Chapter 12. Phoenix, part 2
Sorry to pull a Harry Potter/Hunger games, but this specific chapter should be the conclusion to the story. I was afraid the last part would go on for too long, especially because of certain relationships I want Cinder to form. The part in the first description talking about Cinder's hair should be addressed here. Sorry for the inconvenience, guys. I'm kind of in a rush to finish this story, but I want to finish it nonetheless. I swear, this'll be the last of the "Rise from the Cinder" chapters and, as I planned, a conclusion to Cinder's arc.
Cinder and Gabriel were back in town, the sun beginning to rise on the beautiful Saturday morning with a rainbow in the distance. The clouds moved west, towards the forest, and the rain finally stopped. Gabriel, his hand free from Cinder's, used his key to gently open the door.
"Okay…" He whispered to her. "The orphans should all still be asleep, so try to be quiet."
Cinder nodded as Gabriel slowly opened the door…only to feel something run out and grab his leg with full force. Both warriors panicked, only to realize what, or who, the attacker was. They looked down at the little face who appeared ecstatic to see Gabriel.
"Tera? What are you doing up this early…er, why were you just waiting outside the door?" Gabriel asked, sounding frustrated.
"Ms. Rachel said you went into the forest and I got sad! I miss you all the time, Gabriel!" Tera wailed, Gabriel rubbing her head to calm her down. Cinder assessed the situation, finding it rather…cute…to see how much Gabriel meant to her.
"Okay then. Is Ms. Rachel still awake?" Gabriel asked, less frustrated.
"Mhmm. She's in her room."
After Gabriel quietly guided her back to her bed, inside a large room with other beds for the two dozen other orphans on the second floor, he and Cinder went to Rachel's room the hall. Upon appearing in the doorway, Rachel was found watching TV before noticing the two guests. Her eyes widened upon seeing Cinder, who looked at her with sorrow and regret, and she noticed it immediately.
"Thank you for…returning." She said. "Here, sit down." She sat up in her bed and patted the mattress at her feet.
Gabriel and Cinder, reluctantly, sat down, with her sitting closer to Rachel. Before Rachel could say anything, Cinder interrupted her.
"I'm sorry…I betrayed your trust after you gave me a chance." She said. "I don't have an excuse, and I have so much to make up for, but-"
Rachel interrupted her by placing her right hand on Cinder's right thigh. "I know you will, and I believe you'll do it." Gabriel remained silent while Cinder allowed the relief from Rachel's statement to ease her stress. "I called you just to see if you were alright, but I feel more relieved to see you're both alright…although, you could use a little help, Cinder."
The old maiden put out her hand, reaching underneath Cinder's hair for her left eye. Upon making contact, both of their aura fields illuminated the room, Gabriel having to close his eyes while Cinder's widened in surprise. Ten seconds quickly passed before Rachel took her hand away and told Cinder to look in her mirror. Her heart overflowing with hope, Cinder ran to the dresser which held up a mirror and moved her hair, seeing the scar on her face still visible but its skin seemed to have smoothed out. Cinder placed her human hand to it, feeling her skin and glad to know it wasn't an illusion, but when she tried to open her eyelid, all her hope vanished. The left eye was still gone. As her right eye began to glow and she tightened her fists in anger, she looked back at the bed to see Rachel breathing heavily, her left hand on her chest and Gabriel holding her right. All of Cinder's anger drained the second she saw the vulnerable Rachel and sat back down on the bed.
"…okay…let me…see how much…I got done." Rachel said, extending her hand to examine Cinder's face again.
"You…the eye's still not there." Cinder added.
"Oh, I'm sorry Cinder. I tried to heal it as best I could, but I just can't do it as well as I used to." Rachel didn't want to add that the fight from earlier took a lot of her aura out of her as well. "Speaking of which, Gabriel, can you pass me my pills and that glass of water?"
As the faunas got up to do his chore, Cinder sat closer to Rachel. "But, I don't understand. How can you forgive me so easily? You of all people should know how powerful maidens are, so why not call the authorities?"
"I raised Gabriel and his siblings, so any choice they make is a result of my wisdom. If Gabriel still trusts you, then who am I to not?"
Gabriel handed her two pills and the glass of water, Cinder smiling at the end of that sentence. "Thank you, Gabriel. If you'd like to go home, you can. I'd rather talk to Cinder by ourselves."
Gabriel and Cinder looked at each other, Cinder nodding to assure him it was alright. Gabriel stepped out, only to be tackled by Tera again as he approached the stairs.
Rachel continued talking to Cinder. "Also, like Audwine, I knew your father as well, Cinder." The young maiden shot her a surprise look. "Such a nice man, he was. Your mother, too, was such a sweet woman, always smiling, so bubbly…always caught eating sauerkraut at parties while she was pregnant with you." Cinder felt as if she were about to break down. "Once in a while, your father held parties at his house and I was lucky enough to come to a few. In a way, I felt obligated to help you. I just wanted you to earn it first. Even after everything that happened between Beacon and last night, seeing you walk away without the relic showed me you had changed. Am I correct?"
Cinder was still trying to absorb all of the information, her mind frozen after hearing her mother. Once processing the final sentence, she answered, "…Yes."
"Good. Still, I suppose it's my fault for not hiding the relic as well as I should have."
"Wait, you put the relic under the church?"
"Well, I assume Salem's told you of how incredibly stupid Ozpin was." Cinder sighed as Rachel continued. "Originally, Gabriel's family was once one of the first settlers into Vacuo, coming in from Atlas. There, the family would become the continent's most wealthy settlers until they could afford to cement their place. They created the villages, ran the government and churches, and held a heavy influence over the authorities. Now, I assume you know how a maiden's powers transfer naturally, correct?"
Cinder nodded. "Yes. To get them, you need to be in the previous host's final thoughts."
"Well, Vacuo had its own means of keeping a tab on the Summer maiden. As a maiden would approach her time of passing, she'd be forced to stay in a hospice. Just before the moment of passing, the woman chosen by the current host would be brought to her just before the current host would die. This way, it'd be easier to have them in the maiden's final thoughts, something dear old Ozpin didn't bother giving any thought when he created them…and guess who, at the age of just seventeen, qualified to be the next maiden."
Cinder smiled and grabbed Rachel's hand with her human arm. She then remembered Pyrrha, seeing her downstairs with Ozpin and Amber, the previous fall maiden, aware of Ozpin's intent. "You must've been scared."
"I was. I attended Shade academy and made so many friends, but becoming a huntress meant putting the world's safety before my own, even if it cost me." As Rachel continued, Cinder's heart felt like it was cracking. "In my youth, I was the valedictorian, the best in paper and physical exams, and the teachers at Shade saw my potential and selected me."
"To protect the family."
"Correct. Now the relic: it was in its vault until I took it out. After the family's death, the Schnee Dust Company offered me to work in the refinery here in Mistral."
"Hush money."
"Indeed, and they gave us a bonus as well. However, if we ever publicly made ourselves known, they threatened to hire huntsmen to come after us. So, before we moved down here, I went back for the relic and took it with me. Spent money on a safe and installed it under the stones of the abandoned church."
"…but, the code was my birthday. Why?"
"Figured no one would figure it out. The code to an all-powerful relic being a dead girl's birthday? Of all the names listed on that tapestry, you'd seem as the least important."
Cinder looked down at the floor, still absorbing all of the information. "I'm…guessing you made that tapestry, then?"
Rachel smiled and nodded.
"Rachel!" A little boy called out from down the hall. "I woke up, can I have breakfast?!"
Cinder and Rachel remained sitting as the owner of the little voice turned the corner into the room, revealing her to be Jack, rubbing the sand out of his eyes and dragging a wolf grimm plushie. Upon entering the doorframe, Jack inhaled in surprise at the sight of Cinder, and then wear an ecstatic expression before running up to Cinder and hugging her leg.
"Alright." She sighed. "Let's get you fed."
Before she could get her feet out from the bed, Cinder stood up and moved towards the door. "Actually, do you want me to feed him? I-I mean, you're comfy and…"
Rachel smiled. "Old?" Cinder looked down in shame, but Rachel simply laughed it off and snuggled back in bed. "Jack, is Gabriel still here?"
"Uh, yeah. He's downstairs with Tera." The boy answered.
"Alright. Cinder, could you feed him, please?" Rachel calmly asked.
Cinder nodded, and Jack grabbed her grimm hand, pulling her down the hallway, downstairs, past the foyer, and into the kitchen. While passing the foyer, Gabriel was sleeping on the couch with the TV turned on. Tera, wearing a brown night gown with gold on its frame, was leaning against his arm with a hawk grimm plushie and making plane noises until she saw Cinder and Jack. The small boy stood beside the opened fridge door with the gallon of milk in his hands while Cinder stood by the cabinets above the sink.
"It's that one!" The kid said, pointing at the farthest left cabinet.
Cinder pulled on the little door and inside was all boxes of cereal. The cabinet next to it was all cereal bowls. Once getting a bowl and grabbing a box, Cinder dropped the bowl onto the counter, making a loud clank but not shattering.
Jack looked up at Cinder, his eyes widening at seeing Cinder's distressed expression. "Miss Cinder? Are you okay?" He asked.
Cinder looked to him and ran her fingers through his hair. "Yeah, don't worry Jack. I'm…just a little tired."
Jack smiled and handed her the gallon of milk. Cinder placed it next to the bowl and began pouring the cereal. The title read, "Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes" and had a picture of Pyrrha Nikos eating a spoonful while smiling and giving a thumbs up. She gave Jack the bowl of cereal and he ran into the dining room with it, leaving a trail of milk.
Feeling more depressed, Cinder made a grab for the paper towel only to interrupted by Gabriel making the grab first. She inhaled in surprise.
"Sorry, just saw him run past the door and spilt it everywhere…and Tera wants breakfast too." He said.
Cinder looked down and saw the young girl hugging her plushie and looking away, seeming rather angry. Cinder took note of her night gown and recognized it right away.
"You…look really nice in those pajamas, Tera." Cinder said.
The girl looked up at Cinder, her anger replaced with surprise.
"You look just like Pyrrha."
Tera began to blush. "Do…do you think I can fight like her one day?"
Cinder smiled. "You're gonna have to train really hard, but I know you can do it."
The little girl smiled as Cinder prepared a bowl of cereal for her. She grabbed it and walked to the dining room, avoiding Gabriel as he cleaned up her mess. Tera sat next to Jack, who seemed ready to pick up his bowl and move to a new seat, when she placed her bowl down and hugged him. Right after letting go, she said she was sorry, to which Jack smiled back to her and they ate their breakfast.
"They're good kids." Cinder said.
"Yeah, been here since they were toddlers. Jack showed up on the doorstep three years ago, no parents or anyone. Just a knock at the door and there he was, asleep in a doggie bed. Tera showed up about three weeks later but with her parents. Apparently, she was the youngest of seven kids and they just couldn't deal with that many kids anymore. Haven't seen them around the city, so it's never been a concern." Gabriel said. He looked over to Cinder to find her becoming misty eyed. He couldn't bear to watch her break down. "Uh, hey! You…wanna watch a movie at my place?"
Cinder looked at him, wiping her eyes. "What? But, Michael-"
"Ah, screw him. It's my apartment too."
Cinder blushed. "Okay, well…what did you want to see?"
Once saying goodbye to the kids, Gabriel held Cinder in his arms and they flew back to the mountain to retrieve Cinder's bike. Cinder drove on the way back, Gabriel's face turning red the whole way as he was forced to hold her around her waist.
Michael was still in his room, out cold from the previous night. Cinder sat down on the couch and waited as Gabriel, pulled out a specific movie from the cabinet under the TV. Once inserting the blu-ray, Cinder read the description on the box.
"So…this is about a farm boy from a desert planet who meets an outlaw, a hairy alien, two robots, and a wizard so he can save a princess from an evil space empire?" Cinder asked awkwardly.
"…About the long and short of it." Gabriel responded.
Cinder raised her eyebrow and said, "Okay." In her mind, she was practically praying it wouldn't be as dumb as the box art implied. The supposed "villain" had the weirdest mask she'd ever seen, his mouth looking like a triangular air vent with his nose cut off. How could she possibly take this seriously?
While Ruby was beginning to understand and grasp control of her silver eyes, Weiss had sat down with Winter for their luncheon in a reserved room on the hotel's highest floor. Weiss had waited all week for this, a time in which she could just sit down with her siblings without needing her parents' approval.
"So…how's the military?" Weiss cautiously asked.
"…filled out reports, training, punished rookies for not saluting me properly, nothing out of the ordinary." Winter coldly replied.
"Do…you think Whitley will listen?"
"You're asking this question now? Did you seriously get me to set this all up without having a hundred percent faith in it going well? Do you know how hard it's been to keep Whitley quiet about you and your friends' presence?!"
Weiss expected such a reaction yet didn't know how to reply. As she looked down at her soup and saw her reflection, a girl looking distraught, the doors opened and walking through them was a stoic Whitley. He wore a navy-blue suit with black shoes, white tie, and his hair combed to the side. Weiss almost couldn't believe what she was seeing, her brother looking like an adult…with a stone-cold demeanor like their father. Suddenly everything became much more believable.
"You…look really good, Whitley." Weiss complimented, raising a confident smile.
Her brother didn't react, only stared at her and then sat down, to which Weiss's smile died and she and Winter sat down together.
"I'll have you know I'm on a tight schedule, so I'll give you five minutes to persuade me why I shouldn't call father and tell him his runaway daughter is hiding under his nose." Whitley threatened.
Weiss gulped and stood from her seat. "Okay, fair enough. Whitley, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Her brother raised one of his eyebrows. "Winter's been telling me how Father's been acting since I left, and…that wasn't fair to either of you. It's just that ever since I went to Beacon, I've met some of the greatest people from all around the world, and knowing they were in danger, I couldn't just leave them behind."
"Yes, you could." Whitley intervened, Weiss giving him a shocked glance. "It's called following Father's orders and being there for you family. Judging by what I've seen on the news, the threats that attacked Haven Academy were dealt with without casualties. The residents of Menagerie, the huntsman named Qrow Branwen; if you ask me, your 'friends' seemed to have the odds stacked in their favor."
Winter kept her head in her teacup, curious of Weiss's next move, which was for her to stand up from her seat and move towards her brother.
"I'm guessing you believe that I'm the biggest coward you've ever known, right?" Weiss asked, to which Whitley gave one simple nod. "Well, you won't have to worry about me anymore. After locking Father in his study, it's safe to say I've guaranteed your chances of acquiring his seat." Whitley enjoyed what Weiss had to say, trying his hardest to keep from smiling. "And that's why I've come to a decision: I'm going to help my friends in keeping balance in the world as a huntress. The company is all yours."
At that moment, a pin dropping would be as loud as glass shattering. Whitley's eyes opened, as did Winter's, at Weiss's statement. Whitley became angry, standing up from his chair and staring directly into Weiss's eyes.
"OH! YES! GREAT IDEA! Sure, Weiss, just go off with your little huntress unit and save the world just like in the fairy tales! Maybe if you believe hard enough, the remaining White Fang terrorists will just give up! Maybe you'll just magically destroy all the grimm in the world and every nation from here to Menagerie will find everlasting peace! Just keep living the dream, right?!" Whitley couldn't keep his voice down.
Hearing his sister simply surrender to him without a fight wasn't at all what expected, let alone wanted. Weiss knew what it all was about, however. While her brother ranted in frustration, Weiss were her own stoic expression, a dash of sorrow added into it.
"I'm not saying it's that easy, and I know the world will never truly be at peace, but I've always wanted to help, just one thing at a time." She said, her brother staring her down with the same level of anger. "I came here today to tell you that. I want to do my part in making the world a better place, but I can't do it knowing that I left my family in Atlas on a bad note."
Whitley's eyes widened at her last statement, not leaving on a bad note but when she said, "family in Atlas". Had her new friends become her family, now? Was traveling the world with a band of misfits more welcoming to her than her blood relatives whom she's known her entire life?
"I understand if you can't forgive me, especially after causing Father so much stress." Weiss continued. "If you want me to leave either right after we eat or right this second, I won't resist. I just to know that we're okay."
All of Whitley's anger vanished from his expression, only surprise remaining. His scroll began to ring, to which he looked up the caller ID and his father's name was revealed. Weiss noticed it as well, her heart sinking at what the next few seconds had in store. Whitley answered the call.
"Yes, good day, Father…yes, I'll be there tonight, as promised…" He heard his father ask of his current whereabouts. "…I'm…just talking with Winter." His sisters' eyes opened wide, Weiss most pleased of her brother's secrecy. "…alright, I will. Thank you, Father."
He turned off his scroll and placed it back in his coat pocket. Just before doing so, however, he noticed five minutes had passed since he walked in the room. "Well, I still told him the truth, didn't I?" Winter simply shrugged while Weiss felt happy from seeing Whitley cover for her. Weiss rushed her brother and gave him a big hug, taking him by surprise entirely. Winter seemed surprised as well, and Whitley looked at her as if asking for further instructions.
"You're the best brother I could ever ask for, Whitley! I swear, you won't regret covering for me." She said, tightening her grip around his neck.
Whitley felt awkward, unaware of how to react. How long had it been since Weiss ever acted so nice to him, let alone hugged him? He responded in the only way he thought would be correct, wrapping his arms around his sister's waist. Winter simply looked on at Weiss and Whitley acting out of the ordinary. Weiss let go, Whitley doing the same, and awaited his answer.
"So that's it? The company's just…all mine?" He asked.
Weiss nodded her head. "Yeah. All we need is just a little more time here and then we'll be on our way." Ruby's training with her eyes was still in progress, so a "little more time" may not have been the correct wording. She began to feel guilt, now feeling like she'd taken advantage of her brother.
Whitley sat down, his seat in between his sisters at their square table. Memories of their childhood came flooding back, the days where everyone would sit down, eat their food without a word, and leave to go about their day. The worst of those days was how Jacque would constantly parade around his daughters to the rest of the richest residents of Atlas, leaving Whitley to stand behind them. His only wish back then was to take Weiss and Winter's place as the center of attention, his father showing him off to everyone instead. Yet, despite that wish becoming a reality, Whitley only seemed to care about this particular meal. Of all his memories, not one came back of it just being him and his sisters. Not on vacations, not during concerts for other performers, even their rides to grade school were accompanied by Klein.
Before Whitley knew it, two hours had passed. He and Weiss did most of the talking, Winter chiming in only when asked…or when her sarcasm became too much to suppress. Weiss came here asking to leave on good terms, and Whitley saw no reason to decline.
Okay, so this took longer than I thought, and I'm sorry. I'm also trying to finish this story as fast as possible since school is literally around the corner and I really need to focus on academics this fall. I ended up splitting this chapter in two because I had so much stuff I wanted to put down. I'm gonna release right after this one is uploaded as well, so just give me a few seconds.
You guys are the best!