The night of Vale was oddly silent as Cinder walked through its streets, her gaze fixed forward so intensely that she appeared ready to annihilate anyone that might appear before her.
In the back of her mind, she knew the city's quietude was her fault. This was her seventh night on the hunt for Mira, and she grew more impatient with every fruitless clue she chased. The White Fang had grown wise when they found the first hideouts she had… visited, and now they were all hiding in their safest havens.
Not that it would do them any good. Even if she didn't know half of these hideout's locations, she always found a way. That was her calling, after all – her reason to be.
Still, she would appreciate something, anything, to help her get closer to her goal. Her latest move had been an all-out assault against a White Fang territory at the northeast sector of Vale. It wasn't just a building or two, but almost a half dozen blocks, all under the strict, secret control of the faunus terrorists. They had taken Cinder's appearance seriously, but not seriously enough – hours later, she'd walked away with no answers, and fire raging behind her.
That wasn't anything like her usual style. She had always been careful in her previous missions, leaving no evidence to point at her, like a ghost amidst men. What she was doing now was the complete opposite – not only was she feared by the lowlifes of Vale already, but soon the panic would spread to the general populace.
Cinder hated it, ironically. Now that she despised her violent side, she was giving in to it. She had a feeling her mother was delighted by that. But she would keep at it, until she found Ruby.
She wouldn't be forgiven. Her actions now were breaking the trust she had worked so hard to earn back. Ruby, as pure as she was, would never forgive her. She would never say it out loud, never explain exactly how much she hated her, but Cinder would know.
Perhaps that's what made all this violence worth succumbing to. Because, at the very end, Ruby would be alive to remind Cinder that there existed someone good enough to counter her evil.
So when she arrived at her next target, Cinder did not pause before kicking down the door, and she shed no tears when the floor was covered in red.
"Have you thought about what I asked you a week ago, dear?" Mira asked casually as she polished her fingernails. "About why you fell for my beloved daughter?"
Ruby closed her eyes, trying to shut out her captor's voice. She had gained some affinity for the effort the last few days, but Mira always managed to get to her. There was something alluring about the tone of her voice coupled with her deceiving words that made it impossible to ignore her.
"Now, the average person would say something about her appearance," Mira said. "She is very attractive, as you well know. She takes after her that's a bit too shallow for you, Ruby. You're surrounded by gorgeous girls, so it must be something else…"
The pyromancer dropped from her desk and sat beside Ruby, gesturing with her filer as if they were intimate friends.
"Second theory: personality," Mira rolled her eyes. "She's… fine. As average as they get, in normal circumstances. A bit funny, a bit generous, a bit rancorous… Blah, blah, blah. Can we move on?" She snapped her fingers. "The danger!"
Ruby just glared at her, letting her feelings about the theory be very clear.
"You think I'm wrong? I can see your point," Mira shrugged. "Supposedly, you never knew she was dangerous until it was too late. Supposedly. I believe you always knew, a little bit, even if you yourself didn't realize it. I mean, it's easy to see the evil in Cinder if you try to."
"I didn't know," Ruby said with gritted teeth, falling for the pyromancer's game. "And even if I did, why would I be attracted to her because of it?"
"Ah, now that is an interesting question," Mira leaned closer to Ruby. "We all have evil inside us, dear. Most people let it out on occasion, while others like me just accept it fully. But you… You are too good to give in to it. But it's there, I know it."
She smiled and deposited the filer in Ruby's palm, their faces so close together the redhead could feel Mira's hot breath on her skin.
"A part of you would just love to stab me in the heart right now," Mira whispered, forcing Ruby's fingers to close around the filer. "It would feel so good, right? No more torture. No more mind games. You just have to give in…"
Ruby stared into Mira's eyes, her face a mask of a thousand emotions. The hand that held the filer was trembling wildly, as if she were putting her all into resisting Mira's suggestion.
"Get. Off. Me." Ruby managed to say.
Mira rolled her eyes in mock frustration and made a little space between them. She took the filer and shook it briefly.
"Want me to do your nails now?" She asked.
"No." Ruby replied flatly.
Mira's eyes straightened, and suddenly she buried the filer in Ruby's palm. The redhead winced, but quickly shook the object off and away from her. And as if nothing had happened, she turned her head to stare at Mira. For the first time since her capture, she smirked playfully.
The pyromancer stilled, her hands clenching into fists. Without another word, she got up and stormed off the room, her steps leaving burn marks on the floor.
As soon as she was gone, Ruby curled into a ball and clutched her bloody hand, silently begging for her rescue to come soon.
Qrow was not in a good mood. Between a missing niece, a critically wounded sister, a bloodthirsty brother-in-law, and a loose psychopath, he was being pushed to the limits to keep everything under control.
For years now, he had been successful at everything but foiling Mira's plan. Clear out a hundred Grimm by his lonesome? Easy. Halt an assassination attempt? Already done. A cat stuck on top of a tree branch? Tricky, but he could make time for it.
But now he couldn't do anything. His left arm was all but useless; any attempts of comforting Yang or her father turned into a train wreck in a matter of seconds; and worst of all, there was a ticking time bomb under Beacon's roof in the form of a recently reunited-but-not-quite-there couple.
He shuddered just thinking about what would happen when Raven and Taiyang really got talking. The destruction, the emotions… Preferably, he would be a kingdom away from them when it happened.
And that's what had him rushing around Beacon, making more than one student scream in fear when he bolted beside them like a madman. Half an hour ago, he had gone to the infirmary to check up on Raven, but the bed was empty. That was bad, to say the least. She wasn't supposed to be up for two weeks, minimum. He had to find her before she collapsed on a random hallway, or worse, turned up dead in a Vale alley.
After checking every corner of the main school building, Qrow ran to the dormitories, specifically RWBY's. It didn't take him long to find their room, and when he did, he didn't hesitate before pushing the door open.
"Hey Yang is your mother-" He paused, realizing the room was empty. "Well crap."
He turned around and entered the opposing room. Four young students looked at him quizzically – one of them, an orange-haired girl, was bouncing around on a pogo stick.
"Hello," he said. "Have any of you seen an older, dark-haired Yang?"
"…No?" A blond boy replied tentatively.
"Okay, thanks," Qrow exited the room, then came back. "Cool pogo stick, by the way."
The girl squealed happily, then promptly catapulted into a dark-haired boy's body. He just sighed and glared accusatorily at Qrow, who then left for good.
Qrow made for the next probable destination, Ozpin's office. He should have gone there in the first place, but his panic-driven mind had made him run everywhere before making up an actual plan.
Halfway through his run, however, he paused in front of the school library, realizing he hadn't looked there. He hesitated, not expecting Raven to be there of all places, but knowing he would be kicking himself afterwards if she was there and he ignored the possibility.
So he just peeked his head inside silently, and found the sight he had least expected. Raven and Taiyang were sitting side by side, examining a map on a table before them, both gesturing and talking animatedly.
"She can't be anywhere near here," Raven pointed out. "I scoured the southwest most thoroughly, and found nothing remotely suspicious. Besides, it would be an odd place for a criminal overlord to hide."
"Why?" Taiyang inquired confusedly. "I mean, if I was a criminal overlord, I would disguise myself as an ice cream seller in a rich neighborhood."
"If you were a criminal overlord, you'd be overthrown in less than a week's time."
Qrow almost melted where he stood, forgetting about how worried he had been. Raven and Taiyang working together to save Ruby, without even a hint of hostility between them? It was too good to be true. He would have been a great help, too, but he decided not to interfere.
With most of his immediate preoccupation gone, Qrow walked away from the library, whistling under his breath. After a few seconds, he paused with a frown on his forehead.
Where the hell were the girls of team RWBY?
"Stop shifting, Weiss!" Yang urged through gritted teeth. "Why the hell did we choose you as the bottom, anyway?!"
The heiress glared up at her. Yang was standing on her shoulders, lifting Blake shakily so the faunus could spy through a window to the inside of the building they had singled out.
"Because she's in a dress." Blake explained briefly, not diverting her eyes from her target for a single moment.
"So what? You could have been bottom, it's not like you haven't seen what's under the dress." Yang grumbled.
"Hey!" Weiss protested. "And, it's a battle-skirt."
"Yeah, and my top is a battle-shirt!" The blonde rolled her eyes. "Blake, what do you see?"
Blake dropped to the ground, and Yang followed suit, shooting a glare towards their white-haired teammate. They were standing on an alleyway on the northeast sector of Vale, just beside a building Blake knew served as a White Fang hideout.
"I was able to spot at least fifteen grunts," the faunus informed. "We shouldn't have problem dealing with them, but I'm sure there are a lot more hiding somewhere. Maybe it's best we try our luck somewhere else."
"I agree," Weiss said. "This is the biggest location you know, but it doesn't mean it's the place Mira stays at. If anything, she would prefer a smaller, more discreet building. I say we try somewhere less risky."
"Screw that. I'm not measuring risks while my little sister is missing." Yang spoke firmly.
Weiss and Blake glanced at each other, but didn't argue. If anyone had a final say in their decisions, it was Yang.
The three walked around to the front and stormed inside, weapons at the ready. The grunts responded almost immediately, aiming their guns at them, but the bullets were deflected mid-air by Weiss's glyphs.
Yang's eyes turned red, and like a one-woman-army, she dashed to each of the faunus, pummeling them unconscious, cracking the floor as she send them crashing down hard. Once she was done, Yang looked back at her teammates, still in her wild state of mind.
"So?" She asked. "Who do we take?"
Weiss looked away uncomfortably. They had all agreed to the plan – defeat the White Fang, take one of them prisoner for interrogation – but she still felt uneasy about it. She was the last person to defend the White Fang, but what they had in mind sounded awfully close to torture.
"I don't think any of them are important," Blake said, turning over one of the unconscious men with a foot. "They all look like fresh recruits."
"Oh, great!" Yang exclaimed. "Your biggest lead turns out to be just a White Fang pre-school."
"Calm down," the brunette pointed to the floor. "We could go up, but that's too obvious. Some of the hideouts extend underground, through a single trapdoor. See if you can find something like that."
Less than a minute of searching after, they found a tile that projected out of the ground, and once they removed it from the rest of the floor, they discovered a ladder that descend into darkness.
Yang went first, followed by Blake and Yang. It didn't take long for their feet to touch ground again. They found themselves in a dimly-lit hallway, covered by doors at both sides.
"What the heck is this?" Weiss asked worriedly.
"I… have no idea," Blake admitted. "I thought we would find another floor, not a creepy hallway."
"You know, when Blake says something is creepy, we should probably avoid it." The heiress pointed out.
"We're not gonna find Ruby in a rainbow-themed playground!" Yang exclaimed impatiently. "Look, if you don't care enough, just go."
Weiss had to bite back a heated retort. The accusation in Yang's statement struck a nerve, but she knew it was the sisterly instincts talking.
"Let's get going." Weiss said and took the lead, keeping her rapier pointed in front of her.
As they walked, Blake threw glances at the rooms they passed by. They all seemed empty, which only added to her unease. She had seen horrible things during her White Fang years, but this hallway seemed to come from a horror movie.
She looked at the back of Yang's head, Raven's words echoing in her mind. The grim swordswoman had claimed to have been forced to do horrible things to keep up her disguise, and Blake had always assumed they had had similar experiences. Now she was realizing how wrong that assumption was – this, what they were delving into, was what Raven meant.
"The floor's not plain," Weiss noted quietly. "We're going even further down."
They walked for so long, they lost track of time. Just as Yang's resolve began to break and she prepared to announce they should turn back, they came to an intersection, a chamber that split into several other hallways at all directions.
"I smell blood." Blake declared suddenly, causing Weiss to jump so high her head almost hit the ceiling.
"Great!" The heiress hissed. "That's not creepy at all!"
"Sorry," the faunus looked away embarrassedly. "I think we should follow that scent. I mean, it's better than wandering aimlessly."
"Oh, yes, follow the blood. So much better," Weiss shook her head. "Good choice of girlfriend, Miss Schnee."
Yang shook her head, then followed the direction Blake pointed to. She whirled her gauntlets, expecting to be jumped at any moment. A few meters into the hallway, they found the source of the smell: a trail of blood leaked out from under a door, covering the floor in red.
Without asking for her friend's opinion, Yang opened the door abruptly and rushed inside, only to discover it was another hallway. She followed the blood with her eyes and found a woman leaning on the wall, killed by a stab wound to the chest.
Blake saw the body too, then stopped Weiss's advance with an arm.
"What?" The heiress glared at her. "I'm not a child."
"I don't care," Blake muttered. "Some things are better left unseen."
A door further down the hallway flew open, and a dozen grunts filed out in a line. One of them looked to the side, his eyes flicking from the body to the unknown girls.
"Run!" Blake yelled, pulling Yang away before she decided to put up a fight.
The three girls returned to the previous hallway and bolted, hearing the guns firing just behind them. Weiss turned briefly to conjure an ice wall, which do little to actually halt the criminal, but at least it would confuse them.
"Where the hell are we going?!" Weiss screamed. "We should have turned right back!"
"I don't know!" Yang shouted back. "Just run!"
But before they could put any real distance between them and their chasers, another armed group appeared before them. Blake skidded to a halt and morphed her swords into their pistol forms, firing at the criminals before they noticed her.
Unfortunately, they were too many, and soon the girls were under fire by tens of guns at once. Yang covered her teammates with her body, then tackled a door open. They rolled into a room with a single bloody chair at its center, their breaths shallow and eyes flickering around in panic.
"We can take them." Yang said, more to herself than the others. "They're nothing."
"You're right," Blake agreed confidently. "They can't be more than a hundred. If we're smart and don't let them all come at us at once, we can defeat them."
Yang nodded, accepting the plan.
And then an alarm began to ring across the hallways. Blake sighed and raised her sword and sheath tiredly.
"Or maybe we should just hope very hard."
Cinder had been navigating the hallways for hours now. When she had descended through that trapdoor the night before, she hadn't been expecting to find an underground network of tunnels spread throughout the whole northeast sector of Vale, and possibly beyond.
Evading the White Fang was hard, but so far she had managed to dispose of any opposition before they were able to alert others. But she knew it wouldn't be long before a few too many bodies were found and a manhunt started. Cinder was sure she could fight her way out, but she would prefer to stay unseen.
But if there was one thing she wanted more than to avoid a bloodbath, it was to find a clue of where Ruby was being kept. In such a secret and intricate location, she was sure there had to be some high-ranking officers, perhaps even some she knew personally. They would have something to say, and if they refused to, she would change their minds.
Her search came to fruition when she kicked a door open and entered a small warehouse, bustling with White Fang recruits. At the very back, she saw Roman Torchwick handling some unknown device. He looked at her in fright, and she smiled.
Her eyes blazed lively as she dashed to each recruit and cut them down, too fast for any of them to follow. Like a conqueror from hell, she turned to Torchwick and in an instant was in front of him, one sword hovering below his throat.
"Hello, Roman," she said calmly. "How have you been?"
"I'm very well, thank you for asking," he fumbled with his necktie, trying to play it cool, but his eyes were fixed on her weapon's sharp edge. "I can see by the tone of your voice that you are very well too. You don't seem half as crazy as the last time we saw each other."
"What can I say," Cinder smiled. "Violence soothes me."
She knocked him on the side of his head, making him crash to the floor painfully. Before he could recover from his daze, she gripped him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against a wall, her face dangerously close to his.
"Tell me where Ruby was taken," she demanded. "Tell. Me!"
She slammed him again, and Roman looked at her, bewildered.
"How am I supposed to know?! You should understand I am not the trustworthy type, even among criminals!" He exclaimed. "I've not even met Mira!"
"But you know her name!" Cinder spat, flicking one sword across the length of his right shoulder, opening a deep gash. "You're pathetic. You use your bravado, you play with insignificant lies, but you know things! So tell me! Where. Is. Ruby?!"
He glared at her and swung his right arm, trying to bash her head with the device he was still holding. Cinder dodged effortlessly and gripped his arm, then pinned him to the floor face-down. She leaned down until she could whisper in his ear, one hand trailing the back of his neck.
"If you cooperate, I'm sure we can work something out," she said huskily. "I won't kill you… I'll owe you a favor…"
"Go to hell." Roman grunted.
Cinder summoned her swords again, and with an enraged yell, buried them at the back of his knees.
"Tell me!"
She twisted and pulled upwards, her calculating expression shattered, revealing how desperate she was.
"Tell me, Roman! I need to know!"
She turned him around and straddled him. Her right fist flew to his face, followed by her left, and right again… With each strike, the life in him faded, his eyes fixed emotionlessly on the ceiling.
"Tell me!" Cinder closed her eyes and delivered one last punch.
Something snapped, and his head lolled to the side.
Cinder edged away and leaned against a wall, hugging her legs. She buried her head in her knees and stayed there, silent, faintly hoping that someone would stumble onto the scene and enact revenge.
She waited for hours, but no one came. Eventually, the hallways were filled with a blaring alarm.
"Finally." she muttered.
"Intruders have been sighted!" A robotic voice announced from an unseen speaker outside the room. "Three armed young girls! Everyone is ordered to capture or kill them! I repeat, intruders have been sighted!"
Cinder looked up, both surprised and annoyed. Casting a glance to Roman's body, she conjured her swords and stormed off the room.
"I'm running out of Dust." Weiss announced dreadfully.
Yang looked back at her and retreated from the doorway, her gauntlets whirling madly as she shuffled through every round chamber in them.
"I'm almost out of ammo too," the blonde said, her voice breaking. "I don't think we can win. I'm… I'm sorry I pulled you two into this."
"You didn't force us to do anything," Weiss noted. "This was for Ruby."
Blake looked at her girlfriend, then down at her sword and sheath.
"This still is for Ruby."
Before Weiss could ask her what she meant, Blake bolted out of the doorway, passing by a startled Yang. The sound of the grunts' gunfire intensified, mingled with painful cries and vengeful oaths.
"Blake!" Weiss yelled, exiting the room too.
The faunus had somehow managed to breach into the center of the grunts' group and was now cutting away at them like mad, her mouth twisted into a feral snarl. Blood flew from various points of her body, but she kept going, until all but one of the White Fang was dead.
The last man raised his gun and pointed it to Blake's head, but an icicle pinned him to the wall, piercing his heart. Weiss dashed to her girlfriend, taking her in her arms as she collapsed.
"No. No, no, no," Yang looked at the couple in shock. "She's not…"
"She's breathing," Weiss said, tears pooling in her eyes. "I don't think she's gonna make it."
Blake's eyes flittered open. She seemed very annoyed by their conversation.
"Stop moping and run," she muttered. "I gave us a chance."
They could hear the footsteps of another group nearing them. The girls knew they couldn't outrun them, not with a bleeding Blake to be carried.
"Weiss, go ahead with Blake," Yang said. "I'll slow them down."
"That's insane. You're a pain, Xiao Long, but I'm not leaving you behind!" Weiss refuted.
"Ice Queen…" The blonde turned her head to glare at her white-haired teammate. "You've got to learn to be less stubborn."
And with that, Yang ran towards the criminals. Weiss hesitated for a moment, then took off running in the opposite direction, using her glyphs to boost her speed.
When Yang met the grunts after turning a corner, she barreled straight through them, knocking the majority of them to the ground. The ones left standing shot at her. Her Aura dwindled rapidly, just as much as her Semblance's potential rose. She delivered one punch after another, each so strong it shattered through her foes' defenses like a knife cutting butter.
Once all of them were down, Yang looked around, her eyes red like blood. At that point, the alarm had been repeating itself for a half hour, and most of the White Fang should be heading in her direction. Already she could hear another wave arriving.
She used the last of her ammunition to tear through their numbers at a distance, then met with them with her fists raised. They fell easily, but the time she had to take to defeat them proved to be her downfall, as she failed to notice the bigger threat to her.
A man stood at the end of the hallway, supporting a bazooka on his right shoulder. With careful aim, he shot at her, one large missile streaking the air towards her. Yang looked at it, startled, and crossed her arms in front of her.
The moment after the impact was like nothing she had felt before. Her Aura shattered, the fire in her faded away, and suddenly every muscle and bone in her vibrated painfully. She fell to the ground with her ears ringing and unable to do anything but wait to be finished off.
Yang closed her eyes, cursing herself for being so stupid. This was exactly what her mother had taught her not to do. Her Semblance was a great boon the majority of times, but when it broke, her body felt all the pain that had been blocked beforehand in one single, overwhelming instant.
I'm sorry, Ruby.
She heard the man stopping beside her and the drawing of a sharp object. He chuckled. Then, suddenly, there was the sound of gurgling blood, and something fell by Yang's side.
The blonde opened her eyes and saw Cinder standing above her, holding two bloodied blades menacingly.
"I warned you," the pyromancer said.
Another wave of grunts appeared, but Cinder paid the minimal attention, releasing one large burst of fire to incinerate them before they were even close.
"I could be interrogating someone now. I could be getting closer to your sister," Cinder muttered, offering a hand. "But instead, I have to save you."
Yang looked away. She was too weak to even take the helpful hand.
Cinder grunted with frustration and lifted her, putting her over her shoulder like a child. The pyromancer looked around and set off on a march, fists clenched.
"I told you. I told all of you," she continued. "What about your teammates? Are they dead somewhere?"
"No." Yang managed to say. Her humiliation was so great, she didn't even bother to argue with her most hated… ally.
"You don't even know," Cinder shook her head. "Whatever. I hope you learned your lesson."
Cinder must have memorized the way back, because she didn't take any wrong turns. They encountered little resistance, and were back at the initial ladder in less than ten minutes.
The pyromancer almost fell as she climbed the ladder while supporting Yang's weight. When they finally arrived at the building's first floor, Cinder put Yang on the ground and just stood there for a while, fuming silently.
"Cinder?" Yang called. "…Thank you."
"Yeah," Cinder smiled humorlessly. "I don't care about your gratitude. Don't get in my way again."
She turned and exited the building, slamming the door behind her. Yang laid there, slowly rebuilding her strength, while cursing herself for not having found her sister.
"Ruby, dear," Mira sang, entering her room with a smile. "I have bad news."
Ruby looked at her emotionlessly, just waiting for whatever torment Mira would be putting her through now.
"I just got word that three young women were discovered invading a very important White Fang territory. A blonde, the Schnee heiress, and a faunus," the pyromancer cocked her head tauntingly. "Maybe they were searching for something, or someone."
"Yeah, very funny," Ruby sighed. "What are you going to say now? They all died?"
"No. Just one," Mira winked. "Adam's going to be so heartbroken."
Ruby kept a straight face. Mira crouched before her curiously.
"Oh my," she said. "You've grown cold, Ruby Rose. I wonder if you would have cared if your sister had died instead."
"You're lying." Ruby stated firmly.
"Am I? Why? Have I told you any lies, Ruby?" Mira posed the question with a round gesture with her hand. "It's true that I killed your mother. It's true that you love what my daughter is. And it's true that Blake Belladonna is dead."
For a long while, there was silence. Then Ruby chuckled and shook her head.
"I know what you're doing," she said. "You're trying to turn me into one of your people. You think you're going to break me, but it's not gonna work. You wanna know why?"
"Go ahead." Mira replied calmly.
"Because I know who I am. I'm a Huntress. I'm my mother's daughter. I don't care about your lies," Ruby's silver eyes sparked with determination. "And you're not going to make me hate you."
Mira's finger twitched, and a few flames erupted around them. Ruby narrowed her eyes, preparing for the worst.
And then Mira smiled.
"I guess you're right. Very admirable," she said. "But you're not the one who I need to be hated by."
Mira's hand closed around Ruby's shoulder. Smoke rose from her fingers, but the redhead did nothing but glare at her.
Oh dayum. The plot thickens.
Next time, we discover what happened to Weiss and Blake, some Xiao Long family drama unfolds, and Cinder's spree continues. What joy!
Also, I just wanna say Blake's "I smell blood" line is for some reason very hilarious to me. I couldn't resist keeping it in.
[Sea Diary; Day 5.
The fifity meter tall motorboat turned out to be S. S. Arkos. Its crew was very courteous. For some reason all the females there kept saying I'm sorry.
Surprisingly, I see a... plane, on the horizon. Or is it a bird? I don't know.
Zeroan, proud captain of the S. S. Falling Petals.]
Blood-sized thanks to everyone whor reviewed, followed and favorited Fallign Roses Burn Brighter!
-Zeroan