder had stopped to watch the interaction unfold. "She's close to Ozpin, correct?"
"I imagine she's displeased by his involvement in the latest Council schemes," Cardin said. "That, or she doesn't like him very much."
She pulled him to the center of the room. Several sets of eyes stared at them as Cardin put one hand on her lower back and clasped her right hand with the other. He felt himself sweating from the contact. They stepped back and forth, moving their feet in concert and turning with the music. The other dancers shied away from them as they circled around the floor.
"Want to liven things up?" Cinder asked. He could smell citrus on her breath.
"Which dance?"
"I know the Duke's waltz."
With the next beat of four, he whirled her away to the tip of his fingers. She spun, leaned back, and swayed forward, stepping back towards him. She pressed up against him so tightly he could feel her heart beating against his chest. Around and around they spun, veering apart, flying back together, pirouetting around each other.
Cardin felt like a passenger while the suit did all the dancing. Each crease of the fabric, each stitched seam pulled him through the motions of the dance. The elbows snapped forward to twirl Cinder away and curled back to bring her close. The legs of his pants tightened around his knees each time his legs moved a hair too far, pulling them back into position. The tightness around the shoulders kept his back straight, the tautness at the chest kept his breathing shallow, forcing each breath into time with the music. The shoes slid across the floor until he had the perfect footing. The fabric of his suit slid across Cinder's dress like oil.
A few of the dancers had stopped to watch, and the whole room had their eyes on them. A ring had formed around the dance floor, and a hush fell over the watchers.
"Let's see if you can keep up," she whispered into his ear.
Her hands and feet yanked him forward into double-time with the music, turning his world into a frenzy of motion and blurred color. The suit seemed to know what step to take before he did, having him tilt Cinder in sweeping circles, spinning her like a top, and even lifting her in the air a few times. She felt impossibly light in her arms, as if buoyed by hot air.
They were alone on the dance floor. Cardin caught as many snippets of people and their expressions as he could manage. Weiss had abandoned her post at the door to watch, leaving a bored Ruby to stare listlessly at the night sky. Her expression was calm, but clenched hands belied the anger underneath. General Ironwood watched, his eyes darting back and forth to track their every movement. He was frowning and tapping his arm as if tallying how many votes he and Cinder could muster in the Councils.
Cardin felt his own attention slip away as the suit carried him through the dance. He pondered at Cinder's political connections, stemming out from an unknown source in Mistral, to Duke Orgen, and outward through his tenuous alliances and underlings. It might be possible that Cinder is a red herring, a baited trap, meant to snare Cardin in a doomed marriage that would yank the Winchester titles away out from under his feet. If so, he couldn't outright ignore the trap, it would be wiser to pretend to be lured in and extricate himself at the last second. It was also possible she had real influence, real power backing her, and if so, alienating her could be fatal. No matter where his mind spun, it always pulled back to that one core fact, that Cinder could not be dismissed. It was her music, her crowd, her dance that he danced for, all within a few weeks of arriving at Beacon.
The music reached a crescendo. As the final notes of the song played, Cinder leaned back, pulling Cardin with her. He bent over, forced forward by Cinder's hand and the suit's pressure on his shoulders, farther and farther until his lips were a hair's breadth away from hers.
It felt as though time had stretched thin at that moment. His mind raced as he considered the situation, calculated all possible outcomes, but while his brain churned through the problem, the suit gave him one final push. His lips met hers. It felt as though he were kissing a frying pan, without the pain. In the room's perfect silence, he heard Weiss' sharp breath, a muffled gasp.
Professor Port chortled somewhere in the background. By that cue, Cinder pushed him up and away from her.
"Why don't we take this dance somewhere else?"
"Your place, or mine?"
"Let me talk to Mercury first." With a bemused grin, Cinder said, "I will make sure we aren't interrupted."
The circle parted for Cardin and Cinder as they walked hand in hand. Mercury and Yang were talking over by the punch bowl, while Weiss was mixing another batch. Cinder tapped Mercury on the shoulder, and he nearly spilled his punch when he turned around.
"Find somewhere else to stay tonight, Mercury," she said in a mellifluous voice. "Cardin and I will be busy for a while."
Yang reddened and looked back and forth between them. "You're not actually… are you?"
Cardin shrugged. "Looks like it."
"Wow." She brought her cup to her lips and flinched when she found it was empty. "I, uh, wow." She chuckled nervously and scooped punch out of the bowl Weiss was mixing. "I guess there's hope for everyone, right?"
"Never thought anyone would be interested in me?" Cardin asked. With a mocking grin, he said, "Unlike you, I've actually done it before."
Yang nearly choked on her punch. "With who?"
"Red dress and claws," Cardin said. He leaned closer to Mercury, and in a voice designed to carry, he said, "Don't get your hopes up. She acts tough, but she's really shy."
Yang's face reddened. She took Mercury's hand and said, "I just remembered we have something to do, right Mercury?"
Mercury looked between Cardin and Yang as she dragged him out the door. Cardin gave him a thumbs up just before he vanished from view.
"Cute," Cinder said, "But I would appreciate it if you refrain in meddling in the affairs of my team. I don't want Mercury getting distracted during the Vytal Festival."
"I thought you didn't care about winning."
Cinder led him towards the doors. "I do, but there's more than one victory to be had."
The night felt chill and empty as they walked through Beacon grounds, away from the repurposed cafeteria to the exchange student dorms. Cinder's hand warmed his whole arm, but it did nothing for the cold anxiety in his chest, sitting over his heart like a block of lead.
"What victory are you looking for?" Cardin asked. "I've spent weeks trying to understand why you're here, how you've managed to garner so much political support, and what you intend to do with it."
"You haven't figured it out yet?"
"You make it sound so obvious."
"It is." Her left hand came up and stroked him on the chin. "I want power."
"Who doesn't?" Cardin asked. "What do you want to do with it?"
"The same thing everyone else does with power. Whatever they want."
Cardin went silent for a moment. When they walked into the dorm hall, Cardin said, "Perhaps I should rephrase the question. How am I going to get you the power you want?"
Cinder paused before the door to her room. She let her left hand rest on the door knob and stared at it. "There is something that belongs to me, something that Ozpin is hiding here."
"And you think I can help you find it."
"If I went poking around Beacon, people would ask questions, and Ozpin might suspect me."
"So you need someone to do your searching for you."
"Exactly." The door opened. Cinder flipped the lights on and went straight to the bed. "Help me find what I'm looking for, and I'll make sure no one lays a finger on you. You will have the full backing of Duke Orgen and his allies, along with everyone else I've tied strings to." She rubbed her fingers together, and glass spun itself into the shape of a dagger between her fingers. "I can even make you Duke, if you desire it." With a snap of her fingers, the blade broke apart and vanished before it hit the covers. She slid her shoulders out of her dress and let it hang loosely around her chest. "So, will you join me?"
Cardin's heart pounded in his chest. Through the open door, a draft blew at his back, invitingly cool compared to the stifling heat of Cinder's room. A long list of ways he could wind up dead by the next morning ran through his head, all possible outcomes of either decision he made.
Cardin closed the door, set his shoes on a mat, and went to Cinder's bed.
Omake: Joysticks
Without any word of explanation, Yang dragged Mercury out of the dance hall and to her room. She locked the door and checked the bathroom.
"We should have a few hours," Yang said. "Now take off your pants."
Mercury shrugged and let his pants fall. Yang stared at the metal plating between his legs.
"You… don't have anything down there, do you?"
"Am I supposed to have anything down there?"
Yang blushed and hid her face in her hands. "How long have you had that?"
"Long as I can remember."
"And no one ever gave you the talk?"
"The talk?"
"Birds and the bees, what guys and girls do when they like each other, where babies come from?"
"Don't babies come from white Nevermore?"
"How do you not know what sex is?"
"Oh!" Mercury reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pair of long, metal rods with a flat base and some buttons. "My doctor told me I could use these if a girl ever asked me about that. It even comes with a turbo mode if you're into that kind of thing."
Yang took one and stroked it with her fingers. "Yeah, I think we can work with that."
Several hours later, Team RWBY's room was filled with the sounds of repeated pounding and Mercury grunting every time he got hit.
"Yeah, how does it feel to get dominated?"
"Go easy on it, you're going to break it!"
On the television screen in front of them, two fighters attacked each other with fists. With a press of a button and a flick of the joystick, Yang's character put Mercury's in a headlock and kicked his knee.
"Yang, it's four in the morning," Ruby moaned from her bed. "Go to sleep already!"
"We're almost done!"
The game's announcer said, "Finish him."
Yang jerked the controller in a series of intricate motions, but she missed the input, and Mercury's character fell to a throat punch. As the game ended, white fluid seeped from the joystick.
"Eww, why is it doing that?"
"That's the lube," Mercury said "To keep the parts from chafing. It leaks out sometimes."
Yang cleaned her hands off. "So, want to go another round?"
Mercury raised his joystick. "You're on."