Chapter 11. Cinder's Inferno

Had a small break then got started on this the same day I uploaded the previous chapter. I hope everyone's enjoying this story, that it at least seems like a good character arc for Cinder. Even after volume 5 and the wave of critics on YouTube saying they don't want her back, though I still respect those individuals and continue to watch their content, I still have just the slightest sliver of hope that she can at least become interesting. What I'm hoping doesn't happen in volume 6 is they either kill her right away or she bumps her head and gets amnesia. Another thought I had, since she's technically still in Mistral, would be that she escapes only to run into Pyrrha's family, thus seeing the destruction she reigned and feeling the emotional weight of it all (like how Zuko saw the destruction of his father's war in the ATLA episode "Zuko alone").

Anyway, hope everyone's doing well and, if not, that this story helps just a little.

"The greatest terror a child can have is the he is not loved, and rejection is the Hell that he fears."

-John Steinbeck, "East of Eden"

Both women stood still, Rachel drowning in anxiety and Cinder holding the Relic of Destruction, a golden dagger with a blue line running from the hilt to just its tip.

"How…did you get up here? Why are you up here?" Cinder asked.

"I…uh…" Rachel tried searching her head for answers. Approaching the mountain, she expected someone along the lines of a simple robber or couple of kids who found the relic by sheer luck. Running into Cinder of all people was the last thing she'd hoped for. "I'm here…because GABRIEL! He…noticed you were gone and said you'd probably be here."

Nothing about her answer sounded fluent or natural. Cinder knew she was lying through her teeth.

"Alright, then. Next question: what am I holding?" Cinder asked. "'Cause, you see, this dagger looks suspiciously important, which begs the question: why isn't it somewhere safe like, say, a vault?"

Rachel knew she was exhausting Cinder's patience. She demanded answers Rachel couldn't give without putting her own life at risk, the entire world as well.

"Look, Cinder, if you just put that back where you found it, I promise I'll answer all of your questions." Rachel begged.

Cinder looked down at the object and then back at Rachel, unaware of two others approaching the mountain's church. Michael and Gabriel flew on black raven wings protruding from their backs, their weapons ready and fully loaded. While Gabriel had hopes of everything ending in everyone walking into the sunset, Michael didn't care. Cinder was greedy and a danger to everyone, more so than Lucy, and, in his view, they'd be better off without her. The twins landed onto the dead grass, fighting against the winds that pushed them further west, and approached the church.

She then recalled her confrontation with Lucy, specifically a line from the albino that raised so many questions. "Is that all a maiden's chalked up to be?"

"Do you know about the story of the four maidens?" Cinder asked, Rachel shaking her head. "Lucy mentioned them as if the story were true, so that begs the question: how would she know that they were real?"

Rachel tried searching for answers again, only to run out of time and Cinder approach the entrance. Standing just outside the walls by the door, the brothers leaned their backs against the building in breaching stances. Michael stood by the door while Gabriel was by the corner.

"Look, Cinder, I already said I'd try to answer all of your questions, but first, please just put that dagger away." Rachel insisted.

Cinder looked at it one last time. Every possible thought juggled in her head; she could either put the relic back and live a simple life in Fegefeuer, making pointless everything she'd trained for years, or take it back to Salem, possibly gaining her master's respect upon her return. Life could go back to normal and she'd be a step closer to achieving her original goal.

"You know what?" Cinder said, placing the relic in her sweatshirt pouch. "I think I'm just going to leave. Just stay out of my way."

Though firm, Cinder didn't appear smug or arrogant. Rachel extended her feet, using her body to block the door, but Cinder approached anyway, expecting the worst but also to handle it. The two locked eyes, both filled with rage and firmness, until they were barely a meter from each other. Michael and Gabriel felt a blast of energy suddenly emerge from entrance, the stain glass window above the doors nearly shattering. Cinder stood in the entrance, holding Rachel's fist which tried to freeze her in place. While Cinder's eye glowed orange, Rachel's now glowed purple.

Cinder smiled. "Well, that answers a few questions."

"Put. The relic. Back!" Rachel barked. "You don't have to do this! We want nothing to do with Salem or Ozpin!"

Michael and Gabriel were now dumbfounded, questioning the names Rachel just listed.

"If you get out of my way, I swear I'll keep all of this a secret!" Cinder said to her. "You don't have to do this."

"I've already lost one home; I'm not risking this one and the entire world all because you want to please some thousand-year-old witch! Put the relic back now!"

All of this was pointless. What good would explaining everything to the older woman do? How much time could she have left, anyway?

Cinder formed a fireball in her hand and blasted Rachel to the side, the woman grunting in pain as she extended her wings to catch herself. Michael and Gabriel felt and instant of fear, interrupted by Cinder flying out the door and towards the stairs.

"Alright, maybe I don't need the bike. It'll be one helluva hike, but-" Cinder thought only to be interrupted by two simultaneous blows to the head, her body falling just a few meters short of the stairs.

She looked behind her to see Michael's bracers aimed at her, a laser sight fixed on her head. Rachel began to stand again, Gabriel holding her hand as she struggled.

"Wait…wait, where's Lucy?!" She asked them, anxiously.

"She said she needed to take care of something." Michael answered.

Out in the distance, Lucy sat on a tree branch, using her binocular vision to watch the entire conflict, curious as to what would happen. Her goggles rested on her brow line. She already defeated Cinder, who was well aware Lucy wasn't fighting her at full strength, so there's no way Cinder would kill her brothers or Rachel, right? She had to have known Lucy would come after her, right? Either way, she was also curious as to how strong her brothers had become, and now was her first chance to see their strength.

"Drop that dagger before I drop you." Michael ordered.

"Cinder, what is all this? Why did you attack Rachel?" Gabriel pleaded.

"…It's complicated. Look, I swear I'll come back." Cinder lied.

"We are not getting wrapped up in Salem and Ozpin's never-ending war! Either put that relic back or we'll tear it from your hands!" Rachel shouted, Gabriel and Michael feeling shocked at her unfamiliar tone. "Don't make me repeat myself."

With one look at the trio, Cinder made her choice, and chose to fire glass shards at them, most at Michael. He brought up his bracers and blocked the shards only to see Cinder disappeared. The maiden flew down the steps, vacating any intention of using the motorcycle.

"It'll be easier for them to follow me if I'm above the tree line." Cinder thought. "Bet they can't fly through the forest with those big wings, though."

As she reached the bottom and focused on the first trees in front of her, the toe of a white boot made contact with her nose, followed by a cutting sensation across her nose and left cheek. She fell to the ground and looked up, the boot with a blade at the tendon belonging to a teenage girl in a white dress. Accompanying her was her twin sister in a red dress with red claws on both forearms.

"Thought you could leave without saying 'goodbye'?" Melanie said.

"Or without apologizing for the waves of grimm that attacked Junior's night club in Vale?" Miltiades added.

Two thundering smashes hit the ground, Michael and Gabriel now standing in two craters and Rachel softly levitating onto the first step. She placed her hand over her chest, trying to keep a stoic face and not show the pain.

"Cinder, this doesn't have to escalate, but we can't allow you to take that relic away. Salem doesn't care about the world, and Ozpin will sacrifice anything to defeat her. Is following her really more important to you than staying with us?" Rachel insisted, her voice fatigued and calm.

She placed her head down, unable to face the crowd above, and began to plan out her next move. Was following Salem even worth it anymore? Salem promised her power and fear, right after a lifetime of imprisonment. Though, staying in Fegefeuer meant living in a city and unable to leave it. Everything she trained for would never be used again…except when she saved the miners.

Cinder looked up at her five opponents. Gabriel, how she acted after he gave her shelter. Then she thought of the twins, what they're and Junior's lives had to be like after Beacon's fall. Finally came Michael, the words, "Once you get enough money, I want you out of my apartment! Capiche?" rang on full volume, followed by, "…if Mistral sends an entire battalion just to detain you, I won't stop 'em. We clear?"

"I can't run away…" She thought. "…and Salem doesn't want to destroy the world." The images of the destroyed Vale during the Vytal Festival. "This is who I am…" Lucy came to mind, her saying that people don't change while trapped in the barn. "…I can't deny what I've done. There's no use fighting it." Pyrrha Nikos now came to mind, her final words of whether Cinder believed in Destiny. "…and I can't stay here, not after everything I set out to do, not after everything Emerald and Mercury sacrificed for me."

The maiden stood up, all five opponents at the ready. Cinder's eye lit up, Michael the first to attack with a single shot from his bracer. Right before pulling the trigger, faster than the blink of an eye, Cinder flew upward and then darted towards the trees.

"I swear…I'll keep all of you off her rada-" She thought before being hit with a fireball.

She fell to the ground and looked behind her, an angered Rachel flying with the same spherical aura speeding at her. Rachel prepared a punch, emanating the same blue glow that Raven used to freeze Cinder, and threw it towards the maiden, only for Cinder to dodge at the last second, the ground beneath both of them being frozen over, and kick Rachel upside the head. As she tumbled away, Cinder tried getting back up only to meet Michael divebomb towards her. She dodged him successfully, only to feel the crushing force of two muscular arms, entrapping her arms and her waist. She looked up to find him to be Gabriel.

"Cinder…if you stop now, we'll leave all of this behind." He told her. Two battle cries of the same pitch sounded right in front of them. The two snapped to attention to find the twins making their first attacks.

"Good job, Gabriel. Hold that bitch still for us!" Melanie called out.

Realizing he was in their line of fire, Gabriel turned blue in the face. "WAIT! STOP!"

Cinder fired up her aura again, creating another sphere around herself and pushing Gabriel and the twins away before they even touched her. Already from the sight of it, Rachel knew she stood no chance against the much younger maiden. Cinder flew up, exhausted from the battle.

"Dammit. I don't want to fight them, but they just won't leave me alone." Cinder thought. While levitating, she felt her sweatshirt had lightened in weight. She checked her pouch to find it empty. Fear surged through her, afraid the relic must've gotten lost in the forest.

Down below, Michael aimed his bracers at her only for Gabriel to grab his forearms. Before Michael could ask, Gabriel exposed the relic in his hand, which bled from the blade sliding against his palm.

"Cinder! This is your last chance! Forget the relic and come back with us or leave now and don't come back!" Gabriel shouted.

Cinder heard his pleas but couldn't give up yet. Then she thought about what he said, how soon he said it. Why would Gabriel bounce back that quickly? She began to descend only to see a piece of the relic in Gabriel's hand. In anger, Cinder divebombed towards him, only of the teenager to flap his wings and fly backwards. Once close enough to the ground, and Michael, Cinder turned her body to face him. She was now aligned with Michael as he stuck his palm out. In a loud bang, an invisible force thrashing her entire body against a tree. Once regaining her bearings, Cinder stood back up and looked dumbfounded at Michael, who wore a smug smile. The twins stood by his sides.

"Like it?" Michael asked. "It's my semblance: Shockwaves. Enough force to knock a car on its side. Let's see how many times stronger your aura is."

As he readied another strike, Cinder already had a plan. She turned her heels away from him, appearing to run away. Michael noticed and fired another shockwave. Cinder felt the brunt of it, like getting hit by a semi-truck, just as she planned. As she flew forward, the maiden activated her levitation, firing off three ice shots behind her as she gained momentum from the shockwave. The twins were struck in their feet and Michael took a hit to the torso, his neck and limbs the only parts that weren't frozen.

Cinder turned herself around and tried to B-line towards Gabriel. As she gained on him, Rachel saw her gaining speed and flew after her as well.

"No…I won't let us get caught…up…" Rachel couldn't finish her sentence, the fatigue and heartaches proving too much to continue this battle. "Come on you old bag…If Cinder gets that relic…there's no telling what Salem will do, what she'll take away…"

In one battle cry, Cinder's aura sphere expanded as she tackled Gabriel, the two plummeting together as one body towards the road leading into the city. Upon impact, Gabriel's eyes were closed, and even Cinder felt disoriented. Gabriel could feel the ground on his chest and Cinder could feel herself on top of the man's lower back. Upon the both of them regaining awareness, along with both of their auras disappearing, Gabriel realized he still had the relic in his hand, Cinder realizing it a few seconds later. Two blades formed within her palms and stuck both of them a hair above Gabriel's neck, the swords crossed with the intersection hovering just millimeters above the skin. Lucy saw all of this perfectly but couldn't help herself to get a "better view" as she put it in her head.

"Gabriel…I'm only saying this once: give me the relic or I'll decapitate you, RIGHT HERE!" She barked.

Gabriel didn't move. The people of the town, the orphans, the faunas, and the miners; to him, their lives were more important than his. "I'm not giving in. I won't endanger other people. I won't live with any guilt."

Cinder's eyebrow raised at that comment. She tightened her grip on her swords but couldn't pull them apart just yet. She couldn't tell what, but something was holding her back. No! If this was her last chance at redemption, she couldn't let it go. Like how Lucy focused her aura around her sabre, Cinder made the edges of her blades glow with intense heat.

Michael and the others arrived on scene. As soon as the two were visible, he readied his bracer, the laser sight pointing at Cinder's head. Once ready to fire, however, Lucy landed directly in front of him, surprising the group entirely.

"Lucy?! Move! I need a clear shot." Michael said.

Lucy forcefully pushed his arm down, aiming it at the ground. "No, you don't, because you're not going to intervene."

All four of them became struck by that. "Not intervene? Why the hell not?! She's about to kill our brother!" Michael reasoned, only to shut up when Lucy looked at him angrily, her silver eyes lighting up.

"I'll notice if she starts to go through with it, but I'm curious. I want to know myself what she'll do."

Cinder's entire focus was on the relic. All she cared about, or at least she told herself, was getting it back, by any means necessary.

"I'll give you to the count of three to let go of it, or I'm killing you here!" She warned. She practically severed all her connections at this point and she knew it. It was too late and taking the relic back was her only path now. "One!"

Everyone's hearts sake at the count, except for Lucy's.

"Lucy…" Miltiades shakily spoke.

Lucy grabbed her sword. "If she goes through with it, I'll make sure to kill her before she even touches him. Trust me, I think I know where this is headed."

"Two!"

Gabriel closed his eyes. If this was his deathbed, it would be better than living to see his town's destruction all because he allowed it to happen.

Rachel's chest began to hurt, her heart beating so hard it felt like it was tearing itself apart. Cinder's hands shook while handling the blades, Michael's and the girls' doing the same. Lucy was like a statue, her sabre at the ready yet feeling no hint of anxiety or worry.

She readied herself to pull the swords apart and take the relic for her own, her hands shaking harder than ever. She tried tightening her grips, Gabriel still holding his ground as hard as the relic. She couldn't bear it any longer, however. With everything Gabriel had done, from saving her from Lucy to giving her a couch, Cinder made her final decision. Even if it was too late, she made a choice, and the swords evaporated.

Time felt like it paused. Everyone's eyes widened, even Lucy's. From their angle, Cinder sat in the way, making it too hard to see the result. All they saw was the cloud of embers levitating into the air. Rachel fell backwards as if about to faint, though barely conscious. Melanie and Miltiades managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Michael and Lucy were completely fixed on the scene ahead of them.

Cinder's hands continued to shake while Gabriel opened his eyes, moving his neck around to ensure he was still alive. He only stopped checking once he heard the heavy breathing and sobbing coming from behind him. Cinder lifted herself off from him and knelt at his left side. Gabriel pushed against the ground and faced her. As he began to ask if she was okay, Cinder gave him a left hook, quickly snapping Michael and Lucy out of their trance.

While Gabriel was on the ground again, this time on his back, Cinder got on top, again, and launched another punch to his face. "YOU DAMN BASTARD! YOU MADE ME WEAK!" Another punched at his face. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FREAKING FAULT!" Third punch landing square on his cheek bone. "HOW WILL SALEM TAKE ME BACK NOW IF…" She paused her sentence but continued pummeling his face. "…IF…if…" Her punches slowed until they ceased. "…if I can't…bring myself to kill you?"

By now her punches had stopped. She looked down at him, her eyebrow raising when he looked unresponsive. She got off of him and placed her ear by his mouth while watching his chest rise and fall, followed by putting her human finger on his carotid artery. He was still alive and breathing, just unconscious.

Cinder felt relieved until she saw the relic, now free to grab in his hand. Suddenly, the ground near them exploded and standing in the crater was Michael, both bracers aimed at Cinder's head.

"Alright, you had your fun. Now get away from my brother!" Michael ordered.

Cinder felt nothing; not fear, anxiety, or even annoyance. She sat there, looked at Michael, then at Gabriel's unconscious black and blue face, then at the relic.

"Don't. You. Dare!" He exclaimed.

People began to turn on their lights and either looked from their windows or stepped outside to see the commotion. Cinder looked back at Michael before standing up. Here they were, in the middle of the street with an audience absorbing what they thought was a second-degree murder. Not wanting to be here anymore, Cinder began to walk back towards the others, the Darkwood forest behind them. Upon approaching them, Cinder finally noticed Lucy, leaning against a telephone pole. Her heart almost ceased beating upon seeing her, but then remembered why she got up from Gabriel's unconscious body, that she didn't care anymore. Lucy could see it in the maiden's eye, the mixture of defeat and fatigue. She let her pass her, understanding Cinder would no longer be a problem. Cinder then passed Rachel and the twins, all three having the same shocked expression. She knew that's what they looked like, but only through peripheral vision. She couldn't bear to look any of them in the eye. She continued into the forest, the trees' shadows from the moonlight masking her presence.

Rachel continued grabbing her chest yet let out one long-awaited sigh of relief.

Gabriel began waking up, the feeling of a soft foundation beneath his body. Outside, he could hear the vague clapping of thunder. Remembering his last memory, awkward that it literally involved Cinder sitting on top of his crotch area, Gabriel sprang back up. He looked around and recognized the room as the orphanage infirmary, with Michael, Melanie, Miltiades, and Rachel sitting by his side. Rachel rushed to his side, ordering him to lay back down, one burning question keeping him from laying back down.

"Where's Cinder?!" He exclaimed.

Deep in the Darkwood forest, almost half-an-hour after the head spinning battle, Cinder continued on into the unknown.

"Where am I going?" She thought. "Why am I still alive? Did actually die back at the vault and this is Hell? Just a series of battles that I can't seem to win?"

As she continued through the forest, she recognized the path from before, when she fought Lucy for the first time. It was several consistent rings of trees that led to the lake.

"How did things ever get this screwed up?" She thought.

She passed through the first circle and recalled her childhood. One day she was with her father, prepping for school and Sunday Mass, and then next she would wake up to hear news of her entire village on the mountain destroyed. A man, who she now knew as Jacque Schnee, held onto her before sending her off to another family in Atlas. There, she would face a Hell she wouldn't wish upon anyone, not even Lucy or Ruby Rose. Anything beyond cooking and cleaning was of no concern to her new "family".

The second circle of trees sat idly by while she walked past them, the winds heavier here than before. Within that family was the much older mother, owner of the death glare that would give Cinder nightmares until she was fourteen, and the two daughters. They would complain to their mother about wanting the prettiest dresses in town, so as to not look ugly in the eyes of their rich neighbors. All Cinder wanted was a new set of clothes, something to make her feel pretty. Anything but the overused smocks and wooden shoes she would wear every day. The memories of Salem granting her her every fashion wish came back as well. The only fee she had to pay was completing the various stages of her training.

The third circle of trees came to pass, her first step being in a muddy puddle; nothing to stop her from continuing, though. All those years spent cooking delicious food for the family she despised. One night, she stole a dumpling she prepared only to be caught red-handed by the mother. The young girl was beat severely and was forbidden from eating at all that night. It wasn't until she reached fourteen that she ate the first slice of chocolate cake, baked by Salem herself. That first bite of the greatest dessert she'd ever have was all she needed to become putty in Salem's hands.

Cinder got to the fourth circle of trees, only now noticing the ground littered with rocks and stones everywhere. The family was very wealthy, a dear friend and important subordinate to the Schnee family, and not one cent was donated to Cinder as an act of kindness. They didn't bother to buy her a bed nor normal clothes and food. She slept in the ashes of the fireplace, wore only four different smocks which would only be replaced as she grew out of them, and ate the fruit and vegetables that grew in the garden. Salem made many promises to Cinder, one being that she'd have her own kingdom one day. Servants preparing the finest of wine and cuisine, providing the prettiest of dresses, and cleaning up any mess she would make.

Circle five of the trees came just as quickly, the storm now upon her and the trees only partially covering her from the drizzle. It reminded her of that night: on two consecutive nights, Cinder made two prayers, and on the second one she prayed to anyone listening that the family die and she be set free. Little did she know that the one listening was a witch that no one could hope to defeat.

The sixth circle of trees came now, this space between them rings being quite deep. She used her levitation to hop the gap the first time like she would now. Being a maiden was like being an ant on a spiderweb, the last thing she'd ever want to be. Here, she recalled the promise she made to herself, that she would tear apart the fragile friendships between the kingdoms. She swore, the day she left that wretched family, their bloodied corpses to burn with the rest of their manner, that she would make the world feel the pain she was forced to bear. "The hunstmen be damned." She thought. "Where was my help when Dad died and I became enslaved?" Only now did she feel amongst the damned herself.

Cinder entered through the seventh circle of trees, the flashbacks of violence flooding back. The first of these acts was minor, at least compared to later. The night Salem first appeared was that of her second prayer, after the mother and sisters mocked her own mother and father, that they burned in Hell "where they belonged." The day before, however, was the day the mother beat her over the dumpling, to which she knelt at the fireplace and made her first prayer. She prayed for a quick death. Maybe the fireplace randomly starting as she slept and burned or suffocated her. Maybe the chandelier would fall on her as she was sweeping. Maybe anything would happen, as long as it was quick. Perhaps that's what she was doing here, walking through the woods in hopes "anything".

The trees in the eighth circle were much larger, as was the gap. While walking through the shallow mud, she recalled every lie she'd ever used. She asked the White Fang to help in her crusade and attacked them when Adam Taurus first declined. She disguised herself, Mercury, and Emerald as Beacon students to get information on the Vytal festival…the Vytal festival. How she deceived the audience into thinking Yang Xiao Long and Pyrrha Nikos were made to be killers by Ozpin. Her promises to Mercury and Emerald to have them by her side when she could care less what would happen to them in the end. Her betrayal of Raven at the vault, her only accomplishment being that she killed her red-herring subordinate. Well, now she was alone. No one left for her to deceive, and that gave her a feeling of ease.

Finally, she reached the ninth circle of the trees, and upon passing it she found the sight of the lake. Her first thought was Lucy, how she almost killed her for the sake of a power she didn't even have. Then Gabriel, risking whatever relationship they had for Salem. Speaking of Salem, who could forget Cinder disobeying Salem's orders of staying away from Ruby Rose? Cinder, apparently.

She fell to her knees on the grass before the lake, all by herself. It couldn't be any other way. She inhaled the air, its smell so fresh and relaxing. Perfect for the occasion. Cinder formed a glass dagger in her human hand, examined it, and cut the wrist of her grimm arm. It only healed. The sight of the arm's healing only angered her.

"I don't want to die a monster." She thought.

In one swoop, she sliced off the arm, feeling slightly satisfied, or at least until it began to quickly grow back. She recalled when Salem first got her that arm, saying it can't create or utilize aura. However, cells in the human body multiply in order to heal wounds, and so Salem made the arm to regenerate so long as its foundation was still attached to Cinder.

With the arm fully regenerated, the young woman began to break down crying again. Amongst her sobs, she could hear faint growls behind her. She opened her eye and turned around, a platoon of grimm gathering before her. Cinder stood up and faced her stalkers, dropping the glass dagger and forming twin glass swords in both of her arms.

"Not a bad way to go, I guess." She thought.

As she brought them up in a fighting stance, she could feel the ground beneath her shake. She looked down and behind herself, seeing the lake water vibrate and decrease as the water made three mountains in the center. She turned back around to find the crowd backing down in fear from the three rising creatures. Turning back around, she watched as the water slid off the three large heads, revealing grimm that reached the size and scale of the dragon grimm in Vale. Cinder began to back up as the monsters approached her, the grimm mass behind her began to retreat into the forest as the giants extended their claws to get onto the shore. The monster to the left had a skull shaped like a jaguar, the one to the right looked like a wolf, and the one in the middle had a skull of a Lion. The Lion began sniffing at Cinder, who stood there amazed by what she bore witness.

"Wor…y." A random voice said. She looked around but saw no humans present. "Worthy." She looked around again before looking back at the lion, its eyes fixated on her.

"I…can hear him?" She thought. Cinder looked down at her grimm arm and then recalled the fall of Beacon, how the dragon understood her despite being entirely human.

"You…" The lion continued. "…are not worthy!"

Ha HA! Out sooner than a lot of you probably expected! Well, here you all are, the chapter I've been dying to make since I started this fanfic. Gotta say, it feels better when you're working alone, not having to worry about things like "Studio interference" or other people's schedules. The next and final chapter should be out fairly soon. I'm gonna spend Friday with my family so I don't know how soon but it's also one I've been waiting to make. Answers regarding chapter 10 and this one will be in the next chapter, specifically the relic and Cinder and Gabriel's backstory. Some things like Adam and Weiss/Ruby storylines probably won't get answered so I'll attach another page explaining what I had in mind for them. Think of it as what I hope will be in volume 6/the end of the series.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day. Don't forget to favorite, follow, and review. Negatives before positives. I will see all of you next time! Stay Silver!