ACT III
Darkness.
The sound of fire creeping around her.
Dancing flames beneath her skin.
Her strength waning.
Concrete smashing against concrete, structures collapsing.
Explosions filling the air.
A cacophony of yells and curses.
Her life fading fast.
One voice stands out, calling, so close and so distant.
She tries to speak, move, fight, but there's nothing she can do.
A cold, desperate touch on her arm.
And then nothing.
"I got her!"
Weiss yanked on Cinder's arm, dragging the unconscious girl up and away from the heated floor. The teashop was in flames, each part of its structure succumbing fast around them. It had been a miracle that Weiss had been able to get inside the place unharmed. To get out, she would need a lot more of those.
But she didn't believe in miracles, especially when everyone was counting on her. She could still hear Ruby calling from outside, barely hearable through the raging inferno. That dolt had been meaning to go inside herself, but Weiss knew she would get hurt, or worse. Luckily, Blake had been there to hold their leader back while she went in instead.
The heiress looked around calculatedly, trying to figure out the safest way to get back outside. The entrance she had taken had already collapsed behind her, and every other direction was covered in fire. Unless she wished to burn both herself and Cinder to death, she would have to take the only last option: the ceiling.
Weiss looked up just in time to see the section of the ceiling above her start to fall. She gestured with her free left arm and formed a glyph. The concrete smashed against the energy disk and shattered to pieces. Weiss faltered, the strength of the impact depleting her Aura by a large amount.
That issue aside, the collapse was actually a stroke of good luck, for it had left a gaping hole in the ceiling. It was just what she needed. Weiss repositioned Cinder so that she could hold her in her arms, then jumped and landed on another glyph beneath her feet. She willed it to rise, and slowly it did, above the fire, and through the hole in the ceiling.
Once they were out in the open, Weiss changed directions and reached the front of the shop. There, she let the glyph descend and fade away. She fell on the sidewalk, her legs wobbling as she tried to hold Cinder and stop her coughing at the same time.
The next thing she knew, someone had taken Cinder from her, and finally she let herself fall in a sitting position, her breath ragged and loud. It was a terrible sensation, one she had never felt before – and if she had her way, would never feel again.
"Weiss?" Blake knelt close beside her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm-" Weiss coughed again. "I'm fine!"
"You're not fine." The faunus frowned. "You need medical attention."
"I said I'm fine!" Weiss protested, shaking her head fervently. "She needs medical attention."
Blake's mouth formed a straight line, a sign of unhappiness Weiss recognized immediately. Before she could say anything else, the brunette got behind her and lifted her in her arms.
"You're too stubborn." Blake noted quietly. She looked around and found Ruby holding Cinder in a similar fashion, though she wore a much more shocked expression. Her eyes were wide as she stared at her ex-girlfriend, and her hands were shaking noticeably. "Ruby. We need to go before it's too late."
"I think-" Ruby's words died in her throat. "I think Cinder's dead."
Blake's heart ached with pity, but she didn't let it show. If Ruby ever needed her to be strong, this was the time.
"She's not dead, Ruby. She was in that fire for a long time, that's all." She said firmly. "But if we don't get her help fast, she will die."
"O-okay." Ruby took a deep, shaky breath. "A hospital? T-that's… We can't do that. They think she's bad."
"Beacon, then." Blake nodded.
Ruby took a step forward, but then she froze again, looking down at Cinder. Blake cursed mentally, realizing that her leader was not going to calm down enough to do what was needed.
"Okay. Don't worry." Blake winced. "I'll leave Weiss here with you. You have to watch over her. I'll take Cinder, and then I'll come back."
"N-no!" Ruby managed to say. "I can do it, I can-"
"Ruby, there's no time!"
There was a loud thump behind Blake, and when she looked, Qrow was there. The experienced Hunter gave Ruby one fast look, then took Cinder from her arms.
"Follow me, Red." He said seriously. "Remember your training."
"N-never lose focus." Ruby closed her eyes. "Never lose focus…"
Qrow nodded, then turned and ran, his cape billowing behind him. Blake started to move, but then her arms were empty. She blinked and saw Ruby racing after her uncle, taking Weiss with her.
Yang was about to exit the school grounds when she got a message from Blake, telling her that Ruby and Weiss were on their way back. The blonde tried to get more out of her partner, but Blake was being brief – too brief, even for her standards. At least Yang knew where to go: the infirmary.
A red blur passed by her while she was in the hallway, and she immediately recognized it as Ruby. Yang cursed and went after her sister, knowing whatever was making her run so fast could only be bad.
When she finally made it to the infirmary, Qrow was laying Cinder down on one of the beds, while Ruby was talking hurriedly to one of the nurses, who just looked at her sleepily, not being able to make out a single word out of the young girl's frenzied speech. Yang looked confusedly at Cinder – she was unconscious, that was obvious, but she didn't look hurt at all. In fact, it was almost like she was glowing…
Before she could demand for her sister to make sense of the situation, Qrow pointed to another bed, where Weiss was sitting. Her outfit burned and grayed at several places, her normally pristine hair was covered in ashes, and, if Yang's nose was right, an acrid smell of smoke emanated from her.
A nurse was poking away at her with various medical instruments, which drew various infuriated glares from the heiress. Blake was standing nearby, arms crossed and brow furrowed worriedly. Yang walked to her partner while giving Cinder another confused look.
"What happened?" She asked. "I mean… I can't make sense of any of this. Why does Weiss look like she took a tour of hell?"
"It's because I did, you-" Weiss coughed. "…Forget it."
"The teashop was on fire. Cinder was inside." Blake said. "Weiss went in to rescue her, while I held Ruby down."
"Oh." Yang glared towards Cinder. "She doesn't look hurt at all."
"Yang, this is not the time. I don't know what's going on with Cinder, but it's nothing normal." The faunus said, keeping her voice down so Ruby wouldn't hear her. "The nurse said there's nothing wrong with her – at least nothing she knows about - but she won't wake up."
The blonde nodded. Blake was right. The last thing anyone needed was for her to go on another anti-Cinder tirade.
Ozpin entered the room and scanned everyone in it. He drew the nurses' attention and pointed to the door. They glanced at each other curiously, but exited without a scene.
"Miss Schnee, how are you feeling?" He asked.
"I'm fine." Weiss answered immediately.
"She breathed a lot of smoke, and she got a few serious burns." Blake corrected, earning a glare from her girlfriend. "It's nothing to worry about, sir. She's tough beyond looks."
"I'm glad to hear it." Ozpin looked at Cinder. "What about Miss Fall?"
Qrow shook his head slowly.
"She's alive. She's not hurt, except for a select bruises, presumably from falling to the floor. It's strange, Ozpin. The fire didn't hurt her at all." He said.
"That is strange." The headmaster agreed. "Miss Rose?"
"Y-yeah?" Ruby looked away from Cinder, eyes wide with surprise.
"How are you feeling?"
"Oh, I'm okay. I didn't even get near the fire." Ruby's eyes sparked with emotion – whether it was anger or sadness, no one could tell. "Do you know what happened, Mister Ozpin?"
The headmaster smiled humorlessly, wishing he could give a proper answer to that question.
"We don't know anything important right now, except that it was no simple fire. Cinder obviously wouldn't have let it get out of control. My first guess? She was targeted by an unknown outside force." He raised his shoulders. "Raven is investigating the scene right now. We'll have better answers when she comes back."
"And when Cinder wakes up." Yang added.
The phrase was followed by a moment of heavy silence. The blonde looked at each member of the room in disbelief.
"What? She is going to wake up. I am definitely not her biggest fan, but Cinder is not the kind to just go out like that." She said.
"Of course. We are all thinking the same way." Ozpin smiled comfortingly to her. "I believe the best course of action is to let Cinder rest. You should all do the same. I'm proud of how you handled the situation, girls. Coordination and speed are vital for any operation, and you exceled in both areas."
"Well, it was all Ruby's doing, of course." Blake pointed out, giving her leader a nod. "If it were up for the rest of us, Weiss would have argued all night and Yang would have just stayed asleep."
"Oh, yeah?!" The blonde rolled her eyes. "What about you, Miss Serious-Business? Probably would have spent the night reading a boring novel."
"Probably, except for the boring part." The faunus agreed.
The praising was not only a means to comfort their leader. Just as they had been readying up for sleep, Ruby had begun yelling about Cinder needing immediate help and had quickly rallied the team and distributed orders. She had left with Weiss and Blake to reach Cinder, while Yang, being the slowest of them all, was tasked with finding Qrow or Raven and recruiting their help.
Ozpin nodded to Ruby, acknowledging her worthy actions, but she had already taken to worrying over Cinder again. The headmaster smiled sadly, then left the infirmary. Qrow ruffled Ruby's hair briefly, then followed Ozpin.
"Well…" Weiss yawned. "I need to sleep now. I'm exhausted."
"Do you want me to carry you?" Blake asked.
For a moment, Weiss believe she was being serious, but then she was a hint of a smirk on her girlfriend's face.
"Very funny. I can use my own two legs, thank you." The heiress said proudly.
"Of course, princess." Blake replied easily. "I'll accompany you, still, to protect you from the night."
"When did you become so…" Weiss shook her head. "Never mind. Let's go."
As they exited, Yang approached her sister and gave her a hug.
"You're gonna stay here, aren't you?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah." Ruby answered. "Just in case, you know. She might wake up."
"I know. I think I'm gonna look for my mother and help her investigate the scene. If anything, it'll be a valuable learning experience."
"Okay… Good luck."
Yang smiled hesitantly to her sister, then exited the room.
Ruby drew a chair to the side of the bed and sat on it. For a while, she watched Cinder. As her adrenaline and fear died down, weariness kicked in. She bent closer and lied her head down on the mattress, lured by the unconscious beauty's warm presence.
The firefighters had arrived only moments after Qrow and the others left, Raven calculated. They had done a good job of stopping the fire from spreading, and when they were done, the teashop was grayed and falling to pieces. When she asked about the cause of the fire, they said it was nothing electrical or similar. It was too sudden, fierce and contained.
Raven already had a good guess as to what had happened, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions. When the firefighters left, she entered the ruined building and examined it. It was covered in black sooth, and no object was salvageable. As far as she could tell, the destruction had been solely the fire's fault – and if her theory was right, that was a good cover for the villain.
She looked behind the shop's counter and found its owner. She remembered how he looked from her brief visit to Cinder – an old man with a cheery attitude to match his size. Now he was just a husk leaning against the wall.
Raven looked away. She had seen more than her fair share of dead people in her long-lasting mission, but this one was a step above most.
"Holy-"
Raven sprung to her feet and turned around to find her daughter looking at the corpse in shock. The older woman cursed and led her out of the shop.
"What are you doing here, Yang?" She admonished.
"I… I thought you might need some help." Yang whispered. "What was that?"
"The owner of the place." Raven answered. "You shouldn't see any of this, dear. Go back to Beacon."
Yang frowned, and Raven could practically see her shock morphing into anger.
"Hell no! I'm not going back to Beacon after seeing that!" She exclaimed. "We're going to get to the bottom of this and beat up whoever killed that man!"
"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Raven said.
"Then make it simple!"
Raven sighed and looked away. If Yang was half as stubborn as she was herself, there would be no use arguing. Then she smiled, coming up with a solution to the problem.
"Alright. You can help, but don't make me regret it." She said. "Follow me, and do whatever I say."
"Are we going to beat people up?" Yang asked anxiously.
"Of course, dear. We're going to beat a lot of people up." Raven looked down at her feet to hide her smile.
Weiss almost sang with happiness when she saw her bed was still prepared for her sleep, since they had all left in a hurry to help Cinder. She didn't even bother to change out of her outfit before falling down on the mattress.
Blake smiled lightly, glad to see her girlfriend dropping her inhibitions for once. Any other day, Weiss would have freaked out at the idea of sleeping without changing into proper sleepwear.
"Good night, Blake." The heiress managed to say as she closed her eyes.
She felt herself drifting into sleep, but then her bed creaked and she felt it sink a little. She opened one eye and found Blake sitting on its edge, looking at her with an unreadable expression.
"Blake?" Weiss asked tiredly. "Aren't you going to sleep?"
"Hmm. Sure." The faunus said quietly. "I was just thinking… Nobody really gave you any credit for rescuing Cinder."
"I suppose." Weiss struggled to keep her annoyance at being kept awake hidden. "I don't mind, though. I just want to sleep."
At that point, she thought Blake would get the hint, but she only leaned down to look at her girlfriend from a closer position.
"You know, I'm not sure you would have gone inside that place when I met you." Blake noted. "And if you did, you surely would have demanded people praise you for it."
"Yes, yes! You're right! I'm marvelous!" Weiss exclaimed in frustration. "You've made your point!"
"Have I?" The faunus chuckled. "I don't think so."
Weiss would have thrown her off the bed, but Blake was too fast. She leaned down and kissed her for a long time – long enough for Weiss to forget about her weariness and to kiss back.
Then, suddenly, Blake sat up straight and smiled at her.
"Now I've made my point." She said.
"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, fully awake now. "Y-you have not!"
"But I thought you were tired…?" Blake tilted her head, smiling deviously.
"You rascal." The heiress fumed.
Blake got up, satisfied with her successful bout of teasing. Before she arrived at her bed, tough, she was tackled from behind and fell to the ground. She turned around, only to be pinned down by the arms by Weiss.
"Weiss?" Blake asked, astonished at the normally proper girl's not-so-proper behavior. "What are you doing…?"
"You brought this on yourself, Blake Belladonna…" Weiss said as she leaned down to meet her girlfriend's eyes. "You shall suffer the consequences of your actions…"
"O-okay." For the first time in years, Blake was at a loss for words.
She wasn't about to protest, though.
"Tell me where he is!"
Raven stared at her daughter in admiration as she held down a White Fang grunt and pressed him against a wall. The young man looked absolutely terrified, as if he was facing the devil himself.
"I-I d-don't know w-what you're talking about!" He yelped.
"You know!" Yang shouted. "Tell me where Adam Taurus is!"
"I don't knooooow!"
The last word turned into a piercing wail that had Raven turning her head away. Yang grunted angrily and punched the man on the side of the head, knocking him unconscious.
"So." Yang said. "This was a bust."
"Sadly, you're right. And it's almost dawn…" Raven noted, looking through the windows of the old warehouse they had assaulted. "Can we go back to Beacon now?"
The question was obviously a plea. She had thought taking her daughter to beat up a lowly base of the White Fang would calm her down, but it had only acted as more fuel for her rage. After four more bases, Yang seemed no less energetic than when they had started.
"But we haven't found out where Adam Taurus is!" She protested.
Raven bit her tongue. Truthfully, she did not give a damn about where Taurus was – that had only been a pretext for their violent night.
"That's okay, dear." She said. "We'll have more opportunities to find out."
She held back a grimace, realizing she had accidentally invited her daughter to accompany her again. Her regret turned to happiness, though, when she noticed Yang's face lighting up at the premise.
"Yeah! That's right! Adam Taurus will learn to fear the Branwens!" Yang exclaimed proudly.
Raven smiled and looked away so her tears wouldn't be seen. The Branwens. Maybe Yang hadn't even realized what she had said, but she had called herself as her daughter, truly and fully.
"He will, dear." She said, hoping she sounded stronger than she felt. "You can count on that."
Ruby's eyes fluttered open. The warm light of sun rained down on her from a window. It took her a moment to remember where she was… The infirmary, because she had slept there, because Cinder was not waking up, because…
The redhead straightened on her chair suddenly and looked at Cinder. The pyromancer was leaning against the wall, eyes open, but unmoving. It was a look Ruby had never seen her wear before – pure shock and helplessness.
"Cinder!" She exclaimed. "You're awake!"
Cinder blinked and looked at her.
"So are you." She said quietly. "…Where are we?"
"Beacon, of course. The infirmary." Ruby jumped to her feet. "How are you feeling?"
"I… I feel…" Cinder frowned. "Ruby, get away from me."
The younger girl took a step back, her face showing how hurt she was by that request.
"W-why?"
"It's not you." Cinder said slowly. "There's something wrong with me. I need to get out of here."
Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but Cinder jumped from the bed and moved past her, running too fast for someone who had spent the night at an infirmary. Ruby chased her through the halls, but even when she tapped into her Semblance, Cinder seemed to be too fast for her.
Cinder finally stopped when she left the building and reached the front of the school. Without warning, she swung a fist, releasing a burst of spiraling flames into the air. She growled and swung again, and again, and again, each time releasing more power.
Ruby slowed to a halt behind her, looking fearfully at her former girlfriend. After a while, Cinder turned around and faced her, a desperate plea in her eyes.
"It's not working." She whispered. "It's not working…"
"What? What's not working?" Ruby asked confusedly.
"The burning, Ruby! I can't release it!" Cinder's hands shook as she held Ruby's shoulders. "I'm going insane, and there's nothing I can do about it!"
Ruby stared at her, not knowing what to say or do. Cinder had mentioned the burning before, but only briefly, because she was scared of it – or maybe because of how scary it made her. Ruby had never seen her in such a state.
"Uh… M-maybe there's some other way to get it out?" Ruby guessed nervously. "Or maybe you just need to try a lot more?"
"No." Cinder denied. "It's not going away at all."
She made to part and run away, but Ruby reached up and held her by the wrists. Cinder looked at her, silently begging to be released.
"Look, Cinder. You have this… burning thingy-problem. It's not cool. So what?" Ruby said. "You just need to ignore it the best you can. You're strong, I know it. You can't just let it conquer you!"
"It's not that easy." Cinder muttered.
"Of course not, you dummy! If it were easy, it wouldn't be a problem!"
Cinder fidgeted and looked away nervously. Slowly, however, she seemed to calm down, at least enough to the point that Ruby could let go and she didn't run away.
"You're right…" Cinder said. "But I'm still dangerous."
"I have an oversized sniper-scythe. We're both dangerous." Ruby noted.
"I guess we are." The pyromancer smiled weakly. "Thanks. I love you, Ruby."
The declaration came so suddenly, Ruby couldn't help but flinch at it. Cinder backed away.
"Sorry. It's… I'm not in my right mind." She muttered. "Forget I said anything."
"Okay…" Ruby gulped. "So… Are you ready to tell us what happened?"
"…Can it wait a day?" Cinder asked meekly.
Ruby's jaw dropped. That request was so unlike Cinder, it felt almost surreal to hear it come from her mouth. Yet she seemed completely serious about it.
"Alright. You'll tell us tomorrow." Ruby allowed solemnly. "What do you wanna do for the day, though?"
"I don't know…"
Cinder shook her head and hugged her. Ruby shook her arms awkwardly, hoping desperately that no one would witness the situation.
"Y-you're really clingy today, aren't you?" She laughed nervously.
"Sorry. It's the burning." Cinder explained shortly, and didn't let go.
For a master of secrecy and intelligence, Ruby found Cinder awfully obvious in her manipulation.
Cinder, you sneaky girl, you... Or, is she really faking it? Or is Ruby just making assumptions based on her awkward circumstance? Questions to be asked, ladies and gentlemen. The answers aren't here, though. Sorry.
There was an awfully large amount of fluff this chapter. Huh. It seems this Act is not going to be death and misery all around! (Right?)
And the theme for the chapter titles has been decided. I'm either a genius or I try too hard. Either way, if you don't know what it is this chapter, you know'll soon enough.
Weiss-sleepiness-sized thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited Falling Roses Burn Brighter!
-Zeroan