Chapter 12. Phoenix, part 3
Okay, I swear this is the last one. I'm sorry this has been taking so long and the last chapter seemed to be a cluster of exposition dumps, but I kept coming up with more ideas for this story that I may as well apply to RT so I can write on the actual show. This is where the story truly does feel like fanfiction, and after this, maybe, I'll release a page that's basically a wish list for Volume 6 (and yes, obviously Cinder's character arc and backstory will be on there, despite the entire fanbase not wanting her back).
An orchestra played as the credits to the movie rolled. Gabriel danced along to the credits, golden letters appearing in front of a space background, while Cinder sat next to him wide-eyed. He looked over to her, barely able to contain his laugh at her shocked expression.
"Well…?" He asked, a large smirk on his face which begged to be hit.
Cinder looked away. "Yeah, it…uh…" She looked back at him. "…okay, that was actually pretty good."
The two broke out in laughter as Gabriel got up to remove the disk.
"You know, it's actually the first of a trilogy. We can watch the rest later if you want." He said.
Gabriel looked back at Cinder, who gave a gentle smile at him. "I'd like that." He smiled back, only to turn around again to hide his slightly blushing face.
Later that night, the two left for Junior's restaurant. Gabriel and Michael were setting up the stage while Cinder sat at the bar.
"So…I don't have to kick her out?" Junior asked.
"Well, Gabriel still trusts her, plus we don't have a squeaky-clean record ourselves, so…I'd say she's fine to stay." Miltiades answered.
Melanie finished her glass of soda and planted it firmly on the bar. "Michael hasn't made any moves, but if she screws up once, she's dead." She looked at her sister during that last part, as if implying a direct order, to which she nodded her head.
"You're not serious, Gabriel." Michael coldly said.
"Look, I already spoke to her. We'll look into apartments this week, ones that'll be far from our boarding house." Gabriel replied, Michael finding some satisfaction in it.
The thinner brother looked over at the maiden, sitting patiently at the table with only a glass of water by her side. Exiting the bathroom was their albino sister, fixing the sunglasses on her face, who noticed Cinder upon opening the door. The two girls saw each other, Cinder choking on her water as a response. Lucy made her way over to Cinder who tried to contain herself, her human hand shaking inside her sweatshirt pouch.
"You feelin' okay, Cindy?" Lucy asked.
Cinder looked away, feeling grave amounts of discomfort. "Y-Yeah. I'm gonna move out soon, so don't worry."
Lucy began to laugh. "What makes you think I'm worried? Have we not established I could burn you to a crisp with one step out of line? What's there to worry about?" Her bragging continued to discomfort Cinder. All she wished for now was for Lucy to simply step away. "Okay, look, I know I can be…a jerk, for lack of a better word…most of the time, but all I want is peace. Keep yourself out of trouble and we can go back to being best friends!" She made a cat face at the "best friends" part, something Cinder didn't know whether to take as a joke or a threat. Cinder gave her a simple nod and Lucy, the usual big grin on her face, walked towards the stage.
With a single sigh, felt Cinder relieved. Everyone knew who she was, where she slept, and no one would come after her. She finally felt more comfortable around everyone, including Lucy. The rest of the night went smoothly, Cinder and the audience enjoying every song the trio played until they hung up their equipment at closing time. She even giggled at the few times Gabriel couldn't help but look at her during the applause, as if her opinion was the most important.
Before the night had ended, Cinder took a bath in the brothers' apartment. Once finishing cleaning up, she spent twenty minutes just relaxing in the tub, the hot water stealing away all of her remaining stress. At one point she looked at her grimm arm again yet felt nothing. Neither remorse nor sadness, but rather relief; relief that this didn't have to be a problem.
Sunday was just a lazy day in which Gabriel and Cinder hung out in their apartment, playing video games and watching more of his blu-rays. He only took a break to do laundry. Meanwhile, Lucy kept to herself, Michael spent the day at Melanie's apartment, and Miltiades waited tables at the restaurant while Junior was at the bar. Come Monday, everyone would wake up early, show up to work, come home in the late evening, and repeat the next day. Before going to rest that night, however, Gabriel, wearing a long sleeve shirt and sweatpants, approached Cinder regarding a personal question.
"Hey, Cinder, you got a minute?" He asked her as she prepared the couch for the night.
"Yeah, what's up?" She asked.
He looked at the sofa before looking back at her. "Well…I was just wondering…if you were tired of sleeping on the couch every night?"
Cinder raised her eyebrow. "Well…where else would I sleep?"
"I was thinking…not saying you have to, just an idea, but if you wanted to use my bed, or at least for tonight?"
Now her eye widened, stunned by Gabriel's proposal. Was this a step in the correct direction? Was this a step too far for them both? More importantly, why didn't she feel inclined to say "no" right off the bat?
"Uh…I…" She paused, Gabriel ready to apologize and walk away, but not before saying, "…sure. Why not?"
Gabriel's face turned red as a tomato, Cinder try to hide her giggles so as to not embarrass him. That night, the two laid under Gabriel's sheets, freshly cleaned from earlier, watching an animated show about a girl who used a boy who could turn into a scythe. Before closing the laptop, Gabriel had one last question for Cinder.
"So…uh, Cinder. There's this restaurant downtown, really nice place, called 'Reunion'. If you want, you think you'd like to go there Saturday?" He asked, trying to keep himself from choking on his words.
Cinder felt her heart skip, trying to speak yet unable to verbalize her answer for several seconds. "Uh…yeah. That sounds great."
Gabriel's face lit up with happiness, followed by him telling her all the great things about the restaurant. Cinder just kept smiling as if in a trance, gazing at the larger man next to her as he continued to impress her.
The following few days repeated. Cinder would wait for Audwine to pick her up for work while everyone else did the same for their jobs. Come Thursday, Cinder arrived at the boarding house to be surprised to see Rachel standing by the stoop. Worried something had happened to Gabriel, Cinder rushed towards the elderly woman.
"Hey, did something happen?" She asked, looking and sounding anxious.
"No, no, nothing happened. It's just that Gabriel mentioned he wanted to take you to the Reunion on Saturday, correct?" She asked.
"Yeah, that's right?"
"Did he tell you that that's a five-star restaurant?"
Cinder's entire body turned white. Gabriel went that far for her? How much money was all of this going to cost?
"I…had no idea…" She stuttered.
"Look, if you're worried about money, just don't. Gabriel's eighteen; he's an adult, he can balance a checkbook just fine. What I'm worried about is you?" Cinder felt dumbfounded. What was wrong with her? "Do you have anything to wear besides jean shorts and a sweatshirt?"
Now she realized the problem, looking down at herself and seeing an outfit that wouldn't be allowed to trespass near the Reunion. "Well…look Gabriel just wants to hang out. I'll tell him we can go out somewhere cheap instea-"
Cinder was interrupted by Rachel grabbing her hand and pulling her down the sidewalk towards Austin Boulevard. "It's too late; apparently he made the reservations during his lunch break." Cinder felt her heart skip again; this place needed reservations? Then again, he did say it was a five-star restaurant. "You got paid today, correct?"
Cinder came back to reality. "Er-yes!" She pulled out a paper check from her pocket, one worth four-hundred-fifty Lien.
"Good, 'cause you're paying for your dress, right now."
That last statement surprised Cinder. They came to the same department store across from Junior's restaurant Cinder visited before. Going inside, they examined all the dresses and gowns.
"Okay. Pick your favorite and we'll split it down the middle." Rachel said, Cinder feeling guilty from her offer. "Look, the reservation's already set and I want you two to have a good time, so don't worry about it."
Cinder obey Rachel's order and the two spent twenty minutes looking through the dresses. Memories of Salem came back, only to revert to memories of when she lived with her father and most of her clothing consisted of white dresses or shirts. Out of sheer luck, Cinder stumbled upon a mannequin wearing an ankle-length dress. It was white, off-the-shoulders, strapless, and wore white gown gloves and choker. She looked down at her grimm arm and then back at the gloves.
"That…is perfect." She thought, until seeing the price of six-hundred lien and her heart shattered.
In a single sigh, she looked away to look for a cheaper dress only for Rachel to grab her arm and stop her, examining the dress herself and then the price tag.
"C'mon, let's go see the register." She said.
"W-What?! Didn't you see the price?!" Cinder asked.
"I may be old, but my vision's just fine, thank you." Rachel s replied. "Really, it's not a big deal. We agreed you'd pay for a good chunk of it as well, so let's split it: you just pay two-hundred and I'll pay the remainder."
Cinder felt guilty from the offer but gave in, knowing Rachel wouldn't budge on the issue. Fifteen minutes had passed before Cinder stepped out of the dressing room, wearing the entire outfit, white pantyhose, and a pair of white high heels. Rachel showed her the mirror, Cinder stunned by how beautifully she fit into the dress, though the heels didn't feel right. The purple high heels she had, all that remained of what she drove into town with, were still in Gabriel's apartment. For the sake of saving money, she left the shoes behind and kept the dress and white pantyhose. They rang it up at the register and walked out, Rachel feeling satisfied and Cinder mixed between guilty and happy.
"I'm going to make sure Gabriel is also ready for Saturday. I've been dressing that boy properly since he could crawl, same goes for Michael and Lucy." Rachel said. Cinder never ceased to be amused by Rachel's tenacity. "Anyway, make sure to come to me right before the reservations. You'll need help getting into the dress and I'm fairly certain you don't want help from Lucy, right?"
Cinder turned away and frowned. Despite Lucy and her being at peace, Rachel was correct in that Cinder still didn't feel comfortable. The flashbacks to the barn caused her human hand to shake in her pouch, only to stop when the grimm hand grabbed it.
Two days had passed, Cinder and Gabriel hanging out together most of the day and finishing off the last two movies of that space war trilogy. Once eight o'clock, both of them came to the orphanage to meet with Rachel, Tera and Jack drawing pictures in the foyer. Tera's was that of rocks floating in the sky with Gabriel and Rachel flying with them, while Jack made a stick figure of Cinder and him holding hands.
Gabriel and Cinder stepped through the doors, gaining the attention of the kids. Jack ran to hug Cinder's leg and Tera did the same for Gabriel, only for Rachel to take Gabriel with her and leaving Cinder with them. Jack dragged her to the table and showed her his drawing, to which she responded with calling him an artist and running her human fingers through his black hair. Then Tera did the same thing, shoving her drawing up into Cinder's face, to which the maiden held back on her frustration and told her, with a smile, it looked great. Ten minutes later, Gabriel appeared in the foyer again, this time wearing dark blue slacks and jacket, brown dress shoes, a black belt, and a white dress shirt with an under shirt.
Cinder turned around to see him and stood up, looking amused, by what he had changed into. She felt as if in a trance as she slowly approached him, the smell of cologne drawing her in further.
"So, what do you think?" Rachel asked, Gabriel looking down as if expecting the worst.
Cinder snickered. "You look adorable."
Rachel smiled at that and Gabriel looked up in shock, his face red again. Now it was Cinder's turn. She went with Rachel to her room and she sat down in front of her vanity. Rachel took a spray bottle full of water and sprayed Cinder's hair, then used a brush to bring most of her hair to the side so it would look symmetrical. Next was makeup: red lipstick, black eyeshadow and eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, and, most importantly, a light skin makeup to cover the scar.
"You didn't have to do this." Cinder told her, sounding almost saddened.
"But I want to. I want you to stay this way, no longer giving into evil or any desire for power. I want you and Gabriel to both be happy." Rachel replied, Cinder's spirits raised just a tad. "Just one last thing I'd like to get off my chest, however. It's about the two of you." Cinder looked back at her. "Lucy has no interest in the outside world; she's perfectly comfortable living in this little corner of Anima and there's nothing I can do to change her mind. Michael's the same way, but I think I can get him, and hopefully the twins, out of this city and into the real world, possibly to work as huntsmen for hire. Gabriel, on the other hand…he's gonna need help leaving."
"W-What do you mean?" Cinder asked, sounding confused.
"Fegefeuer has been a blessing for us, giving us shelter when Vacuo held too many painful memories. I know Gabriel; he doesn't want to leave this city, not while the orphans here need a family. While dedicating your life to children is admirable, that's not a way to live one's life."
"But if he leaves, and you…you know, who's going to run this place?"
"That's a good question; I'll have to hold interviews, call out to people living in Mistral's capital to take over. Regardless, I don't want the three of them to spend the remainder of their days in this godforsaken city. Lucy's already made up her mind, and maybe the outside world is better off without her, but the boys can still leave and explore the world."
"Explore the world." Those words rang through Cinder's head. She began to blush, honored by how much Rachel trusted her.
"Okay, done." Rachel said, moving out of the way of the mirror.
Upon seeing herself, Cinder took a deep gasp as her eye widened.
Downstairs, Gabriel was doing pushups with Jack and Tera on his back, their way of "helping with exercising" as they often called it. He laid down behind the couch, out of the line of sight of the hallway to the bedrooms. The kids laughed and cheered him on with each push up until Cinder and Rachel stepped into the foyer, the kids high enough to see them and stop making noises the second they both saw Cinder. Jack made a loud, "Wow!" while Tera shouted, "You look so pretty!" Gabriel, curious by their outbursts, placed them on the couch and stood up. His entire mind went blank when he finally noticed Cinder, standing before him in a white dress with her gloved arms united at the hands. She looked nervous, as if his opinion was the only thing that mattered to her. Most notable was her face; how great a job Rachel did with hiding the scar to where now Cinder just looked like she was simply closing her left eye.
"Well, what do you think, Gabriel?" Rachel smugly asked.
He stood there for several seconds until he answered her question with one of his own. "I-I'm sorry, what?"
The two maidens giggled at his awkwardness, his face turning red like always. Jack hid behind the arm of the couch, amazed by how beautiful Cinder looked. Tera, however, grew angry once noticing Jack's reaction and ran out of the room towards the hallway, all of the adults aware of her random exit.
"Here, I'll go check on her." Rachel said, tossing a set of car keys to Gabriel and following the little girl to wherever she ran off to.
The two of them looked back at each other until Gabriel guided her to the garage. Cinder followed along, but not without feeling concern for Tera. She noticed Jack still at the couch as they walked out, and waved goodbye with a comforting smile. They entered the garage and found Rachel's car, nothing too special but new enough to look good.
The car ride was short, the both of them enjoying the light rock station Rachel left the radio tuned to until they arrived at the restaurant. Cinder felt amazed, gazing at the dome-shaped building with people lining up outside its entrance in fancy attire as well. Once they parked, Gabriel noticed women being escorted by men towards the building with their hands on the man's arms. He looked over to Cinder, who noticed the same thing and made a grab for his elbow. They smiled as they looked into each other's eyes and headed for the entrance, Cinder resting her head on his shoulder.
Getting in was no problem since Gabriel already had the reservation. Upon entering the building, Cinder was stunned by the appearance of the inside. Towards the back was an orchestra of maybe twenty people; the tables were all rounded and had plenty of space in between each other; and the roof to the dome had the gods of light and darkness painted above, stars and clouds along with them. Standing on the clouds as well were three angels. Cinder noticed them immediately, feeling discomfort upon recognizing them. The lighting, as well, was beautiful, having a single chandelier above lit by candles, giving the room enough light to maneuver around but dark enough to set a romantic mood.
As they were guided to a table, Cinder felt a touch of guilt, wondering how much this must've cost Gabriel to put together. She wanted to ask until she recalled Rachel's stubbornness to make all of this happen. While the waiter took their order, the orchestra began a new song and some of the customers got up to waltz.
"Place seems really nice." Cinder said.
"Yeah, Rachel sets up a reservation at least once a year for me, herself, and all the orphans. Aside from them, the only people who usually come here are the richest in the city. Business owners, police, or executives for the Schnee mines. Thought you'd like it." Gabriel replied.
Saying Cinder liked it would be an understatement.
While the young couple continued their date, Rachel prepared all the children for bed. Once everyone was placed in bed, Rachel returned to her own, taking her pills and easing into a deep slumber. Meanwhile, Tera and a few other girls got out of their bunks and made a circle.
"Okay, once everyone's asleep, we'll pull the prank." Tera ordered.
"This has to be your best one yet, Tera." One of the girls remarked, an evil grin on her face.
Within an hour-and-a-half, the two had finished their meals and Gabriel paid the check. As they spent another few minutes talking, a song familiar to Cinder began to play.
"This seem familiar?" Gabriel asked, sounding sarcastic.
"Yeah, but…I'm not sure where." She answered.
"Wanna take a guess?"
She thought about it and within a few seconds, an answer came to light. "It's an old church song, from my childhood." Gabriel smiled to reveal her guess to be true. He then extended his hand in an offer to dance, to which she gladly took it with her human arm. They entered the dance floor and Gabriel placed his hands around Cinder's upper back while she placed hers around his neck.
"…Guess this is a bad time to mention I'm not much of a dancer." Gabriel warned.
"Really? You said you've been here before." Cinder remarked.
"Yeah, and my dance partner every year was an older woman who would tell me I'm great no matter how terrible I actually was."
Cinder snickered at that. She grabbed his wrists and moved his hands further down her waist, Gabriel, yet again, turning red, feeling he was in uncharted territory. Anxious, Gabriel looked around and found the main clock standing above the band, reading ten-thirty. Things have gone smooth so far, but hopefully that wouldn't change.
"You know, I never would've predicted this." Cinder said, Gabriel looking down at her with confusion. "When I first got here, I felt depressed and lost, like my life should've ended long ago. I spent so much time trying to become powerful, wanting people to fear the very mention of my name and not caring in the slightest about anyone besides myself. But…" She looked up at Gabriel, her eye closed, revealing her eye shadow, then opened it, revealing a teary amber orb. "…I would rather live this life, even if for just a day, instead of that life for eternity."
Gabriel's face became more serious. "I'm glad to hear you say that. Something tells me even if you did achieve that life, you still wouldn't find any happiness. As cheesy as it sounds, I like seeing you happy." She gave him a vague smile.
They stared into one another's eyes, appreciating the beauty each one saw in the other. Without realizing it, they had stopped waltzing altogether while everyone else continued to dance.
Back at the orphanage, the girls snuck downstairs to the kitchen, climbed onto the counter to get a bowl and fill it with tap water, and carefully returned up to their room. Tera brought it up and they all stood by the side of Jack's bed. The young boy laid on his bed, supposedly asleep, while one of them made a grab for his arm.
"Okay, put the bowl by his leg, Tera." One of the girls instructed, Tera standing still with a cluster of mixed feelings. "What are you waiting for? This was your idea."
"I-It's just…maybe we don't have to-" Tera reasoned before being interrupted.
"Look, if him talking about Miss Cinder makes you angry, then teach him a lesson. Besides, he's just a gross, smelly, dumb boy anyway."
At that moment, Jack stood up and grabbed the one girl's arm. "Who are you calling 'dumb', idiot?"
The girls tried not to shriek in surprise, else Rachel would overhear and everyone but Jack would be grounded.
"How'd you wake up?" Tera asked.
"I wasn't sleeping. I know what you're trying to do and I'm not falling for it." Jack replied.
Tera looked ashamed, only for another girl to step up. "Well, maybe if you stopped going all googly-eyed over Miss Cinder, we'd leave you alone. What's so great about her anyway?"
"What are you, blind? She's the prettiest girl I've ever seen." Jack's proclamation cut deep into Tera's heart. "She's smarter, cooler, and, again, way prettier than any you will ever be!"
With her fingers tightening on the bowl, Tera stepped forward and, with every possible ounce of strength, tossed the bowl of water at Jack. The other girls gasped and some of the other kids woke up at the water's splash.
Rachel woke up to hear the sounds of loud bickering, nearly facepalming once she realized the time and thought, "Well, at least it's not that late." She got up from her bed and walked down the hall to the kids' bedroom, discovering her ears did not deceive her. Jack was soaking wet with most of the girls, and some of the other kids, laughing at him.
"Wow, Jack. I've never seen anyone wet the bed that badly!" One of the girls joked.
Jack felt an intense anger stirring inside him. Though this wasn't his fault, he wanted nothing more than to simply disappear. He looked around the room, most of the other kids laughing at the previous joke except for Tera, who just looked mortified by what she had done. As he stared angrily at her, she became overwhelmed with regret.
Rachel became overwhelmed with disgust and sorrow, angry by what the group of girls did to Jack. She rushed over to scold them.
"What are you doing? Tera, why did you get Jack all wet?" Rachel asked.
Tera, still mortified, looked over at Jack who began to tear up. Under his breath, he began chanting something. "Miss Cinder…Miss Cinder…" Filled with the need to redeem herself, Tera jumped onto Jack's cot and hugged him tightly.
"I'm sorry, Jack." She said.
"Get off me!" Jack said, trying to push her off but to avail. She still held onto him regardless of how much he struggled.
Jack opened his eyes and saw all the kids staring at the two of them, some of the girls appearing angry at him again. Rachel appeared cautious, hoping this would turn out well miraculously. Confusion, guilt, anger, sadness, so many negativity swirling in him, and all he wanted was to vanish, or at least be comforted by Cinder. As Rachel exhaled in a sigh of exhaustion, she noticed Jack and Tera's bodies beginning to glow, and she became worried the instant she recognized it.
Jack continued chanting Cinder's name, unaware of his body glowing, his aura birthing. Tera opened her eye to see the field of life energy enveloping her as well. In a single flash of light, as quick as a blink of an eye, the two kids vanished in thin air. All the jaws in the room dropped and Rachel felt her heart nearly stop.
Gabriel looked deeper into the amber eye of his dance partner, her face drawing closer to him to perform an act of trust and compassion. Both of them held their breath and continued to lean towards each other, hearts beating as fast and hard as drums, until a bright flash of light blanketed the entire restaurant followed by the sound of something hitting a table. They heard everyone gasp and stopped before their lips had touched, looking over to the center of the commotion. Cinder and Gabriel pushed through the crowd of dancers until they could see their table, Jack and Tera sitting on the edge.
"Jack? Tera?" Gabriel shouted in shock.
The two kids looked over at the two adults, everyone looking as confused as ever. That confusion was quickly replaced with shock when the table began to tilt from the kids' mass on the edge. Before anyone knew what was happening, the table fell down and the kids, along with the dishes, glasses, and silverware, came crashing down as well. Everyone gasped in shock, Gabriel and Cinder feeling fear. They rushed to see the kids and saw Jack's aura flickering as he got up and brushed himself off. Tera, however, began to cry as she gripped her arm, Cinder and Gabriel's hearts cracking once seeing a plate shard buried in her palm.
"TERA!" They both shouted and rushed to her side.
As staff was rushing to get clean towels and gauze for the little girl, Gabriel held Tera's other hand while Cinder prepared to pull out the shard.
"Okay, looks like it didn't hit any bone or tendon." Cinder calmly told her. "Alright, Tera? I'm going to pull it out now, okay? This may hurt a little, but I have to do it, okay?"
Tera, eyes full to bursting, nodded at Cinder and held Gabriel's hand, squeezing it as Cinder pulled the shard out. Once out, she began to whimper only to be immediately comforted by Gabriel, Jack still standing to the side and shaken up by the past few minutes.
Once she stopped crying, Gabriel got out his scroll and called Rachel. "Hey Rach, uh, do you know where Jack and Tera are?"
On the other end, Rachel was still in the kids' room, her hand on her chest and tears streaming down her face. "WHAT?! DO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?!"
"Yeah, yeah. They…they're here, with us…they just…appeared."
Rachel felt a wave of relief and, immediately after, one of confusion. How did they end up there of all places? "O-Okay, just, please bring them home."
The four of them began to leave the restaurant, Gabriel holding Tera with the gauze still wrapped around her hand and Jack holding Cinder's hand on the way out. As they exited the building, one woman looked to her husband and said, "What a cute family."
As they drove home, Cinder sat in the back with the kids, Jack resting his head on her lap and Tera staring out the window. Cinder examined Jack's clothes, wondering why they were wet, to which she asked Tera. Her explanation gave Cinder a hint of guilt.
Upon arriving at the house, Rachel waited outside in her nightgown and bathrobe, her heart easing at the sight of the two children. Gabriel opened both doors and let them out, only for Tera to follow Cinder on her way out. Both Rachel and Gabriel felt surprised by Cinder letting both kids hold her hands. They went upstairs, everyone crowding Tera and Jack upon them. Of course, Tera got most of the attention with her hand wound and Jack was shrugged to the side. The young boy took one last look at the adults, seeing Gabriel give a thumbs up and Cinder waving goodbye, to which he waved back. They walked down the hall towards the foyer.
"Thank you so much for bringing them home safely." Rachel said. "Judging by his aura, I think Jack activated his semblance for the first time, tonight."
"Yeah, it's teleportation. The only question is how it works." Cinder added.
"Well, before they vanished, I heard him vaguely saying your name. Does that mean he locks onto people he knows?"
Cinder then recalled Raven's portal semblance. "If that's the case, does it have to be someone he's emotionally attached to or just someone he makes physical contact with?"
"Actually," Gabriel added, "he's been to that restaurant before, so is it rather that he can travel to places he's been to?"
"For all we know, it could be a combination of all three. For now, I'd say just to keep a close eye on them. Last thing I need is him poofing in front of me at my job." Cinder said.
The trio had reached the door, Cinder and Gabriel standing on the porch. "Well, that's my job I suppose. You two have a good night!" Rachel said, hugging them both as they left.
Within twenty minutes, the two made it back to Gabriel's living room, Michael asleep in the next room with Melanie passed out under his arm.
"Gotta say, never had a date like that before." Gabriel joked.
"I know right?" Cinder responded. "Though…not bad for a first date."
Gabriel looked back at Cinder, who still gave that same comforting smile she'd had all night. "That's right," he thought, "This was a first for her, too."
"Oh dammit." Cinder cursed, drawing Gabriel's attention as he took off his jacket.
She showed him her gloves, both stained at the fingertips by Tera's blood. Feeling distraught, she removed them and placed them on the couch to wash, only to be greeted by her grimm arm. Gabriel came up to her.
"You know, I'm proud of you." He stated, her eyebrow raising. "I think you handled everything pretty well. Hell, she outright admitted to being jealous of you and you still managed to calm her down."
Cinder looked away. "Well…I'm not sure I could pull it off again." She walked towards the window between the couch and TV. "I'm still getting used to things around here, like anything could happen tomorrow and I wouldn't know what to do." She looked down at her grimm arm. "Like…I'm just an accident waiting to happen."
Gabriel approached her again, taking Cinder's breath away by taking her grimm hand in his own.
"I don't see it. You've made bad decisions in the past, but it's all behind you now. You're still alive, and you can still do good things." Gabriel preached.
Cinder's human hand began to shake, predicting the next few seconds. Both her heart and Gabriel's beat as hard as drums, feeling as though they would burst from their chests. She rotated her hand so her palm would be facing his, and their hands dropped to their sides to interlock fingers. They looked deep into one another's eyes, knowing full well what the other was thinking, leaning into each other's faces, and their lips met softly.
Ten minutes later, they were in Gabriel's bed, tucked under the covers and wearing normal clothes. Gabriel still wore his sweatpants and long-sleeve shirt and Cinder wore her sweatshirt…but just wearing her underwear and not jean shorts. They slept well that night, Cinder under Gabriel's arm, her grimm hand placed on his chest, and their heads turned toward each other.
Sitting on the bed in her hotel room, Ruby concentrated her eyes again. They glowed the same silver that they had been the last two weeks. She felt as if she could break the sound barrier with her semblance, sense the auras surrounding her in the room, even crush a stone with her thumb and index finger. Her friends around her all glared at the amazing show the young warrior displayed, Yang feeling proud of her sister's newfound strength.
Running down the hallway at his maximum velocity, a blonde swordsman had an urgent news report on his scroll. He beat on team RWBY's door repeatedly until Weiss opened the door.
"You know, Jaune, we heard you after the first few-" Weiss said, before Jaune brushed past her to reach his youngest comrade.
"Ruby, you need to see this!" Jaune shouted at her.
The young girl turned her eyes off and examined the young paladin's scroll, a blanket of fear overwhelming her as she saw the week-old news report.
An airship strode through the clouds to Atlas, its pilot steadily guiding the yoke steering wheel while talking to the control tower.
"Alright, 131, you are clear to land." The operator within the tower advised.
"Thank you. Will be landing immediately." The pilot replied, turning off the radio and resuming his state of panic.
Adam stood up from behind the pilot's seat, his katana pointed at the man's back in case he attempted to blow their cover. In the hull stood the remaining intruders.
Watts paced around the floor of the hull, his scroll out to keep track of their location. Emerald sat on a dust crate while Mercury laid back against the wall, his arms crossed. He looked at his green-haired comrade, still concerned of her actions. After what they had found a week prior, a report from a news website based in some town called "Fegefeuer", now was their one and only chance to escape Salem's clutches.
"Once we touch down, we'll come up with some excuse to split away from Adam." Mercury thought. "Once we do, we'll come back, hijack the ship again, and go straight to Mistral."
Emerald had the news report pulled up on scroll, the cave-in at the Fegefeuer mines, and one of the workers, a goat faunas, being interviewed. She mentioned a fellow worker with amber eyes and that she "created this force field that brought us out safely" and that she "had an eye that would glow like fire". Emerald's eyes began tearing up at the mine worker's dialogue, hoping this heroic worker truly was whom she thought it to be.
Mercury noted Emerald's eyes, hoping for the best as well. "Cinder, if you truly are alive, just sit tight. We'll be with you soon."
Holy God, it's finally over! Yes, yes, I have some explaining to do, but let me say thank you to everyone who's been reading from the start. Writing this fanfic has, in my opinion, gotten my feet wet as a writer. I'll admit I'm an amateur and the last chapter (as in all three parts) may not have been what a lot of people wanted to see, so allow me to clarify:
Volume 6 is premiering in late October and this entire story is my own take on the events following Volume 5. I'm a huge fan of villains, but I feel like Rwby really missed the mark on them last volume. For whatever reason, they completely regressed on Cinder; Volume 4 made it seem like she would change in some way, shape, or form. Hell, in Volume 3 Yang developed PTSD from having her arm cut off and Blake abandoning her. Cinder presumably had her arm cut off too, lost her eye, her voice, and most of her mobility…yet never developed any mental scars? Wouldn't it be interesting if she was somewhat intimidated by Ruby? Anything but smug?! But no, she became smug again.
As for this last chapter actually feeling like a fanfiction, I just wanted to make Cinder happy. "Phoenix" is my ship name for Cinder and Gabriel. Originally, the ending scene with them in bed was going to end with them taking each other's virginities and Cinder falling asleep in Gabriel's arms with his wings expanded and wrapping around the both of them. Before that, Jack and Tera were going to dance with Cinder and Gabriel in the middle of the foyer (because "fanfiction"). This was meant to hammer in Cinder's maternal instinct towards the two kids, because, if this story continued, Jack's semblance would've come in handy.
Characters like Cinder, Gabriel, and Lucy I got inspiration from Berserk. Lucy's design and Saber were inspired by Griffith. Gabriel's build with Cinder's small height was inspired by the romance between Guts and Casca. Hell, them having sex was also inspired by the scene Guts and Casca had in the woods. Though, it wouldn't have been anything explicit, more subtle like the love scene in "Parasyte: The Maxim", as in Cinder monologuing how far she's come, what Gabriel means to her, and a shot of their interlocked fingers (Gabriel would be holding Cinder's grimm arm.)
I also mentioned Pyrrha a lot in this series, mainly because I feel like they didn't mention her enough in Volumes 4 and 5 (Ren and Nora don't even say her name. She was just a reason for Jaune to be more angsty and for Ruby to activate her eyes for the first time.)
If the story continued, Ruby and her friends would go back to Mistral to make sure Cinder would face justice and Emerald and Mercury would get there too to reunite with her in hopes she'd continue Salem's plan (kind of a "after all the hard work we've put in for the past XX years" type scenario). At their reunion, Emerald would stutter and feel guilt in leaving Cinder at Haven, whereas Cinder would forgive her by hugging her and saying, "I missed you too". Emerald breaks down crying and hugs back while Mercury looks surprised then relieved. Eventually, there'd be a conflict between Lucy and Ruby to which Lucy would emerge the victor and everyone, Cinder's and Ruby's sides, fights together in an epic battle to defeat Lucy (much like how Lucifer was cast out of Heaven). Such and such events happen to where all the anger derived at her eventually ceases. If this story continued, Emerald and Mercury would die defending Cinder to which she would live on, thinking of them everyday as a reminder of how precious life can be. She would serve several years in prison until release and she and Gabriel would have one child together who would inherit Gabriel's wings and Cinder's amber eyes. If it's a boy, his name would be Comet. If it's a girl, her name would be Phoenix.
As for Salem, my theory on her beef with Ozpin (i.e. the three angels I mentioned in chapter 5) would be that Salem, Ozpin, and another character were all children of the two gods of Remnant. Salem was the angel of grimm, Ozpin was the angel of humanity, and the third character was the angel of magic. In the beginning, the grimm were a race of people who looked exactly like Salem but were entities of peace and even feared humanity. The characters in the locket were her deceased husband and daughter. In a strong desire of power, Ozpin killed the angel of magic to absorb his magical abilities and, because he deemed humanity dominant over the grimm, used his magical abilities to turn all of the grimm people into the monsters we know today. Salem was the only one unaffected by his magic, however, and told the two gods of Ozpin's evil. They took away his body and left Remnant to fend for itself, but not before Ozpin used his magic to make his soul immortal, thus is why he's able to swap hosts after death. With her lover and daughter turned into monsters and killed by humans, Salem now wishes to gather the relics together created by the gods so she can expose the truth to the world and then destroy them.
So yeah, my theory is that Ozpin's been the actual villain the entire time and is too much of a coward to accept what he's done. He claims he's teaching new generations of huntsmen with an absurdist philosophy, that humans spending eternity fighting grimm is the only thing to give them purpose outside of going to war with each other. Also, because no one's said it yet, Raven turning into a bird ISN'T weird. Someone said it defies aura/semblance because it physically changes the body…except her semblance is opening portals, which is the breakdown and reintegration of matter…so the argument that turning into a bird is weird is wrong.
Anyway, thanks again for the wild ride, guys. Maybe I'll come back in the winter…or not. Either way, this was great and I hope you all have a wonderful day. Here's to Volume 6!