Chapter 3. Fallen Angel
Once again, I've gotten a lot of good feedback on this story. Fair warning; while the previous two chapters focused on the three of Ruby, Adam, and Cinder, the story is named after the Cinder, so this chapter is going to just be about her, specifically her non-canonical backstory, and her new encounters. Hope you guys enjoy, keep coming back, and I'll see you next time!
Another day had begun in Mistral's city of Empyrean as the sun climbed over the northern mountains. Everyone in the city below had carried on with their daily lives, trading and growing food, kids going to school, and workers mining dust within the mountains. Every patch of grass was purely green and lush, all the trees stood strong and tall, and no one held a grudge against any other. Humans and Faunus lived together in complete harmony, sharing both neighborhoods and the few jail cells alike.
Atop the mountains, looking over the city below and commanding several thousand workers, lived a small village. Towards the village's end and closest to the furthest left mountain peak was a large house, home to a small family. The father was the CEO of the company that ran the dust mines, earning him the nickname of King. Accompanying him was a small village, composed of the city's wealthiest, separating themselves only to prevent envy and greed from poisoning the poorer classes in the city below. Outside, off the cliffside, laid a grave of his late wife, a woman who died at the young age of thirty-three two years prior from illness. Laying on the mantle was her memorial, a picture of a beautiful woman with raven-black hair and blue eyes. In the photograph, she wore a white dress with her belly large and round, her hands laying on top of it, and giving her most heart-warming smile.
Once the sun reached the center of the sky, a black limousine drove up the mountain to meet the businessman. Upon driving through the small village and stopping in the King's driveway, the car was met with another, even larger and more expensive, white stretch-limousine. This forced the black car to park right next to the stone tablet at the entrance that read "Seraphim Estate". Out of the car stepped the driver and he opened the left rear door, an adult man with black hair and wearing a suit and tie. In his hand, he held a silver briefcase. Once opening the right door, the driver undid the seatbelt holding a three-year-old boy with similar black hair and helped him out. The boy ran to the other man and walked into the estate, the driver staying behind.
"Solar, please! We've been at this for weeks." Said a voice behind the door. The voice belonged to a man with white hair, moustache, and suit with a blue shirt. "These mines hold such a large supply of dust and you've only broken the surface, even after three years of mining. If you sign with us, we'll clear it out in only a few years."
"Jacque, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but what you're asking for is impractical. We may make more money by burrowing deeper, but if everything's cleared out, what'll my workers do when it's all over in just a few years? Also, and this is when you crossed the line, I don't like what your contract stated about the faunus." Solar said.
"What about them? I promised equal pay for humans and faunus alike."
"Yeah, and it also said they'd be working more hours than humans and they'd be specifically positioned to work as the front lines into the mines."
"What's wrong with that? The majority of faunus have night vision, not to mention they have a history of working in hard labor. It's practically in their DNA."
That last line solidified Solar's decision. "You know how combustible dust can be. As for the extra hours, it's not fair to them that they end up overworked and exhausted while human workers get more spare time. This deal is over, Jacque. I'm sorry, but that's my final answer."
Standing behind the doorway to the kitchen, a little girl hid behind the frame, intimidated by the albino's angry expression at her father. Without another word, Jacque and Solar shook hands and bid good day to one another.
Anger washed over Jacque's face, but was immediately accompanied with shock when he opened the door and standing on the porch was the man and the boy.
"Nephilim? What're you doing here?" Jacque asked in a panic.
The dark-haired man appeared annoyed. "It's good to see you again, too, Mr. Schnee. I'm here to talk to Mr. Seraphim."
All the distress Jacque had skyrocketed, however, when he noticed the man's briefcase, a good prediction of what was already inside.
Jacque took one last look at Solar, only to notice the little girl hiding behind the doorframe, backing up out of sight upon them making eye contact. Not wanting another scene, Jacque stepped outside without another word, only to be dumbfounded to see the black limousine blocking the path for his stretch hummer to leave.
Not wanting to hear any arguments, Nephilim closed the door, hoping the driver would take care of it, and approached Solar. They were in the living room, a TV against the blinded windows and a staircase leading upstairs on the opposite side. The door hiding the girl stood next to the stairs and led into the kitchen. They shook hands, addressed each other as "my good sir"…then smiled, laughed, and hugged it out. The little boy looked up at the two men, feeling left out, only to notice the girl peeking from the door again. He walked over to her, only to see her running away.
"Oh, lemme go get her." Solar said. He looked at the boy. "You're gonna love my daughter, she's shy but so sweet."
Solar walked off, his voice could be heard further in the house, and then he returned with the little girl. She had the same amber eyes as her father, the raven-black hair as her mother in the photo and wore her own white dress that covered her shoulders and arms. On her feet were pink tennis shoes with white socks. Though she gave off a sense of fear, unable to look at Nephilim nor his son.
Nephilim got down on one knee, Solar doing the same, and spoke to his son. "Don't be shy, Gabriel. Girls don't bite." Solar laughed at that. "Just walk up to her and say your name."
The little boy looked at the girl again, whom was still unable to look back. He approached her anyway and extended his hand, feeling neither anxiety nor anticipation.
"My name's Gabriel Nephilim." He said with a slight smile. "What's yours?"
The girl, with hope in her heart, reached out and grabbed his hand. With a slight smile, she looked into his eyes and answered his question. "Cinder Seraphim."
Ten minutes passed and the two kids were running around outside while the two fathers were speaking with the silver briefcase between them on the kitchen island.
"Thanks for bringing your son. Cinder's been so anti-social lately, and I just don't know how to get her out of her shell." Solar said.
"Well, Gabriel's been the same way." Nephilim remarked. "Lucy's sleeping over at her friend's house tonight and my wife took Michael out to ride his bike, so I thought bringing him along would've been good for him." After a smile and pause, he continued. "So I guess Jacque's been bothersome as usual?"
"Yeah. He wants to buy my company so he can move all his workers into the mountain and bleed it dry of its dust. He kept going on about how 'it's a once in a lifetime opportunity', promising me and Cinder a luxury condo in Atlas. But…" Solar looked out the window, past the two kids and focusing on his wife's grave. "…there are some things that just can't change."
"Hmph, he gave me the same option, disregarding all my workers as well." Nephilim replied, seeing now as the best opportunity to start what he came here for. "I don't want to believe he's evil, per say, just greedy. He doesn't realize how important my family's presence in Vacuo is, just that…we have something he wants. That's why I'm here today, to show that I trust you more than him."
Nephilim opened the briefcase, facing Solar, whose eyes nearly popped out of his skull. Within the case was black foam, safeguarding a vile of Silver dust.
15 years later
The sun was now beginning to set. The roar of the motorcycle filled the pathway of trees, its tires grinding a straight line into the dirt below, and wind blasting into the driver's face. Her hair lashed out into the wind, messing up its composure.
"Hopefully this city has somewhere I can wash up." Cinder wished.
Aside from her hair, her biggest problem was the fuel gauge on the bike, its needle almost on "E". Not a surprise, really, since she's been riding all day without stopping even to rob a gas station for food. Though most would feel concerned by this, it was nothing compared to what happened the night before; the embarrassment, injuries, and defeat that plagued her mind nonstop for hours.
As the sun was disappearing over the horizon, the motocycle made loud "bangs" as the gas tank used up its remaining fumes. Cinder's hopes were at about the same level until she noticed a gas station's lights illuminating the surrounding area. With high hopes, she rode the bike towards the station, unaware of the beastly presence closing in on her.
Once parking the bike by a gas pump, she recalled losing her wallet and wondered how she'd fuel it. Looking inside the station, she noticed the clerk looking bored at his scroll.
"Hmph, I bet I could…convince him to help me." Cinder said to herself. Upon approaching the doors, her hood still covering her head, she noticed several surveillance cameras around the building's corners. Once crafting enough glass knives with her semblance, Cinder threw each one at a camera and proceeded towards the store. Just as she was about to smash through the glass doors, Cinder heard a foreboding growling sound coming from the surrounding forest.
Piercing orange eyes glowed from between two trees, staring Cinder down as she remained frozen. The clerk noticed her standing outside and moved from the counter to see what was happening. Cinder recalled all her training Salem had given her and she shrugged off the worry, until the beast revealed itself from the woods. The clerk opened the door, only for his eyes to widen at the scale of the monster, its bear-like claws waving in the air as its roar echoed and shook the ground below.
As the clerk stood paralyzed in fear, Cinder jumped into the air and forged a glass sword. The beast swung both its paws at the woman, to which she swung her sword and cut through its claws. Upon landing, she jumped in the air again and slashed its face in half. The monster's body fell backwards as she descended. Just as she felt incredibly confident, she landed on her left knee and right foot, only to remember her sprain once the intense pain hit her.
She wailed out in pain, grabbing her ankle and snapping the clerk out of his fearful paralysis. However, the grimm in the surrounding area sensed these emotions of fear and agony and followed the trail.
"Hey, are you okay?" The clerk asked Cinder, putting one hand on her shoulder.
Just as she was about to sever the same hand simply for grabbing her, they both heard even more growling coming from every direction. Burning red and orange eyes melted within bleach white skulls surrounded the entire station, the clerk's anxiety only rising while Cinder became more irritated by the situation.
Fighting the pain, she got up on both feet. Without facing the clerk, she asked him a question. "Hey, if I clear this place out of grimm, you'll give me a full tank of gas for free?"
"Wha- yeah, sure, whatever! Just get rid of these things!" He answered in a panic.
The first to charge at them were grimm that resembled wolves. Two sprinted towards Cinder from the woods, to which she sprinted towards them and slid in between them and used one swing of her sword to cut off a front leg from both. Charging towards her next was a boar grimm, its tusks huge and blunt, as she was still sliding on the ground. She placed her grimm arm into the ground and poll vaulted over it, a single swing slicing its body in half. She landed directly next to a griffin grimm. Its huge beak pecked the ground around her, attempting to swallow her whole. Once the timing was right, Cinder rolled underneath it only to be met with its claws trying to smash her into the ground. She couldn't dodge it and took the hit, feeling the pain but remaining conscious and pinned to the ground by its front legs. Once she noticed it readying its beak for another jab, Cinder broke off her grimm arm and grew it back immediately and formed it into a spear, impaling the grimm's head as it leaned in for her. Once its body dissolved into smoke, she got back up.
She was starting to feel exhausted, all the pain and starvation catching up to her. She wasn't nearly as prepared as she expected. Suddenly she heard the screaming of a little girl, only to look back at the gas station to hear the clerk screaming at the sight of the surrounding grimm. After a brief expression of disappointment, Cinder activated her maiden ability and glided towards the station. Just as a wolf grimm was about the devour the clerk's head, the clerk's back against the wall and away from the building entrance, Cinder decapitated the beast. Before the remaining grimm could react, Cinder had blown the rest of them away with a fire blast.
Just as the coast appeared clear, one last grimm appeared from the forest. Between them and this grimm stood the gas pumps. Cinder wasn't about to let her goal literally go up in flames. To save time, she sprinted towards the pumps, jumped over them and slammed a glass spear directly into the creature's skull. Its body skidded against the pavement, stopping only a centimeter from the pump before dissolving into smoke.
Cinder got onto her feet, breathing heavily and trying to keep composure. She wasn't sweating, but rather developing heat exhaustion from riding the bike all day and fighting monsters well after the sun went down. The clerk walked up to her, handing her a bottle of water.
"Just thought it'd make a good bonus with the gas." He told her, Cinder shocked by the gesture. She took the bottle and drank from it, the water cooling her down and replenishing her energy. "C'mon, I'll get you some food for your trip too."
"…why?" Cinder asked, not annoyed but confused.
"Why not? You saved my skin back there. I'm no huntsman so this is about as close to returning the favor as I can."
Feeling thankful, another emotion she hasn't felt in years, Cinder followed the clerk into the store. He gave her the choice to pick out whatever snacks she wanted, half of which was candy and the other half was a mix of trail-mix and fruit, all of which would be paid with his paycheck. Once the shopping was over, Cinder only had one last question for the clerk.
"So…" She began. "Do you know how much farther Fegefeuer is?"
The clerk's eyes widened and he focused entirely on her. "…w-why would you want to know where that place is?"
She sighed. "Because…that's where I'm going. That's also the last question I'm answering." She said the last statement quite brutally.
Believing he had enough pieces to put together, the clerk pulled out his scroll and showed a map of the area.
"You're only about forty miles south of the city. The sun's gone down though, so I recommend you find somewhere to sleep right now and go in the morning."
"Alright. Anywhere in particular?"
"Yeah, there's a motel down the street…but, why are you going to Fegefeuer of all places? Criminals and killers from all over come to this city."
"I guess you didn't hear me when I said I'm not answering anymore questions. Now come on, I need the tank refilled."
Pushing aside the rude attitude, the clerk filled up Cinder's tank and bid her farewell, to which she simply sped off on the bike without looking back. A few moments later, she found the motel. The place looked very run down, the doors without any security system and the parking lot nearly vacant save for a few cars. Once she parked the bike in a spot, Cinder walked up to one of the doors and tried molding the key shape with her grimm hand. At this point, she was so exhausted, she didn't even care if police had shown up. She opened the door and the place looked just as gross and old as she expected.
As she laid on the bed, she couldn't get this night out of her head. She hadn't realized she saved the clerk until he handed her that water.
"Hmph, like I care." She told herself. "I just needed him to fill my tank; nothing else."
Then another thought plagued her mind: Salem. Did she have any concern for Cinder? Possibly mourn her presumed loss? Even light a candle in her honor? Probably not. If Cinder truly knew Salem, then she'd expect Salem to not even blink at the news of her death.
Cinder gripped the sheets, her hand shaking with more force put into her fingers. Going from sleeping in a large castle with two loyal servants to a filthy motel room all alone. Was Fegefeuer worth it? Was this place, obviously no longer the home she knew, worth all this trouble and humiliation?
"Too late to turn back, now." She told herself, drifting off into sleep and waiting either to be woken up by the sun or a police officer arresting her.
Eight hours had passed, the sky turning from a dim black to a dark blue in the east. Cinder woke up, not even recalling having any dream. All she remembered was closing her eyes and opening them a few minutes ago. Once noticing the sky, she took it as her cue to leave. She got down to the bike and rode it to the motel's curb, right next to the motel's front office where the manager was asleep at his desk next to the key rack.
"Tch. Five-star service, right here." Cinder joked.
She rode her bike up north, and in just under two hours, she reached the sign she saw in the news broadcast and stopped the bike. The "NEVER" just as intimidating as she recalled, but it didn't turn her away. Salem's castle was more terrifying than this sign, and all it meant to say was to leave the city's inhabitants alone and there wouldn't be trouble.
"'Criminals and killers from all over come to this city'." She recalled the clerk say.
"Well, guess I'll fit right in."
Driving past the sign and going uphill, Cinder stopped the bike at the hilltop.
Another sign, clearly made by a random person, stood in the ground and read,
"Fegefeuer
You will never find a more
wretched hive of scum and villainy"
Looking past the sign, she took in the view of the entire city and her body froze in surprise.
At the bottom of the mountain was an enormous factory with the Schnee's crest on the side. Its smoke stacks let out disgusting black puffs that joined the others in the atmosphere, covering the city in its shadow. She looked at the mountain top, expecting to find a small village. Her heart only sank at the sight of the mountain snow risen and covering where those houses stood. The only building that seemed untouched by the snow was a church, but it stood at the cliffside, further away from the avalanched snow. It must've been built after the snow buried everything.
None of this should've come as a shock to her, despite it being a decade-and-a-half since she's last been here. Had her home truly fallen from grace, or was there still a spark of hope? Whichever was true, Cinder knew she'd receive no answer standing at the hilltop. She revved up the bike and sped towards city.
The fallen angel of Mistral.
Well, this took longer than expected. Sorry about that, guys. I spent the last few days doing a lifeguard class because my last certification expired last year, so now I'm fully recertified and ready to work for the summer!
One thing I want you all to note is that the title doesn't just have to refer to Cinder, but also to the city as well; how something so beautiful and reassuring became horrid and foreboding.
Don't know when I'll post the next chapter because I'm going to be busy all this month with two jobs and a trip I have planned with some friends the weekend of the 16th.
Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you next time. Take Care!