"Three on the hallway to the right. Two rifles, one… sword-thingy." Qrow took his hand off his earpiece, leaned over slightly to observe his prey for a few seconds, then retreated. "Definitely a sword-thingy. What have you got?"
There was a brief moment of silence before his earpiece buzzed and Raven spoke.
"Five on the left hallway. Irrelevant weapons." She relayed. "How many can you see on the room, from your side?"
"…Four?" He tried, not bothering to give another look.
"Oh, good. I see twenty." Raven said dryly, knowing he hadn't given an honest answer. "We'll have to be quick on the hallways, then storm the room together. Ready?"
"I'm ready. Just don't kill them."
There was no response, much to his displeasure.
He heard the sound of blasts and bullets flying, so he turned around the corner and dashed across the hallway, his scythe unfolding as he swung towards a man's legs. The White Fang recruit cried and fell to the ground.
The other two men turned to fire at him, but Qrow left them no window for it, knocking their weapons away with a move of his scythe, them bashing them on their heads with the blunt side of it.
He smirked confidently and raced to the end of the hallway, which opened into a fairly large room. Just as he entered it, Raven arrived from the other side, swinging her katana mercilessly. Qrow noticed its red reflection with disgust, but looked away. There was no time for that.
The Huntsman took out five of the grunts with shots from his scythe, taking advantage of their attention on his sister. Once he was noticed, he sprang to action, dancing from one end of the room to another, slamming the men and women as he went.
The whole fight must have taken only a minute, and once it was over, the siblings looked over the unconscious and dead. Qrow shot Raven a disapproving look.
"You really don't listen to me, do you?"
"I'm the older sibling." She remarked humorlessly. "You bashed one of them softly enough to question?"
"Yes. I have self-control."
He nodded, turning one of the grunts on his back. The criminal looked at him with a mixture of fury and defeat.
"Hey, dude. How is it going down there on the ground?" Qrow asked cheerfully.
"Fuck you!"
"Sorry, mate, you gotta invite me to dinner first." He smiled to his sister. "The youth today, right? All about the booty and the-" He noticed her blank expression. "Right. So, crime guy, where's your leader?"
The recruit glared at him, keeping his mouth in a straight line. Qrow lifted an eyebrow, then spun his scythe. The man yelped, expecting to be pierced, but Qrow only leant his weapon on his right shoulder and offered a charming smile.
"Why so scared?" He asked.
"O-okay! T-the Branter Building! Downtown!" The grunt yelled. "Please don't kill me!"
"Yeah, that's not my plan. You got the good cop." Qrow assured. "Say, what's the name of your leader?"
"A-Adam Taurus?"
Raven cursed loudly and kicked the man in the head, knocking him unconscious.
"We're never going to find her." She said bitterly.
"We will find her, sister." Qrow refuted gently. "Someone's got to know her. As secretive as she is, there must be at least one person who relays her orders to everyone else. It's just a matter of-"
"Don't you fucking say it." Raven glared at him. "I've given seventeen years to this cause. There has been a lot of time! And she's nowhere! It's like she doesn't even exist!"
"Raven, I know it's hard. But, like you said, seventeen years. You can't give up now." Qrow frowned and looked to the side. "Do you hear-"
"Did you just say I can't give up? Really?" She scoffed. "That's great, Qrow. How about you go underground for seventeen years? Hell, go thirty. It's not like you'd want to stop, right? You're just so-"
"Raven, shut up." Qrow interrupted with a serious tone. "I'm hearing something."
Raven looked at the same direction confusedly. Suddenly, Qrow dropped his scythe and ran to one of the walls. He ran his hand along it frantically, then found something and pushed.
A large section of the wall moved inward and to the side, revealing a dark cubicle. A little boy scrambled from it, followed by a not much older girl. The boy kneeled on the ground, crying, but the girl went to Qrow and hugged his legs.
"T-thank you!" She sobbed.
"Hey, hey… It's nothing, little lady. I'm glad to help." He crouched to meet her face to face as Raven went into the cubicle. "How long have you been in there?"
"A week…?" She said slowly, as if she didn't know the actual answer. "It was so d-dark, and scary, and- I want to go home!"
"Okay, we'll get to that. Where do you live? Who are your parents?" Qrow paused. Maybe he was going too fast for her. Better to get more personal first, to calm her down. "What's your name?"
She looked at him, wide-eyed, and said something. He didn't listen, because at that moment, Raven stepped out of the cubicle, holding another kid in her arms. The girl noticed his staring and followed him, then saw Raven.
"T-Tommy!" She exclaimed. "H-he's been sleeping f-for… He's sleeping…"
Raven closed her eyes for a long while. When she opened them again, they were cold and distant. She looked at Qrow.
"We're going to find that monster." She said. "And I'm going to kill her."
From an early age, Weiss had been taught how to be discreet, so she could judge opposing business and political leaders without the risk of offending them. She was an adept since the first classes, which had earned a few compliments from her father, and those were rare enough to make her work even harder at the techniques.
She doubted her father would be proud of how she was using them right now, though. Weiss sat on her bed, her notebook against as her legs as she stroked the answers to her homework with a pencil. All the while, though, one eye kept wandering over to the side, as if Blake were some sort of eye magnet.
Eye magnet. Weiss blushed and focused on her homework. It wasn't exactly the crudest of remarks, and Yang would have surely laughed at her for thinking of it that way, but she had never attributed that kind of expression to anyone before. It was always beautiful, elegant, charming. Never eye magnet, hot or… Heavens forbid, sexy. Her body shifted uncomfortably at that thought.
She turned her head to look at Blake for a good five seconds, completely forgetting her previous efforts at being subtle. The faunus's cat ears shifted, and she looked away from her own notebook to the heiress.
"You okay there, Weiss?" She asked. "Do you need some help with the homework?"
"No!" Weiss answered quickly, trying to appear offended at the notion that she would have homework problems. The truth, however, was that she really didn't want Blake to think she had been staring. "I'm just… taking a break."
"Hmm." Blake poked her chin with her pencil. "You seem to be enjoying your break."
"N-no! I mean, yes! But not because of you!" The heiress turned back to her notebook and started to scribble furiously. "Damned faunus and their damned attitudes and their cute cat ears and their – Ruby, focus on your homework!"
Ruby squealed and retreated from the edge of her bed, from where she had been observing her teammates with obvious intrigue. Weiss looked back at Blake and noticed a sly smile on her lips, which only made the white-haired more flustered.
Before anything could be said, someone knocked on their door strongly, the sound echoing through the walls of the room. Yang began to move to get out of her bed, but she was too late, as Ruby leaped to the door, leaving a trail of rose petals behind her.
The redhead smiled cheerfully and opened the door, revealing Raven.
The Huntress had been scowling, her arms crossed and head turned low, as if she were carrying terrible news or something like it. Once the door opened, though, her demeanor changed as she was caught off-guard by the cheerful reception.
"Hello." She said slowly, as if she feared Ruby would attack her at any second.
"Hi, Yang's mom!" The redhead greeted happily. A thought crossed her head and her eyes narrowed. "Yang, is it okay if your mom comes in?"
"…Sure." The blonde answered half-heartedly, making a concentrated effort of staring at a wall.
"Thank you. And call me Raven." A small smile crept on her lips as Raven walked inside. Her eyes scanned the room, passing over Weiss without interest and then focusing on Blake. "You know Adam Taurus, right?"
Blake flinched, her knuckles turning white as she gripped her notebook tightly. The look she gave Raven was uncharacteristically shy and fearful.
"I used to be his partner." She stated, making sure every word she said was understood clearly. "Used to. I don't want to be anywhere near him ever again."
"Well, that's a problem." Raven said. "We've been trying to find the White Fang's leader from the outside for months now. Even after years of infiltration, I was nowhere close to discovering the truth. You, however, were very much integrated in the system."
There was a heavy silence from the rest of the team. Blake's past was a forbidden topic – even when she had made it clear she would talk about it, her friends had refused to press her for information. The way Raven referred to it now seemed wrong, and even Yang had a frown on her forehead as she listened to her mother.
"All our raids and interrogations have led to one source. Adam Taurus." Raven continued. "He's the key to our operation. Once we have him in our hold, we can learn the identity and location of his leader."
"You're wrong." Blake said firmly. "Adam's not the type to give information over, even under torture."
"We'll see about that." Raven nodded. "The reason I'm here, of course, is exactly because of this kind of input. If we want to capture Taurus, we need to understand him. And you understand him."
Blake looked away in silence. Her eyes met with Weiss, and the heiress seemed to transmit a fairly simple message. You don't have to do it. Blake's gaze softened and she looked back at Raven.
"I'll do it."
"Good." Raven said, but she sounded as if she would have never settled for another answer. "All of you, be at the front of the school in half an hour. Take your best equipment and-"
She paused and looked down, her eyes widening in fear. Zwei licked her ankle and barked at her happily.
"And-" Raven gulped. "And leave the dog home."
Burning. That was the only way Cinder knew how to describe herself. Burning with some unknown force beneath her skin, as if there was something, someone else trying to claw out of her. Burning until there was nothing left of her but ashes and a putrid smell.
And the worst part of it… She couldn't fight back. For the first time in her life, she couldn't rely on her power and her cunning. There was no overwhelming blow or underhanded technique, no flashy magic or manipulation. There was her, and the fire within her.
She had a pretty good idea which of those would fade away first.
She came to that quiet conclusion while in a half-awake state – well, there seemed to be no other state for her to be in. Her actions were only hazy memories to her, from sitting still, staring at wall, to knocking on her cage in reckless rage and agony.
Days or hours after her painful interrogation – she couldn't quite tell how much time had passed – Ozpin came to visit her. He had stood outside of her cage, its door wide open, and he had spoken softly, yet commandeering, as he always did. She had been very much aware that with one calculated, quick movement, she could have killed or incapacitated him, but she hadn't done it. If he had taken notice of it, that was another thing she couldn't remember.
Yet she wished she had done him in and escaped. Maybe that would have eased her pain – surely she was feeling it because of her imprisonment. But it was too late now, the opportunity was gone. But she could melt her way out and visit an arrogant neighbor…
The door to her cage opened again. Cinder looked up, eyes flaring brightly, as if she were something other than human. Ozpin put his hands together atop of his cane and gazed at her firmly.
"Miss Fall… I have a proposal to make. Will you hear me out?"
Her clenched fists shook, the air around them distorted by heat. She only needed to stand up and reach forward…
"Cinder." Ozpin said. "I can help you. Let me, before it's too late."
Cinder stood, and in a split second, she was holding him up by the collar of his shirt. Their eyes met, hers wild, his heavy with conscience.
"…Talk."
The girls didn't talk much as they packed whatever little equipment they thought might help them on their mission. There was a sense of duty in the ritual. They had done similar things in the past – like fighting Torchwick in his stolen Paladin earlier in the semester, or the whole breach incident – but this time, it felt official. They wouldn't be by themselves, as Qrow and Raven had made very clear.
The two graduated Huntsmen were already waiting in front of the school as they arrived. They wasted no time in their debriefing. Their recent investigations all lead to one place: the Baxter Building in downtown Vale, where Adam Taurus supposedly met with his contacts and colleagues. Their job was to go inside the building and capture him.
Of course, things were rarely ever that simple. The place was obviously going to be heavily secured and Adam would have escape plans ready for this type of occurrence. That was where Blake, and surprisingly enough, Weiss too, came in handy.
The adults separated the team in two: Ruby and Weiss would stay with Qrow, while Yang and Blake went with Raven. The blonde wasn't shy in her protesting of that match-up, but she was quickly shutdown by her mother's reminder that Blake was still her partner. Weiss was also a bit irked with being paired with not only her crazy partner, but also her similarly-natured uncle, yet she didn't voice any complaints.
And so, the mission began.
Weiss walked inside the building, her chin raised proudly, as if she owned the place and everyone in it. Dozens of people fixed their sights on her almost immediately, but she gave them no mind, even though she was a quivering mess on the inside.
She walked to a counter and faced the receptionist. The woman must have been taught well, because her disdain and alarm at the heiress' appearance was buried in a heartbeat.
"What might I help you with, Miss…?" The receptionist's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Schnee. Weiss Schnee. But you already know my name." The white-haired girl took a step back. "Your people have targeted by family's company for years without end. You've tainted my life with blood and hatred, but no more." She drew her rapier. "It ends today."
Even before she was finished, the woman slammed her fist down on a button, springing alarms bells to life throughout the whole building. Some people ran out the front doors, but most drew hidden weapons and started to march towards the heiress.
"You are a fool!" The receptionist spat. "The only thing ending today is you!"
Weiss raised her weapon just in time to deflect a thrown dagger. One quick scan of her surroundings armed her with the knowledge that she was surrounded – there was no way she could repel so many assailants at once.
She concentrated, and after a few seconds, a glowing glyph formed beneath her feet. It exploded with light, and she floated up graciously. Weiss looked down, capturing the scene as she hovered high in the air.
Two blurs entered the building, red and black, and like one, they raced through the White Fang mass. For a good while, the criminals were unaware of what was happening to their colleagues, until Qrow stopped and flashed them a grin.
"Nice place you guys got." He said charmingly. "Might wanna look into security, though."
Weiss landed behind him and swung her rapier, summoning a wave of ice from the ground. Grunts flew to the air, caught off guard by the unpredictable attack.
"Nice move." Qrow clucked his tongue. "A tad too flashy."
"Excuse me?" Weiss exclaimed sharply. "Did I not just knock out all those men?"
"Hey, just saying…" The Huntsman set his scythe on the ground and started firing. In five seconds, he had struck down an equal number of grunts as her. "You can do it much more efficiently."
Weiss grumbled under her breath, really wishing her partner would not grow an attitude similar to her uncle's. She examined the lobby for the redhead, and frowned worriedly when she finally found her chasing a bunch of screaming grunts around with an intense look on her face.
"Ruby!" She called, throwing a glance at Qrow as he made his way to a nearby staircase. "We're moving! Hurry up already!"
Ruby paid her no mind. She disappeared in a flash, then reappeared in front of the fleeing men. She swung her scythe in a low arc, hitting their legs and knocking them to the ground. Then she brought the weapon down on them, bashing them into unconsciousness. Weiss winced, feeling sorry for her sworn enemies.
"Ruby." Qrow's voice echoed warningly across the lobby as he stood on the first step of the staircase. "Stop playing around. We have to keep moving."
The redhead blew a hair away from her face and bashed another grunt dejectedly, then made to follow her uncle. Weiss stared at her curiously as she moved past her, but cast her worries aside as the three made their way to the upper floors.
When her mother had said they would be invading the building from the roof, Yang had thought that was an attempt at a joke. Even as they climbed the side of it with the help of a few very useful gadgets, she did not quite believe they were doing it. Maybe it was because Blake showed no fear or nervousness, making the situation quite surreal – but the faunus was good at hiding her emotions, as Yang had learned.
They made it to the roof without any accidents, then entered through a door and started their descent. Raven led the way with careful steps, relying more on her ears than her eyes as they wandered through hallways and stairs. More than once she threw frustrated looks at her daughter when she made a loud noise, intentional or not.
After ten minutes, the alarms sprang to life, but they sounded distant from their positions. Closer was the shuffling of feet and stairs, and more importantly, drawing of blades and loading of firearms. That was no problem for them – in fact, they hoped it was the opening they needed. Adam would not be able to escape downstairs, with Qrow's group causing mayhem there, and neither could he move to the roof.
"How the hell do we know where to go?" Yang whispered, thinking the entirety of this stealthy mission was futile and dumb.
"We don't know. I made estimations." Blake answered in an ever lower tone. "Adam knows better than to stay at the very top or bottom. He'll have chosen a floor closer to the middle."
"Well, I suppose you're the person to go to when it comes to scum and villainy." The blonde shrugged.
"Yep." Blake nodded, trying to play the pointed remark off as if she wasn't hurt by it. "He'll also have a small but powerful group of people to guard him. Expect something like Neopolitan. Try not to suck at it again, though." She paused. "Sorry."
Raven moved onwards before Yang could spark a heated argument in the middle of their mission. The girls followed her down a stairway, and came across a dozen grunts on the way.
Before the students could do anything, Raven had cut through the White Fang effortlessly. Yang's stared in shock, and even Blake was a bit disturbed as she eyed the blood flowing down the steps. Raven looked up at them, then her eyes dropped somberly.
"Come on." She said softly. "There's no time to lose."
Blake grabbed Yang's wrist and dragged her along. The blonde shook her head, trying to break from her stupor and forget about the horrible scene. She was forced to do it as they finally arrived at a floor and broke into the hallway, immediately meeting with a slim, dark-clothed woman with a lance.
"Go ahead!" Raven gestured quickly. "I won't take long!"
Blake and Yang moved past the lancer, who was experienced enough to not try to stop them, instead choosing to block Raven's immediate assault.
They moved across the hallway, Blake leading the way instinctively while Yang kept her fists clenched tightly, expecting trouble to appear at any second.
It finally did, in the form of two almost invisible forms. The blonde felt a sharp sting of pain on her knees, then fell on her back. Her eyes focused on her assailants – two young boys, surely still kids, with near identical appearances except for their gold and silver colored hairs. Gold wielded two long arched blades, while Silver had a steel staff that was his size and a half.
"Hey, that's cute. Twins?" Yang flashed a grin at them.
"Hmm." Gold gave his brother a disinterested glance. "She's trying to be charming."
"She's failing." Silver lamented. "Please don't scream as you die horribly."
"Forget about the cute thing." Yang leered at them. "I hate twins."
She jumped to her feet just in time to avoid Gold's double swing, then shot at Silver before he could follow with an attack of his own. Unfortunately, the tactic seemed to be worthless, as the twins began an unrelenting and skillful assault against her. The best Yang could do was block and retreat, which had her eyes glowing red in no time.
"I seriously hate twins!" She yelled and dashed forward, taking a hit from Silver intentionally and striking him on his right cheek.
The boy screamed in pain and stumbled back. His Aura protected anything from being broken, but his face still hurt like hell. Gold growled angrily and swung at Yang's exposed back. She winced, but felt less pain than she should, as her Semblance worked in her favor once again.
Still, getting more powerful with damage to her body did not mean she could just ignore it. Now that she was between the two brothers, their assault was even more difficult to defend against, and the pain was piling up quickly. Yang scowled, realizing she had bitten on more than she could chew.
Just as she began to wonder where Blake was, the faunus appeared behind Silver and bashed the side of his head with the pommel of her sword, knocking him unconscious. Gold dashed to her, swinging his blades in a high arc, but suddenly there was another one poking through his chest. Blood poured from his mouth before he slid to the ground, lifeless.
Raven shook her head slowly, as if she didn't want to look at the mess.
"Yang?" She called. "Can you stand?"
"Y-yeah." The blonde nodded. "They did a number on me. Where were you, Blake?"
"Surrounded by less dangerous foes. Once I took care of them, I was going to chase after Adam, but… You were in trouble." Blake answered. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks." Yang said, and she looked at Blake long enough for her to know that she meant it.
They moved again, and not too much time after, they came across the central stairway. Qrow and Ruby jumped the last of the steps to their floor, Weiss lagging behind with an annoyed look on her face.
"You ran into trouble?" Qrow eyed his sister's bloody blade. "Dumb question. Let's keep going."
"Can I just say your family is insane?" Weiss grunted as she moved to Yang's side.
"You get used to it… I suppose." The blonde said somberly.
They ran through the hallway, eventually reaching a set of double doors at its far end. Qrow burst through it, and the group found themselves in a big office with glass walls at every side. There was a single desk and chair in the middle of it, where Adam Taurus was seated casually.
"Taurus." Raven said steely. "We've come to capture you. Don't resist, or it will be very painful for you."
The faunus criminal smiled slightly and laced his hands behind his head, as if he weren't even a bit threatened by her words. Blake frowned.
"He's got something planned." She said. "Don't let him-"
Weiss felt something touch her shoulder, and white flashed across her vision. She stumbled forward and was caught by Blake.
"Weiss! What happened?!"
"I…" The heiress opened her eyes and looked up at her teammate. "You – Get your hands off me, filth! Don't touch me!"
Blake flinched and stepped back, only for Weiss to draw her rapier and swing it against her. The brunette sidestepped and looked helplessly at her companions, only to feel even more distressed.
To her right, Qrow had been engaged in battle by a familiar face – Neopolitan. They seemed to be evenly matched, though Qrow was definitely very worried about the whole situation to give his foe his full attention. Yang lied unconscious on the ground beside them, and Blake guessed she had been caught off guard by the pink-and-brown-haired girl.
But Blake was much more worried by the sight to her left. Raven had Ruby held firmly in her grasp, tears spilling down her cheeks as she spoke incoherently. The redhead was frozen in her spot, staring in shock at the grown woman, while tears welled up in her own eyes.
And all the while, Weiss kept calling her a filthy Faunus!
"Weiss! Snap out of it!" Blake yelled. The fact that Adam was watching smugly from his seat only added to her frustration. "Something's gotten into your head! Just focus!"
"Shut. Up!" Weiss shrieked, desperately trying to stab Blake. "You are just-"
Blake grunted and stepped forward, giving her teammate a hard slap across her cheek. Weiss yelped and stumbled back, holding her aching face with a hand. She blinked slowly.
"You are filth… All… Filth…" She spoke slowly, as if she weren't sure of the words herself.
Blake's first urge was to rush to her aid, but a loud roaring noise gave her alarm. She looked back at Adam and saw a small helicopter standing behind him, just on the other side of the glass.
"It was good seeing you, Blake." He said, giving her a mock salute. He turned and smashed the glass, then jumped from the building and landed inside the helicopter.
Neo disengaged from her fight and spun, shimmering out of sight for a brief moment, only being visible again at the helicopter. Qrow seethed with rage, but it was quickly replaced by curiosity as he noticed another person jumping to the flying vehicle, a pale bald man clad in white clothing.
Blake made to follow the criminals, but Qrow grabbed her by the wrist.
"It's no use, Blake." He said. "We don't want to engage them inside a freaking helicopter."
"But…" The faunus kept her eyes locked on Adam's even as he flew away. "I understand…"
She turned and walked back to Weiss, who was sitting on the ground, rubbing her head with a dazed look on her face.
"What… What happened?" She asked.
"Weird psychic dude, probably." Qrow guessed, examining Yang for any serious injuries. "Had you spouting all sorts of racist nonsense."
"Oh." Weiss lowered her head in shame. "I'm terribly sorry, Blake."
The brunette was about to say that apologies weren't necessary, but a faint sob caught her attention. She looked to the left and found Raven now hugging Ruby as if her life depended on it, while the redhead was biting her lower lip, attempting to stay strong through the ordeal.
"Uhm…" Qrow reached the two of them and gently pried his sister away from his niece. "It's okay, sis. Let's get over there and calm down, okay?"
Raven blinked, waking up from her confused state. When she looked at Ruby, her expression darkened and she stormed out of the room. Qrow made to follow her, but decided to stay, knowing Yang and the others needed him far more, for now.
"That was…" Weiss said quietly, trying to find a suitable word for the occurrence. "What exactly happened there, Ruby?"
"I… I don't know. She thought I was my mom…?" Ruby looked away and reached a hand to cover her eyes. "She'll get better."
The redhead lowered her head and drew her cloak closer to her, as if she wanted to disappear into it. She turned her back to the others and walked towards the broken glass wall, staring through the hole silently.
Yang's eyes opened and she looked up slightly, taking in everyone's quiet, morose state.
"What did I miss?" She frowned. "You know what?" She lied back down again and closed her eyes. "Tell me when I wake up again."
"Mercury!" Emerald chided quietly. "Stop playing around!"
Mercury leered at his partner, but followed her anyway. When it came to infiltration, Emerald was the pair's expert, after all. She was the one who planned their mission for the night, and he had worked with her long enough to know not to argue with her methods.
"Don't step there." She hissed, just in time for him to stop his right foot from touching the floor. "That's in the damned sensor's area, Mercury. Did you make a point of not listening to my instructions?"
"Sorry, princess, but I didn't exactly memorize every single millimeter of this building I can or can't step on! You're the one who's in charge of-"
"Shut up! You're so childish!"
"You are childish!"
"Kids…" Roman sighed. "Get me out of this cage, and I'll buy you a lollipop, okay? Keep in mind, though, you'll have to share."
Emerald rolled her eyes, but decided to give the crime lord no more ground for mocking. She fidgeted with the digital locks of the cage some more, then hummed happily as it beeped and the door lowered. Torchwick moved out of the cage and stretched his body.
"Hey, moron!" Emerald hissed. "Get a move on! We're in fucking enemy territory!"
"You don't know how cramped that space gets." Roman glared at her defensively. "But I get your point, sweetheart. Let's bolt and get you your lollipop."
The two started to move, but Mercury lagged behind, giving the next cage an obvious glare.
"Can't we even taunt her for a while?" He asked. "Or turn the cage on its side?"
"Mercury." Emerald said stiffly. "We don't want to talk to her."
Mercury thought of correcting that we with an I, but he knew Cinder was still a sore spot for Emerald. He hadn't been foolish enough to think of Cinder as a friend, but his partner had been. He nodded and followed after Emerald and Roman.
Cinder counted ten minutes from their leaving, then stood up. She took a deep breath, letting her body relax. The fire building up inside her for weeks now flowed to the edge of her skin, threatening to explode out of her at once. She shook violently, then smiled.
She trusted her hands forward, denting the door of her cage. The metal began to heat under her touch, and as she closed her fingers, it melted. Cinder separated her hands as if they were claws, tearing open a hole.
As she stepped out of the hole, the alarms of the building flared to life around her. She smiled savagely and ran, fire streaking from her hands as she also tore into an elevator. As it descended to the lowest level, her anxiety only grew. It was like the calm before the storm – and she had no idea how huge the storm would actually be.
The elevator reached the entrance lobby, and she was met by a squadron of armed men and women. Cinder almost blasted them with her full power at that moment, but she held back. There were strict rules placed upon her, but even if there weren't…
She shot a fireball at the ceiling, causing a shower of sparks to fall on the guards as the lights of the lobby exploded. It wasn't threatening at all, but it served as a big enough distraction to let her dash through their ranks, knocking a select few of them aside.
They followed her outside, but she was too quick and too ecstatic to be captured. She ran, and ran, and ran, until she found herself at the edge of the city. Cinder fell to her knees, laughing lightly under her breath. The grass beneath her fingers burned, a small inferno starting as her laughter grew louder.
She must have spent minutes that way, lost in her joy as fire raged around her. Oddly enough, it didn't spread as it usually did, destroying everything in its wake and leaving behind nothing but ashes. It seemed to stick to her as if it had a will of its own, dancing playfully around her body and shining brightly.
When the fire faded, she lied on her back, looked up at the stars, and fell asleep with a smile between her lips.
Wooh! That was fun! Lots of important stuff happening. I think this was the longest chapter yet, too?
Also, you guys get a bonus. The following scene was going to be included in the chapter, but it wasn't, for three reasons.
1) It didn't really fit anywhere in the actual chapter. Derp.
2) It got really silly and inappropriate. Like, too silly and inappropriate. I still think it's kinda funny, but overall, it's not something I would ever put into the actual narrative.
3) Weiss can't really kill herself in the story... (OR CAN SHE? HOLY CRAP THE FORESHADOWING IS HE TRICKING US, IS HE DOUBLE TRICKING US, IS HE TRIPLE TRICKING US? I DUNNO YOU GOTTA FIND OUT BY YOURSELVES)
"So, Ruby." Weiss said casually from her bunker. "You're a lesbian, right?"
The redhead blinked once, looked down at her partner, and lifted an eyebrow. It was rather comical, with her being upside down at the same time, but Weiss was a bit too embarrassed to laugh about it.
"Yes… I guess…" Ruby answered. "Does it matter?"
"No, no! It's just…" The heiress took a deep breath. "Suppose you're going on a date with a girl. You want to look the best you can, right?"
"Uh… Yeah."
"So… Now, picture you are the other girl." Weiss took another deep breath. "And, you know, the other girl has… Uhm… Non-substantial cleavage."
"Huh? What girl?" Ruby asked, her mind jumbled by the scenario.
Weiss groaned with frustration and climbed to her partner's bed, putting aside for the first time how terrified she was about being up there.
"Look, I'm… Winona." She said. "And you're… Blaine."
"Blaine's a boy name."
"Okay, you're… Frederica!" Weiss decided, settling for the first name she could think of. "So, I have a non-substantial cleavage. I mean, not me, of course, Winona has!"
"You do have…" Ruby narrowed her eyes and started to look down, but Weiss snapped her fingers to draw her attention. "S-sure!"
"So, you go on a date with Winona. Do you prefer she show her cleavage, non-substantial as it is, or cover it up?"
Ruby just stared at her partner, realizing how absurd this situation was. Weiss seemed to come to the same realization at the same time, but it was too late now. She had to go through it to the end.
"Come on! Answer me, you dolt!" She demanded.
"I-I don't know! Does Winona like weapons?!" Ruby asked desperately.
"No- Yes- That's not the point! Frederica already knows Winona's personality!"
"Who's Frederica?"
"You!"
Ruby clawed at her hair in confusion, only furthering Weiss' frustration.
"You know what? Let's be practical." The heiress decided, sitting up straight. "Do you prefer this?" She pushed her shirt up. "Or this?" She leaned forward so her breasts were right in front of Ruby's face.
Yang stepped inside the room, humming along to a song, and looked up at her sister's bunk, then somewhere else. She frowned and looked back, not sure if she was having hallucinations.
"Weiss?" She removed her headphones. "Are you… seducing my sister?"
Weiss looked at her, not moving from her position. Ruby's eyes slowly wandered to her sister, and she mouthed help me.
"Weiss…" Yang said in a low tone. "You have five seconds… One… Two…"
The heiress yelped and jumped to the ground. She landed and fixed her shirt, then dusted herself, trying to appear prim and proper. The attempt failed considerably, mostly because of her crimson face.
"I was just…" She said. "Preparing for my date with Frederica."
Blake entered the room.
"…Who's Frederica?" She asked worriedly.
"My sister?" Yang supposed.
"You have a sister named Frederica?"
"No!" Ruby yelled. "I'm Frederica!"
"You're going on a date with Weiss?" Blake asked incredulously.
"No, with Winona!" The redhead frowned. "Wait, who's Winona?"
Jaune poked his head out of his team's door.
"What's all this yelling about?" He asked.
"Ruby's dating someone named Winona." Yang said.
"Oh. Is she a… you know…" He went to whisper in her ear. "A psychopath?"
The blond girl thought about it for a moment, then shook her head.
"I'm Winona!" Weiss shrieked. "And Ruby's Frederica! But Frederica is Blaine, who is actually Blake!"
"Wait, does that mean… I'm Blake?!" Ruby shouted in amazement.
Weiss drew Myrtenaster and stabbed herself in the heart.
-x-
So that was a thing. You know, I really wish I could put something like the "Is she a psychopath?" bit into the actual story, but that would just be mean to Ruby.
Anyway.
Happy-Cinder-sized thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited Falling Roses Burn Brighter!
-Zeroan