Chapter 2: Fegefeuer
So I got some good reception from the first chapter and I'm grateful to everyone who gave me criticism, positive and negative.
Also, I watched some more of the "World of Remnant" videos (even though I wanted to shove toothpicks into my toenails instead the entire time) so hopefully my next few attempts at exploring Mistral will be to everyone's liking.
Despite what many people said after volume 5 ended, I honestly want Cinder back. Granted I'm a sucker for well written villains, and I feel Cinder, if done properly (*hands in praying position*), could fit into the category of "Characters who walk the thin line between good and bad", along with Darth Vader, Venom, and Zuko (Just noticed they all wear black). But, yeah, I really didn't like volume 5, Hazel and Cinder being the biggest sins of the whole thing.
So enough stalling and ranting, let's get to what everyone's come here to see. By all means, don't hold back.
Close to the waters and heading northwest, the small hover ship flew faster than a bullet but wouldn't be heard from anyone a mile away. The engines were state of the art, only bought recently from an Atlas arms dealer who's good at keeping secrets and covering tracks.
Watts pulled out his scroll and dialed up Salem. The white-haired and black and red-eyed goddess sat at her seat at the war room table. Though she had no image, the crystal ball in front of her displayed a red glow and transmitted Watts's voice loud and clear.
"Are you on your way, Watts?" Salem asked.
"Yes, m'lady. Hazel, Mercury, and Emerald are accompanying me, along with…another." Watts replied.
"Another?"
Watts put his scroll on speaker. "Go ahead." He told Adam.
"Good day, m'lady." Adam said, sounding optimistic.
"Adam Taurus…what are you doing on my ship?"
"I was allowed a ride in order to meet and serve under you, m'lady."
"Do not address me as 'm'lady'. In fact, I don't consider you a subordinate at all. You're just as much a failure as Cinder, if not more; you were in charge of your own chapter in Vale and now you're on your own. Right now I've no interest in even being in the same room as you. Give me one reason why I shouldn't order Hazel to throw you out into the waters."
Hazel, sitting in the passenger seat, looked back at Adam, sitting diagonally behind him. Adam, however, didn't even blink.
"For one thing, Cinder's failed you twice, while I completed my job of helping you destroy Beacon, despite the number of casualties. Judging by the score, this means I have less losses than Cinder does.
"Also, I already have my own self-taught form of martial art, so if you were to…say…teach me everything you taught Cinder, then by adding onto my own experience, that technically means I have more potential to be a better warrior than she ever was."
"Except for one thing: Cinder was a maiden, and I'm no biologist, but I'm quite certain you could never gain that type of power."
"That's true, but she could." Adam looked over to Emerald, who's eyes opened in shock at the proposal. Mercury showed his teeth at Adam after hearing that. "Besides, you're more interested in those relics, right? I'm sure we could work something out." Adam's arrogant smile rivaled no other. He truly didn't have anything to lose.
His cockiness and ability to counterargument intrigued Salem. With the White Fang basically out of commission, and team RWBY utterly humiliating both of them, Salem couldn't find a reason to not allow him a chance.
"I'll set up something for you here. Consider it…a tryout, your only tryout." Salem insisted, but Adam didn't even flinch. His smile remained the same.
"You won't regret this." Adam finished.
Watts pulled the phone back to himself. "We're about to reach the shores of Vale, m'lady. We'll call you once we return to the castle."
With questions answered, the elephant in the room pulled his seat back, laid down with his forearms beneath his head, and said, "Wake me when we get there."
Emerald and Mercury were at their limits already, and they hadn't even returned to the castle.
As the rain poured down onto her back, the raven-haired woman's body evaporated each individual drop with her semblance burning all of them away. True, Cinder felt angry, agitated, depressed, spiteful, and the like. However, one emotion she felt above all the rest, one that hadn't taken center stage in her mind in literally years, was crushing defeat. She had all the strength she could ask for, but just knowing no one was coming to help left her feeling weak.
Cinder continued walking the streets until she stumbled upon a diner. She checked her pockets again, and, just her luck, her wallet must have disappeared in the stream with her scroll. She continued walking for about a block-and-a-half until a young couple were heading her way. Accompanied by another panic, she realized her eyepatch and left sleeve were destroyed in the previous fight, exposing her facial scar and grimm arm, and jumped into the gutter directly next to her.
Once the couple passed, Cinder leaned against the wall. While hanging her head down, she noticed the rips and stains all over her dress and panty hose. Even her high heels were soaked in mud. The ankle sprain barely meant anything to her now. Only now did Cinder just want to curl into a ball and hope some freak accident would end her suffering.
Cinder looked up at the sky, wondering if a smite by lightning would be the answer, but noticed someone had left their laundry line with clothes on it, most notably a sweatshirt and a pair of jean shorts. She then thought of Ruby, how she always wore a red cloak and no one would bat an eye.
Still determined to keep going, Cinder levitated to the clothes line, oddly no longer feeling pain, and grabbed the hanging clothes.
"Not really my style, but it'll do." She remarked, wearing a neutral expression.
She dawned the sweatshirt and cut her dress to put on the jean shorts. Her shoes, however, stood out too much with her new outfit, and simply stuffed them into the sweatshirt pocket. Even Ruby would say Cinder stood out too much.
She noted her feet and how weird they looked to be wearing only panty hose.
"Maybe no one will notice. Even if I step on a nail, my aura should protect me." She proposed.
Cinder went back to the diner just to order a water, still wearing the hood. Upon entering, sitting on a stool, and asking the waitress for the drink, Cinder noticed a TV screen hanging above the order window. On it displayed her entire team.
"According to the Mistral police," the newscaster, Harriot Ermes, began, "the anarchist leader, Cinder Fall, led the assault on Haven academy tonight when her team of anarchists and a faction of the White Fang attempted to decimate the entire school. Not even a year back, this was the same woman who gave a speech at Beacon Academy's Vytal Festival, shortly after the popular student huntress, Pyrrha Nikos, killed another student during the festival's tournament."
Everyone was watching the news on the flat screen back at the house in Mistral, just above the dining room table. Nora was drowning her soup in salt, Ren eating shrimp with chopsticks, all of team RWBY eating the same tilapia dish (Blake was on her third plate), Sun was having a banana split sundae, Jaune and Oscar, the youngest of the group who had the soul of Ozpin in his body alongside his own, both had hamburgers, and Qrow was out with the police, wishing he was back at the house with everyone, especially his beloved flask of whiskey.
Ermes continued the broadcast, showing a shot of the destroyed entrance at the school. "Their plan, according to huntsmen Qrow Branwen, was to set charges around the school and detonate them at midnight. When asked why he and the former Beacon students were here, Mr. Branwen told officials that he received word from the school's headmaster, Sir Leo Lionheart. Mr. Lionheart, however, was found dead in his office just minutes after the battle had ended, apparently stabbed multiple times in the chest, neck, and head, and even strangled to death. Forensics are currently trying to figure out what the assailant had used to crush Lionheart's throat, the case being that no type of rope or cord has been found in the room that matches the size used in the assault. The only clue to the assailant's whereabouts is the broken window in Lionheart's office, seeming to be an exit whole, implying the killer must've jumped out, but police have found neither a body nor footprints on the ground below."
"Man, we got lucky with your cover story, Oz." Oscar thought to himself, Ozpin hearing him clearly.
"Whatever the cost, the secrets of the maidens and relics must never be released to the public." Ozpin replied to him. "The four nations are already at a low Defcon status; they don't need to invade one another for the search of power."
Meanwhile, Ruby looked across the table, Jaune, Nora, and Ren taking her line of sight. While Nora and Ren were feeding each other food, Jaune simply sat with an empty plate in front of him and stared at the flatscreen. What Jaune said before still bothered her. Jaune was never one to show hostility, especially to a dead person. True, Pyrrha was more than a teammate and friend to Jaune, but to form and nurture a grudge was the last thing Ruby would expect from him.
"In addition to the assault, security cameras placed all around the building were switched off for the majority of the night. Though police are investigating why Mr. Lionheart would deactivate the school's surveillance system, they're more interested in this clip, taken just outside the academy foyer by a faunus, one of many from the large group that showed up tonight from Menagerie."
The clip played, the quality obviously being from a scroll, showing Mercury and Hazel running towards the right side of the building.
"According to investigators, these are likely Cinder Fall's subordinates. Cinder Fall herself, however, was not in this clip. Police are currently searching the area for all four anarchists but none have found any evidence of a fourth person escaping the premises. At the moment, a manhunt is currently underway." Right after an image of police hover ships combing the surrounding area, a picture of Cinder, taken from when she attended Beacon as a spy, took over the screen. "She has also been described as wearing a red dress with high heels by one of the former Beacon students, Jaune Arc. If any of our viewers sees this woman, please do not engage, but rather contact local authorities."
Oscar caught Jaune staring at him, to which the paladin looked away.
"Did we…did we really need to lie?" Jaune asked.
Without warning, Ozpin took over Oscar's body. "Yes, Mr. Arc. I understand that what we're doing isn't parallel to that of heroes in fairy tales. However, we can't risk the public knowing about the vault. Just playing dumb and letting the police chase a ghost is our best option at the moment."
Once Ozpin clocked out and Oscar got his body back, Oscar angrily thought to Ozpin, "Gah-dammit, can you at least warn me next time you do that?"
Upon hearing the "manhunt" comment, Cinder's heart sank. Trying to remain calm, Cinder took a look around herself. "Okay, I'm basically on a different side of the city, so I've bought some time." She thought. "With my ankle messed up and police ships everywhere, it's gonna be hard for me to escape through the air or down major roads. How am I gonna do this?" Her constant thinking brought her to a question that instantly made her uncomfortable. "…Where am I gonna go?"
Cinder paused, trying to answer that question but to no avail. "This is twice now I've failed Salem, and worse than that, the relic is probably in the hands of that bandit, or worse, Ozpin. I can't even call just to beg for her help."
The terror took her over, her human hand shaking on the countertop with her grimm hand shaking in the sweatshirt pocket. As she panicked, Qrow was walking down the street in the direction of the diner, an umbrella in hand.
"Man, of course I'm the one who has to go to the southern half of the city." Qrow thought to himself. "Least they could've done was send some people with me, maybe convince them to be my designated driver. Still, at least we don't need to worry about Cinder anymore. Raven's never been one to leave loose ends unsecured. Aside from a nice walk in the rain, this is all just a waste of time."
"In other news," the newscaster continued, "the city of Fegefeuer has appeared on many radars as of late. A group of bandits appear to have been massacred outside of the city's limits. The group attempted to steal dust from a dust mine that was directly next to the dust refinery, owned by the Schnee Dust Company, in the high mountains of Mistral."
Cinder, hoping the news broadcast would at least distract her, looked up to the screen and her heart skipped a beat at what she saw.
"What…?" She thought. "Th-That's…"
"Local authorities found the charred corpses of the bandits left in the Dark Wood forest. Half of the dust they stole was recovered while the rest seems to have been destroyed or missing."
Another overhead picture showed burned trees and the cindered remains of the bandits' bodies. Cinder sat their intrigued, not by the news of the massacre but by the name of the location.
"It…it couldn't be…"
"Police forces from surrounding towns and villages have continued their negative criticism of Fegefeuer, detailing their lack of mercy and trust." The newscaster added. "For the past fifteen years, Fegefeuer has remained one of Mistral's most questionable cities, its most famous attribute being its tolerance to any and all wanderers. Despite the constant presence of police, gangs and criminals alike populate the city. Even its own motto…"
The newscaster paused, waiting for the image of a sign posted above a city limit sign to be posted on screen, and read its content. "…
'Come all you weary,
Rest your soul
But NEVER disturb ours'
(the 'NEVER' was written by someone carving the letters into the sign, while the other words were all written in black print) has kept Fegefeuer on watchlists worldwide and will continue as long as its residents refuse to change this city for the better. I'm Harriot Ermes, Remnant News Network."
Cinder sat there, stunned by what she had just saw. The trees from Dark Wood forest, the image of those mountains jaggedly cutting the sky, the precise location of the city.
"Hmph, I swear, first the academy tonight then another incident at Fegefeuer. What happened to the days where the grimm were the bad guys?" The waitress behind the counter said to herself.
"Hey, um…" Cinder began, the waitress's attention focused on her, "…they said that city, Fegefeuer, was in the north of the country, right?"
"Mhmm. That's right darlin'." The waitress replied, not concerned by Cinder looking down at the countertop.
"…This may sound weird, but how old is the city?"
"Well…technically, the location was founded decades ago, apparently run by some kind of 'royal family' or something like that. Maybe just a bunch of rich folks."
Cinder's eye opened wider than ever before in her life.
"But it wasn't called 'Fegefeuer' back then, it was…oh what was it…oh come on, what-"
"-Empyrean." Cinder said loudly under her breath.
Just then, Qrow walked into the diner, walking past Cinder's stool. He noted her presence however, noting her attractive legs in what he assumed were see through leggings. The only thing he didn't notice was her feet without shoes.
"Hmph, kids these days." Qrow said to himself.
He sat a few seats down and called for the waitress, Cinder immediately recognizing his voice. In a panic, she rushed out the door without making a scene. Qrow barely noticed, just seeing someone leave the diner in his peripheral vision.
Now outside, the rain heavier than ever, she turned towards the parking lot between the diner and an apartment complex. Just her luck, she noticed a hog motorcycle parked by the diner's dumpster.
While running over to it, she thought to herself, "Okay, Cinder. You've flown a huge hover ship before. How hard can a motorcycle be?"
Using her grimm arm, she inserted her finger into the ignition, matching the shape of the key. Using her ice power, she froze her finger, broke it off and regrew a new one, put the iced one in the ignition and got the bike going.
Only now did she feel any thanks towards Mercury for showing her how one of these would work. A quick escape indeed.
The engine roared throughout the street as Cinder made her way out to the southern city limits. Her destination was north, which means she'd have to find a way around the City of Mistral in order to get to the mountains.
Cinder couldn't get the image of the Fegefeuer sign out of her head. She remembered the middle and bottom lines due to that intimidating "NEVER", but she recalled the first line for the small spark of hope it gave her.
"Come all you weary." She thought, smiling. She looked one last time at her ankle, the ice completely melted off. "Well, I guess I'm weary."
She finally reached the city limits, her heart pounding from anticipation upon reaching Fegefeuer.
"Wait for me…" She thought, memories of the deceased flooding back to her mind. "I'm coming home."