Chapter 7. You…have silver eyes
Sorry this didn't come out as fast as you all may have wanted. I'm still trying to get a lot of things together. Now that we've seen how Cinder acts when she's around complete strangers with no reason to leave, it's about time we see how they react to her smug personality, especially Lucy. Keep in mind, I mentioned how I imagine Erica Mendez playing Lucy, so I'm gonna bring out some Ryuko Matoi this chapter. Speaking of which, imagine the character of Rachel being played by Dawn Bennett (The woman who played Ren's mother in volume 4).
I'm gonna give my own theory on the silver eyed warriors but not so much since this story is meant to focus on Cinder instead of Ruby and the world of Remnant. Trust me, there's a reason I'm writing it in this story.
Cinder left the apartment at around eleven o'clock and headed down the same street towards Junior's restaurant, wearing the same clothes as always; jean shorts and sweatshirt. She didn't bother to put on the remains of her red dress and pantyhose, just brought them outside with her and tossed them into a random dumpster. She asked to borrow Lucy's tennis shoes again and left behind her high heels and black glove. To cover her gimm arm, she still wore the white gardening glove, the first gift she'd receive from anyone in…actually, she couldn't remember the last time she received a gift out of compassion. She's had twenty birthdays and hadn't had a party since her fifth. Sure, Salem gave her dresses and trained her, but she had to work for all of those.
That nightmare of Pyrrha Nikos came back to mind. Why was she there in the first place? Why would Cinder ever even try to remember her? She was walking to clear her head, yet the more steps she took, the more anxious she became with these overwhelming thoughts. Then there's Junior and the twins, some of Torchwick's old acquaintances in Vale. Were they run out of business by the grimm attack? Finally, Lucy just kept bashing Cinder in the head; her nonchalant attitude towards everything as if life was all just one big joke. Cinder felt like she should've been offended by all of that, yet Lucy actually gave her a glove that now hides her arm. For the first time since she'd met Salem she felt thankful towards someone else…and hated it.
"Maybe there's a clothing store I can at least go to and check out, perhaps a cheap sundress to look at." The scarred woman thought to herself.
As she continued further down the road, she turned towards Junior's restaurant only to find it closed for the day. It was Sunday, after all. Conveniently, across the four-lane boulevard, was a department store, most likely for people who needed a quick set of clothes for the bars and restaurants on the other side of the road.
Curious, Cinder went inside and wandered around until she stumbled upon the jewelry section. All of it was gold and diamonds, practically screaming at Cinder to wear them. She felt for her earing on her right side, recalling when Salem first gave that to her once she awakened her semblance for the first time. In the goddess's own words, "Consider it a reminder that the more powerful you become, the more you can gain."
Next, she approached a section of the store with ball gowns and wedding dresses. Most of them looked bad to her, primarily because there was every shade of the rainbow and Cinder preferred maroon. Then, catching her attention like a camera flash, she saw an off-the-shoulders dress with gold circles that lined up along the arms and down the abdomen. It looked similar to her old dress, the same one Salem gave her right after securing Adam Taurus's place underneath her thumb. In all honesty, Cinder refused to wear anything that made her feel less than beautiful, and Salem promised her all of that and more as long as she followed every order to a T. Though attacking Ruby at Haven, despite Salem's order not to, may not have been the smartest of her decisions.
All of this looking around only made her more depressed. All those years of training, learning about the maidens and relics, about Ozpin from Salem's point of view; all of it was slowly going down the drain. Whether Salem believed she was alive or dead, why would it matter now, especially after all of this failure? Even if Salem believed her to be alive, why would Salem want her back? What miracle could Cinder pull off to be welcomed back to her goddess?
However, this place very well could be her new home, so why not get acquainted with her surroundings?
Further down the street, in her opposite direction, a child was tearing up as he entered the stood in front of his new parents. It was the three of them and an elderly woman with her hair in a braid around her shoulder. All four of them stood in front a building, a sign above the front door reading "Saint Oum's Orphanage."
"Oh Charlie, don't cry. This is your new family." The elderly woman said to the young couple.
The twelve-year-old boy held back his tears until his new mother embraced him, to which he returned the hug and his floodgates reopened.
A huntsman stood by the passenger side of the car and opened the doors for the new family. "Tch. Easiest job yet." He thought to himself. Like Cinder, he was surprised Fegefeuer had given them no hard time despite its reputation for housing criminals.
The woman said her final goodbye to the boy, a comforting smile on her face, and waved at him as he waved back at her from the backseat window. She took a sigh of relief, knowing she had completed her task of caring for the boy to her fullest capability…only to hear loud banging and kids screaming from behind the front door and her relief was replaced with anxiety.
Upon entering the door, she found three girls ganging up on one boy. Two of the girls looked to by around six or seven-years-old while the third girl and the boy had to both be five. The two of them had the same black hair, but the girl had dark blue eyes while the boy's eyes were amber colored. That same girl had done most of the bullying out of all three of them.
"What do you say, Jack? Say you're sorry!" The girl exclaimed at him.
"No! I'm right, Tera!" The boy angrily replied.
"Okay, okay! Break it up!" The woman shouted, clapping her hands at them. She dismissed the other two girls and demanded an explanation from the bickering couple.
"Jack called me ugly, Miss Rachel. It's his fault!" Tera yelled.
"It's true!" Jack loudly replied.
Rachel's patience wore thin, wishing her assistant, Gabriel, was working today. The kids always seemed to like him better, mostly from his large stature yet gentle and optimistic nature. It took about five more minutes of arguing, but she eventually separated the two and went to prepare lunch for the two dozen orphans. Work truly is at its best when everything's silent.
Meanwhile, Cinder kept walking down the boulevard until she reached a train crossing. There were three-foot-high walls with bushes on both sides of the tracks. Before she could cross the tracks, the lights flickered on, bells chimed, and the bars fell down, waiting for the oncoming freight train to pass. As she waited patiently, Cinder looked behind herself and, her eye widening at the disturbing imagery, saw graffiti all over the buildings lined up with the track. Some were just simple words and names tagged onto the walls, most likely gang-related, but what was most disturbing were the spray-painted images of faunus being killed or tortured. A few looked like they were being hung from the edges of the rooves while some were reaching out from an entrapping fire. Three faces with animal features, big enough to be seen from the other side of the tracks, had their eyes gouged out and blood running down the cheeks, their mouths looking like they were screaming in agony.
Cinder was shocked by what she had seen, only for the silence of the now long-gone train to catch her attention and direct her towards a mirror image on the other side. Images of people impaled or hung on trees were painted on the sides of the buildings. Cinder noticed there were more faunus on the other side of the tracks than on hers. In fact, she looked behind her and the few individuals she could see were all human. She recalled Lucy saying something about their being gangs in the city.
"Maybe a rogue chapter of the White Fang?" She thought to herself.
As she slowly walked towards the tracks, she caught the eyes of the faunus on the other side. A young mother grabbed her son's hand and they quickened their pace away from her, while a group of three teenagers made a wall by the crosswalk by the opposite side of the tracks. They were all faunus: A girl with wolf ears and a gray/white tail, another girl with black skin and a lizard's tail, and in between them was a boy of large stature, though not as big as Gabriel, with tiger whiskers and orange eyes and a black goatee.
"Sorry, toots, but you're not welcome here." The tiger faunus said.
Cinder took that as a challenge in lieu of a warning, especially hearing them say "Toots". A smug grin formed from cheek to cheek. "Is that a fact? If you think you can take me…"
A glass sword formed in her right hand, to which the three faunuss' expressions went from smug to concerned. The tiger stepped forward, his hands shaking and his eyebrows cocked in an anger expression.
"L-Look lady. Just stay on your side of the tracks! We don't want trouble and neither do you!" He exclaimed, trying to mask the slight fear in his voice.
Cinder's smug grin only widened as she continued towards them. "Sorry, but I'm not good at following orders. How 'bout I start giving them?"
She crossed the first track, to which the three teenagers pulled out their weapons. The tiger pulled out a pair of brass knuckles with a pistol attachment. The wolf pulled out a sawn-off shotgun with retractable twin bayonets on each barrel from her leather jacket. The lizard pulled out a pistol and a combat knife, nothing special.
"S-Stop! We're warning you!" The tiger shouted, the fear more present this time and Cinder well aware of it.
The maiden slowly approached them, intentionally giving them anxiety and enjoying every second of it. The wolf faunas's hands began to shake, her breathing becoming louder as the raven-haired woman approached them. The mental pressure pushing all rationale out of her mind, she was the first to charge at her, yelling out a war cry.
"WAIT! STOP, KANJI!" The Tiger faunas shouted, but already too late.
With one hand, the faunas swung the blades down at Cinder, who blocked with her right arm, a smug grin like always. However, the wolf pulled the trigger, forcing to spin like a clock hand and allow her to rotate it back at Cinder, only for the maiden to block it again. Cinder knocked the gun out of her hands and kicked her square in the stomach, the faunas landing right onto the lizard girl with heavy force.
"…damn…human." The wolf said as she straightened her body and looked at Cinder.
Now it was just the tiger faunas, aware that he was alone and staring at the sadistic woman with overwhelming fear. Suddenly, the sound of a train horn blared from the western direction. While she stared at him with her cold, amber eyes, the two faunas girls were getting back up behind the maiden, the wolf giving him a wink. With his aura untouched and faith in his two friends, the tiger took one gulp and charged at the woman. He made one punch towards her, to which she easily dodged, grabbed his wrist and flipped him over onto the girls, only to see they had vanished from their spot. Already too late, the girls already made their attacks at Cinder from both sides, to which the maiden easily made another glass sword in her other hand and blocked both. Her aura was strong enough to take all the lizard faunas's bullets, to which she remained smug, but what truly surprised her was the tiger faunus. In the blink of an eye, he jumped back up and made a solid punch into Cinder's stomach, pulling the brass knuckle trigger upon impact, and sending the girl flying towards the path of the locomotive, surprise covering her face just like when she lost to Raven. The young faunus wore his own smug grin, his two friends copying him, as the raven-haired woman flew away in the path of the oncoming train. Law and order be damned.
Cinder was still in the air as she was just about to make contact with the locomotive's hull. Realizing her situation, Cinder activated her levitation ability and pushed herself faster towards the other side. The three teenagers looked puzzled, the train cars blocking the other side of what they were hoping was half of her body torn off. Before the train fully passed, however, Cinder levitated in plain sight, her eyes blazing fire, above the entire consent. Disregarding anyone who could see her, Cinder looked down at the teenagers, who looked more petrified than they had been the entire fight.
"Those…eyes!" The tiger thought.
Cinder swooped down and, a fireball forming in her hand, blew up the ground between them and sent all three faunas flying in different directions. Especially mad at the tiger, Cinder walked her way towards him. Once he got his bearings, he looked up at the blazing reaper angrily staring him down as she approached him. Still on the ground, he scooted back in fear until he hit a wall, memories of Lucy flooding back to him. His two friends had the same reaction and thoughts.
"You are so dead!" Cinder exclaimed. "I'm gonna melt you into that wall."
"E-Ey-Eyes." He whispered to himself, petrified as Cinder readied another fireball into right her palm. She didn't even pay attention to the boy's words.
"Wait!" Cinder turned towards the screaming lizard faunas. "Please, stop. We're sorry. It's just…no one's comfortable around humans here. We'll leave you alone, we swear, just don't hurt my friend."
Cinder took note of her waterfall eyes, the regret and sorrow spilling out of her. The maiden looked back at the tiger faunas, now stuck in his trance as he unconsciously stared at Cinder, babbling on about some nonsense loud enough for her to hear.
"Eyes…glowing eyes." He said, unaware of anyone listening.
"What?" Cinder asked, kicking him in the shoulder. "Snap out of it. What are you going on about?"
"Your eyes!" The wolf faunas called out, getting Cinder's attention. "They're…glowing…just like Lucy's."
Ruby walked downstairs to the hotel lobby with Oscar, who was wearing his backpack, and her uncle to meet General Ironwood. Weiss came along as well, but only because she was told Winter had accompanied the cyborg specifically to see her sister. The rest of the gang remained in their hotel rooms, awaiting further instructions. Once arriving, they found him, accompanied by Winter and his bodyguards, sitting around a table in a separate room in the foyer. He was cleanly shaven and wore the white uniform he always had. Sitting to his left was Winter, shooting Weiss a disappointed look, to which Weiss shot her sister the same look. The eldest sister got up from her chair and exited the room.
"Guess you could say you gave them…the cold shoulder!" Weiss thought, trying to imitate Yang's sense of humor. Weiss only facepalmed in response. "Good joke, bad time."
Winter approached her sister. "Hope your having a decent day, sister."
Feeling this was more personal, everyone left the two to their own devices.
"Father's been drinking enough to compete with mother, as of late, most of which is motivated by your…departure." Winter established.
"Tell 'Father' I don't care anymore. I'm going to become a huntress and I'll do it without any of his support." Weiss replied.
"…That's fine. He doesn't even know you're here. As far as he's concerned, you're still roaming around Mistral doing who-knows-what."
Weiss looked more annoyed. As if she cared in the slightest what his concern was.
"However, I do feel you should talk to Whitley." Winter continued, Weiss's eyes lighting up. "He's been talking about you just as much and just as harshly as Father…but if anything, I'd to have all three of us sit down and just talk."
Weiss felt dumbfounded. Where was this coming from? Was Winter's schedule so devoid of assignments that she's bored enough to sit down with her family? Rather, did something happen while Weiss was gone?
Meanwhile, Ozpin, with Oscar's consent, approached the table with Qrow and Ruby at his side. The general saw the young boy and most of his worry began to dissipate. Once in the room, the guards exited and closed the doors behind them, allowing the three men and teenage girl alone to sit down in privacy.
"Oz…is that you?" The cyborg asked.
"Hmph. Quite, my old friend. I'd say, 'in the flesh' but that wouldn't be entirely true." He replied, Oscar wishing he could use his hand to facepalm after hearing that joke.
"Alright. Now then…about the relic from Haven."
Ozpin pulled the lantern out of the backpack, Ironwood's eyes widening in astonishment and relief flowing through him. He'd never seen a relic in his life, aside from the ancient texts Ozpin had shown him upon entering his inner circle for the first time. Being in its presence was almost enough to make him smile and forget the fall of Beacon.
"I…already have had my top engineers design a new vault, one that only I and you will know the password to, Oz." Ironwood said.
"Good, at least now, we won't have to worry about Salem and her group for a short while." Ozpin replied. "We know they're out there, presumably searching for another maiden. My fear is that now both the Summer and Winter maidens will be on her next to-do list. If Lionheart was working for her the entire time, the mere thought of any other traitors working under us makes me quake in these boots."
"However, that's where the good luck stops. I've tried looking for the winter maiden, assuming Salem would come after her next, but no one's turned anything up. She's definitely not here in Atlas; we would've found her by now. The last one, if I remember correctly, you said traveled to Mistral in an attempt to escape
"Uhm…excuse me." Ruby intervened, all three of the adults looking at her. "Not to be rude, but I've had a question that…I should've asked back at Haven…"
"Not now, Miss Rose." Ironwood interrupted.
"Hey, metal-mouth. Girl's got something important to ask, and it's our job hear her out and answer it." Qrow interjected, his soberness surprising Ironwood. Seeing a drunk lay off alcohol must've meant this was important.
"I…I want to know…what's makes my eyes so important?" Ruby asked, Ironwood raising his eyebrows, well aware of the gravity of the situation. "I mean…Uncle Qrow's told me I may be the last of my kind, but I don't know who my kind are or were. How did I stop the dragon grimm at Beacon with them? Why couldn't I remember anything after using them? Why do they exist at all?" Ruby began raising her voice in worry and inhaled with each new question. "Why is it so rare? How long am I going to have to train with them?"
"Kid." Qrow said, trying to calm her down.
Ruby stood up. "Am I as strong as a maiden, or stronger or weaker? Are all of my friends in danger because of me?"
"Ruby, relax!"
"Why didn't you tell me how to use them before? Why couldn't I save Pyrrha or Weiss before Cinder hurt them?!"
Ruby's eyes began lighting up the entire room. Before the unthinkable could happen, Qrow grabbed her hand and pulled her back into her seat. Ozpin stared in astonishment and Ironwood looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Listen, we'll answer everything we can right now, but you need to relax. Clearly, your powers ignite when you feel stressed." Qrow reasoned, to which the girl breathed in and out and sat back down, holding onto his hand.
"M-Miss Rose…you're a special kind of warrior." Ironwood calmly continued. "Yes, as far as we know, you're the last silver eyed warrior. From what Ozpin and Qrow have told me, your abilities are linked to your emotions, which can make things dangerous for your friends." Ruby looked down, Qrow squeezing her hand. "However, like all power, it can be used for evil, and evil can be born from anywhere."
Ironwood motioned for Ozpin to speak. "Indeed. The silver eyed warriors had existed for centuries, living in their own small society in Vale. They'd always had the ability to manipulate grimm, a sort of…natural defense against Salem. I can't even say myself where they first began.
"…then the great war began." Ozpin continued, Ruby appearing fascinated. "We already mentioned how the war already began as a land dispute, and unfortunately, the society was dead center in the middle of the conflict. The side of settlers from Mistral demanded they have the land after traversing the seas and rightfully worked for it. The side of already existing in Vale believed it was rightfully their land, despite it being unused at the moment. The pinnacle of this series of tragic events occurred when the silver eyed warriors' society became divided between the opposing sides; one half felt sympathy for the settlers while the other demanded they be the front line of defense. Of course, regardless of all the peace talks within the society and between the opposing sides, war was imminent, and lines became drawn.
"Brothers and sisters slaughtered each other, and even when the great war had ended, bad blood still existed. It was a schism that could never be resewn together, and the remaining silver eyed warriors chose to scatter to the wind. Some, even, resorted to denouncing their society's peaceful ways and just becoming criminals."
Ruby didn't even realize she had held her breath the entire time until she exhaled once hearing Ozpin end his sentence.
"I'm sorry to say this Miss Rose, but…after seeing you display your abilities out in the public eye the night we met, I feared telling you of your potential power would only lead to more recklessness."
Ruby looked shocked. "Y-You mean…you didn't trust me?"
"To be fair, you were only fifteen." Ironwood added, Ozpin motioning him to stop.
"Miss Rose, please understand. I never meant any harm by it. If you desire, we can begin training you on everything we know about it, including…your mother…"
Ruby's hand was shaking in Qrow's. He squeezed harder, hoping it would calm her down, but no dice. She continued to shake, and he continued holding on.
"What did you say?" Cinder asked the wolf faunas as she approached her, the maiden's eye still flaming. "Lucy's eyes glow?"
"Y-Yes…wait, you know Lucy?!" The girl asked, looking more terrified than ever. She even bent down in a bowing position. "W-We-We're so s-sorry. Please, forgive us. Don't tell her we fought you."
Cinder felt confused. She looked around, seeing people back off like cowards. The tiger faunas was still in a trance and the lizard faunas was on her feet but her knees were shaking. Sure, Lucy sounded sadistic, but what could she have done to earn all this fear? Wait, that wasn't the right question.
"Hey, you said her eyes glow like mine?" Cinder asked the wolf. "Does she also levitate?"
"Uh…y-yeah, I think we've seen her fly before…when she was massacring people left and right." She said, that last line to herself.
Deciding she'd heard enough, Cinder looked back at the opposite side and headed for Lucy's apartment. As she crossed the track, another tiger faunas emerged from a store still on the faunas side. Taking a lick from his ice cream cone, he felt a sudden shock when he noticed his son and his friends on the ground.
"Terrence, what happened?" The father asked him. He noticed his son was in a trance and slapped him awake. "Wake up, idiot!"
"It was her, mister Streifen! She attacked us!" The lizard faunas shouted to him.
The man looked in the direction of the human side and found the raven-haired woman walking away. He made a fist and shouted out to Cinder. "Hey, you bitch. Who do you think you are? Why you pickin' on a bunch o' kids? You had any real guts, you'd take me-"
The man was interrupted by Cinder turning back in his direction, her eye on fire. The man's eyes widened in astonishment. Hearing his voice cut to silence filled her with satisfaction, the man now standing still. Once she turned back around and continued to Lucy's apartment, the man only had one thought in mind.
"That couldn't be…Cinder?"
Meanwhile, the maiden continued further down the boulevard. "I fell for Raven's scheme, but now I know only maidens can make their eyes glow consistently. If this means what I think it does, perhaps I can still gain another maiden's power and get another relic for Salem. She'll take me back and everything can go back to normal. It's a leap of faith, no doubt, but how could I just let all those years of effort go to waste?" Cinder became enthralled by her plan, her smug grin returning.
She hurried back to the apartment and banged on Lucy's door for a solid five minutes, hoping to stab her with her grimm hand the second she opened it. After enough noise, a door a bit down the hall opened to see the commotion, and its tenant was Gabriel.
"Uh…can I help you?" He asked her.
Cinder looked in his direction, appearing as impatient as ever. "Where's your sister?"
"She said she wanted to take a walk through the dark wood forest. The place is always swarming with grimm, so she goes over there to blow off steam."
"Tch. Why am I not surprised?" She stormed off towards the stairs.
"Hey, wait. Why do you need to see her? Can't I help?"
"Like I'd ever want help from someone like you."
Her smugness got under his skin, questioning what the woman before him made her so bitter.
An hour of searching had passed before Cinder eventually found Lucy deep within the forest, the sun about to hit the center of the sky. Despite the title "Dark Wood Forest" sounding so ominous, the forest looked quite peaceful. Animals and plants roamed right where expected and there was a surprisingly large absence of grimm. It seemed as though Lucy truly was "blowing off steam". Something Cinder noticed, though not upon the first few instances, was the pathways leading through the forest. The maiden walked across each path, all of which seemed to be separated by consistent lines of trees, as if all these rows were layers upon layers leading to a center. It wasn't until Cinder heard grimm being slain for the first time that day, coming from the center of these layers.
Cinder quickly pursued the sound and came upon a black cloud climbing into the sky, the albino girl standing beneath it and staring in awe, her sword drawn and goggles reflecting the sun's light. She looked satisfied, staring at the dark cloud like a child staring at a fireworks display. She was standing within a patch of ankle-high grass and before her was a large lake, the layers of trees surrounding it completely.
"Busy, aren't we?" Cinder asked casually.
Lucy turned to the maiden like a child turning to their friend, placing her sword within its sheath. "Nah, I'm good. Why are you out here?"
"Well, I had something I wanted to ask you. You see, I took a walk this morning into the other side of town, purely out of curiosity, and…I found out you have a bit of a reputation."
Lucy could hear a slight ounce of implied threat in Cinder's statement…and her blood began to rush as a result. Why would Cinder want to fight her all of a sudden? Who cares? All she cared about was living in the moment, and nothing reminds a person they're alive like teetering on the brink of death.
"They said you have eyes that glow." Cinder continued, keeping Lucy's interest. "Well…that's a problem."
Lucy liked where this was going, practically wishing Cinder would either take the first shot or welcome her to take it.
"Lucy, let me ask you something: have you ever managed to kill someone who seemed invincible?"
"If they were invincible, I wouldn't be standing here right now, would I?"
"That's true, but even that has its drawbacks. You see, the brighter a light shines, the more attention it gains. Don't you agree?"
Lucy placed her hand on the sword's hilt. "Completely. Are you saying you shine brighter than me?"
Cinder was well aware of Lucy's speed and reflexes. If she would succeed in stabbing Lucy with her grimm hand and stealing her power away, she'd have to move faster than ever before. "Well…there's only one way to find out."
Lucy grew a sadistic smile and took a dueler's stance, placing her right foot forward. "That so?" Cinder mirrored her stance, forming a glass sword in her right hand.
Out to their side by the grass's edge, a small drop of water dangled off a single blade of grass. The two girls held their stances just as the grass slowly tipped over. As the drop was sliding towards the tip, both girls gripped their hilts as hard as they could. In that instant, the drop fell into the lake below and both girls charged toward the halfway point as fast as you could blink an eye.
Cinder's plan was going perfectly. Lucy let out a loud battle cry, same sadistic smile as well, until their blades met. The second sparks flew, the albino felt an instant pain in her side and stomach, her grin disappearing and feeling a slight fear. Adding to that fear was Cinder's smug look. The girl looked down to see, aside from the shredded remains of the white gardening glove, was a black arm piercing into her body.
She heard Cinder exhale confidently. "It seems it's already over, and you've met your invincible fighter."
Lucy kept her eyes on the arm as she felt a trail of blood ooze its way up her esophagus and out the corner of her mouth. She then realized the entire situation. Cinder's fingers pierced her stomach, left right arm, shoulder, rib, and just above the left hip bone. "Grimm?" She thought.
"You see? You're just not worthy to wield such power. I, however, have been destined for greatness, and I will have it." As Cinder said her monologue, she saw Lucy's goggles light up. She could fight it all she wanted, maiden or not, but there was no escape. This was it for-
BOOOM! A loud crash thundered around the two women and a blinding light suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Aahhhh!" Cinder let out a strong cry, grabbing her grimm arm as she pulled it out of Lucy and falling back on her knees. The albino stepped back a bit, placing her left hand over the puncture wound in her stomach. Any normal person would've been worried or at least a little stirred up, but Lucy only had one natural reaction to this: she began to chuckle.
Cinder was still gripping her arm in pain, only to realize that she'd felt this way before, and her anxiety only climbed from there. Not helping was Lucy's sudden joyful reaction to the pain, which graduated from chuckles to straight up laughs.
"Haha…hahahahaha…" The albino laughed. "'worthy'… 'destined for greatness'."
Through her goggles, Lucy looked directly at Cinder, her sadistic grin as big as ever. "I have a question for you, Cinder." Lucy proceeded, Cinder looking aggravated as she knelt on the ground and looked up at the warrior before her.
Lucy reached for her goggles and removed them. Cinder went from aggravated to dead terrified in less than a second.
"What's your definition of 'worthy'?" Lucy asked her.
Cinder couldn't even process the question. She felt petrified by the sight of Lucy's eyes.
Her silver eyes.
Holy mother of God, did this take long. I recall saying how last chapter this was going to be short when in actuality I've reached more than 5,000 words in this chapter alone. It's 12:30 right now so I'm not sure I'm going to make this lengthy. The ending to this chapter is one I've been waiting to do for quite a while because THIS is where Cinder realizes her situation and her self-reflection will begin.
That's all for now guys. Please favorite, follow, and leave a review. I strongly urge all of you to review since I'm always looking for criticism in order to better myself as a writer. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I swear I'll get to work on the next one ASAP.
Hope you're all having a wonderful day, and adios amigos!